We've
already been here for over a week, in reality our time is winding
down. As I sit for a moment to reflect on this trip so far... I
can't help but be overwhelmed by all that I want to share. I realize
that I did a poor job of blogging about our trip last year, and to
tell you some of these stories without explaining the history behind
them would be remiss. Where do I begin?
Some
of you have been praying for us and this trip for some time. Others
may be reading and wondering what in the world are we even doing in
Paraguay?
In
an attempt to answer that question, I'll give a brief overview of how
we got to this point. It seemed that the fall and winter season of
2012 seemed to be especially dark, dreary and rainy. Brant's
business at the hotel, while successful, was beginning to feel
monotonous to him. We both recognized the effects of seasonal
affective disorder and knew that some time in the sun would be
beneficial for Brant especially. Friends approached us about going
on a cruise, and though we had gone on cruises before and really
enjoyed them, it didn't seem right at that time. I began to pray,
asking God to provide an opportunity to do something of value with
our vacation time. I prayed that God would touch our hearts with the
work of His Kingdom, that somehow we could be involved in a ministry
that would ignite a renewed passion in our lives, something that we
could invest in. And I prayed that we could be an encouragement,
help, and support to those giving their lives serving the Lord. So I
prayed, and waited. And it kept raining.
And
then one day in January 2013 Brant comes home from work and asks me
what I thought about taking a trip to visit a friend. I was curious
because he seemed excited... which friend? Judah Mooney, a
missionary that our church sent out 6 years ago to Paraguay. Brant
remembered a conversation he had with Judah the previous year while
Judah was staying at Brant's parents' house. They had spoken briefly
about Judah's ministry in Paraguay and also the Awana children's
ministry that Brant directs at our church. As the
conversation ended Judah said, “If you ever want to come to Paraguay we'd be happy to have you... we don't get too many
visitors.” At the time he didn't think anything of it, but Judah's
informal invitation came to Brant's mind in the middle of a dreary
winter, knowing that in Paraguay our winter is their summer. When
Brant came to me with the idea of visiting Paraguay, I knew that God
had answered my prayer, so we began to work out the details.
Jonathan wasn't even 1 year old yet at the time, and so my first
concern was the kids. Right away we called my sister Vicki, who just
so happens to be an incredibly good nanny. She also just so happened
to have a week of vacation during the time we were thinking of going,
and was able to get another week off to stay with the kids while we
were gone. Judah was willing to have us, Vicki could care for the
kids... so we booked our tickets and were on our way to South America
for 2 weeks.
It
was a fantastic vacation. We spent the time with Judah and Mary
Mooney and learned all about Paraguay and the different ministries
that Judah is involved in. Initially Judah came to Paraguay with a
program of Power to Change Canada called “Tranforming Paraguay
Together.” Their goal was to reach 1 million people with the
gospel and plug them into churches to be discipled. Power to Change
partnered with a local ministry called “Jesus Responde” (Jesus
Responds) which was a well-known Christian ministry already very
active in Paraguay. They planned large evangelistic events and as
part of the vision to reach Paraguay with the gospel, they went to
local churches and asked the pastors and leadership what they needed
to reach their communities for Christ. Several of the churches
responded that they needed food. The children in their communities
were malnourished and meeting the basic needs of the children would
help them to build a bridge between the church and the families they
were trying to reach. Members of the churches wanted a place to
serve their communities, and the greatest immediate need in the
community was feeding their children. Originally the nutrition
centers were just a part of the overall ministry, but soon the
nutrition centers became the first thing that all the churches in
impoverished areas wanted. And so Judah was put in charge of the
humanitarian aid program of the ministry. He developed and
coordinated the implementation of nutrition centers, where local
churches provide a meal (usually once a week) and a program for
children. Jesus Responds provides the vegetables (donated by the
gleaners) and imperishable food (donated by local Paraguayan
companies), and the local church provides the place, volunteers, and
perishable food.
Last
year, Judah asked us to bring a few of the Awana materials to show to
Samira, the children's ministry coordinator at Jesus Responds.
Samira explained the great need for Biblical teaching materials for
the children at the feeding centers. These churches didn't have the
funds to purchase books and supplies to teach the children about
Christ. She spent 4 months writing a curriculum called “the
Forgiveness Campaign” which was used at the feeding centers. It
was affordable because they could copy it in Paraguay and make it
available to the churches cheaply, who used it and were now asking
for more materials. But she couldn't keep up with the demand. So
when she saw the Awana materials she was very interested to see if
they could get a copyright and use it for their curriculum. We said
we would look into it and see what we could do.
That
was just a short meeting during our trip last year. At the time we
didn't really think too much of it. And, we unfortunately didn't get
the chance to go to a feeding center last year, though we were busy
learning all about the other ministries going on in Paraguay.
Alongside of the humanitarian aid program, Jesus Responds is involved
in several different kinds of ministries, including theological
training for pastors, clown and street ministry, church planting,
Athletes in Action, marriage seminars, showing the Jesus film, and
vocational training for the poor, just to name a few. They received
grants from the government for the vocational training programs,
which seemed to be a great program, until the graduates from the
program were unable to start businesses because they lacked the
resources. While continuing to work with Jesus responds, Judah saw
this need and started a new micro-finance ministry called Diaconia.
So while we were in Paraguay last year we learned all about Diaconia
and how it works (more about that in another post), visited
orphanages and foster care homes, participated in a dental outreach,
went to see Iguassu falls, met Mary's parents and learned about the
Mennonites here, and basically had a fabulous time in Paraguay.
It wasn't until we came home last year
and were talking about our trip that we remembered Samira's request
for materials. As we looked on the internet at Awana International
we watched a video about the new leader-based model that Awana
started using around the world in 2007 with great success. And right
then it clicked for both Brant and I, like a light bulb going off (or
rather a lightning bolt striking us!) we realized that Awana was
exactly what Judah, Samira, and the volunteers at the nutrition
centers were praying for, and that Judah's work with Jesus Responds
had paved the way, laid the groundwork perfectly, for Awana to come
to Paraguay. For those of you not familiar with Awana, this is from
their website:
“Awana
is a global non-denominational ministry leading kids to know, love
and serve Christ. There are 1.8 billion children around the world.
Millions have never even heard the name of Jesus. Awana's passion is
that every child, everywhere will have the opportunity to hear the
gospel, respond, and grow in their faith. To reach more kids for
Christ, we equip leaders. Awana provides the training, tools and
resources they need to be effective in children's ministry. In most
cases, for every leader we train, 60 kids are reached with a weekly
club-style program. Kids love it...and it works.”
Awana International Website
The
partnership with the local churches and pastors was already
established. The volunteers in the churches were already willing to
give of their time and energy to reach the children in their
communities with the gospel. And at that time, there were already
350 nutrition centers feeding an average of 50 children each week!
So right then we prayed for Paraguay, the nutrition centers, and
Awana, not knowing what would happen, but praying in faith that God
was going to work.
And
work He did! Fast forward ten months: Brant, Alex Snyder (a good
friend from our Church), Jack Eggar, CEO of Awana, together in
a fishing boat on the Parana river in Paraguay.
|
Dona & Jack Eggar, Brant & I, Susan & Alex Snyder |
|
Susan caught 3 Dorado on this fishing trip! I would do well to learn to fish from her. |
Brant
just recently, as in the last couple of years, has become a fishing
enthusiast. It began when Alex invited him on a fishing trip with
his friend Jack, who also happened to be the CEO of Awana. So it is
fitting that we started out this trip in Paraguay with a fishing
trip. The last 10 months have been spent praying, e-mailing,
skyping, budgeting, fundraising, coordinating and communicating
between Brant, Judah, Awana International and Jesus Responds to bring
the Awana leader-based ministry to Paraguay. Ordinarily the process
would probably take considerably more time, but being able to present
the idea directly to the CEO and having him jump on board, combined
with the foundation laid by the work at Jesus Responds with the
nutrition centers, and here we are. By the time Brant and I arrived,
Jack and a team from Awana International had already presented to a
group of local pastors, inspiring them with the mission of reaching
children for Christ. The next weekend there was a 3-day “train the
trainers” seminar where leaders were strategically selected and
trained to teach others how to implement the Awana program. And
beginning Friday, 2 representatives from 50 churches will come to be
trained how to start Awana clubs in their churches. Brant and I are
so excited to be a part of it all!
It
took us 7 hours in a van to get to the remote fishing location on the
Parana river, and the whole way we were inspired and encouraged as
Jack shared with us the vision for Awana, success stories and
challenges along the way. He shared how Awana has changed over the
years to meet the challenges of global evangelism and discipleship
and shared countless stories of lives changed by the good news of
Jesus Christ.
There
are times in life when I want to pinch myself to make sure I'm not
dreaming. This is one of those times. As I float down the second
largest river in South America fishing for Dorado, I look out over
the water and see Brant, Jack and Alex standing with their poles (not
catching anything at the moment but losing a lot of bait to
Piranhas!), and I can't help but praise God for how He has
orchestrated all of the details to bring us to this point.