SPECIAL REPORT: FURLOUGH 2012
Furlough Travel: Andrea and I are home on furlough! We are so excited to get to see our friends, family, and loved ones! During our travels from Paraguay to the USA, we stopped off for a few days in Costa Rica to visit with our friends and former classmates at Southwest, Moises and Maritza Umaña. What a wonderful work they are doing in La Fortuna and it was a real joy to get to visit with them. During this furlough, I also got to attend a Spradlin family reunion where we had 5 generations of Spradlins under one roof! Of course, we took a photo for prosperity (look for it on my Facebook page).
Reporting: Our main focus for furlough is to bring a report for what is happening with the work in Paraguay this past year. We have already had the opportunity to give our report at the Palm Beach Lakes, Buda/Kyle, Dripping Springs, Johnson City, and Poolville congregations of the church of Christ. It was SO wonderful to get to see all of our loved ones in each place! The Lord has blessed us with safe travel and health, well .... except for the little episode of Dengue Fever I had! But, all is well now and we are continuing on to Margaret Street and Central Avenue congregations, along with some other reporting opportunities. Thank you for all the encouragement that you give us and we ask that you please keep us in your prayers.
Recent congregational developments and activities:
The men of the congregation have met, prayed, and deliberated over the idea of starting a Bible school in Paraguay. They have decided to partner with Bear Valley Bible Institute in Denver with hopes to begin the school in March 2013. We rejoice in their step of faith and pray this will indeed produce much fruit for the church in Paraguay by training many workers for His kingdom!
Congregational Retreat – many of our members spent a weekend at a church camp located just outside the city, enjoying some great fellowship, singing, Bible study, and Bible lessons. Our theme was “Good Soldiers of Christ” and we focused on the spiritual battle that we must fight everyday. Most exciting was that about 50% of those who attended were visitors!
Recent conversions / identifications / restorations:
Baptized! – Mabel Ortiz - We are rejoicing over the baptism of Mabel Ortiz!!! Mabel came to us through our English Campaign where we use the Bible to teach English. Andrea has been studying with her since September, utilizing the Searching for Truth material, and she has been attending services regularly for several months. Andrea is thrilled to have Mabel, not only as a very close friend here in Paraguay, but now as a sister in Christ!!! Brittnea Yegros is currently studying Searching for Truth with her daughter, Ivanna, and Andrea has plans to reach out to the rest of the family after furlough. Please keep Mabel and her family in your prayers.
Troy Spradlin
To see the full report with pictures, click here.