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Hagerman March 10 Newsletter From Paraguay

This document is a newsletter from missionary family the Hagermans in Paraguay. It discusses their busy month which included getting their vehicle back, receiving permanent residency, and helping to host prayer seminars with visiting pastor Dr. Gordon Henry. The seminars were well-attended and brought together Christians from different denominations. The newsletter also describes local Holy Week traditions and how they provide opportunities to share the reason for Jesus' death and resurrection. It closes by thanking supporters and sharing contact details.

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Ken and Christie
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31 views

Hagerman March 10 Newsletter From Paraguay

This document is a newsletter from missionary family the Hagermans in Paraguay. It discusses their busy month which included getting their vehicle back, receiving permanent residency, and helping to host prayer seminars with visiting pastor Dr. Gordon Henry. The seminars were well-attended and brought together Christians from different denominations. The newsletter also describes local Holy Week traditions and how they provide opportunities to share the reason for Jesus' death and resurrection. It closes by thanking supporters and sharing contact details.

Uploaded by

Ken and Christie
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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tapé (tah PAY), n.

a way or path
(Guarani)

Many peoples will come and say, The Hagerman Family


"Come, let us go up to the mountain Carapeguá, Paraguay
of the LORD... He will teach us his
ways, so that we may walk in his
paths." Isaiah 2:3

March, 2010
Happy Fall! While those of you in the
northern hemisphere are enjoying spring,
we’re officially in the autumn season. It doesn’t actually FEEL like autumn (it’s still pretty hot), but the calendar says it is! March has been a
very busy month. We spent the first part preparing for the arrival of Dr. J. Gordon Henry, and the last two weeks helping him conduct prayer
seminars throughout Paraguay and Uruguay. Thankfully, we got our vehicle (the Mission Mobile) back out of the shop before he came into
Paraguay, so we were able to avoid the buses for all the travel. We still don’t have the legal papers for the truck, but at least we can drive it
again!
We also received some very important paperwork, namely, our permission to remain in the country for 10 years, without having to
renew our tourist visas every few months. This is a great blessing, as the process of renewing is not only costly financially, but timewise as
well. We thank the Lord for receiving our permanent residency and cedula cards after many months of jumping through hoops and cutting
through governmental red tape.
We are making plans for our visit home in October/November of this year. Many churches celebrate World Missions Month in
October, so if you’d like to have us visit that month (or in November), please let us know as soon as possible. We sure are excited about
reconnecting with you all and sharing what God has been up to in our corner of the world.

Semana Santa (Holy Week)


The week before Easter is a very special time here. It begins on Palm Sunday, when Catholics take palm branches to the
church to be blessed, then hang them in their homes to ward off evil spirits. School only goes until Wednesday, so lots of
families visit relatives for the long weekend. There are many more buses on the road than usual, and travel is difficult.

On Wednesday (known as Holy Wednesday here), the supermarkets are full of women buying what they need to make chipa
and other traditional foods for the weekend. Chipa is a hard bread usually in the shape of a doughnut,
although this week many will make them in the shape of a palm branch. Chipa has a smoky flavor because
it’s baked in a brick oven (“tatakua”), like the one on the left. The women cook chipa all day Thursday,
and that’s basically the only activity going on. Okay, not quite. The men are drinking lots of alcohol and
preparing to sleep all day Friday, because for lots of people it’s a day of fasting in honor of the crucifixion.
The streets are quiet, and folks generally stay in their homes on Friday. People don’t speak loudly or run
or do household chores, including cooking. Hence, the chipa is made in advance and shared as gifts to
neighbors, friends, and family on Holy Friday. Some of the more traditional Catholic ladies wear black as a
sign of mourning. In some neighborhoods, there are processions of people re-enacting the crucifixion as they walk down the
street, and singing mournful songs.

The sad thing is that the focus here is on the crucifixion, but not really on the reasons for Jesus’ death. An eight-year old
neighbor told me that he’d watched a crucifixion movie at his school earlier one day, and he cried as he described Jesus’
wounds. What a privilege to be able to share with him the REASON for those wounds, for His death, and for His resurrection.
Many times the traditions we witness open the door to opportunities to shed light on the confusion that religion without
relationship brings.
Iglesia Centro de Enseñanza Bíblica, Capiatá, The students in Carapeguá, Paraguay (Dr. Henry
Henry & Tasha Clary,
Paraguay (Saul, Pastors Jerry and Connie White, Dr. seated just right of center beside Saul)
Missionaries to Uruguay
Henry, us, and Hollie)

Dr. Henry took Paraguay and Uruguay by storm! He came here straight from Venezuela, where he’d conducted 12 seminars in two weeks, traveling over 1000 ground miles. Dr.
Henry still hit Paraguay running, and conducted three seminars (7 different sessions) in his first week here. He led two seminars (4 sessions) in Uruguay, and Saul taught one after
he left. The host churches were so hospitable to us, and we made many new friends along the way. We were able to participate not only in the classes, but youth meetings,
leadership training, and many other ministry events. Did we mention that the seminars were interdenominational and brought together people of all different churches to learn how
and why to approach the throne of God in prayer? It was such a privilege to be a part of getting this much needed teaching about prayer out to the church families here, to get
materials for further teaching into the hands of pastors, and to learn what God is doing in other parts of South America.

(below) Class participation in


(left) Ken preaching at San Capiatá, Paraguay
Fuentes, Uruguay

Students in San Fuente, Uruguay,


demonstrating 5 parts of prayer

(left) Christie got lots of


practice translating…. (right) Pastors and church
family in Montevideo

As always, we pray you are continually blessed, as you have blessed us and those here we minister to. We appreciate
so much your encouragement and support as we follow God’s lead in Paraguay. You are a part of every work we do
for the Kingdom, and we’re thrilled to be your partners in God’s plan for this country.

---Ken, Christie, Camille, and Caroline


CONTACT INFORMATION
God bless you!
Telephone in Paraguay:
¡Dios le bendiga! 595-985-782-928
Skype number: 864-343-1731
(Spanish)
Donations are received through our local church:
Ñandejára tanderovasa! Carolina Heights CoGoP
2900 Anderson Road
(Guarani) Greenville, SC 29611
(Please write “Hagerman Missions” on check
memo. All donations are tax deductible.)
**(If you are receiving this through the US Mail and have an email address, please send it to us so we can
get our newsletter to you in that way. It is much quicker and more efficient. If you don’t have an email Email: [email protected]
address, or if you just prefer the regular mail, don’t worry. We’ll keep sending it to you that way.) Webpages: www.hagermans.blogspot.com
www.tapemissions.org

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