py mission report - aug 2014

8/11/2019 PY Mission Report - AUG 2014

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News from the Spradlins in South America

Missions within Missions

This month we had a some rather fun and interesting twists thrown into our regular work schedule. For examplewe made a special mission trip to Panama, had a special workday at the building, and participated in a specibenevolence project. Makes you kind of feel like something special might be happening. We hope you arencouraged by this latest edition of our Paraguay Mission report! God bless.

SPECIAL MISSION TRIP Meteti, Panama. Our sponsoring congregation, the

Margaret Street church of Christ (MSCOC) in Milton,Florida has been involved in numerous mission worksover the past several years to help various congregationswho are growing and/or struggling. One of these, ofcourse, is supporting us here in Paraguay. One of theothers is in Meteti, Panama. The brethren at MSCOCasked if Andrea and myself would come to Panama thisyear to help translate, teach, and encourage thecongregation in Meteti. I have made this trip before, butthis would be Andreas first time to go on such a trip andto serve as a translator. While there, the congregationasked us to go and visit the brethren and to teach aboutwhat is the church with hopes to encourage the membersabout what their responsibility is toward the church.

In addition to this, we also purchased a laptop computer, amobile internet modem, a projector, and a case for all of it to go in and then gave it as a gift to the churcthere. We also brought Spanish, Biblical instruction videos from World Video Bible School and set up th

laptop with Skype in order to establish regular video communication. The plan is to use the laptop to teacthe leaders of the congregation through frequent classes being offered via Skype. We hope they can evenperhaps, connect with us here in Paraguay during the time that some of the courses are being offered the Asuncion Bible Academy.

Along with the many exciting developments that took place during the mission trip, we were also able twitness another soul being added to the Lords kingdom! Mrs. Valeria de Gracia was baptized during ouvisit there. She is 74 years old and confined to a wheelchair because of a stroke. We rejoice that not eveagedness nor being crippled can prevent one from obeying the Gospel. A funny aspect to this story wathat she was concerned about how we were going to baptize her because she explained that there wasnenough water in the creek and she begged us to NOT take her to the pond because it was full alligators! We alleviated her fears when we explained that we would just take her to the building where whad a sufficient baptistery.

DEVELOPMENTS AT AVE. SACRAMENTO Special Benevolence Project. The church at

Avenida Sacramento received a specialdonation from some individuals in the USA andfrom a congregation in Brazil to go towardsrelief for the flood victims in Paraguay. With thisdonation and that of our own, we purchasedenough rice and beans to distribute 2 kilopackages to about 200 families.

Special Workday. Several of the brethrencame to the building one Saturday to paint,clean, and repair the dormitories in order to

prepare them for an upcoming Open House atthe Bible Academy. It looks great!

Valeria de Gracia, a 74 year old Panamanian woman who is

confined to a wheelchair, was baptized into Christ during ourvisit to the Darien Providence

AUGUST 2 14

Vol. 6 No. 8

Our Panama 2014Mission Team consisted of (L-R)Troy and Andrea Spradlin; Preston, Curry, and Tany

Silcox; and Emma Lasure


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DEVELOPMENTS AT THE CHURCH IN EMBY Our sister in Christ, Zully Martinez, hosted this months Ladies Tea in

her home in emby. There were several ladies from Ave Sacramentoand emby that attended and, as always, the fellowship was great.

Brother Eliezer Perez returned to Paraguay Aug 3 and reports that hismother, who was recently hospitalized, is doing much better.

Evangelistic Contacts / Bible Studies / Activities: I was able to connect a couple of times with our brother Ruben Castro

in Meteti, Panama, via Skype this past month in order to studyFundamentals with him. Not only is he learning the material forhimself, but he is using it to prepare lessons to teach the congregationon Sunday mornings.

We have some new ABA Leadership Training by Extensionstudents that have started courses! Javier Zarate is taking theHermeneutics class with me and Luis Yegros is taking it with EliezerPerez. Enrique Albera is also taking a course in Biblical Greek withme. We are hoping to extend these courses to even more students inthe near future. Perhaps, a Saturday school that several could attend.

Andrea has started her Bible studies in English again with Adriana,Martin, and Oscar.Another student, Sergia, will be starting againwith Andrea real soon. Please pray for these contacts.

I am continuing to study the Bible with Beatriz Ortiz in English, as wellas, with Sebastian Garcia.

Worship and Bible class attendance (Ave Sacramento):

Sun am 74 (3rd), 69(10th), 67(17th), 62 (24th), 75 (31st)

Sunday Bible study average 58

Current members:74 Baptized (45 Family Units)

Worship and Bible class attendance (emby):

Sun pm 24 (3rd), 19(10th), 27(17th), 32(24th), 25 (31st)

Current members:14 Baptized (11 Family Units)

Additional Developments: We want to say congratulations to Perryand Alba Hardin on the birth of their

baby girl, Abigail! She was born on July 15, just before Perrys parents andfamily were to be arriving in Paraguay! We are excited for them!

The Blackmer Family has completed their five year commitment to thework here in Paraguay. Cara returned home with the children this past June toprepare them to enter American school and Josh finished up several activitieshere in Paraguay. He returned to the States August 27. The Blackmers wereactive in the work here and headed up a successful ministry which focused onmarriage, family development, and spirituality. They will certainly be missedby all here in Paraguay! It seems like such a short time ago we were all

meeting together at home after Wednesday night services in Florida todiscuss plans of moving to Paraguay. Time flies! We wish them God speed,much success, and many blessings in this new chapter of life for their family.

Coming Up: We will be having an Open House at the Asuncion Bible Academy for the

potential students of the next class. It will be a form of orientation in order tohelp many make a final decision to attend.

We will be hosting the Directors of AME next month here in Paraguay tocoordinate the possibility of having interns for 2015. AME (Adventures inEvangelistic Missions) is a Brazilian training program which preparesand sends Christian youth out to work as interns with various congregations inBrazil and Latin America.Their website is www.ameprograma.org

Enrique Albera studying Biblical Greekthrough the ABA Extension Courses progr

Josh, Cara, Josiah, and Vivia

Blackmer, missionaries to Parag

Connecting with brother Ruben Castro inPanama via Skype video call.

Perry and Alba Hardin with Abig


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PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ACTIVITIES

Personal Activities: Please allow me just a moment to brag on Andrea. I want

you to know how proud I am of her. My girlie-girl fromthe city braved a week of being out in the jungleenvironment of Panama in order to translate and teachduring a recent mission trip. This was her first mission trip(even though she lives in the mission field, she had neverbeen on a short term trip like this before). Those who know

about her health and food issues might also recognize thesacrifice that she was making to do this. Not only did

Andrea survive, she thrived in the jungle! The locals fell inlove with her (like everyone always does), she translatedlike a pro, and brought smiles to many, many faces!

Andrea inspires me because she is a true missionary and Ican clearly see Jesus in her.

We went to visit our dear sister in Christ, Mechy Smith, andher sweet mother, Estella, in Caacupe. Mechy was in townfrom the USA for a little while so we spent a nice afternoonwith them and several brethren having a Paraguayan BBQ!

We also had a nice dinner with the Jose Yegros Family.

They prepared it especially as a Farewell Dinner for JoshBlackmer. It was really nice evening of great fellowship.

Personal study: I have been reading:

Job, Ezekiel, and Daniel The Book of Ezekiel by Jim McGiuggan The Major Prophets by James E. Smith Contextualization and Syncretism by Gailyn Van Rheenen.

I finished up another class, Missions Leadership, towards my MasterDegree in Missions with Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver.

I am also currently taking classes in Guarani.

Preaching/teaching opportunities: I preached one Sunday at Avenida Sacramento about The Two Doors.

A sermon about those who fall away, that is, who go out the back door. I taught Biblical Greek in the Asuncion Bible Academy this month.

Andrea (aka Mary Poppins) making visits to thebrethrens homes in Meteti, Panama

The late, pioneering missionary, Eldred Echols, wrote, "People often argue that a nice building will attract lots ofpeople, but church growth is more related to an evangelistic fervor than it is to a physical structure." The context ofthat quote was taken from his memoirs regarding some poor African congregations meeting under shade trees orrudely constructed pavilions. Some Americans were complaining about the facilities and even offered to financethe building of a structure. Echols went on to add to the story, Do not do for people what they can do forthemselves. His point was that throwing money at the situation would essentially handicap our African brethren.

He also recognized that, All circumstances are not identical all factors have to be considered before anintelligent choice can be exercised. He is right! There is absolutely nothing inherently wrong or sinful with regardto church buildings. They can be a very useful expedient. Echols argument, however, comes from the poignantfact that we often focus entirely too much energy on buildings and their maintenance to the point that they begin todominate every decision we make, ultimately affecting the true mission of the church. When this happens, weessentially become keepers of aquariums instead of fishers of men.Yet, the work of the church is to seekand save the lost, as commanded (Matt 28:19-20). We need to be careful when helping our poorer brethren withchurch buildings because we could potentially rob them of the proper focus they should have, that of evangelism.

Think about this: When Jesus delivers His glorious church to God, will He be more concerned about the number ofsouls entering in, or, the number of buildings we have built and how well we have maintained them?

I pray you find what is written here to be helpful and enlightening, thought provoking and challenging, yetalways Biblically sound. be ye nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine! (1 Tim 4:6).

Look at this handsome young fella!Hes got great taste in clothes!


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Our Mission Goals for 2014:

The brethren at the Avenida Sacramento congregation have set the following goals for themselves for 2014 and haveasked the mission team to help them accomplish these goals. The team will actively support them under their direction.The goals are:

Evangelism: (1) Hold a Personal Evangelism Seminar, (2) Evangelism campaigns in various plazas, cities, (3)Plan, investigate, and pursue areas for a new church plant, (4) Offer Learn English using the Bible campaign, (5) Use"Searching for Truth" book, (6) Post banners that get people s attention for Bible studies. Long term: (1) Evangelize

each Department/Capital of Paraguay, (2) have a Radio Program.

Edification: (1) Promote the Asuncion Bible Academy for the next class, and/or start a Saturday School, (2)Host a special Homecoming event involving all congregations, (3) Improve ministries organization, (4) Special Men sRetreat, (5) Install glass doors at the main entrance, (6) Have a Camp/Retreat with all three congregations, (7) Newconvert classes, (8) Skype studies offered by brethren from USA, (9) Conduct new extension courses in leadership,(10) Develop or obtain materials/courses for brethren with family problems, (11) Develop communication in Guarani forthe brethren. Long term: (1) Finish the building faade. The mission team will assist and coordinate these activitiesaccording to the direction of the congregation.

Benevolence:(1) Offer the course "Comfort in Times of Grief" to the public, (2), Visit the sick / prisoners, (3)Provide a class on the topic of "Benevolence," (4) Use donations to help some members, (5) Prepare meals for theneedy, and (6) Participate in various activities of benevolence.

These are some wonderful goals and we are so excited to see their growth in leadership. Please pray for the successfulcompletion of each of these and the continual development of leadership in Paraguay!

PARAGUAY MISSIONAsuncion, ParaguaySouth America

Troy and Andrea Spradlin

Casilla de Correo 13092Shopping del Sol

Asuncion, Paraguay(595) 0981-630-886

We are seeking to "equip the saints for the work of service tothebuilding up of the body of Christ." (Ephesians 4:12)

OUR SUPPORTERS

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

Central Avenue church of Christ Valdosta, GADripping Springs church of Christ Dripping Springs, TXPalm Beach Lakes church of Christ West Palm Beach, FLPoolville church of Christ Poolville, TXFamilies of: Clay Bond / Chet Brown / Virginia Guess / Joseph Markham

PARAGUAYMISSION.COM iglesiadecristo.com.py conocerlapalabra.com

py mission report - aug 2014

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