One of the things that was most exciting for me on the trip, was watching Josh interact with the rest of the team and with our friends in Paraguay.  It was a great unknown for me as we went into the trip: how would Josh handling being in a different culture, where he doesn’t know the language, and is expected to interact with adults throughout the week.

The first night that we were there, we met with a group of pastors and elders to talk about the plans for the week.  At that first meeting, one of the pastors referred to Josh as the “pequeño missionario.”  That became a nickname for Josh during much of the week.

Throughout the week, Josh impressed me with how he handled himself.  When he was with the Paraguayan youth, he was just another teenager interacting with friends.  He played soccer, shot baskets into a bucket, juggled, listened to music, and just talked.  When he was with adults, he carried himself with maturity and poise.  When it was time to speak publicly, he did a great job talking about what his faith means to him.  From what I am told, he handled himself very well doing the evangelism.   During the week, he worked side by side with everything from teenagers to pastors, and he handled himself like a champ.

Since we have been home, he has been staying in touch through the internet with some of the people that we got to know.  He has talked about a desire to practice his Spanish.  He definitely wants to go back to Paraguay.  Our hope is that we will be able to go back again next year.  We also hope that we will be able to put together a small team from our church to go with us.  It would be great for our church to develop a relationship with some of the churches in Paraguay.

At the end of the trip, Josh was talking with the same pastor who had called him the “pequeño missionario.”  I commented that I thought he had proven himself to not be the “pequeño missionario” anymore, just the missionario.  The pastor corrected me.  He said that Josh had proven himself to be a “gran missionario.”

I think that I agree.

I have put most of my pictures from Paraguay up on Flickr. I have continued to add pictures after we got back. There are still a few more pictures that I need to upload, so check back in another week or two. If you want to look at the set, here is the link.

I can’t say how important the translators were on this trip.  Yes, there language skills did come in very handy.  I am saying that as one of the members of the group that was able to survive in Spanish.  I was very proud of being able to have a short conversation without a translator, even if it did make my brain hurt.  I was also able to jump in and help as a makeshift translator once or twice when the “real” translators were busy elsewhere.

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At the right is a picture of Ale, one of my translators, and Jorge, who accepted Christ while I was in Paraguay. Jorge taught me how bad I am at reading situations. On the first day that we were out doing evangelism, I (along with Rebe - another translator - and David) sat down with Andrea and her young son. It was almost the end of the day, and Andrea was sitting in front of one of the local stores. We weren’t sure whether we should talk to her or not, but David encouraged us to go ahead and talk with her.

Shortly after we got started, Jorge walked up and sat down. It was clear that he was with Andrea, and it seemed to me that he was coming to check out who was talking to her. We later learned that Jorge and Andrea are brother and sister, and that Jorge runs the store. As we presented the Gospel, I got the feeling that neither Jorge or Andrea were particularly engaged in the presentation. When they both prayed to accept Christ, I figured that they were being polite, or trying to get rid of us. They did make an appointment to meet with us the next day, but still didn’t seem excited. Continue Reading »

The first snapshot that I want to share is how much I like the vision of e3 Partners and the pastor in Paraguay who leads the movement to plant churches there. The goal is aimed more at discipleship than evangelism. The first night that we were there, Pastor Alcides told us that we did not want a big church from this week; we wanted big Christians. The emphasis was very much on making disciples, not just converts.

I see this as very similar to the methods that Paul used. Paul came into a city and began teaching. As people accepted Christ, he continued to teach them and developed leaders. Paul never stayed in one city, he always looked to move on to other areas. In order to do that, he had to equip the local church to survive in his absence. He appointed elders and then stayed in touch. Continue Reading »