Greetings from South America
I have wanted to write this letter ever since we came here! Maybe this will answer some of your questions about this country and how the mission got started here.
At the end of 1800s Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay united against Paraguay. Those countries were fighting to make one big country and Paraguay didn’t accept. The war lasted 5 years. At that time 500,000 people were living in Paraguay. At the end of the war 200,000 were left. Basically all of the male population was gone including a lot of young boys. Since their population was reduced to a third the government invited foreigners to come and colonize.
Therefore Paraguay is a mixture of all kinds of people. Brazilians, Argentineans, and a lot of Germans, Canadians, and Americans live here. There was a lot of land and at a cheap price. Some people own thousands of acres. Lots of them farm and raise cattle. Then most of the products would be exported.
The Paraguayans themselves have been left to struggle on their own. It’s very easy to see that foreigners run the economy. The Paraguayans themselves would tend to be poorer.
Mennonites of all kinds live in Paraguay. There are the old Mennonites that moved in from Mexico, who still drive horse and buggy to those who are now wearing jeans and have taken on most everything. Then there’s everything in between. They all live on their own colony. It is obvious that they came for the rich farm land. They have HUGE farms, lots of cattle and also dairy cows. They have set up grain bins, processing plants, and banks. All in all it looks like there plan succeeded. Some of the groups allow the Paraguayans to join their church and make their lives easier. Others will have nothing to do with them except to hire them for cheap labor. They want to keep their race pure! The sad thing is there is much discontent on these colonies. The bishop is the head and you must obey. Some of the bishops even have access to the peoples’ bank accounts. If they think you aren’t tithing properly they will just take it out. Out of all these churches it is very interesting to note that some fellowship together even greeting with the holy kiss even if all their beliefs wouldn’t match. Then others are too worldly for them.
These churches have lots of splits and a smaller group forms. One of theses splits is the reason our missionaries are here in Paraguay. Right close to us maybe half mile is an American colony. They are a split from the Amish. They still wear bonnets, suspenders are a MUST, but they have electricity and drive vehicles. A group of people became upset at all the rules of the church and felt that was not the Bible way. They split and a minister went with them starting a new little church just down the road. It wasn’t long and the people of this new group found out that their minister had some serious moral problems. They confronted him and he in a rage walked out and headed back to the US leaving them with no leader. One of the men in this church had a son living in North Carolina. He told his son that they needed a pastor for their church. This son knew a Paraguayan who was in our church living in Alabama. He called him and in turn Guido called the mission board. They came down to look over the situation and soon Guido and his wife were heading to Paraguay to be the first missionaries here. That was about 4 years ago. The going hasn’t been easy. Of that group we now have 3 members. Some of the others returned to the old church and some have no church.
We still have a nice attendance on Sundays and hope that more will join. At times it’s hard for these people to see much of a difference because really what’s one more church?
There are 3 missionary couples here at the time. One of them work is among the Mennonites, the other here in this little congregation, and the other couple is at a new post in Barrio San Pedro. In total there are 6 members in Paraguay. Three are courageous. The others are a husband, wife, and child. Antonio was very offended and bitter for awhile and wouldn’t let his family attend. Just the last few Sundays though he has been coming and bring them again. We are praying for a change.
There have also been 3 couples from the other Mennonite groups that have joined, but they have all moved back to Canada. That is hard on our Paraguayan members because we need a church in Paraguay too. They struggle to understand why they leave.
We are very much enjoying our time getting acquainted with the Paraguayans and there culture. You’re more than welcome to come visit and see for yourselves what it is like!
Written by a couple in Paraguay teaching school
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