April 2009

Our UK volunteers with some of their spouses

Please thank God with us for our dedicated and skilled team of volunteers in the UK. David Orritt, John Tompkins, Beth Totaro, Colin Voutt and Ann Varley all contribute to fundraising and other donor relations activities to support our work here in Paraguay. Their efforts are vital to FEISA’s survival. Please pray for guidance, strength and health for them all.

Praise the Lord for the 28 new first year students that have now started their teacher training at FEISA! This is more than we even hoped for, so give thanks for God’s abundant providence. We also have seven new degree students. Please pray for each of these new students, for good relationships to be built up with each other and the staff. Pray also for the love of Christ to shine through each member of staff, reaching out to the students who need it.

Give thanks for the Consecration of the new Bishop of the Anglican Church in Paraguay, Rev. Peter Bartlett. The service, presided over by Archbishop Greg Venables, took place on 29th March and was attended by bishops from different parts of Latin America as well as pastors from all the Paraguayan Anglican congregations. Please pray for Peter and his wife Sally as they settle into this new culture and especially for Peter as he begins this new and hugely demanding role. The Church and all its ministries here in Paraguay are deeply affected by the economic crisis so pray for wisdom and strength for the new bishop as he takes the helm in these challenging times.

The new bishop's consecration service

For the whole month of April, our third year students are doing teaching practice in state schools. Please pray for peace and strength for them at this stressful time, and for God’s love to shine through them to the children they teach.

The mobile play scheme will be visiting six of the schools where our students are on placement, to give the children in these disadvantaged areas the opportunity to play freely for an afternoon or a morning. Please pray for safety and energy for the team and for the children to be blessed.

On 20th April, there will be a training session for the team from Quyquyho, who are setting up their own play space with a view to blessing the children in the home for abandoned girls as well as the surrounding community. Please pray for guidance as the FEISA team prepares the training and for a good and productive time on the day.

Please continue to pray for a sense of God’s guidance and peace in FEISA, particularly for the leadership team as they seek His direction at this time of financial instability.

March 2009

Fun English Workshop
Children in the Chaco Games with Indigenous Teachers

Praise the Lord for the 15 first year students who have enrolled so far. Please continue to pray for a further 10 students. They will start classes on 16th March. Please pray also for a total of 14 new degree students to enroll (we currently have only two confirmed).

Give thanks for a very successful “Fun English” workshop with teachers on 14th February. There were a total of 18 people who learned a creative and fun way to teach English to the youngest children. Many of them said how much they needed the training and almost all of them bought the accompanying resources.

Praise God for the provision of a great new English teacher to complete our team. Thank Him for a good reception by the students of the new English teaching system and please pray for peace and patience this first year as we test it out and for wisdom for the teachers to adapt it where necessary.

In February, two potentially significant donors expressed an interest in FEISA. Please pray for the applications in process to be accepted by these donors and for God’s will to be done in relation to bringing in the necessary funds this year.

The training visit to the indigenous community of El Estribo in the Chaco at the end of February was very successful. Praise the Lord for the enthusiasm of the teachers for the resources and the new songs and games they learned. They were particularly delighted with the workbooks FEISA has developed for the indigenous context in both Spanish and the indigenous language Enxet. FEISA has offered these workbooks to the Ministry of Education to be made available to all indigenous communities. Please pray that the Minister for Indigenous Education would approve these vital contextualized resources for distribution so that many more communities can have access to them.

This year, the play scheme team is supporting a ministry in the town of Quyquyho, where we have taken the toys on previous occasions for the children from the town to play. There is a family who run a home for abused and abandoned girls and they would like to set up their own permanent play space, both for the benefit of the children in the home and as an outreach to the local community. Operation South America is providing the funds for this project and FEISA is providing resources and training. Please pray for the FEISA team as they consider which resources are most appropriate and plan the training in order to support this family and their vital ministry.