PARAGUAY MISSION MONTHLY REPORT SUMMARY

Missionaries: Troy and Andrea Spradlin Mission Field: Asuncin, Paraguay Date/No. of Report: December 2011 / Vol. 3 No. 12

HAPPY HTLIDAYS FROM PARAGUAY!

Andrea and I would like to say THANK YOU to each and every one of you for your love, your prayers, your encouragement, and your financial support that you have provided for us this past year. We are extremely blessed to have so many wonderful brethren in our lives. May God bless you richly in 2012.

CONGREGATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND INVOLVEMENT

Name of congregation: Address: Year established: Present number of members: Avenida Sacramento Iglesia de Cristo Avenida Sacramento 650, c/ Espaa - Asuncin, Paraguay September 2004 40 Family Units (75 Baptized)

Worship and Bible class attendance: Sunday am 56 (4th); 45 (11th); 33 (18th); - (25th) Sunday pm 23 (4th); 20 (11th); 20 (18th); 30 (25th) Sunday Bible study average 35 Midweek study average 20 / Other - 6 Recent congregational developments and activities: We held our annual end of year dinner! Each family brought a plate of food for a potluck dinner to share and to celebrate the passing of another year full of many blessings, spiritual growth, and several precious souls added to or restored to the Lord's Kingdom! It was a wonderful evening of fellowship. Ladies Tea - the ladies of Sacramento Avenue have been hosting a monthly afternoon tea at various Many of our sisters and several visitors at the monthly member's homes this year and this time they came to Ladies Tea that Andrea hosted in our home. our house. Andrea prepared the food and they also participated in a Dirty Santa gift exchange. I hear they had a lot of fun (as I was not allowed to be there!) In this month's mens business meetings, we reviewed our goals for the past year, made a few plans for the next, and set the church budget for 2012. Recent conversions / identifications / restorations: There are several wayward members who are making efforts to return to the fold. They are: Claudia Larrea, Carlos Riveros, Eulalia and Valeria Suarez. Each of them has come back after a very long absence. We are very thankful for the changes they are making in their lives and pray that they will grow stronger and more mature spiritually.
Claudia Larrea and Carlos Riveros

Contacts / Bible studies: Andrea is still studying with Sara and Mabel, two contacts that she made through our English campaign. They are separate studies, but both are in Chapter 3 of Searching for Truth. This material has been a blessing and a very useful tool! Both ladies have indicated that they want to be pleasing to God and will do what is necessary if they learn something different than what they currently believe. Mabel and Andrea are developing a wonderful friendship and she has attended the Ladies Tea that Andrea hosted in our home, as well as two of our afternoon worship services. Sara is a sweet young lady that is becoming like a little sister to Andrea and she is interested in attending some of our upcoming youth meetings. Please keep Andrea and her studies in your prayers! Evangelistic efforts: Priscilla and Natalia Santander came to us last month after finding us on the internet. Since then, they have continued to come and visit and we have been studying with them on a regular basis, along with their neighbor, Isabelino. The studies have been going well, but there have been many doctrinal questions to deal with such as: (a) Does salvation come before or after baptism? (b) Can a Christian lose his salvation? (c) Are miracles still in use today? As one can imagine, these studies require a lot of patience and lots of searching the Scriptures to answer them correctly. The team has been working on its evangelism goals for 2012. We have developed a number for evangelistic studies that we would like to accomplish for the year and a number for the amount of contacts we hope to generate. Please pray that we meet our goals!

Isabelino and Priscilla (with Andrea)

Steps toward mission goals: I have been discussing with the men of the congregation the idea of starting a Bible school in Asuncion. We are currently researching our options and praying for guidance in the decision making process. We are planning to make a few scouting trips in the next few weeks to gather information regarding some possible church plants in other Paraguayan cities. Meetings/Efforts with fellow missionaries: Christmas Dinner together! Most of the mission team was here for the holiday season, so we decided to have dinner together for Christmas! We had a great time together and we also exchanged gifts with each other. Enoch and Laura Rinks have come back to Paraguay for a visit! This time they brought their newborn baby girl with them, Anna. Enoch was one of the original team members that planted the church in Asuncion. Notes: We recently had a member of the church who was a theology profesor at a local Mennonite school. As a staff member, he was given permission to choose whatever curriculum he desired for their evangelism class. He decided to use Searching for Truth in Spanish as the base curriculum and it was approved! So, several Mennonite students are learning the truth of God's word Students at the Mennonite Center of Theology through this wonderful tool at a school of theology! of Asuncion using their Buscando la Verdad books.

Enoch, Laura and Anna Rinks

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND INVOLVEMENT

Personal HIGHLIGHT(s) of the Month: We received a very nice care package from the Jr High youth group at Palm Beach Lakes church of Christ. Thank you, so much!! We have also been reflecting on a year of many blessings and highlights. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to serve as missionaries in Paraguay and certainly can't thank our supporters enough! Personal study: I am currently reading: o Miracles, from God or Man? by Jimmy Jividen, o Behold the Pattern by Goebel Music. Special studies on salvation, miracles, and baptism. Family activities: Christmas Eve with the Blackmers. We got to open gifts with the kids and watch all their excitement! It was a ton of fun! Christmas Dinner with the mission team. Most of the team was here for the holidays so we had an evening together with a nice meal along with a Christmas gift exchange. Culture and language study: There is SO much to the Spanish language! We feel we are now capable in our communication skills to function properly in a Latin environment. But, in order to speak well and minimize our accent, it is going to require more study and practice. So, here we go! Visitation:

Congratulations to our dear sister Delci Enciso! (pictured right, with Maria Teresa and Andrea)

We visited with a member who has been having marital problems and we also helped another member move into their new house. Our dear sister Delci Enciso has just finished all her studies necessary to be an officially licensed Escribana. That is a very important profession here in Paraguay. We wish here all the best!

Plans for the near future:

Andrea and her Christmas Dinner she prepared for the team for a special evening together.

Notes:

We bought our airline tickets for our furlough! We will be arriving in the USA on April 19th in Miami. Woo hoo!

Andrea and I have set our evangelism goals for 2012! We would like to share these with you and ask to please pray about these. We would also like to ask you to hold us accountable for these as we know their fulfillment will ultimately bring glory to our Lord!
TROY'S GOALS: (1) Talk to 100 new people that I've never met before and engage in a conversation with them about Jesus Christ, (2) conduct an average of 8 evangelistic studies per month, (3) conduct an average of 5 edification studies per week, (4) get involved with a community service organization. ANDREA'S GOALS: (1) Conduct 2 English language studies per week, (2) conduct 5 evangelistic studies per week, (3) regular trips downtown to re-connect with ladies from earlier this year and make new contacts, (4) hand out flyers in different areas around town once per week, (5) look for new opportunities in the community to make contacts like taking classes, volunteering, etc.
Andrea's special treats she prepared for the December Ladies Tea.

PARAGUAY MISSION
Asuncion, Paraguay South America Troy and Andrea Spradlin
Casilla de Correo 13092 Shopping del Sol Asuncion, Paraguay (595) 0981-630-886 We seek 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 2011:

Evangelism: We plan to make evangelistic efforts as a team through personal Bible studies from contacts generated by public advertising, targeting specific neighborhoods, hosting special events such as Teaching English Using the Bible campaigns, and Special Interest Seminars. We also want to encourage and develop a more evangelistic spirit within the congregation utilizing Friends and Family Days, VBS, Prayer Vigils, Anniversary Service, and Personal Evangelism Training. Elders (Formal Leadership training). We plan to mentor our elder candidates through personal one-on-one meetings with elders visiting from the USA, and through Skype calls. We also plan to study with them on a regular basis, as well as, mentor other promising brothers for leadership positions such as deacons, or evangelists. We hope to develop deeper relationships between the missionaries and the church leaders through regular meals and social gatherings. We will also be developing a Leadership Manual for Elders in Spanish. Edifice (Building Construction): We hope to complete all legal paperwork for construction and secure a loan for the Sacramento congregation. The Paraguayan brothers will have the responsibility of repaying the loan over the next 10 years. We will also assist them in developing detailed plans and construction phases. We also pray to begin construction on phase 1 this year.

Visit us at our websites: PARAGUAYMISSION.COM thespradlins.blogspot.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