That Which Comes to Destroy a Home

Dear Friends and Family:

Moments before Margarita and I began last Thursday’s home group meeting, one of the participants discovered that her husband was cheating on her.  We obviously couldn’t go on with the meeting after such a traumatic discovery.  All we could do is pray, mourn with our sister as she poured out her destroyed heart, and then pray some more.  Please keep “Leonardo,”  “Daniela,” and their two young children in your prayers.  Also, pray for us and the local church as we try to support them during this difficult season.

A 2016 El Tiempo survey in a South American country reported that 80% of men confessed to have been unfaithful at least on one occasion.  A renowned Paraguayan psychologist says that 75% of his patients come to him for issues related to extra-marital affairs.  Marital infidelity contributes to the dysfunction in the homes of many of the children and teens with whom Margarita and I work.  We have also seen that if not curbed, this destructive habit can become a cycle repeated in the next generation.  Through your prayers and support for us, you support hundreds of Paraguayan youth with Christ-centered teaching, which is a light that will guide them and their families along the path to life, and not to destruction.

In mid-April, another volunteer team worked on the Siloe Church.  During an outreach event that evening, about 20 youth prayed to accept Christ.

As we celebrate Teachers’ Day in Paraguay this weekend, Margarita and I recognize our coworkers’ hard labor in letting their lights shine in their classrooms.  Give thanks to God for the New Horizon School faculty, and please pray that his blessings be upon them and their families.  Margarita and I also give thanks for our missionary colleague, Sue Givens, who stepped down as principal of New Horizon.  Her persistent invitations played a role in me coming to Paraguay in 2008.  Even though her position changes, Sue will still work with children and students in Paraguay.  Pray for her during this time of transition. 

Ana and her classmates presented a country dance at a celebration for Sue’s 17 years of service.

When I’m not teaching in the classroom, I sit down with New Horizon School students to hear how their year is going and how their families are doing.  One student’s father died shortly after classes started.  Some students’ parents have life-threatening sicknesses.  There is at least one incarcerated parent.  A few homes have been recently torn apart by extra-marital relationships.  Jesus came so that these students, their families, as well as anyone who listens to his voice may have life, and have it abundantly.  Please pray that many more people in Paraguay will experience abundant life in Christ.

Sincerely,                    

Tim, Margarita, Ana and Antoine 

*60 Reina-Valera Bibles (1995, 1977, or 1960 translations) are needed for the Tacumbu Prison inmates who will complete this year’s “¿Quién es Jesús?” courses.  If you want to donate a Bible, please contact us.

Building up a Broken-Down Community

Finishing the Floor for the Siloe Church

Dear Friends and Family:

A couple of months after the Siloe Church in Ñemby, Paraguay lost her pastor due to his misconduct she also lost her building due to political maneuvers by the local government.  One Sunday morning during that very tough season for Siloe, Margarita and I worshiped with the congregation under a mango tree.  Their songs of thanks for God’s steadfast love in the midst of trials resounded throughout the neighborhood. 

On the Saturday before this past Easter, we organized a volunteer team to lay the floor for Siloe’s new church building.  After the work was done, the volunteers prepared a special dinner and service to encourage the church members.  Thirty children were the first to show up for the service, leaving the team—most of whom knew much about construction work but little about children’s ministry—at a loss on what to do.  The guitarist improvised some children’s songs that he remembered from his childhood while I ruminated on how to condense the message into an interactive, age-appropriate presentation.  It turned out to be fun, especially for the children who watched us fumble around and try to act like kids.

Following our un-planned children’s service, we gathered about 7 adult church members.   We listened to testimonies of how the church’s hardships over the years had taken their toll on the morale as well as the size of the congregation.  Then, we let the book of Nehemiah speak about God’s history of building up devastated communities.  The same “great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love” and rebuilt his community after Babylonian exile, is the same God to whom we and the Siloe congregation pray.  Keep the Siloe Church and the city of Ñemby in your prayers.   And, on another note, please pray for a favorable response to our proposal for a grant from a Texas foundation that’ll help us finish building our house.    

18 inmates, who are our new brothers in Christ, recently finished the "Quien es Jesus?" course.

Margarita and I know that work with at-risk populations involves bittersweet moments.  For instance, Margarita enjoyed weekly “girls’ times” with three teenagers from dysfunctional families, but would frankly speak to them about the warning signs she observed in their dating habits.  Even though she tried to guide them, they ultimately made their own decisions. During Easter week we visited one of them, “Lisa,” at the hospital where she had just given birth to a healthy girl.  In spite of the difficult road ahead for the single teenage mother, we encouraged her and celebrated the life of her child.  Pray for Lisa as well as her baby.

Finally, we thank God for you.  His constant sustenance for us is just one example that he keeps his covenant of love and that he is really not far from each one of us.

Sincerely,

Tim, Margarita, Ana and Antoine

"Queen Elsa" and "Superman" recently joined us for a stroll in downtown Asuncion.