Friday, February 1, 2019

Goooool!

Dear Family and Friends:

In any neighborhood in Paraguay you can easily follow the score of a soccer game without turning on the television or radio.  All you need to know is which team is favored by the different neighbors around your block.  You know their team has scored when firecrackers go off and they scream “gooooooool”!  If the number of those moments exceeds the amount of times you hear profanities and the crashing of furniture, then you know that their team has won the game. 


In November you prayed for our goals for a recent trip we made to the United States.  Join us in thanking God for successful, fun and safe travels.  We spent time with many family and friends.  We reconnected with supporters and shared our ministerial vision for engaging urban Mbya and Ava communities.  Furthermore, all of the funds for ministry materials were raised, and we found 4 of the 5 new monthly supporters that we needed.
One of Ana and Antoine's goals was to make a snowman.

An additional goal was to learn.  I took a seminary course that brought me deeper in my Scriptural understanding.  Margarita and I met with seasoned First Nations ministry workers.  Willie and Megan Krischke described how they started a Native college ministry in the Four Corners region.  Dr. Randy Woodley, a Keetowah Cherokee, and his wife Edith, an Eastern Shoshone, emphasized the primacy of relationship in ministry to Native people.  The most important relationship is one of wholehearted devotion and unobstructed listening to the Creator. Only then can a ministry worker begin to build effective relationships with Natives and discover how the Creator is at work among them.  
Breakfast with the Woodleys

Please pray for Margarita and me as we have already started to reconnect with the Mbya and Ava.  Also, keep the following 2019 ministry goals in your prayers:
1) Develop and carry out effective educational strategies in partnership with local ministries and the Department of Education during weekly visits to at least 4 urban Ava and Mbya communities.
2) Begin at least 4 individual Bible studies or discipleships with Mbya and Ava men and women.
3) For Tim to move beyond an intermediate level in his GuaranĂ­ language ability.
4) Organize at least 2 opportunities to mobilize local churches to engage urban Natives.
5) Dedicate daily quality time to Ana, Antoine and Gabrielli.



More than simply achieving goals, in 2019 we aim to run the race marked out for us with our eyes fixed on Jesus.  Pray that we help others also fix their eyes on Jesus, who endured the cross and enables anyone who trusts in him to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.

Yours truly,
Tim, Margarita, Ana, Antoine and Gabrielli
Gabrielli, the experienced traveler.



No comments:

Post a Comment