Day 19: History, Waterfalls, Soccer
Final update of GPA in Paraguay. We spent our last days on the road a lot but it was really worth it. In the past days we had plenty of opportunities to practice having a grateful heart. According to our schedule we were supposed to go back to the Village of Cristo but the rainy weather changed our plans. Due to the muddy roads traveling would have been difficult and dangerous. However, there was no time to be disappointed, there is always plan B! We ended up having the opportunity to see one of the biggest dams of the world, the Itaipu dam. It is located on the Paraná river, at the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The name translated from Guarani language means "sounding stone.” As we hopped on a bus and toured around the dam we could experience this being true, as we could hear the water even from a far distance.
The next day our destination was the Jesuit ruins in the town called Trinidad. The Jesuit missionaries who came into Paraguay and the Guarani people lived here together hundreds of years ago. Beautiful towns were built at that time and we had the chance to observe and have a taste of the history of one of them. Sadly just only 20 percent of the original buildings were able to be preserved, however, we could still see the impact these jesuits made and we are also striving to inherit this heart of mission ourselves. Ending the tour we offered a 21 minute prayer while walking between these ruins inheriting the heart of these missionaries.
The following day, the long awaited opportunity finally arrived, the day we visited the world-famous Iguazú Falls. We felt a huge excitement and gratitude being able to see this spectacular natural phenomenon which sits at the border of Brazil and Argentina. We approached it from the Brazilian side following the small trail down the hill towards the heart of the falls. We took hundreds of pictures along the way. However, the scenery that opened in front of our eyes was impossible to catch it's true beauty through the lenses of our cameras. We felt like we just hopped into a movie. Birds were flying above the water in circles, colorful butterflies surrounding us and monkeys climbing from branch to branch above our heads. Walking alongside the rocks we were amused to view the endless rows of waterfalls and we just kept seeing more and more. Reaching the end of the trail came the fun part we all waited for. Stepping onto the platform we were surrounded by huge tall waterfalls, and even just spending a couple minutes there admiring the scenery we became wet due to the mist coming from the strong falling water. It was delightful to see everyone getting soaked but walking with a huge smile on their faces. Being in this atmosphere we could feel God's love through his creation, being loved by Him so much that He created all of this gorgeous nature for us to enjoy. Our hearts were filled with gratitude and appreciation as we took a last glance at this creation from the high observation deck.
On Sunday we framed our experience with being back in Asunción again, where we started our journey. We attended Sunday service where participants shared their experiences of our time in Paraguay. This followed a delicious lunch outside in the beautiful green yard of the church with lively music, dance and singing performances. We spent a short time with our members here, however, we ended with playing soccer with the CARP members.
Today concludes our journey here in this gorgeous land of Paraguay. Thank you for following us throughout the trip!
Generation Peace Academy
Dori T.
Blogger, Paraguay