Welcome to Paraguay

For the month of January, I was blessed with the opportunity to duck a harsh Indiana winter and escape to Paraguay in South America. The semester before we left, our team had a weekly class meeting where we were able to spend time preparing and getting to know each other. We also sent out support letters to raise the finds for our trip. God was so faithful in this area of our trip, we left on Jan. 5th, still in need of funding, but when we returned on Jan. 27th, we had surpassed our financial goals! Upon returning, I sent out letters to people who had sent in money, explaining more about what we did on our trip, and here is an excerpt from that letter:

This past January was incredibly challenging, but also an incredibly rewarding experience and it would not have been possible without your financial support, but more importantly your prayers throughout the month. My team and I spent three weeks living with the Aché, a tribe of indigenous people in Paraguay. While we were there, we lived in their community schoolhouse, held a Vacation Bible School, built them a community kitchen, and also held evening services where we would sing and share our personal testimonies. The Aché live very primitively because their tribes lived in the jungle until about 30 years ago when they began settling in more permanent communities. There are six Aché communities throughout Paraguay and we spent the majority of our time in Koentuwy.

Our host missionary, Victor Gomez, and his family opened up their home to us for a few days before we traveled into Koentuwy. While we were there, we spent our time resting after traveling and preparing further for our ministry of Vacation Bible School and evening services. We were also able to see the Iguaçu Falls in Brazil, one of the seven wonders of the natural world. We also had the chance to attend church at a nearby Aché community, Puerto Barra, which was a great transition and encouragement before we loaded up our mini-bus and began the six hours drive into the jungle to live with the Aché for two weeks. Victor had referred to his house as a “little piece of heaven,” and I’m not sure I realized how much of a blessing this was until we arrived at our final destination. Koentuwy had a few things waiting for me that I was not expecting. First of all, it was about 100 degrees Fahrenheit each day we were in Paraguay, so staying hydrated was a little challenging, also on our first night, I was attacked by what I thought was a small bird, but just ended up being a massive bug. Adjusting to the rough conditions was a challenge, but the people we interacted with definitely made up for the heat and bugs.

My favorite thing from the trip though was the kids, especially their welcome for us as we arrived in the community. I had barely stepped off the bus when I was overwhelmed with hugs by a crowd of beautiful Aché children. Throughout my month in Paraguay, I was continually impressed by the Aché’s love for us even though they had just met us. We could not talk to them without a translator, so we communicated primarily with hand gestures and we were only able to show our love through our smiles and hugs.

God work in my heart during January, and I experienced a lot of growth. One of the many things God taught me while I was in Paraguay was about the beauty of the Body of Christ. The church services we attended had a minimum of three languages, and it was incredible to witness the passion of the Aché as they worshiped the Lord. It was a great testament to how all of God’s children can come together to serve and worship him despite differences in ethnicity, social class, and language. I loved seeing God’s people come together on our team and in the community. Although each family in the Aché community lives separately in their own homes, it was awesome to see the entire community function as a large family, sharing everything they had, down to a small granola bar we would give them. If I handed one child any sort of food, they would break it up into small pieces and make sure all their friends got some of it, quite a contrast from the States. It was a huge blessing to witness this and be a part of this family and community for a couple weeks.

Even though I have come home, Victor and his family will continue to serve the Aché in Paraguay. Continue to pray for them, that God would give Victor and his family wisdom to continue their ministry, and that the Aché would continue to seek Christ and He would keep providing for them. The Aché make their living primarily though farming, and some hunting, but even so, their harvest only lasts them about four months of the year, and many of the children are malnourished because of this. Pray that God would continue to provide for them and that they would trust God with their future needs.