As most of you know, who follow my posts, the Ukunda Missionary Training School in Kenya, founded by my son Vaughn and his team has now entered its fourth year of classes. God’s blessing has been on this school in great measure. Pastors in other countries have now asked Vaughn to consider starting a similar school in their countries. Plans are presently being made by Vaughn and team to start schools in the Congo and in Tanzania within the next two years.
In the midst of this planning we learned of a facility in Paraguay which was developed to house a missionary training school. However the brother, who constructed the buildings, died before he was able to fully implement his training program. We at first, upon learning of the potential availability of this facility, had no interest in pursuing this situation in light of our other commitments .
However in prayer, God revealed to Vaughn and his team that He wanted them to start a missionary training program, considering the possibly of using this site, and utilizing the model they had developed in Kenya. He further instructed them to work with churches in Paraguay in developing a missions movement that would work with the missionaries trained in this program. The vision is to train missionaries from all over the region, Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia in cross cultural missions and to send them out into the region and then into the uttermost parts of the world.
One might ask, “Does it make sense for you to start a missionary training school in Paraguay at this time?” When God speaks, you do not say, “Well, if makes sense and I can find a way, I will do it.” Rather you say, “God, if you say so, I will do it with my whole heart confident that you are ‘pro’ the vision and will ‘pro’vide what is needed to fulfill the vision.” In other words, by faith I must allow the word received in prayer to shape the reality of what I do, rather than allowing my sense of reality to define, limit, and shape what God said to me in prayer.
So with the prayerful confidence that God would go before us and prepare people who would respond to the vision, Don and I set off for this week in Paraguay. We were simply seeking to connect with people who would be open to hearing about the vision and who would consider sending students to the school. I knew no one in Paraguay except Eloise Gwinn the widow of Richard Gwinn the founder of the training school in Escobar, Paraguay. We had been given the names of several church leaders whom we were to meet in the Filadelfia area of the Chaco. Apart from that we were totally dependent on God-ordained encounters.
And God has ordained “heart connections’. Within minutes we have seen total strangers become friends who are open to the vision. Sometimes our approach would be as simple as saying to a stranger at a store or at our motel, “Do you speak English?” In the ensuing conversation, following an affirmative response, we would discover that they shared our Christian faith. In several cases they would then invite us to their homes for extended conversations. Finally after hours of sharing, sometimes with tears, we would exchange contact information promising to stay in touch.
Today we had a two hour conversation with a pastor in Asuncion who a number of years ago started a ministry to provide sex education lectures for public schools throughout Paraguay and other countries. They and their team have spoken from a Christian perspective to hundreds of thousands of students. This pastor and his wife are open to us sending teams to share the vision with them and other Christin leaders. They also had suggestions of persons whom they thought would be ready and even eager for training such as we are offering.
As Don and I now prepare to fly out of Asuncion at 2 am Wednesday to arrive at Dulles at 2:30 pm, our hearts are filled with joy and thankfulness to God for the God-ordained connections throughout the trip. We consider each connection a gift to be treasured. This trip further convinces us that God is in this work and will unfold each step before us as we take steps of faith to obey Him.
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