PARAGUAY!!!! - Part 2

This is a continuation of my three part paraguay journal...

WEdnesday January 12th.

Well as much as I want to say this day was very interesting it wasn´t. WE went toi filadelphia in the Chaco in order to catch our bus, and went to a museum. This showed some artifacts from German refugees and also some animals that had been taxidermeed that could be found in Paraguay. THis was fairly interesting but we were all pretty tired from the previous day. However we got onto the bus and to our surprise the whole trip was air conditioned! We had gotten lucky this far, as every place we had slept had been air conditioned. We knew our luck was going to run-out but not for at least another three days, as we were headed back to CEMTA to have some classes and have a day off.

Thursday Januy 13th.

This day was one of the most interesting as far as ideas go. We were in classes for close to six hours of the day and were being taught by a Argentinian professor named Diego. He talked about the problems the church was having among many other things to do with history and suich. I found it interesting that he explained that the church was just something everyone did. It was a ritual and the people did not really do it because of personal conviction. They had picked their leaders because of how well they could speak, not by what they were saying and the church was really full of people that were doing things that were not really for GOD. He explained that the missionaries in the history had brought a dead Christ to the land. They brought images of Jesus on the Cross and in doing so had brought Catholicism into the mix. People worship mary because that is the only way to speak to a dead God. Yet, the natives also worship mary yet behind mary is the God they were worshipping before the missionaries had brought Jesus and the gospel to people. They were merely worshipping this thing through Mary, as almost a decoy to the fact that they were worshipping something other than Mary. I FOUND IT INTERESTING THAT this problem seemed to be a lot like North America because there are people who just don´t want to believe in God because of whatever reason. Yet, there are people in South America who say they believe in God but have not reason behind it. They kind of fit together in one big mess. To reach both of these groups you have to meet them where they are at and be a part of their life. It is not about merely showing up and telling them something and expecting them to understand and follow it to the letter. It is not about a set of lists that people need to follow. It is really about discipleship and showing people and guiding them in the way that they are supposed to be going. He had many good points and it is hard to remember them all, I only wish I could. But there is enough here to brew over and try and understand. People in NORTh america might say they are christians and worship god just as a decoy to what they are really worshipping, just like South Americans, North Americans worship money, time, and many other things. When does that change, how does that change.

Friday January 14th.

We had a day off today. Found a German National Soccer jersey for 40 american bucks, or 180 000 GUARANI. steal of a deal; and its not even a fake: ´that´s about all for today so far. Now to east paraguay. Stay tuned for more.