Passion for Paraguay

A year ago, when Paraguay shut its borders and we all hibernated, the virus did not spread. A year later, and without a good system to administer the vaccine, between 80 -120 people are losing their lives every day While some nations are gradually back to the normal, Paraguay finds itself in the worst period of the pandemic. Vaccines arrive in limited bundles, a little corruption here and there, and millions are waiting their shot.  Please keep Paraguay in your prayers. We thank God for his protection and rapid recovery when several family members tested positive in February. We are back and going full force. But many cannot tell the same story.  Paraguay has administered at least 240,584 doses of COVID vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 1.7% of the country’s population. (https://graphics.reuters.com) As I think of the situation, I realize again how fragile we are and become in times like these. May the peace of God tha...

Paraguay is facing its severest cement crisis in history.  This comes at the worst time possible for us.  We are on the brink of building a church with a work camp and the prices of cement have more than doubled.  Cement is extremely difficult to come by and we will need more than 500 bags. Lugo, the president of the Republic, blames the shortage on distributors .  Of course, he'll defend the nationally held cement company (INC).  The real problem is that INC is only producing 56,000-60,000 bags a day and the nation's demand requires 90,000.  This shortage drives the price of cement sky high.  We bought cement for $4.00 a bag just three years ago.  Now, we're paying between $14-18 a bag.  Since the soy crops are doing very well, more people will be constructing in the next year and the demand will continue increasing.  The church building needs to go up between January 24- February 9. Local leadership is waiting and praying that the ...

2011 is off to a running start in our home.  Here's a glimpse of what's been going on: We rang in the new year by visiting our dear friend in the hospital, Susana, who's husband almost beat her to death with a crow bar.  She had several gashes to her head which required many stitches, was battered and terribly bruised on her chest and back, but thank God no permanent damage was done to her brain. Domestic violence is a huge problem here in Paraguay.  Three years ago at this very time of the year we housed a battered woman who needed a safe place to sleep.  Please pray with us for peace in Paraguayan homes. We made a trek to Katuete this week to bring supplies to the work site where we will be translating for a work team. Who needs a truck when you've got a white fish (Timmy's nickname for our car). First Church will build a church in two weeks later in the month!  Here's the "before" shot of the church building.  We'll keep you updated on t...

We never thought we'd have to put bars on our windows, but after our recent robbery and assault , we've decided that it's an important security measure.  Thanks to the help of some supporters in Michigan, tonight we can sleep with our windows open. Needing bars on our windows is a result of living in a fallen world.  I'm looking forward to a time when locks on doors, guard dogs and alarm systems aren't necessary.  Aren't you?  Guess that will only come in heaven.

Yesterday Transparency International came out with their yearly ranking of the most and least corrupt countries in the world.  Denmark, Singapore and New Zealand came ahead as the the least corrupt countries and Somalia topped the list as the most corrupt.  Out of 178 countries, Paraguay ranked 146.  Only Venezuela ranked worse in South America, as number 164. The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranks countries according to perception of corruption in the public sector. “The CPI is an aggregate indicator that combines different sources of information about corruption, making it possible to compare countries,” says the report. The 2010 CPI draws on different assessments and business opinion surveys carried out by independent and reputable institutions. It captures information about the administrative and political aspects of corruption. Broadly speaking, the surveys and assessments used to compile the index include questions relating to bribery of public o...

Wow, we've been really inconsistent here lately.  It's amazing how we've come to depend upon technology and how frustrated we get when it's not available.  I'm thankful for access to the world wide web today. Here's the random trail mix in our lives: This week, Norberto's brother, Marcos called to tell us his new computer store in the capital had been robbed.  His clerk, a youth in the church, was held at gunpoint, his hands were tied, his mouth was taped and the thief locked him in the bathroom while he stole between $2-3,000 worth of merchandise.  We pray that the acts of violence, stealing and corruption would end. Our tribe is recovering.  Norberto had pneumonia, and Timmy is back in school today (after a case of bronchitis). Chicken slaughter is tomorrow.  We have designated titles (head hunter, pluckers, dipper, cleaners).  Care for pictures? Julie's preaching this weekend on John 7:37-38, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me an...

Most of us have had our minds and hearts on Haiti ever since the quake.  We have loved ones there.  God has loved ones there- about 10,000,000.   Those of us who are not on ground zero may feel helpless seeing the horrific images.  While our instant response is to help, we have to know HOW to help in a way that is effective, not just to appease our consciences. It is important to note that Haiti is the most corrupt country in the western hemisphere and ranks 177 out of 179 for transparency according to the Heritage Foundation .  There will be billions of dollars in aid given and well-meaning individuals will do more damage than good by donating blindly to organizations that they do not know and trust. While I believe that large scale humanitarian organizations are generally trustworthy, it has been challenging historically (911 and the tsunami in 2004) to distribute millions of dollars ethically. This is why helping the small scale workers (especially tho...

We are asking for your prayers again, friends.  We were robbed this week.  While we have had chairs stolen from our patio, clothes stolen from our clothesline and shoes stolen from our front porch, this is the first time in seven years (we celebrate our 7th year anniversary in Paraguay today!) that we have had someone steal inside our home. We arrived home from a funeral (we were the choir) around dusk and as we pulled up to gate of our house, Norberto's mother said she saw a light go off in the house.  Norberto ran into the house and our door was wide open and our curtain had been pulled down.  Also, as we were pulling in there was an unknown man in front of our house texting on his cell phone.  When Norberto greeted him, he looked down at the ground.  We have no neighbors and since this man was just "hanging out" that was our clue that he was working with the person inside. We realized immediately that although we arrived before they could take much...

When we went to get our truck back last week we couldn't find the buyers or our truck. They had changed their cell phone numbers and we wondered if we'd ever get our vehicle back. Norberto went five times to the buyer's home and never found them. We were very discouraged to realize that these "Christian" folks were hiding from us. We went on Sunday night and finally found someone who would talk with us, the grandmother. Norb talked kindly to her and told her that we want to work this situation out peacefully. She admitted that her son and his wife were hiding the truck in a different part of town and that she would show us where it was. She also told us she'd call us when her son showed up at home, so we'd know exactly when to "pay them a visit". She also mentioned the name of their pastor, who happens to be a personal friend of ours. She called around midnight and said that they had just arrived home. Norb decided he would go arrive at...

Yesterday we got some bad news. It's not life or death news, but it is corruption and it affects us. The couple that bought our Surburban is paying in payments, which is very common here. They gave us checks with different dates to cash in each month. When the car dealer where we sold our truck went to cash in the check, the couple had closed their checking account. They are not answering their phone or their door. They haven't actually paid anything for our truck yet, and it's been over a month! We found out that the car dealer forwarded us the money that they would have paid us. We feel like we will have to get the police involved to escort us to their home to retrieve our vehicle. The worst part for us is that we did our homework. We prayed about this sale, we did a criminal and credit background check on the buyers, they are "supposedly" believers in the faith, people that we should be able to trust, and the car dealer vouched for them saying that th...

I (Julie) was at a conference this week in the capital. I arrived in Asuncion in the early morning and I waited at the bus station for a few hours before I had to catch a local bus to get to my meeting. The last sentence I wrote in my journal before leaving the station was, "God, keep me safe today and protect me." 6:30 a.m. happens to be a peak traffic hour because businesses open at 7:00 a.m. I jumped on a very crowded bus and went to pay the bus driver when I felt someone touching my purse. I looked back and a middle aged man was touching the zipper of my purse! I gave him a dirty look and he threw his hands up in the air as if he was innocent. Then, the man on my left and the man on my right started pressing into me. I looked up at the bus driver in desperation and he told the men to move on back. They didn't move, they just kept squeezing me for what seemed like five minutes and I held onto my purse and carry on bag so hard that I had marks on my hands for a whole da...

While the US is buzzing about who will take the Democratic nomination ticket, Paraguay is also buzzing about Politics. We are six days (April 20) away from the presidential elections in There are four persons running. 1. Fernado Lugo, an ex-bishop who gave up his vows two years ago to enter into politics. 2. Blanca Ovelar, the first woman to ever run, representing the red party (currently in power) 3. Lino Oviedo, the man that was involved in the 1989 coup that overthrew a 35 year dictator 4. Pedro Fadul, a business man who appeared in the political scene four years ago, after leaving his business. CNN recently held a debate where the four candidates presented their platforms. This week at the radio station we presented the four candidates and their platforms. While none of the candidates is evangelical, We pray that God would guide Paraguayans to vote for the candidate that is most honest, who loves Paraguay to the core and who truly wants to help lead the nation out of poverty ...

Paraguay is ranked as the third most corrupt country in the western world according to a new study by the World Bank (Haiti and Venezuela are ranked first and second respectively). Corruption ruins lives, folks. This past weekend my brother-in-law, who lives in Asuncion, had his truck stolen in front of his work. He received a call the next day from someone who claimed that he had his truck and that for $1,000 he could have it back. However, if he made any contact with the police, he would be in great danger. He scrounged up the money and they arranged for him to send the money via western union to a random spot in the interior of the country and they would wait for the truck to be at a big supermarket in the capital city. Well, they sent the money on Monday morning to hold their end of the bargain and to their great dismay, their vehicle never arrived at the agreed location. So, they were robbed twice. Then, once my bil reported the entire situation to the police, he received more con...