January 2016

News from the Spradlins

News from the Spradlin's in South America

JANUARY 2016
Vol. 8 No. 1

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 of
church 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 missionarys job is to work himself out of a job. That is exactly what is taking place in Paraguay!
At the first Mens 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 such
long 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 for
the church, or handling church business on one level or another. For the past three years, the church
here has
Developments at Avenida Sacramento Iglesia de Cristo
been taking
on 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 the
church 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 will
be 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 end
of 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, it
was 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 past
month 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 and
greatly appreciate her servant attitude!
2016 Ladies Retreat with Karen Bennett

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January 2016

News from the Spradlins

Developments at Asuncion Bible Academy

As part of our quarterly campaigns, the students of the Asuncion
Bible Academy made a special survey trip to the city of Hernandarias
(near Ciudad del Este) with the purpose of gathering information and
exploring the possibilities for planting a church in that area. They were
able 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 all
the information and compile it into a report that will be delivered to the
men of Avenida
Sacramento to
help them make
some sound
decisions. The
Margaret Street
church of Christ
in Milton, FL, has
also been working
with the brethren
in Paraguay to
help them
accomplish the
goal
of planting
Asuncion Bible Academy students and AME intern in
new congregations.
Hernandarias, Paraguay on campaign
This information will
be useful for determining next steps in moving forward with those
plans, as well. This is now the third survey/research trip that the
Academy has made in the past year and a half in our efforts to see
more churches established in Paraguay.
Since many of the students
had never even been to the
other side of their own country,
much less into one of their
neighboring countries, we took
advantage of the opportunity
to go see the enormous
Iguazu Falls in nearby Brazil
(which, at one time, was once
part of Paraguay). The
students were really excited
ABA students and AME intern at Iguazu Falls
and thoroughly enjoyed the
excursion. It was a well deserved reward for lots of hard work they
have put in for the past few months.
This is the last quarter of the first year of the two-year program. The
students are finishing up with short courses with Luis Camacho (1
Corinthians), Osvaldo Rodriguez (1 and 2 Samuel), Ike Yegros
(Acts 2), and a research week. This will be followed by a month long
break before diving into their second year of studies. We couldnt be
more pleased with the progress of the students, along with their good
attitude and their diligent work ethic. Please keep them in prayer.
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Contacts / Bible Studies /

Activities / Opportunities
We were able to have another
Bible study with Juan and
Natty Candia. We have started
a study on Fundamentals of
the Faith that we will be using
over the next few months.

Our interns from AME - Brazil,

Italo Rocha (pictured, above)
and Pablo Yuri, have
completed their commitment
for one year of service with us
here in Paraguay and have
now returned to their homes in
Recife and Joao Pessoa,
Brazil. It was a real blessing to
the church to have them here
and they served in many areas,
especially in helping develop
an adolescent youth group.
They would frequently visit our
widows and other brethren,
helped Eliezer in emby,
organized a weekly soccer
game and devotional, and
would preach or lead singing
whenever needed. We
appreciate all the work they did
and wish them God speed!

AME intern, Pablo Yuri, with his fianc

Camila Urquidi. They plan to marry in May.

January 2016

News from the Spradlins

Personal Developments and Activities

I know it may seem hard for many of you to believe
by just looking at her, but we celebrated Andreas
50th birthday this past month! (I know, she certainly
doesnt look 50!) We wanted to do something special,
so we invited 30 of her closest brethren and friends to
one of her favorite restaurants. We rented out the
entire room and Andrea made all the decorations for
the occasion (those of you who know her know how
much she loves to make things!) The festivities
included an 8-course meal, brought out in stages,
and a Cirque du Soliel style show with live music and
acrobats. It was followed by lighting the candles on
her cake (I have never seen so many candles on a
cake before!) and singing Happy Birthday both in
Spanish and English. It was a wonderful evening for
such a wonderful lady!
We also had a nice, traditional American New Years
meal on January 1st. In the past weve celebrated
this day with others, but this year it was just a special
meal for two, complete with a delicious Pork Roast,
Hoppin John, Sweet American Cornbread, and some
local greens. Mmmm mmmm!

DISCOVERING PARAGUAY

Andreas 50th Birthday Party!

Personal Studies

Chake! Bache! is a phrase one often hears when traveling down

the busy streets of Asuncion. It means Watch out! Pothole! and you
should definitely heed the warning, because some of the potholes
have been known to swallow the whole front of a small car! With all
the rain weve had the past few months and the constant flow of
traffic, Asuncion has turned into a mine field. There are literally
thousands of potholes throughout the city. Also, its not like the USA
where cones or warning barriers are set up to signal drivers of the
danger. Here, one must keep an eye out for a constant threat. At
times someone might drop a tree branch or wooden crate over a real
bad pothole to warn
others. Regular car
maintenance obviously
requires changing the oil,
fi l t e r s , a n d p e r h a p s
rotating the tires. But, in
Paraguay, we also add
suspension parts to the
list because the roads
are so bad that
something will inevitably
be destroyed in the
course of just a few One of Asuncions major streets - pockmarked with
hundreds of potholes
months driving!
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Currently Reading/Have Read:

Planting Churches CrossCulturally 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!

January 2016

News from the Spradlins

Workday at the building - the men repainted the iron gates and made
various repairs while the ladies organized and cleaned classrooms.

THANK YOU! to all of

our 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

Asuncin Bible Academy

Supporters / Contributors
Palm Beach Lakes church of Christ
(Stateside Administrator)
4067 Leo Lane
Palm 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)

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

PRAYER REQUESTS
Would you like to help the Paraguay Mission? You
can by becoming one of our Prayer Partners and
praying for the work. Below are several specific
items for which to pray.
For the growth of the church in Paraguay
The spiritual growth of each member
To appoint elders and deacons soon
More churches planted in other cities
More Bible study opportunities
For the Asuncion Bible Academy
The students and their studies
The teachers and their preparations
More available teachers and supporters
For missionaries Troy and Andrea
Security and safety while working in Paraguay
Safety in traveling during upcoming furlough
More potential Bible study contacts
Good health
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