God's fellow workers

Before I forget... Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

For us the heat is on!  We are right at the starting line for summer down here in Asuncion and I am pretty sure I will suffer much evaporation of my precious 75% water.  It will be a totally different Christmas to be sure...    I am laughing right now as I write this... crazy heat is not my favorite thing, but we are loving that God has brought us here.  God is funny too.  I am thankful that we are made in his likeness : )

I have some words to share that have been the words of the Lord to me for a few weeks now... If you can bear with its length...(and at the end I am sharing some details about the next leg of The Jesus Adventure!)

"What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames".  1 Corinthians 3:5-15

 

I can't read the Bible anymore without a million little connections popping up in my mind.  There is no unintended relation between one passage and another...Gods words to us are undeniably clear - We are the plan.  We are the body of Christ.  We must work together with him and with each other.  I love the wholeness of the words "for we are God's co-workers, you are God's field, God's building."  We are His fellow laborers who are to listen, obey and work in harmony in order to accomplish his perfect will.  We are also the field...the place where the work takes place, seeds are planted, the ground prepared through turning, digging and reforming.  We are also the building...God's temple, the end product.  It is beautiful and the complete description of our varied purposes that exist all at the same time in our journey.  We have the burden to reach others, to be yielding to all the different works God simultaneously is doing in us, as well as to be honoring and glorifying to Him as his precious and prized temple. 

And the beauty of the miracle in a tiny seed... I imagine the apparent simplicity on the inside of a small seed...they look blank with virtually no distinguishable marks.  Yet, the moment a seed is planted and then cared for by "God's fellow workers" the miracle inside the seed begins transforming it's very nature and appearance! No man on earth could design such a complete biological plan...this alone is the handiwork of our creator.  Something so plain and common as a seed...and God has designed in nature a multitude of ways for a seed to become planted...some seeds are sticky and attach to the fur of a passing animal, the wind carries others that are meant to be airborne, others are pleasing for food and fall during a harvest.  There is no mistake in the completeness of the analogy the Lord gives us when he speaks of planting seeds.  Let yourself carry on entirely in imagining the life of a seed and how it comes to be planted.  Meditate on the beauty of God's plan!  I believe God designed nature also as a reflection of who He is and how He works...and that is why there are so many comparisons between God's kingdom and vines, branches, fruit, harvest...  God's plans, creation and character are profound. 

What kinds of things are we building...?

Of course the other awesome parts of this passage are the materials with which we can build upon the foundation that has been there from the begining.  When we are talking about building in God's kingdom there is only one foundation that can be laid and that is Jesus Christ- BUT we can build shabbily or strong upon that foundation.  We can be and invest in the building of others into strong, lasting, fire-proof, fire-tested temples for the Lord.  If we labor without truly giving oursleves to the labor or give in work only the things that don't cost us very much, the end result will be buildings that are burned up with fire...only the bare foundation will last.  It is very easy to appear to be building, especially to others, even to toil much in our building.   But, it will be revealed to be nothing if we build with things that do not last.  We have got to build always with our whole heart, with our best attitude, a most sincere and generous spirit...always with love and obedience in faith.  What kind of buildings are we constructing? Clearly we should each desire to be a temple of gold for God... the most valuable, costly, strong and pure temple and equally desire to build as god's fellow workers into the lives of others so that they too can be strong and enduring.   

Oh I love the depth of God's word...  it is always complete and self-supported. 

Whew! And now for some further details about the future of The Jesus Adventure...
We have been so very blessed in this call to serve in international missions.  Wow, was it a crazy transition for us, but to be sure it was and is God's plan for us now.  Our project here in Paraguay is finishing up next year and our team of 40/40's will all be heading home for at least a small break before returining to the field in some form or another.  We ourselves will still have another year left in our committment to Extreme.  After much prayer and seeking, we have committed to begin again as Cluster Support for a new team of 40/40's that is heading to Ibarra, Ecuador next year!  (just northeast of Quito)

 

We are very excited for this next assignment!  We will be starting next June with the 40-Day Experience followed by theology/language training with the 40/40's and ministry training in Cali, Colombia and then off to Ibarra to invest ourselves with the planting and watering of seeds and the building of God's temples!  Ecuador is going ot be very different than our experience here in Paraguay.  The culture is very much more like the Peruvian culture and it has a much cooler climate than Paraguay.  The city of Ibarra is in the Ecuadorian Andes with a lake and two volcanoes nearby flanked by the Amazon Basin on the East of the Andes (location of events from The End of The Spear movie).  We are bummed out that the timing has not worked out for a short-term group from PortNaz and other interested friends to visit Paraguay while we are here, but I believe you will all be very much blessed in coming to Ecuador to see what God will be up to there!  Pray about it and start planning! 

 

Meanwhile...work in Paraguay is trucking along : )  The church here is growing, we are growing, our bible studies are growing and evolving into beautiful relationships and deepening walks of faith.  God is constantly speaking and is in control of each delicate seed.  We are at our mid-way point for the poject and it is absolutely amazing to have been able to count with some accuracy how many people have heard the gospel through the work of our team here...  Over 2000 lives have been touched with the gospel through outreach events and weekly evangelism!  In addition, each week our 40/40's are pursuing and discipling about 240 different individuals through weekly bible studies and friendships!  This sunday we had 17 people baptized, and two new home bible study groups are opening this week! Please keep our church and team in prayer.  The last months of a project need to be focused on the transition between missionary leadership and local leadership...this is where we need to really see the seeds budding.  And we shall not forget...it is God who makes things grow.  It is He who has always sustained His word and His church and this is where we place our hope.  Build with us on the foundation placed in Paraguay through your faithful prayers!! 

Here is the slide show some of you saw in Sunday School last week, and other of you may be seeing in the near future during Sunday School : ) 

 

We are also working on some Picassa albums for those of you that don't frequent facebook... Hopefully these work...I am a little new to some of this.

Picassa Album Paraguay 2   and   Picassa Album New Folder

Well that is our super long and long overdue blog for now : )  Keep us in prayer as we start figuring out how to prepare for Ecuador and as we continue in ministry in our community here in Paraguay.   We love you and don't forget about you even though we are far away...  We will be home soon for a break next year around May and June!! We will make plans as the time gets nearer : ) Lots of Love dear friends and family!!!  Big Blessings from South America!!!!

Grace and Peace to each of you,
Kelly

 

I am a disciple.

Oh dear friends...

We are super excited to share some of the neat changes in Extreme Nazarene Ministries! The new project name is Extreme South America and includes our current project (Extreme Paraguay) but also includes several new cities, new teams, new ways of preparing, sending and multiplying God's kingdom. It is pretty neat that in the midst of the world's financial crisis, God's work is not slowing down one bit : ) But HE is like that... defying our logic all the time and teaching us to think His thoughts after him.

You can check out some of the new opportunities to GO, GIVE and PRAY.

Some of the hilights include:

~ A new 40-day program in Quito, Ecuador (the soon to be the new Extreme Nazarene headquarters) which includes an intense time of fasting, prayer, service and theology for anyone interested in joining XSA or interested in Spiritual Enrichment...

~ Expanded opportunities for joining the XSA project in a huge variety of roles for every type of talent, passion, calling, age...and location! There is a lot you can do right from your home in the US if you have a call to missions but not necessarily the international mission field...

~ With the new 40/40 structure, one may earn a BA in Intercultural Studies and complete all the requirements for ordination within the Church of the Nazarene WHILE serving as a missionary...

~ A new recruitment program specifically to mobilize South Americans that are called to missions that includes an interview/application process, work with the local pastors and leaders to facilitate financial support and encouragement from the sending church on behalf of the missionary, and training in missions.

~ Extreme Nazarene Ministries will eventually be expanding ministry "to the ends of the earth" in the years to come!

Extreme Nazarene is doing such an awesome job at getting people out into the field that would ordinarily have no idea where to begin, helping people that are called to give get connected with the variety of projects and people that are available to support, and opening the door for people all around the world to engage in missions not only within their country but to shift from a missions recieving church to a missions sending church! It is actually quite amazing to see the local leaders being raised up to carry on the ministry of the church in their area but also that there are people being called to missions out of these very same churches! Right now, our team in Paraguay consists of 3 Brazilians, 3 North Americans, 1 Venezualan and 1 Paraguayan. It is pretty neat to see the way that the body of believers exists unified in Christ!

SO...We are so excited to be working with XSA! We will for sure keep you all updated as God leads our family in this amazing journey!

Turning Point

What a wonderful blessing it is to be a servant of the Lord!  It is a mixture of total humility, dependance, following, obedience combined with the knowledge that we are totally important to, loved, pursued and cared for by God.  It is being both the precious beloved as well as incomparably small.  It brings so much freedom and also a great desire to be pleasing!

Does anything ever work out just the way we expect...?  Maybe not...  but sometimes do we learn a whole lot, grow relationships we might have otherwise missed, see new things...? Yes.  This work here is hard for each member of the team, but I am grateful for this.  It forces us toward God and makes His glory visible in spite of our frequent blindness. 

I must begin with a BIG THANKS to the short-term team that was just here.  Each of you touched my heart and it was a total joy to be with you on your journey and for you to be here as a part of mine.  Also, it was a wonderful blessing to have met particularily the female side of a few amazing couples that are involved in the administration and sheparding of the internationbal Church of the Nazarene.  Sarah Foster (Financial Coordinator of the Paraguay project for Extreme Nazarene) hosted a beakfast (Thanks Sarah!) for Sharon Graves, Natalie Ward, Lilliana Vargas, Charlie Carney, Margite Sarmiento, and myself. What a blesing it was for me to get to know in such a small way the hearts of those leading us as a whole.  It was such an encouragement to have them and their husbands here in our church.  In addition...at the tail end of the Impact project with the short-termers, we were thrice blessed with the presence of the team of officers for Extreme Nazarene Ministries.  Again, we have such confidence and trust in those leading us.  It is super exciting to get a small glimpse of where God is leading our organization.  We are so thankful to be working with so many people that eagerly and faithfully follow the Lord's leading at every turn.  If any of you are feeling called to join with Extreme Nazarene with the expansion of God's kingdon, stay tuned!!  There is some exciting news coming in September!

As a team and as a family we have had some cool breakthroughs : )  Many of us began to feel the need for a shift in our approach to ministry that seems rather obvious now, but for some reason we had sort of missed it before... I think we were missing the element of friendship in some of the relationships between our team and the "contacts."  I do believe that preaching and evangelism have great impact on people, clearly, but the deep discipleship and sincere love that God calls us to is best expressed through trusting, fun-filled, mutual friendship.  It is the living of life together in Christian community that truly fulfills and strengethens the body of Christ.  Some new friends of ours, the Hernandez family, have been missionaries here in Paraguay 7 years now, told us that they are very much missionaries in the eyes of those that send and support them, but for them now, Paraguay is their home and they are just Christians living out Christ's love and gospel.  When we look at it that way, it draws us so much more closer to the people here... I think it helped us to feel so much more a part of life here and less of an outsider trying to bring them something.  What we have in Christ in truly good news and witnessing to others is merely testifying to what we have seen heard and felt in regards to Jesus Christ.  We testify to who he is.  There is no real method to that except sincere love that is led to action by the holy spirit.  Another special tidbit that has stayed with us was spoken by John Armstrong, former missionary with his wife Glenda and kids all over South America, which was that we should try not to become worried about the splash we do or do not make and that all we need to do is follow Christ being exactly who he made us to be...and Have Fun!... the rest of the spiritual work is for God.  We follow in obedience, trying to love sincerely and we trust that the power of Christ and the words of life from the Bible will accomplish what they are sent out to accomplish. It is beautiful and freeing.  His yoke is easy. 

Some of the cool new blessings and people God has brought into our lives:

~Gabriela- a worker at the market where we always shop.  Has started coming over weekly to practice English!  She is the most sweet gal!  She has a little girl that is 3 years old : )

~Matias- a shop owner of the Panaderia (bakery) that we frequent. Yesterday we were invited to his family's farm and was amazing!  A very special treat for us!

~Lilliam and Raul- coming over for dinner Sunday : )  They plan to get married in December. 

~Tonight we have invited some people over including some of the folks from the last blog prayer list for a movie night outside! We will be showing Joseph King of Dreams in Spanish.  We hope to just get to know some people and open our lives to friendship and through this share who Christ is.  Our aim is to Love them to the Lord.  

~Our team has been experiencing very much the same things!  Each of the pairs have started having people out of nowhere asking to spend time with them, asking for in-home bible studies (I believe we have 2 or 3 new groups just this week!), and asking more about the church.  God is truly working here in our lives, in the lives of our team and in the people of our community.  It is beautiful.

Thank You all so very much for your prayers!  It is so important that we ask the Lord for his presence, peace, words, guiding, widsom...the whole bit! There is nothing we can accomplish for him without him.  You are such a blessing and encouragement to us and we love you!  Grace and Peace to you all and press on in this unpredictable journey we all have as we walk with Christ!

So we are in the middle of our 6th month in South America! That sounds like someone else's life... It is pretty surreal. Especially since often we humans don't always do a great job of seeing how great the blessings truly are in any given moment... It is pretty neat to be here! I want to ask you all to pray with us about some of the people we have been inviting to Bible study...so far our Tuesday night study is just Cole and I plus the 40/40's responsible for teaching... Help us fill the house!

~Laura - a gal working in our favorite ice cream shop. We see her practically every day on our way to the church

~Soledad - shop keeper right across from the ice cream shop

~Juan Ramon - sweet older man, a peddler, helped us so very kindly when we needed help transporting a propane tank. He asked us about when church services are but as of yet he has not come

~Lillian - a new friend at church, interested in coming to Bible study but again, has not yet made it, has also attended Jehova's Witness and Mormon churches, she has little girl Reese's age, we have invited her over to play and but this too hasn't worked out yet

Neighbors - in particular the ones across the street, they are Catholic

These are the people tha twe are praying for and pursuing right now...Please pray for God to open the doors of relationship and the Lord's word.

Please also pray for stren

gth, focus, servanthood and humility within our team. We always need your support through prayer. Your pleas on our behalf actually and totally affect what we are doing here. Please believe this.

Also keep in prayer the Short-term team that is here working right now. They are delightful and encouraging!!

We think of you all often and in many ways feel even closer to you here in being far away...We are so blessed to be serving with you as the body of Christ... I hope you are enjoying the last bits of summer and begin the new season refreshed!

Grace and Peace Always in Christ,

Kelly

Please Respond

Dearest Friends and Family~

We are struggling somewhat financially.  After several large expenses including airfare to Peru, again to Paraguay, household set-up, and training in Peru... we are nearing deficit.  A great many of our supporters are consistent and we are so thankful for each small and great bit that the Lord provides through them.  There are also some who pledged with good intention have been unable to fulfill their pledges and others are inconsistent.  We also have been having several fees each month for declined cards nearing $100 each month.   This last month of June alone, we received $700 less than was pledged.

We ask that each of you pray specifically for provision.  We are able to live here on a very small monthly budget but what we have coming in from donors is not overlapping enough that we are able to repay loans from within Extreme Nazarene for some of our large one-time expenses in April and May as well as return home for our 3 week holiday in December.  We find our overall budget short more than $8,000 at least, not counting inconsistent monthly pledges.

I know this is a huge stretch for you.  It was a massively huge stretch for our family to leave you and the life in the US that God had blessed us with.  We are finding ourselves in a bind right now and we humbly and desperately need for you to continue in support and prayer for us.  We pray that you will be blessed with all that you need to continue walking this crazy road together. 

This next month we are expecting a group of short-term volunteers that will be doing lots and lots of outreach.  We hope their experience here is a great blessing. Our church in Fernando de la Mora has just completed a patio/building that should be able to hold 400-500 people.  The structure is basically a cement pad with a roof which sounds unimpressive, but really it is quite large, usefull and cool.  The very day it was finished we hosted an area church event which turned out awesomely (and lasted until 1am!...we went to bed at 10pm).  This next week three young men from our team will be travelling to Cali, Colombia with Pastor Felix.  We are so excited to see how they will be changed by their experience there.  

Cole and I still feel very strongly that God is and will continue to use us here. Our dream is that the church in Fernando de la Mora, Paraguay will be a sort of beacon here just as Cali is for Colombia.  This is a big, big, challenge...one that may not cone to fruition just in the time that we are able to be here...but we greatly desire that God will use us in this journey of the Paraguayan church. 

How easy it is to sink into "normal" and lose the vision that we receieve from Christ.   I know that while my little family is down here so far away, you continue in the daily demands and responsibilities for your own family.  And, there are many things that we are removed from that you all are experiencing there.  Somehow, this all works together to accomplish His good and perfect will.  We said this many times while fundraising and preparing to move to South America, and it still remains true now... We have no doubt of the call God placed on our lives for this time and because of that, we know that God has called a lot of you to carry us through.  We are entirely grateful and blessed by your support and we need a few new people to step in along the jouorney or if you are able to increase.  We know that life is crazy right now. We know that the news keeps speaking of financial failure.  But honestly, who do we serve?  We are the body and the head is Christ!  What is sent out will not return void.  Please, pray with us for provision.

June

The Paraguay team of 40/40's has gone from a team of 3 pairs to 4 pairs! We welcome a Paraguayan national, Shirley; and another Brazilian, Camila! We are so happy to have them working with us! They will be working on starting an in-home bible study in our house for the people in our neighborhood as well as opening a number of other groups in the homes of people here in the Fernando de la Mora community of Asuncion. We are very excited and eager to see what great things we will be a part of of through this particular opportunity with them!

Some non-detail highlights:
- Visited Argentina!
- Teddy and Reese will be able to start school this next month!
- Reese got her cast off and is as good as new!

We have been in South America now for a little over 4 months and I imagine the toughest wave of culture shock should be here soon... The kids are doing better and better all the time but I have had a few days where the small differences really seemed too much to bear. Believe me, culture shock messes you up for a while! At least we know it passes and doesn't affect every day : ) The coolest thing for me about going through some of the adjustments has definitely been changing my focus away from myself and completely on God. At home in the states we had a very different sense of identity that related a lot to where we fit in with our church family, our regular friend circles, even with work and things like MOPS. Here as missionaries in a culture where we are outsiders, have the language barrier, and have very new relationships with people, we have felt great humility in doing what God has called us to do. It has been so freeing to just simply and sincerely ask God "how do we fit into your plan here?" Everytime I find myself feeling uncomfortable, unsure, or out of place God has given me the sense to consider His perspective rather than rely on my own inaccurate way of looking at myself. I feel like emotionally getting here was like a slow but quickening walk forward but with my back toward God...like I knew and could feel his power, his light, his call but my own sense of selfishness or self-concern kept me feeling afraid to completely let go and run straight toward him. It's desiring and feeling a great sense of excitement for the hugeness of God's plan but at the same time a fear that it will be too much to bear...that I will fail if God's expectations of me are too high. And that I suppose is what I am learning to do right now...to stop considering how God's plan affects me but rather how I fit into it. This is so not about me. It is insofar as my relationship to Christ deepens but God's master plan is about Him, the only one worthy of any praise. Humility is truly and wonderfully freeing. When we stop worring about gaining the approval of others, stop concerning ourselves with the judgement we may feel fom them, stop modifying the vision, passion, and confidence we receive from God, we will be free to live up to the highest expectations of our Lord because then will we live in His strength, under His yoke, with Christ bearing the heaviest burdens on our behalf...and I am certain it frees those around us to do the same. It is my desire to be invisible here...that we decrease so that He increases. I hope that when the time comes for us to move on, that people here would be so deep in Christ that He would be all they see.

Things in Paraguay are a little politically unstable right now. As a result of a land dispute over properties seized during the dictatorship, 17 people were killed including police and landless farmers about two weeks ago a few hours away near the Brazilian border. Directly following the dispute and deaths, parliament and the senate called to impeach the President. Within 48 hours or less of the impeachment filings, the President was removed from office and replaced by the Vice President. Other South American nations are highly suspicious of the quick removal and perceive the governemnt to be illegitimate and unstable. The day after the impeachment was announced one of the 40/40's had a sudden sense of urgency for the need to pray for Paraguay.  This brought on an intense time of prayer for our 40/40's who were at the time in Argentina visiting a church. They prayed intensely that God would show mercy, protect and cover Paraguay... that He would save them and choose them to be among his people. So far, we have not felt any sense of danger or unrest but are monitoring the situation so that we can be wise about what we need to do. We greatly deisre to see God's church grow supernaturally and live through Christ. Having heard Paraguay's reputation for being difficult and unresponsive toward God, we have come here knowing and believing whole-heartedly that this is 100% a spiritual task and doable only through miraculous intervention. Please pray with confidence for God to continue what has begun here. He is above all and grants all authorities their power. Please pray for leadership in the country but more for those who are and would be leaders in the church... that God would take those who right now are like young King David in the field being called to do that which all else are afraid to conquer, that they may be raised up to be blessed and courageous leaders of God's people.

Paraguay...FINALLY!

Sorry dear friends for such a long time between posts.  We have only had internet access at the church and having enough quiet and thoughtful time to write a blog there was just not really possible.  So, as of now, we have all that we need to live as far as the home goes...internet included! We had about a week to orient ourselves before the College Momentum short-term group came down on May 9th.  They left maybe the 22nd or so and they were tons of fun! I am sure you have seen some of the crazy antics in photos on facebook... It was a great breaking in time for us! 

June 1st started our official run as Cluster Support.  It is very nice to finally feel settled and comfortable with the beginnings of a healthy routine.  We are enamored with our team! My heart soars with admiration and love for them.  I am so thankful for this chance to work with this particular group of missionaries.  God knows what He is up to and I have great faith that He is working wonderfully through each of them.  As you have time, I definitely recommend checking out their blogs too! 

Thanks for your prayers last week!  We were feeling quite yucky as Cole and I both had Dengue fever.  It was terribly uncomfortable, but we made it!  The good part is that we are immune now to that strain of Dengue...the bad news is that if we catch one of the other strains at some point it will be much more uncomfortable.  We are pretty healthy, strong and yet young, so I am confindent we will be fine should we happen to get ill again : )  We'll just file this as "Jungle Life"...

Thank You all who are participating in our Kid's Prayer Team! It is totally awesome to know you are praying for Teddy and Reese!  Somedays I have mixed feelings about all the crazy changes they have experienced, but it is a great comfort to know that God called them to this too and that there are daily prayers on their behalf to ensure their success here. It's pretty crazy that they are "Missionary Kids" now.  May God bless their sweet and precious little growing selves... I almost forgot! Reese broke her arm!  She was playing on a tree stump that had a large rock placed on top of it.  She slipped and fell and caused the rock to fall upon her arm.  She actually took it very bravely.  We weren't sure if she had broken it and didn't get her to te hospital until the following morning.  She was a tough little girl!  She is about half-way through her time with the cast now.  She should get it removed in a couple of weeks.  She is a wild little sassafrass and not even this cast is able to slow her down.  Life as usual. 

Please, please continue praying for us.  This is a ministry not just for us and our team here, but a minstry for each of you who follow along with us.  Do not forget lift up your local church leaders along with those of us that are leading in other countries. Encourage one another daily.  We are the body of Christ.  There is nothing more important than that we love and support one another and that wwe strive together to share the good news at all costs and in all opportunities with those who God is calling.  God gives us great blessings in so many ways, but not so that we should be distracted by them... I challenge you to ask God how you can fulfill the unique purpose you have been created for.  Daily commit yourself to the Lord's work...be about your father's business at all times, in all ways.  Faith receives much more than it asks...doubt loses much more than it disbelieves.  I truly, truly love you all.  Being away from our home, family, friends and culture certainly has a way of growing our fondness for it all.  We are genuinely blessed in our being here, but also genuinely miss not being there with you.  Keep in touch with us too!  Comment and email us!    Let us be encouraged by the great things God is doing in you as well! 

Grace and Peace,
Kelly