John Simons

A Christmas Poem by Abby

Tonight, Abby wrote a Christmas poem:

Christmas Poem
Born in a manger, laid in the hay,
Laying asleep, with no proper place to stay.
Cattle a lowing, stars shining above,
Given to sinners, a sign of love.
Jesus, the Savior, a tiny babe,
Death predicted birth,
by Myrrh, used to anoint a body.
Do you question love’s worth?

The reference to myrrh comes from the sermon in church this past week.  I hope that everyone takes time to remember not only that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus, but that he was born to die so that our sins could be forgiven, and we could know our Creator.

Tags: Christmas, Family, poem

Snapshot 4 - Growth as a Man

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.

Tags: Family, Missions, Paraguay

I think Josh is enjoying this

I have been posting photos over at my new Flickr account.  If you look, you can see pictures of Josh playing futbol (soccer to us Estadounidenses), climbing brick walls, and hanging out with his new friends.  Before we came, he was concerned about not be able to communicate with those around him.  He has found the universal languages of fun and love.  He said tonight that he wants to come back next year.  I am glad that he is enjoying it.

He is also doing great things here.  This morning, we visited a Christian school.  They asked Josh to share his testimony with the children. He did a great job!  Afterwards, the principal came to me and said that Josh was a great blessing for her to see.

It has been another long day.  I have been keeping more detail in my paper journal, because I am able to write during lunch time.  After I get back, I will have to add some updates.

Oh, by the way to see the photos on Flickr, just click here.

Tags: Faith, Family, Fun, Missions, Paraguay

Ten Days and Counting . . .

Yesterday marked ten days until departure.  The details are all falling into place.

I sent this e-mail out to those who have supported my trip, and to several friends who have encouraged me in taking Josh on this adventure: › Continue reading

Tags: Faith, Family, Missions, Paraguay

Travel Health - Information Overload

Yesterday was our appointment to go to the health department in Gainesville so that we could get our Yellow Fever vaccinations. It is probably a good thing we didn’t go there before we signed up for this trip. Otherwise, we might never go. We spent more than two hours talking to the nurse, who specializes in infections diseases for travelers. She was very friendly and had a lot of information. Maybe too much information.

We learned about Yellow Fever, the vaccine, how effective it is etc. We also learned about the following diseases that have vaccines: Typhoid Fever, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and several others. We learned about Rabies. (Josh: don’t pet the capybaras.) We learned about illness from food and water (dysentary, typhoid, hepatitis A). We learned about deep vein thrombosis. We learned about diseases that come from mosquitoes: yellow fever (there is a vaccine), dengue fever (no vaccine, no cure), malaria (you can take pills, but we don’t need to). We learned about fungal infections and parasites (schistosomiasis - stay out of the water). We learned about a few more, as well.

› Continue reading

Tags: Family, Health, mission, Paraguay