April 2014: New Life in Paraguay

Dear Friends and Family:

One of my 7^th grade students recently wrote me the following prayer request:

“Pray that I can go live with my mother and that there would be no more shouting.”

Most New Horizon School students live with serious domestic problems.  Their families have been separated by infidelity, domestic violence, death and migrant labor.  There have been cases of sexual abuse and suicide attempts.  Many students have experienced physical abuse and neglect.  Additionally, some students face pressure to give up school and start working.

As Margarita works with the pre-school and kindergarten students trying to detect early onset of learning difficulties, she witnesses students behaving aggressively in one moment and then overly sensitive in the next.  For example, one student was not completing his assignment.  When the teacher called him over to help him, he broke out in tears.  While such behaviors are being seen in the classroom, at home more than half of these students’ parents are separated or going through divorce.  How can Margarita and I, along with the rest of the New Horizon School faculty, help these children—Paraguay’s very plentiful and most valuable resource?

For most students, the 4-6 hours that they spend at school are the most nurturing moments of their day.  They receive attention.  They are prayed for and encouraged to achieve.  Their education not only supports them now, but also supports the hope for them and a future generation to not have to endure similar situations.  Moreover, as the faculty delivers a comprehensive education, we do so with our eyes fixed on Christ, who promises that he will make all things new, even the corrupted world in which our students live.

Please pray for the students at the New Horizon School.  Likewise, pray for the faculty, that we would be renewed daily in our work with the students and their families.

Margarita and I greatly appreciate your prayers during the previous month.  The Fuente de Vida youth ministry grows, and this month we are launching mid-week meetings in homes and at empanada stands. Regarding the Missions and Evangelism Ministry, many people attended the evangelism workshop.  Most returned the following night to help the host church with an outreach event, during which a few visitors accepted Jesus’ invitation to new life.

Give thanks to God for his work in Paraguay.  Please pray that my two former prison discipleship students, “Ignacio” and “Gustavo,” live out their new lives after their release.

Symbols of new life surround us all during Easter season.  This Sunday, as we contemplate Jesus’ resurrection, let’s also give thanks to God, who, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, will raise up with Christ anyone who believes in him.

Happy Easter!

Tim, Margarita and Ana Revett

P.S.:  Speaking of new life, Margarita and I are expecting our second child in November! Please pray for Margarita and the baby’s health.

Summer's End in Paraguay

 

February 2014

Dear Friends and Family:

Margarita’s interviews with the New Horizon School students’ parents reveal that complications in childbirth can lead to learning difficulties. “José,” for instance, was born with a hernia due to a difficult delivery.  His four-year time on the surgery waiting list extended into pre-school.  José couldn’t play soccer or other active games with his classmates.  He was the only student who wore a diaper, which his family had him use in order to brace his abdomen.  The mental and social effects of his hernia encumbered his integration into class and affected his learning.  Eventually, José received the awaited surgery.  He currently is in kindergarten and works with Margarita to overcome the challenges he experienced during pre-school.  Please pray for Margarita and her colleagues as they detect and treat early on the learning difficulties affecting the New Horizon pre-school and kindergarten students.

As much as Margarita and I wanted to visit you all in the U.S. this past Christmas-New Year Season, we know it was right that we stayed in Paraguay.  Margarita and I dedicated much of December to praying for and working toward the revival of the Fuente de Vida Church college-age ministry.  During 2013 the number of participants had dropped to five.  At the end of December we began to see a turn-around.  For example, two brothers who recently made professions of faith started regularly attending and helping in the services.  So far this year, the average attendance has been around 25.  Pray that these youth would continue to devote time to communion and scripture study in 2014.

In January Margarita, Ana and I made our longest road trip yet in South America to see a friend’s wedding in Montevideo, Uruguay.  We spent the days following the wedding getting to know the area (especially the beach), including a few churches and ministries.  Agnosticism is Uruguay’s most widely-accepted belief system.  Missionaries and pastors spoke about discouraging results from years of work.  However, a seminary director told us that last year he sensed the environment beginning to open up to the gospel.  Please pray for Uruguay and for our hope to lead a group of Paraguayan youth there for a short term mission trip, perhaps as early as 2015. 

While we were in Uruguay, the Tacumbu Prison was on the verge of what the warden called a massacre.  Prison guards went on strike, which created chaos inside the prison.  Groups of inmates attempted to pillage the storerooms of different cell blocks.  Authorities reported one death when someone climbed on a roof to confront inmates who were trying to descend into and ransack his cell block.  A week after the chaos subsided, I entered to complete the “Who is Jesus?” course.  This month we will celebrate the graduation of fifteen inmates from the course.  Keep these graduates in your prayers as they will soon be teaching the course to others inside the prison.

Last month the New Horizon School started its 14th academic year with over 700 students.  I teach nine English and two Christian Education classes at the middle and high school levels. Additionally I serve on the chaplain staff.  Margarita focuses on early elementary learning disabilities and early childhood academic stimulation.  Meanwhile, Ana will spend three mornings a week at a daycare across the street.  Pray for us to have a great school year.  In addition, please pray for a workshop on small group evangelism and discipleship that the Evangelism and Missions Ministry is organizing on March 14^th.

Margarita and I very much appreciate your support and prayers.  We want to make a special invitation for 31 people to devote one day a month to pray for us and for Paraguay.  If you are interested in being one of the 31 people, please let us know.  Prayer is one means to maintain solidarity in God’s family.  Prayer is also the means by which everyone is invited to approach God’s throne of grace…so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. 

We pray that all of you will know and thrive in this grace.

Yours truly,

Tim, Margarita and Ana Revett

 

Dear Friends and Family:

I recently entered Paraguay’s Tacumbu Penitentiary with Ysidro, a former inmate who I mentioned in our October update.   A group of Ysidro’s past partners-in-crime walked alongside us, catching him up on the latest news.   Suddenly, someone ran by me, followed by Ysidro sprinting after him.  Behind them trailed a prison guard, yelling and waving his night stick.  They weaved through the crowd of inmates and turned a corner.  I was very pleased to soon after see Ysidro return unharmed.  He recovered his necklace, which had been snatched off his neck by the inmate whom he chased.

Ysidro’s return to Tacumbu as a visitor and not re-offender stands as a testimony to God’s work in the penitentiary’s Remar rehabilitation pavilion, where I conduct a weekly discipleship.  A local newspaper reported that while recidivism reaches as high as 70% among the prison’s general population, only 10% of those who pass through Remar return to prison (Ultima Hora 11/18/13).  When Ysidro was released, I began a Bible study with him and three other Remar graduates in his neighborhood to help support them during their transition.  Their entire neighborhood now is wondering how these men have changed so dramatically, which presents us with a great opportunity to share about the Lord’s ability to transform lives.  Please pray that Ysidro and the other men would continuously seek God’s counsel in their lives.

Another recent event that testifies of God’s power was the New Horizon School’s first senior class graduation.  The majority of the graduates, if not all, plan to enroll in colleges next year.  This is outstanding considering that most Paraguayans don’t complete high school.   Margarita’s young students also made achievements toward overcoming their learning disabilities.  Although she believes they will probably need to continue treatment the following school year, Margarita has seen many improvements and they all finished with passing grades—quite a contrast from the beginning of this year.  Margarita is planning to spend some of her time next year working with parents on early childhood stimulation to help them prepare their children for pre-school.  Give thanks with us to our mighty God for his work among the New Horizon School students this year.

In addition, we are thankful for God’s everlasting presence in times of victory as well as the setbacks.  The Puerto Falcon outreach event in early November was suspended due to rain; however, we are satisfied that the small church, as well as the two nearby assisting churches, were prepared and motivated to carry out their own small events this month.  Likewise, our first year as youth ministers concluded with the graduation of 14 active teenage participants who will move on to the college-aged ministry.  Please keep the Fuente de Vida Church youth in your prayers.

Finally, we request prayer for safe travels as we drive to Montevideo, Uruguay next month.  Our activities there will include participating in a friend’s wedding, vacationing, and visiting different ministries to possibly organize a future short-term mission trip there with Paraguayan youth.  We also will purchase learning disability materials, as they are difficult to find in Paraguay.  These purchases are made possible by the generous Christmas donations of many of you.  Thank you!

Christmas gift-giving reflects the awesome gift given to all of us: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).  When we choose to accept this gift, who is Jesus, we also receive many other great blessings such as God’s counsel, power, presence and peace.  May you and your loved ones experience these blessings this Christmas Season and throughout 2014.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

Tim, Margarita and Ana Revett

Christmas gift alternatives for globally- or ministry-minded loved ones...

• Didactic games, diagonistic tests and other educational materials for Paraguayan children from poverty-stricken and dysfunctional homes who struggle with learning disabilities.
• Printing, photocopying and binding of discipleship materials for inmates inside one of South America’s most notorious prisons.
• Jerseys, balls, goals and equipment for an emerging middle school and high school boys’ and girls’ basketball program.
• Christmas 2014 in the U.S. for a missionary family.

A donation can be made in any amount. The funds go to the project of your choice (not to Tim and Margarita’s living expenses). A card with a photo of the project will be sent to the person in whose name the donation is made.

 

Here’s the gift process…

1. Make a donation to Latin America Mission in the name of your loved one.
        A.  Online: -Go to www.lam.org/missionaries/tim-and-margarita-revett
                              -Select “Support this missionary.”
                              -Where it says “Use my gift for” select “Ministry Funds”
          
        B.  By Mail:  E-mail us and we will send you the form and directions.

2. E-mail us (trevett@latinamericamission.org) to identify which project you donate to with the address of the person in whose name you give.    *If you do this by November 24^th, we will be able to send the card and photo to your loved one by Christmas.

Please review the following information and share it with your friends, church, small group, Sunday school class, or whoever you think would be interested.

Special Education Paraguayan students who have learning disabilities often drop out of school due to few resources available to them.  Additionally, kindergartners start at a disadvantage since most Paraguayan families haven’t learned about early educational stimulation.  Margarita provides both of these services to students of low-income families for a very small, nominal fee.  However, diagnostic tools and didactic games are scarce and expensive.  Goal:  $300 (1 year of support for all of Margarita’s students)

New Horizon School Basketball Program The New Horizon School’s mission is to provide an integral education for a new generation of Paraguayan leaders.  Most of the school’s students come from low income families.  There has been a recent surge in excitement among students to form boys’ and girls’ basketball teams; yet, there are few funds and materials to support this new program.  *Material donations are also accepted. Cost:  $25 per player (covers a ball, jersey and extra expenses)

 

Christmas 2014 in the U.S. Ana, Margarita and Tim hope to spend Christmas 2014 in the U.S. They are saving up monthly for this trip; though, visa fees and airline fares are very expensive. Cost: $1 for every 2 miles of travel (4,500 miles in total)

 

 

Prison Ministry The Tacumbu Penitentiary was built for a capacity of 800 men, but now houses over 3,600.  Christmas donations in 2012 enabled Tim to provide photocopies of discipleship materials for 100’s of inmates.  Graduates are rewarded with certificates and become teachers of the discipleship.   After they leave the prison, their certificate can help them enter a ministry position. Cost:  $15 per month

October 2013

Dear Friends and Family:

The Paraguayan-Guarani saying, “Ikarêmba, sevo’i rapéicha” (It has as many curves as a pinworm’s route), describes the meandering course that Margarita and I recently experienced in moving towards our ministry goals.  We’ve traversed obstacles in the prison, school and in the upcoming outreach event, but now see the fulfillment of the hope that the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth.

Earlier this month the church that was most involved in the Puerto Falcon evangelistic event told us they couldn’t participate.  Then, another helping church began to plan a different activity the same day as the event.  Finally, the local pastor became discouraged due to job issues and seminary studies.  I prayerfully navigated conversations with the churches, making a few trips out to the Chaco area to speak in person.  They all renewed their decision to participate.  This coming Sunday afternoon (October 27^th) there will be two pre-event meetings.  Please pray for unity among everyone involved in the event.  Also, pray that the glory of the Lord shall be revealed as we reach out to the city of Puerto Falcon on November 2^nd and 3^rd.

Likewise, I turned a corner with the Tacumbú discipleship.  I previously focused on inmates already in the middle leadership level; however, this group proved to be too transient to complete the discipleship.  Many quickly moved up to the next level of leadership, or their prison terms ended.  Others exited the program due lack of commitment.  Now I’ve modified the program to reach out to new inmates and prepare them prior to entering the middle leadership level.  Four solid inmate leaders emerged from the last round of discipleship and they will help teach the next group.  I thank God for these four men—Dean, Gustavo, Guillermo and Ysidro—and ask you to keep them in your prayers.

At the New Horizon School, Margarita experienced obstacles in her work with a student who was struggling severely in all his subjects.  He couldn’t concentrate during the lessons.  His handwriting was unreadable.  When Margarita tested his academic abilities, she discovered that he was very much capable of achieving at his grade level.  After conversations with the student and interviews with his family, Margarita learned that his dilemma was not as much a learning problem as it was an emotional issue.  The boys’ parents fought constantly.  They weren’t spending much time with him and never helped him with his homework.  The only parental attention he received with his studies was punishment in response to failing grades.

Margarita’s student sorely lacked a safe and stable home environment.  He needed to feel affection from his parents.  Margarita presented her diagnosis to his parents, who accepted her report and began to follow her recommendations.  His parents resolved to work on their marriage.  They moved out of the overcrowded, extended family living situation.  They started spending more time with their son, doing activities together and helping him with his homework.  Margarita says the increased security and stability he now feels is evident in his improved school work.  Please keep Margarita’s students and their families in your prayers. Additionally, please pray for the New Horizon students as they begin their final exams.

Ana, too, is overcoming a few challenges of her own. She stopped drinking from her baby bottle and is making progress towards not using diapers.  Also, her pediatrician took her off most of the medications that she was taking a few months ago.  Join us in thanking God for Ana’s growth and health.

Margarita and I don’t pretend for a moment that every plan or project will always be successful.  We simply have witnessed that in successes as well as failures, there is truth to the proverb, Trust in the Lord with all your heart…and he will make your paths straight.

Yours truly,                                         Tim, Margarita and Ana Revett

 

Special Announcement: LAM/UWM Merge

Dear Friends and Family:

A new day is dawning for Latin America Mission! I am excited to announce that, on December 31, 2013, LAM will formally merge into United World Mission (UWM), an inter-denominational mission organization, based in Charlotte, NC. We sense this is God’s clear direction. This merger will strengthen the ministry of your LAM missionaries and partners, it will reduce costs and enhance the strengths of the combined organization.

LAM and UWM have much in common. Founded in 1946, UWM’s mission is to “serve with Christian leaders globally to plant, nourish, and reproduce churches that delight God and surprise the world.” Together UWM and LAM share key core values, which include the church, integral mission, the spiritual formation of leaders and most importantly for LAM, partnering. We are convinced that our combined efforts will allow us to build upon LAM’s 92-year legacy and dynamically advance Christ’s Kingdom work in Latin America and around the world. John Bernard, President of United World Mission, believes, “Latin America Mission has a strong history of innovation, integral mission, and partnering with the Latin American church. Their ministries have been exemplary and their models are needed as North Americans learn to serve with the church and mission movements around the world. United World Mission is overjoyed to have LAM join forces with us to meet the challenges of God’s mission in today’s world.”

When the merger is complete, UWM will have a staff of more than 350 missionaries serving in 42 nations. Coming together, we will better steward Kingdom resources while also providing enhanced ministry support to LAM missionaries and ministry partners, as well as excellent service to donors. Latin America Mission will continue to function under the LAM name as “a Ministry of United World Mission.” The merged organization will operate out of UWM’s office based in Charlotte under the leadership of United World Mission.

I personally want to encourage you to stand by your missionary, partner and/or project in a special way during the transition to UWM. While the organizational structure is changing, the missionaries and partners you support will continue to count on you as they press forward faithfully in their ministries for Christ’s sake. We will keep you apprised of coming changes but until notified otherwise, please continue to either mail your generous support to the LAM address (P.O.Box 52-7900, Miami, FL 33152), or give online through the LAM website (www/lam.org/give). Giving through automatic withdrawal will also continue uninterrupted. Every effort is being made to minimize any changes to the manner in which donors have been giving.

Finally, I want to say thank you for giving so generously and faithfully to the work of LAM in Latin America. We truly consider you our ministry partners. Please pray for the families of LAM and UWM as we enter the dawn of a new day together.

Serving Together in Christ’s Name,

Steve Johnson
President

August 2013: A Birthday Party, Paraguayan Style

Dear Friends and Family:

Margarita and I wrote to you in June about child labor in Paraguay.  Despite the presence of this destructive issue, Paraguayan culture harbors an overall, genuine appreciation for children, which is seen through customs like celebrating Day of the Child and overly-embellished birthday parties. 

Last week we celebrated Ana’s 2^nd birthday “Paraguayan style.”  Ana greeted her young guests with the customary double-cheek kiss as they arrived and deposited their presents in a tire decorated to be a gift receptacle.  There was music, soda, candy, cake and a party favor for every child.  Margarita hosted a talent show with prizes for the tiny party-goers who were brave enough to present songs, jokes and memorized Bible verses.  Before the finger foods were served, we took a moment to remember God’s presence with Ana all through her battle with Respiratory Distress Syndrome at birth as well as during her asthma episodes this year.  Ana’s birthday party was a thanksgiving and praise service to the Lord for her two years of life.

July featured two events with the Evangelism and Missions Ministry.  Over a hundred children came three afternoons in a row to the outreach in the Siloé neighborhood. The local Sunday school teachers did a great job teaching them about Christ’s love.  There were two nights of services despite rain and technical difficulties, and about five adults made decisions to return to or start following Christ.  Later in the month we held a missions conference with churches in the Chaco region.  The place was packed. The audience heard inspirational presentations on how to organize evangelistic events and how to carry out discipleship.  Nearly all of those attending committed to being volunteers for an outreach event in October in the nearby city of Puerto Falcón.  Thank you for your prayers over these events, and please pray as we plan the Puerto Falcón event.  Also, please keep the students of the New Horizon and Cerro Corá schools in your prayers as we continue ministering to them through education.

 

Thank you for your prayers around the political situation in Paraguay.  Horacio Cartes is the new president and the change between parties occurred peacefully.  We request prayer for the renewal of Margarita’s immigration status in the U.S.  We hope to travel to the United States December through February.  After her status is renewed, the next step will be finding affordable airline flights.  If you are interested and able to make a financial gift to help with our future travel expenses, please contact us and we will inform you as soon as we know the outcome of Margarita’s renewal process.

 

Upon celebrating Ana’s birthday we remembered the name of the hospital whose intensive neo-natal unit Ana was transferred to:  Immanuel, which means “God with us.”  In Ana’s trials, as with any of us when we face moments of uncertainty, the Lord is certainly present.  Jesus is not “out of touch with our reality,” but rather, as The Message states…

“He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help” (Hebrews 4:15, 16).

Yours truly,                      
Tim, Margarita and Ana