Passion for Paraguay

We left for the mission field in 2002. Here's a picture of us with our packed truck ready for our Panamerican Adventure! My, our truck looks great and we look so young...and refreshed! Sometimes I wonder if missionary life isn't some cruel version of Survivor. Every week we hear news of another faithful one that's bit the dust. Don't get me wrong, we're no "Super Missionaries." Although we've come along way, baby, we're still spring chickens and we continue to be humbled and refined every.single.day. We're learning about what it takes to be a missionary; not just a quick-stint missionary, but a missionary for the long haul. Here's a few characteristics that we're working on: 1. Pioneer Spirit. If you're the type of person that likes everything neat and pretty and handed to you on a silver platter, do not try missions. In many cases, you will be starting projects from scratch, everything takes longer and requires a lot of s...

Today is Radio Alterntiva's 10th birthday. It's hard to believe that 10 years ago Norberto was making the preparations for the license and the frequency, which is a miracle that OUR solicitation was accepted from many more lucrative and political organizations that made petitions for the one frequency opening in our town. Norberto came to the States two weeks before the radio was launched. This is what the radio looked like when we returned to serve at the station in 2002. Radio Alternativa 92.7 FM started broadcasting in the basement of the radio, because the building wasn't finished. There was one staff person who did everything from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.! Now there are 10 people on staff and the building, as you can see, is almost complete. Here's a picture of the morning team broadcasting to hundreds of homes and businesses. During a 30 minute block on the show, we received 120 text messages from the audience sending us birthday wishes! The Radio has 6...

This is Radio Alternativa , the Christian radio where we serve. We have an audience of 500,000 and we are consistently reaching new listeners! One of our current URGENT needs is for a generator at the radio station. Here in Paraguay we are constantly frustrated with the blessed beneficiaries of power outages on an almost daily basis. The constant power fluctuations take a huge toll on the radio equipment, especially the transmitter. If you noticed our thermometer on the right hand side of the website, we are raising money for a 17 kva generator. A generator will allow us to continue to broadcast to the greater population despite recurrent power surges and outages. That would make us the ONLY radio station to continue on air when the power goes out. Since we are the only Christian radio station in southern Paraguay and we broadcast the Good News 24 hours a day (with 12 hours live programming) we feel that a generator is an important tool for us to beat out the competition on th...

Hubby and I have made an agreement not to talk about sensitive issues after 10:00 p.m. It’s a rule in our household because when we were first married our late night talks would turn into fights and we would say hurtful things, because we were tired and our reasoning senses were shot. We eliminated almost all arguments with that simple rule. Exhaustion takes the best out of a person. Another new book on the market,talks about the high burnout rate among pastors. In reading reviews of the book, the author says that lack of sleep is one of the main causes of burnout. I’m reading this book that also deals with the correlation of sleep deprivation and discouragement. It’s a book for overactive people who are seeking to strengthen a love relationship with the Lord. Being in the ministry, I feel the demands of people’s needs constantly. Daily, we hear claps at the door to pray, to chauffeur people around, to do weddings, funerals, to lead Bible studies, to counsel just about any pro...

As I was hand washing our clothes today over our outdoor washboard sink, I instinctively grabbed another pair of pants from my basket and as soon as I looked at them, huge guilt feelings came to my mind. Why would I feel guilty about washing a pair of my husband’s old pants? Well, these pants go back to our Pre-Paraguay days when we were first married. We were getting our start in adventure racing and for his birthday I wanted to surprise him by buying the best adventure racing pants on the market. I scrimped and saved to make an extravagant online purchase (still a novelty in those days). Yet, they were so expensive; he didn’t want to wear them! Since they are expedition weight, they are too heavy for Paraguay’s heat. I feel guilty today and I know I won’t ever buy $100 pants again for Norb, myself or anybody. Not because I don’t like to buy quality. I do. Not because I don’t think he’s worth it. He is. Since moving to Paraguay, I have seen too much pover...

Yesterday we got in touch with nature! Since the animals are trying to escape the scorching tropical heat, they all seem to migrate into our home. I heard a noise in my fern, right outside the front door and realized a dove was making her nest in my house plant. I told Norberto I was going to take the nest out, until I realized that she's already laid an egg. Last night, momma dove flew right into our living room. At least she feels at home with us! When she went out to take a break from her nest, we snuck over to show Timmy the egg. Right now we have residing in our humble abode: 2 lizards 5-6 green toads countless beetles, flies, mosquitoes and June bugs We sprayed against cockroaches (my personal enemy) in March and so far we haven't had any yet this summer. Thank God! Here's a picture of the toad that hangs out on the door every night to catch the bugs that are attracted to the light. His name is "Toady;" kinda cute, don't ya think? What unexpected...

I am truly in shock and humbled to have won the Haiku contest, because ALL the entries were so creative. My heart is full of gratitude! I want to thank: 1. Shannon for putting together a fun contest. There is so much work to coordinate these things and I am grateful to you for bringing the blogging community together, once again. 2. All the great folks that donated such wonderful prizes. I will truly cherish each one. 3. To friends, family and strangers that helped out a desperate missionary get some chocolate! 4. God- from whom all blessings flow! Here are the results:

I (Julie) finished my first book of 2009. Admittedly, I started the book in November, but I’m still going to count it toward my new year’s goal of 12. Is that cheating? I read, “Trusting God, Even When Life Hurts,” by Jerry Bridges. It isn’t one of those warm and fuzzy Christian books. The concepts hit the core of my struggle with several uncontrollable issues in my life. Last year was a difficult one for our family. We experienced loss, we saw broken family relationships and tensions and personally we suffered a miscarriage and work overload. Honestly, the message seemed to come at just the right time for me. The first chapter of the book is, “Can God Be Trusted?” an age-old question of humanity. His premise is three-fold: God is completely sovereign. God is infinite in wisdom. God is perfect in love. He uses the scripture from Lamentations 3:37-38 “Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamitie...

From Drop Box   We've compiled a mosaic of our memories of 2008. We're grateful to God for another year of beautiful living and we're looking forward to a fresh start in 2009. We hope you have time for positive reflection of the past year and purposeful projection into the new year. Happy New Year!