Summer Missions 2026 Week 1: Paraguay
Hello everyone, from Paraguay!!
After two days of travel, we arrived in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, on Friday May 29 at 4 am. Devonna, who helped organize our trip, drove us back to the home where we would be staying for us to get some much-needed rest. The home was built very recently by the Fundacion Kuña Mimbi (Foundation of the Woman Who Shines) for women prisoners to live temporarily when they get out of prison. There are no women living there yet, so we were able to stay there. They call the home “treasure chest” in Spanish to remind the women of how valuable they are in God’s eyes.
When we woke up, we were introduced to Devonna’s friends and secretaries, Christine and Susie, and then we worshiped together and went over our schedule for the month. The team was grateful and relieved to be in Paraguay after the long days at the airport and super excited to start our mission work.
On Saturday, we joined with a church group for their weekly outreach to the kids in an area called the Marketplace. This area is one of the poorest in the city. We walked through the narrow street and the kids came trickling out of houses, following us to a park. At the park, we first sat down in groups for a Bible lesson, and then we played with them on the swings, slides, and merry-go-round. Some of the boys played soccer, and we also brought balloons and made balloon animals for them.
Saturday night, we joined Christine at her church’s youth service. Sunday morning, we went to a service at a church in a poorer area outside the city. A lot of the scriptures used in the sermon were about waiting patiently for the Lord and having hope in His plans. Many of them used beautiful harvest imagery. These are the two that stuck out most to me:
“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.”
James 5:7
“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”
Psalm 126:5-6
We got to eat lunch with the preacher’s family afterwards. In the evening we went to a second service at a church in the city. Monday we took a rest day to recover, exploring a little bit of the neighborhood around the place where we are staying. Tuesday, we began ministry with the men’s and women’s prisons!
The ladies spent the day joining worship services to different parts of the prison and praying for the women there. Just last month, these women had been in two separate prisons, one being in the middle of the city with horrible conditions. Recently, the women were moved into the one prison where the conditions are better. It was heartbreaking to hear of some of the pain each of them had endured both before and after imprisonment. The areas we visited Tuesday housed people who are waiting to be sentenced. This process has been known to take years for some people. One woman has been waiting for her sentence for eight years. So, we came alongside them in the painful waiting and many tears, with worship to lift their spirits and prayers for healing and deliverance. They would often also ask for prayers for their families and children, who are often very poor and do not have the means to drive to the prison to visit them. Some of their children we will be ministering to next week at the children’s home.
The men in our group visited the men’s prison. Here is a paragraph from CJ about their experience:
“Today, when we went through the men's prison we were introduced to the APAC program. APAC stands for “Asociación Protección y Asistencia a los Condenados”, or “Association for the Protection and Assistance of Convicted Persons” in English. It is a program designed to bring real transformation in the lives of inmates, in the way only Jesus can. As we walked past the rest of the prison towards the APAC, the smell got better, the yelling stopped, the paint brighter, and the faces more welcoming. This was the difference of a Christian-run jail. APAC has its own section, with cells, classrooms, and offices being run by a mix of inmates and outside workers. There are no police, and the inmates there have their own guards. Most of their time is spent learning, or working on trades such as leather-working, baking, or sewing. They are able to use what they make and sell to buy things from a store inside the jail, and some of what they make is able to be sent out and sold by their families, thus providing support even from inside. There is nothing else like this program in Paraguay. APAC originally started in Brazil, but it has now spread to 23 different countries, and it was amazing to see the impact that it was having on these men's lives.”
We have had a great time so far in Paraguay. Our team can’t wait for the coming work at the children’s home next week and all the other ministry we will get to do. Thank you all so much for keeping up with us and especially for your prayers. Please pray for us and all those we meet!
Until next week,
Jamie and the Paraguay 2026 Mission Team
