Passion for Paraguay

Tomorrow evening we are starting the long journey to the States. Here's how it works: We leave in the afternoon to go to Posadas, Argentina. We wait in line at the bridge for about 2 hours, then board our bus for a 12 hour trip to Buenos Aires. Then, we visit Norberto's "Oma" and extended family and board our evening flight. We fly all night and arrive in Miami on Friday morning. We rent a car and drive to Ft. Myers and should be there by noon. About a 46 hour trip. Tired yet? I sure am! We appreciate your prayers for our travel and our time in the States. Norberto has documents to finish up and we look forward to some family time. Will try to write again once we reach the ground in the north!

I love helping people learn. I just got finished teaching my second English class for the Bible School. I could tell the "light bulb" was really coming on for the students this week, which is always exciting. I am utilizing a system of only speaking English to the class. I watch their confused, blank stares and I see them struggle and whisper to each other and do what they think I'm instructing them to do. It's a challenge to keep from laughing sometimes (and slightly enjoyable), but it really helps them concentrate on the context. I hope to instruct a handful of students who will become future translators, will get better jobs, will be able to travel internationally and have new horizons because of their language ability. A teacher can hope, right?

On September 6-8, Billy Graham's ministry (BGEA) in conjunction with Paraguayan ministries, including Radio Alternativa, is sponsoring a city-wide evangelistic campaign.

This ministry to bikers has donated 16 bikes to Paraguay since 2000. This year three bikes were donated to 1. The STID Bible School in Bella Vista, 2. the Ache Bible Translation (Letra) Project in Naranjal and 3. the Arroyo Pora Church plant in Encarnacion. We thank God for these tremendous tools to make sharing the Good News more effective. We had the privilege of hosting a fantastic team from CMA (Christian Motorcycle Association) in November 2005. From that great group, some CMA individuals and groups saw that Norberto would be benefited from having his own bike. We want to thank all the folks that donated toward Norberto's motorcycle. After waiting weeks for it to arrive from Japan, it finally arrived. It's a Honda Storm 125. It takes about $2.00 worth of gas to fill it each week. In contrast, our Suburban takes $47.50 for fuel each week...so this is a huge financial savings for us. Here's a picture of Norberto's new ministry mobile! We also wanted to share the prof...

Tomorrow, August 15, is a national holiday in Paraguay (Founding of Asuncion). The local churches are taking advantage of the day to open up a local hall for a day of prayer. We are going to be praying for Paraguay to be changed and hearts to be renewed toward God. Specifically, we will lift up the President, Nicanor Duarte Frutos, for all our govt. officials, for an end to corruption, for new job opportunities to open up, for families to be strengthened, for the orphans, street children, for a myriad of culturally-specific issues that touch the hearts of all of us who love this beautiful red soil. We would love to have you join with us to pray for Paraguay. Doesn't have to be on the 15th...God will hear us any day!

Oh what a happy day! We installed our new pastors this past weekend (they are in the middle). It is difficult to describe the load that has been lifted off our shoulders now that someone is living in the church parsonage and leading the congregation. We have been taking turns preaching, teaching, and "managing" the church since we returned from our furlough with the shocking news that our former pastor had resigned and left the country (without his wife and kids!). We have been picking up the pieces ever since. We are having our new pastor and his wife (Renato and Denise) over for lunch tomorrow to talk and to officially welcome them into the neighborhood. Yahoo! We love it when a good team comes together.

This Thursday evening, the transmitter arrived. A small delegation was waiting at the radio station to receive the truck. Norberto was at the radio until 2:00 a.m. making final adjustments on the new 5 kw transmitter. We are currently transmitting at 3 kw, until Conatel comes to inspect the new Italian-built transmitter. This will be an incredible ministry tool and we look forward to receiving calls from all over the state from new listeners in the coming weeks. Thanks to all our supporters and churches that have made this transmitter a reality! Please pray that hope of God's word would be spread to thousands more because of the increase in power!