Weather is one factor that can cancel all our plans in as much time as it takes to rain. When we're laying in bed and hear raindrops start to hit the tin roof our minds automatically start to think of all the next day's meetings that will be canceled and what we can do to redeem the time. The dirt roads can get real nasty here when it rains. At one point I set out to start our Yuty training and found that after three weeks of rain the ruts were so deep we couldn't get through even with four wheel drive... that was a first!
Schedule conflicts are another monkey wrench in the ministry gears of our ever sporadic missionary lives. After the rain storms died down I looked to the next available Saturday to start up our trainings in Yuty. When I called to confirm I learned they were having a parade for Paraguay's Independance Day and most of our youth leaders were participating... I guess I should have seen that one coming. Cultural holidays are frequent here and the Latin culture rarely misses an opportunity to celebrate. Everything stops around these times. And so weeks turned into months and we still hadn't begun our training in Yuty... until a few weeks ago. We confirmed a date, there were no schedule conflicts and as the day approached the sun was blazing... this was it!
On the big day I loaded up and set out for the two hour drive to finally kick off our ministry in the town of Yuty. I confidently bounded down the dirt roads (which were nice and dry) until I encountered another road block to ministry... LITERALLY! A huge semi truck hauling tons of sand had apparently lost its brakes going down a hill. When the driver swerved the heavy trailer overtook the cab spinning it around until the driver was facing uphill and the trailer capsized completely blocking the only road to my destination! I stared in unbelief which turned to dismay until I humbly accepted my defeat and called my youth leaders to postpone our training yet another time.
So far we still haven't started our Youth Leader Training in Yuty. But we haven't stopped trying and I'm sure it's just around the corner! That's why were here, to equip churches to reach the next generation in the heart of South America, and we can't allow things like weather and schedule conflicts to discourage us... though they certainly do sometimes. There's also at least one more kind of roadblock to ministry that I haven't mentioned: the spiritual kind. Whether it's culturally acceptable sin like laziness or a more offensive kind like sexual compromise, spiritual roadblocks to ministry are always just one bad decision away for us and all our Paraguayan friends. That is why we rely so heavily on the prayers of others to help us persevere in the face of the many different kinds of roadblocks to ministry here in Paraguay!
Good morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Paraguay? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Paraguay in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez