Back in Paraguay

We returned Saturday to Asuncion from the South American missions conference. It was such a wonderful experience, and the week just seemed to fly by. The conference was held in a beautiful hotel in the town of Canela, Brazil. The main purpose of it was for the South American missionaries to meet together, share with other teams, and encourage one another. Here is a picture of mine, Rocio’s, and Brittnea’s chalet that we stayed in.


The theme of the conference was “The God We Serve.” John Willis, a professor that has been at ACU for decades, was the main speaker. He taught the 2 main classes everyday, which were all about God’s promises, commandments, forgiveness, discipline, deliverance, and more. There were also ladies classes, mens classes, and classes for the children and youth taught by various former missionaries that now live in the United States.  We spent the day listening and learning from these speakers and from each other. We also shared the meals together, afternoon fellowship time, and devotionals together.


In the picture above I am with my dear friend Ali Kaiser who I met when I came to Brazil in the summer of 2005. Her and her husband Mark are two of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. They went to ACU and now they are working with the youth and university students at the church of Christ in Itu, Brazil.

This conference was a great transition period to my time here in South America. I was able to meet many wonderful missionary families, and I got to bond with our Paraguay team as we spent time together in planning and working together. I also learned a lot about life on the mission field, and saw how encouraging it was for American missionaries to be with other Americans, spending fellowship time, and worshiping in English. Some of the people at the conference were truly some of the most self-less people I have ever met.

We also got to do some other really neat things at the conference. One afternoon we were able to go visit some waterfalls in a town nearby. They were absolutely incredible! God’s creation never fails to amaze me!

We walked down 900 something stairs to get to the bottom of the waterfall. In the picture above are some of the bravest of us.

Another night, after the nighttime activities were over, we got to walk around the city of Gramado, which is famous for it’s Christmas decorations and lights. I’ve never seen such excitement for Christmas 3 weeks after Christmas. There was a singing chorus of people in a huge Christmas tree (see picture below). It was amazing ☺


The friendships we made at the conference were such a blessing. Below is Waleska Rehbein. She is absolutely precious! She is one of the missionaries in Porto Alegre, Brazil. She married an American and has been working for the Lord ever since.

This is Me, Rocio, and Brittnea with Georgia Frietas, from Continent of Great Cities. We got to spend a lot of time talking with this sweet woman .
On our way out of town our team got to stop by some other waterfalls. They were beautiful as well! The second picture is of Chris and Vicky Fry, one of the families on our team. The last picture is of me and their precious daughter Emma about to put our feet in the cold water :)



The conference was refreshing and rejuvenating for all the people there, and a good kickstart to our time too. Now it is time to begin our work here in Asuncion! Thank you for all the continued encouragement and prayers! I am beginning with 5 hours of Spanish training a day (only for this first week), so please pray that my lessons will go well so I can learn quickly! Blessings to all!