In this monthly update:
Missions Conference in Cordoba, Argentina
Video Project
Short-term Missions Trip in May

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Missions Conference in Cordoba, Argentina

During Easter break, Mike was extended an invitation to represent the work of NTM in a missions conference in Cordoba, Argentina.  Discussion took place over the organization of a large youth missions rally for 2014.

It was a tremendous encouragement to see God raising up a multitude of Latin young people from countries such as Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and many other nationalities that were present.

Video Project

2 weeks of the month of April were dedicated to filming and photographing the ongoing ministries through NTM Paraguay. A partner organization in Paraguay generously donated the time of a professional videographer to work with Mike.

The multimedia team covered 2,600 kilometers (1,615 miles) of Paraguay, visited 4 tribes, and documented the multifaceted, cross-cultural ministry of tribal church planting in Paraguay.  Mike was pleased to donate his photography skills as well.

Trisha and the children stayed for a week with the church planting team among the Pai, where Mike’s brother, sister, and cousin work. She helped “hold down the fort” while the Team was busy teaching a week-long Bible study on the book of Romans.

Short-term Missions trip in May

Mike and his coworker Samuel will be leading a team of 5 for a short-term mission’s trip among the Pai Tavytera tribal people. The goal of the trip is to provide a cross-cultural experience for the 5 team members, and they will be doing a work project for the Pai church. Mike and Samuel also plan to teach a Bible course in the Pai church. Trisha and the children will be going along, and they will be staying at the guest house to serve the team by preparing meals and will continue to do their normal homeschooling materials. This trip will be a week-long at the end of May. Please be praying for the team, the leaders, and the Pai church.

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.   Romans 15:13

Thank you for praying and supporting the Goddard family as they minister in Paraguay!

Mike & Trisha Goddard

In this Goddard Grapevine: (1) Ministry happening in March (2) Traveling to Argentina and (3) Children’s Corner

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Ministry happenings in March

In March, Mike and his coworker Samuel went to visit a Pai village to encourage the believers as well as to investigate the possibilities of taking a short term missions team there in May. It has been confirmed that the mobilization team will be leading an ACERCATE trip of 5 people from a Bible Institute in Texas.

The Goddards had the opportunity to speak in Damian and Claudio’s church. These 2 young men were on the ACERCATE trip in January. It was a wonderful time of sharing about missions with the church. We also had the opportunity to speak in Iglesia Bautista Sin Fronteras during their missions’ emphasis month.

Mike has the privilege to teach once again this year in CEMP’s Bible training for Pastors. He is very excited to be co-teaching the book of Ephesians in Guarani with, Samuel and Pastor Ramon. The leaders that they are teaching are hearing in their heart language truths regarding their position in Christ.

The Goddards had the privilege to be a part of Marcos and Blanca’s wedding the end of March. Marcos and his parents, Ramon and Marciana, are their adopted Paraguayan family. It was a joy for Mike to serve them by photographing the wedding along with an assistant photographer in training.

Traveling to Argentina

Please pray for safety as Mike travels to Argentina during Easter week for a youth conference. There will be approximately 200 missions leaders and youth volunteers attending, and they will spend 3 ½ days of fellowship and planning for a missions rally in 2014.

Children’s Corner

Michael, motivated by Lea finishing her 1st grade books, completed his 2nd grade books (10 days ahead of schedule), and he has now started 3rd grade. He loves math! Something new in 3rd grade are the “Speed Drills”, which he absolutely loves! He likes making his own video clips and editting them on the computer.

Lea is excited that she is now in 2nd grade. She loves music and has lessons in guitar with her. She enjoys coloring and baking cookies all by herself.

Kaleb’s Kindergarten consists of learning to read, writing neatly, math, and basic English grammar. He also joins Michael and Lea in their studies on health, science, and history. He loves to draw pictures of the family, play with his monkey “Bungle”, and help mom in the kitchen.

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Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.   1 Peter 1:3-5

May each of you have a wonderful Easter celebrating our Savior!

Mike & Trisha Goddard

Praise:

1. For the opportunity to celebrate Christmas with Mike’s siblings and their families.
2. For Mike’s parents, who came to visit their children and grandchildren in Paraguay for 3 weeks.

Prayer Requests:

1. Wisdom and guidance from the Lord as Mike & Trisha raise their children and train them to walk in truth.
2. For their lives to reflect Christ and that all they do will honor and glorify Him.
3. For wisdom for Mike and Trisha as they serve in the different responsibilities that they are responsible for.
4. For Trisha, who is homeschooling Michael, Lea, and Kaleb.
5. For Mike & Trisha as they lead the Latin short term mission trip called ACERCATE. to the Pai and oversee the building of the Pai church.
6. For good health.
7. For safety in travels to the Chaco and the East side of Paraguay

Read about our Christmas with Mike’s family and Pai believers,

our church’s youth camp, field conference with other missionaries,

photography opportunities, and a brief update about our children

Christmas with Mike’s Family and Pai believers

Each year we look forward to spending Christmas with family. Mike’s brother and sister and their families live only a 5-hour drive away, making it easy to drop in for a couple of days. This year included a Christmas service with the Pai Tavytera church on the 25th. The meeting lasted over 3 hours as one by one people would go up front and share a testimony of God’s grace in their lives.

In 3 weeks, we will be returning to assist the Pai Tavytera build a larger church building for their weekly gatherings for worship and teaching. Pray with us and the Pai Tavytera church, as we continue to raise funds for this building project and for volunteer workers.

If you would like to have a part in Acércate 2012, you can visit our website. Be sure to indicate that this is a one-time designated gift toward the building project.

December: Youth camp, Field Conference, and Photography

Mike was given several opportunities to share on missions during our church camp. After talking passionately about the  Ayore people in the Paraguayan Chaco, he asked, “and who will go!?” to which one girl replied, “you will Mike!”

From church camp we went directly to NTM’s conference where we were refreshed by teaching in both Spanish and English.

Mike was able to serve two young couples in December by photographing their wedding. One couple started training in Brazil and will continue missionary training  in Bolivia in 2012. They desire to be tribal church planters.

Children Update

Michael graduated this year from 2nd grade in the Paraguayan Christian school this year. In 2012, he will be homeschooled by his mother.

Lea had a great time playing with her cousin Briana during Christmas Break.

Kaleb is started out the year very shy in pre-school, but he emerged very fluent in Spanish and outgoing.

>> Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. Psalms 145:2-4

Thank you for your prayers and support which make it possible for us to serve on a full-time basis here in Paraguay.

Because of Christ,

Mike & Trisha Goddard

MINISTRY // CHILDREN // YOU CAN BE INVOLVED

MINISTRY NEWS

A tremendous blessing from the first Missions Conference in our church here in Asuncion was that it brought the missionaries closer together in unity. Recently after church, the six missionary families had dinner together and discussed ways that we can continue to encourage our church in missions throughout this year and the next.

Each month we invite the Christian community to NTM Paraguay’s Acercate meeting. This has been a tremendous opportunity to build relationships and share about tribal missions around the world!

Mike continues to meet with the members of a Paraguayan Mission Board called FEMIPA. Currently, they are working their way together through the Mobilization Manual that Mike put together for such an occasion. The objective is to assist FEMIPA to equip their church association to handle both local and cross-cultural ministries.

The Pai Tavytera church where Mike’s brother and sister are working, have been praying about a new church building. FEMIPA has adopted the church project, and therefore, several short-term missions trips are being planned for early 2012, to build a church building and to see young people challenged into cross-cultural ministries!

Mike has 2 more teaching sessions (last weekend of October and last weekend of November) to teach the church leaders of an association called CEMP. Out of 68 Bible lessons, he has taught through 12! When offered the option of moving rapidly toward the end, they said “No! We want to savor all the truths we are learning from the book of Genesis!”

Trisha recently had brightly colored t-shirts made; each designed with a missions challenge designed to show the need for more missionaries among tribal people.

MICHAEL, LEA, AND KALEB

Michael continues to plug away at learning different languages and doing really well. He is happy that they recently started their Soccer tournament at school. He, Lea, and Kaleb are on the “Blue Shark” team! When his team didn’t win, he said, “That’s alright, we did our best and had lots of fun.”

Right now in school, Lea is learning cursive writing and has been practicing a lot. She is praying that mommy will be her teacher next year, because she says “Mom is the best teacher and doing school with her is easy!”

Kaleb loves using the different languages that he knows and especially mixing them together to make new words. He has definitely outgrown his shyness. He now enjoys talking away, being his teachers’ helper, and motivating other classmates in their schoolwork.

YOU CAN GET INVOLVED!!

Would you like to sponsor a Paraguayan youth to be a part of building the Pai Tavytera church? The estimated cost per person for one week is $100. This includes transportation from Asuncion and food. Any remaining funds will be given as an offering toward the building project.

Thank you for your prayers and support which make it possible for us to serve on a full-time basis here in Paraguay.

1. For Mike, who had the opportunity to teach in 3 different churches the 12 hour module course on Evangelism and Discipleship. He really enjoyed teaching and interacting with the believers in each class.
2. For the 1st missions conference at the Goddard’s Paraguayan church the last weekend of August. It was a wonderful missions-focused weekend!
3. For a missionary couple who was willing to bring 24 Spanish “The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus” books to Paraguay with them for NTM’s Resource Dept.
4. For the blessing of a Paraguayan youth, who is the Goddards’ friend. The Goddards went to get a bike for Lea, but this youth worked at the store and gave them a tremendous discount enabling them to buy a bike for Kaleb too!
5. For the recent opportunity to share their lives and testimonies with 2 Paraguayan friends, who needed encouragement and a listening ear.

Prayer Requests:

1. Wisdom and guidance from the Lord as they raise their children and train them to walk in truth.
2. For Michael, Lea, and Kaleb, as they continue studying at the Paraguayan Christian school and that they will be godly examples to their classmates. Their school year ends in November.
3. For good health.
4. For their lives to reflect Christ and that all they do will honor and glorify Him.
5. For Mike, who is traveling by bus with a group to the Chaco for the day on Sept. 3.
6. For Mike as he speaks at a church on Sept. 4.
7. For the ACERCATE mission-focused meeting overseen by Mike on Sept 6.
8. For Mike, as he attends an Ache Pastors get-together/meeting on Sept. 9 & 10.
9. For Mike as he speaks at our church on Sept. 11.
10. For Mike as he speaks to a youth group on Sept. 17.
11. For Mike who will be teaching Chronological Bible classes the end of this month in a town 2 ½ hours outside of Asuncion.
12. For Mike as he looks into the possibility of planning a trip to the training center in Bolivia sometime in September or October.
13. For Trisha as she continues to oversee the Spanish Resource dept within NTM and looks into affordable ways to bring Spanish resources from the USA to Paraguay.
14. For the months of October and November as they begin to fill up with ministry opportunities and different trips.
15. For Mike as he begins the preparations and scheduling for a Latin Mobilization conference in Brazil for April 2012.
16. For the ministry of assisting other NTM mobilization ministries in Latin America.
17. For full time coworkers in ENLACE.
18. For the Ache tribal church. They need teaching and discipleship in their heart language.
19. For LETRA Paraguay as they continue to translate the Bible in Ache.

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36 HOURS = 65 STUDENTS

Mike had the privilege of teaching through once again an Evangelism and Discipleship course he and another coworker had prepared in 2009. He taught the course three times in August, starting in a city on the Brazilian border.

In the photo, Mike is with a Pastor and Director of the Bible Institute.

Mike used sunglasses to illustrate the importance of teaching and training at a worldview level to avoid syncretism. 65 students, 36 hours of teaching in three churches gave Mike a prime opportunity to build relationships and to share about the global needs of cross-cultural ministry. The seeds planted in the hearts of these dear followers of Christ will have a lasting impact on their community and among unreached people groups.

RENUEVO’s 8th ANNIVERSARY and 1st MISSIONS CONFERENCE

This August was a very special month for us as we assisted our local church on their 8th anniversary to organize their very first World Missions Conference! We ordered 20 flags from the USA and for a very affordable price was able to give an international flavor to the church decorations.

Mike was given an evening to share on the local church’s reaction before the Great Commission by faith-giving and praying.

During the Missions Conference, Trisha and some of the women put together a “Cantina Misionera” to raise funds for a nice offering for a Paraguayan missionary family from our church. Trisha sold brownies, coffee cake, empanadas, soda, and coffee. On the last day, we were able to hand $150 to our missionaries!

KIDS’ KORNER

The children also heard stories by missionaries during the Conference. They enjoyed videos on the lives of famous missionaries like Amy Carmichael. Lord willing, these children will grow up with a heartbeat for Missions!

For Kid’s Day in Paraguay, we went to a bike store to purchase Lea’s first bicycle. A young man from a church we’ve spoken in gave us a tremendous discount enabling us to buy a bike for Kaleb too! Now all three enjoy riding their bikes at any opportunity they get, even in the house on rainy days.

Kaleb and his buddy Jeremias dressed up as colonial Paraguayans for a school play!

SU REFUGIO // HIS REFUGE

Yesterday, we enjoyed visiting Su Refugio (His Refuge) >> A place where children in troubled living conditions can find a safe and loving environment. It is a place where His glory is manifested, where His love is shared, His light is revealed and His Word is taught to the people of Paraguay.

As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him. Psalms 18:30

You can see some pictures of our day trip to Su Refugio on Facebook.

Read below for the Goddard’s up-to-date Praise & Prayer Requests.

Praise:

1.   For Lea and Trisha, who both celebrated birthdays in February.

2.   For  the opportunity to visit with many of our coworkers this last month and the visit from Mike’s brother and family.

Prayer Requests:

1.   For Mike and Trisha – continued wisdom and guidance from the Lord as they raise their children and train them to walk in truth.

2.   For Michael, Lea, and Kaleb, as they continue studying at the Paraguayan Christian school.

3.   For good health. Right now, there is a lot of sickness going around as well as dengue fever.

4.   For their lives to reflect Christ and that all they do will honor and glorify Him.

5.   For Mike, who will be sharing at a missions meeting on March 4.

6.   Safety for Mike, as he travels out of the country for 10 days the 3^rd week of March to attend a seminar.

7.   For Mike, who will begin a Chronological Bible teaching series (from Creation to Christ) the last week of March. This teaching will take place the end of every month from March until October in a town 3 hours outside of Asuncion.

8.   For wisdom for the Goddards as they have opportunities to visit with, encourage, and disciple their Paraguayan friends.

9.   For the ministry of assisting other NTM mobilization ministries in Latin America.

10.   For full time coworkers to help Mike and Trisha in Mobilization.

11. For Ronald and Melissa, Maria Marta, Israel, and Leonie – Paraguayans in Bible or Missionary training in Bolivia or Brazil. Please pray for them as they study, their home churches, financial partners, and their future ministries as each have expressed a desire to be cross-cultural missionaries.

In this month’s Goddard Grapevine newsletter, you can read about:

- Our Ministry

- Our Children

- Our Missionary Team continues to Grow

- Tribal Update: Ache, Angaite, and Sanapana

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>> Our Ministry

This year Mike continues to develop in greater detail a mobilization strategy designed specifically for the Paraguayan local church’s needs. The basic concept: disciple and train church-appointed Missions Promoters that can carry out an effective cross-cultural missions program in their fellowship. Another commitment this year is to teach and train church leaders to use Firm Foundations materials in Guarani.

Trisha continues to oversee the publicity and resource department – two crucial areas where additional energy is needed. Trisha also is a full-time wife and mother of three energetic children. Each night before tucking the children into bed, she will read a Bible story and brings practical application to their lives.

>> Our Children

Michael, Lea, and Kaleb are enjoying going to a Spanish-speaking Christian school. They are making lots of friends and continue to gain fluency in Spanish as well as a basic understanding of Guarani (national language of Paraguay) and Portuguese. Also, once a week, their children enjoy interacting with other MKs in a 2-hour-long Spanish program.

>> Our Missionary Team continues to Grow

Currently there are 5 couples and 4 singles studying Spanish and Paraguayan culture in our Equipping program. 3  additional couples and 1 single are also enroute for the purpose of meeting identified needs among the 17 tribal groups of Paraguay.

>>  Tribal Update

- ACHE: This month, Mike attended an Ache church building dedication ceremony in the village he grew up in. It was a great time of rejoicing with them, but also a heaviness as the local church is in the midst of a doctrinal struggle with the Pentecostal movement. After the ceremony, the church members called for a meeting with the visiting missionaries to make right any wrongs that may have happened in the past.  Please pray for the Ache church during these days.

- ANGAITE: This month, there was a spiritual revival in the Angaite church after having fasted and prayed for one week over 4 young people who were reportedly demon-possessed. Pray for the church during these challenging times.

– SANAPANA: This month, the Sanapana church received printed copies of the translated Bible portions available in their heart language. During the ceremony, the Sanapana were encouraged by the truth that God intensely desires to communicate with people and that He communicates through His Word and that His words are being made understandable to them. Continue to pray for the team working among the Sanapana as they translate God’s Word.

>> THANK YOU!

Thank you for your partnership in ministry. Each month we send out a brief summary of what we see God doing in and through our family. This would not be possible if it were not for people like you and your church standing behind us; providing a strong support network. God’s Word says that treasures are being stored up in Heaven for you and for us as we work together to build God’s Church among the nations.

Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your Team; and representing Christ in Paraguay.

In Christ’s Love,

Mike & Trisha Goddard

Read an update on the Goddard’s time in the USA as well as find out their schedule for the next 2 months.

TRAVELING TO PA, MI, and WI

The first part of September, we traveled to PA, MI, and WI. While in PA, we were able to share about our ministry at a church that we attended while in Missionary Training in 2001-2002. It was such a joy to see everyone again. We also spent some time at the NTM Mobilization Center. During our time in Jersey Shore, PA, Michael enjoyed stopping by to see the first apartment that he lived in when he was born.

We stopped in at Jackson, MI for one night to visit friends, and then headed on to Wisconsin, where we spent a week that included: an opportunity to share on a Sunday morning at Meadowbrook Church, sharing at NTBI Waukesha, a visit to the Milwaukee Zoo, eating out with friends, terere (Paraguayan tea) circle with Paraguayan MKs and coworkers, and fun at the lake and different parks with Trisha’s family.

BACK IN WEST VIRGINIA

Since arriving back in WV, we have been involved in our home church Grace Gospel Church’s week-long missions conference. We had 24 speaking opportunities in Sunday School classes, 2 main services, AWANA, and the Christian school. What a joy to share about what God is doing in Paraguay with so many people!

The kids are happy to be back to their toys and friends in WV, yet they are counting the days until they go home to Paraguay.

During the Missions Conference at Grace Gospel, our church family did something extra special for our children by taking up an offering just for them.  The kids are very excited about getting some new toys as well as by giving 10% of their money to Paraguayan students training in Bible school and missionary training.

OUR SCHEDULE:

Huntington, WV from now until Nov. 14

Camdenton, MO from Nov. 15 – 25

Sanford, FL from Nov. 27 – Dec. 1

Miami, FL for the night of Dec. 1

Leave for and arrive in Paraguay on Dec. 2