Where is Gordon NOW?

I just arrived Quito. It is 5 pm. I stayed overnight
at the airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I about froze to
death until I realized the Paraguayan Foundation gave
me a hammock. I wrapped up in it and was just fine.
It took me until 2 pm to figure that out. I had no
problems in transit. Walked right to the gate and it
left on time.

In Lima they didnt have a plane for us so I had to
wait 6 hours until they found one. I was suppose to
meet with the Mayor of Otavalo at 5 and he has not
shown up yet. I will just hang around the hotel to
see if he comes. The traffic is terrible. It took me
30 minutes to get from the airport to the hotel. In
the morning at 4:30 they say it will take 7 minutes.
By the way, this is one fancy hotel. Two chocolates
on the bed when I arrived. Thanks, Washington.

Paraguay is definately poor.- WE went to a little
village next to the school complex and found an
indigenous tribe. They used to hunt and wander to
survive. Due to the modern society wandering is no
longer a possibility. They are having a very hard
time adjusting to living in one place. Very poor
conditions to live in. I have a few stories on some of
the terrible conditions I saw.

PARAGUAY


WEll, I am going to leave you now.
Love you all. Be good and do good.
Gordon

Service in Paraguay

I had a very interesting experience yesterday. I
visited 13 Paraguayan women in a microcredit loan
program by the Paraguayan Foundation. They started 2
hears ago with just a $20 loan. They pay it back at
$7 per week over 6 weeks. They each pay the leader
every week and the leader pays the foundation. After
6 weeks they can apply for another loan, $50. It goes
for a longer period of time. They were applying for
their 3rd loan which could be $180. Their pay back
record was so good that they all decided to take the
bigger loan.

Some of the businesses they had going was selling
milk, 5 cows, making and selling charcoal, candy on
the streets, little stores in their houses, clothing
sales, baked goods. This has really helped their home
income. If one can´t make the payment for the week
then the others help her come up with the money. It
is a team effort and they don´t want their credit hurt
with the foundation. I visited the little store that
one woman has and she had just a few items. She said
that 50% of her profit came from pop and beer sales on
weekends. She was out of pop waiting for the money to
come in so she could buy more goods. It is high
interest but the team effort certainly was impressive.
After the meeting and I was driving away from the
group walking down the street and I stopped to take their
picture. They all waved and seemed like they were in
a wonderful club. The foundation makes money, the
mothers make more money for the family and others are
also employed. Win win win.

The Paraguayan Foundation has really rolled out the
red carpet for us. Yesterday our group helped 400
people. This morning they had over 500. 300 traveled
over 4 hours to be here. The church has put out the
word and they are coming in droves. Our volunteers
work so hard. They are doing a wonderful job. The
plastic surgeon took a boy with 4 fingers and gave him
five. When the boy was born, both hands had the 3rd and
4th fingers were hooked together. Last year the
surgeon did the right hand and then the left hand this
year. The dentists are soooo busy.

We have local professionals that are coming to help.
I am so pleased to see that happen. We hope that they
will do more volunteer work seeing our people doing
it.

Construction has been a disaster. The Padre keeps
telling us that the building materials will show up
but at the end of each day some, but not all, has
arrived. We have done some work, but nothing like we
had wanted. There is always tomorrow down here.

The weather right now is just like Twin in the spring
and fall. Cool nights. Our first day was hot and
muggy but it has rained and cooled off.

Sunday church was interesting. The chapel is very
small. About the size of the relief society room at
home with a small over flow room. 6 of us went. They
made us sit on the stand. The music was interesting.
A member played the piano with one finger and didn´t
know about sharps and flats. It was a different
melody for sure.

Well, I must leave to see how the construction is
going. I eat at 1 and start for the airport at 3. I
am concerned about Brazil. They were not nice to me
or the Ecuadorians. I don´t know why but they treated
us very poorly.

PS. I have caught 12 little frogs, 1.5 inches square
so each family can have 2 frogs each. They are
soooooo cute.

gordon

Toilets in Paraguay

When I got to the hotel here in Paraguay I went into
the bathroom. I saw some black stuff in the stool so I
decided to flush the toilet before using. Well, as I
watched the flush a frog jumped out from under the
side of the flushing stool. The water had forced him
out. It scared me to death. He jumped back up into
the hiding place in the stool. I jumped higher than
he did. Well, in my room was a side room with a
bathroom. I went into that toilet. I flushed. Yup,
you guessed it, another frog. He jumped out of the stool
at me. I again jumped higher than he did. He jumped
out of the room. I then decided to flush again to
make sure I had no more unwelcomed guests in my
toilet. No frogs. I carefully sat down and wondered
what my private parts would do if a frog jumped on
them. I decided that they would yell and then of
course I would yell and jump very high. It added a new
adventure to my life as I sat there on that toilet.

I just came back tonight and I have another frog
friend on my wall. Before using the toilet I flushed
again and guess what? No frog. I sat in peace and
comfort. NO I lied, I again thought what would happen
if a frog jumped on my --------------.

Going to the bathroom here is going to add a new
dimension to my thoughts as the natural activities of
my body do their thing. I hope this is put in tactful
terms to satisfy everyone.