Wow... That week went fast

Today is Sunday the 9th and I have been here more than half of my time. On last Saturday we went shopping in Benhamin Aceval to get groceries and to get some soccer shoes. I also bought a Paraguayan Soccer Team jersey! (I am now so cool.) Here is our fearless team headed to the main road:

I enjoy working with them to solve these large problems. The ladies, Jarilin (sp?) and Allison are working to understand how we can use the larger community area to support the school and how the school can in-turn give back to the community. I believe that they will be creating some relationships with the community members in committees, and organizing a guide book for them to be more effective in collaborating.
We got to eat barbecue at an out-door restaurant (a person's house I am sure):

The food was really good. It was a large plate of meat. No veggies, no sides at all for that matter, just meat. I had steak and pork, and the others also had some of each. It was a sort of zoo day, we saw a parrot:We also saw monkeys outside our hows on the way home. They are there routinely on their commute to some where. They pass by each night generally:
It is kind of wild here. We have seen multitudes of bugs, including scorpions (under one of the lady's beds), a fuzzy tarantula, many frogs of smooth and spiky completion, fire ants, condors, butterflies, giant green bugs shaped like leafs, a grass hopper that was about 3" long that was so big that it could not jump, and a lizard or two. I think we are the animals in the zoo and the other animals are here inspecting us.
Sunday was a great day at church. We walked the 45 minute walk to Benhamin Aceval and went to the cute chapel there. Here we are heading to church:
I really enjoyed church even though the meetings actually started at 8 and we arrived at 11, only for sacrament meeting. The testimony meeting was really fantastic and I enjoyed hearing the simple and powerful witnesses that these people have of the great gospel of Jesus Christ.
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I canvased the world here trying to find the necessary parts to build the carts that we had proposed earlier. Business is very hard to do here because everything is so disorganized. The businesses are scattered, and the products are scattered inside the businesses. I had to go to one store to buy wheels, and to another across town to get them assembled, and to a third for metal and to a forth for tools and I still don't have the paint that I need. One of the workers here (Giselle) was willing to drive the big truck around all day collecting the parts of the carts from various places in Asuncion. She is funny and was only hired a month ago. Her selling teams will take the carts and use them in the streets to sell product. I am working with her to organize her sales efforts and to use the mapping tools that we have. I hope that she can create teams of sellers that are really effective and can move more product for the school.
I felt very ineffective hacking at the business system here for three days trying to procure some very basic materials. At the end of the day Wednesday I began fixing all the broken tools that we needed to continue the project. I put a new grounding clamp on the welder, a new plug on the welder cord (which they had previously just been pushing the wires into the outlet) and I beat the bent drill press chuck back into alignment. I think the shop here has a two pound hammer for every real tool they own. If it's one thing they don't lack it is heavy hammers.Thursday was the first day of real progress on the project. We got the first frame started, and we welded up the box:On Friday we had to go to Asuncion to meet with a business leader who was president of the chamber of commerce. It turned out to be a less-effective meeting because he had no experience in the agricultural areas. He promised to gather some leaders in that area and coordinate a meeting for us to meet them and ask them for help with the school. Here is the chamber of commerce of Paraguay:
It was nice to pick up some great gifts as well, and then we headed home.
Saturday we welded all day and got a lot done on the project. Here we are welding and creating the first cart. We got it all done except the installation of the sheet metal sides and the painting.
I hope that we can complete it tomorrow and that the next carts will not take so long. I think that the first one was particularly long because of the crude tools and a bit of learning. Notice that every time I take a picture I am working with different students. That is good to pass on experience, but makes it very slow in making any progress. I am concerned that I will not get to the rest of my project before I have to go. I am working with several students on the carts and have made some good progress on their completion because of their input. I hope we have enough materials to finish them and to make them durable. The roads here are a mess and create quite the havoc for machinery.
Saturday afternoon we took part in a soccer tournament at the school that was a great relaxation for me:

Today was another great meeting at church. We got to be treated to the very friendly culture of the latin culture. I am a big fan of the easy-going and faithful saints. I love the fact that the gospel is the same all over the world.