On Tuesday night, the services focused on China and the Chamacoco region of Paraguay. The same thing happened on Wednesday night. There were two chapel sessions every night. One for the afternoon classes at 5:20 and the other for the evening classes at 9:05. So, we ate supper every night at around 10:30. It was fun!
In 2005, David Wilkerson came to Paraguay and challenged Paraguay to send 100 missionaries to China. Many of the Bible school students feel called to missions, and they want to go to China. Please pray with us that God will help them financially to go to China, and that doors will open for Paraguayans to reach the lost in China.
On Thursday, the focus was on North Africa. Then, another missionary preached about the need for supporting missions and sending missionaries around the world. He also talked about Faith Promises. Almost every student in the Bible school made a Faith Promise. Last year, from this tiny Bible school, God blessed them, and they gave over $600 to missions. That is amazing considering the average income for people who have full-time jobs is less than $300 per month in Paraguay. All the students are paying for their tuition, books, food, housing, and yet, they still were faithful to God and sent money to the mission field. Isn't God good?
Then, this weekend, I had the opportunity to preach at an international church. In this church, there was a German family, South African couple, Paraguayans, Japanese, Chinese lady, and a young man from Argentina. It was an English-speaking church. So, no, I have not yet preached in Spanish. I have had many invitations to preach. Sherry has had many invitations to preach, as well, but we haven't preached in Spanish, yet. The service went really well. God was working before we even spoke. I didn't know that they were having communion after the service, but God laid upon my heart to talk about being a servant. He led me to the passage in John 13 where Jesus washed the disciples feet. God led me to focus on the amazing love of Jesus, and how He taught us to always serve others. This is how we show that we are His disciples. The love we show others speaks louder than any bullhorn on a street corner. We can shout until Jesus comes! We can scream out praises to Him until we are blue in the face, but if we do not have love and show love to other people, all we are doing is making noise. Usually, this type of noise drives other people away from the Gospel message.
Then, at the end of the service, we had a really sweet time of communion together. We broke bread together, prayed together, and remembered the sacrifice Jesus made for us.
As I mentioned above, there were many nationalities at this church. We met one couple who works at the United States Embassy here in Paraguay. His name is Mike, and her name is Jing. She is from China, he is from Oregon. They have a son named Alexander (in English), and I can't remember what his name is in Chinese. They were a really neat family, and they invited us to lunch at a Korean restaurant near the church. It was really good, but it is amazing who God brings into your path. Mike works in the political office of the embassy, and he is very knowledgable about what is going on in Paraguay. He gave me his card with his personal cell phone, and he told me if we ever needed any help from the embassy to call him. I felt honored, and I felt like God placed him in our path to help us here in Paraguay. We will see where God takes this relationship.
Just before leaving lunch, they invited us to be a part of a Bible study they host every Wednesday night in their home. He mentioned that he had a lot of theological questions he had, and he was hoping that we could come and help answer them. Pray for us, because I still have a lot of theological questions that I am studying and asking God to help me answer. Who knows? Maybe we will both help each other answer them.
One more thing before I sign off, I have been asked to teach two classes of Evangelism at the Bible school. I start in a few weeks. Please pray for me as I step out on a limb and teach in Spanish. I will be teaching some of the future ministers of Paraguay. I am excited about this opportunity, and I am looking forward to serving God in this capacity. It will be 8 weeks long. I will teach both classes on Thursday from 2:30 until 10:30 p.m. 8 HOURS STRAIGHT OF SPANISH! WOW! I can't wait!
Blessings to all,
Charley
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