8/13/2019 Mission Report - DEC 2013

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/mission-report-dec-2013 1/4

News from the Spradlins in South AmericaDECEMBER 2013 / Vol. 5 No. 12

Fellowship, Fellowship, and More Fellowship!Fellowship, Fellowship, and More Fellowship!Happy New Year! We pray 2014 provides you with many blessings to come! It’s been a great 2013. The bespart about the holiday season is not really the food, the presents, nor the decorations. The best part is thfellowship! Getting together with your brethren in Christ for dinners, special activities, or just visiting is the trubeauty of Christianity! This month has been a stellar month for fellowship. There were lots of events anopportunities to show the world that “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for onanother" (John 13:35). We hope you enjoy this month’s report from the mission field of Paraguay!

DEVELOPMENTS AT AVENIDA SACRAMENTODEVELOPMENTS AT AVENIDA SACRAMENTO• Andrea hosted the monthly Ladies Tea in our home for

December. There were 24 ladies present with three of

them being visitors. Two of the visitors are from activeBible studies that we have been conducting. Andreadelivered a powerful, devotional message on the subjectof “Who You Are.”

• Our annual “End-of-the-Year” dinner is always a lot of funand this year was no exception. All three congregationswere represented and there were many visitors who alsocame. After a wonderful meal (which included about 7different varieties of Chipa Guazu!), there was a fun talentshow. We were all rather impressed with many of ouryoung people and their talented capabilities!

• The men have been meeting every Sunday morning to

discuss general business issues and to continue toreorganize our service ministries. It has been slow, butthey are making some great decisions.

DEVELOPMENTS AT ÑEMBY CONGREGATIONDEVELOPMENTS AT ÑEMBY CONGREGATION • The members are continuing to reach out to their

neighbors and have been inviting several guests to theBible studies and worship services. We are confident thattheir evangelistic spirit will soon see more fruit provided inthe Lord’s kingdom.

• On a sad note, there have been a couple of incidentswhere vandals have destroyed the toilets in the outside

bathroom and have also tried to set fire to the front door.

ASUNCION BIBLE ACADEMY UPDATEASUNCION BIBLE ACADEMY UPDATE • As the summertime heat is upon us and with the

upcoming break being just a few weeks away, it is easy tosee that the students are beginning to struggle with theirattention span. However, they all continue to show greatimprovement in many aspects of their character andknowledge. We consistently hear compliments from themembers about the students and how much they havegrown spiritually. There is no greater reward for a teacherthan to hear words like those!

The December “Ladies Tea” in our home

Our annual “End of Year Dinner” with all three

congregations represented

 Andrea leading the devotional at the Ladies Tea

8/13/2019 Mission Report - DEC 2013

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/mission-report-dec-2013 2/4

Evangelistic Contacts / Bible Studies / Activities: • Last month, we reported that we had some exciting news regarding our

study with Sandra Durarte. We explained that when she first came tostudy with us, she said that her husband, Rolando, was very Catholicand didn’t want her in a Bible study. After a few weeks she said hefinally approved of her coming and then later, she informed us that hehad lots of Bible questions and would like to come study with us! Well,we were blessed to have the study and it went very, very well. I went tothe study with the intention of simply establishing the fact that the Bible

is our only source of authority. Twenty minutes into the study, Rolando affirmed that he believed the Bible was, indeed, the only authority inreligious matters! Ike Yegros assisted me in the study and the two ofthem made a really great connection. Andrea,  along with DelciEnciso, have taken over the study with Sandra and are making a greatconnection with her, as well. We are really excited about thepossibilities of this family becoming a part of God’s family. Please keepthem in your prayers.

• I also had the opportunity to study with our brethren, Enrique Alberaand Leti Alfonso,  who will be getting married soon in the month ofFebruary. They are both very strong in the faith and will make a fineexample of a Christian marriage. We pray for a long, happy, and

prosperous marriage for them both.• Most of our students in our “Learn English Using the Bible” programhave been on break this past month. Andrea’s student, Oscar Parodi, finished the first program and will be starting “Searching for Truth”next month. 

• Our Leadership Training by Extension  class finished up this pastmonth. We studied through a book on “Hermeneutics” with IkeYegros and Pedro Vera. They responded very well to the study andwe pray it will provide valuable tools for them in their Christian walk.We will continue next month with more studies in Homiletics, whichwill include Cultural and Historical background studies.

• Attendance was down considerably this past month in both Ave

Sacramento and Ñemby. Many of our members have been travelingor taking vacations with the holidays falling on weekdays this year.January is the traditional time for taking vacations in Paraguay.

Worship and Bible class attendance (Ave Sacramento): • Sun am – 43 (1st), 48 (8th), 39 (15th), 44 (22nd), 50 (29th)• Sunday Bible study average – 34 

• Midweek study average - 18

• Current members: 76 Baptized (42 Family Units) 

Worship and Bible class attendance (Ñemby): • Sun pm – 21 (1st), 23 (8th), 21 (15th), 22 (22nd), 19 (29th)• Midweek study average - 8 

• Current members: 12 Baptized (8 Family Units) 

Other news and upcoming activities:• The ladies will be having a Ladies Retreat in January. • Karen Bennett  will be coming to Paraguay to visit us again in

January and lead the Ladies Retreat.• We plan to host a “Hawaiian Luau” in our home for the youth group.• Enrique Albera and Leti Alfonso, as well as, Ramon Paredes and

Elvira Dominguez will be getting married in February.

Our sweet sister in Christ, Estela Curcio

 Andrea’s English student, Oscar Parodi

 Perry and Alba Hardin along with Enoch, Laura and Anna Rinks

Troy preaching at Ñemby

8/13/2019 Mission Report - DEC 2013

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/mission-report-dec-2013 3/4

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ACTIVITIES PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ACTIVITIES  

Personal Activities: • Andrea and I were so very blessed in 2013 with many opportunities to serve in the Lord’s kingdom and

to witness several milestones being achieved here in Paraguay. We pray God will continue to use us ashis “instruments for the Gospel” in the upcoming year. We are very excited about the possibilities for2014 and look forward to the adventure! 

• We went out to visit our dear sister, Estela Curcio, this pastmonth to celebrate her birthday and encourage her. We always

enjoy our visit with Estela. She lives in Caacupé and rides thebus every Sunday for two hours, one way, in order to get tochurch! She has been a faithful Christian for more than 25years. 

• We enjoyed a nice evening of fellowship and food for Christmaseve with our brethren, the Pedro Vera family, the Mirta Verafamily, and the Delci Enciso family. 

• Our former mission teammates, Enoch and Laura Rinks andPerry and Alba Hardin  came to have dinner with us in ourhome. We greatly appreciate these fine couples and all theircontributions of service they have provided for the church.Enoch also preached for us this past month in Ñemby and Ave

Sacramento. He will be teaching class in the Asuncion BibleAcademy in January. • While I was teaching one morning at the Bible Academy,

Andrea surprised me with a specially prepared “Happy Birthday”lunch. We shared with the students and enjoyed a nice hour offellowship. 

Personal study: • I am currently reading / have read:

♦ “Church History in Plain Language”  by Bruce L Shelley ♦ “The Paraguayan Reader”by Lambert and Nickson

• I am happy to report that I finished one more course towards

the earning of my Master’s Degree. “Poco a poco” as they say!

Preaching/teaching opportunities: • This month, I had the opportunity to preach at Avenida

Sacramento and twice at Ñemby. I spoke on “God’s Kingdom”and about “Sanctification.” 

• I taught classes on Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy andRomans in our Bible study hours at Avenida Sacramento. 

• I taught “Acts 7” at the Ñemby midweek Bible study. • This quarter I taught “I and II Kings” and “Church History” in the

Asuncion Bible Academy. 

ANDREA´S AMAZING ADVENTURES!  • Andrea, whom I’ve always viewed as my "girly-girl from the city,"

has turned into a farm girl right before my very eyes! She used tohave a pretty deadly black thumb when it came to gardening, butapparently, the hot, South American climate agrees with herbecause she has now developed a rather vibrant "pulgarverde" (green thumb, or manos de jardinero)! First, she grewseveral herbs, then she grew an outstanding green lawn, and nowrecently, she’s produced home grown corn! In addition, she alsoplanted her first banana tree. What I find amazing is that she hasto get her girly-girl hands dirty to do it - yes, those perfectlymanicured, frequently exfoliated, regularly moisturized, with nails

always painted hands .... dirty! ¡Impresionante!

City girl turned farm girl, Andrea, recently grew a fresh crop of corn!

 In our back yard!

Christmas dinner with the families of PochiVera, Mirta Vera, and Delci Enciso

Troy teaching classes at the Asuncion Bible Academy

8/13/2019 Mission Report - DEC 2013

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/mission-report-dec-2013 4/4

Our Mission Team Goals for 2013: 

This year, the mission team will be making a major shift in its role here by focusing on aligning its goals with those ofthe church and submitting itself to the authority of the Paraguayan leadership. In the past, the team had to make manyof the principle decisions for the church until sufficient leadership could be properly developed. In 2013, for the firsttime, the Avenida Sacramento congregation itself will be making all the principle decisions for the church. The team willsimply support them by their direction. The church has chosen the following goals for themselves and have asked us tohelp them accomplish them. 

Evangelism: (1) Offer various specialized seminars to the public, (2) conduct evangelism campaigns, (3), use the book"Searching for Truth" in various other ways, (4) provide more English courses, (5) plant a church in the city of Ñemby,and (6) have a radio program. In addition, the team will continue to generate new Bible study contacts throughadvertising, campaigns, personal contacts, and family relationships. We pray to generate at least 65 new contacts.

Edification: (1) Develop and begin an intensive, full-time Bible study program (Academy) to train brethren, (2) conducta new leadership class, (3) have a camp / congregational retreat, (4) have two planning retreats for the men, and (5)start reconstruction of the church building. The mission team will assist and coordinate these activities according to thedirection of the congregation.

Benevolence: (1) Offer the course "Comfort in Times of Grief" to the public, (2), keep a box of food for those in need,(3) provide a class on the topic of "Benevolence" (4) use donations to help some members, and (5) participate invarious activities of benevolence.

These are some wonderful goals and we are so excited to see their growth in leadership. Please pray for the successfulcompletion of each of these and the continual development of leadership in Paraguay!  

PARAGUAY MISSIOPARAGUAY MISSIO 

Asuncion, ParaguayAsuncion, Paraguay – – South AmericaSouth America 

Troy and Andrea SpradlinTroy and Andrea Spradlin 

Casilla de Correo 13092Casilla de Correo 13092 

Shopping del SolShopping del Sol Asuncion, ParaguayAsuncion, Paraguay 

(595) 0981(595) 0981--630630--886886 

We are seeking to "equip the saints for the work of service toWe are seeking to "equip the saints for the work of service to

thethe building up of the body of Christ." (Ephesians 4:12)building up of the body of Christ." (Ephesians 4:12) 

OUR SUPPORTERS 

Margaret Street church of Christ (Sponsoring Congregation) 6745 Margaret Street, Milton, FL 32570

Central Avenue church of Christ – Valdosta, GA Dripping Springs church of Christ – Dripping Springs, TX Palm Beach Lakes church of Christ – West Palm Beach, FL Poolville church of Christ – Poolville, TX Families of: Clay Bond / Chet Brown / Virginia Guess / Joseph Markham

PARAGUAYMISSION.COM iglesiadecristo.com.py conocerlapalabra.com