Read below for an update on each member of the Goddard family!

Mike spends time sharing about cross-cultural tribal missions in local churches, teaching Chronological Bible seminars in local churches, building relationships with Paraguayans, and doing computer work (news articles, e-mail updates, updating the Mision Nuevas Tribus website, etc.). Recently, he organized a Pastor’s Forum and had the opportunity to go on a trip to an Ache tribal village with his dad. Tribal missions continues to beat in his heart, and what a great encouraging time he had with the Ache!

Trisha stays busy with taking care of the home and their 3 children. She and the kids get many opportunities to go with Mike to churches. Trisha also helps with the computer work and entertaining guests in their home. More recently she made a very good friend named Ruth, a 17 year old girl who has one more year of high school, is learning English and who loves the Lord. Trisha & Ruth can be found at least once a week, talking and drinking terere together in the Goddard’s home.

Michael is in Prescolar (Kindergarten). He is reading well in both English and Spanish. He enjoys playing soccer with his friends at school. Each week, he has a new friend, whether it is Carlos, Bruno, or Esteban. At home, he loves making flying ships with his legos and playing a game on mommy’s computer. In February, when the new school year starts, he will be in 1st grade, which means more school work, a 2 day camp, and more fun with friends.

Lea is in Jardin (Preschool). There are 7 others in her class, but her best friend is a little girl named Ruth. She and Ruth bring each other gifts at least once a week! She is loved by all, because of her character – fun, crazy, and loving. She can easily learn different languages, which amazes her parents as to what she knows! At home, she loves to find new family members and friends – whether it be an ant, a creepy bug, or a spider. And unlike Michael, she is more than willing to hold them and wants to keep them. She tells mommy that they are family and so cute, so we can’t kill them!  Lea will be in Kindergarten, which will be a fun challenge for her!

Kaleb loves to give hugs and kisses, which his mommy is always ready for. He loves to play with “bad” guys (whether it is legos, Rescue Heroes, or Batman and Spiderman). He usually has 2 in his hands, and he makes them fight each other. His favorite saying is “you stinky old man”, which then, he runs hoping that someone is close behind to tickle him. He loves to sing and begs both daddy and mommy to play Jesus Loves Me on the computer, so that he can sing along. In February, he will be going to the Spanish Christian school with Michael and Lea. He will be in Maternal (Pre-Preschool). This will be a new adventure for him, and he is very excited about going to school. He already says that he is 7 years old even though he’s only 2.

Two weeks ago, you would think Michael’s world came crashing down, because he got a new teacher!

He absolutely loved his former Teacher Paty, but because of her specialty with working with older kids, she was moved to the upper grades. Now Michael has a new Teacher; her name is Ana. Michael says, “We can’t play toys no more, only soccer one time, and lots of math and letters.” Teacher Ana is a great teacher, but to a 6 year old, his school day has drastically changed!

“Mia has a pink skirt, Ruth has a red one, and I want a Rainbow one!”

In preparing for International Day at Michael and Lea’s school, their classes have been practicing a Paraguayan traditional dance that they will perform that evening. Lea couldn’t wait to go shopping and get her traditional Paraguayan dress! On Friday, we told her that we would go shopping on Saturday to buy her skirt. She was fine with this, and said “Mom, I still need to take one of my skirts to school today so that I can be like my friends!”

Today, you should have seen the SMILE on her face, when we went shopping downtown to buy her pretty skirt as well as a special blouse and flowers for her hair. She was THRILLED to find a red, white, and blue skirt, a cream colored blouse with lace on the sleeves, flowers for her hair, and a bead necklace and earrings.

“I will be so pretty in my new skirt! Thanks, Daddy for buying it for me!”

It happened just the other day. We just had to have some ice cream! We don’t buy ice cream very often, for reasons you’re about find out. But on this particular day, we were determined to make it work out.

Our heart sank when each grocery store we stopped by, and ice cream parlor offered a gallon for about $40 USD! Trisha had a coupon in her purse, so we finally paid 12,000 Guaranies for 1 kilo of ice cream ($3.13 for less than one quart) and savored every bite.

Kaleb’s new craze is soccer!

He is always trying to get someone in the family to play with him and loves watching it on TV. His favorite person to be in a soccer game is the yellow guy, which is often the referee. When watching a soccer game, each family member will pick a team. Of course, Michael Dean goes back and forth between teams depending on who is winning at the time. Kaleb gets excited when a team makes a GOAL! To him, that is the best part of the game!

Michael and Lea are thrilled that they are big kids and get to go to school.

Each day before school, they get their uniforms on and pick out a juice box and snack (crackers, cookies, M&Ms). They grab their backpacks and are off on the 5-block trek to school with Mommy and Kaleb in tow. Upon arrival, Michael heads off to his class with 14 other classmates, and Lea off to hers with just 7 classmates. Throughout the week, they study letters, numbers, phonics, music, poetry, a weekly Bible verse, art, English class, Portuguese class, and more.

Michael’s favorite thing to do at school is play soccer with his buddies, Diego and Bruno. Lea says that she loves her Profesora (teacher), has fun singing new songs, and playing with her friends, Mia and Ruth.

Since going to school, Lea has surprised her mommy by saying a word in English and then the Spanish translation! Michael is continually asking, “How do I say ____ in Spanish?” With Michael and Lea being in school and talking more Spanish, Kaleb has almost conquered saying his ABC’s in Spanish and counts to 10 in Spanish. His favorite Spanish letter in the alphabet is “eckees” or the letter “x”.

Michael and Lea have proven to be great students. They enjoy showing Daddy and Mommy all their school papers.

Each day they look forward to school and are sad when their teacher doesn’t give out homework!

Our God is truly awesome! He has stretched us and molded us during these 7 years so that His honor and glory is accomplished through our lives, our marriage, our family, and our ministry here in Paraguay.

Our heartbeat and passion as a couple is to see unevangelized people groups reached with the Gospel. It is for that reason we are allowing God to use our lives as a road sign, pointing people in the right direction – according to God’s will.

Today I experienced something new as a father and missionary. I went to school to pick up my oldest son and daughter.

Every since we were married, Trisha and I have talked about homeschooling our children. For quite some time, Trisha has been collecting books and information on how to properly home school the kids and come out with a good education. Things were running very smoothly, but we kept arriving at the same conclusion; for Trisha to advance in Spanish past the now comfortable stage she’s in, she will need to get creative. So we chose the creative route of enrolling Michael II and Lea in a Christian School!

Enrolling alone was an experience I’ll never forget. I sat in the Principal’s office sweating. She had asked me when I first walked in if it was too warm and if I wanted the A/C on, but it felt fine to me. Then came the enrollment fees and the counting of one million fifty five thousand in Paraguayan currency, and a list of a ton of other things like toilet paper, scissors, glue and uniforms. When Trisha and I returned home, we admitted that we had entered a realm where our vocabulary was limited and awkward.

This afternoon, as we drove together as a family to the school, Michael Dean began drilling Lea with Spanish phrases such as, “what is your name?” and her colors.

Today was worth it all when I saw Michael and Lea’s blond hair and blue eyes bobbing up and down behind a stream of dark-haired brown eyed classmates, and their smiling faces when they saw me. Michael’s new friend came sat down next to me on the bench I had been waiting on, and said, “I don’t understand him very well!” My answer was simple, “you can teach him, and he can teach you some English too!” Lea sat next to me in the truck on the way home and proudly announced, “daddy, I didn’t even cry at all!”

Needless to say, I’m a very proud father.

Mike – We praise the Lord that Mike is doing better! No more fevers, headaches, and minimum pain since Wednesday. His cough continues, but Lord-willing, that will subside soon as well. THANKS to all of you who have prayed for him and us as a family during this time. We really appreciate you lifting us up in prayer before our Heavenly Father!

Trisha – My follow-up eye appointment (for Lasik surgery) went fine on Thursday, and I was told that I now have 20/20 vision in both eyes (with one eye missing a few letters). I am loving the freedom of not having glasses and am thrilled that God provided for me in this way. I will go back for one more appointment in August.

The kids continue to stay busy – from using sidewalk chalk to make roads for their cars to swimming in the pool at Windermere Baptist Camp! Plus they are enjoying all the extra suprises like Smarties candy, chips, and ice cream!

Next week, Mike & I will be attending a 6 day conference which is known as Refresher Course. This is a time for NTM missionaries all over the world on Home Assignment to come together at the NTM Missionary Training Center (5 minutes from where we are staying with Trisha’s parents). There will be a special speaker, updates on NTM, time for fun and fellowship, and much more!