Simply Inspired..........

Well there is only one title that I can successfully give my prayer letter this month to accurately describe my past experiences.........INSPIRED!!

This last weekend I got the privilege to go to a town called Yuty (pronounced jutu) and visit some missionaries down there with my friend and roommate Melissa. It was the exact break that I needed from my work here in Villarrica to give me the last push to the end…. But before I get into all of that … here is EVERYTHING that you need to catch up with on my life.

I have spent the last month or two just in school … I was slightly discouraged by my work out here because I was not feeling as though I was really putting a lot of energy into being a teacher and I was not really seeing a place for ministry, and although I was REALLY needed in the school and there was no doubt in my mind that I was supposed to be here helping with that I have always been wanting a way to minister to the people since the beginning of my time here. I have just not been able to jump into ministry here with these kids the way that I would have liked....…but I have found my niche in working with one girl in particular. Her name is Karen, and she is turning 15 in the next few weeks. Karen lost her parents this last year and is now living with relatives whose kids go to CEI the school where I teach. Karen herself does not go to the school but they brought her to church and I met her there. Melissa and I have become quite close to her and we are excited to spend time with her practicing Spanish and getting to learn teenage life in Paraguay a little bit better.

We have also found a place in ministering to Bob and Carole our mentors and friends here in Villarrica. They are going through a very tough and stressful time as things with the church in Villarrica are facing some challenges and there is some serious reconciliation that needs to take place between the elders of the church including Bob himself before the church will be moving forward again. Also Carole is the director of the school and this is not an easy task as a woman in this country. She also has diabetes which gets worse with stress.

We all get together as a team once or twice a week for a meal so that they can connect with Melissa and me and get a chance to unwind. It is a great time for all and a great time of prayer for the 4 of us. Melissa and I try to show our appreciation to the two of them by cooking meals or taking Carol to get her toe nails painted as that is one of her favorite things to do when she goes into the city.

As for school we are in full swing in term three and beginning to wrap things up. This week I begin exams and they will run for the next 3 weeks to follow. I cannot believe how fast this term went by. It is difficult to get all my exams made up and ready to go. The kids are also having a hard time focusing as they can taste the end. To be honest Melissa and I are close the same way! Schools here are VERY different from back home, lots of children have undiagnosed learning disabilities and the rest have never been taught how to learn or behave in class. The level of order in a classroom is worse than anything that can be imagined… if it was not for God I am not sure how either of us would make it through! Praise him for my patience and understanding for I know they are not from me but completely from him.

This past weekend I was invited to go to Yuty with Melissa and visit Dan and Christy Riche. They are a missionary couple that lives in a town with one other SIM couple, the Cameron’s. Dan and Christy have two boys Samuel (8) and Nathan (10).
On Friday Melissa and I went to the bus terminal with our bags which have become routine for us as that is our only means of travel around the country. An hour later we were ushered into a hot sweaty bus and we were off down a dirt road that we had never been down before. As we were driving along on this four hour bus ride we were passing less and less people and it was very apparent that we were entering an extremely rural part of Paraguay, the most rural either of us had been before.

While we were riding the bus we were joking with one another about the bus breaking down as we had no cell phone service and no way to contact anyone, but that was not our main concern… we also realized that less and less people were speaking Spanish and more and more were communicating in Guarani, the native tongue of Paraguay. We decided jokingly that we could probably make it about 2 days on the side of the road walking and hopefully we would be able to find some way back to civilization or at least find someone to communicate with by then. Needless to say we arrived in Yuty with no problems and that is where the really exciting stuff began.

Dan and Christy are church planters in Yuty and on Saturday night Melissa and I were able to attend a bible study that Dan leads in one of the poorer areas of the town. We got to the small house and set up about 15 chairs and waited for people to arrive. It was a rainy day and we were not expecting many to come but almost all of the chairs were filled by the time the study started. I sat there listening to Dan draw on a small chalk board and talk about the outline of the study “what characteristics does a disciple of God have”. I was in awe by the answers that these people were giving.

As Dan was talking the women and the men of the study were engaging in a thoughtful conversation about their savior in their native tongue. The entire study was spoken in Guaraní and Christy translated for Melissa and me. As I was sitting there listening I couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of compassion, pride and love for these people. This was the heart of Paraguay. This was a missionary reaching the unreachable. I was reminded this weekend during that small bible study why I love missions and why I came out here in the first place. Missions for a short termer is about learning “how to be a missionary” and helping out the long term missionary where they can but Missions is about giving people like the ones in Yuty a chance to learn about God. It is about reaching the unreachable and showing them the most important thing that we as Christians have. And that is the love of Christ.

It was such a blessing to watch a man of God teach the thing he loves most (God’s word) to the people who deserve it the most (the unreached) and in return have them bring new unreached people to gain the same opportunity that they got by sharing the word of God. The experience was a definite highlight for me of my time in Paraguay and I will look back on this when I get home as a defining moment in my life. The day that I saw the bare bones of what missions truly is first hand. The day there was no English teaching involved, no food being handed out, just people sitting under a roof in the rain coming together for one common goal, to get to know Christ better. I imagine that this must have been what it was like for the apostles… when I was just them traveling for miles, not offering t-shirts or food or lessons in English but rather just the good news of the gospel.

On Sunday there was communion at Dan and Christy’s church and I was able to break bread with these people. I could not communicate with them at all, but I was able to share in and remember the body and blood of Christ that day, and for that there are no words necessary. We ended the service by praying, in multiple languages, English, Spanish, and Guarani. It was he perfect ending for the weekend to me. Just another reminder that god really does hear all our prayers…... in EVERY language.

PRAYERPlease pray for …
• Perseverance. I am close to the end and it is easy to loose focus
• Health here in Villarrica, bob and carol are really sick and I can’t afford to follow in their footsteps right now.
• My dog indy, she just got fixed and recovery is not going too well

PRAISE
Join with me in thanking God for…
• An amazing family back home who are so supportive.
• We caught the infection in Indy before it took her life
• Paraguay has a great director couple, who has taught me so much about the logistics of missions.

Verse to think about:Think about how epic this moment really was… How much would you give to have been there for this … what does this mean to you?

Luke 22: 19-20
19And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
20And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.