Some Time Later

It has been about 6 months since our return from Paraguay, and its about time for some follow up.

First, I cannot believe I did not talk about Su Refugio in the blog. Su Refugio was a place we visited on that Friday in between our last Magdalena movie showing (which went very well), and our departure on Saturday. Su Refugio is literally translated as "His Refuge," and this place is truly a place of refuge. It is nestled in one of the most beautiful places of Paraguay and is a place where the word of God is told every day.

When we visited, it was still under a lot of construction. Nobody had moved in yet. It now serves as an orphanage, and has a beautiful church, as well as housing for a missionary family that are like parents to these orphans. They were still building the place up: including finishing construction, planting, digging their own well, laying bricks, etc etc. There is an amphitheater there, and they are hoping to build a sports center and even a seminary in the future.

Since we have visited, the children have moved in! They have slowly but steadily been completing project after project, and it is truly a beautiful and vibrant place full of love. Please check out this site on facebook, it is Su Refugio's site, and there are many photo, text, and video updates. It is a blessing to be able to see God building up something so wonderful for his Kingdom!

Here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Su-Refugio/227885753650?ref=ts

One of the most amazing things that was created at Su Refugio is a large semi-circular mural. I think translated from spanish it is called the "mural of hope." It is exactly that, as from beginning to end, it is a visual portrayal of the Bible. Everything points to Jesus, whether pointing to Him from the Old Testament, or pointing back to Him and anticipating His return in the New Testament. It is a beautiful and accurate portrayal of this. Nobody can walk into Su Refugio and leave with the ability to say they have not seen or heard the Gospel. It is a beautiful thing. Watch one of the latest videos on their wall, it appears as if there will be a documentary on the wall coming out in the near future!

Since we have left, God has obviously not stopped working in the lives of the people down in Paraguay, as well as the lives of the team and our church.

We recently received an e-mail with some updates of what is going on in San Lorenzo.

Dr. Miguel, Pastor Alcidez, and a missionary/church planting team coordinator Scott Kvandal recently went and visited the men working in an industrial factory. They shared the Gospel, and showed them the hope they too could have if they trusted their lives with Jesus. Some of the men prayed to receive Christ and Dr. Miguel is now starting a Bible study with the men in the factory. I hope this is as encouraging to you as it is to me. As I have written many times over these past blogs, GOD IS GOOD!!!

From occasional updates from Maximo and some of the friends we have made in Paraguay, it sounds like God is working in many other ways too. There are people from various neighborhoods that have started attending church regularly and who truly are devoting their lives to Jesus, who before were living hopeless lives and mostly by a works-based salvation. To see God work in the hearts of these people and to see Him turn lives around for good is so encouraging.

Another small blessing is just that many of us continue to keep in touch with friends we have made. Although we lives absolute miles apart, it is wonderful that we are all so connected by Jesus and how He has touched each of our lives personally.

There are many things that have happened to each of us personally as well. A lot has happened in the past 6 months, but through blessings, struggles, praises, and hardships we all know that it is for the Glory of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

This is why we went down in the first place. To spread to Gospel that is so worth spreading. Before Jesus, we were hopeless sinners who did not have a single chance of saving ourselves by any power of our own. Jesus, who lived a sinless life, died in our place, and rose again restored that hope, and it has touched each of our lives in a real and powerful way.

Ephesians 2: 1-10
2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

This was one of the most meaningful passages we shared with the people, and one of the greatest truths you will ever hear.


Thanks for reading this, look for possible blog updates on what God is doing in Paraguay in the future!

IN Christ,

Victoria

Homebound

Well, today we head home again! I do not have much time to write this morning, but I will write about our last days experience when we God willing return to the states.

This trip has been amazing and truly life changing for all of us. God did mighty things while we were down here in the lives of many people, but He also changed a lot of us, and our outlooks. It will be strange coming home again... some of us want to stay longer ;)... but these days we have experienced have been a huge blessing in all of our lives.

The team stayed united, we worked together well, we kept safe thus far, none of us are terribly sick, and we have all been convicted of certain things by the Holy Spirit. Your prayers have truly mattered, so we all thank you for that.

Although not all of us are ready to return home, we cannot wait to come back and tell all of you what this trip down to Paraguay has meant to us personally.

Time to go to the airport! :)

Pray for: safe travels!!

- Victoria

Days 7 & 8

We just had an AMAZING time of fellowship... and lots and lots of food... at Dr. Miguels house. Paraguayans take their meat seriously. There was fish soup, sausage, chorizo sausage, pig, beef, fish, including piranha, fish soup, ribs.... and when they offer you more "no" is not the correct answer. I took a video of the whole set up.. it was like nothing I had ever seen before. It will make its way onto facebook one of these days.

DAY 7:

We woke up early once again and repeated the same thing we did Monday at the public school again. In Paraguay, the school system is very different from American schools. Generally, the school day is split into two: a group in the morning, and a group in the afternoon. So, because we went in the morning, we had a different group of kids. I had a different group of second graders Rebecca and I could share Jesus with. This time the group was a little bit more responsive saying things like "oh yeah I know that story" and "oh yeah that is true." It was pretty cool. At one point a stray dog walked into the classroom... apparently that is normal because nobody flinched or paid it any attention. We all generally did the same presentations as we had the day before. Janna used the evange-ball again, but this time dropped it on some little girls head by accident. Comic relief for the day :) haha.

We then went back to the annex we were working out of for Monday and Tuesday and ate lunch. For this campaign we have been a part of, there were some women from the church hired as cooks, and without fail every day they have an absolutely amazing meal prepared for us at 12. They are amazing and serving just as much as anyone or more... and I just wanted to acknowledge them here quickly.
Then.. it was time for more door to door evangelism. I dont think any of us have gone door to door as much as we have down here in our lives. The amazing thing is that it works. In America, that generally is not a very effective way to share the gospel, but down here people are so receptive and responsive. This of course is a general statement. Every once in a while one of our groups run into the occasional Catholic waving a Mary Statue in someones face (Janna) or a Canadian Mormons (Marc). Generally though, the door to door ministry is a very effective way to spread the Gospel down here. Today we worked in a poorer neighborhood with a lot of farming going on. Roaming cows, sheep, goats, and lots of dogs and chickens was not a strange sight to see while walking around.

Besides all that, in this neighborhood we had at least 40 people accept Christ!! Once again, God shows that His word does in fact not return void. Its been amazing to see people "get it" and make the decision to follow Jesus. Those who dont seem to get it just yet but want to know, we are just praying that the word of the Lord is falling on "good soil."

This night we showed the Magdalena film again for the second time in Paraguay. This time it was a little bit more out in the open. We literally set it up in the middle of a dusty old back street where kids had turned it into a very primitive soccer field. It was technically in the back yard of a man named Raoul. Raoul was a staunch Catholic man who was very religious, but open to doing community things like showing a movie in his back yard. He was very set in his ways but open to letting us use his yard/road.
Raoul gave became a Christian after seeing the movie!! It was so so so exciting. God opened His eyes to the truth of the Gospel and He humbly gave his life over to Christ. God is GOOD!!
We set up the screen and set it up on a tree. A truck came through with some plastic chairs, and we set up a make-shift movie theater. It was such a joy to see some of the people we had invited from their houses and from the street show up to the movie. Maximo said a few words after the movie, and many people decided to trust their lives with Jesus. IT WAS SO AMAZING!

It was truly an amazing night to end an amazing day.


DAY 8:

I have caught up to today finally!
Today we moved to another neighborhood. I am not even going to try to spell it... just know it was a different neighborhood. We are working out of another annex to the main church for today and tomorrow (Thursday.) We met bright and early, and set out to do more door to door. "I am so tired" was on everybodys lips, but once again I am sure God gave us all new strength to go witness to more people. 3 people who my group prayed to receive Christ. And there were more from the other groups too. After eating yet another strengthening and delicious meal prepared by the ladies, we were able to have a short and much needed break.

We went door to door again in the afternoon, and my group saw 3 more people pray to receive Christ. The awesome thing about this system is the discipleship we return to do with these people the next day. They know that this prayer they are praying is not a ticket to heaven, but the beginning of a personal relationship with Jesus. We go through key verses in the New Testament with them which are the basis of our faith. Its awesome to see people get to know Jesus personally, sometimes for the first time in their lives.

Our main tool for evangelism is the evange-cube. Its pretty awesome, and people here are professionals at it. We also use our tracks which we brought from back in the States. They are in spanish though thankfully. They show a great portrayal of our need for a savior, Jesus. And we obviously use the Bible once we get deepr into discussion, and also to back up everything we say. Its just been such an amazing experience getting to share our faith and also getting to know the community, culture, and especially our translators. We make good teams :)

And as you know, tonight we had an amazing Paraguayan cook out with everyone.

Tomorrow we are going to another school to share the gospel to middle school/high school aged kids, and thier teachers. It is also our last day going door to door.

Pray for a strong finish to the campaign for us!!!

Prayer Requests:

1. God would work mightily in the lives of those who we have shared the Gospel with.
2. Those who have received Jesus would understand the Gospel and have a deep desire to learn more and more about Jesus.
3. Those who have received Jesus would get plugged into a church.
4. Renewed strength and a strong finish
5. Continued health - nobody has gotten sick yet. Some of us have felt under the weather though, due to climate changes, busyness, lack of sleep, etc.
6. We have another great turn out at the Magdalena movie we will be playing tomorrow night too

Thank you for all your prayers!!! We love you guys!

Psalm 27 is our trip chapter/verses for the trip, if you want to look that up by the way.

Thanks again!

- Victoria

Week 2 so far... Days 5 & 6

Sorry its been a few days since the last post. We have been extremely busy and consequently extremely tired...

I will just begin to say thank you AGAIN to all of you who are praying for us, God has proved His faithfulness, grace, love, and steadfastness over and over again to us during these past few days of being here.

DAY 5:

Sunday. We went to church, which is held at Heavens Kingdom school in the main gathering area. It was very cold, probably the equivalent to a late October day in Michigan. The service was great, Pastor Matt preached with a translator on the parable of the soil and the seeds. He did an excellent job, as did the translator. The Americans were invited up to speak to the congregation on how the past week had impacted us personally and what it means to be here. Janna and Patrick also got to share their personal testimonies. Although I am not sure they knew this in advance, Pastor Alcidez said that a Christian, at any given time, should be ready to share their personal testimony. Which is pretty true. They both did an excellent job though, and I think both testimonies fit in very well with the sermon.

Monday is a National Holiday in Paraguay, called "Day of the Child." Sunday, the church decided to take advantage of the holiday and have activities, a show, and snacks for kids all accross San Lorenzo. The "North Americans" were responsible for games out in the field area. We had soccer, volleyball, the parachute etc.. all the seame games we had for the school kids during the past week. There was also a special performance put on for all the kids, by older church and school kids, in the main gathering area as well. Although it was all in Spanish and we had no idea what the plot was, it was very very well done. Next was hot chocolate and cookies outside for the kids, and time to go home. I think in all we had 400 kids pass through the school.

Just for a quick background on Day of the Child: It comes from the War of the Triple Alliance. This war was fought by Paraguay against Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. This was was the cause of the most deaths South America has ever seen. Paraguay was especially devastated, and most of its male population was completely destroyed. This still resonates in Paraguay today, despite this war taking place in the 1800s. Once the men had mostly been killed, Paraguay got desperate and children were made to fight. They were given weapons and fought their countrys war. Most of these kids died. This day is to recognize the deaths of the youngest members of Paraguay when they died so young for their country.


DAY 6:

Monday is the actual day of the child. We got to the school bright and early prepared to be taken to our new neighborhood. There was another kids program that we stayed to watch before leaving though. My host sister, Barbie, was part of a dancing line in the play, so it was really cool to see here acting out something they had practiced for weeks upon weeks. Afrter this program, we got on the school bus once again, and headed over to the neighborhood my host family lives in.
The reason why we were switching locations is because there are neighborhoods around the main church that has little church plants in it. Kind of like Church daughters off the mother church. We are working in these neighborhoods that have these small annex churches with the hope of bringing people to Jesus, but also to come and learn more about Jesus in a church setting.
Although all of us were so tired, we set out with new energy to go door to door tellign people about Jesus. This morning, I had the opportunity to lead 2 people to Christ with the help of my translator Rebecca. She is just awesome. Once I present the gospel, she usually takes over so they can talk in Spanish back and forth normally instead of stopping to translate. She is only 14, but on fire for Jesus, and she knows her stuff. Its awesome, and I love working with her.
The rest of the team loves their translators too. All of us are SO grateful for them.

We also got to do soemthing very very exciting during the afternoon. We got permission from the local public school to come in and present the Gospel to all the kids and play games with them! It was just so cool to us that we were able to do that because it is a public school, and they do not teach anything about Jesus there at all. They welcomed us with open arms, even though they knew that we were evangelical missionaries. So, we excitedly got to the school and were each assigned a class to go into. Rebecca and I had 2nd grade again. The class was so receptive and loved hearing the story of Jesus. After sharing the Gospel, I got to share my own personal testimony with them. Since I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was 7 and in 2nd grade, I thought it was perfect that I could talk to kids that age. We all had a good experience in our classes, each sharing in our own way. Pastor Matt taught on the board, and Janna used our evange-ball (soccer ball :) ) to teach.
After we were all done in our classes, we were assigned to our games. Every 5 minutes Maximo would blow the whistle and the kids would RUN to the next activity.
It was just so awesome to be able to share Jesus in a public school system, we were all so very grateful for that experience.

That night, The Alcidez family (the pastor and his family) decided they wanted to take us (our team of 9) to go to dinner. So, once again, 17 of us piled up on the school bus and drove to Asuncion for dinner. We went to what would be the equivalent of a nice food bar and grill type place. We could get as much salad bar food as we wanted for a set price... but the coolest thing was the meat. Waitors would come around with these huge sticks with certain kinds of meat on it, and go around and ask everyone if we wanted them to cut us a piece. Paraguayans like their meat. There were so many different kinds... and they were all really really good. Its something none of us Americans had ever experienced before, so it was definitely meorable. Other than that it was just a great time of fellowship. We had time to get to know the Alcidez family a bit better through broken english and spanish.

And we also saw a football (soccer) player for one of the National Paraguay teams, which for some people was extremely exciting :)

So, that was Sunday and Monday. Sorry for the delay in writing... its now Wednesday, and I am about to go with my host family to Doctor Miguels house - Janna and Tracys host familys house. They are hosting a dinner for all the host families, US team members, and translators.

We are eating Piranha.

More updates tonight!

-Victoria

Days 3 & 4

Well, the birthday party was fun, and a very special time for the birthday girl and her family. Her family normally does not go to church, but they came because her 15th birthday party was in this little church. Maximo, the pastor for this small annex church, shared the gospel in a powerful way tonight at the party. The girls mother was deeply moved and prayed to receive Christ!!! It was so exciting. God really does work in mysterious and amazing ways.

DAY 3:

This was the first very cold day down here in San Lorenzo. Day 3 of us working was Friday, the 13th. It was also the first time any of us got some real rest from working so hard, which was a very quick answer to prayer.

We started the morning by going back to our classrooms if we were asked to. I went back to my 2nd graders. I was not sure how they would react when I told them we were going to make "wordless book" bracelets with the same colors and meaning as Carlito t he worm, but they LOVED it. This time, I had a translator, which made things run a lot more smoothly. They were so sweet and a joy to work with.

Our childrens program continued during that morning in the main room where all the events take place. For our last time with them, we opened up with the song "Father Abraham." They had no idea what we were singing, but they caught on to the motions really fast. We did another puppet show, played a couple songs, and finally Tracy taught them a lesson with help from translator, Alex. The highlight of this program was the sports time at the end. We all went down with various activities to their red dirt yard and played soccer (football), parachute, volleyball, made bracelets, and did much more. These kids are amazingly good at soccer for their age, by the way. Patrick did a very good job as the sports leader and coordinator, giving people jobs we would be doing during the sports time.

Thankfully, instead of going door to door witnessing straight away, we had a lunch and about 2 hours of free time to relax and recoop. If anyone prayed for that for us, thank you, we needed it so much, and God answered that prayer.

When we regrouped, we continued going door to door, but this time back to peoples houses who had prayed to receive Christ. I went out with Pastor Matt and translator Sessy. We went to disciple a woman who had received Christ as her Lord the day before, but an even more amazing thing happened! Her husband prayed to receive Christ after about an hour of talking with them. It was so amazing. God is so spectacular in the way he works! And this is not the only experience we had like this, I had similar experiences with my other translators, and I know the rest of the team has seen the fruit of thier words.
At least 40 people have prayed to receive Christ in the past 3 days!!! The great thing about this ministry though is that there is follow up and discipleship. We make sure that these people who had accepted Christ know what they are talking about, and know the Gospel. The team, as well as the translators, have had absolutely amazing and life changing experiences here so far.

Friday night was pretty relaxed too. A few of us went down from the church and had some Paraguayan barbeque that they are so well known for. It was as amazing as they say it is. This night was also a concert hosted by the senior class from Heavens Kingdom to raise money for their senior trip to Argentina. This time was not wasted either, the Gospel was presented to the audience by translator Carlos, and worship songs were sung over the course of the night.

God has answered prayer, and continues to challenge us daily, teach us more about himself, and grow in fellowship with fellow Christians from down here in Paraguay :).


DAY 4:

Today we did not go door to door, but instead went out to learn about New Tribes Mission, a global mission outreach to different tribes. The one we went to visit was the Maka Tribe. They have their own distinct language and culture. We visited missionaries who are in thier 70s and have lived in Paraguay for most thier life. For the past decade or so, probably more, they have been translating the Bible into the Maka language, which is no small feat to take on.
Translating a Bible into such a complicated language takes years, and Steve Johnson, someone who works down here for New Tribes, was saying the good missionaries usually only complete 1 translation in their lifetime. Matt and Rosemary have completed 3 and are working on thier 4th translation of the Bible for the Maka people. It is just amazing to see and hear the story of these two servants of the Lord. Their greatest concern in life is to reach these people in thier language and that they are able to live long enough to complete some of their work. They are truly an inspiration to all of us on what a servants heart really looks like, and how to obey God. Their story of how they met is amazing, and thier stories of service over the past decades is awe inspiring.
They even gave us their translation of the Bible in the Maka language. How cool is that.

They took us to the Maka village, where the native Maka danced their traditional dance in traditional garb for us. There are striking similarities between them and some North American Indian tribes, although still very different in language and way of life. It was a very memorable experience for all of us though.

We had the opportunity to go back to Asuncion later and learn more about New Tribes Mission, and hear an overview on the strategies and things to consider when thinking about being a missionary to a tribal people who are 100% different from us. It was just awesome to see and hear about what God is doing in even the smallest and most forgotten tribes on His earth. He was not kidding when He said every tongue and every nation will be reached... they are being reached as we speak. Its so exciting!

Even though we have been so busy so far, this whole trip experience has been enlightening, exciting, and a breath of fresh air into all of our lives.

Probably the most hilarious thing that happened today though was when Marc decided to try and make Paraguayan kool-aid with sparkling water. We were sitting in the bus, and the powder reacted to the water and created a similar reaction as mentos in coke would have done. So... it got all over Marc, the bus, whatever was outside the window when they sent the spray outside, Portias hair, and the bus roof. It was ok though, because we had baby wipes to clean the bus with :)

Prayer Request:

For Matt and Rosemary, faithful missionaries and servants of the Lord to the Maka tribe through translation. Pray that their ministry would still flourish and they would accomplish great things through God until He calls them home or returns.

Thanks for your time and prayers!!

- Victoria

Culture

I do not have much time right now, but since so much has happened in the past 2 days, I am going to update twice today. This will just be a few interesting cultural differences we have experienced or noticed while we are down here. Paraguay is definitely has a strong, engrained culture, and it is so interesting living in and among it and the people :)

Here we go.

1. Paraguay is the only country in South America with 2 official languages: Guarani, and Spanish. Spanish is more widely spoken, but Guarani is still present and is the indiginous language of the country.

2. Mate. That word should have an accent on the e, but I cannot figure out how to do that on this keyboard. Pronounced mah-tay. EVERYONE drinks it here. It is boiled water with basically tea leaves and herbs, then put in container. You have a cup, with herbs in it, and a metal straw. You continuously pour the hot tea water into the leaves in the cup, and drink it. Everywhere and anywhere. In the winter, its hot. In the summer its cold and called something else. I am not even going to attempt to phonetically guess how to spell it. It is served to you as a guest if you go to somebodys house, and it is rude to turn it down. Its good stuff though. We all like it :)

3. Turning 15 is the coming of age birthday. I am actually about to go to a girls 15th birthday party. It is the US equivalent to "sweet sixteen." In this case, it is a surprise party so it is pretty exciting!

4. It is very common to see chickens, cows, goats, sheep, and lots and lots of cats and dogs roaming the streets. In San Lorenzo, I see this every day. Not as much in Asuncion, but today we did see a horse going the wrong way on a one way street. I am often put to sleep by the barking of stray dogs accross the city and roosters, and woken by the sounds of more roosters and the mooing of cows.

5. In most cases, toilet paper does not get flushed, it is thrown away.

6. When you approach a house and would like to announce your presence at the house, you clap in front of the gate.

7. If you are trusted, it is most likely the owner of the house will bring chairs out and sit with you on their patio or front courtyard

8. Paraguayans, and San Lorenzo in particular, are very curious. We were very successful in door to door ministry mostly because the Paraguayans would tell the owner of the house they have an American (USA) with tham, so they would let us in or talk out of pure curiosity.

9. There are no traffic laws that I have been able to figure out. The city of Asuncion (biggest city in Paraguay and capital) is the first place I have seen a traffic light of any kind.

10. Carbohydrates are the staple food here. I have yet to eat anything green or any fruit yet. Bread, pasta, lots of meat, and other similar foods are staple. My host mother explained this is because it fills you up the most and gives you the most energy, and this is necessary especially because there are many people here who cannot afford a lot of one thing.

11. The barbeque here is amazing, and Paraguayans LOVE their barbeque. If you ask any of the guys on our team they will tell you it is the best they have ever had. At least thats what I have heard...

12. Speaking of food, dinner time is at about 10-11 p.m. every night. Portia told me this is just a South American tradition in general though.

We are leaving now though, so I will update later!!

Days 1 & 2

So. I do not even know where to begin to talk about day 1 and 2. It has only been 2 days of working and it already feels like it has been a week. Our work has been fruitful though! Keep reading to find out more about what we have been doing.

DAY 1:

We woke up in San Lorenzo for the first time. The old school bus came and picked us up house by house to go to the school, Heavens Kingdom, where we are working out of for the next 10 days. Barbie, my host sister (7th grade) is acting as one of our amazing translators for the next couple weeks, so she came along too. We passed stray dogs and goats and even some cows on the way to the school, which is always an interesting sight for visiting Americans like us. As soon as we got to the school, we started to plan out what we would be doing for the next couple of days, but more importantly, we divided into groups that would be going door to door evangelizing to the blocks around the school.

While evangelizing, we go out with 3 people generally in a group. If more than 3, there is at least one of the following in each group. 1. A US citizen/Americano 2. a spanish translator 3. a National. Someone who can also speak Guarani, which is one of the two official languages in Paraguay.
While going door to door, I noticed immediately how trusting and hospitable the people of San Lorenzo are. Not all, but most. There are gates in front of the houses, with usually some type of court yard before you can reach the house... so no doorbells. Only rarely is there a doorbell to ring. So, what we do down here is clap in front of peoples houses. Its like knocking on the door... but not. The people come out and the translator generally says something like (in spanish) "hola, me llamo (name) and this is Victoria from the United States of America..." and then they would say something else. Which generally means "could we talk to you." 9/10 times they invited us into their yards and brought out chairs for us to talk solely because I am from the US and I look and sound different. They are interested that I am from North America. So, once we are in, we present the gospel. All of our groups have been using the "evange-cube" and gospel tracks to explain the gospel.
The response is amazing.
I have never seen so many people so responsive to the gospel than down here in San Lorenzo. This day, we had 5 people accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. I am not positive all of them know completely what it measns to have Jesus Lord of their lives, but they heard the gospel, so Gods word will do its work in their hearts. The people of the "Florida" church where we are working also come back to the houses to disciple the people so they know the Gospel and the message of Jesus in full. Other groups who went around had people who accepted Christ as their savior. I think the total for Wednesday was 16 people around these blocks who accepted Christ.
God is good, and His word is powerful.
There are some amazing stories and testimonies we got the priviledge of hearing as well.

Once the morning was done, we went and had a snack, and did this all over again until 5 p.m. I just cannot say how much I love and appreciate my amazing translators I have been working with - and I am positive the rest of the team feels the same way.

After a team meeting and final closing for the night, we went home with our host families. The church we are working with has house churches that are planted in neighborhoods in close vicinity to the church. So Wednesday night, we visited our neighborhood church services, as they all have a gathering service on the same days. Ours is in an annex at a house - the best way to describe it is a long garage type room turned into a small house church. Although I did not know what was going on most the time, it was still a great experience. The community of believers here in San Lorenzo is just amazing - so full of life, like a very close and truly real church family. Marc and Patrick were at my church for the night. Marc got to share his testimony, and Patrick, although asked about 30 minutes before to do so, got up and preached a few points on Psalm 27, which is our team chapter for this trip. They both did a great job. At the end, we were served Paraguayan kool-aid and bread with what Marc calls "liquid balogne." It was good though.

That was only day 1.


DAY 2

This was today, the 12th. We started the morning by getting to the school and individually going to classrooms that were assigned to us to teach a lesson to the kids. I had second grade. My translator never showed up, so communication was pretty difficult at first. Carolina, my other host family sister, was in that class, and when she was not busy, she was an amazing translator. I taught the kids about "Carlito, the Gospel Worm" and then afterwords had them make a fuzzy little Carlitos themselves. They loved it. Thankfully, I know my colors in Spanish so I was able to teach that pretty well, and the teacher knew exactly what I was talking about so she could elaborate. It was truly an amazing experience.

After the classroom time was lunch and team meeting, where we found out we were putting on a whole set of music, testimonies, and skits for the high schoolers. I have been named director for this, so it was my job to put what we are doing together and tell people thier roles. I am responsible for 4 of these presentations. One of my prayers has been that God would stretch me and put me out of my comfort zone for His Glory - this is one big answer to prayer. He is challenging all of us in new ways, and its amazing to see God growing us all. The skit that Janna, Pat, and Marc did was pretty great. On paper, we honestly all thought it was the most lame thing we had ever read, but the audience responded very very well, Andrews acoustic guitar added great effect, and the 3 actors just did a wonderful job in general :). Marc and Pat shared their testimonies again, Pastor Matt preached a very good and convicting short sermon, and those who are musically inclined played and sang worship songs with some of the Paraguayans.

We then headed out to the streets again, sharing the gospel with locals. My team and I just went out to disciple those who had prayed the day before, and since it is a lot easier to just do in Spanish, my translator took over and I just followed along in my Bible, praying for their salvation. It is so good to see God right in front of our eyes working in the lives of these people. God truly answered our constant prayers that He would go before us and prepare the hearts of the people who we have yet to meet and yet to talk to. It is a blessing to be a part of this.

One of the most AWESOME things we did all day, although we were dead tired, was share the Jesus film with the Paraguayans at the school/church. This Jesus film is called Magdalene, and is the same story of Jesus just through the eyes of Mary Magdelene. It was the very first time this movie had EVER been shown in the country of Paraguay, and it is just such an overwhelming blessing to be part of the team who brought it here. I just hope and pray it made a difference in at least one persons life.

As you can see, we are keeping very busy in Paraguay, but it is all worth it. We are raching the lost for the Kingdom of God, and there is no greater joy than that!!

Answered prayers:
1. OUR LUGGAGE CAME! Although they said 2 were lost, all 16 came.

Prayer Requests:
1. Energy to get through these long days
2. We would be receptive to what God is teaching us about ourselves and how he is growing us
3. We would continue to be a united group
4. Continued health

PRAISES!
1. Our host families are awesome
2. God is reaching the lost and bringing people to Him
3. We have all stayed healthy so far
4. Our God is an Awesome God, and I think all of us are seeing Him prove that more and more each day.

I am not sure all blog updates will be this long - there is just so much I know all of us would like to share with you about Gods amazing work in this country.

I hope you made it through all of that... :)

In Christ,

Victoria

And we made it!

We made it to Asuncion, Paraguay!

Chike was not able to make this trip, but we know God has a purpose for him not going, and for who is here right now. We have a little bit of down time in our host families houses before tonight, when we meet at the church for a meeting and planning.

Heres what has happened so far.
Everything went very smoothly at the Detroit airport. We ended up having plenty of time before our flight took off, maybe 2 hours, so Pastor Matt gave us an assignment to take our tracks and share the gospel with people around the airport. This is a good place to start - talking to people who actually speak our language. It was slightly nerve racking at first, as we wanted to portray the Gospel as best we could in limited time, but when reunited, all of us had very interesting stories to tell of who we encountered - both believers and non believers. Although it was a simple task, it definitely gave us a feel for what we would be doing in Paraguay, and in Spanish. A language 1 out of the 9 of us speak.

The flights went well, and we even got to share tracks with people on the plane rides. On the plane to Buenas Aires was when the language barrier first hit me for real. Not being able to understand most the conversations around me was something surreal, and a reminder of what the next 2 weeks will be like in this Spanish and Guarani speaking country. Besides this, the overnight flight to Argentina, and the flight then to Paraguay was pretty smooth and hastle free. A little sleep depriving, but good none the less.

We were met at the airport in Asuncion by Pastor Alcides, one of our translators, Alex, and other members of the church who we have not yet had the opportunity to get to know. All of us are generally seperated or with another team member at a host familys house. We all piled in a bus from the airport to be dropped off at our new houses with our new families for the next 12 days. During this time, we got to see a lot of the city. It is a colorful, dusty, busy with traffic, laid back, city with all sorts of different things going on. We saw everything from people taking siestas in random parts of town, to chickens roaming the streets, to unattended fires burning in fields, to a carnival happening in the middle of the city. There are a lot of private businesses selling thier products from small stands all around town. Some roads are paved, but outside of the main road (called the black highway) there are stone and red dirt road all around. Driving is an interesting adventure in and of itself. I have yet to detect any kind of road laws that are applied besides stopping at a stoplight, if there is one, or a stop sign.

I am alone at my host familys house, and they are wonderful! Betty, my host family mother, is actually from Grand Rapids, Michigan! Despite how large this world is, it still is rather small. They are great and I cannot wait to get to know them all during the next couple of weeks. I do not have any contact with the others, but I am sure they are settling in just fine as well.

Our luggage got lost along the way somehow, so hopefully we can get all of that before our meeting tonight at the church. We will see when it actually gets here...

We are still developing our agenda for while we are down here, but right now what I know is we will be doing sports ministry, sharing the Jesus film, puppet shows etc. for kids, VBS for kids, door to door evangelism, and who knows what else.

Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone out there know that we are here in Paraguay, tired, but resting up and doing well, and we are so excited to see what Jesus is going to do while we are here.

This is just the beginning of a long journey, and I do not believe any of us will be the same when we leave. Please pray that as this time goes by, we may positively influence the lives of many people down here too, and give them hope of a life with Jesus :)

Other prayer requests:
1. our luggage would arrive!
2. continued team unity despite exhaustion from flight
3. adjustment to potential culture shock
4. that we would be the most effective we can for Jesus!
5. we would be able to learn and remember at least a little bit of Spanish :)

PRAISE
1. we arrived safely!
2. I will have internet connection so the blog is a go :)


In Christ,

Victoria

One Week!

In one week exactly, we will be on our way down to Paraguay. It is almost surreal how close this trip is; after all the training, praying, and preparations, it is almost here.
These are just a couple updates since the last post:

1. Praise: Patrick's visa came in, so we are very grateful for that :)

2. Chike's visa is still being processed... it is "humanly impossible" for it to arrive on time as there are still 2 weeks necessary in the process: we are praying for a miracle.

3. The Jesus films came in!!

4. We have a huge back pack that came in the mail with a ton of equipment, such as a projector, screen, and basically anything we need to set up a screen wherever we are and share Jesus, with the people we will be with, in Spanish.

5. Personally, I still have zero ability to speak spanish besides my colors, numbers, and "hola."

6. One of our team members, Marc Rance, got baptized this past Sunday, which of course is very exciting!

Other than that, we have finished with our official training, and are now beginning to organize suitcases and pack the materials we need to bring down there. Anyway, those are just some quick updates for ya, keep following us, especially while we're down there.
Thanks and God bless!

NOTE: The picture in this post is the closest thing we have to a team picture. Portia Reimer, Chike Amaechi, and Marc Rance are not pictured. Roland Day is in this picture... but not part of our team haha. We'll have another one soon enough..

Prayer and Preparation

Hello all!!

It is so good to have the blog up and running finally. Here, you will be able to (God willing) follow our team and what we are doing in Paraguay while we are actually down there serving. Right now I am just praying we will somehow be able to connect to internet down there so you can know what is going on on an almost daily basis!

Right now, our team is still in preparation mode. God has poured out blessing after blessing for the trip already, and it is amazing, as well as humbling. We have been provided with thousands of dollars worth of media equipment and Jesus Film movies, more resources than we can handle, and more funds than we asked for. Praise God for His mercy

and provisions!

Our main prayer request right now is that two of our team members get their Visas back in time. Please remember Patrick and especially Chike in your prayers as they wait for their visas to arrive before August 9th!!

You all are just as much part of this trip as we are through prayers and provisions. God has been so good and faithful in providing us an amazing church family and circles of friends. Thank you for your support, we cannot thank you

enough!!