Paraguay, Part I

Right now I am writing from my hotel room in Asuncion, Paraguay. This is the beginning of a two-week mission trip that has taken months of preparation and lots of support from all of you back home. Our group is composed of Shaddai Aguas, Jackie Jee, Scott Wilson, Sonia Barajas, Carlos Gomez, Pastor Ron Torkelson, Barry van Iderstein, and myself I said goodbye to my parents on Sunday morning, with them reminding me to buy a card for the cheap digital camera I'd bought the night before that did not come with one (surprise, surprise). We made it through security with no problems, and our first flight to Los Angeles, California was safely uneventful. In the airport, however, the lady at the electronics shop tried to sell me a card that cost more than the camera itself and did not hold very many pictures. This annoyed me greatly, so I will be borrowing a card from Shaddai until I come back to the states.The next flight, however, tops all my records for most brutal flight ever. It was a very nice plane with a good entertainment system, but the flight attendants only served water three or four times in the entire 13-hour flight to Lima, Peru. Plus, when we arrived, we were not allowed to disembark because we were on the same plane going to Santiago, Chile. The plane sat on the runway getting repaired long enough for me to watch an entire feature film. The flight to Santiago was not as bad, as they actually served us a decent breakfast and it wasn't quite as long. When we arrived at Santiago, we had a nice, long layover in which I got some exercise by walking to the end of the terminal over and over again. It attracted strange looks, but it felt so good after being trapped in the plane for so long.When we arrived in Asuncion, there was a group there to greet us who had brought a folk singer along, who serenaded us in welcome with songs about Paraguay. The city reminds me a lot of LA--lots of traffic and lots of American business franchises. Shaddai, Jackie and I are sharing a room here at the Hotel Bavaria, and it's actually quite spacious, made for three people. I am in the process of attempting to put pictures of it on the photobucket account, but as I am new to this camera, this may or may not work.I would like to thank all of you who made this trip possible, whether it was through your prayer support, financial support, love support, or all three. I will continue to send updates when I can, and I would like to ask that you keep our mission team and the people we will be serving in your prayers. Thank you.