Passion for Paraguay

Again we were offline this week. Our internet service started breaking down On May 14th. We were promised it would be up the next day. Let me vent for a moment

Emails are coming in and I am not able to respond. I have to turn a big paper in, but can’t access online sources. I would like to write and post a blog entry this week. I have a few Skype appointments due, and a webinar which I have already missed.
I just got off the phone with Randy (not really his name) and was told that maybe this evening at around 5 pm, the server will be fixed and back running. The use of the word maybe, did not help. It’s been 9 days now. If you are reading this, Randy probably came thru with his promise and got the server running.
Again, being flexible is key to peace of mind and low stress in Paraguay and I would imagine in any community or country in the world where basic services like internet and uninterrupted utility service is still under developed.
Since living in Paraguay for so many years, …

For the past weeks, Anahi in her evening prayers has been asking for the sun to come out the next day. Almost every prayer in the evening ends with this personal request to God.
Last night while it was raining and I could hear the winds outside, she asked me this question: Daddy, do you want sun or rain tomorrow?. I am not sure I replied, to which she insisted that I be honest and pick one option. Ok, I would prefer sunshine tomorrow.

So she prayed, God, I ask that tomorrow you bring a beautiful sunshine over our city, in the name of Jesus amen. I kissed her goodnight and walked out of her bedroom. I could not stop thinking about her request and how naturally she talked to God.  She honestly believes God will change the weather with he r request.  I was astonished and somewhat ashamed of my grown up lack of faith.. . . so while the winds were raging and the rain was pouring out, I went to bed thinking about my daughter’s prayer.

I woke up got ready for the day and I was lost in my th…

On April 17th, 2012 everything seemed find as a typical day in my life was passing. On April 18th, 2012 everything changed within a few seconds on our way to Asuncion

We had been traveling for a little less than hour on what would have been a six hour trip to Asuncion, our capital city, when at 5 am, we hit a parked truck with no signs, lights or reflectors, sitting on the highway. I will not go into details here. But that moment changed my life around and the way I see things today.


I have replayed the images of that day over and over until I thought I will go crazy. My head was hurting constantly. I had wished over and over to never gotten into that vehicle that day and instead stayed home. But I cannot go back, even if I want to.

The weeks after April 18th turned into my valley of shadow and death. I struggled with my faith, with guilt, purpose and the meaning of life. If it wasn't for my loving family, my church and Gods love to me, I am not sure where I would be today.

The day…

April 17, 2012 was another normal busy ministry day, just like today. I spend half of that day with a group of pastors and leaders. In the afternoon, I went to pick up some documents for Anahi, in the city of Encarnacion, about an hour from our home.

We were working on a side walk for our house, so at about 4 pm I took Timothy and Anahi with me to get some supplies before our trip the next day.

That evening Julie made pizza. I played with Timothy for about an hour with the new toy we had both created. I kissed my boy good night, and prepared some stuff for the trip we were going to make next morning very early towards Asuncion.



Life was good, we were in the midst of great projects with the church, we were also serving at the radio station and managing the new bible training bi vocational center we had created the year before.


Neither one of us had the fog-est idea that this would be our last day together as a family of four, our last dinner, our last time to say goodnight and to look …

As we were preparing for this trip in 2016, I realized that this was going to be a different one. Why? Because Nancy, Mark and Nicole have never been to the states.  Traveling with a bigger family and overcoming the barriers most non-Americans going to America face, can be quiet a challenge.


As I look back, this trip allowed our family to come together in a new way, since we needed each other and needed to learn to cope with the language barriers as well as cultural differences. We learned a lot about each other. 
Getting Mark, Nicole and Anahi into a great Christian School made all the difference. Their circle of friends increased overnight and their comprehension of English improved dramatically. 
One of the highlights was snow skying with the kids. It was the first time for Mark and Nicole to see snow. They loved it. Our friends at St. Joseph took us out for a wonderful day on the hills covered with snow. 

For Nancy it was a learning experience as we met with family and friends. Th…

Nicole loves horses. Ever since I came into her life she asked me to get a horse or to take her to a place where she can ride. One of our friends at South Meridian Church of God, offered Nicole to come out to his horse barn and work for an hour in exchange of riding for an hour. Ever since that day, a few weeks ago, Nicole has been working and riding horses in the afternoons. God answered her prayer beyond her wildest dreams.


Mark on the other hand, was eager to get out of our apartment and play soccer. Again, a friend of Anderson University invited me and Mark to come out and play twice a week. So, Mark gets to play and have some guy time with people his age. I cant quite keep up with them, but I love to see Mark making friends, learning English and experiencing the culture of soccer in the US.



My kids are learning English, We have been in Anderson about a month. We will be here another month. I am excited about Mark and Nicole's time in the US. It has been a growing and culturra…