Author Archives: missionarytoparaguay

“Look among the nations and see; wonder and be astonished. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.”

Habakuk 1:5

The boys and I read through the short book of Habakuk this month. It was a joy to encourage the boys that while things may not always make sense to us, God has a purpose and is working out His plan. The New Testament is full of encouraging verses to just keep us focused on serving God where He has us. The has been helpful in encouraging the boys that God has a purpose for them too, and that God wants to use them as a light to the world. Please continue to pray for them as they learn these truths.

As the semester came to a close it was hard to see our family and friends here on campus packing up and taking off. As I mentioned in the past Rio Grande Bible Institute has a strong focus on Missions, and that is what many of the students have left for. I believe this summer they sent teams to Asia, Africa, South America, Central America and some staying serving throughout North America. Exciting to see these teams off, but things sure got quiet around here.

Now it is time to use what we have been learning. Mothers day was a special day for us. The kids participated in a song and poem reading and I (Jared) lead the morning in worship. This was something new and very out of the box for me. Due to some students leaving for summer ministries I have also been asked to play the guitar and lead in singing for the worship service. I am working at learning some more hymns so that we can make this happen.

We have a few things in the works for our summer break. The first thing is that we are working to connect with as many people on campus as we possibly can. We do not want to lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Time away from classes can set us back, so we are pushing hard to host as many meals as possible with students and staff. Please pray for us in making these connections.

The hardest part of this process is the goodbyes that frequently happen. This has been a hard learning lesson for the kids as many of the friends they have made over the few months have packed up and moved on. The missionary kid community can be very tight. The kids now have friends called to serve in Bolivia, Columbia, Mexico and others called to new ministries here in the states. Please continue to pray for the kids through this adjustment period.

We have a couple other exciting things on the radar for this summer. The first is that I have been asked to attend a church planting conference offered by Baptist Mid-Missions. I will be flying out to Des Moines, Iowa on June 2nd. I will be staying with Kathleen’s brother and his family while in the area. The conference will keep me pretty busy but I am excited to attend a couple area churches while I am there. Please pray for Kathleen and the kids while they keep occupied while I am away for a week.

The second thing I will be doing this summer is taking a week long trip to Paraguay. This thought came about while Kathleen and I were talking about opportunities to prepare for the move to Paraguay. After discussing it with our sending church and director it made sense to make a trip to lay some groundwork. This trip is threefold, 1) to encourage the church in Ciudad del Este of our soon coming, 2) to take some of our belongings down to have on hand when we arrive, and 3) to go over some of the details and communicate some of the needs we will have upon arrival. This trip will come at the end of July, and I will update with more information as we get closer.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 23:4 (NASB)

Stepping into language school was an adventure that not many people had talked about. We had heard small talk from a few but when it was time to make the move, the stories came. We prepared as best we could. We purchased the materials, stocked up on Omega-3, and set out bathed in prayer. Yet, we arrived really not knowing what to expect. Little did I know that in just a few months we would be speaking Spanish! It all came at us so fast! I hope that this ministry update is just a small picture of our daily lives here on the Rio Grande Bible Institute campus!

We spend 4 hours a day in classes, but its more than learning a language! Yes, we have Phonetics and Grammer, Phonetics lab and Special Grammer, but its more than that. Our classes are focused on teaching us about a culture. They have taught us about our own culture and differences that make the Latino community unique. We have a Conversations course that teaches us to use what we learn in general communication.

Learning in a classroom setting is great, but the focus is not so much passing the classes as it is real life use of the language. The director of the InterCultural Studies program that we are part of has reminded us time and time again, communicating is far more important that getting an “A” in a class. Finding a good balance for this can be difficult. We want to get good grades and do well academically, but we have also seen the benefit of just sitting around the table practicing.

One of our classes requires that we spend four hours a week outside of class communicating in Spanish. That is easy when we have free coffee and often food to offer to students. We also attend a Spanish church (Grace Baptist Mission). Although our involvement has been minimal there, we are working to get more engaged. Please pray as we take steps to put our training to more use this summer.

We try the best we can to wrap up classes with enough energy left over to embrace the afternoons with the kids. Sometimes that requires a powernap but God has been very gracious to us along the way. When we don’t have evening plans we enjoy dinner and a movie (in Spanish). We enjoy our nights together in the home just relaxing.

As the first semester draws to a close we have just a few more things left on the books to accomplish. We have our final presentation coming up soon. For this we are required to give a five-minute devotional. We have five minutes to give an introduction and two or three key points from our passage of Scripture. We have them written out and turned in for corrections then we will have some time to practice them before doing our final presentation. Please pray as we prepare and present. We also have one final exam to do. This will be a lengthy one but it will be good to help us review all that we have learned from the semester into one exam. Please pray that our minds retain the information and that we relax and do well.

The phrase is “better late than never” and well things got busy. The end of March into the beginning of April has been packed with school, life and ministry. Between a big midterm exam, memory verses and an upcoming project or two we have been busy. There will not be a video update this month because of all that has been going on, but we did not want to miss the opportunity to share some things from this month.

Much of our daily lives have revolved around the busy school schedule and while I would love to share with you more about our classes, I wanted to share with you something special that happened the end of March. It was the “Morning of Prayer” that happened here on campus. It was such a special time for students to come together in prayer and it touched my heart in a special way.

The Lord blessed and allowed us to break up into different groups and pray for many different things throughout the morning. Rio Grande Bible Institute has a heavy emphasis on missions and students are encouraged to join teams for Easter Week mission trips as well as Summer mission teams. Several teams are out right now serving area churches, reaching into different street ministries and others have headed to Mexico to assist churches in ministry. While they go out, they go out bathed in prayer!

This is one of the things that I love about life here on campus. The Holy Spirit is binding them together as they learn together, grow together and prepare to serve together. It was great to have the opportunity to be part of this special day here on campus. As I said there are several groups out serving this week here in the area and just south of us in Mexico. Would you please take a moment to pray for these teams as they faithfully serve the Lord.

This month we also enjoyed a week of spring break. We were challenged to enjoy time together as a family and that is what we did! We were able to spend some time at the park and also to work on some crafts and baking. It was great to just be home together before we took off again for another couple busy weeks. It has been a blessing to grow closer as a family in just spending more purposeful time together.

When we went back from spring break it was time to prepare for midterms and we have successfully completed our largest midterm exam. Now we are on the downward spiral for school but we are building up speed. That means we have several projects coming due, a few more passages of Scripture to memorize and another big reading passage. We have had so much stuffed into our brains and are excited at what the Lord is doing in allowing us to use what we are learning.

We would ask that you please continue to pray for us while we are on this journey. This summer we are excited to be able to stay on campus and continue to stretch our language abilities. We know of a few other families and single students that are going to remain in the area. We look forward to building stronger relationships with those that stick around.

Thank you for your continued love and support over the months. We are continually humbled by you all. I apologize that there won’t be a YouTube ministry update like I had hoped, but we plan to share some fun pictures with you all the end of April.

Another month has come to a close and that means it is time for a ministry update! One of the things we were most concerned about in moving were our kids. The last two years traveling on deputation prepared the kids for what was ahead. Our busy end of the month schedule has us lagging a little so we are turning this months update over to the kids. To hear a couple of them share their days we would invite you to head on over to our YouTube channel!

We are so blessed to live on the Rio Grande Bible Insitute Campus. There are many blessings to being here on campus and most of those revolve around being connected with so many wonderful people. The kids have wonderful childcare, friends that keep them busy, and space to run and explore.

We have a busy couple weeks ahead of us for classes. Between homework, quizzes and projects we are always working on something. We appreciate your prayers as we continue through this semester and can praise the Lord that we continue to do well. We have been encouraged by many at our progress in the program and are excited for what lies ahead.

Spring break is on the horizon and with that will come a few days to just relax around the house. We didn’t make plans to do anything exciting over the break as we figured our minds may need to just relax a little from all the class work. Thank you for your continued prayers as we seek to faithfully follow the Lord!

Looking ahead as traffic is already slowly proceeding to make their way, we begin to notice brake lights begin to wave closer and closer. I begin to tap the brakes knowing that attached to me is a trailer and below me is a sheet of ice. Colorado had been by far the hardest state to drive through. Our time there was short, but it was a slow steady drive. The snow that had fallen had frozen to the road and the steady movement of vehicles was enough to compact layer upon layer. We shifted slightly left and then right while the pedal was now tapping closer and closer to the ground and the van came to a stop.

We had come to a stop because just a short distance in front of us was a less fortunate driver who had slid off the road. Traffic was backed up on both sides of the two-lane road but once the vehicle was cleared, we carried on the way. I didn’t mind being the slow driver that may have held up some larger trucks, but as the turtle taught me “slow and steady wins the race”.

We left home on December 27th and began the almost 2200 mile move to Texas. For the most part the drive was pretty smooth (minus the trailer bumping us around every now and then). We were blessed to meet up with Pastor Clancy and his family coming through the Boise, Id area on day one. They were such a blessing and encouragement to us! We were in 7 states in 6 days and arrived at Rio Grande Bible Institute on January 2nd, 2023!

Leaving Washington and the 30-degree days and arriving in Texas in the 70’s to 80-degree days has been probably the toughest adjustment. We rushed to unload the trailer and find the shorts, which we have worn just about every day since our arrival.

Every day lends itself to learning something new. We have been greatly blessed to have wonderful tutors in the afternoons, but we rotate every week or couple weeks so we don’t get them long. Please pray for my tutor Temo, not only does he have to deal with me for an hour every day but his parents are not believers and he prays for opportunities to share the gospel with them regularly. Pray for Kathleen’s tutor, Carla and her husband who are expecting their first child in 2023. They are also preparing to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to a majority Muslim country. They plan to do their first mission trip in 2024 and are excited for what God has ahead of them.

As we continue to adjust to the culture here on campus we ask that you not stop praying. We are working hard to balance home life and school, as well as fit in opportunities to serve those in our community and church (we’ll share more about Grace Baptist Mission later). While we work hard to get things done off the checklist, we do not want to miss any opportunity to speak into the lives of those around us.

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”

Proverbs 16:3

We carry this verse and others around on our hearts to motivate us through each day. As we attend classes as we sit and study it is important that all we do, we do for the glory of God. As we seek to bring Him glory, He is directing each step and fulfilling His plan for our lives. When days are hard we commit them and God who leads us to green pastures, restores our souls. This is the beauty of the Christian life! No matter where you are or what you do for a living, if you commit it to the Lord, you are surrendering to being used by a Holy God.

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6

We have said it several times before and I am sure we will say it again, but we are humbly blessed by the willingness of so many of you to join us in prayer, to encourage us along the way, and to join us in financial support. November 27th, we gave our last ministry update at our home and sending church, Grace Baptist Church of Kennewick, WA. We had the blessing of looking back and helping them see the stones that have been laid in our lives. Stones that God would bring to our lives to help encourage us in the ministry, stones to remind us of how great a God we serve, stones to keep us faithful.

This is why we have chosen to stack stones in our hearts and minds. To remember how great a God we serve and to remember many of you who have joined us in this ministry.

The Month of November we were blessed to be part of the Treasure Valley Missions Conference in Boise, ID. A huge thank you to Notus Baptist Church for allowing our family to stay in the mission’s house. I think in the last 2 years we have had the blessing of staying there 4 times and have grown close to several of the members at Notus. What a blessing they have been to our home.

The conference is a wonderful time for missionaries to connect with several churches over the course of a two-week window. We shared this time with Missionaries from North America, Central America, South America, and Africa. It was a great blessing to pick some brains on ministries and to share in encouraging local bodies to faithful service.

Columbia Heights Baptist Church poured out a lot of love on our family and gifted us with an amazing time of encouragement and fellowship. It was a blessing to kick off our time sharing with them. We were then able to be part of several ministries including two symposiums, a lunch and pie social, some family game nights, and a youth rally. We shared our ministry with Kuna Baptist Church, Involve Church, and Notus Baptist Church. It was a great time of fellowship and encouragement. Many wonderful memories were made!

Wrapping up the month we were able to arrive home with time to attend the annual Harvest Banquet at GBC. This was a great time to be home, be with family, and begin the process of closing out this chapter in our ministry. We shared a two year wrap up at Grace this last Sunday evening. It was a blessing and great encouragement to us to thank them one more time publicly for their faithfulness to our family. They have served us very well as a sending church. Now we get to the busy work of packing and preparing for the journey to Texas for Language School.

• Praise: We have been selling things off and the Tahoe sold this last weekend! Still working through anything else we can get sold before dumping things.
• Please keep praying for us as we prepare for the move to Texas. The Lord has the details and is showing us just a little bit at a time. Already things are coming together for this adjustment.
• Please pray that we would use our time wisely in enjoying time this Christmas with the kids and make it full of great memories for them.

We want to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas! We may not send out a long ministry update this month in light of the prepping to move and the busyness of Christmas, but we do not want it to go untold, we praise the Lord for each and every one of you! May the joy of a newborn babe, laid in a manger, sent to save His people from their sins be the light of this Christmas season.

Jaha Paraguay Pe!

The Loucks Family

” While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Summer and winter, and day and night Shall not cease.”

Genesis 8:22

The beautiful colors of fall have set in around us here in the Pacific Northwest and reminds us to look to the immutability of God. While the days get shorter and cool air sets in we are reminded that God is the same, yesterday, today and forever. What a joy it is to serve the God of Abraham, Issaac and Jacob. The same God who formed the nation of Israel now bringing together His church to be salt and light to the World.

The month of October started with two weekends at home allowing us to catch up from the busy month of September and prepare for 13 days away in the Mid-West. October 9th, Kathleen and I celebrated our 12th anniversary. What a joy it was to be home for the weekend and to spend the time with those we love here in Kennewick. Call us strange but as often as we can we like to spend our anniversaries with some of our best friends. Jared and Sherry have been a huge blessing and encouragement in our lives as we seek to follow the Lord in this way. Even a simple evening of dinner and dessert with friends brings great encouragement.

One of the highlights to deputation is being able to be back at Faith Baptist Bible College and being part of the Global Reach Conference. Dr. Mark Lounsbrough was very influential my Jr. and Sr. years at FBBC, and it is a joy to see how God continues to grow the mission’s program on campus. We were blessed in speaking with many students on campus, connecting with staff and sharing our burden for the people of Paraguay, South America. This year I was able to share a ministry highlight with the students during their Thursday banquet. We pray it is an encouragement for students as they seek the Lord’s leading in their lives.

I do want to thank Andy Stearns, Dr. Tim Little and Charlie Carter of the Thinklings Podcast for taking time to meet with us. A quick cup of coffee with a group of friends is a wonderful treat. It is even better when you leave the office with a couple books in hand, a list of books to order, and greatly encouraged in our walk with the Lord.

Let’s go to Paraguay!

The Loucks Family

“You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;”

Matthew 5:14

What a joy it is to serve the Lord with a purpose!  As the light of the world we have been sent out to share the light of Christ.  We have been set upon a hill to radiate the glory of the Lord. We as believers in Jesus Christ have a responsibility in ministering to the lives of those God puts us around.  It is not just out of obedience to the command of Christ in making disciples, but it is the joy of loving Christ and sharing in love of our neighbors. 

Summers are some of the best times to connect with churches and set meetings, so it is not too alarming that they go so quickly.  This summer has been packed with adventure and we pray that you have enjoyed following us along the way. As August ended we were already prepared that September would be among our busiest months with a weekend in Montana followed up by two full weekends of ministry in Washington.  We are excited to share some of the events from the month with you. 

One of the pastors that I have always enjoyed staying in contact with is Pastor Rob Morris of Hobart Community Church.  We shared our ministry in Hobart over a year ago and had some time this summer to try and work out another meeting.  When I contacted Pastor Rob a couple months ago, he asked when we might be able to come back and it just so happened that the weekend I was free was the same weekend as their church retreat and Pastor Rob booked us quickly.  I chose to speak on the topic of evangelism to encourage the church in being bold in living out our gospel message.  It was an exciting weekend with fun activities, lots of fellowship and time in the Word of God together. 

We wrapped up the month at Lakewood Baptist Church in Lakewood, WA being their guest speaker for their missions conference. They had been working through the month with an emphasis on “Preparing the Soil.” While I didn’t speak to the issue much I enjoyed many conversations on how our ministry is working to help prepare good soil for the people of Paraguay. We never know what type of soil has been laid in the lives of people, but as 1st Corinthians 3:6 states “but God gave the increase.”

We had a busy but very blessed month! Now that we are home for two weeks we have begun cleaning out preparing for the move to Texas. Anything we can get done in the next couple weeks is valuable because we will be on the road for 5 weeks beginning the middle of October. Please keep praying!

• Safety as we travel
• For Nana as she will have the kids for 12 days while Kathleen and I are in the Mid-West (October 13th-25th).
• For the cleaning out of our duplex in preparation for the move to Texas.

“The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands”

Psalm 19:1 NASB

Hard to believe that summer has already come and gone.  I would ask where the time has gone, but we spent some of it in the mountains and some in the city.  Some in Washington, some in Idaho, a little in Montana and wrapped it up in Colorado!  We have had an eventful summer and are excited to share with you just a little bit about our adventures from this last month. 

Our month ended in the beautiful state of Colorado.  We had not planned on any connections in the state of Colorado, but they had already prayed about having us out and when they made the call, I couldn’t say no.  In deciding wither we make the 17-hour drive over the course of 2 days or making the 5-hour flight the cost of gas made it a simple decision.  Kathleen and I would have to take this trip by ourselves, and Nana was more than happy to keep the kids for a few nights. 

We were warmly greeted and greatly blessed by our time with Rustic Hills Baptist Church. It was exciting to hear testimonies from many members in the church, to be encouraged by the leadership and to have the sweetness of fellowship within the body. We left with tired bodies, warmed hearts, and full spirits. Please take a moment to watch our uploaded video to see some of the sights!

At the end of July, we wrapped up just over 95% funded and needing $400/month to close the gap on our monthly support need.  We had already begun making arrangements for language school and set up to begin in January 2023.  We had already begun the task of cleaning out the house and eliminating things we don’t plan to take to Texas with us.  We even began having the kids work through their things and slowly eliminating more and more of their stuff all in preparation for language school.  We were confident that God was going to bring us to our monthly support goal by January.  However, we can never expect how God is going to bring things about.  We are excited now to be able to share with you we are at 100% of our monthly support goal!  Thank you, Strait View Baptist Church, and for the couple individuals who have decided to join the team in this way.  Praise the Lord for all He has done and continues to do.  We are very thankful for all of you who have joined us on this journey and have prayed for us to this end. The Journey isn’t over yet!

We have been asked what lies ahead for us now that we are at 100%?  By the Middle of last month our meetings for this fall were set and our schedule was pretty full, so we closed the planner and stopped making new contacts.  We will continue to share our ministry at churches until the end of November and are excited for the opportunity to share what God has called us to do in serving the people of Paraguay.

Should God permit that we gain support beyond our monthly goal there are a few things that those funds help us accomplish.  It will 1) help with current inflation burdens 2) aid in the furlough process (looking ahead) and 3) and most importantly, aid in our ministry fund, allowing us to do more in serving the people of Paraguay.  Our monthly support goal has allotted for $200/month for ministry funds but as we all know that fund can always use more resources.  The support beyond our living expenses would fuel that fund directly for ministry.

We are praising the Lord for how He continues to faithfully provide for our family and for your part in this ministry.  What a true joy it is to serve the Lord in such a way and to know that we do not do it alone.  We do it with you!  That is where “Jaha Paraguay Pe” came from, because if you pray for us, you are part of our ministry.  If you support us through encouragement and finances, you are part of our team.  We know we cannot serve the people of Paraguay without your willingness to join us in serving them.

“But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.”

Exodus 14:13

The account of the nation of Israel in the book of Exodus is one that I am constantly humbled by. When the Lord puts forth a plan there is nothing that can change that plan. However, to see the deliverance of the Lord, it would require that they act in obedience. The nation was driven out having plundered the Egyptians and went out as valiant warriors. However, when tragedy strikes what direction does their focus turn to? They would be reminded again and again of their dependance upon God and their responsibility to obey. I am reminded that as we walk in faith we are to act in obedience. God wants our full surrender, and we pray to give Him just that. Lord, lead us in the way everlasting.

The beginning of the month we were blessed to be with Faith Baptist Church of Sequim, WA and were warmly blessed. We were very thankful for the missionary apartment that we used for two weekends and the love of the body. We were greatly cared for and enjoyed the enthusiasm of the body at Faith toward missionaries. We then had a weekend home for ministry before we spent a Sunday in Roswell, Idaho. We were connected with the church in Roswell through another church and were able to spend another wonderful day with Pastor Clancy and his family. We love the Clancy crew and are excited for what the Lord is doing in their lives in reaching the people of Notus, Id. and the Congo.

The next several months are going to remain pretty busy. As we begin to wind down deputation and prepare for language school, we have much to get accomplished. We have a full schedule between now and Thanksgiving but are confident that the Lord is working out His plan in our lives. Please be in prayer as we make these last several meetings. Some of these will be out of state and will require more extensive traveling for Kathleen and me. Please pray for us while we travel and leave the kids behind on these longer trips.

Well, I think you heard it in the video! If you didn’t watch it I would challenge you to stop reading this and click that play button. The excitement of the boys is very much worth the two minutes. We are now over 95% of the way to our monthly support goal. We cannot express our thanks enough for those that have joined our team over the last several weeks. The Lord continues to build up a faithful team around us for this ministry and we are excited to have you onboard. To God be the glory!!!

Being that we are now just over 95% we have had people ask us “what will you do when you get to 100%?” Well, we will keep on keeping on. We will keep to our meetings that we have scheduled and if we bring in funding over our support goal, those funds will help us as we serve the Lord to the people of Paraguay. We have a set date before classes start for Kathleen and me, so we will continue to share wherever God takes us.