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