Dear loved ones and friends…
God bless you all with a great new year!!!
We hope and pray this newsletter finds you in good health and that it will be an inspiration to you!…
We don\u2019t know what the Lord has in store for each one of us, but we know we can keep on trusting in Him Who knows the end from the beginning and that is a very comforting thought…
The Lord gave us a verse for this New Year that I have shared with some of you already…
It’s in\u00a0Romans 15:13\u00a0and it says: May the GOD of HOPE fill you with ALL JOY and PEACE in BELIEVING that you may ABOUND in HOPE by the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT…
No matter what\u2019s ahead this year He can and will do this for us if we ASK Him and stay CLOSE to Him…<\/p>\n
End of the year 2023…<\/p>\n
The last two months of the year were full of meetings, reports, graduations, Christmas and New Year!
Amongst them were the men and women\u2019s National congress which were attended very well and were an inspiration to many! The theme for the\u00a0men\u00a0was: \u201cThe armor of God and being strong in the Power of His might\u201d and the\u00a0women\u2019s\u00a0theme was: \u201cArise and shine\u201d We need both themes for this year 2024 and keep our eyes on Him.
Then we had the National ministerial congress where all the pastors and district supervisors got their new assignments for 2024.
We can stay at our church and are very thankful for that!<\/p>\n
Graduations at the \u201cNew Horizon\u201d school…<\/p>\n
Amongst the graduating high school students was \u201cour\u201d student, named Jenesis, who we were able to help and support for 12 years by the grace of God for He provided for her\u2026
I was her English teacher at that time and we found out that she didn\u2019t have a sponsor, and without it she wouldn\u2019t be able to stay in school! We fell in love with her the first time she entered Kindergarten. She was so cute and has beautiful eyes and by faith we said \u201cyes\u201d to sponsor her and God hasn\u2019t failed her nor us\u2026He is so very good and faithful and we are so blessed\u2026
She is turning 18 in April and she is very talented, artistic and a beautiful young lady!
She is seriously praying about what to do next, for there are different options but she is not sure yet. So, Robert and I are praying for God\u2019s will and direction in her life and we thank God for the inspiration she is to others and us!<\/p>\n
Back to school…<\/p>\n
I am going back to work as a volunteer chaplain in the \u201cNew Horizon \u201cschool and help with teaching the Bible program for the mothers of the students and doing the devotionals with the teachers.<\/p>\n
The church…<\/p>\n
Well, we must confess that 2023 has been a very challenging year for our church family and for us!
But as always God has been faithful in that He has not given us more than we are able to bear and also to bear one another\u2019s burden and so to fulfill the law of Christ. (1Cor 10:13 and Galatians 6:20)<\/p>\n
Lidio and Aylin…<\/p>\n
Two of our teens Lidio and Aylin have turned 15 years old which is a very special Birthday here! \u00a0
It\u2019s the age of responsibility and their confirmation of faith.
We made it very special for them. They are both very precious and responsible kids, serious about the Lord, as well as with their studies, (they are both A students) and they love and honor their parents and grandparents all of whom are very humble and hardworking people and also members of our church.
We presented the teens each with their own study Bible, from which each one confirmed their faith in the Lord and shared\u00a0Psalm 119:33 to 45\u00a0with the congregation…Aylin,\u00a0was given a simple ring which is a symbol of God\u2019s unending love for her, and\u00a0Lidio\u00a0received a lapel pin of the Christian flag to remind him of God\u2019s Banner of Love over Him…
Then they both received a cute alarm clock to remind them to take time with the Lord every day and that time is short and that Jesus could return at any time. They loved it!
We have graduated them from the pre teens Sunday school class and are now disciplining them with Bible studies and counseling!
The rest of the kids Sunday school class are all 13 years and under so besides our two teens we just have young couples, older couples and single adults. We thank and praise the Lord for His faithfulness in the lives of those two precious teens…<\/p>\n
Prayer, Practice, Prepare and Postpone…<\/p>\n
Well, in the middle of all the things going on, we were praying, preparing, and practicing for Christmas and all were giving their best, especially the pre teens and teens. It had not been easy because we had lots of rain at the end of November and the beginning of December, which made traveling for us very difficult and for our members as well for they had to walk through the rain and mud to church.<\/p>\n
Car problems…<\/p>\n
Our car broke down once during that time but we got it repaired! PTL! We were hoping and preparing for a big turnout on the 17th of December ready to reach more souls for Jesus…having\u00a0 special morning service and in the evening the theater, songs and a special message to honor His Birthday! The New year…and Dengue fever…and three kings day…<\/p>\n We kept on having torrential rainfall for days and people came back from visiting their relatives during Christmas and New Year and many came back with dengue symptoms… Our God has a great sense of humor and definitely hears our prayers…<\/p>\n We have to share this little story! God keeps on showing up even in the smallest details and He makes us laugh and let us know that He hears us always… We visited with her and Miguel, prayed with them and they were thrilled and so inspired by what the Lord had done\u2026 Youth camp…<\/p>\n In the middle of February the Youth Federation asked me to be their camp nurse and counselor. Thank you for all your loving\u00a0support in gifts and prayers so we can keep going!\u00a0We thank the LORD for His faithfulness and YOURS during all those years!\u00a0 We love you!<\/p>\n A big hug wrapped up in prayer\u2026Robert and Joy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear loved ones and friends…God bless you all with a great new year!!!We hope and pray this newsletter finds you in good health and that it will be an inspiration to you!…We don\u2019t know what the Lord has in store for each one of us, but we know we can keep on trusting in Him … <\/p>\n
Robert and I were all set for that special Sunday, our car was filled to the top with props, clothes, small gifts and extra equipment and food, ready to leave at 3 am.
But then, without warning (the weather forecast here is seldom right) just before leaving it started to rain and storm and it lasted all day!!! We couldn\u2019t make it to the church, neither could our people and all electricity went out as well! It went on like that the next day as well…On the 19th<\/sup>\u00a0we were able to communicate with our church family again and decided to try again on the 21th.
We set out again and it started out as a beautiful day but it reached 110 Celsius and when we were half way our car broke down again…When we finally got home the heat was unbearable and there was no electricity! So, our Christmas play would not have been possible anyway without the working of the ceiling fans, the kids all dressed up, would have fainted and in that kind of heat the people don\u2019t come out! Then Saturday 23th and Sunday the 24th<\/sup>\u00a0our church members were traveling with their families to visit other family members…So all we could do for them was a Christmas service through WhatsApp and that was so disappointing for everyone, especially the Sunday school kids!<\/p>\n
Since the 6th<\/sup>\u00a0of January here is \u201cthree kings day\u201d and\u00a0that\u00a0is the day of\u00a0giving gifts to the children\u00a0instead of Christmas day, we prayed about it and together with the church we decided we would have our Sunday service and Christmas play on the 7th<\/sup>\u00a0So we still could be a witness and the kids were more than ready and happy to do it and we could also share the small gifts we had prepared for them.
Well, the service and play went very well, but hardly anybody from the neighborhood came out due to dengue symptoms and our two of our little shepherd boys were sick as well and could not make it!\u00a0That did NOT stop the enthusiasm, we had explained to them before, that even if nobody came, we would do it before the Lord and the heavenly host for they would be watching!!!
And we all just went on and had a wonderful and blessed time together!
It went great! And we all felt we had won the battle for the Lord!
Well the dengue situation got worse and quite a few of our church families were affected by it, either coming down with it or running back and forth to the hospital with family members. Several of our older people are having it for a second or third time which is dangerous because it can cause hemorrhaging and then death. Robert and I had it once at the same time (it\u2019s contagious) and it left us terribly weak for weeks on end…Please, keep praying for healing and protection for our people and for us, all of Paraguay is fighting the same battle every year due to the heavy rainfalls, humidity and the heat the dengue mosquito\u2019s flourish!<\/p>\n
One of our church family is dear Sabrina, she is 75 years old. She has been for many years very active in the church… In 2020 she almost died during Covid due to the fact that she has severe heart problems…Since that time she follows our Sunday services through \u201cWhatsApp\u201d and she is so thankful for that. Well, the Lord ensured her that He has not forgotten her! Last month on our way to the church, we were overtaken by a terrible rainstorm. We had promised to go and see Sabrina and her husband Miguel before the church service because she wasn\u2019t feeling well. Like always before traveling, we prayed for protection and that we would have enough time to see how Sabrina was doing. The rain kept pouring down merciless and we weren\u2019t sure that we were able to get to the church.\u00a0We asked the Lord to please not let us pass by Sabrina’s house unnoticed!\u00a0It was so bad that Robert had to pull off the road because we couldn\u2019t see anymore where we were going and then our car didn\u2019t restart…
We were sitting there for about ten minutes until the rainstorm slowed down a bit and we could finally get our bearings. To our great surprise when we opened the doors of our car, we found ourselves parked in front of Sabrina’s house!!! That was absolutely God\u2019s doing!<\/p>\n
Then wanting to go to the church our car didn\u2019t start and we were stuck! We found out that no one had gone to church because the dirt roads were impossible to walk or travel.
After praying and trying again we knew we had to find a solution to go home and by God\u2019s Grace we got in contact with the Touring agency who picked us up with a tow truck and towed us home…Our car had to go back to the shop and is still going\u2026<\/p>\n
I thank the Lord that I could be part of the camp staff and see how the Lord would work in the hearts of the 90+ youth that would participate from different parts of the country\u2026
Some of the staff were the young people who we had trained in their preteens and teens years and it was our greatest joy that they had turned out to be very responsible, caring and on fire young adults for Jesus\u2026I was privileged to lead them in a time of devotion and prayer and worked side by side with them to get things set up and prepared for first aid, kitchen work, counseling, etc. he theme they had chosen for this year was: Maranatha, Jesus coming soon\u2026 At the end of camp, 82 of the 90 youth gave their lives to Jesus! It was a blessed but sobering time for these kids and for us as well.<\/p>\n