12 guys, 7000 miles, 2 vans, 4 countries....

Within the next couple of weeks I'll be leaving on a trip down to Belize with some friends from college.  If you are interested in following this trip we've made a travel blog: www.12guys7000miles.blogspot.com
It's looking like it'll be a wild time!
-Steve

Back in Canada

After 26 hours of transition my feet are up on the proverbial couch of Canada. After building close friendships with the people living in Paraguay (the churches youth group and with the missionaries) we found it hard to say goodbye. I'm working on a final conclusion video that I hope to post within the next week, but if you are interested I have also posted many more pictures (click here to view). I really appreciated how many of you committed to pray for me during this experience. Overall it was a fantastic trip that led me to grow in many areas. I was able to have many discussions regarding mission strategy and the role missionaries have in discipling believers to do church planting. I was able to experience how missionaries raise their families on the field and some of the struggles and joy's of being a third culture kid. I was able to see passion spill from the missionaries. I will never forget the genuine compassion one missionary showed as he toured us from one room to the next of patients infected with AIDS. My heart has been captured by the beauty of South America and the people that exposed their lives to us so that we could have the chance to learn.

Crossing the Fence

Although it's been a few days since I last posted, lots has been happening in my South American world. Someone asked which way the drains go in southern hemisphere and I can say that after numerous tests it is counter clockwise. I'm pretty curious which way water spins as it drains in North America, I can't remember.
This past week has been full of sweat, dirt and a whole lot of terere (cold tea type drink which gets past around a circle like a peace pipe). The whole missionX team has been placed into Paraguayan homes for the week. It's a time to struggle with Spanish, experience and fumble our way through the culture and eat some great Paraguayan food. I've included a picture of our (me and Steve McCoy's) hosts for the week. We were placed on a small farm in a house that couldn't have been any more latin than the pictures (think Nacho Libre). We've really grown to love our family. The father of the household is a interesting character who throws German into his Spanish and supposedly has a strong German Brazilian accent. He is often found without a shirt or covered from head to toe in dirt as he comes off the field. He's alot of fun and most of our interacting consists of laughing. Most of the days have been spend working with the missionaries running a DVBS for the kids in the area. It's been really nice to be find my niche in doing the "grunt" work in order to set the national Spanish speakers up for ministry. We handed out flyers, set up the stage, sound system, blew up the balloons and watched as people from the church walk in to lead the singing and teaching. We started the week with about 60-70 kids the first afternoon and today we concluded the DVBS with 125 kids. It was alot of fun!
One of the biggest accomplishments which Steve and are very proud of is the fence we built. On one of the mornings nothing was happening with the missionaries so we stuck around the farm. I miraculously communicated to our "dad" that we wanted to work. He showed us shovel and some logs which were to be the fence posts and made some marks on the ground. One of his sons turned to us and in a fancy game of charades communicated that we were about to sweat alot. Not letting that discourage me I turned and walked towards the first mark in the ground as I thought back to my days at the valley: "I've dug lots of holes in Canada, how bad can this be." Well, I can say that before this I have never dug a fence hole with a shovel nor have I done it under the blistering South American sun. Digging the holes to the depth of the shovel handle seemed to take forever but in the end Steve and I looked back and high fived each other at the "sweet" fence that we had built. Yes we sweated a ton, and yea the fence wasn't the best quality but we put in our best effort and hopefully it'll hold the animals in. I would love to put a warranty on it, but I'm not sure when I'll be back to uphold a commitment like that. This experience is quickly coming to a close. Tomorrow morning we start the journey home, from one town to the next to the capital to the plane. The highlight so far has been spending time with the missionaries picking their brains and asking the hard questions which they so patiently answer. It's been quite something to do devotions out on the porch as the sun rises over the farmers fields. It's been quite something to worship with the South American believers under the night sky. It's quite something to be sweating in January. And it'll be quite something walking out of the Winnipeg Airport into winter.

The Kingdom at Work

There hasn't been a lot of access to Internet but the adventure has been pounding forward at an incredible speed.  This past week has been a whirlwind tour of seeing the kingdom of God in different settings.  We visited street kids at a special home and saw the grace and love that they crave.  We visited a Psychiatric hospital and observed many Christian workers from Germany pushing the kingdom forward as they provided work for the patients.  I sat on top of a 96 meter radio tower broadcasting the message of Jesus to a potential audience of one million people (although only around 20,000 were tuning in at that point).  We headed back into the bush and visited the Guarani tribe (the real life people that were represented in the movie "The Mission") and saw the work of the church among the grass huts.  Understanding the kingdom of God in these different settings continues to help shape our perspectives of ministry and mission.  I preached last night to a group of believers in the yard behind the church.  It wasn't anything remarkable or overly inspiring but it was special to share with our brothers and sisters.  I must keep this short because it's time for lunch.  Thanks for your constant support and encouragement!

Soccer under the blazing sun

I don't think that I have ever been so tired in my life. Portaging
canoes, clearing trails at camp or running in Manitoba Marathon relay.
Playing soccer with the guys here in Paraguay was a crash course on
seeing how I could sweat out all my fluids in a 2 minutes flat. But I
scored a goal. Two games of basketball later I was destroyed. Wow,
it's been a great couple of days in the beautiful country of Paraguay.
We have been spending the majority of our time with the church here
in Paraguay and have received incredible fulfillment from interacting
through broken Spanish. Thank you so much for praying, I think I'm up
for preaching this next Sunday and drama's we'd prepared have been
going better than expected. I've really appreciated hanging out with
the missionary kids especially a young man named Giovanni who plays on
Paraguay's national soccer team. It will probably be a few days until
I will be able to post again. Check out www.sbcollege.ca for more
updates.

Quick Update

Just a few minutes ago I set foot in South America for the first time!  We´re stuck in the Santa Cruz, Bolivia airport for a few minutes before we complete the journey to Paraguay.  It´s been a great time flying so far, as I´ve had the chance to spend time talking to lots of people from all over the world as God places them in the seat right beside me.  As we approach Paraguay I´ve been giving increasing thought to the reason we are in Paraguay.  Our number one priority is to encourage the EMC missionaries and national pastors in Paraguay.  What that will look like I´m not totally sure.  I´m looking forward to what´s about to happen in the matter of a few hours!

The faithfulness of God

Tomorrow is the day I'm heading out for South America (the country of Paraguay).  I've never crossed the equator before and so I'm looking forward to being in +30 weather in a matter of a few days!  On one of my last days in school before Christmas I went and visited the financial person in the SBC office to see how my financial support was coming in.  I had been praying and trusting that God would bring in the needed funds to make this trip a reality.  $140.  Well only $2360 to go I responded enthusiastically.  As I walked out of the office I was frustrated and confused about how this was going to work out.  Over the past few years God has been teaching me through several large financial commitments to be a wise steward of what God has given me.  I have to come to learn that the wisest decision regarding finances is to trust God.  Deciding to go to school at SBC has been one of the larger journey's of trust especially in the area of finances.  Having seen God provide before in previous years I felt quite confident that God would be able to provide again for this school year.  But by committing to go to Paraguay my doubt persisted that God would provide in this increased financial weight.
A week ago I was blessed with over $2360 by different people and a solid church community.  God has blatantly provided and for that I thank Him.