To conclude our 8 month journey through South America we made a complete circle and returned to tropical green jungles with mango trees, red sand and rain storms.
Here in Aragua they greet you with a fist pump, speak the Guarani language and give a profound "Amen y amen" at the end of prayers and church services.
It is awesome to see what a huge percentage of church service time goes into prayer/conversation with God. After all, Jesus declared in Matt 21:13, "My house will be called a house of prayer."
We were under the loving care of Belen and Raquel at CFA church. Our week consisted of visiting 9 different schools in the area. We performed dramas, shared personal testimonies related to the students lives and invited them to the Halloween service on 31 October. There we performed a Halloween drama under the direction of our very talented team mate, Colleen.
The drama had a really powerful message and went so smoothly. I couldn't help but notice how our team changed from the beginning of the year, where everybody had to voice their individual opinions, to how well we worked together in the end. God really changed hearts for the long run.
The rest of our time we spent playing with the neighbourhood kids, lying in our hammocks, talking around the campfire, patting our adopted cat, Esperanza (Hope still being alive at the end of our journey) and trying to sleep through the rooster's cock a doodle doo at 2:30 am.
A powerful testimony came from our neighbour, Armina, who made her kitchen available to us for cooking our meals.
Her 1 son has Down Syndrome. As we have 2 physiotherapists, an occupational therapist and a dietician on our team, we had time to do some therapy with him.
He improved so much in those few days that his mom, with tears in her eyes, testified in church that Sunday of how he can now eat by himself. Glory to our Ultimate Healer.
On our last night in Paraguay we had to say farewell to our favourite South American brother, Daniel, who will be dearly missed during debrief in South Africa.
To come to the end of a life changing journey like this leaves you with many thoughts and emotions as you get on the plane to go home; too many to process at this early stage.
I trust that God will come and cement the life lessons we have learned this year into our hearts and minds during the next few weeks, months or maybe even years.
But for now it is good to be able to return to my beloved home country, South Africa, to my family and to all the people I call "my people" who supported, encouraged and prayed for me during the year and say, "Thank you God, for You are a good, good Father."
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