travalenguas

I realize I don't write very much about the locals here, which I should do more often because Paraguayans are amazing people. Like Sole and Lucho, who I get to see every single day of the week because we go to church together, and both work as secretaries at Escuela Marangatu and Colegio Cerritos (respectively).

Sole is 24 and Lucho turns 23 next month. They've also been married for three years now (Paraguayans seem to date and get married a lot sooner than Americans...I have another friend from Marangatu who just turned 20, and already gave birth to her second child!). Even though we're the same age, I feel like they're so much older than I am -- maybe it's because they're in a different life stage? It's weird to think that if I were Paraguayan, I'd probably be bouncing a baby in one arm and pushing a stroller with the other right now.

Tonight they came over for Mexican food, which they had never tried before. Contrary to popular belief, Paraguayan food is nothing like Mexican food, nor is Mexican food commonly sold here. Lately I've had a ridiculous craving for carne asada, so we had some tacos and burritos with salsa, guacamole, horchata, and fried bananas for dessert. Fortunately they'd never had real Mexican food, so they couldn't tell how much it fell short of King Taco standards. Low expectations = a great condiment for making food taste better :)

After dinner, Sole and Lucho taught me a few travalenguas, or tongue twisters, in Spanish:

Even though we sometimes do silly things like this, I'm truly thankful for their friendship and that they welcomed me so warmly into their lives. They constantly challenge and encourage me, and I'm especially blessed to have them as my prayer partners for Proyecto Daniel. With every friendship I make here, I am amazed by the way the love of Christ transcends all cultural, geographical, racial, linguistic barriers to unite his beloved together.

Amazing, amazing, amazing grace.