Thank you for Offering Freedom

Dear Family and Friends:

Last Thursday, a freshman at Grace College in Indiana captivated the attention of a classroom packed with my 8^th and 9^th graders about the importance of studying English.  What was particularly special about his visit was that he had been my student in that same classroom 7 years ago.  He, as well as other former students who now work in education, aviation and information technology, testify how English contributes to freedom from the poverty that their families once lived in.  Thank you for offering freedom to over 500 past and present students through your generous support and faithful prayers for our work in Paraguay.

One of Our Students was recently Baptized

Not only have New Horizon School students experienced opportunities for freedom from poverty, but also from unpromising legacies.  Another former student,“Alex,” came to the school from a household characterized by broken relationships, substance abuse and distance from God.  Through the school Alex learned about Scripture and placed his faith in Christ.  He now faithfully attends a local church’s college group, serves in children’s ministry, and is completing a law degree.  Please give thanks for Alex and the other New Horizon graduates, the majority of whom attend college and are active in churches.  Pray that more Paraguayan youth will approach God through our weekly educational ministry activities like school chaplaincy and youth ministry at a local church.

Sharing a Message of Hope with the People of Luque

Thank you for your prayers for our last outreach event in the city of Luque.  A household decided to trust in Christ, and a number of connections were made for future follow-up.  This Friday Margarita, Ana, Antoine, Gabrielli and I will travel to northern Paraguay for two strategic meetings.  First, we’ll plan the last seminary course for church leaders in the infamous border-town of Pedro Juan Caballero.  Then, we’ll meet with pastors in the rural Yrybucua District to organize evangelism.  We will also spend a week translating there for a medical mission team from Illinois.  After returning from the north, we’ll drive to Ciudad del Este on July 16^th to partner with a ministry that connects with the city’s large Middle Eastern immigrant community.  Please pray for great fellowship, safety and health as we travel this month.  

One of the highlights from June was Ana’s graduation from kindergarten.  Margarita and I delight in watching her grow and flourish through her education at Asunción Christian Academy.  Fortunately, my mom was able to attend her graduation.  She also tested my students’ conversational English and helped with a few ministry activities during her visit.  On two occasions she shared with the families of addicts at the support group hosted by the church that helps me with prison ministry.  Give thanks for healthy growth, family and encouraging visits. 

Ana's (Top Left) Kindergarten Graduation 

Independence Day reminds us of a hard-fought victory over despotism.  Today in Paraguay and all throughout the world, countless people—each of them endowed by their Creator with rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—live under the despots of poverty, addiction and unpromising direction.  Your prayers and partnership fuel the fight for many to be released from such oppression and enable a new season of God’s favor to be proclaimed.      

Happy July 4th!

Tim, Margarita, Ana, Antoine and Gabrielli

Brothers Resisting Relapse in Paraguay

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.     

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 10^th 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.

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

El Raton Perez vs. the Tooth Fairy

Dear Family and Friends:

When a Paraguayan child loses a tooth and places it under her pillow “El Ratón Perez” sneaks into her bedroom at night and replaces the tooth with a 1,000-Guarani coin.  Ana didn’t want to put her first lost tooth under her pillow because she didn’t like the idea of a mouse scampering around her bed as she slept.  One of the advantages of her being bi-cultural is that she can choose who replaces her tooth with a coin. I told her about the Tooth Fairy.  Ana was more than excited to leave her tooth for a Tinkerbell-like character that would come, gracefully fluttering around and sprinkling pixie dust, to give her money.      

Ana's First Lost Tooth

On a different note, Ana, Antoine and Gabrielli figured among the number of seasonal-change illness patients that, according to local news, surpassed the Paraguayan Health Department’s estimates and preparedness for April.  If you’ve read our past updates, you know that sickness often hits our family when we carry out evangelistic events.  During the same week that we made daily pediatrician visits we were also coordinating a group of twenty-five Brazilian short-term missionaries.  They devoted four days of outreach projects to the city of Ñemby, which is called the “Youth Capital of Paraguay.”  Among the many decisions for Christ were members of a notorious family that lived next to a local church.  This family, who previously rejected their Christ-follower neighbors’ persistent invitations, powerfully encountered Christ that week. 

Youth in Nemby Powerfully Encountered Christ during the Brazilians' Visit

Give thanks to God for his work in the “Youth Capital of Paraguay.”  Pray for us as we help those local churches conduct follow-up and build up their youth ministries.  Also, give thanks that our family is well now, but please continue to pray for protection for our health.   

Last week I called a former student to teach my classes as I went on a United World Mission retreat in Peru with missionaries from all over South America.  It was a refreshing time of rest, meditation on Scripture, and fellowship with colleagues.  It was a particular blessing to hear about and see their successes in raising children on the mission field.  Like Ana, Antoine and Gabrielli, our colleagues’ children also live through issues like getting sick, changing schools, traveling excessively, and switching between languages and cultures.  Giving up normal lives in our home countries to serve on the mission field is one way we and our missionary colleagues express loving God with all our hearts.  We also express that love when we provide for our relatives’ well-being, especially for our immediate family, as best as we can on the mission field.

Children are rewards from the Lord.  In loving them unconditionally, we get a glimpse of God’s love for us.  Furthermore, their “child-like” trust in us reflects Jesus’ teaching that the kingdom of God belongs to anyone who likewise trusts in him.  Pray that more people in Paraguay, as well as everywhere else, will trust in him.    

Happy Paraguayan Labor Day!

Tim, Margarita, Ana, Antoine and Gabrielli

One of the Most Eventful Months of our Lives

Dear Friends and Family:

The pounding head and neck pain could not eclipse the wonderful first few days that Tim and I spent with our new daughter, Gabrielli.  The pain, however, did succeed in bringing me back to the hospital.  Although I dreaded the thought of being separated from our beautiful newborn—as well as from Antoine and Ana—the ceaseless pain and onset of a fever convinced me that I needed to see a doctor.

The doctors said it was cephalalgia caused either by a spinal fluid leak or an infection.  Intravenous medicine ceased the pain, and tests showed there was no infection.  I still needed to wait for my body to heal.  Despite the tears of longing to be with my children, I knew that God was with me in that hospital room.  My undesired hospitalization incredibly turned into a needed time of rest, prayer and renewal; it became the longest personal retreat that I’d experienced in years.  One evening I was awakened by a nightmarish uncertainty of how much longer I would be away from my children.  I opened the Scriptures and heard God say, “Trust me.” The next morning, the doctors said I could go home.  

Give thanks for Gabrielli’s life and for my health; though, please pray for my full recovery. 

March 2017 was one of the most eventful months of our lives. It started with a rushed conclusion to a search for a new car to fit our growing family.  We closed the sale on the right car at the right price, right before Gabrielli’s birthday.  Your months of prayers for a healthy, zika-free birth were answered when she came into the world at 4:08 P.M. on March 14th.  Even the foreknowledge of sleepless nights and the beginning of my headaches couldn’t dampen our excitement when we took her home. 

During my hospitalization, Tim made multiple, daily trips in our new car between our apartment and the hospital, juggling numerous responsibilities with little sleep.  About 24 hours after my discharge from the hospital, Tim led a three-car-caravan of volunteers to the city of Luque to coordinate an evangelistic event. Hence, our eventful month concluded with the message of salvation being presented to an overflowing crowd and many decisions for Christ. Please pray for our next evangelistic event in the same city on April 15^th with a short-term mission team from Brazil.    

Pr. Gustavo invited the audience in Luque to place their faith in Jesus. 

March 2017 was not an easy month, but it was a great month.  In spite of all the ups and downs, we found that we can take joy in the God of our salvation because he is our strength.

 

Happy Easter!

Margarita, Tim, Ana, Antoine and Gabrielli

Baby on the Way, Shootout at a Church, and Other Happenings in Paraguay

Dear Family and Friends:

As Pastor Ted Gross began his sermon at the “Cristo la Única Esperanza” Church in Pedro Juan Caballero on February 12th, a series of gunshots rang out in the street in front of the church.  Those who attended the service (I was at another church) said that the worst part came a minute later with a machine gun returning fire from right outside the sanctuary windows.  When the shootout ended, everybody got up from the floor and continued on with the service, which concluded with one young woman making the decision to follow Jesus.  Give thanks to God for protection and salvation in the middle of such hardship.

Our week in Pedro Juan Caballero was a strategically high impact, short-term mission trip.  Pr. Gross, Pr. Fredy Pavez, and Dr. Gil Lain equipped 24 church leaders with 26 hours of theological teaching.  50 teachers from different schools received an inspirational in-service training prior to the new school year.  Mary Lain, Sue Gross and I encouraged 150 inmates through visits to the regional men’s and women’s prisons.  A dormant pastors’ association was revived.  The week concluded with a women’s conference attended by almost 200 participants.  We are joyful for the many decisions to follow Jesus, and are very hopeful for the local leaders who will continue to do the work of evangelists through their ministries and lives.  Thank you for your prayers for the people of Pedro Juan Caballero.

Sue Gross spoke on forgiveness at the women's conference (Pr. Pavez translated)

Two weeks ago classes began at the New Horizon School.  I teach fewer classes this year and work in chaplaincy with the goal to check-in and pray with each of the middle school and high school boys multiple times during the year, in addition to helping with whatever other issues may arise.  Margarita and I are also dedicating more time this year to coordinating with local church leaders a series of outreach and national missions activities in the cities of Luque and Ñemby.  Pray for the first event in Luque on March 25^th.

We’re trying to gradually ease into our responsibilities due to the birth of Gabrielli, probably in mid-March.  Margarita is very ready to have this most uncomfortable stage of pregnancy come to an end. Ana says that she will be a helpful big sister, and can’t wait to teach Gabrielli how to count in Spanish and English.  Antoine at least verbally acknowledges that he is not the family baby anymore.  Please keep Margarita and Gabrielli in your prayers.

All that happened in February and everything planned for the coming months is possible because of your generous financial support and faithful prayers.  Thank you for joining with us to teach across Paraguay the good news that, by God’s power, salvation is available to everyone—not because of what we do but because of his own purpose and grace. 

Yours truly,

Tim, Margarita, Ana, Antoine and Gabrielli

2017 Will be an Incredible Year

Dear Family and Friends:

Imagine the congregation’s joy upon seeing their pews filled for nearly two months after the outreach events in the city of Mariano Roque Alonso, for which you prayed last spring (or U.S. fall).   The church leader continues receiving calls for home visits and Bible studies.  However, attendance has recently become discouragingly low.  When I visited there last week, I encouraged them from Matthew 14:22-33 to not trust in the turbulence they see around them, but rather to fix their eyes on the Lord and the incredible work he can do in their community through their perseverance.  Pray for the people of Mariano Roque Alonso.

We are grateful for your Christmas and birthday messages, in which many of you commented on how busy our summer vacation appears to have been.  I continued the weekly discipleships in the Tacumbu and Esperanza Prisons.  I corrected two English books for the New Horizon School, whose classes will start in mid-February.  I taught the weekly Guarani Bible study at the Cerritos church plant.  (They assure me that my Guarani is understandable.)  During our last visit there, the participants overcrowded our spot under the mango tree.  When we asked if they felt ready to place their faith in Jesus, a few responded positively while others said they needed a little more time.  Thank your for your prayers for the work in Cerritos.  Pray that their hearts will be open for the next visit.   

People come from all over for the Cerritos Church Plant

Also, please pray for our house to be “liveable” soon.  At our apartment that we will soon outgrow, Antoine spent this summer playing with his big cousins.  Ana began swimming classes.  Margarita started preparing the crib for Gabrielli.  We finally escaped our summer activities for a real vacation in mid-January.  To compensate for Paraguay being a land-locked country, a number of sandy beaches were built in recent years along the Parana River, and have become tourist destinations.  We visited one of these engineering feats where we enjoyed rest, family time, and refreshingly cool water on very, very hot days.

Later this week I will travel again to Pedro Juan Caballero to help with seminary classes for pastors and church leaders.  Additionally, we’ll organize with local leaders a teacher training and a women’s conference there.  Please pray for these activities in Pedro Juan Caballero, as well as for Margarita and the kids as they stay back in Lambare.

Although Margarita and I have plans and goals for 2017, we obviously can’t foresee all that will happen.  We enter this year trusting that God will do his incredible work.  We trust in him over Gabrielli’s life (who might be born by our next update).  And, we trust that many people will say “yes” (or “sí”) to the invitation to step out of their doubt and come to Jesus, whom even the wind and waves obey.

Sincerely,

Tim, Margarita, Antoine, Ana and Gabrielli

At a Paraguayan Beach

Evidence for Immanuel

Dear Friends and Family:

On a recent return visit to Paraguay’s rough border town, Pedro Juan Caballero, a Christian school principal shared a testimony that shows the power of Christian education.  One of his elementary students was the daughter of a known drug-trafficking family.  After picking her up from school, her parents noticed that two men on a motorcycle were following them, which is an ominous sign in a city where mafia-style hits regularly occur.  As the motorcycle made every turn they made, the parents tried to conceal the situation from their daughter by discussing what they should do in Guarani.  To their surprise, the daughter interjected: “I know what we need to do; we need to pray."  Right there in the car, she lifted her hands and prayed, just like she had learned in school.  At the next intersection, the motorcycle turned on another street.  So powerful was this experience that a number of the family members later gave their lives to Christ and left the drug-trafficking industry.

Pray for Margarita’s 2016 homeroom class—the New Horizon School’s 4^th graduating class—as they start a new stage in life.

Education plays a vital role in Paraguay’s recovery from a repressive, four-decade dictatorship and the nation’s former status as the poorest in South America.  Christian education allows this recovery to proceed in a manner that teaches Paraguay’s future leaders of their—as well as their neighbors’—invaluable worth as created in the image of a loving God. Thank you for participating in this transformation through your support and prayers for Margarita and me, as we serve with Paraguayans in educational ministry.

Margarita and I also thank you for donating toward making our house “liveable.”  We’re applying for grants for funding to finish the rest of the construction after we move in.  Please pray for our house.

Even though we are now on summer break, it doesn’t entirely feel like a break.  While visiting Pedro Juan we organized a teacher training for local Christian schools.  From there we traveled to another town to meet with a pastor who will help us coordinate evangelism in northern Paraguay.  Furthermore, we’re studying the Gospel of Mark in Guarani at the Cerritos church plant.  Please pray for our summer activities as well as for a trip we’ll take in January to southeastern Paraguay.  Thank you for praying for Margarita and the baby. They both are well, and we eagerly await Gabrielli’s birth in March. 

The phrase “a decree went out from Caesar Augustus” in the Gospel of Luke shows the place of Christ’s birth in recorded history. Christ’s coming into this world is not just written on paper, but also on human hearts.  Christ followers, like those who work in education, contribute to the transformation of societies.  Individuals caught up in destructive lifestyles, like drug-trafficking, find new life through believing in Christ.  God is still with us indeed, and is very much at work.

Merry Christmas!

Tim, Margarita, Ana, Antoine and Gabrielli