Thank God that once again this year he has called people with generous hearts to give of their time and resources and to use their gifts to serve the Church in Paraguay.
Pray for safe and smooth, uneventful journeys for the volunteers travelling from England and Ireland on 12th, 13th, 15th July and 7th, 10th, August. Pray especially for a smooth passage through immigration and the additional check-in this year at Sao Paulo Airport in Brazil. Pray for the safe arrival of luggage and donated goods.
Pray that through the mutual dependence upon each other, the volunteers and the Paraguayan Christians should grow in faith as they work together.
Thank God for our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in a different culture, often suffer from severe hardship but have warm, welcoming and generous hearts.
Praise the Lord for his generosity through donations from supporters towards the work of Mission Paraguay this summer and for the great encouragement from SAMS Ireland.
Ask for the Lord’s direction and guiding hand over the planning meeting in Asunción on 14th July when decisions will be made upon the allocation of donated funds between the different projects in Concepción, the Chaco and the Asunción areas. Pray that the funds should be used wisely to extend the work of the Church, to relieve suffering and to promote self sufficiency amongst marginalised people.
Thank God for Bishop Peter Bartlett and all pastors and lay workers in the Anglican Church in Paraguay. Pray for their ongoing work amongst the poorer communities in outer districts of Asunción and Concepción and with the indigenous people in the Chaco.
Pray for the missionaries in Paraguay who will be working with the volunteer groups:
· Caroline Gilmour-White is the Paraguayan based link person for the volunteer visits and will be working with the July group. She coordinates the sewing workshops began by Mission Paraguay in 7 venues;
· Chris Hawksbee who will be working with the Chaco group in August on water storage projects, new homes and toilet facilities for Indian people;
· Ed Brice our link missionary who leads the Rio Verde church and supports the Indian pastors in the Chaco churches;
· Tim Curtis who leads the project to translate the Bible into the Enxet language.
Ask God to oversee the day to day arrangements for travel, accommodation and meals. Thank Him for the work of Silvia and Paula, our translators and Elias our driver.
Pray that through the work of the Mission Paraguay volunteers this year the churches visited may be strengthened and encouraged with more people entering into a living relationship with Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.