Dear Family, Friends, and Supporters:

 

                  Hola from Paraguay!! We hope you have had a marvelous beginning for 2004. The Lord continues to bless in ways that confound and amaze us this year. For those who participated in our day of fasting and prayer, thank you so much and we want you to know that it proved very fruitful not only for us but also for the work. God is truly answering our prayers. Even more, we hope it helped you in your walk with the Lord.  

 

Announcements:

                  We are excited to make two very important announcements. First, after much prayer and discussion, we have selected September 5, 2004 to be our inaugural service date. We are very excited as we work toward this goal. If you interested in coming to be a part of this historic day, just let us know!! Also, we have selected April 17, 2004 for our 2^nd annual Sponsoring Church Workshop. This Saturday event is designed for leaders of our various supporting congregations to come together and learn the detailed plans and reports of the team. It will be at the Savannah Church of Christ in Savannah, Tenn., the overseeing congregation of Ethan and Ashley Hardin. If you need more information, just reply to this email.

 

Language Update:

                  Recently, a Paraguayan brother in Christ told us that if he were our teacher, he would give us a ten out of ten in our language comprehension and progress. I tell you this not to give us the credit, but to glorify God for our progress; because without His blessing our efforts, we would not be this far. Yes, we are able to hold conversations in Spanish for much longer periods of time, but it seems overwhelming that we will have to preach, teach, and share the Gospel in this language. Our team is set to have Spanish services as we meet each week beginning in March. So, the pressure is on!

                  This being said, we still have many funny moments when words are mixed up and we say things that totally don’t make sense. I want to share a few more of these with you:

• “Leave a message on my VCR.” (meant to say answering machine)
• “Can I come over and see your knives.” (meant to say puppies)
• “I don’t like the humor of cigarette smoke.” (meant to say fumes)
• “I need to get home, so I can eat the dogs.” (meant to say feed)
• “Hey, there’s a horse in my soup!” (meant to say hair)

Obviously, these don’t make any sense and sound especially funny when you know that you only mixed up one letter of a word thereby changing the whole meaning.

 

Contacts:

                  We are proud to announce that Vickie and I finally feel competent in Spanish to have Paraguayan couples in our home for dinner. This is a great way to build relationships and develop friendships while also improving our Spanish. This past weekend we had a couple over and it was a wonderful experience. At one point in the night, Nilsa (the wife) asked if she would be invited to the church that we plant! It is so exciting to see people that want to know more about the Bible without preconceived notions or defensive attitudes!! Praise God for this answered prayer! In the future, we will continue to introduce to you contacts that we have made and are developing.

 

A Note From Vickie:

                  We truly have been blessed in our lives here in Paraguay.  Each day we learn more about ourselves and more about how things work here.  Cooking for example, has been a big change for me.  One thing that I always asked myself before arriving on the field was:  how will I ever be able to know what every thing in the store is?  And now that we have arrived, I still often ask myself this question as I wander through the supermarket trying to distinguish between corn me! al and corn starch.  You might think that our toughest task would be finding our way around the city, or driving through the streets where there are no enforced traffic laws.  But I think my most challenging moment so far was trying to purchase a rump roast from the butcher in Supermercado Hyperseis!  I looked at every single cut of meat in the department and decided that none of them looked anything like what I needed.  I even compared them with my picture of a cow labeled with Paraguayan meat cuts.  After finally deciding on a cut that most resembled a roast, I had to figure out exactly how to say it in Spanish while standing in front of an audience of anxious meat-buyers in a long line behind me.  And then, came the wo! rst part--having to understand and answer whatever question he might ask me using “butcher vocabulary”.  I made it through this round of questioning and came home with some form of meat that slightly resembled a roast.  I felt a great sense of accomplishment!  However, after cooking it for over 8 hours in a crock pot, it was still hard as a rock!  My female Spanish professor assures me that there is a cut that is tenderer, and that she can help me find it.  So, back to Supermercado Hyperseis I will have to face the challenge of buying meat!  It is amazing how we take for granted the simple things that we are able to do in life each day.  I never thought that buying meat in a ! grocery store could be such a challenge.  But, I have learned to enjoy and laugh at these challenges--and to accept them as part of our settlement and adjustment.

 

Answered Prayers:

                  I want to ask you to thank God for the following answered prayers:

1. Our Visas: We have received our 1-year visas, after months of prayers and work.

2. Our Shipment: After over 6 months without many household items, our container finally arrived and we got it through customs (in an amazingly fast time!).

3. Spanish Language: We continue to grow and learn in the Spanish Language. It is a blessing from God!!

4. Our Families and Friends: It has been a blessing to have the internet to communicate and stay in touch with our families and friends. This has been a great source of support through our move.

5. Our Financial Support: The Lord has provided for our support to be here and continues to sustain us (in more ways than just financial too!).

6. The Receptivity of Paraguay: We feel like the field is ripe unto harvest and we know that God is bringing to us those that are searching for the truth. We are thankful for His faithfulness!

 

                  Again, thank you for praying for us and supporting us. We love you all and appreciate your service to the Lord. Together, with your prayers and support, our presence here, and especially the Lord, we can make a difference in the lives of the lost in Paraguay.

 

In Him,
Chris and Vickie Fry

Phil. 1:3

 

Chris and Vickie Fry

Casilla de Correo 13092

Shopping del Sol

Asuncion, Paraguay

Home Phone: 011-595-21-665-083

Cell Phone (Chris) 011-595-991-734-491

Cell Phone (Vickie) 011-595-991-734-492

Website: www.paraguaymission.com