And then the Sky Lights Up

Dear Family and Friends:

Popular Christmas images like Santa Claus in a red winter coat and a snow sled with reindeer make no sense to most Paraguayans.  Late December is full-blown summer here, with the temperature breaking 100 degrees nearly every day.  On Christmas Eve, Paraguayans prepare a large meal, which the whole family sits down to eat around 10 P.M.  At exactly midnight everybody shakes hands and wishes each other a merry Christmas, and then the sky lights up with fireworks until 2 A.M.—it is anything but a silent night.  The silence comes on Christmas Day when most people sleep in late and relax around their homes.

Your prayers are being answered as we’ll celebrate Christmas at our new house.  Since classes ended, we’ve felt more like construction workers than educators.  I spent almost a week hauling at least a ton of debris from the yard in a wheelbarrow. We are now painting and gradually moving in.  Thank you for your prayers and for your donations toward our house!

Street View of the House

Additionally, thank you for your prayers for this month’s outreach event in Puerto Falcon.  We mobilized five car loads of volunteers from different churches around Asuncion.  They cut and styled hair, prayed for visitors, organized an evangelistic sewing circle, and played with and taught about God’s love to children.  Then, they put on a powerful open-air service.  We thank God for the nearly 20 people who decided to follow Jesus.  Please keep the Puerto Falcon Church in your prayers as they represent Christ in their city.

Margarita prays with a group of teenage girls in Falcon to trust in Jesus.

The preacher for the event, who also brought most of the volunteers, was a young man named Alexis.  It has been great to see the many fruits of his ministry, and I had the privilege to attend his ordination last Sunday. Two other colleagues, both named Leonardo, are also being ordained this summer.  Thank God for these men who’ve accepted the call to be pastors, and please pray for them and their families.

After New Years we’ll make a short vacation out of our trip to one of the ordination services.  Pray for us to have a safe, fun and relaxing time.  Likewise, pray for Margarita and me as we process our educational ministry vision for 2018.

Earlier this month we visited a Mbya Guarani community named Zarate Isla that appears to not have been engaged by any ministries or churches.  The inhabitants there have significant health, social and educational needs.  To make matters worse, local developers are starting to invade their land.  Pray for this Mbya community and for God to guide our interactions with them.

Lighting up the Paraguayan sky on Christmas Eve is quite appropriate for the evening we remember when “the true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”  Jesus tells us that he came into the world as light, and that whoever follows him will have the light of life.  Pray that many celebrate this Christmas by choosing to follow him.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Tim, Margarita, Ana, Antoine and Gabrielli Revett

Ana, Gabrielli and Antoine wait for Christmas