Nueva Asuncion

We have been given the exciting opportunity to work with the people of Tarumandy, also called Nueva Asunción, and one family in particular, in the possible beginning of a new church. Francisca and Sergio moved from Luque, a town outside of Asuncion, to Nueva Asunción, which is about 45 minutes outside of Luque. In order to get to Nueva Asunción, one must go on dirt roads, through many pot holes and past what looks like the end of civilization. Luckily, the bus happens to go the whole way out there. Francisca and Sergio contacted a local pastor, Valentin Sosa about the possibility of beginning a church in Nueva Asuncion, and that's how we got involved. There are a good number of people out there (about 2,000 in the area) but not really very many churches (and the few churches that are there are very spread out). As the result of several conversations, Christian asked us to go out to Nueva Asunción on Sundays and help with the children and youth there. So.. this past Sunday we made our first journey out there. And technically I would say that it definitely is a journey since it took us about 2 hours by bus... notice the floor boards? yeah, it's wood.

We had ten kids show up for the first day, and a much as we both dislike measuring success by numbers of people in attendance, we felt pretty good about it. The cool part for us was that these kids knew nothing of the Bible or of God, so it was all news to them. We've come to see our role in evangelism less as persuasion or coersion towards "coversion" and more as a simple but powerful anouncement of the Kingdom of God, which is actually pretty well recieved there.

This sunday was the first day of spring, which is actually quite a large celebration here. For me, it was a kind of confirmation from God that we're in the right place, because on the first day of spring we started teaching these kids the story of creation. We talked about flowers an trees and animals and then we talked about God, read the story a few times, and I felt like it was a good introduction to the gospel. We also met several other families from the neighborhood, and durring the prayer time with Pastor Valentin we're told that two people accepted Christ. So it's an exciting place, and we're hoping to see God do many more exciting things there.

Lastly, if you would please remember us in your prayers this week, Sarah is traveling with Flavia to Argentina for a Nazarene Women conference, and Ted will be here in the cabana by himself. (he's hoping to get some writing done, but still, he'll be all by himself)

Ok thanks! leave your comments, questions, etc! Thanks!

PEACE
Ted and Sarah