TrewsNews

Here is the latest Trewsnews for your reading enjoyment! We suggest you print it out and stick it up on your prayer fridge. Today was the Cultural Olympics for the secondary end of school so we can hear loud rock music from across the street as the bands practice. Primary had their sports day this morning and this afternoon is preschool dressing up day! So Eileen has her enormous Ireland hat on, my green Rugby shirt and green pigtails. Hannah is going as a fairy princess and Elijah as Tigger! Life is not dull at the moment here in Asuncion! Lots of Love,

Link: BBC News report Video: BBC News Video Yesterday just after our church had finished we realized something serious was happening when lots of ambulances went flying along the road in front of school. Then police pickup trucks acting like makeshift ambulances went past with burn victims in the back. They were going to the nearby Emergency Hospital. Ycuá Bolaños supermarket This morning the shock of the full extent of yesterday's fire disaster sunk in. Parguayan colleagues came to school with news that our Domestic Science teacher is in intensive care with life threatening burns to her lungs. Also a cleaner's brother had been killed. Later we heard a pupil from the Annex School had died with her preschool sister and cousin. Also some of the maintainance team had nephews killed. Asuncion is small enough for us to know people with family members directly affected. Reports now say 350 killed and 500 injured, perhaps 50% under 13 years old. The supermarket is about 3 miles from s...

We're putting our address up in so you can email us.

Hi all, Hello from cool Asuncion, yes we are sitting with hot water bottles! The first cold snap of winter arrived last weekend and we are feeling the cold with temperatures of 20 Celsius. It's beautiful in the sun though, better than 40C!! We're all doing very well, but pretty busy, you can read more in the latest newsletter .

All is well here in Asuncion. The weather has been beautiful the last few days, mid 20s and sunny.  So we thought it was a good time to send you our latest news letter .  Print it out and decorate your fridge with it. Blessings, The Trews

Imagine the scene - an almost 2 year old toddler finds himself alone in the bedroom where the notebook computer is kept. The lid is open, 'I have a chance to play with it', he thinks! 'There is a glass of water sitting beside the bed, lets bring that over as well. Hummmm... how do you turn this on, this button here? It worked, it's coming on! I wonder what will happen if I pour this water over it....' This was the scene Eileen walked into yesterday. Eiljah was standing on a chair with an empty cup in his hand, he had just poured it over the computer he had turned on. Eileen saw the screen go blank and then it was dead. So our computer is broken. As a result it's unlikely you will receive a paper version of TrewNews this month. Its good we are still to be able to send and receive mail from one of the school computers, but we won't be able to talk to any of you over the computer. We are looking to shipping it home for repair, or buying a new one here - it'...

Attempted Coup Just after we sent out the last prayer letter there was an attempted coup here in Paraguay on May 19th. It started at around 9 p.m. and continued through the night. We knew absolutely nothing of it until a call from home at 6 a.m. the next morning to see if we were alright! The coup had been organised by some dissident military units and was quickly put down by the rest of the army and airforce. For thirty days afterwards there was a state of emergency where any gathering, including church services, were technically illegal. Like everyone else in the county we just lived life as usual except we carried our passports at all times. Teaching and Language Study Our involvement in school has increased over the last few months. Stephen has been helping with Soul Survivor, a regular meeting on Wednesday lunch times to encourage the young people in their faith. Term finished on the 8th of July for two weeks holiday. Almost all the other missionaries flew off to various ...

Currently in Asuncion there is a Dengue Fever epidemic. Things have gotten a lot worse in the last week, the government is now estimating that 50-70% of the population of Asuncion will catch this disease. We know of two other mission partners who have already suffered it. Several people in the city have died from a rarer form that causes haemorrhaging.

We are all doing fine and have just said goodbye to our first visitors from home - Neville and Karen. That was difficult.

Hello!! We have arrived online eventually!!! Life in Paraguay definitely does not move in the fast lane, although we are now up and running after a difficult call to technical support in Spanish. (Aren't you impressed!!!) We arrived safely last Wednesday after an extremely long journey - about 38 hours. Thankfully Elijah slept for a good bit although it was difficult for us to rest with him balancing on our knees. We had a 10 hour stopover in Miami which was bad because it was the middle of the night for us but only afternoon for them. We had got Elijah over to sleep when a very rude security woman insisted we lift him out of the pram so she could push it through the gate. He then promptly woke up and we were very cross. Enough about grumpy officials!! The principal of the school was at Ascuncion to meet us which was just as well because we were so tired we could hardly even see let alone negotiate or bribe foreign customs in a language we couldn't speak. We actually managed to...

In three weeks time we should be sitting in sunny Asuncion. Sunny, hot and humid. A couple of weeks ago the temperature hit 39C, and its due to get hotter. At the moment we are sitting in a friend's flat surrounded by boxes, suitcases and lots of odd socks. Many of our socks got separated from each other in the move out of our house, now we are trying to help them find each other! As the last three weeks close in the nervous excitement is building. Stronger than ever now is the feeling that we are going down the path that God has shown us. The sadness of leaving home is stronger than ever too. The next time we are in our own church will be our last. There is still so much to do, your prayers are absolutely vital over the next few weeks. Thank you so much for your prayers and support, we really could not be doing with without you. E-PRAYER LETTER ONLINE Every month we shall attempt to produce an electronic newsletter for you in email and web page form. The address for the prayer l...