The Rocio Project: Week 6

As a display of typical Paraguayan dress,
Analia and I got to wear beautiful skirts and
blouses all night!!!

The pen scratches across the paper for a moment, and then pauses as I glance up, trying to find the words to capture my thought. In my brief break of focus, I notice Analía flip a page in her book across from me. The click of typing behind me says that Tanner is hard at work as well. Stifling an inward groan as the clock lets me know how late it is, I finally catch a vague idea of the words I need to express this sixth principle. The pen begins scratching again, the English in my brain somehow coming out in Spanish on paper. Six down, four to go.

Last week, we studied the role of the local church in community development, both through teachers and this amazing book, “If Jesus Were Mayor” (Bob Moffitt). What am I taking away? The vision of reconciliation that God has is whole-istic-- physical, spiritual, social, and intellectual. As we develop communities (that’s people), our view needs to be broad and go to the root of the problem. Whenever possible, community development needs to happen through the local church. The church is uniquely positioned to influence every sphere of society and every area of life, long term. When a local church catches a glimpse of God’s wholistic agenda and applies it to their lives and their community, nations are discipled. This vision of the local church as a team guided by their Coach and united around outward-focused goal breathed life into me and made my box get a little bigger ; ).

This week’s topic of transcultural ministry involves one of my favorite topics- how to understand other cultures and minister effectively in them. Culture shock, types of cultures, how to learn customs, and the heart attitude that reflects who He is are a part of this teaching. All the stuff you wish you would have known ; ). This week marks the halfway point of the school- it feels like it’s flown by!


Every other week we have a “family night” as a base, and our class works together to present a community we’ve researched and pray for that community. It raises awareness of the needs of the world around us and even the cultures you maybe don’t hear about so much. Last week, my roomie, Analia and our classmate Rene took this project a step further and invited the Paraguayan Ambassador to Costa Rica to come share about their beloved country. Check out the photos!

The Ambassador's party, Analia, Rene, and I- "the Paraguayans" of the night!

I'm loving my classmates and my school staff! Here, we pose
with the ambassador and his wife. From right to left, it's Analia,
Kevin, Alex, Johann, Amanda, Yoel, Tanner, Elizabeth, the ambassador,
his wife, advisor, Giacomo, me, Jose, Marianela, Elsi, and Rene.

I've enjoyed practicing my Spanish with Analia and learning more
about her culture. She's got this amazing passion for her country
and the drive to actually do something about the problems she sees.