JUST WHAT THEY NEED
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| Ramon told Mike the Bible lessons are exactly what the Paraguayan churches need. |
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September 8, 2008
by Jackie Fallis
Two years ago, missionaries Dean and Nellie Goddard gave a Paraguayan pastor, Ramon, a set of evangelistic Bible lessons in Ramon's language, Guarani.
That was all the seed that was needed.
Recently Dean's son and daughter-in-law, missionaries Mike and Trisha Goddard, visited Ramon. It was unplanned and the lessons were far from Mike or Trisha's mind.
Then Ramon told Mike he'd read through the lessons and felt they were exactly what the Paraguayan churches needed. Many had started without the foundation of the Old Testament and developed a form of Christianity based mainly upon law and traditions.
A few days later, Mike, Trisha and Ramon visited a couple of churches in Paraguay and explained why the foundational teaching was crucial.
Mike wrote, "You could see the lights turn on in their hearts as we explained the purpose of our visit. We started by describing common frustrations one faces through a lack of understanding of who God is and how we can gain a greater insight into who He is through the Biblical account of Creation and other [Old Testament] Bible stories.
"I took a huge banner of a little tribal boy from the Pai Tavy Tera tribe and explained the wonders God had done among the Pai people and how they are now teaching other Pais and even their Paraguayan neighbors about God. … I further explained how the Pai people were once illiterate and unable to read God's Word, but that as literacy was implemented into the evangelism program, the people's excitement grew for reading Bible lessons and the Bible.
"The challenge was before them: 'if the Pai people could read Guarani, then why not you too since Guarani is your heart language?'"
The pastor was interested in learning how to teach the materials, so Dean and Nellie showed them this past weekend, and in another church as well. Mike and Trish are teaching in two other villages. Yet another church has invited Mike and Trish to share with them.
Please pray for all of the churches involved, that the believers would grow and learn in their faith, and that the teachers would learn how to teach through the foundational materials. Pray also for the Goddards as they travel around Paraguay, helping teach.
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