P21The Curious Life of a Preacher's Wife

Plot: Beginning

1. For about 40 years, Azul has been the leading female/mother figure of Iglesia Bautista Fundamental Evangelio Completo of the Boro of Palma Loma, near Asúncion, the capital of Paraguay. As the pastor's wife she was expected to keep a schedule as busy as her husband. This meant, that Sundays started with a women's prayer breakfast a 8:00 AM, followed by a Sunday School class at 9:00, the Worship Service from 10:00 to Noonish, after which she spent the next hour to ninety minutes ministering to people, who stayed after church for prayer, healing touches, prophetic words.

Sunday lunch was usually around 2:00 PM, pulled completely read from the crockpot, that she filled,and set for Slow Cook at 7:00 AM. After a most necessary siesta from 3:00 to 4:00 she freshened up her outfit and appearance, ready for the return trip to church at 5:00, where she would help to make sure the auditorium was ready for the evening service at 6:00. The Evening Worship Service usually ended around 8:00 to 8:15. Tack on the after-service prayer and ministry, then the pastor's family was home around 9:30,exhausted and ready for cenar (aka "supper.") However, in the 1990s of that country, it was still expected for the wife in the home to prepare ther meal before she could finally have a few minutes on the couch or flop into the bed, fully-clothed.

That was merely sunday's schedule. Monday through Saturday was not much lighter. In addition to three square meals each day for her three men, the pastor and their two sons, Azul led a Women's Bible Study on Tuesday mornings at 9:00 and Thursday afternoons at 3:00 and 6:00. The later Bible helped the women with full-time jobs outside of the home.

Wednesday evening Worship was sort of a repeat of Sunday evenings with bedclothes optional for hermana cansada Azul.

Azul, also, entered volunteer items into her schedule, like two hours of time every Friday afternoon as an adult leader with the Youth Success Club in Asúncion.

Azul was the church' coordinator for Quinseñera celebrations for members'daughters, and she visited people in the hospital, took meals to the shut-ins, and spent many hours crying with the bereaved. Of course, there is no way to place these sorts of ministry opportunities on a schedule, since the most consistent element of these events is their randomness.

For Azul Corazon the normality of her 40 years of ministry in Paraguay, South America could be wrapped up in one word, exhaustion. The family looked at Mondays, and half a day on Saturdays as their "weekend," but that only happened if the church members were "emergency-free" on those days.

That's why I plan to start the first page of this new book with Azul's hidden weekend at Chololó. Only her best friend knew she was there for a getaway, and was under strict orders to tell no one, even in the face of a severe emergency. "De cierto," was this dear friend's response. "I'll call one of the deacons, if we need anything at the church."

2. The inciting trigger or incident, which caused Azul to finally resign, to leave Paraguay, and to return to the States for her final years was an off-hand comment by Hermana Boca Larga (aka "Sister Big Mouth" to her friends.) "You needed to escape to Chololó for ther weekend, without letting any of us be able to call, if we needed anything? you've never done that before. Maybe you are past your prime." "Without a doubt!" she spit back. "No mas. Qué Dios te bendiga, but without me ever, again! I resign. Ahora."

by Jay O’Toole
on October 4th, 2021