What
do you say to children who recently came home to find their father dead from a
tragic electricity accident and who had been taught by him to trust in God’s love and protection?
When Margarita and I visited
the man’s family on Paraguayan Labor Day, we didn’t know what to say. We could only listen to them share about all
that this great man did for his family as well as for the dozens of youth to whom he ministered each week. We prayed with them and left them with
elements to start a small empanada business, provided by God’s
generosity through others.
In addition to the two pastors who we mentioned last month that left the ministry, a colleague of ours decided to step down from ministry due to a faith crisis. One pastor just had his 5th heart surgery while another pastor practically lives in a hospital, accompanying his son who is recovering from a bad motorcycle accident. Even Nico, the young man who helps me give public school presentations, faces trials. His brother had an accident in a glass factory, and his wife is about to have surgery.
Many
serious obstacles arise in the lives of those who keep watch over people’s
souls. Please keep the Paraguayan pastors and ministry workers in your
prayers.
The other day I had a very
interesting conversation with 5 inmates in the Esperanza Prison about the tenth
chapter of the Gospel of John. Two of
them previously worked with animals, so they shared great insights about
shepherding. Considering the danger from
dehydration, snakes and pumas, a good shepherd in the Paraguayan Chaco takes a
certain measure of risk of laying down his life for his sheep. Thus, the men grasped what Jesus meant when he
used these exact words to illustrate his intense love for the world.
Our
discussion led us to mentioning the countless Paraguayan adolescents wandering
like harassed and helpless sheep without a shepherd and filling up juvenile
detention facilities across the nation.
For 75% of Paraguayan youth, one or both of their parents—the adults who
should be their first shepherds—are not present in their lives, which is one of
the highest percentages of Latin America (Martinez-Restrepo 2012). Please
pray for Margarita and me as we teach and counsel adolescents at the New
Horizon School and in the surrounding community. Also, pray for my Wednesday night sports
outreach activity with local teens.
Margarita
and I thank God for the pastors and ministry workers with whom we serve. Moreover, we thank him for the good shepherd,
Jesus, who not only laid down his life for the world, but also leads anyone who
chooses to follow him along life’s meandering path to find green pastures. We pray that you experience some of those
pastures this month, especially those of you who are mothers.
