November 2007

Give praise for the generous donations from several people in response to our item in last month's prayer letter about the six third year students experiencing financial difficulties. They are now able to complete their studies. Praise the Lord!

Please pray for the spiritual and emotional needs of all our students. We are nearing the end of the academic year and so the students are exhausted. They have all finished teaching practice placements recently and it was a stressful time for many. Final exams are coming up for the first and second years and on top of all that, a number of students are also facing difficult issues at home.

Please keep praying for the first year students, as we told you about last month. There have been a number of issues over the past weeks which have brought individuals in the year group into a spiritual conflict with the college. Please pray that those students who want to stay would do so and that those who have difficulties with FEISA's Christian philosophy would consider carefully whether they should continue to study here.

Bishop John and Judie's leaving service on 21st October was a wonderful celebration of their nineteen years of faithful service in Paraguay. Please praise God with us for the Bishop's invaluable support and advice since FEISA began in 2000. (See photo: On the left, Sam and Gloria as they presented FEISA's leaving gift, on the right, the Bishop with the engraved leather document folder.)

Please pray for John Tompkins, our UK treasurer. He is experiencing some health difficulties and would value your prayers. Praise God for the valuable work John does for us in communicating with donors and our UK bank.

The drought and fires over recent months have led to many problems in Paraguay. There is a milk shortage as a result of the deaths of cows and a fuel shortage due to the level of the river being too low to allow the ships to bring the fuel into the country. This has led to rising petrol and diesel prices, which in turn has led to fewer buses running and an increase in the bus fares. The fires also damaged crops which are what the majority of Paraguayans living in the countryside rely on for food and income. All this has provoked a rising cost of living in this developing country, where salaries are unable to keep up with inflation. Please pray for abundant rain in the whole country and for the provision of fuel and food at affordable prices.

October 2007

As those of you with e-mail addresses heard, in August and September there were many forest fires throughout Paraguay. We asked you to pray for rain and God was gracious and sent enough rain to put out 99 % of the fires. Unfortunately, there has been no rain since then in some of the more remote parts of the country and there are now over 400 fires burning, mostly in the Chaco region. The lack of rain also means that there is a severe shortage of water for the communities in that harsh region. Please pray for significant rain to fall and put out all the fires for good and to provide the desperately needed water.

Praise the Lord for a very successful trip to the Chaco with the third year students, which counts as one of their teaching practice placements. The school at Yatnata had its pre-school and year 1 classrooms painted and the students organised activities for the children.

In July, we told you about the translation of children's Bible stories and teaching materials into Enxet for communities in the Chaco. Praise God for the completion of these materials and the successful first teaching session at the Yatnata school on 24^th September. (the photo shows Remigio, who did the translation, teaching the children)

Please pray for Estela, our Head, who fell and broke her arm and is in a great deal of pain. She has been on sick leave for two weeks and is still unable to return to work due to the pain she is in.

Please pray for the six third year students who are struggling financially. Due to various reasons they all have to pay for re-sit exams and this is adding to the financial burden they are already under. Please pray for them to be able to find the money so that they can get up to date with their fees and do their exams. Those with fees outstanding are also unable to do their teaching practice placement with their classmates. This situation puts in jeopardy their graduation in December.

Some of our fist year students lack motivation and a small minority also lack respect in the classroom. There are some very strong personalities which have a negative influence on the rest of the group and the Christians in the class are very quiet. Please pray for increased motivation for the difficult students and for the love of Christ to reign in the group. Please also pray for the FEISA teachers, to love the students and to teach them without prejudice.