py mission report - january 2016

7/21/2019 PY Mission Report - JANUARY 2016

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News from the Spradlins January 2016

Planning the Future and Celebrating the Past

It is looking like 2016 will be a real “leap” year in more ways than one, if you consider it in the sense ofchurch growth. It promises to be the year that the Iglesia de Cristo of Asuncion begins stepping out on

its own. What a milestone to celebrate!

Every missionary’s job is to work himself out of a job. That is exactly what is taking place in Paraguay!

At the first Men’s Business Meeting of the year, I announced to the church that Andrea and I will be

ending our duties as resident missionaries and will be returning to the USA in March of 2017. Why suchlong notice you ask? Simply put, preparation time. Since this congregation was planted in 2004, there

has always been someone on the Asuncion Mission Team that was involved with making decisions forthe church, or handling church business on one level or another. For the past three years, the church

h e r e h a s

been takingon more and more of its own responsibilities. The time has come for the church to now handle each

and every aspect of its own business. This means I will no longer do things like handle payroll for thechurch secretary, nor handle construction projects, nor other such items that the church previously

leaned on the missionaries to do. It will be as if I were already back in the USA. I will, however, certainly

continue to fulfill all my duties as Director of the Asuncion Bible Academy until graduation and I willbe happy to preach, teach, and conduct personal Bible studies as needed just like any member of the

church at Avenida Sacramento. The men responded with great enthusiasm to the news and at the endof services that day they announced, “If we want the church to continue forward, then we must become

more responsible for ourselves in fulfilling our duties - because this is our congregation!”

Brethren, these are exciting times! When the first mission team planted this congregation in 2004, itwas this moment that they were working toward!

Praise the Lord it has come!

• We were also blessed to have Karen Bennett,

from the Central Avenue church of Christ in

Valdosta, GA, return to Paraguay this pastmonth and be our guest speaker at the Annual

Ladies’ Retreat. Her lesson was about “Prayer”and they also watched the movie, War Room.

Karen has become really close with many of

the brethren here so lots of visits were in order,even though she was nursing a sore throat the

whole time. We always enjoy her visits andgreatly appreciate her servant attitude!

News from the Spradlin's in South America JANUARY 2016Vol. 8 No. 1

2016 Ladies’ Retreat with Karen Bennett

Developments at Avenida Sacramento Iglesia de Cristo




As part of our quarterly campaigns, the students of the AsuncionBible Academy made a special survey trip to the city of Hernandarias(near Ciudad del Este) with the purpose of gathering information andexploring the possibilities for planting a church in that area. They wereable to talk with many of the local citizens and with several people at

the local municipality offices. As a group project, they will now take allthe information and compile it into a report that will be delivered to the

men of AvenidaSacramento tohelp them makesome sounddecisions. TheMargaret Streetchurch of Christ in Milton, FL, hasalso been workingwith the brethrenin Paraguay tohelp themaccomplish thegoal of planting

new congregations.This information will

be useful for determining next steps in moving forward with thoseplans, as well. This is now the third survey/research trip that theAcademy has made in the past year and a half in our efforts to seemore churches established in Paraguay.

Since many of the students

had never even been to theother side of their own country,much less into one of theirneighboring countries, we tookadvantage of the opportunityto go see the enormousIguazu Falls in nearby Brazil(which, at one time, was oncepart of Paraguay). Thestudents were really excitedand thoroughly enjoyed theexcursion. It was a well deserved reward for lots of hard work theyhave put in for the past few months.

This is the last quarter of the first year of the two-year program. Thestudents are finishing up with short courses with Luis Camacho (1Corinthians), Osvaldo Rodriguez (1 and 2 Samuel), Ike Yegros (Acts 2), and a research week. This will be followed by a month longbreak before diving into their second year of studies. We couldn’t bemore pleased with the progress of the students, along with their goodattitude and their diligent work ethic. Please keep them in prayer.

Asuncion Bible Academy students and AME intern in

Hernandarias, Paraguay on campaign

Contacts / Bible Studies / Activities / Opportunities

• We were able to have anotherBible study with Juan andNatty Candia. We have started

a study on “Fundamentals ofthe Faith” that we will be usingover the next few months.

• Our interns from AME - Brazil,Italo Rocha (pictured, above)and Pablo Yuri, havecompleted their commitmentfor one year of service with ushere in Paraguay and havenow returned to their homes inRecife and Joao Pessoa,Brazil. It was a real blessing tothe church to have them hereand they served in many areas,especially in helping developan adolescent youth group.

They would frequently visit ourwidows and other brethren,helped Eliezer in Ñemby,organized a weekly soccergame and devotional, andwould preach or lead singingwhenever needed. Weappreciate all the work they didand wish them God speed!

AME intern, Pablo Yuri, with his fiancé

Camila Urquidi. They plan to marry in May.

Developments at Asuncion Bible Academy

ABA students and AME intern at I uazu Falls




• I know it may seem hard for many of you to believeby just looking at her, but we celebrated Andrea’s50th birthday this past month! (I know, she certainlydoesn’t look 50!) We wanted to do something special,

so we invited 30 of her closest brethren and friends toone of her favorite restaurants. We rented out theentire room and Andrea made all the decorations forthe occasion (those of you who know her know howmuch she loves to make things!) The festivitiesincluded an 8-course meal, brought out in stages,and a Cirque du Soliel style show with live music andacrobats. It was followed by lighting the candles onher cake (I have never seen so many candles on acake before!) and singing “Happy Birthday” both inSpanish and English. It was a wonderful evening forsuch a wonderful lady!

• We also had a nice, traditional American New Year’smeal on January 1st. In the past we’ve celebratedthis day with others, but this year it was just a specialmeal for two, complete with a delicious Pork Roast,Hoppin’ John, Sweet American Cornbread, and somelocal greens. Mmmm mmmm!

Personal Developments and Activities

Personal Studies

Currently Reading/Have Read:

• “Planting Churches Cross-Culturally in North America and

Beyond,” by David Hesselgrave

• “The Book of Philippians” by

Wayne Jackson

• “A New Commentary on

Philippians, Colossians, and

Philemon” by Wilbur Fields

• My current Bible reading:

Matthew - John.

I have also begun preparing my

lessons for classes for next quarter

and I am still working diligently on

the “Fundamentals of the Faith”

workbook in Spanish to prepare for

sending it to the publishers. The last

details are almost finished!

DISCOVERING PARAGUAY

“Chake! Bache!” is a phrase one often hears when traveling downthe busy streets of Asuncion. It means “Watch out! Pothole!” and you

should definitely heed the warning, because some of the potholeshave been known to swallow the whole front of a small car! With allthe rain we’ve had the past few months and the constant flow oftraffic, Asuncion has turned into a mine field. There are literallythousands of potholes throughout the city. Also, it’s not like the USAwhere cones or warning barriers are set up to signal drivers of thedanger. Here, one must keep an eye out for a constant threat. Attimes someone might drop a tree branch or wooden crate over a realbad pothole to warnothers. Regular carmaintenance obviouslyrequires changing the oil,fi l ters , and perhaps

rotating the tires. But, inParaguay, we also addsuspension parts to thelist because the roadsa r e s o b a d t h a tsomething will inevitablybe destroyed in thecourse of just a fewmonth’s driving!

One of Asuncion’s major streets - pockmarked with

hundreds of potholes

Andrea’s 50th Birthday Party!




“THANK YOU!” to all ofour generous supporters!

Margaret Street church of Christ(Sponsoring Congregation)6745 Margaret Street,Milton, FL 32570

• Central Avenue church of Christ –Valdosta, GA

• Dripping Springs church of Christ –Dripping Springs, TX

• Palm Beach Lakes church of Christ – West Palm Beach, FL

• Poolville church of Christ –Poolville, TX

• Families of: Clay Bond / Chet Brown/ Virginia Guess

Asunción Bible AcademySupporters / Contributors

Palm Beach Lakes church of Christ(Stateside Administrator)4067 Leo LanePalm Beach Gardens, FL 33410

• Bear Valley church of Christ -Denver, CO

• Broadway church of Christ -Paducah, KY

• Carriage Oaks church of Christ -Bossier City, LA

• Central Avenue church of Christ -Valdosta, GA

• Jay church of Christ - Jay, FL

• Poolville church of Christ -Poolville, TX

• Anonymous Families / Individuals( AZ, FL, TN, TX)

PRAYER REQUESTS

Would you like to help the Paraguay Mission? Youcan by becoming one of our Prayer Partne rs andpraying for the work. Below are several specificitems for which to pray.

• For the growth of the church in Paraguay!The spiritual growth of each member!To appoint e lders and deacons soon!More churches planted in other cit ies!More Bible study opportunit ies

• For the Asuncion Bible Academy!The students and thei r studies!The teachers and their preparations!More available teachers and supporters

• For missionarie s Troy and Andrea!Securi ty and safety while working in Paraguay!Safety in traveling during upcoming furlough!More potent ial Bible study contacts!Good health

Upcoming Furlough 2016 Schedule:

- March 21-27: “Blitz Week” - Bear Valley COC, Denver, CO

- April 3: Dripping Springs COC, Dripping Springs, TX

- April 10: Carriage Oaks COC, Bossier City, LA

- April 17: Poolville COC, Poolville, TX

- April 24: Central Avenue COC, Valdosta, GA

- May 1: Palm Beach Lakes COC, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

- May 15: Margaret Street COC, Milton, FL

- May 22: Jay COC, Jay, FL

Workday at the building - the men repainted the iron gates and made

various repairs while the ladies organized and cleaned classrooms.

py mission report - january 2016

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