John Simons

Snapshot 2 - Jorge

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

Tags: Church Planting, Missions, Paraguay

Snapshot 1 - Birth of a Church

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

Tags: Church Planting, Missions, Paraguay

Snapshots of Paraguay

Over the next week, I hope to put together a few snapshots of the trip to Paraguay.  These will be brief posts that tell the story of one aspect of the trip, or of one person.  I have found it challenging to condense the whole trip into a single train of thought.  By posting snapshots, I can talk about specific aspects of the trip, rather trying to talk about the whole thing at once.  I have found this useful as a way of telling people about the trip.  When I don’t have much time to chat, I give one snapshot.  For those with a little more time, I try to give two or three snapshots.  For my wife, well, she got the whole photo album.

Expect the first snapshot to be up tomorrow.  Until then, keep Paraguay in your prayers.  Today was their national election.  The party that has been in power for 60 years is about to give way to new leadership in August.  Pray for a peaceful transition, and pray that the new leadership will be good for the country.  Some of the people that I spoke with in Paraguay were concerned about Fernando Lugo, who has been elected president today.  They seem him as leaning toward socialism, in the mold of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.  They don’t want their country to go too far down that path, as they don’t think that it will be good for the country in the long run.

Tags: Fernando Lugo, Missions, Paraguay

Back home

Josh and I arrived safely home yesterday afternoon.  My parents picked us up at the airport.  They also made dinner for us.

Tonight, Lynn and the girls fly back from Texas, where they have been helping friends pack to move.  I can’t wait to see them again.

There is a lot that I have not had a chance to write about on the blog.  I hope that over the next couple weeks, I will have a chance to fill in some of the gaps, as well as adding a few pictures.  I also expect to upload some more pictures to the flickr account.  So, please check back again to see some more details of the trip.

Tags: Home, Missions, Paraguay

The language issue

One of the concerns that Josh and I spoke about at length before coming on this trip was the language barrier.  In Paraguay, they have two official languages: Spanish and Guaraní.  Josh was concerned because he doesn´t speak either.  I had some concern because, while I once was fairly good at Spanish, I had not used the language much in a long time.

Happily, both Josh and I have been able to communicate.  On our first morning here, Josh learned that sports is a great language to communicate.  Marcelo, who has become Josh´s friend and personal translator, got Josh playing soccer with some of the boys.  Since then, he has had friends with him regularly.  He is frequently seen laughing and playing with other boys, some his age, some younger and some older.  He has done incredibly well at learning some basic phrases to communicate, and at using Marcelo to help him speak to others.  He has also been great at blending into the group dynamics of our team.

› Continue reading

Tags: Guarani, Missions, Paraguay, Spanish