py mission report - sept 2014

8/11/2019 PY Mission Report - Sept 2014

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News from the Spradlins in South America

The Lord

s Kingdom Grows!

September was a month of growth and development. Several souls were adde d to the Lords kingdom and somexciting plans are being developed. We pray this month s mission report brings you much joy! God bless!

BAPTISMS! Alma Agero, (pictured at right, top), asked the question, What must I do tobe saved? and was then baptized. She is the daughter of our brother andsister in Christ, Gustavo and Elva Agero. There is now another entirehousehold of disciples of the Lord s church in Paraguay. Praise God! Mikael Jara. Francisca Villalba. Estefania Bogado. (pictured at right) Doyou remember that flyer we reported on earlier this year that got put in themailbox of one young man, (Alex Valdez) who told a friend, (Fabian Nuez)

who told a friend, (Sebastian Garcia) plus one more friend (Marcelo Alcaraz)of the original young man that ended up with all 4 being baptized? Well,Marcelo has been studying with several of his friends and all 3 of them werebaptized this month (and hopefully 2 more will be coming soon). Now we areup to 7 SOULS being added to the church all from JUST ONE FLYER thatgot put in someone s mailbox when they weren t home. (which, by theway, was a campaign conducted by the Asuncion Bible Academy, AND .all four of these young men are interested in attending the Academy).Indeed, God provides the increase ! (1 Cor 3:6)

DEVELOPMENTS AT AVE. SACRAMENTO CHURCH OF CHRIST Special Benevolence Project (cont d). The church dis tributed somemore beans and rice packages to the local flood victims. It was just a little

something to bring some much needed relief to a group who is suffering(Matt 25:40). Paraguay continues to experience high river levels and somereports say there are still some 55,000 people displaced from their homes. The Directors of AME (Adventures in Evangelistic Missions) made aspecial survey trip to Paraguay this month to coordinate sending interns tocome work with us in 2015. AME is a work of the church of Christ in JoaoPessoa, Brazil, which trains and prepares Christian youth to go out and workwith various congregations in Brazil and Latin America. We will be receivingtwo interns in January and we re looking forward to having theseevangelistic minded young men as part of our mission team in Paraguay! Men s Retreat. The men of the church held a special, overnight retreatin the town of Itacurubi, this month. We prayed together, studied the subjectof Spiritual Development, and enjoyed some wonderful Christianfellowship. Many were already talking about the next time we could do this!

DEVELOPMENTS AT EMBY CHURCH OF CHRISTPreaching the Gospel. Vicente Martinez carried Eliezer Perez and David

Avila (who was visiting Eliezer from Guatemala) to a town in the interior sothey could preach the Gospel to some of his family members. This may turninto a possible church plant in the near future! Please pray for the possibility!

ASUNCION BIBLE ACADEMY Quarterly Report. The Asuncion Bible Academy continues to moveforward with its classes and activities. After an initial introduction, the newreport we have developed for the school will now be published every quarter.

The next report will be published in October. You can see all the previousreports by visiting www.paraguaymission.com/asuncion -bible-academy/

SEPTEMBER 2 14Vol. 6 No. 9


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Evangelistic Contacts / Bible Studies / Activities: I was able to connect a couple of times with our brotherRuben Castro in Meteti, Panama, via Skype this pastmonth in order to study Fundamentals with him. Not onlyis he learning the material for himself, but he is using it toprepare lessons to teach the congregation on Sundaymornings. Our ABA Leadership Training by Extension students , Javier Zarate, Luis Yegros, and Enrique Alberahave been steadily continuing their courses.

Bible Studies and more Bible Studies! We wish you could see all the wonderful thingshappening here, especially all the Bible studies thatare taking place! We have members studying withother members, others studying with coworkers, withfamily members, and visitors, and new Bible studygroups that have started up in different homes. Howwonderful to see a church that is increasinglybecoming more self -perpetuating! One of our members, Magda Ortiz, asked if we wouldcome study with her son, Junior, who is strugglingwith drug addiction and other problems. Before wearrived, he had invited a friend of his and his friendbrought his family with him. There were five newcontacts at what turned out to be a new, evangelisticBible study! We shared God s word with them byfocusing on where we should place authority forreligious matters and then gave them a copy ofSearching for Truth. They were all very receptive!

Andrea has been continuing her Bible studies inEnglish withAdriana, Martin, and Oscar.I am continuing to study the Bible with Beatriz Ortizin English, as well as, with Sebastian Garcia. I alsohave a couple of new contacts that will be starting astudy this next month.

We pray all of these listed above will develop intomore souls being added to the kingdom of God! David vila, who is a close friend to Eliezer Perez fromwhen they attended ITL Bible Institute in Guatemala, cameto visit Paraguay and work with us for a month. He taughta class in the Bible Academy, preached several times at

Ave Sacramento and emby, and lead severalevangelistic Bible studies. It was a real pleasure to have himhere with us and we hope he returns real soon!

Worship and Bible class attendance (Ave Sacramento): Sun am 64 (7th), 73 (14th), 62 (21st), 72 (28th)

Sunday Bible study average 60 Current members : 78 Baptized (48 Family Units)

Worship and Bible class attendance (emby): Sun pm 19 (7th), 27 (14th), 25 (21st), 37 (28th) Current members : 14 Baptized (11 Family Units)

Coming Up: Brother Luis Camacho will be returning to Paraguay toteach Denominational Doctrines in the ABA next month.

Andrea will be traveling to Brazil for Continent Care

Connection, a missionary retreat and renewal seminar.

Raniere and Jesica Menezes and Diego Dos Anjosthree from right) from the AME missionary progr

came to Paraguay for a survey trip.

David Avila and Eliezer Perez preaching the Gospel i small village in the interior of Paraguay.

David Avila teaching Proverbs and Ecclesiates in Asuncion Bible Acedemy.

Ramon Paredes passing out packages of beans and rice flood victims who continue to be displaced from their h


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PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ACTIVITIES

Activities/developments: Andrea had quite an interesting and exciting challenge this pastmonth! She was asked to cater lunch for the employees at theUS Embassy. With her usual high -level of enthusiasm, shetackled the challenge and knocked the ball out of the park. Everyone loved her food and, of course, she now has a fewmore customers for Mas Que Dulces.

An interesting factoid: there just wasn t a lot of reliable touristinformation on Paraguay in the recent past. However, there arenow two great guidebooks on Paraguay for American touristswritten in English. Andrea has met the authors of each book!One is Natalia Goldberg, who is Paraguayan and now living inthe USA (her website is listed below), and the other is MargaretHebblethwaite, who owns a hotel in Santa Maria de Fe.Coming to Paraguay sometime? We highly recommend theirguide books. Both are available on Amazon.com. We hosted another Grilled Pizza Party for the youth at ourhouse. It is always so much fun and they just love it! My mother, A Gatha Spradlin, suffered a major stroke thispast month. She was completely paralyzed on one side and

unresponsive to anyone or anything. She is still in the hospital,slowly recovering, and doing some better. Please keep my familyin your prayers. We would greatly appreciate it.

Personal study: I have been reading (or, still reading):

Isaiah, The Gospel Accounts in Chronological Order The Book of Ezekiel by Jim McGiuggan The Major Prophets by James E. Smith Contextualization and Syncretism by Gailyn VanRheenen.

I am continuing to take classes in Guarani and havealso begun a basic study of Portuguese.

Preaching/teaching opportunities: I preached one Sunday at Avenida Sacramento andone Sunday at emby. I taught Biblical Greek2, Baptism: UnwateredDown, and Ezekiel and Daniel in the Bible Academy.

Andrea with Margaret Hebblethwaite, author othe Bradt Travel Guide Paraguay and Marsha

Thessin, wife of the former US Ambassador t Paraguay, James Thessin

Troy preaching at emby church of Christ

Paraguayan Culture Spotlight: Cerro Lambar (Lambare Hill) As one sails northward on the Paraguay River, there is a peculiar high spotthat stands out alongside the riverbank called Cerro Lambar. The hill lies

just South of the city of Asuncion and there exists varying legends regardingits historical importance. One has it that it was here where the Spanishconquistadors first came into contact with Paraguay s fierce Guarani Indianslead by Chief Lambar. Several battles ensued and it was soon discoveredthat the mighty Spanish armada was no match for the Indian chief s warriors

Another legend says the conquistadors landed here peaceably, scaled the hillto make observations up river, and were met at the top by Chief Lambar,who extended an open welcome ... and yerba mate! The Spanish then

established the city of Asuncin in 1537 and even enlisted some of the Guarani for explorations into the region ofthe Chaco. Today, the hill stands as a monument to Paraguay s eclectic history. In fact, a monument calledVictorious Peace was installed in 1982 which had five statues of Paraguayan heroes prominently displayedwhich included the then dictator, Alfredo Stroessner. After he was overthrown, his statue was destroyed andremoved from the monument, leaving an empty space on one of it s sides! For more information onall things Paraguay, visit this informative website: http://discoveringparaguay.com

Andrea and Lisa at the US Embassy to serve food.


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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 MensRetreat, (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, (3Provide 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 MISSION Asuncion, Paraguay South America

Troy and Andrea Spradlin Casilla de Correo 13092

Shopping del Sol Asuncion, Paraguay (595) 0981-630-886

We are seeking to "equip the saints for the work of service tothe building 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, 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 / Joseph Markha m

PARAGUAYMISSION.COM iglesiadecristo.com.py conocerlapalabra.com

py mission report - sept 2014

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