Our team said goodbye to the Hardins at the airport as Ashley, Ella and Ava headed back to the States. Ethan would be joining them shortly after taking care of lots of last minute details. Emma and Ella had tons of fun playing together for the hours that everyone had to wait in line. It was sad to see them leave!

The congregation held a going away party for Ethan, Ashley, Ella and Ava as they were getting ready to leave the field and return to the US after 5 years of service in Paraguay. They will be working and residing in Henderson, TN, where Ethan will be the Missionary in Residence at FHU and Ashley will be taking care of Ella and Ava! They are excited to be moving close to family and friends.

The whole Fry family took a trip to Florida this year for vacation to see Chris's family. We had a great time! Afterwards, Vickie and the kids traveled to Tennessee to spend time with her family while Chris returned to work in Paraguay!

The Hardins threw Ella a great birthday party when she turned 3. It was held at the mall game hall. The kids all got to play games and ride rides for several hours for free! It was lots of fun and Ella and Emma got to hang out a lot!

Many members of the church in Asuncion spent Mother's Day at Estela's house. She lives about an hour and a half outside the city and has a really neat home with almost every animal, plant, fruit and vegetable that can be thought of in her very own yard!

During the time for the Ladies Conference, one of the Capiata members, Susana, hosted a tea at her house for our guests from the US, Carla and Mercedes.

We had a two day ladies seminar with guest speaker, Carla Borja Lowe. It was a huge success as we had over 75 women in attendance and already one baptism with several studies that came out of it! Carla also met with and spent time with many of our women and was such a blessing. Her friend, Mercedes, who is also a native to Paraguay, came with her and was a huge help in every way!

Micah Bayles, one of our interns, hosted a mini VBS that was a huge success. The kids got to play games and listen to lots of stories. They even got to have a story time inside the belly of a giant fish!

Gustavo and Elva have been together for many years, but they recently decided to make their relationship an offical marriage in God's eyes. We held a ceremony for them at the church building. It was such a sweet even! And Gustavo is one of our recent baptisms!

We gathered once again for our annual team banquet in the very popular restaurant Mburucau (no, not an easy name to pronounce). We had a great time making fun of one another as well as sharing memories over the past 5 years. We even got to celebrate this year with interns, Micah and Rocio as well as team girlfriends, Laura and Alba! It is amazing to look at all the changes that our team has gone through over the years. And most importantly, couple of the year----- went to Perry and Enoch!

The Fry family traveled to Curitiba, Brazil the week of semana santa to visit fellow missionaries Mel and Becky Latorre with their kids Alyah and Lucas. It was a tiring trip with two little ones, but we had a great time. We got to spend lots of time with the Latorre's as well as see their mission work and city and we were able to take a day trip to a small beach town.

These are pictures of many of the ladies in the congregation.

These are pictures of members of the youth group and activities that the youth have done so far this year.

In January, several members of our team, along with our interns, were able to attend the annual brazilian missionary conference in the small town of Canela, Brazil. Canela is a beautiful little town a few hours outside of the Porto Alegre. We spent a week attending classes and sharing ideas, triumphs and struggles with other south american missionaries. The last night we had a murder mystery theatre with Chris playing one of the lead girls! We were also able to travel a few days before and after the conference as a team which enabled us to spend time together in a very fun and relaxing atmosphere. It was a real blessing!

Many of the ladies of the congregation gathered at the Yegros house in February to celebrate Suzana's (a member at Capiata) birthday. Ella and Emma entertained us on the piano!

The first few days of March we went on a church retreat to a new campground near a small town on the lake called Aregua. We had about 60 people attend the retreat and we spent two days together worshipping, eating yummy food, attending classes for adults and kids, relaxing with sports and swimming and laughing at crazy skits. We really enjoyed the beauty of the campground and the view of the lake in the distance.

Emma started preschool at Minigente this week! She will be going three days a week in the mornings. Ignacio, our neighbor also attends the same school and they are really excited to go to "school" together. She has done really well this week! We are very proud of her and very impressed with her teachers and the whole preschool adaptation program that they have. It is all in spanish, but Emma doesn't seem to mind. She is a trooper!

Here are recent Fry family pictures. Emma and Walker are growing fast!

Family pictures beginning in October 2007.

Our congregation spent the day at a nearby retreat site. We had a wonderful worship service, met in small groups, had a cookout, played soccer, relaxed and the kids cooled off in the pool. It was a really hot day, but we had a great time.

Ava Lynn arrived at 6:20am on Saturday, September 22. All are healthy and doing well.

These are photos of some of our recent baptisms.

Family pictures of Ethan, Ashley, and, of course, Ella. Ok, mainly Ella.

We want to share with you the Paraguayans who have become Christians or rededicated their lives to Christ beginning with the start of the congregation in September of 2004 up until now.