Ruta del Sur

With a rental car, some Duolingo Spanish, and the Holy Spirit, we set off on a journey through southern Paraguay.
At our first stop near the capital city of Asunción, we visited Diego and Tamara. We had gotten in touch with them through mutual friends. Tamara is from the Netherlands and is married to Diego, who is originally from Argentina. They are a wonderful couple and have a beautiful ministry called “Más Vida” (More Life). It was really cool to hear and see how their work is changing the lives of local people. A church has been established in a poorer neighborhood, and they work with disadvantaged young people, teaching them skills such as hairdressing and car washing.
Diego and Tamara’s daughters also enjoyed practicing their Dutch with us.
If you want to read more about their work (in Dutch), you can find it in the magazines of Zending en Gemeente.

Our journey continued through the south of Paraguay. It is truly enjoyable to drive through the vast green landscape with red-colored earth. Cows are regularly tethered to a rope on the side of the road, grazing. But sometimes they break loose and want to test the grass on the other side of the road. So, in addition to the many stray dogs, bumps, and potholes in the asphalt, you also have to watch out for these animals.

We decided to relax for a few days in a quiet spot and settled in a vacation home surrounded by nature, owned by a woman with German ancestors. It was a beautiful green place with its own lake and unobstructed views of the vast fields. An oasis of all kinds of birds. If you listened carefully, you could distinguish about ten different bird sounds at the same time. From ibis and kingfisher to pigeon and parrot.
As soon as it got dark, you thought it would be completely silent. But the opposite was true. Then the soothing cacophony of night sounds began; various crickets, birds, and occasionally a frog.
Another wonderful phenomenon also made its appearance around the cottage: fireflies! Small insects that fly around like flashing lights through the bushes and over the lawn. It remains a fairytale sight every time we see it.

A visit to the nearby Ybycuí Park couldn’t be missed. This is a green nature park with lots of butterflies and a few walks to lovely waterfalls. We couldn’t resist the challenge of trying to capture some of these lively creatures on camera.

Our journey continued southward, and the Lord had another pleasant surprise in store for us. Diego had given us the contact details of a pastor who had founded a mission school. We thought it would be nice to meet him and hear his stories. We made an appointment and got to talk to David and others from his team. And how special it was that the conversation spontaneously turned into a kind of intake interview, because we were asked if we would be interested in teaching the students in the coming school year. In God’s Kingdom, you don’t have to look for work. The Great Employer takes care of that. We will see if we can fit this into the Brazil program.
We also took a look at the 9-hectare grounds of the mission school with all kinds of buildings such as accommodations, an auditorium and classrooms, a canteen, etc. Very impressive. A whole center.
Our question to the Lord is: why has this come our way and what exactly is our role in this?

With this question in mind, we said goodbye and drove on to our next destination, Encarnación. A relaxed city on the wide Paraná River. Since Paraguay does not border any sea, this city is considered an important ‘seaside’ resort with beaches that offer a view of neighboring Argentina.

With temperatures now reaching 36 degrees (97 F), we went to the beach shortly before sunset for a refreshing dip in the water.
On the beach, we saw a young man sitting quietly in the lotus position, facing the setting sun. It touched us, and spontaneously we began to pray quietly for him from a distance, that God would reveal Himself to him and that he would discover the source of the light, and we broke the spirit of confusion over him. We saw that the man became restless and looked in our direction. Everything is set in motion by the name of Jesus! Never underestimate the power of prayer!
Our dive turned out to be short-lived, because as soon as the sun was gone, everyone was whistled out of the water.
But we had been able to accomplish God’s beach mission. Praise God!