What an exciting and busy month! We had a visiting short-term mission team come down to work with the church in Paraguay and then other brethren who came to help make plans for the future. It has been a real blessing to see so much activity taking place among the brethren and to see them thinking about the future! We hope you find this month’s report encouraging. Thank you for your love, prayers, and support.
Developments at Avenida Sacramento
What a blessing it is to have brethren with servant’s hearts take time out of their busy schedules to come and help the church in Paraguay! This month we had several members of the Palm Beach Lakes church of Christ come and help with evangelizing local neighborhoods, visiting church members to encourage them, and assisting with several projects and needed repairs around the building. They did an outstanding job and the church in Paraguay greatly appreciates their service.
We also had brethren from the Margaret Street church of Christ come visit this month. They brought some great ideas to propose to the church and to challenge them to think more seriously about the future. We pray that these plans will result in many souls being added to the Lord’s church!
The churches of Christ at Avenida Sacramento and Ñemby in Paraguay do not have a “located preacher” like many congregations in the USA do. Instead, we have several, capable men who take turns filling the pulpit on Sundays. Also, we regularly have guest speakers come in, or visit, that have preached for us. Such was the case this past month. Brother Phil Porter, from the Palm Beach Lakes church of Christ spoke for us on one Sunday morning and Adam Seal spoke on a Wednesday evening. We also had Preston Silcox from the Margaret Street church of Christ speak for us this month along with Ed Temple speaking on a Wednesday.
Next month, my dad and brother, Dwayne and Lance Spradlin, will be speaking for us.
What a blessing to be able to hear various, faithful men present the Word of God. It is truly a spiritual banquet!
Asunción Bible Academy
This past month was full of activities, classes, and lots of homework for the students. They participated in the campaign with Palm Beach Lakes and then had a full load of classes with brother Trent Kennedy teaching “Christian Evidences” and “Numbers - Deuteronomy,” as well as the classes I taught on, “The Life of Christ II” and “Exodus - Leviticus.” All of their test results, class work, and research papers have been outstanding! These five students are like sponges, absorbing everything they hear and then making application. We couldn’t be more pleased with their attitudes and the effort they put in.
Brother Eliezer Perez returned to Panama last month to get his immigration documents in order and then, when he was checking in for his return flight to Paraguay, they wouldn’t allow him on the plane for immigration reasons! We have since resolved the issue and he plans to return August 6th.
The men held another “Vision 2020” meeting this month in order to talk about one of their main goals: church planting. Several great ideas were presented and we are now praying for God’s wisdom. The men will hold another meeting real soon (without any missionaries present) so they can make some decisions on how they would like to proceed. It is so exciting to see them working out these challenges!
God bless
Troy and Andrea
To see the Spradlin’s report with pictures, please click here