Siobhan Keeley
 April, 2001
Dearest Family and Friends,
I'm home from my
missions trip to Paraguay. I want
to thank you so much for making it possible for me to go to South America and
minister to God's people. You
cannot even imagine how much of a
blessing you are to me.
Before
I even began to pack for this trip I could see the impact of your prayers.
My team needed a few more people to answer God's call and join our ranks.
Well, God is faithful and he sent us three more people bringing our
number up to ten. He also answered
all the prayers being lifted up for our financial needs.
Although two of our team members joined only a month before our trip, God
moved to meet everyone's support. Our
team left for Paraguay, March 17, completely funded!
With out your love and prayers there is no way this could have happened.
While
my team and I were in Asuncion, Paraguay, God kept showering us with his
blessings. One of the biggest
blessings to me was our team itself. I
know that God hand-picked each of us to go and do a specific task in the lives
of the Paraguayan people. We went
from being seven Asbury students, a guy from Iowa (who we didn't meet until the
morning we left), and two team leaders, to being close friends.
It was incredible the way we all pulled together and worked hard no
matter what we were doing. I don't
remember hearing one complaint the entire week.
Our team leaders, Nathan and Cydil Waggoner, had challenged our team to
be flexible with any situation that arose that week, but none of us would have
imagined how necessary that attitude was going to be.
Through every difficulty God blessed us.
Even
driving to the work site in the morning was not a simple task. We saw his
presence with us one morning as we rode down the bumpy roads in the back of a
flat bed truck. We were half way to
the work site when we were flagged down by the police.
The policeman took one of our team members (who spoke fluent Spanish) and
our driver (who was a short term volunteer missionary) up the road and around the corner where we couldn't see them
anymore. We all got down in the
back of that truck and prayed as hard as we could.
It wasn't long before our prayers were answered and they reappeared.
The police had said that we were traveling illegally on the road and the
fine was 555,000 G (guarani, is the money used in Paraguay).
This equals about US$150 and the police wanted to take our truck.
With the help of the Lord our members were able to negotiate the with the
police, paid them $30, and they let us go on our way.
Later that day we passed through three more police stop points with out a
problem. The situation could have
had a much more serious ending, but God's hand was over us protecting us.
God
blessed us through the work of
building the church. Our team
worked so hard that we ran out of work before we ran out of time.
We did a wide variety of projects. We
finished digging the last 5 ft. of an 11 ft. hole of a septic tank.
We dug three trenches; one for the sewer line from the bathroom, one for
the electrical line, and the last for the water line. We also helped two
Paraguayan men, Benito and Ahino, put in a row of bricks around the perimeter of
the building to serve as a foundation. After
that we put up wooden planks that would be the walls. Next we put the signs on
either end of the church roof. When
we were done the congregation had a solid building to meet in and worship
God.
We were able to hold
the first service ever in that church building.
We shared the skits that we
had prepared, Spanish songs we had learned, testimonies, and one of my team
members preached the first sermon in that church.
The afternoon before the service we canvassed the neighborhood with
candy, stickers, and balloon animals. We
invited every person we came in
contact with, but we had no idea how many people would actually
come.
That evening, the devil tried
all of his tricks to hinder that service, but Jesus is bigger than Satan.
The first problem came when we were trying to get to the church.
We got stuck in some bad traffic so that we were 20 minutes late.
However, that hindrance was an incredible blessing for our team.
We had been praying for the service as we finally pulled up to the
church, and it was pitch dark because we hadn't hooked up the lights yet. The
driver turned off the truck in front of the church just as we finished praying,
and the roar of the engine was replaced with a roar of voices.
In the church
yard there were 80-90 children many accompanied by their
parents. The kids crowded around the truck all happy to see us.
I was so blessed by their enthusiasm and numbers.
As the evening continued, we were faced with many obstacles with which we
had to be flexible. We had to
scramble to rig some lighting, the tape player we were using for our skits kept
shorting out, during one of the skits I got punched in the nose (accidentally),
and we had some dogs decide to join the service and they were very distracting.
Despite all of this God was working. At
the end of the service one of the missionaries prayed the sinner's prayer and we
heard some people repeating after him. We
pray that there were some real decisions made for Christ that night.
I got a lot more out of that service than a bruised nose; God showed me
that no matter what, he has control and he will provide for my every need.
That whole week God helped me to see that if I really trust him with the
things in my life He will bring me through anything good or bad.
The support and prayers that you provided made this all possible.
Your intercession kept our team safe.
We had no injuries and very little illness.
I hope this letter has helped you to see the difference you have made in
the lives of the Paraguayan people, my team, and myself. I cannot thank you
enough for your faithfulness. I
have been praying and will continue to pray that God will shower you with
blessings beyond measure in return for your love and kindness.
Dios le bendiga.
With love,
Siobhan Keeley
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