Today we had Sunday School at Sue's church. This was a big day too because this would be the first day that the children would get to have communion. The church is actually right next to the New Horizon school and is pretty small, so when they have larger activities they just use the gathering area in the school. So, expecting 50 to 75 kids, the school was opened up for Sunday School. There were quite a few kids here that day and it was great to see many of the older kids from the school volunteering to help with the Sunday School. They say songs with the kids, prayed with the kids, and then I came up to share. Sue translated for me and I shared with them how while we may not always be willing to love each other God always loves us. And by taking communion we remember that Jesus loves us so much that he is willing to give up everything for us. I had made a hummingbird balloon animal, so I shared with the kids that just like breath has to be breathed into the balloon to make the hummingbird so communion is one of God's ways to breath life into us as Christians. Then Robert, the pastor of the church, shared communion with the kids. I got to serve the communion and it was very special.
After communion was over I got to make balloon animals for all the kids. They crowed right up next to me with their bright vibrant eyes and asked me for their animals. I have a repertoire of about 7 animals (and a sword) but that didn't stop the kids from asking me for all kinds of animals. One of the youth who helped, a young man, was standing next to me while I was making the animals, and he quickly picked up how to many a few of them, so... he helped to get the animals made much faster. It was fun to see him learning, popping a few balloons, but having a great time.
I really enjoyed this time with the kids.
After Sunday School, we headed into town for lunch and who came in while we were eating but Angelica, the woman we had shared dinner at Pizza Hut with the night before. I really enjoyed the times throughout the week, including this lunch, when Sue would share with me about the politics of Paraguay, the state of the school, little things she has learned about the Paraguayan culture, her own calling, and more.
After lunch Sue took me into Asuncion to pick up so gifts for family and friends. We stopped first by the Capital building of Paraguay which has right behind it a huge slum. Most of the electricity in this area has been spliced off of power lines and their is no sanitation. I was thinking about taking a picture but Sue said I should not since this was one of the most dangerous parts of town. She said there were murders here almost every week but that the people are so poor they have no other place to go. There was even a time when the shantees being built extended almost all the way up to the back doors of the capital but "mysteriously" a fire burned up much of this village. Some definitely suspect the government of arsen.
After this stop we traveled and picked up some gifts and then we decided to stop for ice cream. We went to an amazing ice cream shop called Heladero. It was delicious.
Then we went by the Hospital to visit a lady named Rosa. She was a strong Christian woman who had influenced many people for Christ but was very sick. When we went into the hospital I was struck by how different the hospital looked. I was not one inclosed building, but a collection of smaller buildings with outdoor walk ways connecting them. It looked pretty old and antiquated without very good sanitation at all. It was powerful to me to see this son, daughter-in-law, neice, and husband all weaping and the poor condition of Rosa. We prayed with the family and then went home.
Then night I watched the moving Amazing Grace which I highly recommend and spent time preparing for the sermon I would preach the next day.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
The Assemblea
Feb. 5th. This was the day of the Assemblea, a time when the leaders of the Methodist church from throughout Paraguay met together for business, sharing how God has been at work, worship, prayer, and more.
It started off in a very interesting way. Bishop Pablo is the first bishop of Paraguay. He has been the leader of the church in the past but was bestowed the authority of a bishop only in the last couple of years. And last year was a particularly hard year for him.
Korean missionaries have been activity in Paraguay and they have one of the larger churches in Paraguay right in Asunsion. In this past this had been a vibrant church but over time the church had become more and more internally focused. I believe it may be a cultural thing, but at least some of the Korean leaders in Paraguay were not used to being a part of connected ministry with a Bishop as leader, so... when Bishop Pablo began asking some questions about the fiscal status of the church, some of the leaders did not like it. And this attitude of "mind your own business" extended not only to Bishop Pablo but prior to that it extended to the governmental agencies that were in touch with the church. For example, the church had not gotten the correct permits to build the church in the first place and had ignored things like taxes over the years. The end result was that the government was demanding payment when the church did not have the cash to pay. So, the government was planning to sell off all the assets of the Korean church, including the church building, a hospital built early, and more. This would have been a huge loss to the church since only a small fraction of the overall value of the church was needed to pay back the government. But God provided, and the church was able to pay back the government without having to sell and buildings.
All this to say that Bishop Pablo received a lot of flack from the Korean church and others for putting some, I think, appropriate pressure on the church to pay back the government. He was also taking some heat for changing the appointments of many of the Methodist pastors the year before in a way that surprised many people.
So, I found it very interesting Bishop Pablo started off the Assemblea by immediately addressing these criticisms, sharing the challenges he had faced this year, and stressing the need for unity and focus on Jesus Christ. I thought he handled things well.
By the way, we started off this exceptionally hot day in the sanctuary of the Korean church with two large air conditioning units at work. It was pretty cool when we started off.
Then we shifted to a time of worship and the lady who sang and played the piano had an incredible voice. I really enjoyed the music. Next, the conference secretary began to read through the notes of last year's Assemblea word for word. After about 20 minutes of reading, Carla, the leader of children's ministries through the Methodist church, asked if every word really needed to be read. She said out loud what I think many people were feeling. So the secretary quickly summarized and moved on. It was kind of a funny experience.
Then many testimonies were shared from leaders in the church and conference wide leaders about what God was doing throughout the churches. I could follow some of what they were saying, Sue paraphrased some of what they were saying, but a good bit of it was lost to me because of the language (they were speaking in spanish).
Somewhere around this time, the electricity went off in the building. So the sanctuary quickly got hot. We opened up a lot of windows and things got even worse. An interesting thing about power in Paraguay is that you can lose power in one part of a building without it affecting every part. So we all moved downstairs into their basement were the power was on and we could use the fans and AC down there. Then we had lunch and the power was turned off downstairs so that the electricity in the whole building could be fixed. And by now it was getting extremely hot outside which translated to sweltering in the building. Some Korean youth led us in worship after lunch and you could see that their shirts were drenched in sweat. We continued some reports when finally the power came back on and so we moved back upstairs. The problem was that only one of the 2 units started to work again.
The rest of the afternoon included a detailed accounting of church finances and the preparation of 3 men for ordination as pastors. I thought it was interesting that Bishop Pablo called someone forward for each man to give a testimony about the calling of God on each man's life. What a great example for us.
Finally, when dinner time rolled around my brain began to hurt from straining to understand the Spanish. Sue looked at me and could see my mental fatigue so we left before the Assemblea was complete. Sue took us out to eat in an air conditioned restaurant and we went to Pizza Hut of all places. There we found Angelica who had been at the Assemblea and was leaving early to take care of her kids.
It was nice to have air conditioning and yummy food.
I learned from this day that God is at work in mighty ways throughout Paraguay and church politics exist everywhere. God is always good and God can work through out good and not so good ways of relating to each other. I believe the Methodist church is growing and passionately following God. And I believe God is using Bishop Pablo in a powerful way.
It started off in a very interesting way. Bishop Pablo is the first bishop of Paraguay. He has been the leader of the church in the past but was bestowed the authority of a bishop only in the last couple of years. And last year was a particularly hard year for him.
Korean missionaries have been activity in Paraguay and they have one of the larger churches in Paraguay right in Asunsion. In this past this had been a vibrant church but over time the church had become more and more internally focused. I believe it may be a cultural thing, but at least some of the Korean leaders in Paraguay were not used to being a part of connected ministry with a Bishop as leader, so... when Bishop Pablo began asking some questions about the fiscal status of the church, some of the leaders did not like it. And this attitude of "mind your own business" extended not only to Bishop Pablo but prior to that it extended to the governmental agencies that were in touch with the church. For example, the church had not gotten the correct permits to build the church in the first place and had ignored things like taxes over the years. The end result was that the government was demanding payment when the church did not have the cash to pay. So, the government was planning to sell off all the assets of the Korean church, including the church building, a hospital built early, and more. This would have been a huge loss to the church since only a small fraction of the overall value of the church was needed to pay back the government. But God provided, and the church was able to pay back the government without having to sell and buildings.
All this to say that Bishop Pablo received a lot of flack from the Korean church and others for putting some, I think, appropriate pressure on the church to pay back the government. He was also taking some heat for changing the appointments of many of the Methodist pastors the year before in a way that surprised many people.
So, I found it very interesting Bishop Pablo started off the Assemblea by immediately addressing these criticisms, sharing the challenges he had faced this year, and stressing the need for unity and focus on Jesus Christ. I thought he handled things well.
By the way, we started off this exceptionally hot day in the sanctuary of the Korean church with two large air conditioning units at work. It was pretty cool when we started off.
Then we shifted to a time of worship and the lady who sang and played the piano had an incredible voice. I really enjoyed the music. Next, the conference secretary began to read through the notes of last year's Assemblea word for word. After about 20 minutes of reading, Carla, the leader of children's ministries through the Methodist church, asked if every word really needed to be read. She said out loud what I think many people were feeling. So the secretary quickly summarized and moved on. It was kind of a funny experience.
Then many testimonies were shared from leaders in the church and conference wide leaders about what God was doing throughout the churches. I could follow some of what they were saying, Sue paraphrased some of what they were saying, but a good bit of it was lost to me because of the language (they were speaking in spanish).
Somewhere around this time, the electricity went off in the building. So the sanctuary quickly got hot. We opened up a lot of windows and things got even worse. An interesting thing about power in Paraguay is that you can lose power in one part of a building without it affecting every part. So we all moved downstairs into their basement were the power was on and we could use the fans and AC down there. Then we had lunch and the power was turned off downstairs so that the electricity in the whole building could be fixed. And by now it was getting extremely hot outside which translated to sweltering in the building. Some Korean youth led us in worship after lunch and you could see that their shirts were drenched in sweat. We continued some reports when finally the power came back on and so we moved back upstairs. The problem was that only one of the 2 units started to work again.
The rest of the afternoon included a detailed accounting of church finances and the preparation of 3 men for ordination as pastors. I thought it was interesting that Bishop Pablo called someone forward for each man to give a testimony about the calling of God on each man's life. What a great example for us.
Finally, when dinner time rolled around my brain began to hurt from straining to understand the Spanish. Sue looked at me and could see my mental fatigue so we left before the Assemblea was complete. Sue took us out to eat in an air conditioned restaurant and we went to Pizza Hut of all places. There we found Angelica who had been at the Assemblea and was leaving early to take care of her kids.
It was nice to have air conditioning and yummy food.
I learned from this day that God is at work in mighty ways throughout Paraguay and church politics exist everywhere. God is always good and God can work through out good and not so good ways of relating to each other. I believe the Methodist church is growing and passionately following God. And I believe God is using Bishop Pablo in a powerful way.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Pictures from the Trip
Today I want to share some pictures from my trip.
First, here are some pictures from the retreat.
This is the long hike up the hill to the camp where we stayed. It was about 105 degrees as we climbed the hill. But the camp was sooooo beautiful as you will see.
These are the worship leaders for the retreat. Perla, Jorge, Adolfo, and Lydia. The music was excellent.
Just as a side note, Sue selected this camp because it had air conditioning and a nice pool. However, the air conditioning in the chapel did not work while we were there so inside the temperature was about 98 instead of 103. :-)
Here is the gorgeous view from our camp. The river at the horizon is a beautiful river but the polution in it is awful. When animals are slaughtered all of the garbage and remains have been just tossed into the lake. However, there are people now trying to clean up the lake. I was warned many times never to swim in any bodies of water in Paraguay except our pool.
What a great pool. So cool and shaded. We had a lot of fun here playing games and cooling down.
Here are many of the teachers and helpers from the New Horizon school with their beautiful bookmarks, from Debbie Hardin at Fairview. Many of them not only took the bookmarks for themselves but for friends and family as well. They also all received a beautiful card from my mother and just loved the pictures.
This is one of the activities during the training. I shared with the teachers that one way God can work in us so that we live all our lives for Him is to focus on how beautiful He is. So I asked the teachers to draw pictures on this long roll of paper, symbols of what is beautiful and amazing about our God.
This is the front of the chapel, built by the Korean church, where we had our sessions.
This is at the Korean church in Asuncion where we had the Assemblea, the conference of all the leaders in the Methodist Church in Paraguay. It was a great day of testimonies of faith, discussions about the financial position of the church, the ordination of new pastors, and more. The woman pictured here is Carla who is the director of the ministry to children throughout the Paraguayan church. I am going to meet with her Monday evening to share about ministry with children. I am very excited about. Ask me about he air conditioning when I return. :-)
On Saturday we had Sunday School. Okay, I know that is confusing, but once a month the church has a fast all morning with a 4 hour worship service ending in communion. On these days, Sunday School is held on Saturday. So... we shared with the kids about communion. And on this day, the children had their first communion ever. Then afterward I made balloon animals for the kids. There were about 60 or 70 kids present. It was a lot of fun. I love being with the kids.
This is me serving communion to the kids. What beautiful smiles they have.
Here many of the kids are singing songs and worshipping God. And you can see sprinkled throughout this place the youth and adults who give so generously to love on the children.
After Sunday School, Sue took me on a trip to downtown Asuncion to buy a few gifts for my family and tour the city. Here are flags of Paraguay and the different areas of the city.
Finally, we went to a museum during this tour and saw many plaques about the wars that have been fought, statues of famous government leaders and priests, and beautiful architecture, but what struck me the most were these two soldiers guarding the door. They never moved the whole time we were there.
Thank you all for your prayers for me and the people of Paraguay. You all are a blessing from God to me.
First, here are some pictures from the retreat.
Just as a side note, Sue selected this camp because it had air conditioning and a nice pool. However, the air conditioning in the chapel did not work while we were there so inside the temperature was about 98 instead of 103. :-)
Thank you all for your prayers for me and the people of Paraguay. You all are a blessing from God to me.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
The Retreat- First Days in Paraguay
Wow, two days have passed. The teachers, assistants, and everyone involved in the New Horizon School have been a blessing to me. I definitely feel the language barrier but I can sense the Holy Spirit in a powerful way within them.
By the way... it is sooooooo hot here. I have joked with a few folks that I am sweating out any impurities that I may have in my body.
My first day or so here I just kept feeling like I wanted to go home. The hardest part for me is that I can't converse with the teachers and the people that we are working with. It has felt lonely at times because I feel separated from the group even though Sue, Tim, and Carol all speak English. The challenge is that I don't want them to have to stay with me all the time or have them translate all the time either. But we have had a few good conversations. I believe this feeling will decrease over time.
Sue, the director of the school, is an amazingly genuine follower of Christ. It's great to see all of the ways she demonstrates God's love by having families stay in her house when they are repairing their house, by leading prayer groups, by giving money to families that are struggling, to hosting missionaries, and more, all on top of leading the New Horizon School. Which by the way, she has been leading for over 10 years now.
At the camp they had a beautiful pool with a tinglada over it. That is like a huge metal awning over the entire pool. The water was very cool which was the only real escape from the heat. We played some pool volleyball with a huge beach ball, maybe 6 feet in diameter. It was a lot of fun. My first day at camp I was soo tired. I am staying in Tim's apartment which is above the church and I am thankful for a room of my own but it is very hot. So my first night in Paraguay, before we left for the camp, was not a very restful one. Then, I was very nervous about sharing with the group so I was emotionally tired the next day, and I sweat so much that I go a headache from dehydration. This is not to say that it wasn't an excellent first day but it was a challenge at times. So at about 8 pm, after dinner, I went to our room and went to bed. But I think I was like an over tired child so... I did not fall asleep until around midnight. I am so thankful for about 6 and a half hours of sleep, in a semi air conditioned room, though. My first good sleep in a few days.
Tim was the translater for my times with the teachers and he was outstanding. I think that he did an amazing job of conveying what I was trying to share. It was fun to share the candy left over from Trunks and Treats with the teachers, give out my mom's flower cards, and give out the bookmarks from Debbie Hardin. I made friends with the son of one of the teachers. The boy's name is Alan. I have a video of him sharing some of his likes and dislikes. I also had the chance to toss him in the air in the pool and make big splashes. I could understand more of what he said because he used simpler words in his conversations. He was a great helper in giving all of the staff the bookmarks.
Overall the retreat was excellent with time in the pool, time for singing and worshipping, time for folks to just hang out with each other, and I believe God was able to use me to share something of benefit to me and the staff. Little things that I am thankful for include: lots of access to clean water, salad and other vegetables to eat, ceiling fans to cool things down, and food to eat.
I also tried something new this time. I tried their Terere. It is a kind of tea you drink. So you bring a cooler of water and a special cup. In the cup you put this kind of tea called yerba mate, that has large pieces of the leaves of the tea. Then you have a special straw that has a built in filter at the bottom. You let the water sit in the yerba mate for a while and then drink it. Whenever you run out of liquid you just add more water. Drinking terere is a very social thing. While one person may bring the water, cup, and straw, that person will share their drink with many people. According to the CDC report I read before coming to Paraguay, it is not a good choices to drink the terere because so many germs can be on the straw and it is difficult to know how clean the water is; however, sharing the terere is a great way to make friends and enter the culture. So this time I drank terere. It tastes a little bitter but nevertheless it was good. Because I drink plain tea so much already, I think that it made it easier to drink this.
So far my schedule looks like this: I know that I will be sharing with the children at a church on Saturday, making balloon animals and talking about the significance of communion. Also, I will be preaching in one of the churches on Tuesday night. During next week Sue wants me to go to the teachers and pray with them individually and help any way that I can.
Also, the pastor of the church I will be helping at is the father of a young man who goes to fairview. The father's name is Roberto and I cannot remember the son's name now.
Even on my first day here, several folks have asked me to take things back to the US for them. They don't trust the mail, so sending it with a person is much better. So I have a little list of things that I need to do when I return. I am thankful to be useful in this way.
Tomorrow I will go to the Asemblea which is similar to annual conference in the Methodist church. The pastors will cover the necessary business and will have a time of worship as well. I'm not sure what to expect but I know that I will be able to witness more of the culture and faith here as well.
Until some time soon... I am thankful for you all. More pictures will be coming.
By the way... it is sooooooo hot here. I have joked with a few folks that I am sweating out any impurities that I may have in my body.
My first day or so here I just kept feeling like I wanted to go home. The hardest part for me is that I can't converse with the teachers and the people that we are working with. It has felt lonely at times because I feel separated from the group even though Sue, Tim, and Carol all speak English. The challenge is that I don't want them to have to stay with me all the time or have them translate all the time either. But we have had a few good conversations. I believe this feeling will decrease over time.
Sue, the director of the school, is an amazingly genuine follower of Christ. It's great to see all of the ways she demonstrates God's love by having families stay in her house when they are repairing their house, by leading prayer groups, by giving money to families that are struggling, to hosting missionaries, and more, all on top of leading the New Horizon School. Which by the way, she has been leading for over 10 years now.
At the camp they had a beautiful pool with a tinglada over it. That is like a huge metal awning over the entire pool. The water was very cool which was the only real escape from the heat. We played some pool volleyball with a huge beach ball, maybe 6 feet in diameter. It was a lot of fun. My first day at camp I was soo tired. I am staying in Tim's apartment which is above the church and I am thankful for a room of my own but it is very hot. So my first night in Paraguay, before we left for the camp, was not a very restful one. Then, I was very nervous about sharing with the group so I was emotionally tired the next day, and I sweat so much that I go a headache from dehydration. This is not to say that it wasn't an excellent first day but it was a challenge at times. So at about 8 pm, after dinner, I went to our room and went to bed. But I think I was like an over tired child so... I did not fall asleep until around midnight. I am so thankful for about 6 and a half hours of sleep, in a semi air conditioned room, though. My first good sleep in a few days.
Tim was the translater for my times with the teachers and he was outstanding. I think that he did an amazing job of conveying what I was trying to share. It was fun to share the candy left over from Trunks and Treats with the teachers, give out my mom's flower cards, and give out the bookmarks from Debbie Hardin. I made friends with the son of one of the teachers. The boy's name is Alan. I have a video of him sharing some of his likes and dislikes. I also had the chance to toss him in the air in the pool and make big splashes. I could understand more of what he said because he used simpler words in his conversations. He was a great helper in giving all of the staff the bookmarks.
Overall the retreat was excellent with time in the pool, time for singing and worshipping, time for folks to just hang out with each other, and I believe God was able to use me to share something of benefit to me and the staff. Little things that I am thankful for include: lots of access to clean water, salad and other vegetables to eat, ceiling fans to cool things down, and food to eat.
I also tried something new this time. I tried their Terere. It is a kind of tea you drink. So you bring a cooler of water and a special cup. In the cup you put this kind of tea called yerba mate, that has large pieces of the leaves of the tea. Then you have a special straw that has a built in filter at the bottom. You let the water sit in the yerba mate for a while and then drink it. Whenever you run out of liquid you just add more water. Drinking terere is a very social thing. While one person may bring the water, cup, and straw, that person will share their drink with many people. According to the CDC report I read before coming to Paraguay, it is not a good choices to drink the terere because so many germs can be on the straw and it is difficult to know how clean the water is; however, sharing the terere is a great way to make friends and enter the culture. So this time I drank terere. It tastes a little bitter but nevertheless it was good. Because I drink plain tea so much already, I think that it made it easier to drink this.
So far my schedule looks like this: I know that I will be sharing with the children at a church on Saturday, making balloon animals and talking about the significance of communion. Also, I will be preaching in one of the churches on Tuesday night. During next week Sue wants me to go to the teachers and pray with them individually and help any way that I can.
Also, the pastor of the church I will be helping at is the father of a young man who goes to fairview. The father's name is Roberto and I cannot remember the son's name now.
Even on my first day here, several folks have asked me to take things back to the US for them. They don't trust the mail, so sending it with a person is much better. So I have a little list of things that I need to do when I return. I am thankful to be useful in this way.
Tomorrow I will go to the Asemblea which is similar to annual conference in the Methodist church. The pastors will cover the necessary business and will have a time of worship as well. I'm not sure what to expect but I know that I will be able to witness more of the culture and faith here as well.
Until some time soon... I am thankful for you all. More pictures will be coming.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Here in Lambare
I made it! At 6:30 pm, Paraguay time, I arrived in Asuncion. With God's help I am here. Right now, I am very tired but I am here. God is good. I had dinner with Sue, the director of the New Horizon School, as well as Carol, Donald, and their daughter Cora. These are all folks I knew from my last visit to Paraguay. Wonderful loving folks. It was so great to see Sue's face on the other side of customs in Paraguay! Paraguay is a different world, with different customs, and different ways of relating but very beautiful and ripe for God and God's work. I am incredibly thankful that God has brought me here. I don't know if I'll be able to post anything for the next couple of days since I will be at the staff retreat but I will be back soon, and with pictures.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Getting ready to leave
Friday, January 29, 2010
Leaving on Monday, Feb. 1
Wow... It's almost here. Just a few more days and I will be headed to Paraguay. It certainly adds to the adventure that it is supposed to snow 4 to 8 inches this weekend right before I need to fly out on Sunday. I so appreciate the prayers and support of so many people. I am nervous about flying down by myself but I do believe that God will be with me.
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