News from the Spradlins in South America

August 2012 / Vol. 4 No. 8

CONGREGATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ACTIVITIES

Name of congregation: Avenida Sacramento Iglesia de Cristo Address: Avenida Sacramento 650, c/ Espaa - Asuncin, Paraguay Year established: September 2004 Current number of members: 44 Family Units (79 Baptized) Worship and Bible class attendance: th th th th Sun am 56 (5 ); 48 (12 ); 61 (19 ); 41 (26 ) th th th th Sun pm 27 (5 ); 25 (12 ); 23 (19 ); 41 (26 ) Sunday Bible study average 43 Midweek study average / Other - 29 Recent congregational developments and activities: Former mission team member, Enoch Rinks, returned to Paraguay this month to lead a mission group from Fairfax, VA. The group came down to Paraguay to encourage the church, work several service projects, visit the area orphanages, and help develop contacts through teaching English using the Bible. They were a very hard working team and left quite an big impact on the church here! The Special Committee for the Bible School has The Fairfax, VA mission team at Iguazu Falls continued to meet regularly and to work on the in Argentina. development of the school. They have spent several weeks focusing on the mission statement of the school, and eventually arrived at the following (translated into English): "To nourish our brethren with the words of the faith and of the good doctrine, in brotherly love, so that they may be thoroughly equipped to fulfill the commandments of our Lord Jesus" - 1 Timothy 4:6 and Matthew 28:19,20. It is wonderful to see the way they are approaching and thinking about this! It shows great maturity on their part! Special request The church in Asuncin, Paraguay would like to ask you for your prayers. Sadly, we have a few families who are experiencing some really difficult times within their marriages. We continue to try to encourage them and support them while maintaining what is correct according to the Bible. Even more sadly, is the fact that we may have to withdraw from a couple of brethren due to their conduct in this situation. The church recognizes this problem is not unique to Paraguay, but they also recognize the power of prayer. There are still many babes in Christ here and the church is still very young. For these reasons, we humbly covet your prayers for Gods healing hand to give us a measure of wisdom in handling this situation.

The family of God that meets in Avenida Sacramento.

Contacts / Bible studies: English Campaign Contacts. We picked up several new contacts generated from the recent campaign. Each of the studies is continuing to progress into more focused Bible conversation. Please add Antonio, Blanca, Daniel, Sergia, Carlos, and Graciela to your prayer list! New! Miriam and Guillermo - Miriam is the sister of Ruthy Pacu, who was baptized just a few months ago. Ruthy has been bringing her family members to services and we have been able to have a few studies with them about baptism. Our Sunday morning Bible study hour is focusing on the family. The series is called, Christ: The Hope of the Home and we will be covering all aspects of Christian living within our homes. Our Wednesday evening Bible study hour has started a series called Comparing the Truth. It is a study about denominational doctrines in comparison to the Bible. Evangelistic efforts: We continued to study with two young ladies who are friends with our sister, Leti Alfonso. Karina and Patricia are Catholic and they have had considerable difficulty accepting some of the things we have studied in the Bible. They do trust in the Bible and we have had some good studies regarding authority of Gods Word. So, we pray that perhaps the seed that has been planted will grow within them. There have been several visitors at some of the weekly Bible study groups: Daniel, Alcides, Diego, and Luis are all showing great interest in the Word of God. We pray that we can say and do the right things that will bring glory to God and understanding to their hearts. Steps toward mission goals: We started a rotation for the chairman of the mens business meetings. Were hoping this will help develop more involvement in the church on an individual basis. Additional activities: We are using the time on Sunday evenings to answer Bible questions that the members may have. We placed a small box at the entrance where members can write down their question and leave them. The men will then take the question and prepare a response to give during the sermon time of the assembly. The Fairfax Virginia mission team built a house for one of our sisters, Blanca! In three days time they built a house structure that more than doubled the size of the original house where Blanca was living! Plans for near future: We are making plans to have a mission team workshop. Jerry and Gail Heidrich will be coming to help the team with another upcoming transition and to serve as counselors for the team members. Note:
We have a new sign on the church building! Virginia mission group after just completing building a house for our sister, Blanca Achar Some of the young ladies from the Fairfax, VA mission group who jumped right in and helped build a house for Blanca.

We have a new sign on the building! Due to the uncertainty of when to begin the re-construction process on the building, (now two years in the making) we never properly identified the building with a sign. We decided it was overdue so we had it installed. It says Come and worship with us at the church of Christ!

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ACTIVITIES

Personal HIGHLIGHT(s) of the Month: We have developed several new contacts, worked with a mission group from Virginia, made a trip to Iguazu Falls and another to the Chaco Paraguayo. It has been a great August! Personal study: I am currently studying a lot about the different denominational doctrines for our Wednesday evening Bible study hour. I am currently reading / have read: MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers by Joseph Gilbaldi. This is for a term paper towards the Masters Degree that I am working on with BVBID. Hecho by Cary Schmidt - this was a free Spanish download for Kindle, translated from the English version titled, Done. Sadly, this book is a very smooth way of introducing false doctrine. His premise is salvation by One of the recent Ladies Teas that was held in the home of Pochi Vera faith only and even purports the once saved, always saved doctrine. The book taught me how to recognize some of the logic that they use, albeit faulty, to teach their erroneous path to destruction. Culture and language study: We watched a Paraguayan movie called 7 Cajas which depicts a lot about the Paraguayan culture and its language. It was quite interesting and fun to be able to identify with much of the movie after living here for a while. We went to watch an opera in which one of our brethren, Diego Acevedo, was one of the singers. Its interesting being a native English speaker, listening to Italian singing, while it is being translated into Spanish subtitles. Whew! Visitation: Rosalba Alfonso. In addition to our regular weekly studies and visits, we had a nice visit with our sister Rosalba in her home discussing her spiritual needs and struggles. She is such a strong encouragement in her growing faith! Family activities: We accompanied the mission group from Virginia to the incredible Iguazu Falls in Argentina. We have seen them three times now and dont think we will ever stop being impressed with such an incredible and marvelous example of Gods creation! After a super busy summer season here, we decided to take a little excursion and go to the Mennonite community of Filadelfia in the Paraguayan Chaco. We toured many of the historic sites, including Fort Boqueron, where a decisive battle was fought between Paraguay and Bolivia in the Chaco War of 1932-35. Plans for the near future: We have a few people making plans to come down to Paraguay soon and within the next year. Its always exciting to put plans together!
A Paraguayan Bottle Tree that was carved out for a sniper during the Paraguay - Bolivia Chaco War.

Andrea at a museum in Filadelfia, a Menonite community in the Chaco regin of Paraguay

PARAGUAY MISSIO
Asuncion, Paraguay South America Troy and Andrea Spradlin
Casilla de Correo 13092 Shopping del Sol Asuncion, Paraguay (595) 0981-630-886 We are seeking to "equip the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ." (Ephesians 4:12)

Our Mission Team Goals for 2012:

Evangelism: Each member of the team has developed and committed to some personal evangelism goals. Collectively, we are praying that we will generate more than 120 new contacts and conduct more than 750 Bible studies. These studies will include both evangelistic and member studies. We also plan to use public advertising, special events, and seminars to generate contacts. We also pray that we will continually encourage and develop a more evangelistic spirit within the congregation. Edification: The team is working to develop leadership within the congregation through the mentoring process, special workshops, and by utilizing studies that focus on servant leadership. We are also developing ideas and working on logistics for the possibility of having a specialized Bible school in Asuncion, Paraguay. Edifice: (Building Construction): We pray that we will complete construction of phase 1 of the building this year. All paperwork has been acquired and we are requesting estimates to begin construction.
Visit us at our websites:

PARAGUAYMISSION.COM iglesiadecristo.com.py

thespradlins.blogspot.com conocerlapalabra.com

OUR SUPPORTERS
Margaret Street church of Christ (Sponsoring Congregation) 6745 Margaret Street Milton, FL 32570 Central Avenue church of Christ Valdosta, GA Dripping Springs church of Christ Dripping Springs, TX Palm Beach Lakes church of Christ West Palm Beach, FL Poolville church of Christ Poolville, TX Clay Bond Family Chet Brown Family Virginia Guess Family