June 19-21, 2011
SUNDAY we had a great church service. It is fun to watch the little kids flock to the interns. The interns are definitely getting more comfortable greeting people and starting conversations.
As soon as it was over we head to Yuty (about 1 ½ hours away) where we joined our team’s church’s father’s day lunch.
About 2:30 we drove to Encarnacion. We stayed at a German hotel with tons of personality.
7:30 we saw a drove to a Jesuit Ruin and watched light show and then came back to the hotel for a late dinner.
MONDAY morning after breakfast we began our tour of two Jesuit Ruins – Jesus de Tavarangue (in the morning) and Trinidad (in the afternoon). The interns were thankful that we had watched The Mission at Andy’s house to gain some historical context. The Jesuits played a huge part in Paraguay’s history and in the story of the Guarani peoples.
The Ruins at Jesus
Ruins at Trinidad
Tangerines! YUM!
Mid-afternoon we headed into town for me to do some grocery shopping. We had hoped to find an internet café for the girls to use, but we had no luck with that.
The purpose of this mini-trip is not only to help the students understand Paraguayan history better, but also to do some mid-trip debriefing. When the students first arrived in Paraguay we gave them a list of about 15 goals that we wanted them to be working through while they were here. How wonderful to look back at the past three weeks and recall God’s faithfulness and be able to look ahead to the next two weeks with a renewed joy.
TIME 20011 Goals
- To become more Christ-like in my attitudes, motivations, thoughts and actions through what I am learning during this experience
- To more fully understand God’s heart for the lost of all nations and his mission of redemption
- To gain a fuller understanding of my strengths/ gifts and weaknesses as an individual. Where is God working in and through my life and where is He working on me?
- To carefully consider my future role in world missions and how I can promote missions back at my home church
- To be able to articulate what it means to be a health care professional with a Christian worldview
- To humbly accept the role of learner and avoiding the temptation to prematurely judge Paraguayans or missionaries
- To learn flexibility and patience, being relationship-oriented, not task/event-oriented (like latinos)
- To lean on the Lord daily through personal prayer and time in His Word
- To reflect daily on what I am learning (e.g. journaling)
- To appreciate the realities of the missionary calling and daily life, the joys and the triumphs, as well as the costs/ sacrifices, difficulties and struggles they face
- To appreciate and learn about the Paraguayan people, their culture and their languages
- To maintain unity and peace on this team at whatever the cost
- To experience joy in the midst of my daily routine
- To understand the history and present situation of the body of Christ in San Francisco and to commit to praying for the Paraguayan church
- To become more willing and adept at sharing my faith, even with limited language abilities
- To understand how SIM Paraguay works and the value of a mission family/ team
- To seek God’s direction in using my Paraguayan experience to know the next steps to take in my upcoming major life decisions
TUESDAY we packed up and began heading back to San Francisco. We arrived at noon in Yuty where our team mates, Christie and Dan, had prepared a great lunch. After lunch, they gave their testimonies and then Christie then shared a paper she'd written entitled: Werewolves and Witchdoctors: Biblical Responses to Animism in Paraguay. It was very eye opening!
Driving the rest of the way home it rained and we slipped and fishtailed on the muddy roads. We pulled one Toyota out of the muddy ditch where it had gotten stuck and saw one poor guy wipe out on his motorcycle trying to get out of our way.
