On the way to Caacupe!

(BTW - it is pronounced Ca-a-cu-pay so it rhymes)

Below is a video of our family in Caacupe, Paraguay that we taped when we visited the city about 3 months ago (hence the jackets).

Caacupe is a "holy place" for the Paraguayans. In the Basilica, is a statue of the Virgin Mary. Every year hundreds of thousands traverse the countryside - BY FOOT - to lay prayers and petitions before the statue. The road to Caacupe is not an easy stretch of ground, it is very, very hilly and right now it is very, very hot (around 100 degrees). Many have already made the pilgrimage, but on December 8th the roads leading to Caacupe, from as far as 100 miles away, will be crowded with eager and devoted people making pilgrimage to this city. Please pray, that these good people would be safe on the road and that while they are walking, that Jesus would draw them close to Himself!

Happy Thanksgiving

This year, we are very thankful!

These are some of the things that we are thankful for:

Peace in Paraguay (A rare commodity in this world)
Candy and Pumpkin Pie (Andrew is really looking forward to them)
Air conditioners and fans (It will be over 100 degrees today)
Internet (So we can talk with our friends and family in the states and all over the world)
Summer vacation (after next week the girls are off until February)
Chipas (this is a Paraguayan bread that Caleb loves - and his favorite new word)

And we are thankful for you! Thank you for your prayers and care for our family. It is our pleasure to serve on the same team with you and your family! May God bless you!

Peace,

John, Lisa, Alison, Megan, Andrew and Caleb

...it's good to be back

We are back online!!!

Internet has come back into our lives and we are pretty thrilled to be able to catch up with many of you! Thank you for your patience...

Also, feel free to SKYPE us at jlsappia

Peace!!!

Some pics of our life...

Phew!

Ok, so I had the chance to pop on line and I saw that the last blog entry I posted was over a month ago and I was talking about trying to keep up with the blog. Get a life!!!

In reality, not having internet at home has been difficult and we can't tell you how much we miss our friends and family back home. I keep trying to encourage myself by thinking of the missionaries in the past who would leave "life" behind and travel by steamer ship across the ocean. The journey would take months and the mail would take longer. Life, thanks to technology, sure has gotten easier. Well, faster at least!

Really, we want to thank you for your patience. Many of you have still be emailing, writing through Facebook, and even sending gifts to our car fund and packages filled with goodies for our family. And this does not include the times when you are praying for us! We love you all very much and are so thankful that even though we have not been able to connect, you have been "hanging with" our family.

Internet, according to the guy, should be here in two days. Mind you, he said that 2 weeks ago! Appreciate your prayers, we are looking forward to reconnecting with you on a regular basis.

I am going to make a slide show of some random pictures (above) so that you can see a little bit of what has been happening to us! (the pictures are of a new haircut, the new church building, the new house, the new car - all sorts of NEW STUFF... can you say transition overload :)

Peace!

John and Lisa

Get a life!!!