August 2015: Hindrances to Education, Hindrances to the Father

August 2015

Dear Family and Friends:

After recently reading the letters my 9^th graders at the New Horizon School composed for an assessment, I understand that behind their occasional rowdiness in the classroom lurk some serious life challenges:

“When I was little, my father died.  Two years later, my sister died. We thought that we couldn’t move on.”

“My grandfather passed away.  I feel I am colder because no one loves me like he did. ”

“I went to my father’s room and there was his phone.  I choked when I found a conversation between my father and a woman.  I was so angry with my dad.  I hate him."

“I met my dad at my 5^th birthday party.  He came to my house with a big teddy bear and later he took me to dinner.  I was really happy for that.  Later that year, he left me and I didn’t know anything about him.”

Margarita saw some similar issues in the evaluations she just finished with early elementary students suspected of having learning disabilities.  She reported that a few of them wouldn’t struggle if their families would only spend time with them on their studies. Other students, including a boy who never received support for past abuse, experience serious emotional obstacles to their learning and will continue to need Margarita’s intervention as well as possibly treatment from a psychologist. 

Your partnership and prayer enables us—along with our colleagues—to counter such hindrances to the healthy development of children and youth in Paraguay.  Thank you, and please pray for our students.  Also, pray that we effectively support them in their education while encouraging them and their families to come to Christ, who is the image of their invisible, yet faithful and ever-present, Father in Heaven.

The Fuente de Vida Church is blessed with an impressive group of youth.

The Fuente de Vida youth group organized a special service last week.  They impressed the crowed with their talents in music, dance, theater and public speaking.  About 15 new youth visited the event.  Pray that more neighborhood youth will be added to the number of their peers who have chosen to follow Christ.

One night last month, five little giggly girls in pajamas and with asymmetrical make-up on their faces ran around our small apartment until 1 A.M.  Ana wants to have another pajama party for her 4^th birthday party later this week.  We thank God for our daughter and can hardly believe that she starts school in a few months.

Antoine looks on at his big sister's first pajama party.

The Missions and Evangelism Ministry held a missions night last month to encourage local churches to reach out to their neighborhood public schools.  One congregation soon after helped with an event at a nearby school and then conducted their own outreach event at their church.  While that was going on, Margarita and I were four hours out in the Paraguayan countryside, accompanying a medical mission team from St. Matthews Church in Belleville, Illinois.  When the week was over, between 100 and 150 people had made first-time decisions to follow Christ.  Keep the local churches in your prayers as they continue reaching out to their communities.

Margarita taught Bible stories in Guarani to the children at the clinic.

The harvest is indeed plentiful in Paraguay.   In spite of many obstacles, we aim to do the works that God has called us to do here with the hope that many more would choose to follow Jesus, who is gentle and approachable, and in whom we can find rest for our souls.

Sincerely,

Tim, Margarita, Ana and Antoine