Author Archives: missionarytoparaguay

The month of August was too busy and went way too fast. To start out the month we were rather sick. Kathleen and I were both laid up for a couple days fighting off Covid-19 and are blessed to be fully recovered. However, while we were down it felt like I was constantly behind and not able to catch up. So we took some vacation time and that allowed for some great connections to be made.

What a blessing to be in Pre-Field ministry. The connections God has blessed us to make have been unbelievable. We are so thankful for the many wonderful people who have joined us in prayer. The opportunity to connect with people is what pre-field is all about. Some find this part of the ministry to be difficult but God continues to bless and encourage us along the way. We look forward to sharing what God has called us to do with people.

The people at Baker Creek Bible Church were so encouraging, several approached having done their research about Paraguay and challenged us with great questions. The following week were were in Kuna, Id and it was a blessing to be there. We got to meet up with a young lady from Kuna Baptist Church and be encouraged as God is calling her to Togo, Africa. This was such a great opportunity for us to build more prayer warriors for the people of Paraguay.

We also got to spend a few days in Boise, Id as a family on a short vacation. This was a great opportunity for us to spend with the kids and spoil them with some sight seeing. Thank you to the many who prayed for us while we were away. Many wonderful memories were made for both the kids and the parents.

We have a busy schedule ahead of us and ask that you please keep praying for us. September 17th we fly to Wisconsin for a couple meetings and time with Kathleen’s family. We come back on the 27th, followed by 4 more weeks of ministry. If you follow us on facebook I am sure you will be able to track where we are at. We will also work to making sure we update you all on here.

We have a huge praise and ask that you praise God with us, as of today we are 45% in monthly financial support partners! This is a huge answer to prayer for our family. We are humbled as God continues to provide prayer warriors to our team and financial supporters. If you are wanting more information on how you can become a financial support partner please let us know, we would love to connect with you.

Ministry through June and July was very busy around the Loucks home. With several opportunities to share our ministry we also packed in the opportunity to be very active in our sending church. So let’s catch you up to speed.

Many of you know that we were aiming to be at 33% by July 4th. God blessed and allowed us to get to 30% and continue to build some amazing contacts. We enjoyed our time at Hobart Community Church the first weekend of June and had a blessed time at Moscow Bible Church the end of the month. Both of these were great blessings to our family and we made such wonderful memories and connections. In July we gave an update at our sending church and then enjoyed a Sunday at First Baptist Church of Soap Lake, WA and then wrapped up the month at Southwick Bible Church. What a joy it was for us to again meet some wonderful people and spend time in fellowship and worship together.

We have a busy schedule ahead of us with two churches in August, a trip to Wisconsin for a couple meetings in September and a busy month of October with 6 churches in 4 Sundays. We are beginning now to schedule churches for 2022 and are looking to fill our schedule up.

“Christ sent me to preach the Gospel, and He will look after the results.” 

— Mary Slessor, Missionary to Nigeria (1848-1915)

It is such a blessing to read the testimony of many faithful men and women who have served our great God.  Their testimonies are a great encouragement to our family as we prepare for life on the mission field.  Many of the testimonies in the “Daring Devotion” book we are reading offer warning of the sacrifice that one must be willing to make, but most of them tie together the fruit of such sacrifice.  Mary Slessor’s testimony was no different.  She knew firsthand what Paul was meaning in

1^st Corinthians 3:6 “I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.”

We are watching God provide for us in such a blessed way and are excited to share what He has been doing.  May started off a little rocky, exploded with change, and has ended with reward!

A little Rocky:

Kathleen returned from Wisconsin on May 3^rd and was mixed with emotions.  We can not thank you all enough for your continued prayers.  Having so many faithful family and friends to walk through this trial with us has been such a blessing.  While we will continue to miss Dad we know that we will see him again in the presence of our King. 

Exploded with Change:

The change did not stop there.  I received a call from our landlord that he was going to be placing our home on the market for sale.  This was not all a surprise, but it did catch us a little off guard.  Rather than staying in the home and being here through the showing process we have chosen to find a new place at our earliest convenience.  Praise the Lord as he opened an opportunity to move into a small place here in Kennewick that will still allow us to be close to Church, Family and Work.  We will be moving very soon and look forward to a new place in a quiet neighborhood. 

Ending with Reward:

Many of you may remember that in February we began praying to raise our support from 15% to 20% by the end of May.  Those of you who have been following along our journey know that the 20% came rather quickly and so we changed our goal to 25%.  We are blessed to announce that we are over the 25% mark of promised monthly supporters!    We are so thankful for all the people who have joined our support team by becoming prayer partners as well as financial supporters.  We thank God for you daily! 

As we set goals for our next steps will you please pray with us.  We have scheduled 2 meetings for June, July, August, September, and are working on 2 or 3 for October.  We are excited for what God has instore for us and are confident in His working through us!

May Prayer Letter,

A month of adventure, a month of mourning, a month to remember.  As we closed out the month of April we have so much to reflect upon and we want to share with you a brief summary of that.

A Month of Adventure:

Most of you are aware that March was a pretty busy month for us in presenting our ministry and making some great contacts.  We as a family were truly blessed!  As we approached April we began making connections with new contacts and sharing our burden for the people of Paraguay.  What a blessing to be able to set up a few appointments for the coming months and gain some wonderful prayer partners throughout the month. 

We had the blessing of traveling to University Place, WA and sharing our ministry with the people of First Baptist Church.  Very thankful for their encouraging words and many who became interested in our ministry.  Pastor McClain and wife were also very encouraging to us as they too once served in foreign missions.  It was great to hear some of their testimony and we look forward to furthering this relationship. 

Many of you are aware that we as a family began to pray in February to be at 20% of monthly support by the end of May.  In March we reached that 20% marker and so we set out a new goal.  We began praying to reach 25% by the end of May and to date we are at 25% in monthly support partners.  We are so blessed and encouraged to have many faithful brothers and sisters in Christ come along side us in supporting our ministry.  We are also greatly encouraged by those who have dedicated to praying for our ministry as well. 

A Month of Mourning:

As many of you know Kathleen’s Dad, William Fowler, went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ on April 22^nd.  William Fowler was a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, who has left a great impact on many lives of family and friends alike.  As we reflect on the life of Dad we have so much to be thankful for and looking head we have so much to rejoice in. 

“That wasn’t a mistake, that was jazz”

William Fowler (Dad)

We appreciate your continued prayers as the family heals through this loss.   

A Month to Remember:

Making markers in our lives is a necessity as we make strides forward in ministry service.  April brought with it new friends, new perspective, and new markers to strive for. 

So thankful for Steve and Amy Kliewer who were such gracious hosts while in University Place.  They loved on our girls and made a great impact on our hearts.  As God blesses us with new friendships we know that we won’t be able to mention each one of them, we want to recognize how God is using some of His servants in our lives. 

We have been reading through a daily devotional on missionaries who have suffered for the cause of Christ.  James O. Fraser is a missionary I have never studied out before.  He emphasized the great need for prayer warriors for the ministry he was called to.  We ask people to pray for us, but we don’t hold people accountable for that.  Fraser looked for ways to hold people accountable knowing that prayer was a vital lifeline for successful ministry.  So let us ask you, will you pray for our ministry?  Will you dedicate that during your quiet time with the Lord to pray for us daily or weekly?  Will you email us and let us know that you are praying for us? 

God continues to do great things and challenges us to “walk by faith” regularly.  Thank you for being part of our team, for encouraging us along the way, and for your willingness to faithfully serve the Lord. 

“Solid, lasting missionary work is done on our knees”

Missionary James O. Fraser

Kids Corner:

Chapter Three:

Thank you so much for taking a moment to read this letter to keep up with what is going on in our lives.  While we have not begun to post monthly newsletters, we are working hard to keep people posted on our journey on our webpage (Loucks2Paraguay.org).  Please feel free to check in and see our posted videos on our webpage and follow along on our journey to Paraguay.

Recent Events:

We have been so blessed to be on pre-field ministry.  As part of that ministry God has us making contacts with Pastors, Churches and Individuals who have an interest in what the Lord has called us to do.  This is a busy ministry, but God has been faithful and shown Himself in many ways to us through this time. 

February started off very busy in my secular job which led us to some very specific prayer requests as a family.  We began to set specific goals so that I would be able to eventually step back in my workplace and focus more on ministry.  We began praying that we would be able to reach 20% by the end of May to which God quickly answered and by Mid-March we were at 20% of our monthly support goal.  That is right just a few months into our ministry and we have already reached 20%.

Big thank you to all of your who have dedicated to praying for our family as we continue in ministry.  Also, a big thank you to everyone who has taken interest in joining our monthly support team!  Being at 20% and growing is such a huge blessing to us as a family. 

Meetings Arranged:

March was very busy with the blessing of being at Pioneer Baptist Church of Wilsonville, Or the beginning of the month.  It was a blessing to be part of their mission’s month and receive such great encouragement from the body.  We have also been attending Pastor’s conferences which have been of great encouragement to us.  We look forward to follow-up with the connections.

What’s on the map:

Currently for April we have two meetings set up and are greatly looking forward to these times of ministry.  As we wrap up from our second pastor’s conference we hope to begin setting up more meetings soon and begin filling our schedule for the summer months.  We are also working on making some arrangements for the fall and are very excited to see how the Lord will continue to fill our schedule and get us to the field. 

Prayer Requests:

1. Pray for Kathleen’s dad (Bill Fowler).  He is very sick, and hospice has set up at their home in Wisconsin. 
2. Pray as we make contacts that we would be able to set up meetings.
3. Pray also that we would continue to raise solid monthly supporters for our team.  We posted a new goal on our webpage, feel free to go watch the video 😉

Kid’s Corner

While we make visits the kids get the blessing of spending extra time with Papa and Nana.  That means they get a little spoiled too!  We thank the Lord for family who is supportive of our ministry calling. 

Jaha Paraguay Pe!

We set a goal and watched God do the work!

Proverbs 16:9 “A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.”

We are so thankful to those who have joined our monthly support team over the last few weeks. While we set out to reach 20% by the end of May, God provided it within just a few weeks. We couldn’t wait any longer to share with you the exciting news and the new challenge.

What do you think? Can you partner with us in reaching 25% by the end of May?

Let us know if you have an questions!

I recently met with our sending church pastor and asked about some future steps. His advice came in some simple truths, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” 2nd Corinthians 5:7

We have set a goal and are having faith that God will make it possible! How can you become part of this amazing opportunity to reach the people of Paraguay?

Get to know more by clicking the link here: Our Missionaries | website (adelphos-usa.org)

Our First Prayer Letter!

To those of you who have not followed along on our journey over the course of the last year, you have missed out on a lot.  In January of this year we found a buyer for our home, while it was not even on the market.  In February we sold our home, had baby #5, moved into a rental, and became 100% debt free (and yes, it all happened in a 6-week window of time)! 

Being debt free meant we could finally move forward with our desire to serve the Lord in fulltime missionary service.  We were so excited to walk into the office of Pastor Dupignac and report the news as God had been working these details out for some time now.  However, something strange happened, March.

Not Holding Us Back

Who knew that while a lot of things came to a halt we would be progressing toward service?  We had already created a relationship with Adelphos-USA and it seemed like a natural fit for us.  Adelphos is a Chilean mission agency whom I have a strong tie through several connections with.  Adelphos began in 1992 by a group of fundamental churches of Chile with a passion for the great commission.  They believed that missions is for all churches, and that Chile should be no different. 

This ministry continues to grow throughout South and Central America and has expanded to Europe, Africa and the United States.  In June of 2017

Adelphos-USA was begun to help serve in the vision of Adelphos of Chile. 

Joining the Team

From March through September we (Kathleen and I) began the training process with Adelphos-USA.  This was a truly unique time of reading, writing, and meeting with Director Shawn Haynie.  We were blessed to be on this journey and so thankful for the opportunity.  However, September came too quickly, and we were boarding a plane heading to Illinois for a week of training and the big interview. 

On September 20, 2020 we met with the board of Adelphos-USA for a time of testimony, review of our calling and doctrinal examination.  That day we were voted on and were unanimously accepted as Vocational Missionaries with Adelphos-USA. 

This was not the end though, we returned to Grace Baptist Church of Kennewick, Washington and still had to wait on one more vote.  This was a little difficult because we were still on modified services due to state mandates.  However, on October 18, 2020 we were commissioned by Grace Baptist Church of Kennewick into the deputation ministry! 

Can I Share a Little Story?

I (Jared) grew up attending Grace Baptist Church.  It was through the faithful members of this body that I received the free gift of Salvation at the age of 5.  It was these same people that witnessed my baptism at the age of 6.  Many of the same men that I sat before for church membership still fill the pews.

These faithful people never gave up on me.  I was not always the perfect child, but that did not mean they discarded me and gave up.  I will save time and refrain from adding the names and illustrations as to how they impacted my life, but without their surrender to the Spirit I would not be here today.  I am humbled by the membership of Grace. 

Where are We Now?

Since our approval in October we have been actively engaging into this new ministry.  What does that look like?  Well, we have had several zoom meetings with family and friends who are interested in our ministry plans.  Added to that have been the occasional coffee with friends who have been so faithful in praying for our ministry, and phone calls to Pastors. 

I can honestly say that this has been a busy time, but also a very exciting time for our family. 

We have chosen Philippians 1:6 as our theme verse.

“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.”

These words that Paul wrote to the church at Philippi seemed very fitting for us as a family, knowing that there is nothing to difficult for our Lord! 

Current Prayer Requests

1. Pray for Paraguay as they face many of the same restrictions as the state of Washington.  It has had a great and lasting effect on many.
2. Pray for our family as we continue to make connections with churches and individuals who would consider joining our team.
3. Pray for how you can join our ministry to Paraguay?  Have you considered being a monthly support partner?  If you can’t do that, can you promise to pray for us regularly?

Thank you for taking time to read this, we hope it is a blessing and an encouragement to you! 

Jaha Paraguay Pe!

                           The Loucks Family 

Follow Us:

On Facebook: JahaParaguayPE

On Youtube: Loucks2Paraguay

On the Web: Loucks2Paraguay.org