Elijah and Moira Hall TRIBAL MISSIONS - Reaching the unreached Thoughts on 2 years
Benjamin can't speak yet, so he will add his precious smile to this article!
Elijah: “By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks unto His name.” Hebrews 13: 15
As I reflect back on the last two years I am simply overwhelmed thinking about God’s goodness and want to say thank you Lord Jesus!
I want to thank the Lord for my wonderful, sweet wife who is a help meet for me in more ways than I can count, and for each one of my precious children.
And I thank God for all He has been teaching us through the last two years in Spanish, Paraguayan culture study and in our walk with Him!
I thank Him for His tender loving care that we have experienced each step of the way through His word, His Holy Spirit, and through His Body both here in Asuncion and at home.
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Tags: blessed, cocos & hammer, honey, thank you
How Can I Preach in these Shoes?
“I was born into a family of ten children, out in the campo (rural areas). We were not believers, and we were very poor…I walked 6 kilometres (roughly 3.5 miles) to school, and to save money I would cut my paper into four pieces and copy everything the teacher wrote on the blackboard in letters as small as an ant might write. I used my pencil until I could not hold it any
more, it was so small. That way I would make my sheet of paper into four sheets and study them by firelight at night.
“I became a believer and left our farm to continue studying. I wanted to be a teacher. I also was growing in the Lord and the brothers would help me. They said when I was going back to see my family on the weekends I could spend the night at the chapel, then fellowship with them before I went on my way. I slept on the pews, and it was so cold in the winter that sometimes I would take the curtains down and wrap up in them to stay warm, because I had no long sleeved shirt…then in the morning I carefully put them up again, just the way they had been.
“I even was asked to share a message. I wanted so badly to share from the Word of God, but then I looked down at my shoes and I felt I could not. I only had one pair of shoes, and I had sewed and glued them many times to be able to wear them still, but now my toes were poking way out of the front of the shoe. I prayed and said, “Lord, you know how I want to preach for You, but how could I dishonor You by wearing these shoes?” I cried and prayed all night and asked the Lord to give me some shoes. I hardly had money for my food, and none for shoes.
“That week, a friend I had lent money to a long time before sent me a pair of shoes from halfway across the country. And the Lord also gave me two more pairs! I stood up in front of everyone that Sunday and said, ‘Brothers and sisters, be careful what you ask for when you pray. We have a good God who gives good things to His people, so make sure you are asking for what you need, and asking in faith!”
Brother Fulano is now a teacher at a Christian school here in the capital, teaching science and the Gospel to the student body that is almost entirely unsaved. He is active in the assembly, and he and his sweet wife are expecting their first child next month, and we are blessed to call them family in the Lord! They told us this story last week as they sat at our table for dinner…hope you are as blessed as we were.
Cultural shift = open to the Gospel?
Many indigenous people, such as this young ranch hand, are coming face to face with massive changes.
There is a shift occurring in many tribal groups across the world. Technology and “civilization” is fast changing life for many peoples across the globe, and Paraguayan unreached people groups are no exception.
Cellphones are owned by some in even remote areas here, as they work on ranches or keep in touch with family (this doesn’t necessarily change the rest of their life, such as sleeping on the ground and cooking over open fires!). Battery-powered radios blare popular music until the batteries run out, and the people sing along although they hardly know a word of Spanish. Pants and other western-type clothing are often worn instead of traditional costumes.
Underneath all this change is a massive shift. The people see the prosperity of their Paraguayan or foreign neighbors and begin to doubt what their forefathers have told them, such as that following certain chants and taboos will bring them success, and begin to quickly forget the reasons and stories behind the traditions. Many of them, disillusioned, turn to drugs or alcohol to escape a life they see as empty. They are on the brink, in some ways, of entering the world of today.
It’s a window of opportunity that should not be missed! Research has proven that groups in this type of transition are some of the most open to hearing and receiving the Gospel message. They have many times already seen the futility of their old belief system and are ready to listen to the Truth. These are exciting times here and across the world among many unreached groups, and we delight to see the Lord working among them! Won’t you join us in prayer that He will reap a great harvest among the remaining tribal groups in Paraguay?
Tags: cultural shift, Gospel, open, technology
Death by witchcraft?
A young girl serves terere, the cold tea drink that is so popular in Paraguay
The day we arrived in the tribal village we were met by some grave news. An eight year old girl had died in school that day; she had complained of a headache and a while later began screaming hysterically before she suddenly became unable to talk and later died. All the parents were summoned to the school with these words: “Did you send a child to school today? Come quickly, someone has died!” No one knew the exact cause of her death, but already the rumors attributing it to witchcraft were circulating heavily. This was what one of the chiefs told Luci, the single missionary with whom we were traveling.
“What will they do when someone is accused of witchcraft?” we asked Luci.
“Oh, it’s a very serious charge,” she replied. “If they think there is enough evidence, the person could be put to death. Usually the person they blame it on is old, or a woman, someone who cannot do much to defend themselves. Normally they run away, to another colony, before the punishment can be carried out. Most people here still attribute sickness, bad crops and many other things to witchcraft.”
We knew that this chief was a Christian, one of the elders in the tribal church we had come to visit. So we asked Luci what he would do about this situation.
“Oh, he will try to protect the person even though he faces so much pressure!” she told us. “I am always amazed at how the Lord gives him so much wisdom to deal with these kind of situations. First he will ask if she was taken to the doctor, and what the autopsy said, and then he will tell the others we have no proof of witchcraft. Also he will say that he could not punish an innocent person, if there was not enough proof, and he will drag his feet if nothing else works, and somehow he will find a way to avoid punishing them.”
She also told us that probably the unbelievers would keep their children home from school for a long time out of fear of witchcraft, but that the believers are not afraid of this anymore and their children will continue to go.
It was amazing to hear of this one man, a small and lightly built older man, leading his people according to his new conscience as a believer! What wonderful things the Lord is doing in the lives of the people of this colony! There is a church packed full every Sunday, five elders to shepherd the flock, and a room full of materials to the believers who teach their neighbors, once a week, to read and write and share the truth with them from beginning to end of the Scriptures!
“There is so much to do, so many ways the believers need to mature,” said Luci who worked among them for 10 years, “but God has done so much in their lives and He is working through them to change so much, even in their weakest points!”
Tags: chief, girl, mature church, witchcraft
Varmints and vermin vanquished…or not
Someone recently asked us about the bugs down here in Paraguay. It’s a frequent question – missionaries and bugs just seem to go together! This is intended to be a true, but humorous collection of the tales of various pests we have encountered in our 1 ½ years in Paraguay so far. Enjoy the countdown!
5. Ants
Smoke, not steam, began to rise from the iron as I ironed clothes one morning for church. A slight odor, like that of toast, filled the room. When I depressed the steam button, out shot a small pile of wiggling, roasting sugar ants with all their eggs – then more, and more, and more…hence the toasting smell. After a couple of weeks of this, the ants apparently decided to move their colony.
Look Dad, it's my pet!
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Take a Walk – or Give a Walk?
Israel recently fell asleep - or went to sleep - or put himself to sleep - during a meeting.
We all know about figures of speech: the obvious ones, such as “It’s raining cats and dogs”, immediately come to mind. But what about everyday expressions? They’re all literal, right? Or does it depend on how you look at it?
In English, we “take a walk”. In Spanish, you “give a walk” (dar un paseo)! In English, we “fall asleep”. In Spanish, you “put oneself to sleep” (dormirse) – the word form indicates that you are both performing and receiving the action.
In English, we “are” cold, and we “are” so many years old. In Spanish, we “have” cold (to be cold: tener frio) and we also “have” so many years (tener años). To think about it is a little mind-bending: we don’t actually “have cold” (as in tangible possession) but can we really say that we “are” cold? Will we be that way forever? Suffice it to say that each expression makes perfect sense in its context.
Does it matter how we say things? Or is the meaning the important thing? Yes, and…yes.
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You Know You’re in Paraguay when…
A pesebre, or manger scene, with watermelon and coco flower for decoration.
1. Horse carts can be heard clipping by on the road almost any hour of the day or night: their drivers selling produce, stopping to pick through trash, collecting old batteries and scrap metal…how does the traffic handle it? In very scary ways sometimes!
2. People decorate their manger scenes at Christmas with watermelons and coco flowers while they sweat in 110 degree heat.
3. Your kids say, “Oh mom, can we please get apples instead of pineapples this week? We almost never get apples because they’re so expensive.”
4. You kiss someone on both cheeks to greet them. Except, of course, man to man! (We’ve heard that’s only something they do in Argentina).
5. Soccer is more important than almost anything. Tereré (the national drink made with dry yerba mate leaves and cold water) is more important than everything! Except maybe your friends, but drinking tereré is what you do with friends, so…
6. Milk, yogurt, mayonnaise, olives etc. come in bags at the grocery store. Juice, tomato paste, etc. all come in boxes!
7. Everyone is happy to pass the tereré around to their friends and drink off the same bombilla (strainer straw). But to be polite, one should always drink their soda with a straw and use a knife and fork to eat their hamburger! One doesn’t “eat” their breakfast, one “drinks” it, because the drink is what’s important, not the bread. A sandwich isn’t considered a meal, a “meal” is meat, rice, pasta, etc. – always hot!
8. Clean tennis shoes are considered a must.
9. There are no limits to how many people you can squish into a car. Just hope you’re not on the bottom!
10. “Late” depends…for some occasions, it could be more than two hours after the scheduled time. Don’t worry, everyone is happy to wait for you, so what’s the problem?
Bottom Line: In this culture that often seems so strange to us, there are 5 tribes still waiting to hear the true Gospel preached in their own language!
Teach What I Don’t Know?
Kids in class with "Tía Cony" (Aunt Cony), learning the days of the week in Spanish via puzzle.
So you’re the mother of 4 small children all still at home – your new home, that is: a foreign country where most things are new and strange and you are all spending most of your time learning how to talk to the people you want to minister to.
The months go by and your hours studying the language begin to pile up; you can understand more Spanish and handle common situations, but you realize that your children are still looking blank and confused when people greet them and are struggling to have good attitudes about spending so much time with other people when they hardly understand anything. It begins to worry you a little when they burst into tears at the very thought of visiting someone. Oh, what’s a mother to do?
How can I teach my children something I don’t know well myself?
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Tags: confidence, teach
Dark Days in Paraguay’s History
Panteon de los Héroes, a memorial to the historic persons of Paraguay
What war?
March 1st in Paraguay is “Día de los Heroes” – “Day of the Heroes” – and commemorates one of the bloodiest wars ever fought in the Western hemisphere. Fought between 1864 and 1870 (about the same time as the Civil War in the States), the Triple Alliance War had complex beginnings but resulted in Paraguay fighting against the neighboring countries of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Many in Paraguay felt their national sovereignty was threatened. After some early Paraguayan victories, the war became a national disaster. Paraguayans fought fanatically under their leader Francisco S. López, who conscripted all Paraguayan males over the age of 10. When the war ended in the battle of Acosta Ñu, most of the Paraguayan soldiers were children, some as young as 8, who lost the battle while their mothers reportedly watched from a nearby forest. Afterward, cholera and starvation took further tolls as over half of the population of Paraguay ended up dying, including a loss of up to 90% of the males in the country.
The struggle left Paraguay in an economic, social and political ruin, and its recovery was slow. The war’s effects on the culture still linger, according to some of our language helpers: for example, the mother is often regarded as the cornerstone of the family to this day and promiscuity is often overlooked, as the custom of one man having many women was actually encouraged in order to repopulate the country after the war.
History is important as a means to understanding the people we live among, so that we can more effectively witness to them. As we are learning more about the people we are here to minister to, there are many sobering reminders of the desperate need for the Gospel. This need exists through all generations, but this is the generation we can help reach!
Tags: history
6 Cures for Homesickness
Elijah drinks tereré with our neighbor and brother in the Lord, Lucho
Homesickness: an almost daily reality in the life of every new missionary. Perhaps we will never be completely cured (perhaps we don’t even want to be) – but here are a few remedies we’ve found that help. The best is last!
- THANKFULNESS
Taking every homesick thought (“Oh, I miss my family so much today!”) and turning it into a thankful thought somehow! Yes, at times this means doing some mental gymnastics, but it is possible (“I’m so glad I have a family that is lovable enough to miss! Besides, I know they miss me too, and it’s much better to be missed than not.”) We thank the Lord for our families and friends and enjoy remembering all the wonderful time spent with them. Of course, it always helps to recieve letters from home and we enjoy the wonderful blessing of Skype!
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Tags: homesickness, thankfulness
