Merry Christmas / Feliz Navidad

Merry Christmas from hot and humid Asunción, Paraguay. 

The forecast says that we are in for 110 degree weather all week long. That is definitely preaching with a towel weather. Normally, I preach with a handkerchief or rag, but with the way this summer is starting out, I will need a hand towel if not a full towel to preach with. One of the members of our church told me after preaching on Sunday that she thought I had a hose on the back of my head because sweat was just pouring down from the top of my head. It definitely is a hot one.

 We have been seeing God do some amazing things in our small church. We have been focusing on Acts and seeing how the first church did things and how, normally, we do things. God is showing us all that His way of "doing church" is in no way the same as we normally do church in the U.S. or in Latin America. Most of the time, our churches are focused on us, the believers, when that is not at all what church or christian life is about. It is amazing to see what God is doing in the lives of the children, youth, and adults as we see God opening our eyes and understanding of what it means to be a part of His church.

 We are learning that we must die to ourselves, stop thinking only about us, and focus more on others, serving others by serving God with all of our heart and reaching out to a community that is dying without knowing of His love and forgiveness. We are learning that the first church dedicated themselves to the Word of God, to fellowship (meeting each others' needs), to the breaking of bread (remembering what Jesus did for us), and to the prayers (praying, praying, and praying). As they did this, God performed many sings and wonders and miracles, and HE ADDED TO THE CHURCH DAILY THOSE WHO WERE BEING SAVED!!!!

That's the key! God is adding to the church daily, not me, not us, not the programs, not the music, not the preaching, not the buildings, GOD and ONLY God adds to the church daily those who are being saved. And He is doing just that! We are beginning to see Him move in the lives of so many people. Many are still uncertain or afraid to enter a church because of the negative light that has been placed on organized religion over the past several years. Also, there is a focused intent by the catholic church to try and evangelize more. Many Latins are afraid to go against the teachings of the church; therefore, they are afraid to enter into an evangelical church for fear of being excommunicated. Please pray with us that they allow God to free them from this trap. We are praying for the same thing.

I have uploaded a few pictures from our kids program. You can find more on our Facebook pages.

Blessings from Paraguay,
Charley

New Ministries and New Challenges

For some reason, my last blog entry did not save or post. Weird, but that's what happens sometimes.

I wanted to just update you on what God is doing in Paraguay. There are so many things that have happened in the past 6 months that it is almost too difficult to write about them all.

Personally, it has been a challenging six months. We said good-bye to our two daughters. I said good-bye in July as Sherry got on a plane with Chariti & Kaylee to take them to the States to begin their adult lives. It has been so hard for this dad to be without his girls. I really miss them, but I know that they are doing what God has called them to do. As we come up to Thanksgiving and then Christmas, this year will be really hard for me. I love both of these holidays, and I have not celebrated either of them without my two girls for almost 20 years. I never understood what some of my friends, colleagues, and parents were talking about when they told me how they felt when their children left home. It is not fun! I wish I could just keep them home forever, but we know that is not possible. We keep praying for them as they step out into their new lives. Thank God for Skype and Facetime.

In March, we planted a church in Santa Ana, a really poor and lost neighborhood of Asunción. Every day, someone is stabbed or shot and their is at least one murder per day in this barrio (neighborhood). We see kids (little kids) drinking alcohol and doing drugs because there is nothing else for them in this barrio. Drug lords, witches, alcoholics, gangs, etc. all have free run of the barrio. The police don't even enter into the barrio for fear of the drug lords and gangs. God has given us favor and brought peace to the street where we are meeting. We rented a little salon and have been seeing God move mightily in the lives of 30-50 children each Saturday in our kids' church. Many of them come to church with bruises, cuts, and really long, sad faces and with a hunger from not eating for 2-3 days. They leave with a smile and a full belly and more knowledge of the One who loves them and calls them His treasures. We love these kids. I could tell you story after story of each of them. God's faithfulness to our family through each of you has helped us to reach them and many young people in this barrio. 

On November 1, we began a new job. We have been asked by the Executive Council and General Presbytery of the Assemblies of God in Paraguay to be the new National Mission's Directors. What this means is that we are in charge of taking care of the five Paraguayan families who are currently missionaries, building up the support base for these and future missionaries, and casting the vision for the future of the mission's department in Paraguay. We need your prayers and financial support more than ever. 

Neither one of these ministries were in our budget for this term, and we really need a blessing from heaven in order to continue doing what God has called us to do. I am sure you understand what we mean when we say that God has opened up doors of ministry that we never dreamed possible. Please pray with us that the Lord of the Harvest continues to send forth workers and provide for those workers as we continue to serve Him here and around the world.

Blessings to all,
Charley

Mita Renda/Lugar de Niños/Kid's Church

 Here are some pictures from our Saturday Kid's Church. Sherry is helping to serve the dessert that Miguela (Enrique's wife) has prepared for the kids. It was arroz con leche. 

The name is in Guarani, and it means Kid's Place. The name is Mita Renda (Me tah wren dah - is how you sound it out). It has been amazing watching God work through this simple hour and a half to two hours with anywhere from 35 kids to 60 (and growing). Without even advertising it, the first Saturday Kid's Church had 40 kids from ages under 1 to 15 show up. They were quiet, reserved, nervous, and didn't participate at first. Now, they love coming and being a part of Kid's Church. They know that on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. (Asunción Time), there is a church just for them.

 Every couple of weeks, we teach them a new scripture verse, and our puppets help us teach them. They memorize it so fast especially when there is candy involved in helping them learn it.

 At the end of every service, we provide a meal for each of them. We sit in a circle, talk about how they are treasures of God, remind them of the lesson for the day, then we pray together for peace, protection, provision, and for the food.

 The girl, smiling, sitting to my right is named Yesica. Two of her sisters are sitting on the sofa behind me, and her mom is the older lady on the right (above on sofa). This is the first time that I saw her smile, and all I did was tell her that she was beautiful. I had just finished telling her that when Sherry snapped this photo. I am telling the boy to my left, Andrés, the same thing. He got a kick out of it, too.

 The bored-looking teenager in this photo is Chaz. Actually, he's not bored, he was enjoying joking around with Micaela. She's the younger sister of Yesica, and she is really shy. She smiled for the first time in two months this past Saturday (June 22, 2013).

 This is Enrique, one of our helpers in the Kid's Church and the regular church. We are praying that he and his family will be the future pastors of Doers of the Word Assemblies of God Church. Chariti is in the middle of a couple of very active girls and a two year old boy named Thiago. Thiago loves to do the motions on the songs and loves to try and talk to the puppets.

 Here is a closer picture of the arroz con leche.

 With the help of Jesus Responde, we are able to serve them a good lunch of pasta, sauce, chicken, and bread.

 You can see Chariti, Kaylee, and Chaz helping lead the children in worship. The kids love to "dance" with the music. Below, they are helping lead the worship with the puppets' help.

 Above: You can see Enrique lining them up to give them each a sucker. The little boy in the very front is named Lizandro. He has been attending off and on. Very dirty little boy who is always hungry. If we allowed him to, he would probably eat the whole time he is there. I often wonder how many times he actually gets to eat each week. He has a temper problem, as well. He gets angry and wants to run away at the littlest things. Please pray that we can get through to him and that God's love can heal his troubled heart and spirit.

Below: Chariti and Kaylee are helping the kids to play "soccer" while crab-walking. It was fun to watch them do it. You can see a few seconds of the doing it below this picture because I have uploaded a video to this blog. Please let me know if you can't open it.

 Above: Video of the worship time with our puppet, Tito. It's fun for the kids to participate. They enjoy it, a lot.

Below: Behind the scenes, Chariti (and inside Tito, Elias) helping the kids sing and do the motions.

 Below is a video of the kids eating lunch. It's fun to watch!

New Church

This past Sunday, March 3, 2013, we stepped out in faith and began a new journey in our ministry here in Paraguay. For some time now, God has been directing our steps and speaking to our hearts about doing something more for Him here. As things fell into place, we could see God's hand of guidance leading us to a place we have never been before. Doors opened up wide before us, things fell into place, and we stepped through the doors and began walking with Christ through this journey of faith.

As a result, we are now pastors of a brand-new church that we have called, Iglesia Cristiana Hacedores, "Doers of the Word Church". We are using James 1:22 as our theme verse: "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." I like how the Message Bible translates this verse: "Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!"

This was the theme of the first message. James goes on to say the to basically pretend to listen and not do what the Word says is like a person who looks in the mirror, walks away, and two minutes later forgets what they look like. When we look into a mirror, we can see the wrinkles, scars, marks, signs of problems, etc. that are on our face. We walk away and, more often than not, forget what we saw until we look into the mirror again. We do the same thing when we look into the mirror of our soul, the Word of God. We listen, we read, we peruse through, pass over, and take a few minutes to read a passage or two. We see, in this Mirror, our defects, our scars, our sins, and signs of problems in our life, but when we set It aside and walk way, we forget about them. We forget what we read, what we listened to, and we don't do anything to change it. Some of the problems we see in the mirror, we can correct. All of the problems we see in the Mirror of our soul, Jesus can correct. He can and will forgive. He can and will help us to grow. We just need to become doers of the Word and not just hearers. 

In the church today, we have so many hearers and hardly any doers. Lord, please help me to be a doer and not just a hearer thus deceiving myself into believing that I am your disciple.
 

Charley preaching in the first service at Iglesia Cristiana Hacedores

The first service was held at 7 p.m. on Sunday evening, March 3. We had 39 in attendance (including our family) and 15 raised their hands to either give their lives in service to Christ or to completely give their lives to him for the first time, trusting Him to save them from their sins. It was so impressive to see God working on their hearts and lives.


As we begin this new church, we look forward to what God is going to do. We know the challenges are ahead, and they are sometimes very difficult to overcome. We also know that God is with us. He will lead and guide our every step along the way.

Blessings to all,
Charley