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

Read in this monthly Goddard Grapevine:

(1) 9 months of Bible teaching in Caaguazu

(2) Testimonies of Rural Church Leaders

(3) Intercultural Missions Conference

(4) Children Update

(5) Prayer Requests

9 Months of Bible Teaching

November concluded 9 months of Bible teaching to rural church leaders. One man gave testimony saying, “I’ve been saved for 20 years, but finally I feel like I’m getting to know God! Mike has helped us establish a firm foundation in our lives; that foundation is Christ!”

The church leaders expressed their gratitude to each of the Bible teachers by giving a printed certificate.

Trisha’s service in the kitchen alongside the other cooks, was also recognized through a certificate. Her experiences will be very helpful as she cooks for the 2 work teams in January and February 2012.

Testimonies of rural church leaders from the 9 month Bible teaching:

“The stories of Adam and Eve and about the Church had become common to me until this year. I’m understanding things I had never known.”  – Alcides

“I have always been extremely timid and backward, but God’s Word has given me tremendous confidence!” – Manuel

“Mike wrote on the white board about who we were before salvation and who we are now in Christ. All we have to do is use the tools God has given us to live in holiness!” – Saul

Intercultural Missions Conference

A Paraguayan organization called LETRA Paraguay and NTM put together an intercultural missions conference where tribal church leaders, national missionaries and expatriate missionaries were able to fellowship together and learn from one another’s experiences and ministries. There were 11 different ministries present, numerous churches, and 4 tribal groups from both Paraguay and Argentina.

Mike oversaw the organization and logistics of the conference while Trisha handled the welcome table and NTM’s display table. It was encouraging to see so many people working together toward a common objective: to see that the Gospel is preached and lived out among the least-reached people groups of Paraguay.

Children Update

Michael, Lea, and Kaleb have finished their school year in a Paraguayan Christian School and are now homeschooling.

This next year, we will be homeschooling. The kids are very excited to have mom as a teacher again and enjoy having their own assignment books to “check” of the assignments that they have accomplisted during the day.

Michael is finishing his 2nd grade English Abeka books and will begin 3rd grade soon.  Lea is finishing her 1st grade English Abeka books and will begin 2nd grade soon. Kaleb is continuing his Kindergarten English Abeka books.

Their Spanish has greatly improved over the year and often speak it in the home. We praise the Lord for our children, who have learned Spanish as well as tidbits of Guarani and Portuguese. In fact, this next  2 1/2 weeks, we will be having a Brazilian friend stay with us.

Prayer Requests

(1) to provide our children a balanced life-style in both education and ministry.

(2) wisdom as we raise our children to walk in righteousness in their faith in Jesus Christ.

(3) wisdom as we lead two Latin missions teams to build a church building with the Pai Tavytera

(4) wisdom as we live out Christ in so many contexts and cultures on a daily basis. May His Church be built up and engage efficiently in worldwide missions!

Download a printable version here: Goddard Grapevine – November 2011

Check out our new family photos here >> Goddard family 2011

Mike & Trisha Goddard
Michael, Lea, and Kaleb

Missionaries in Paraguay since 2004

I lift up my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from?  My help comes from the LORD , the Maker of heaven and earth.  He will not let your foot slip- he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.  The LORD watches over you- the LORD is your shade at your right hand;  the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.  The LORD will keep you from all harm- he will watch over your life;  the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. Psalms 121

Praise:

1. For the opportunity to serve the Paraguayan Christian community.
2. For the ACERCATE 2012 project that is now in full swing >> building a church for the Pai believers in a tribal location.
3. For Michael, Lea, and Kaleb, who are finishing up their school year at the Spanish Christian school mid- Nov and looking forward to being homeschooled with mom.

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 will be homeschooling their 3 children. Lord-willing, she is hoping to get 3-4 weeks of school in before the 2^nd week of December and start again end of February.
5. For Mike & Trisha as they lead 2 short term mission trips (ACERCATE) for 2 weeks each with approx. 12 Latin youth (end of January and beginning of February). These 2 teams will have a part in building a church for the Pai tribal people and see cross-cultural missions first-hand.
6. For good health.
7. For safety in travels.

Praise:

1. For God’s continued provision for their needs.
2. That their children have a week vacation from school in October.

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 Mike as he prepares for different meetings with pastors and missions organizations.
4. For safety as the Goddards travel to 4 different cities this month (Encarnacion, General Aquino, Neuland, and Caaguazu).
5. For the different meetings throughout this month with Pastors and other Mission Organizations.
6. For the different ACERCATE short term mission trips that are being organized for 2012.
7. For the Latin Mobilization conference that will be held in Brazil in April 2012.
8. For the Ache tribal church and the Bible translation being done by LETRA Paraguay.
9. For students in Bible Institute or Missions Institute: Ronald & Melissa (training in Bolivia); Leonie  (training in Bolivia).

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.

In this update: Read about highlights from our ministry, an update on Elvio,

tidbits about our children, and “God is King over all the nations”.

Highlights from our Ministry in Paraguay

Amidst the flurry of activities in July, Mike was invited to share on “Missions in Paraguay” during a youth camp bordering Brazil. While there, we met a wonderful group of believers involved in church planting and equipping Christians for ministry.

Mike has felt so privileged to work through “Building on Firm Foundations” material with church leaders. His focus continues to be to assist them to “teach at a worldview level” as they  go about leading others to Christ and discipling them in Truth.  This month Antonio was the first to take a bold step and teach through lesson 5 of “Building on Firm Foundations.”

Trisha continues to serve with the women of our church in the organization of the children’s program during our first Missions Conference. She also oversees the NTM Paraguay’s Resource Dept. and is scouring for internet for good missions-related materials in Spanish.

During our travels we took time out as a family to visit one of the world’s largest hydroelectric dams: Itaipu.

Update on Elvio

Elvio (the Pai Tavytera man we wrote about last month), after much delay received his surgery on his spine and is back home in his community. It was great to see God’s people rally around him by providing walls around his house, a wheelchair, food, clothing, a bed, transportation and many other things!

Tidbits about our Children

Michael, though he doesn’t look forward to traveling and getting car-sick, is always making new friends all over Paraguay and plays non-stop all day long. Languages are hard for Michael, but it never stops him from making friends!

Lea took on the challenge of making brownies for a group of 25 people!

Kaleb loves to help his mommy make pizza each Friday for lunch. This month while Mike was gone on a trip, each one of the children got to make their own personalized pizza, starting with the dough!

Psalms 47:8  God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.

“God is King over all the nations”; a truth that encourages us as we maintain our focus to “equip the saints for ministry”. We appreciate each and every one of you that stand behind us in support of what God is doing here in Paraguay! Your faithful support enables us to focus a tremendous amount of time and energy into the lives of people in this region of the world.