It's a Long Way to Paraguay

The call to missions for me was clear enough. I felt confident that, after graduation, I’d go for a year or two to some foreign place in the world and share in the work of the Church there. My problem, though, was that the world felt like a very big place. With so many nations and states and nation-states and churches and denominations and sending-agencies and so on, I felt like I was swimming in an ocean of possibilities.

Hence, last fall I wondered how I could even begin to narrow down the search for a place to go. For starters, I decided to go to Urbana, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (and my own campus ministry)’s tri-annual missions conference in St. Louis. I thought perhaps something there would strike my fancy or, if I were lucky, some lightning bolt from Heaven might shock me into going somewhere specific.

Needless to say, that lightning bolt never came. I was overwhelmed by the conference and its grand hall of missions agencies representing hundreds of worldwide ministries, dozens of denominations, and a broad range of fields ripe with harvest. I went up to most of the booths and, when asked by a kind mission representative what I was looking for, responded, "I’d like to serve God overseas for a couple years after college." When they asked me where I’d like to go (anywhere from China to Chile, Austria to Australia) or what sort of ministry I was interested in (new people groups, teaching English, medical missions, tent-making, friendship evangelism, undercover witnessing, etc), I again responded inelegantly, "I’d like to serve God overseas for a couple years after college." They must have thought I was born on another planet -- a planet where Christians have no idea about the complexities of choosing a mission.

Urbana did manage to turn my thoughts, though, to a specific area of the world. During time in prayer and thinking at the conference, the idea of Latin America came up again and again. I spent four years of high school and a semester of college studying Spanish, so the language would be much easier to learn in a Hispanic country. Georgetown got me interested in Catholicism and its dialogue with and relationship to Evangelical Protestantism, so going to a predominantly Catholic, Spanish-speaking country made even better sense. Plus, Central or South America is much closer to home than Asia or Africa.

My next decision centered on whether to go with a specific denomination or an interdenominational group. My college years were spent with InterVarsity, an interdenominational ministry, so at the time I leaned toward going abroad with a similar group whose mixture of church backgrounds could offer many points of view on theologies and doctrines. I never want to close my mind to learning, so being in a mixed community of Christian faith seemed like a good idea. The problem in my mind, however, was that I’d have to raise all the support on my own without any one church’s backing.

The other alternative, of course, was going with a specific denomination. In DC, I fell in love with the people and church of Georgetown Baptist, which had affiliations with both the American Baptist and Southern Baptist Conventions. The Southern Baptists offered the Journeyman program, a two year, all-expenses paid missions program for recent graduates of Southern Baptist orientation. I wasn’t sure, though, about whether I was able or ready to commit to Southern Baptist ideals. It seemed a dilemma to me – committing to a denomination I wasn’t sure of and having all my financial needs taken care of, or going to an inner-denominational organization where I would have to do my fundraising independently. Throughout it all, I was confident God would take care of my needs, but the details worried me.

And so, I wrote an email to Ellen Sabo, a friend of a friend serving as an English teacher with the Apostolic Christian Church in Paraguay. Since she was a new missionary, I had been reading her blog and studying her reactions to a new culture in preparation for my own departure. I asked her about what it was like serving with a specific church. My question was broad and about missions in general, but her response was very definite and sure: ""Will you come and take my place teaching English and serving with the church after I leave?"

I was really surprised by her open invitation, and thought serving with the AC church in Paraguay probably was not for me. The idea, however, began to make good sense. I now had two friends serving there, so I could get to know the people and culture through them before I arrived. Plus, the mission was through the church that I knew and grew up in.

Still with many questions, though, I asked Ellen for details about the Paraguayan Apostolic Christian Church. I heard back that it is a church on fire for God. There is a passion to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and a desire to serve and transform the Paraguayan nation. Paraguay is a place where God is at work and where I’d be able to work, too, for the Kingdom of Heaven. After spending much time in prayer, I committed to serving there.

Thus, I’ll be helping out at the Colegio Privado Adonai, a private Christian school of about 250 students that the church administrates and uses as a tool to reach out to the community. Arriving in September, I’ll be in the classroom with Ellen to learn how to teach before school lets out in November. Then, I’ll spend the summer months of November, December, and January learning Spanish, getting acquainted with Paraguayan culture, and serving with the church. Come February, I’ll have classrooms of my own and plenty of opportunities to share Christ’s love.



***Special thanks to Mrs. Simon from VLBF who is hosting on her blog a video of me sharing my testimony at church. It can be found on the Sept. 9 post at www.xanga.com/anut4dan .