5forParaguay

It’s wintertime in Paraguay. Maybe you thought, like me, that winter in the sub-tropics meant exchanging my shorts for capris and adding a three quarter length sweater over my tank top. On our vision trip in July 2016, we found out this was certainly not the case. A missionary family that hosted us advised us to pack swimsuits and shorts, but also sweaters and scarves. 

July is Paraguay’s coldest month with average temperatures ranging from highs of 73 F/23...

Our family recently relocated from Asuncion (population 6 million) to Escobar (population 8,815) to learn Guarani – the heart language of Paraguayans.

It is quite a life out here in the country (campaña). Chickens randomly enter our yard and peck away. A guy on a motorcycle delivers chipa, a traditional Paraguayan dish, to our doorstep. Roosters crow throughout the night for those who think differently. The stars are different (I dare say better!) in South A...

Of the many changes and challenges we anticipated in this new life, rodents were not high on the list. In retrospect, perhaps they should have been.

The training given us by SIM in preparation for the field alerted us to a new life wherein a heightened level of daily stress would be our new norm. We have found this to be true; no one thing is particularly stressful, but the combination of every part of life being just a touch harder leads to an overall more...

Slowly but surely, the Lord reminds us that we cannot operate based on assumptions in Paraguay.  That's a lesson learned bit by bit, experience by experience, more often entertaining than not.  Last week provided a great example.

Our new house echoes.  Not in a "that's a unique feature" sort of way, but in a "I can't even have a conversation" kind of way.  It's a function of high ceilings (to allow all of the heat to rise), bare plaster walls (standard...

With the first steps of settling in to our new nation behind us (vehicle, housing, beginning of residency paperwork), our focus turns to the pressing task at hand:  language and cultural acquisition.  We began our language classwork this week, although our true language learning routine should start to formalize next week. Our cultural acquisition work begins in earnest next week (beyond the culture that we've been soaking up like sponges during the past mo...

Well, I may have gotten off to a late start in the blogging game, but here we go! My plan for this blog is to use it as a space to share about the practical sides of our experience here in Paraguay, sharing our discoveries as we transition from U.S. culture to our new Paraguayan culture.  We'll share more intentionally about how and where we see the Lord working in, through, and around us in our monthly prayer letter updates, but I'm sure that will necessar...

"Chipa! Chipa! Chipa!"  With that refrain blasting over the loudspeakers of a passing food truck at 7:00 a.m. last Sunday morning, we knew without a doubt two things:  (1) we were officially in Paraguay, and (2) living in a city was going to take some getting used to.  The flight from Des Moines to Asuncion (via Atlanta and Sao Paulo) went absolutely as smoothly as a 17 hour total transit could, and our new teammates and friends greeted us with amazing warm...

We purchased our plane tickets this past week and arrive in Paraguay on July 8. Even though we have known for months of this impending move, this step seems somehow more significant. There is more of a finality when you have tickets in hand.

WE ARE EXCITED AND READY! We are returning to our new homeland less than a year since our vision trip last July. The reality of this still amazes me. We knew that it was an urgent call but God, in his lavish ab...

If the last several months of our life were a movie, it would surely be titled "On The Road." Now that we've confirmed our call to minister among the First Nations people of Paraguay through SIM, we've been busy reaching out to family and friends to raise up a team of supporters to send us out and to partner with us in pursuing this crazy call the Lord has placed on our lives. Practically, that has involved plenty of road trips, including: Baldwin, WI; Cadi...

We have been so uplifted by the encouragement we’ve received as we chase after this crazy call from God to pursue Him in Paraguay! We can’t tell you how many times people have been faithful in affirming our call and what a difference that has made. 

We chose SIM as our sending organization because of their vast experience. SIM has been launching workers into ministry around the world since 1893. They are an organization committed to cultivating multicultural...