Wednesday Prayer

This will be a quick entry as our schedule is very full (thus the reason for the lack of entries).

Please join us in praying for:

• Our permanent residency process. We have just about all things completed for immigration office here. We are waiting on a letter of support from the national office of the C&MA in Colorado. They are putting a rush delivery on this document for us, but it does have to go through a couple government offices stateside. Pray for expeditious processing.
• This Friday our mission team will be on retreat through Monday. We will be with our regional director and his wife from Ecuador. Pray that this would be a team building event that would bring us closer together and would equip us to make a greater impact for the Lord here in Paraguay.
• Continue to pray for Rosanna and Carlos. I spoke to Carlos yesterday and he said he wants to talk with me. We tentatively set up a time for Tuesday of next week. Be in prayer that he keeps this appointment. When a person is using drugs, their thinking changes one minute to the next. Pray that Carlos would be of a mind to fix his relationships when I return from retreat.
• Continue to pray for Alfredo and Carlitos (the two young men I am discipling). Pray for consistency and follow through in their commitments. Carlitos has a passion for church ministry, especially with regard to motivating the youth of the church towards greater commitment. He has a spiritual gift of evangelism and creative communication (through music and drama). Pray that the Lord would continue to use this young man to make kingdom impact in our church.

Thanks for Praying. We are TEAM!

The One-Semester-Of-Spanish Love Song

My fellow spanish learner sent this to me. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Thank you for your prayers. We are TEAM.

Cultural Lesson # ∞ + 2

Today I had a flash back to a year ago. The transition to Paraguay was not an easy one. One of the things that made it difficult for me was the pace at which I could accomplish things. It took forever to get anything done. And it wasn't because I wasn't applying myself or because I was doing something other than what I had been instructed. I would do what I was instructed only to learn that I wasn't told EVERYTHING I had to do.

I thought I was becoming more accustomed to the way things are here, but today I realized that part of my comfort is because I haven't been directly confronting some familiar obstacles, aka Immigration services (that in itself is an oxymoron).

First, to give you an idea of the type of person I am, I'll share an anecdote that took place when I moved from NYC to Columbia, South Carolina.

I was accustomed to the fast pace of NYC and was not accustomed to the s-l-o-w-e-r pace of the south. When I arrived one of the things that frustrated me was the conversations in the grocery store check-out lines between the client and the clerk. I wanted to tell both parties that if they simply paid and left, the 15-item-or-less lane would actually be express.

The solution to my frustration: Shop at 1 a.m. for groceries. My favorite Kroger supermarket was open 24 hours. For the first year or so that's what I did. In the end, I did get to the point where I actually enjoyed the conversations and returned to shopping during daylight hours. I even believed that God moved me to the south to prepare me for Latin culture.

We put our immigration process on hold earlier this year because we had to get some papers legalized from the Paraguayan embassy in Venezuela. It's a long story, but the short explanation is bi-cultural couples will have more obstacles than uni-cultural couples when it comes to immigration processes. Last week we finally obtained all the documents we needed and went to the immigration office expecting to leave with our temporary residency status (ha ha ha, that's funny) Actually we're not that naive. However, we were not expecting to hear that everything we did a year ago would have to be redone because all the paperwork had expired.

I don't know where you all stand on eternal security, but I'm glad the Holy Spirit has convinced me that it is the truth. Otherwise, I think I could have lost my salvation a couple of times through this process.

So, we've started the process all over again. But there is hope in this process because we were told how we could obtain permanent residency (not just temporary) by the end of the month. Pray that we are able to accomplish everything by the end-of-October deadline.

So, I'm thinking to myself, "No problem. Now that I know what to do I shouldn't have as many difficulties nor frustrations" (OK, so maybe I am pretty naive). Today after I experienced the third government employee telling me that I needed to wait longer than I was originally told or I had to do things differently than I had done, I began to feel that familiar feeling of frustration/annoyance grow in my chest and want to exit through my mouth. But, thank the Lord for His Holy Spirit who ministers His grace and fruit to us. I meekly said my thank yous and said I would be back later or I would be back with the correct documents. It's as if in this process someone is whipping me and I'm saying, "Thank you and may I please have another."

All that to say, God is not done with me yet. I've come a long way from that express lane in the grocery store, but I still need to work at submitting all areas of my life to Him for transformation. I don't want to live with the frustration I allow myself to experience (even if no one else has sees it).

"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" -Philippians 1:6.

"For this is the will of God, your sanctification" -1 Thessalonians 4:3

Thanks for your support. We are TEAM.

Wednesday Prayer

Pray Requests

Continue to pray for Rosanna and Carlos, and their three children. Carlos told Rosanna this week that he wants a divorce. My feeling is that he is saying this to get a fear reaction from Rosanna (Carlos is struggling with an addiction to drugs). I'm still trying to make contact with Carlos so that we can talk. Pray for Rosanna's strength and for the opportunity to talk with Carlos. Pray for Rosanna's family, that they would continue to be a source of support to her during this difficult time.

Karen and I are finishing up our paperwork to obtain permanent residency here in Paraguay (this will make our life a lot easier in the upcoming years). We have some particular things we need to push through the bureaucratic process. Pray that we find favor with all those we come in contact with and that we are able to complete this process prior to our deadline towards the end of October.

Pray for our cell group as we make the transition to divide into two groups. Over the following month we will be meeting together in another location so that the national pastor (Daniel Paredes) can become more familiar with the group. After this one month transitional phase we will be dividing into two groups with Daniel leading one and I the other. Pray that both groups remain strong and experience growth.

Pray for me as I disciple two young people in our church: Carlitos and Alfredo. Pray that I would be an encouragement which in turn will help them mature in their faith. Pray specifically for Alfredo that I would have a strong sense of the areas we need to focus.

As always thank you for praying! We are TEAM!

Video Post for Family (and any Die Hard Friends)

Today was our day off and we spent the better part of the day working around the house. During a down time baby Jasmine and I shared this moment. Enjoy!

October 5, 2007

Wednesday Prayer

Prayer Update from Last week

Rosanna and the three children are doing well. It's a tough situation, so Rosanna does have her moments of discouragement. Please keep her in your prayers so that she will always have hope.

Carlitos continues to be a source of encouragement. Yesterday we worked together to discover what his passion is in the church. He has definite passions for music and motivating youth. Both of these passions have been evident as we have observed him over the past several months. Pray that Carlitos continues to demonstrate his passion in the church.

Praise God that the member of our church was receptive to opening up a cell group in his home.

Prayer Requests

Rosanna's husband told her yesterday that he is almost ready to talk with me. Every couple of days I send him a text message via the cell phone to tell him I'm here for him if he needs me. Pray that the Holy Spirit continues to soften Carlos' heart so that he will seek help and depend upon God.

Continue to pray for our cell group. We are looking to divide our group up into two parts. We still need another home close to one family in particular. There are a lot of positive responses among the neighbors of this family. However, we need a believer's home that will be a safe haven for a cell group.

Pray for the leading of the Holy Spirit in the manner that we relate with the youth of our church. Since we have now been here in Paraguay for over a year we have realized some cultural differences we were not aware of initially. We feel led to tweak our approach in ministering to the youth in our church. The approach will be more serious and focused.

Thank you for praying! We are TEAM!