Passion for Paraguay

We’ve been having such a variety of experiences in the past few days. The group finished the work project. The radio station's new paint job looks like a million bucks and we have a complete sidewalk (which was started in 2005 by our first CMA team!) We dedicated two bikes yesterday and had some great time of fellowship with our new friends in Obligado and Bella Vista. Today we were able to tour the “ Pajarito ” (Little Bird) yerba mate tea factory, visit the local co-op and the Jesuit ruins in Trinidad. The highlight of the day was sharing with CMA Paraguay chapter for a delicious steak dinner, singing and jam session! Tomorrow we head to the Iguazu Falls and Itaipu hydroelectric power plant. Saturday is already fast approaching and it will be time to go home. We are so grateful for all the love and sacrifice you’ve given to us here in the heart of South America. We love you and will continue to pray for you, dear friends. Muchas Gracias!

Yesterday and today the team has been touching up the radio in preparation for the 10th anniversary celebration in January. They’ve been painting, making a new sidewalk and cleaning up the patio. These folks work hard, and laugh hard and are so much fun to hang out with. They are great workers we are so fortunate that one of them specializes in construction, so we have an expert on site! Tonight we have a big service to dedicate a motorcycle in Bella Vista, so more photos to come!

The CMA team arrived on Sunday and because their plane was late, we headed straight to the church to dedicate their first motorcycle. Talk about starting out with a bang! Web CMA Nov 2008 047 They presented themselves and Evangelist Rick Steffy preached on the Fruit of the Spirit. They dedicated the motorcycle used by Pastor Roa. He and his family are delighted with this great ministry tool. On Monday we went to the ACHE Indian community and saw how the motorcycle is being used. We heard missionary Bjarne Fostervold share how they went into the woods to try and make contact with the Ache in the 70s. It was a tedious task, but they finally captured their hearts and now, 32 years later, Bjarne and his family are still living and serving the Ache. W toured the village and we prayed with a sick woman and the children sang us songs. We met the chief’s wife, Juliana, (pictured with me) who’s life was saved by the grace of God. She is a woman full of joy and it's always a blessin...

It has been a very busy last few weeks in Ciudad del Este. We have been working in the heat and in the freezing cold to finish the classrooms. The women in the group are extremely hard workers! After raising up the brick walls, the group worked on making and filling the forms for the second floor! On the last day, the group presented Pastor Roa and his family a huge basket of gifts for each person in the family. The most touching was seeing Theresa open up a toaster oven, something she'd been dreaming of owning for years! What a beautiful group! Thank you South Meridian for your love, for your energy, your sacrifice and your example. We can't thank you enough for all that you've done for Paraguay. We'll keep praying for each other and believe that our partnership will continue to grow!

This is the "before" picture of the church classrooms that will be built in the next two weeks. There are 6 classrooms and a bathroom. We are grateful to have some plumbers on the trip. Here they are digging the pipes for the bathroom, with help from the kids. The group is doing different kinds of odd jobs to help the church. Here some women are weeding the flower beds. We visited the Saltos de Monday (the Monday Falls) on our day off yesterday, as well as Itaipu, the world's largest hydroelectric power plant and the zoo. It was a fun and relaxing time. The South Meridian team shared some testimonies, a few songs and presentations in the church service last night. It was a beautiful time of worship and building friendships.

This week Joby and Heather Carmody are here to help instruct and train our church leaders and public school teachers in the areas of: Inclusive education New Concepts in Mathematics Preaching Seminars Parenting Seminars We met Joby in seminary and it is a pleasure to get to know his multi-talented wife as well! Joby is pastoring a United Methodist church outside of Indianapolis and Heather teaches middle school mathematics in Indy. Thanks for your prayers for this dynamic couple. We are excited about the seminars that they are teaching and we know that they will make a difference in the lives of Paraguayans!

In a large national newspaper , La Nacion , yesterday there was a beautiful story written about the work that was done in Obligado. It's titled: "Missionaries Spend their Vacation in Itapua Building a Church" Click here for the story (in Spanish). Alice or Carmen, can one of you do the translating? Well, we are still trying to absorb what took place in the past 17 days. We are truly amazed at what happens when the body of Christ comes together! Last night we had a wonderful church service, the first normal one in the new church building. There were 5-6 new families present too! Pastor Renato asked for people to share what these past few weeks have taught them. Here are some highlights: Unity- Even though we don’t speak your language, we could tell that you had fun together and were united under one purpose here. It was very encouraging to see your love for each other. Humility- Many of you come from big companies and important positions and you were willing to leave your...

It was a terrific day. We got to change from our normal 6:00 a.m. waking time and sleep in a little bit today! The group arrived at the church to fellowship, say thank you and farewell. They stopped by our house and our future home and did some final packing up of all the tools. Besides not having to work, today was full of fun little surprises. Each of the cooks received a towel set from First Church Jenny made cross necklaces with the cooks and they were so excited to make their own jewelry. What a special surprise! Then the church surprised us with a cookout for lunch. Yummy! We went to the ruins with the folks who hadn't been before. We also took 7 kiddos with us and boy did they have a ball, especially when they found out we were having ice cream on the way home! Dinner tonight was a DU (destination unknown). We went to the Parana River and had churrasco (meat buffet) overlooking the water. The Parana is the second largest river of the continent after the Amazon, so there was ...

The celebration service was a fantastic 3 hour tribute to the goodness of our Lord. This is the highlight for all those who have helped serve in any way to make the dream of a new church building become a reality. Many of the contractors from the job site came to the inauguration. There were 300 chairs set up and filled, but I counted 200 more people outside on benches and sitting on the retaining wall, since the church was totally packed-for a grand total of 500! There were governmental officials, business owners and neighbors present. Many were curious as to how the church could have been built so quickly, since this same project would have taken at least 6-8 months in Paraguayan time. We hope that many will return to future Saturday night services at our church. Ten minutes to church time, the building was full, which is a small miracle because Paraguayans are usually never on time! Each individual from St. Joe received a special plaque from the Obligado church Matt played with th...

We finished the construction today! Now we turn over to Obligado the diligent task of leading the congregation! We are just a few hours from the big celebration. We have been inviting many friends and neighbors to the service, so we are expecting a big turnout. Thanks for keeping this special inauguration in your prayers. Today the men of the group each received a special mate cup made of holy wood. The women received very elaborate Nanduti lace doilies made locally. A small gesture for all the work and sacrifice of each person from St. Joe. Tomorrow I'll post the pictures of the celebration service, as I'm sure it'll go pretty late.

Well, it's the day before the big event! The excitement is mounting and we are working diligently to shine up the premises before the celebration service tomorrow. Here's a glimpse at the hard work that was accomplished on the eve of the inauguration.

Today we were refreshed by morning rain. It was only in the low 80s today, which made working conditions just perfect. We decided to postpone our outing to the ruins 'til Wednesday, but that gave us time to finish the floor, practically finish the painting and prepare to plant flowers tomorrow. The church service tonight was wonderful! Erik and Pastor Bob shared a few words, the group introduced themselves and the men's ensemble sang. Pastor David gave a challenging message on fueling your spiritual tank. He called people to recommit to being refueled and many people came forward. Katie at church with her Child of Promise Special call made by pastor at the end of the service

We're only 3 days away from the big day! The inauguration is Tuesday at 8:00. So, we're working away to put the finishing touches on the church. Looks like a lice check, but it's a paint check! The walkway and the foyer of the church. It is VERY impressive. Tomorrow we get to sleep in one more hour and go to the ruins in the afternoon and participate in another great joint service in the evening. Thanks for keeping all us in our prayers.

Keep up the great work, JC! Every day at 10:00 a.m. during break time we have a short devotional given by a group member. Today was Alice's turn and she eloquently shared how First church and Paraguay began their partnership. Today was somebody special's birthday. We had ice cream and cake for our snack today. This evening we took him to an Italian restaurant and sang once more. What a blessed group we are to have a leader like Arden. Some are laughing even when it's over 100 degrees, people are welding on the roof and the electricity goes out for two hours! Tomorrow we work on the columns.

We said goodbye to our first week friends at 4:30 a.m.! Some of the other folks even got up to see them off! They squeezed into the bus and headed off to the falls, which is a spectacular sight. Thanks for all your help, week one! We then welcomed the second week crew around 6:00 p.m. We're so glad you're bringing fresh energy to the team. We need it! Laying the tile is a tedious task This is the tile work that was accomplished today thanks to the help of several to dedicated their day being on their knees. This is our local bus. Our driver, Reinhardt, is a hoot! He joins the group in singing "O Tenanbaum" since that's about the only German we know. We are getting more and more visitors from the local church in Ciudad del Este, Bella Vista and Obligado-- All places where First Church has done previous work projects. Today Pastor Bob and his team presented yet another very special gift to the Obligado church. They brought four beautiful puppets that were handmad...

The church was given an amazing gift and it came as a huge surprise to our pastors and church members! Whirlpool Corporation donated a refrigerator and two freezers. This comes in just the right size and color, because our church does not own a refrigerator or freezer! The team has not had the luxury of cold water during these hot days, so this will really help to cool us off next week. We cannot thank our friends at Whirlpool enough for their generous gift to Paraguay! In case you can't read it, the sign says "Margaret." Our dear friend, we know your heart is here with us. We love you and are praying for your full recovery. We want to thank all of the folks who came to help us for the first week of the work project. We are praying for your safe return home! We thank your families too for making the sacrifice to let you serve us here! Hand me another brick...or two thousand. This was a two hour brick passing assembly line that got everyone involved!

Today was huge. We started painting and finished painting inside the church! Tomorrow we start painting outside. The wall is almost up on the old church building and the tin roof is completely on. Today was also the long-awaited party for our child-sponsorship program, called Children of Promise. The kids have been looking forward to this day for weeks. We started off swimming, then ate hamburgers and french fries and the sponsors had pictures and special time with their child. The weather was beautiful, the kids were excellent and the interaction between child and sponsor was priceless. Here are some snapshots of kids with their sponsors hanging out.