August 2012: Ministering to the 70% (percentage of Paraguay's population who are children or youth)

Dear Family and Friends:

Local news reported that 140,000 people in Asunción, Paraguay live in makeshift homes on creek beds and flood plains.  A group of kids from a creek bed near our church frequents our outreach events.  Letting these children come to Jesus is not as easy as it would seem.  Once, a boy attempted to throw a brick at the pastor.  During another event, a kid brought a screwdriver and threatened to stab his peers who had teased him.  A few of the boys are said to inhale glue and smoke crack-cocaine.  Some talk about abuse at home.  Others have dropped out of school and now panhandle or pick pockets in the plazas.   Certainly the Heavenly Father longs to gather these children as a hen gathers her chicks.  We recently began serving with our church’s new Wednesday night snack time-Bible lesson-soccer game near the creek.  Please pray for Christ’s love to shine before these children, and may God get the glory for the efforts in reaching out to them.

Margarita, Ana and I appreciate your prayers for our transition to mission work in Paraguay.  It took us time to arrange our weekly schedules.   For one reason, we need to organize activities around caring for Ana.  Also, we both are developing new ministries.  Earlier this month Margarita started testing students suspected to have learning disabilities and interviewed their parents.  The family situations of many of these students are heartbreaking.  Margarita now has a full roster of sessions to help these students in their struggles at home and at school.  Please keep Margarita in your prayers for her health and for her ministry. 

Our apartment fills up with teenagers twice on Tuesdays when I host devotionals with the oldest New Horizon School students. I plan to start advanced English classes with them and their classmates next month. Additionally, I devote part of my time to organizing a national evangelism and missions ministry, which includes the work in the Tacumbu men’s prison. I was officially given this position a week ago at a conference of churches in the Asunción-metro area. Please pray for me as I serve in these different ministries.

Margarita, Ana and I thank all of you who have contributed to our work in Paraguay.  The current donations are enough to maintain us; yet, we hope to find about 10 more people to give $50 a month, which would cover our near-future expenses.  We never had a car or baby in Paraguay before and underestimated the cost of gas, car insurance and childcare.  We’re also waiting on some people to follow up on their pledges.  Meanwhile large, one-time expenses are accumulating.  If you made a pledge to support us monthly but haven’t started giving, or if you never pledged and are interested in giving, please contact us or visit LAM’s online contributions webpage (listed at right).   Pray for provision and wisdom as we work toward covering all our expenses.

In 2009 a colleague began a soccer ministry to a group of 25 pre-teen boys in a village 45 minutes outside of Asunción.  Now he oversees nine groups that reach out to 250 kids and teens weekly.  The response to his and many other ministries reveals the great spiritual hunger in Paraguay. We and our co-workers here thank God to be able to work for the food that endures to eternal life, which Jesus will give to whoever asks Him.

Yours truly,                                                        

Tim, Margarita and Ana
*Visit our Facebook pages for more photos of the rural soccer outreach ministry.

June 2012: Back in Paraguay

Dear Friends and Family:

Margarita—a country girl from the small Paraguayan town of Piraju (Guarani for “Goldfish”)—never imagined herself visiting the United States.    She spent the last year and a half getting to know people, visiting places and experiencing life in the U.S.  Now, Margarita says she misses the U.S., especially the friends and family there.

We write this letter with thankfulness in our hearts to God for our time in the U.S.  Although we are geographically absent from you we are with you in spirit and in memories of the good moments we shared with you during the past 14 months.   We had a truly wonderful time in the U.S. building up old friendships and making new ones, showing off Ana, and traveling to new places.  We stayed active. Both of us completed studies as well as participated in ministries that prepared us for our work in Paraguay.

As you know, we also spent much time raising funds for our mission work.  The Lord graciously responded to all of you who supported us through your prayers for our finances.  We return to Paraguay well supplied, having received your gifts.  We thank God in our remembrance of you, whose hospitality sustained us in the U.S. and whose generosity enabled us to meet our financial goal for the mission field.

We request your prayers for our transition back to work in Paraguay.  As we begin our ministry activities—Margarita helping students with learning disabilities and I teaching and coordinating outreach—we ask for the discernment and drive to work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.  Also, pray for us, that God may open to us many doors for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ—that we may make it clear.  Please remember Ana as well while she adjusts to a new environment.

Furthermore, keep the nation of Paraguay in your prayers.  You might already know about the recent impeachment of President Fernando Lugo.  His election in 2008 was the first peaceful change of power between political parties in Paraguay’s history.  Since the vice-president, Federico Franco, assumed control last month, there has not been any violence.  Please pray that this time of political transition would remain peaceful.

Margarita and I would very much like for you to keep us updated on your life through e-mail and Skype.  We say farewell with a couple lines from the book of Colossians, which we’ve found to be encouraging in flustered times (like an international move):  “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth…and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” (3: 2, 15)

Yours truly,

Margarita, Ana and Tim Revett

Easter 2012: Continuing the Celebration of the Resurrection

Dear Family and Friends:

On June 29^th Margarita and I zip up our luggage, set Ana in her purple “baby-backpack,” and board a plane for Paraguay.  Our 16-month stay in the U.S. nears its conclusion.  We are excited to return to the mission field, and, at the same time, we know we will miss being close to our family and friends here. 

We appreciate everyone in Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston and New York who hosted us during our travels in March.  Margarita visited places she’d only seen in movies.   Ana met (and was generously spoiled by) many family members.  I shared about our mission work in different venues.  From now through our departure, we will remain in the Pacific Northwest.  We continue contacting potential supporters of our mission work with the goal to find 13 more people who can start giving $50 a month before May 31^st.  While I spend four afternoons a week teaching Spanish to teenage girls, Margarita tries to keep Ana from climbing the furniture at home.  We also participate in a local ESL ministry as well as fill in as substitute Bible study teachers and guest speakers in local churches.  

During this final round of our time in the U.S., Margarita and I request your prayers for…

·         The conclusion of our time here and the transition to Paraguay.
·         Our U.S.-Paraguay residency and visa processes.
·         The necessary finances for the mission field.

Easter weekend for us was a refreshing time of celebrating Christ’s resurrection. A sermon drew my attention to how Matthew describes the disciples’ post-resurrection encounter with Christ: “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted” (28: 17). Even some of Jesus’ closest followers succumbed to the skepticism that is ingrained in human nature. Interestingly enough, Jesus responds to their skepticism by commissioning them to “go and make disciples of all nations” (19). Jesus invites all people to be His followers, even those who doubt. He walks alongside them in their doubt, reasoning and explaining who He is.

Moreover, many of you who carry out Jesus’ commission do so locally. Others, like Margarita and I, serve thousands of miles away. Wherever Christ’s followers are and whatever our situations may be, we stand together in worship because all authority has been given to our Lord and because He leaves us with the promise: “I am with you always” (20).

Yours truly,

Ana, Margarita and Tim Revett

January/February 2012: Our Mission

Dear Friends and Family:

Margarita and I use terms like “teachers” and “missionaries” to describe our work in the beautiful nation of Paraguay.  For those of you who have partnered with us, we’d like to take this time to clearly explain the ministry you are involved in.  For anyone interested in partnering with us, the information below will help clarify what we are asking congregations, groups and individuals to be involved in for at least the next three years.

 

Ø Our Vision:        

1)      Serving alongside churches and ministries in Paraguay to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

2)      Preparing new generations of Paraguayan leaders through work as educators at the New Horizon Christian School and other educational institutions.

Ø Our Individual Responsibilities: Margarita	Tim
Minister to students with learning disabilities, and their families, at the New Horizon Christian School, as well as at two public schools near churches/church plants in order to open church-school relationships.	Develop and teach the English program for the New Horizon Christian School, which is an outreach ministry that provides students with valuable employment skills.  Also, connect with Paraguayans studying to teach English.
Facilitate discipleships with women, both individually and in small groups.  Margarita also hopes to mobilize women’s ministries in Paraguayan churches to address the issue of human trafficking locally.	Facilitate discipleships with young men, including New Horizon School pre-graduates, new Christians, potential national missionaries, and the Christian inmate leaders inside the Tacumbu Men’s Penitentiary.
Ø Our Combined Responsibilities: ·   Cooperate and coordinate with Paraguayan churches and ministries in carrying out evangelistic projects in the Asuncion-metro area and in un-churched, rural areas. ·   Raise our daughter, Ana Jeruti.

For the last six months our contributions have averaged at slightly under 60% of what we need to fund our vision in Paraguay.  Thank you to all who have given and pledged!  We will meet our financial goal when 24 more people or groups give $50 a month.  If you are not currently giving and are able to and interested in doing so, we invite you to give $50 a month, or any amount you can.   And, finally, please pray for the following requests:

• For the health of our family members
• For a restful and safe vacation for the New Horizon School teachers and students.
• For Pablo and Susie, a Paraguayan couple we discipled, who were recently married

Yours truly,

Margarita, Ana and Tim

December 2011: Oh Come Immanuel

Dear Friends and Family:

Earlier this month Margarita and I visited a man named Oscar and his family at their small apartment in Hillsboro, Oregon.  Oscar’s doctors recently told him that his brain cancer was aggressive and un-curable, and that he could pass away any day.  Would it have been appropriate for Margarita and I to respond to his news with a simple, “We’ll be praying for you,” or even, “Merry Christmas”?

Just as the Jews were suffering under Roman oppression when Jesus was born, many of our neighbors are enduring difficulties as December 25^th approaches.  Some people, like Oscar, fight serious illnesses.  Many battle depression and loneliness.  Others are experiencing their greatest financial challenges ever.  Perhaps those who are struggling this season want a sign that God is really present and cares.   The sign of God’s presence and care is actually the centerpiece of this season:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.  Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.  (Isaiah 7:14)

Last August, while our newborn daughter was struggling to breathe, Margarita and I didn’t know what was going to happen to her.  In those difficult moments, we found peace in the significance of the hospital’s name—Emanuel (or Immanuel), which means “God with us.”  The Lord never promised us that Ana’s birth would be without problems, but He did promise us, “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20).  Four months later, we are celebrating our first Christmas with our healthy little daughter.    

Christmas is not only a time to be with family, but it is the celebration of when God came to be physically present with the harassed and helpless masses of this world.  The Lord is with Oscar and his family in their trials.  Margarita and I communicated this as best as we could and then shared with them Jesus’ invitation:  Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).  Oscar, as well as his whole family, put their trust in Jesus that day.

Please pray for Oscar and his family, as well as for anyone you know who may be struggling this Christmas season.  Also remember to write, call or visit them.  After all, Jesus is still physically active in the world through His followers.

Margarita, Ana and I are currently enjoying a brief vacation in Texas from teaching, studying and fundraising.  We praise God for all of you who have been supporting us this year.  Thank you!  Although we have not had any new support pledges in almost a month and still need 26 people or groups to give $50 a month, we made a number of good contacts before traveling, which we will follow up on in January.  If you are interested in financially helping us return to our ministry in Paraguay this June, please contact us, or Latin America Mission (see below).     

Merry Christmas and happy New Year!                                                           

Tim, Margarita and Ana Revett     

806-471-9855

trevett@latinamericamission.org

Latin America Mission: 

1-800-275-8410

www.lam.org                                

Thanksgiving 2011: Celebrating Our Firstfruit

October/November, 2011

Dear Family and Friends:

Two Sundays ago, Margarita and I brought Ana to church to be dedicated in the same white dress and bonnet that my grandmother wore at her christening in 1911.  The children’s choir sang.  The congregation prayed for Ana.  The pastor dabbed a little oil on her forehead, symbolizing God’s presence with her.  This wasn’t a ceremony to “make her a Christian.”  Like everyone else, when she’s old enough, Ana will need to decide on her own to follow Christ.  Instead, in a spirit of celebration and thanksgiving we brought Ana there to symbolically present her to God as our “first-fruit,” the best of all that He has given to us.  Please join us this Thanksgiving in acknowledging the Creator for this year’s “fruits,” whether noticeable, like the birth of child, or often overlooked, like daily provision.

October was so busy that we didn’t get around to writing you this letter until now.  Margarita spends three mornings a week studying English at community college.  I teach Spanish in the afternoons at an all-girls middle-high school.  We made two nice getaways to Seattle for presentations and a missions conference.  All these activities are in addition to fundraising and our full-time job of parenting.  Between my work and the generosity of many family members, friends and congregations, we have been well supplied for living in the U.S.  We thank all of you who have supported us through donations, gifts, hospitality, and prayers—they are fragrant offerings, acceptable sacrifices, pleasing to God.    

Furthermore, we are very grateful for the congregations and families who recently decided to financially support us.  We lack only 26 pledges of $50 a month to meet our financial goal for the mission field.  If you, your small group or Sunday school class are not currently supporting us and are willing to give $50 a month starting in January, contact us or Latin America Mission (see below).  Please ask the Lord to connect us with 26 people or groups who would support us as teachers and missionaries in Paraguay.

In addition, please pray for the following requests: 

·         Margarita and I, continuing to learn as new parents

·         My 75 students, many of whom have difficult home situations     

·         Margarita’s family in Paraguay, for health and employment issues

·         The New Horizon School, for a nice conclusion to the school year.

Happy Thanksgiving!  May God supply every need of yours according to His riches in Christ Jesus.

To Him be glory forever,

Tim, Margarita and Ana                                 

806-471-9855/trevett@latinamericamission.org

Latin America Mission        

P.O. Box 52-7900         

Miami, FL  33152-9913         

1-800-275-8410         

www.lam.org 

September 2011: Bienvenida Ana!

Dear Family and Friends:

Margarita experienced no difficulties during the pregnancy with Ana.  The problems began to occur about eight hours into labor.  When the bigger contractions came, Ana’s heart-rate dropped to dangerously-low levels.  The third time this happened, the decision was made to do a c-section, and at 11:29 AM on Sunday, August 28th, Ana Jeruti Revett came into the world. 

At first, everything seemed fine. Margarita and I were able to hold her.  The nurses continued with the normal post-delivery procedures and moved us to a recovery suite.  Within twenty minutes, though, Ana began exhibiting breathing difficulties.  While Margarita stayed with my family in the recovery suite, I followed Ana to the observation room.  The nurses and doctors did not know what was happening.  Some said possibly pneumonia.  Others said perhaps her esophagus didn’t connect to her stomach.  Amidst the flurry of doctors and nurses around Ana, all I saw was my tiny newborn daughter thrashing around on the observation table, struggling to breathe.  I felt powerless to help her.

I thought of the story of Jairus, a father who lived in the town of Capernaum during the time of Jesus.  Jairus met Jesus on the shore of the Galilee Sea, threw himself at his feet, “and implored him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death.  Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.’ ” I could relate with this man’s desperation.  I, too, brought my request for my daughter’s healing to the Lord’s feet.

Within two hours of Ana’s birth, the doctors transferred her to another hospital with a specialized neonatal ICU.  By evening, she was stable, but on an air pressure machine and with many tubes going into her.  On Monday, the doctor diagnosed her with Newborn Respiratory Distress Syndrome.  She said Ana’s recovery might take weeks.  By Wednesday, the doctor was letting us hold Ana and talked about taking her off the air pressure machine.  On Friday, Ana was “tube-free” and breathing on her own.  The following morning, she was discharged from the hospital. 

The story of Jairus’ daughter and Ana’s story both testify of God’s power to heal.  Jairus’ daughter was touched by Jesus on the hand and healed instantly.  The Lord orchestrated Ana’s healing through her vigor in fighting the sickness, the expertise of the medical workers, and the prayers of many people.  Margarita and I thank God for His goodness in the providence of our daughter as well as for His presence during the trials of her first week of life.

We also thank you for your prayers and encouragement.  Please join with us in praising God for the life of Ana and for Margarita’s recovery.  Keep us in your prayers as we start out as new parents.  Also, please pray for us as we continue to raise financial support and prepare for our return to the mission field in Paraguay next June.

Yours truly,

Tim, Margarita and Ana