Remember...Paraguay | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Remember...Paraguay | Previous Challenge Entry
By Debbie Thorkildsen
02/11/09
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As a teenager, I went to Paraguay, South America with a missionary team. That summer changed my life. I went as a shy sixteen-year-old and returned with a new confidence in God and my own abilities.

Before we left, we spent a week getting to know each other and learning to trust and work together as a team. We fell backwards off a picnic table into the waiting arms of our teammates. We learned, four at a time, to synchronize our walking on land skis. We got our whole team a foot off the ground on a very small, square platform and held it for the required three seconds. We also conquered the wall by getting everyone over an army training wall without using a rope; we had to rely on each other and work together to get everyone over the wall. By the end of the week, I was very comfortable with my new teammates.

Upon arrival at the farm near the capital city of Asuncion, Paraguay, my team of eighteen people were separated into three rooms which we would call home for the next two months. Our married leaders had their own room. Six teenage guys lived in another room. I shared a room that held ten teen girls with access to only one bathroom. Our bedroom was cozy with five sets of bunk beds. I chose a top bunk to be less likely to come across a scorpion or a tarantula in my bed. I always shook out my work boots in the morning before putting them on.

My team of youth lived on property shared with two orphanages, a school and some displaced flood victims. We worked hard during the day. We planted trees, dug foundations, put up buildings using bricks and mortar, plastered and white-washed walls, put in wooden floors, and put moisture barriers in the walls at one of the orphanages. We always had fun in the evenings. Breaking into smaller teams, we went into churches in the city and did skits or did mimes on the streets. We also played games with the Spanish orphans. I liked playing with the children the best.

While working in Paraguay, we didn’t always have the tools we needed to do the jobs we were expected to complete. At these times, we reminded and encouraged ourselves and each other with our motto, “Remember, this is Paraguay.” We improvised what we did have to work with and got the jobs completed. As the summer progressed, we shortened our motto to, “Remember…Paraguay.” Before we left to return to our own homes, our leaders presented each of us with a t-shirt with the words, ‘Remember… Paraguay’ across the front. I’m sure no one on my team will ever forget our experiences there.

One of the most poisonous things in Paraguay is a frog. We didn’t know that the day we found a fat frog and one of the guys, who was wearing gloves, picked it up and pretended to make one of the girls kiss it. Another guy caught a lizard too, but only retained the tail as it scampered away without it’s lengthy appendage.

Mealtimes were interesting. The first person into the dining room picked the mould off the dried bread. The second person was to skim the mosquitoes out of the lemonade. That’s why we all were careful to take our malaria pills every day. The food actually tasted really good. When you are hungry after working all day, anything edible tastes great.

We took one day trip while we were there. We saw the Itipu power plant located on the border between Paraguay and Brazil. Then we went on to see the Iguassu Falls. While walking along trails to get a closer look at the falls, it started raining. The closer we got to the falls, the harder it rained. I didn’t realize, until we were up close to the falls, that it was the spray off the powerful waterfall that I thought was rain.

God answered many prayers and showed me His power in marvelous ways through this mission trip. I heard His still small voice as He encouraged me many times.

Just before we left Paraguay, one of my leaders told me, “When we first came here, you were like a caterpillar in a cocoon, all within yourself, but you’ve come out of your shell and now you’re like a beautiful butterfly.” Going to Paraguay was such an awesome experience. I will always ‘Remember…Paraguay!’

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