Dear Family and Friends:
Picture a drug
addict-delinquent finding Christ and getting clean through a prison
rehabilitation ministry. Now imagine the
same young man being transferred to a minimum-security prison—for good behavior—to
share a cell with an inmate who consumes crack-cocaine daily. This describes the situation in Paraguay’s
Esperanza Penitentiary where about 80% of the population uses drugs, according
to inmates. Thus, perhaps as many as 8
of the 10 on average participants in our discipleship program there struggle to
resist the constant internal and external pressures to relapse. We thank God for the core group of inmates who
stay clean, and for the church with a support group ministry who began visiting
the prison every Sunday last month. We
also thank God for you because your support and prayers provide hope for the Esperanza
inmates to experience Christ-centered transformation. Please keep them and the
ministry there in your prayers.
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| Participants in the Esperanza Discipleship |
The Evangelism and Missions
Ministry, which coordinates the prison discipleship, also organizes monthly
evangelistic events in strategic locations.
Unfortunately, we had to re-schedule May’s event in the city of
Luque due to rain. On Saturday, June 10th
we’ll visit the people who attended the previous events there and invite them
to a family night in a local church. Pray for the people of Luque.
In addition to providing English
and learning disability intervention for hundreds of students, your support and
prayers sustain the discipleship of about 100 teenage boys at the New Horizon
School. Some of them are going through tough
seasons right now: parents with life-threatening illnesses, divorce, poverty, robbery,
and at least one case of extortion by police.
At the same time, there are high school seniors planning for bright futures,
others making the cut on select soccer teams, and many deciding to put their
faith in Jesus. Pray for our students and their families, in particular, for Teodolina,
a mother with cancer, and Julio, a former student with leukemia.
Mother’s Day is a major
holiday in Paraguay with no work, no school and lots of barbequing. We celebrated that day with Margarita’s
family where she, her sister and her mother were the center of attention. Ana, Antoine, Gabrielli and I thank God for
Margarita, who is a wonderful mother. We’re
grateful for her mother, Agustina, who helps us quite a bit. We’re also thankful for my father, who visited
us last month and attended his new granddaughter’s dedication. Please
continue to pray for our family, as well as for the completion of the construction
on our house.
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| Gabrielli was Dedicated in my Grandmother's 105-year-old Dress |
Seeds of hope for new life
are planted in rocky places and among thorns where growth is strained. There are also seeds being planted in
extremely good soil, where growth and multiplication occur. Your partnership with Margarita’s and my
mission work in Paraguay enables workers to be sent to and mobilized in this plentiful
harvest field.
Thank you,
Tim, Margarita, Ana, Antoine
and Gabrielli
