PARAGUAY MISSION MONTHLY REPORT SUMMARY

Missionaries: Troy and Andrea Spradlin Mission Field: Asuncin, Paraguay Date/No. of Report: April, 2011 / Vol. 3 No. 4

CONGREGATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND INVOLVEMENT

Name of congregation: Address: Year established: Present number of members: Avenida Sacramento Iglesia de Cristo Avenida Sacramento 650, c/ Espaa - Asuncin, Paraguay September 2004 35 Family Units (70 Baptized)

Average Bible classes attendance: Sunday 49 Midweek 22 / Other - 4 Worship attendance: Sunday 52 (3rd); 58 (10th); 60 (17th); 62 (24th) Recent Bible classes: We have completed our study of Ephesians and are now beginning a study of Acts. I have been in regular rotation for teaching classes on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. Recent congregational developments: Men's Business Meetings: A brother from the USA who recently passed away, gifted a sum of money to the church in Paraguay. The men have decided to purchase a baptistery for the building so we will not have to go down the road to a nearby hotel to baptize someone. All of the congregational finance responsibilities have been turned over to the Paraguayans. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is huge step towards a self-sustaining and self-propagating church! We have written previously about the struggles of our sister, Carolina Achucarro, and how she was having to deal with the health problems of her mother. Sadly, her mother passed away this month. The church lovingly reached out to her and supported her during the funeral process. Brittnea Yegros is now studying with her using a study called Grief Share. This is also having an impact on her sister, who is not a Christian. Please keep them in your prayers. Recent conversions/identifications/restorations: Baptized Alcides Garcia, (29) is from San Pedro, Paraguay. He is studying Philosophy in the university there. Just a few years ago, he woke up one day paralyzed from the neck down. After a battery of tests and many doctor consultations, no one could find a reason or understand why he had become paralyzed. After about a year he is now finally able to move his arms and fingers. He travels to Asuncin regularly to receive therapy in a gym owned by some of his family members. Perry works out at that same gym and they soon became good friends through that connection. After studying with Perry a while and visiting our services, Alcides decided to put on Christ through baptism! We sow and the Lord provides the increase!
Perry Hardin with Alcides Garcia after his baptism.

L to R: Our sisters Delci Enciso and Carolina Achucarro

Visitation: Gustavo Aguero invited several of us to his house for a traditional asado (bbq) for his birthday. It was delicious and a great time together! Carolina Achucarro family (mentioned earlier). Contacts made and resulting studies: Campaign Contact: A young lady named Maria Jose received one of our flyers during the campaign and called to ask about the church. As a result, Susan Schroeder, along with Perry and Alba Hardin, held a Bible study with her. She has also come to visit our worship services. We pray she will continue to investigate, grow, and learn. Enrique Albera he is the son of our member, Lina Albera. He had been attending a local community church and recently decided to learn more about the church of Christ. We have studied a few times using the Searching for Truth study guide. Meetings/Efforts with fellow missionaries: We have started planning for some upcoming campaigns: a group from Palm Beach Lakes is coming in June, a group from Margaret Street in late July, and our English Study campaign starts in August. Monthly English Devo since we spend most of our time speaking and worshiping in Spanish, the missionary team likes to get together to have a little devo in English. This time, we logged in to watch the Palm Beach Lakes live webcast of its services. It was nice to sing along with our fellow brethren on a continent away! Evangelistic efforts: We have been trying to get around to make visits to the contacts made from the recent flyer campaign. We have been able to reach a few of the contacts and will continue to try and visit them. Special activities of the month: Festival of Desserts! Every so often the ladies of the congregation like to bake a bunch of sweets and then bring them to the church building. Everyone makes a donation, which goes toward the building fund, and then they get to take some of them home. Everyone loves it and of course, not many desserts make it all the way home! The youth group had a special afternoon where Britnea Yegros and Alba Hardin taught them how to make American style pancakes. Afterward, we had a devotional and learned some new songs. Those kids can really sing!
Some of the young ladies of the youth group learning how to make pancakes with Brittnea Yegros.

Youth group learning some new songs

Everybody digging in at the Festival de Postres!

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND INVOLVEMENT

Personal HIGHLIGHT(s) of the Month: FURLOUGH TIME!! This month was dominated by getting prepared for furlough. Boy, are we excited! This is our first trip back to the USA after being on the mission field for 15 months. There are so many friends and family we want to see, foods we want to eat (that you just can't get in Paraguay), and several places we want to visit. We are looking forward to reporting to our supporters and have worked hard trying to get more than a year's worth of activities crammed into a brief report! Personal study: I studied many resources on the Epistle to the Ephesians. I also made several Greek studies for different passages that have come up in question lately. Pedro Vera loaned me a book of Paraguayan history that was published during the time of the dictatorship. I have learned quite a lot about their history from this different point of view. Culture and language study: I feel like I am finally making some headway with Spanish. I am feeling more comfortable in front of people and have been leading several Bible studies per week. I still have a long ways to go, but am now more confident that I can finally communicate freely. Andrea has now decreased the number of Spanish classes from five days a week to just two days per week. The last two weeks before furlough, there were a battery of exams and each time she earned a higher score than the one before, with a 92 on her last exam!
Andrea packing up all the gifts and souvenirs Family activities: from Paraguay for our friends and family We made a little stopover in Rio de Janeiro on the way to Miami. back home Since we had never been there, we decided to stay a couple of days to take in some much needed time to relax and just do a little sight seeing! It was neat to see the world famous beaches and ride their city buses. Daily Bible reading together. Our goal is to read the entire Bible together in one year. As we get busier, this gets a little more difficult to do. But we are determined and we are continuing!

Plans for the near future: Reporting! We arrived safely in Florida on April 28 and will be visiting our supporting congregations until June 1st. We will begin in West Palm Beach, FL; then on to Dripping Springs, TX; Poolville, TX; Milton, FL; Valdosta, GA and then back down to Miami. Hope to see you soon! Getting prepared for a few campaign groups coming to Paraguay. Traveling to Panama to meet up with our brethren from Margaret Street for a short term mission campaign. Government requirements: Andrea and I acquired our Brazilian tourist visas! Since they are good for 10 years, this will really help us in our traveling to and from Paraguay. Notes:

Some beautiful missionary lady I snapped a picture of while standing on a beautiful beach in Brazil.

Getting prepared for furlough has been quite an adventure. Making plans to be gone for more than a month is rather challenging!

PARAGUAY MISSION
Asuncion, Paraguay South America Troy and Andrea Spradlin
Casilla de Correo 13092 Shopping del Sol Asuncion, Paraguay (595) 0981-630-886 We seek to "equip the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ." (Ephesians 4:12)

Our Mission Team Goals for 2011:

Evangelism: We plan to make evangelistic efforts as a team through personal Bible studies from contacts generated by public advertising, targeting specific neighborhoods, hosting special events such as Teaching English Using the Bible campaigns, and Special Interest Seminars. We also want to encourage and develop a more evangelistic spirit within the congregation utilizing Friends and Family Days, VBS, Prayer Vigils, Anniversary Service, and Personal Evangelism Training. Elders (Formal Leadership training). We plan to mentor our elder candidates through personal one-on-one meetings with elders visiting from the USA, and through Skype calls. We also plan to study with them on a regular basis, as well as, mentor other promising brothers for leadership positions such as deacons, or evangelists. We hope to develop deeper relationships between the missionaries and the church leaders through regular meals and social gatherings. We will also be developing a Leadership Manual for Elders in Spanish. Edifice (Building Construction): We hope to complete all legal paperwork for construction and secure a loan for the Sacramento congregation. The Paraguayan brothers will have the responsibility of repaying the loan over the next 10 years. We will also assist them in developing detailed plans and construction phases. We also pray to begin construction on phase 1 this year.

Visit us at our websites: PARAGUAYMISSION.COM thespradlins.blogspot.com

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 Clay Bond Family Chet Brown Family Virginia Guess Family Randall Hunter Family