Thoughts From Alyssa

Let me begin by saying thank you. Thank you Diane, Melissa, Carol, Adam, Dave and Linda, Sarah, Amy, Rachel, Mom, and Danielle. And thank you, St. Mark, for sending this amazing team with your prayers, finances, and love.

Now, how would I summarize the week (I mean, besides amazing)? I’d like to focus on 4 major areas I saw that the team was used. The first occurred less than 24 hours after their plane landed: the team was the “bait” that drew several of my families from school to church for the first time. Several weeks ago, I sent home a letter with all of my students explaining that this group from the US was coming and inviting them to a Saturday night of English and Paraguayan culture, and then our church service and lunch on Sunday (I teach English to 2^nd, 3^rd, 6^th, and 7^th graders at a Christian school, where the majority of students come from culturally Catholic families.). The kids were SOOOOOO excited to meet these real, live people who came all the way from the United States! Their enthusiasm was precious. Anyway, the parents seemed to be very pleased with their kids’ progress, Saturday night, as they saw them interacting with my English speaking friends, which felt really good. And then on Sunday, 4 of them came to church and lunch! I think I was as delighted as their parents to see Amy being chased by Wanda, Rachel and Sarah playing death ball with Silene and Camila, and Adam roughing up Gerardo and Nico.  And I was also so thankful that these new families got to see the Redeemer drama, and hear Dave and Linda’s testimony. Please pray that God would continue drawing these families to Himself.

That same weekend, I was so thankful for the opportunity to show my home church how God is moving among Paraguayan believers. Basically, I was just beaming with pride the entire time. I was so proud of the St. Mark team, as well as my Paraguayan brothers and sisters who have so inspired, challenged, and cared for me. After the church service, Sunday morning, we went out to Kapi-I, a rural town where our church leaders have been involved in a church plant. I think all of the St. Mark team members were struck by the sacrifices made by these new believers, as well as their radiant joy, peace, humility, and joy. I’m sure if you ask any of them, they’d love to give you their impressions of the evening. It is so exciting to be a mere member of the global body where Christ is the head. Sometimes, we North Americans can forget that we shouldn’t always be in the teacher’s role. In so many areas of development, we’re on top. But in God’s economy, we have a lot to learn from the less educated and influential of this world. I was so thankful for how the St. Mark team embraced and experienced the Paraguayan part of Christ’s body.

Now to get to the real reason they came- What a refreshing week we, missionaries had at our Spiritual Life Conference! Thank you SO much for making it possible, St. Mark! As a member of the worship team, I got to see the missionaries participating in the time of musical worship, as opposed to leading it (which is what they’re normally doing). I’m sure Adam, Danielle, and Beth would agree that it appeared to be a very appreciated time. And as for the childcare… let’s just say that the St. Mark team got raving reviews. With so many teachers, parents, crafters, and thespians among them, the kids had a fun, stimulating, and memorable week, and their parents felt safe leaving them in the team’s care. What a highlight it is for our kids to spend the week together and have special lessons prepared for them in ENGLISH, with Christian adults besides their parents as the teachers! In addition to that, it was SO good to give the parents, especially young, isolated moms, a chance to connect with/ pray for one another. With each passing day, I saw my team being refreshed, renewed, and reenergized for another year of ministry. Thank you.

Finally, during our debriefing time, I was able to articulate a fourth blessing that I’ve personally received from the team. On the way back from the falls, Linda was reading an article on reentering back into US culture after having been away. According to the article, reentry can be really tough because no one in the home culture has shared the cross cultural experience, and the missionary (though this was referring to short term missions) can feel very alone. At this point in the article, I began tearing up as I anticipated my own reentry into US culture. Missionaries say that it’s as if everyone in your home culture sees through yellow glasses, while your host culture sees through blue ones. The returning missionary, then, sees everything green and has trouble fitting with both groups. In these last 2 years, God has changed me. Because St. Mark sent this team, however, I know I will not reenter alone. You have now been to Kapi-I. You have experienced Ramon’s pure joy and have seen the church exploding, here, despite persecution. You have prayed for the unity and continued deepening of this sweet body. You have stayed in Paraguayan homes and have taken cold showers. You understand how their homes can be small but hearts are enormous. You have ridden in Augustine’s van and prayed that it wouldn’t break down. You have seen Kurupi (the mythological guy with the big vine looking thing around his waist). You have worshiped at my church in Villarrica. You have heard my friends’ testimonies and eaten their food. You have been interviewed by my students and can understand how they’ve stolen my heart. You have prayed that we wouldn’t be struck by oncoming traffic. You have also prayed that our abandoned vehicle wouldn’t be hit from behind while we serenely looked at the stars. You have come to love my missionary coworkers and their little ones whom I’ve adopted as surrogate nieces and nephews. You know them by name. You have eaten fresh oranges and seen cows along the side of the road. You know my world, and when I come home in a year, I do not fear being alone. Thank you.

(posted by Alyssa Lugbill)

We're Back!

Well, we left Asuncion, Paraguay, about 26 hours ago, and we are now officially back to Indiana safe and sound...and we only lost two people along the way! (Beth and Danielle stayed in Paraguay for another week to spend some time with Alyssa). We are all exhausted from a long week of traveling and pouring ourselves out in ministry, but what a trip! We really felt like we were able to encourage the SIM missionaries, and we all enjoyed building relationships with them as well. They are a neat group of people, and God is using them in a mighty way in Paraguay! Thanks so much for your prayers while we were gone. We will try to get a few more pictures posted on here in the days ahead. God bless!

Thoughts from Dave

After a tough week of leading Linda and I are finally having an opportunity to Blog :) My thoughts while typing this go back to the start of the week. It was a joy to watch our children playing with the Paraguayan children. Rachel, Sarah, and Amy know very little Spanish and the Paraguayan children knew very little english. With this limitation the the kids had a great time playing games by using hand signals and limited communication.

When we went to Kapi`i the same thing happened where the local children went out of their way to play with our girls and out daughters dived right in trying to figure out how to play a local game. It was an awesome experience to have a worship service basically right next to the barn yard and the woodshop of the local church planter Ramone. He and his family were amazing. His six children were all leaders amongst the children of the community. They lead singing, drama and many other events. It humbled me to think that we were worshiping in a setting similiar to the birth of our Lord and Savior. Dogs fighting, cows mooing, geese fighting, more people coming in all the time while others left. Elders of the church in Villarica helped with the service along with our worship and drama teams.

As a dad I have appriciated the comments from the other team members about our children. They can best be summed up by Adam, `Your children travel well`.

All for now as we prepare to head for the falls for our last day.

(written by Dave Breuer)

More Pictures From Paraguay

Carol translating as Dave and Linda share their testimony in Kapi´i.
Diane leading the kids in some activities during VBS.

Little David getting loved on by Mel.

Pictures from Paraguay

Here are a few pics from our travels thus far...enjoy!!!

At the Presidential Palace in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Shopping at the marketplace in Asuncion, Paraguay.

A night of English and Paraguayan culture at Alyssa´s school in Villarrica.

Joining the Paraguayan worship team at Alyssa´s church in Villarrica.

Presenting ´The Redeemer´drama in Villarrica.

Hanging out with some kids at the church in Villarrica.

Beth and Adam horseback riding outside of San Bernardino.

Thoughts from Diane and Beth

Hi everybody, this is diane/dino writing. It’s Wednesday afternoon, a beautiful day again, with sun and nice warm weather. Even tho it’s officially winter here, it’s been like our typical summer days, but it gets dark out at 5:30-6:00, which is weird. But I’ve been able to get some sunning in today, and running in yesterday, which makes me very happy J which people close to me know is a good thing!

We have very busy days, but they’ve been great days. We are bonding with the little ones we are working with and as each day goes by, our plans run a little smoother. We’ll have it down pat by tomorrow, which is our last day here! We have done a ton of improvising and are on our toes for some solid blocks of time. The missionaries’ kids are adorable and hopefully some good pics will be posted soon by someone who knows how to do it…

The food has been excellent, both over the weekend and here at the retreat. What is really nice tho, is that we just walk into the cozy, homey cafeteria load up our food from the spread, sit down and eat, then just leave our plates,etc and walk away! So even tho we are working hard, there are ‘perks’ I didn’t expect!

Our whole team is doing well but we are all very tired. So you can pray for our strength as we finish up the week at the retreat through Friday morning. Even tho things haven’t always gone as planned, we are getting along and have had some hardy laugh times.

I’ve been able to surprise my team and myself with the Spanish that came back to me, which was especially useful over the weekend in villarica. That’s been fun.

So far adam hasn’t walked into any ladies’ bathrooms and we are all very proud of him. (you better not delete this line, adam)


Sorry our postings haven’t been too frequent, but as you are probably aware, we’ve had issues with time, access, and connection since we’ve been gone. But thanks for your interest and prayers on our behalf and for your note, donna! I AM doing well. I might not even come home! (jk)

Personal note to my husband – thanks for the emails. I was able to read 1 of 2, before I started having trouble with gmail. Love you, miss you, tell everyone hi.

Hey everyone ~ It’s Beth, this time. Of course, it’s been wonderful to see Alyssa again!!! Danielle and I are soaking up the “girl time” whenever we can get it. We’re sharing a room here at the retreat so that really helps accomplish that!! Alyssa is doing well. We had an absolutely fabulous time in Asuncion and Viarrica last weekend with many of the elementary students, their families, the young adults, and the Paraguayan church members that Alyssa works with directly. It was so clear to me that she is having the privilege of effectively ministering in Jesus’ name here in Paraguay. Thank you to all of you who are supporting her both in prayer and finances. Traveling to Kapi on Sunday night to share in presenting the Gospel through drama and music was incredible. As we sat on benches amongst the chickens roosting in the trees above, the cows mooing, and the dogs meandering up on our cement block platform/stage, God’s presence felt almost palpable! The passion and commitment of “Pastor Ramon” was an incredible inspiration to all of us. God’s using one man and his family – the only Christians in the immediate area who are completely devoted to Him – to reach his neighbors and friends at his “house church,” was nothing short of AWESOME. With 3 people on the platform, sharing the message in 3 languages – Guadani, Spanish, and English - Linda commented that only the love of Jesus could produce the kind of love and sense of community amongst complete strangers as we experienced both in the morning worship service and in the evening gathering. GOD IS ALIVE IN WELL IN PARAGUAY!!

The missionary retreat is also going well. As Diane said, we crave any moments of “down time” we can find due to the demands here. But, it is so gratifying to be able to serve the missionaries who have come together from around Paraguay to find fellowship and renewal. Initially many seemed weary and spent. As the week has progressed I can physically see more rested and refreshed bodies, minds, and spirits. Their many young children have won our hearts. They seem to relish the time together, just as their parents do, to sing songs about Jesus in their own language, make crafts, play games, and hear stories and dramas. Adam, Danielle, and Alyssa are doing a great job with worship for the adults and I sometimes help out with some keyboard. (Thanks Katie H. for the quick “mini-lesson” before we went!!) I’ve also been able to meet with the parents to discuss parenting challenges they’re experiencing both due to raising children in another culture as well as the typical issues of parenting.

I prayed before going that besides ministering effectively once here, that I and my team members would also be changed. It is amazing to me how God put together this team with all of the diverse skills and gifts that we would need! Each of us has a story to tell about why we’re here and we have all been moved by God’s spirit. For me, I’ve been challenged to find additional ways to “tell my story” to my own friends back in the States. I’ve been thinking about the coming years and praying that God will direct my paths and make me open to major changes if He calls me. I’ve also been thinking about priorities and how to make the really important things a reality in my life rather than be tyrannized by the urgent things.

Thank you for your prayers!! With God ALL things are possible and without Him – well – life is quite meaningless and very uncertain!
Beth

After an amazing and hectic weekend, we are falling into a bit of a schedule now that the retreat has started in San Bernadino. It has been incredible. There have, of course, been moments of culture shock: putting used toilet paper in a waste basket, adjusting to hours of turned off water/electricity, and adapting to a schedule that is ever-changing, to name a few. However, the joys have greatly surpassed any frustrations.

We are among missionaries now (from the U.S., England, Canada, and South Africa) so we do have a pretty regular schedule:

7:30-8:30: Breakfast
8:30-10:00: Worship Service for the adults/VBS for the kids
10:30-11:00: Snack
11:00-12:00: Missionary Prayer team/Beth's parenting session on Tuesday (SMMC providing child care)
12:00-12:30: Lunch
1:00-2:30: Siesta (and when we as a team get our heads on straight preparing for the next worship sets and VBS session!)
2:30-6:00: Family Recreation (and when we as a team get our heads on straight preparing for the next worship sets and VBS session...and also when we can connect with others.)
6:00-7:00: Supper
7:00-8:30: Worship/Message/VBS session

Even as I type the schedule, it seems like there should be more down time, but up to this point, this has not been the case! You can prepare and prepare and prepare, but until you get in the environment where you're going to be, there will still be a lot of troubleshooting. This was definitely the case Monday (especially the morning session!) But God is good. I don't say that lightly, either. Karl has often joked with me that tears are not necessarily a sign of the Spirit moving (or not moving!), but I know the tears that I have been shedding consistently in these last three days have been largely based on seeing the Spirit move. Seeing the church in Villarica reach out to nonbelievers in their community (there were at least five first-time families at the Sunday morning service!), seeing the poverty, by our standards, of the church in Kapi'i and yet the INCREDIBLE JOY, joy that I'm not even sure many Americans have experienced at knowing Jesus, seeing the missionaries share in true community with each other and worship so wholeheartedly, hearing testimonies (both the SIM team and ours), all of these are causes for deep awe, thankfulness, and reflection.

There is an unpredictable internet connection, so hopefully we will be able to start posting a little more consistently.We are learning; we are growing; we are connecting. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and for helping to make this trip possible. We feel very blessed to be here.

(posted by Danielle Black)

Alive and Well!

In case you were wondering, our team arrived safely in Asuncion, Paraguay late Friday evening. Our trip did not come without some 'exciting' moments, however...like being stuck in Buenos Aires for five extra hours without anyone (including the airline attendants!) knowing where our plane was...or Mel's luggage not arriving with our flight! Despite some of those unforeseen circumstances, we are having a GREAT trip! Due to our layover in Buenos Aires, we were able to spend an entire afternoon touring the city, which was really neat. Saturday morning, in Asuncion, we spent some time in the local markets bartering with the Paraguayan venders. Then in the afternoon we traveled three hours to Villarica (our van only broke down once! :-) to spend some time on Alyssa's turf down here. We met her students at the school Saturday night, and they performed various dances and songs for us in English. Then, we spent the night in various Paraguayan host homes. I stayed with a young man named Lucas and his family. His mother said to me, "Our home is small, but our hearts are big." It was a blessing to stay with them.

Sunday we went to Alyssa's church. Danielle, Alyssa, and I helped lead worship for the service, and our team performed 'The Redeemer' drama. Dave and Linda also shared their testimony during the service. It was great to see another unique and diverse part of the body of Christ in the Paraguayan church. After church, we all shared a meal together, and then we spent several hours playing games with the kids. We continued our hectic pace Sunday night, as we traveled to Kapi'i (a small rural community near Villarica) to take part in a service with the believers and those searching for God there. Again, we led a worship service in both Spanish and English there, and we performed our drama. It was quite a unique experience, to say the least, to worship God in a barn in a rural community with like-minded believers (our worship service was interrupted a time or two by mooing cows and chickens fighting!). We felt very blessed to spend that time with the national church here. The Christian community in Kapi'i is still very young, and many believers fae great persecution (they often wait until night time to worship for fear that they might be seen and persecuted). Still, the Church is growing! God is definitely moving in Paraguay!

Sunday night, we traveled to our destination for the rest of the week, San Bernardino. This is where we will spend the rest of the week serving the SIM missionaries by leading their kids in VBS and leading the missionaries in worship. Already we are feeling blessed by our time here. Please continue to pray for us for the strength to serve with all that we have! Dios le bendiga! (God bless!)

(written by Adam Cramer)

M & Ms, Coke Zero and new friendship

I came a week before the rest of the Paraguay team so I could hang out with Alyssa Lugbill and follow her around a bit. She teaches at a primary school run by the church her mission works with. The last two nights we have hung out with girls who are friends of Alyssa's and had a great time. The Spanish has been pretty easy for me to follow, so it has been very "amable" all around. Today I have a sore throat, so we decided I should just stay home and rest while Alyssa went to school.

I was reading, checking email, and generally being lazy when the phone rang. I answered, and then realized it was from downstairs, where someone was calling to be let in. It was one of the girls we have spent time with, Noemi, 17 and "a friend." She wanted to know if they could come up so she could introduce me to the friend. The two of them came up, we greeted each other....and then Noemi said they had to leave. I decided maybe I should do a bit more grooming since I'd only gotten as far as a shower in case any more people would be coming by to stare at the visiting American!!

A little while later, I was working away on a project on the computer. I heard what would normally sound like knocking, but there have been construction workers banging and yelling just a little ways away all week, so I figured it was just them. After a little more of the same sound, I decided it was indeed someone at the door. When I opened it, there stood Noemi, smiling at me shyly. I invited her in and decided she was stopping by for a visit.

We talked about several things. She was the most animated when trying to tell me about the vowel sounds and various words from the Guyani (Indian) language. Alyssa has a white board
up in her living room, so Noemi was being very "teacherly" making her points with written examples. After a bit we sat down at Alyssa's nice "farm" style table, where various things from our last 2 evenings' activities we sitting. There was a bowl of M & Ms there, left over from brownie hot fudge sundaes. So we started helping ourselves to those.

My favorite snack during the school year is M & Ms and Diet Pepsi. I am known at my school for eating those daily.:) I began to tell her about that, and she said, "But we don't have Pepsi here."
Alyssa had gotten us some Coke Zero a couple of days ago, so I got that out. Then as she watched very carefully, I popped some M & Ms into my mouth and swigged a bit of the Coke. She proceeded to imitate me exactly....put in the M & Ms, then before finishing them, take a nice swig of the Coke. We sat there doing this for a bit together. Before too long, she had to return to school for her afternoon session.

I told Alyssa about the M & Ms when she got home....I said I had never meant for it to be quite such a precision demonstration, but when put alongside the "how do you do and say things here" that we had been engaged in this afternoon and previously, it seemed that a careful demo and careful observation by the "learner" were appropriate!!:)

(Written by Carol Schmidt)

One Body, Many Parts

"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ."

(1 Corinthians 12:12)

Our team has really come together as one unit, but it has also been neat to see each member exercising their individual gifts to make this team and this trip a success. Here are the various roles of each team member. As the trip approaches, please pray that each member will be fully prepared to serve effectively in their roles.

Dave Breuer - Team Leader, Trip Coordinator, Drama Team

Linda Breuer - Team Leader, Trip Coordinator, VBS Team

Rachel Breuer - VBS Team, Befriending Missionary Kids

Sarah Breuer - VBS Team, Befriending Missionary Kids

Amy Breuer - VBS Team, Befriending Missionary Kids

Adam Cramer - Worship Leader, Drama Team, Youth Leader

Beth Lugbill - Worship Team, Drama Team

Danielle Black - Worship Team, Drama Team

Carol Schmidt - VBS Team, Translator

Diane Matteson - VBS Team

Melissa Lein - VBS Team, Drama Team

These are some of our specific roles, although undoubtedly each member will need to be flexible and be ready and willing to serve in various capacities on the trip. Also, remember Alyssa Lugbill in your prayers, as she has been working hard in Paraguay to coordinate many of the details for the conference. Above all, pray that God will show up at this conference and use this team to encourage and refresh the missionaries who are serving Him in Paraguay!