Update from Charlie & Chris Hanak, Pender’s own homegrown missionaries:
Charlie is serving as the Regional Director for the Americas for Ambassadors for Christ International (AFCI). Chris assists Charlie with AFCI Focus on the Heart ministries in the Americas and in other regions as requested by AFCI National Directors. Chris has been training women leaders in Peru, Paraguay, India, Pakistan, Zambia, and the Philippines. Together they have served as missionaries in the Nations of Paraguay and Peru, and have visited these fields yearly during the past 33 years.
Today, and next week, we will look at their service in the country of Paraguay.
The Situation: Invasion Areas
Politicians there, permit displaced persons from the rural interior of the country to move onto private land without permission or compensation of the owners. Groups “invade” an area, seizing private land, and putting up temporary dwellings. Gradually the area becomes more permanent.
There are more than 3,000 of these displaced persons living on the edge of Asuncion in the suburb of Limpio. There are no churches in the area, no basic services. There is a nearby school, but typically poor children learn very little in their schools
AFCI-PY looks to offer prevention rather than try to combat these problems once they become entrenched.
Because this is a new area, there is an opportunity for preventive work to keep the area from following the path to pervasive crime, drug addiction and prostitution found in similar areas around Asuncion. AFCI-Paraguay has 4 major program emphases. We will look at 2 or them today.
- Let’s Learn: After school Tutoring. There are separate classes for those who need to learn to read and write and those who need to reinforce their abilities in math and writing and in reading comprehension. Equally as important is the personal attention that strengthens the children’s self-confidence. The program also requires parents to attend monthly. This allows AFCI team to connect with the families and also an opportunity to share the gospel. This is a great achievement since parents in this social group are almost never involved in any way with their children’s education. They are beginning to see changes in family life as well.
- Christ Restores is a program for Christian ex-offenders. Many men come to Christ during their time in prison but have nothing to look forward to when they get out – no job or skills, no home, and usually no family. Christ Restores helps ex-offenders transition to life with a supportive place to live and learn without needing to depend on drugs or crime. They receive training and job placement so they can earn money.
Please pray for Charlie as he oversees and helps the AFCI Paraguay and as he works with their grant writer team to raise funds for this Paraguay Community Development Project called C-Deco.
And come back next week to “hear the rest of the story”. Two more major projects that Chris Hanak and Emi Monges, (a local missionary also supported by Pender)have started and continue to lead for the women in C-Deco.
