Paraguay Pics

Following are some pics of our short-term mission trip to Paraguay, which began on July 22.

The paraguayos were like little kids when we presented them with the two guitars, which my co-workers made available.

We saw unbelievable poverty - the shacks in the picture were right behind the congress building in Asuncion, which is the capitol city. Paraguay doesn't have a middle class - you're either poor, rich, or richer.

The worship meetings were tremendous. God poured out His Spirit like I've never seen before - like a flood, like a deluge, like a roaring river.

We taught 5 sessions on leadership; the need in La Viña (The Vineyard) was to raise up leaders to work with the pastor. I used paper airplanes in my session(doesn't sound very leader-like, does it?)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We stayed in a very nice house and ate all but one of our meals there. Martha, who owns the house, had built a casita (little house) out back for our team; the teen-age girls stayed there while Pat and I had a room with bath. The other guys stayed in a hotel around the corner. Every house is surrounded by a high brick wall with a steel gate in front, due to the high crime rate.

I got to use my Spanish all day, every day. We also learned a little Guarani, which is the second official language of the country. Paraguay is the only country in the world with two official languages.

What I can't show on a picture is the Holy Spirit - if I could take a picture of His beauty, His compassion and His love the way He revealed Himself to us there, it would break your heart. It broke mine.

I can't say I have wonderful memories, because I want to go on with God, to build on what He has done, not to live in the past. We can pray that He will rend the heavens and come down - to our individual lives, to our churches, to our city, our state, our country, and this needy world.