Missionaries: Troy and Andrea Spradlin Mission Field: Asuncin, Paraguay South America Date/No.

. of Report: March 2012 / Vol. 4 No. 3

CONGREGATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ACTIVITIES

Name of congregation: Address: Year established: Present number of members: Avenida Sacramento Iglesia de Cristo Avenida Sacramento 650, c/ Espaa - Asuncin, Paraguay September 2004 38 Family Units (73 Baptized)

Worship and Bible class attendance: Sun am 48 (4th); 43 (11th); 73 (18th); 75 (25th) Sun pm 23 (5th); 31 (12th); 40 (19th); 19 (26th) Sunday Bible study average 46 Midweek study average 25 / Other - 22 Recent congregational developments and activities: Bible School development: Bob Turner and Donnie Bates from Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver came to Paraguay this past month to survey the work here and to meet with the men of the congregation. They answered many of our questions and gave us some great advice about the idea of starting a school. Several of our brethren are currently in the middle of a FHU mission group (L-R) five week leadership training class. Participation is great Glen Henton, Mauri Yegros, Kayla Rotz, Bryan Davis, and we are praying it will produce much fruit! Kelsey Rotz, Kevin Flowers, Jordan Smith The men have made an offer to the casino next door regarding the purchasing of the church property. We are now just waiting to hear if they will accept it. We recently had a wonderful student mission group from Freed-Hardeman University come down to work with the church here! They were a real blessing as they passed out 3000 flyers (in our member's barrios) to promote our upcoming family seminar, helped us paint and clean the building, visited an orphanage, and brought a lot of encouragement to the congregation. They did a great work and we greatly appreciated having them here with us! Recent conversions / identifications / restorations:

Sad News The New Testament teaches us that we have specific responsibilities as a Christian. One of those responsibilities is to assemble with the saints (Hebrews 10:25). When we blatantly neglect this, it becomes a sin and the Bible tells us that we must separate from those who practice sin (1 Cor 5:5; 2 Thes 3:14). It is with a saddened heart that we must report that after much prayer and effort we had to withdraw fellowship from three brethren this past month: Adolfo Torrales, Smilce Torrales, and Alicia Gonzalez. Many of you may know these brethren, so we ask that you please pray for them that perhaps they will see the error of their ways and return to their first love.

Family Seminar with Glen Henton on the subject of The Battle for the Family

Contacts / Bible studies: Ana Rodriguez, Natalia Osario, Rut Pacu, Christian and Blanca Cristofal, Carlos Santacruz, Nilda Escobar, Carlos Yegros, Mario Zapatini, Maria Maldonado, and Natividad Diaz, were all attendants at our recent family seminar. We pray these new contacts will develop into serious Bible studies and ultimately, conversions. Sara Sanabria Andrea continues to study with Sara and now her mother would like to study. She and Andrea have developed a wonderful friendship. Mabel and Ivanna Ortiz Mabel has indicated she needs to be baptized! Andrea continues to study with her. Hopefully, she will soon realize the urgency. Her Donnie Bates and Bob Turner from Bear Valley Bible daughter, Ivanna is continuing to study with Brittnea. Institute of Denver came to Paraguay. Enrique Albera We have been having an ongoing study of Revelation. Enrique knows his Bible really well but had some misunderstandings about parts of Revelation. It was a real joy to see him put all the pieces itogether through this study and solidify his faith in the truth of God's word! Evangelistic efforts: Family Seminar: Brother Glen Henton came to Paraguay as the adult chaperone for the FHU students. He has been a missionary in Argentina and since he is fluent in Spanish, we took the opportunity to utilize his talents for a seminar. The theme was The Battle for the Family. It was a great success and we had, on average, 29% of the audience as visitors! Thank you to Glen for his hard work! We are continuing to move ahead with the idea of having a Bible School (Preaching School). We have much to think about and decide, so the men want to start having regular committee meetings to work out some details. They have not committed to having the school as of yet, but they have indicated that they love the idea. Steps toward mission goals: We are having some materials translated into Spanish. Our sister, Sara Lange, is assisting us in this effort to provide more sound materials for our Spanish speaking brethren. Additional activities: Intern Interview: Kevin Flowers came to Paraguay with the FHU group to see the work and to meet with the team about the possibility of serving as an intern. Plans for near future:
Work day at the building: we painted, cleaned, and prepared for our upcoming seminar.

This time next month, we will be in the USA! We will be in the following places on these dates:

Palm Beach Lakes church of Christ April 22 Dripping Springs church of Christ April 28 Poolville church of Christ May 6 Margaret Street church of Christ May 9-20 Central Avenue church of Christ May 27
Kevin Flowers, who is interested in serving as an intern, drinking terer with Maury Yegros

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ACTIVITIES

Personal HIGHLIGHT(s) of the Month: A mission group from FHU, visitors from BVBID, and an intern interview were some of the highlights for the month. March has been a very busy month every since we arrived in Paraguay (this is now our third one) and this one was no different. We love all the activity and excitement! Personal study: I am currently reading / have read: o Aprenda el Griego del Nuevo Testamento by W.E. Vine as a possible, future textbook for the Bible school. The fundamentals book/study guide I have been working on has taken on a change. I have changed the format to make it a more self guided study, but still usable in a class setting. My goal is to design it so it doesn't look or appear to be so overwhelming to a new convert, yet still helps teach the first principles of the oracles of God. Culture and language study: Peaks and Valleys! It doesn't matter how fluent you may think you are in Spanish, there are some days when nothing seems to make sense! Those days are so frustrating, but they actually Andrea's English student, Sara Sanabria, recently end up helping you in the learning process. On the other side of was accepted and inducted into Nursing School. We that, it is quite satisfying to start using new phrases or words attended the induction ceremony to encourage her with her new challenge ahead. when they finally get fixed in your brain! Please pray our Spanish speaking skills will continue to improve. Visitation: Jackson and Franci Arzamendia they have been struggling spiritually so we have been trying to encourage them a little more. We hope to get by to seem them more frequently. We also visited with the Adorno family to encourage them, as well. Alcides has a new job out of town and although it provides for the family, it is also very hard on them. We keep praying for them and encouraging them. Family activities: We watched a movie produced by WVBS called Bound with the mission team. It was a great time together! If you haven't seen this faith based movie yet, you should! It is a great Christian film that has a Bible study and a baptism as part of the storyline! Plans for the near future:

Notes:

We are VERY excited about our upcoming furlough trip! The church is getting ready for their annual congregational retreat. It is going to be great! The theme this year is Good soldiers of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3).

I have always loved history and especially the period between 1700-1900. I recently had the opportunity to travel to Humaita, Paraguay, which was the center of one of South America's bloodiest wars, the War of the Triple Alliance (1864-70). A part of an old church is still standing as a memorial and there was also a museum with a lot of Paraguayan history and artifacts. Fascinating!

Humaita the ruins of San Carlos Borromeo church that was bombarded by enemy cannon ships during the War of the Triple Alliance.

Asuncion, Paraguay South America Troy and Andrea Spradlin

Casilla de Correo 13092 Shopping del Sol Asuncion, Paraguay (595) 0981-630-886

PARAGUAY MISSION

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 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