Expectations Surpassed in Paraguay

Published: October 17th, 2006

EXPECTATIONS SURPASSED IN PARAGUAY!

Pray-ers in Paraguay are quickly learning that candles create soot, but that prayer can also generate tears.

People involved in the Iglesia San Andrés, Asuncion, sparked by a vision to motivate their Youth into action, felt that the logical plan was to organise projects and to do, do, do. But wise words came… “ what we need to do is pray.”

A few weeks later that is what was happening: The disused space that once held the baptistery staircase was given a new lease of life. The accumulated junk, table tennis tables, barbeques and motorbike (!) were removed and the prayer room began to take shape The water supply once used for the baptistery and the split level organisation of the room was perfect. Almost as if it was made for it!!!

The gargantuan scale of a small group of young people taking on a whole week of prayer seemed too much, but with help enlisted from the morning congregation of the church, the English speaking church next door, another youth project and rallying the troops from a local school, it seemed less daunting. And so it began…with a great sense of anticipation and faith.

From the very beginning the room reverberated with life. Patrick Butler, the Youth Worker comments: “So many young people had worked to get it all ready that there was a real sense of expectation and faith that somehow we would have the whole week filled. We had overspent the budget but a business man offered to cover all the outstanding costs- amazing.”

God was clearly in this project and as the initial days passed, the prayer room became a magnet. Everyone wanted to be there. It was THE place to be. The graffiti wall filled with heartfelt prayers. People we meeting God, some for the first time, many finding a refuge in this space that was away from the stresses and strains of everyday life. Teachers’ bought their pupils, university students cried as they read the prayer scrawled on the walls.  A group of young people, with no church connections, surpassed expectations by not only turning up for their slot in the middle of the night, but they were early!

People have found refreshment. A prayer by Norman Gwynn sums up this experience:
“I asked for a glass of water to quench my thirst but you sent a flood. You soaked me and washed me from head to toe. I have not only enough water to satisfy my thirst but also to give to others.”

It’s so simple and yet so powerful.

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