The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve
(Matthew 20:28)
Go into all the world and preach the gospel
(Mark 15:15)
MissionsOctober 2016
Paraguay – October 2016
Dear family and friends,
Praise God for an incredible mission trip to Paraguay! From the initial set up of this trip and the way God worked to make it happen, to the daily answered prayers, God’s pleasure in this trip was visible and almost tangible. I want to try to help you understand what an amazing trip you, through your prayers, shared a part in.
I shared with some of you how a lost email was the cause of our October trip to Honduras being postponed to November in 2016. This divine re-scheduling opened the door for me to commit to a trip to Paraguay in October. What a precious opportunity! Paraguay was the country I fell in love with and served in for 4 years as a young woman right after college. That time in Paraguay was one of the most life-changing times of my life. It was a time of drawing near to God in a very difficult time in a very difficult location. There is no way that I can describe the changes that God made in my life because of my time in Paraguay. I learned about God’s faithfulness, and God brought me to a place of surrender to His perfect will that I will never regret and that I would not have learned about in any other way. It was a time that I will always be grateful for no matter how many years God allows me to live in this world. My love for that depth of surrender and for that time there, cannot be explained.
Now, imagine how my heart felt when I discovered that God was taking me back to that same place. It was a mixture of joy and disbelief. Every step of that trip felt Divinely directed. Of course, there were also struggles as is the case when the enemy of our soul tries to upset God’s plan, but nothing could compare to God’s greatness and kindness.
In May, about six months before the trip, I unpacked my notes that I had saved from my study of the indigenous language of Guarani. I had labored diligently to learn to communicate in Guarani during my days in Asuncion thirty-two years ago. It was hard then when I was surrounded by it. I didn’t dream that I could actually remember enough to speak it when I arrived there. God once more blew my mind by bringing back to memory many pronunciation and communication skills. Oh, I definitely could not carry on a conversation in Guarani, but I could remember enough to make study flash cards with important phrases that later I was able to leave with missionaries currently serving in Paraguay.
But what good is a language if you don’t use it to communicate with people, right? Well for this trip, I had been assigned a city about 6 hours from Asuncion. During prayer one day, I told God how special it would be if He would allow me to use my Guarani to open a door for someone to come to know Christ in that remote location. One of the first locations we went to was a Guarani Indian settlement – that needed to hear Guarani. There were about 30 families there, about 120 individuals. It had been a very hard location to minister in. Their homes were made out of scrap wood and cardboard covered with plastic trash bags and tarps. The children’s toys were broken and discarded items, and they played in areas about two feet wide, and some of the toddlers had no clothing. There had only been about 4 saved in the entire time the church had worked with them. I can’t tell you how excited I was to call them to meet in Guarani. A white-faced American speaking their language, which many Paraguayans don’t speak anymore, standing there in their own village calling them to come talk. “Ja ha ta ma emombe’u cheve.” Some looked shocked, and some started laughing, and then they listened. I was honored to share the Good News with them. I spoke in Spanish and when a phrase was useful that I knew in Guarani, I said it. SEVEN souls came to Christ that day. From age 17 to 35! What a precious moment! What celebration in Heaven! What a gift to me that I could participate! Two more times I was allowed to speak Guarani to open doors and hearts, which resulted in two young men also coming to Christ. Then, we went up to visit with two young women that had been resistant to the Gospel. We were working with a young man who was a believer that tried to share his faith with these women. One girl was his sister, and the other was his wife. At this location, the leader asked me to sing “Jesus Loves Me” in Guarani. Singing is not my strength, but this is a song I’ve sung to my children and now my young grandchildren – and they can sing it in Guarani as well. As I sang, their eyes lit up. Both girls readily received Christ.
Our group of 4 (a Brazilian, an Argentine, a Mexican-American, and myself) were blessed to lead 28 Paraguayans to Christ and plant seeds of hope with about 14 more. Some were family members visiting from out-of-town on the very day we came – and they also came to Christ that day. The rest of our mission group consisted of 130 foreign visitors and 32 Americans with 62 local churches participating, and there were over 5,673 conversions. The main ingredient was not the Guarani or the foreigners visiting; it was the commitment that local believers made to pray every day for three months for their lost loved ones to find Christ.
It was also such a joy to encourage young believers that are so in-love with Christ that they are starting seminary soon. One young man showed me the very place where he was standing in the church when he accepted Christ three years before. May we always choose to keep that same freshness and appreciation for that gift of salvation. The people were as lovely as when I lived there. What a precious group of people and a beautiful church. God is so amazing.
The city where I was assigned for this trip is near the Brazilian border. Just across that borderline are the awe-inspiring Iguazu Falls. I had gone there at one point with my one of my closest friends, Jill. The tour bus we were riding almost rolled off the road and down the cliff those 33 years ago. This time, there was no near death experience. In fact, it was an overwhelming experience of the fullness of life that God offers us. What a day of beauty at the Iguazu Falls! Amazing to think that powerful amount of rushing water is not even a tiny representative of the Living Water He offers to pour through us as we love others.
The entire trip was filled with little gifts of love from God – visits to the school where I taught, the church I helped build, my favorite foods, special sights, the local tea (called tereré if cold and maté if hot) and even a couple of friends from my past. When things like that happen, the sweetness of God towards His children is such a loving demonstration of His care over the tiniest of details in our lives. If you don’t know Him as a personal God, I challenge you to ask God to show you this truth in the depths of your life.
Much love and thanks again for the prayers!
Still following, Janice
BTW: The Honduras trip started off as planned, however, I had to return home upon arrival due to a family emergency at home. Bob and Debbie and the team were able to successfully dig a well 145 feet through rock in spite of setbacks. And, the Truth of God’s love was shared with the children and adults that attended the meetings. Thanks again for you many prayers