god – Loucks 2 Paraguay

January 2026

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6

When we began this journey 6 years ago we chose Philippians 1:6 as our theme verse because in it we were comforted by a very specific promise from God. Our God has purposed us to a good work, that he will complete until the day of Christ Jesus. As our sending church begins this year with the theme of focusing on the promises of God, we too think it is a great time for us to reflect. An added bonus was that while we were celebrating the new year, we blessed with a double rainbow reminding us of another specific promise from God. What promises in Scripture are your favorites?

We rang in the new year with Pastor Juan Carlos and the family and had a wonderful time of celebration. It was great to be around so many faces and to learn a little bit of culture for how they celebrate the new year. Can you believe it, they actually stay up until mid-night and bring out snacks so they can stay awake longer? Our kids were cooked from swimming all day so we got to bed around 1am. It really was a blessed time of sweet fellowship for all the family.

The year came to a quick close with lots of studying and ministry wrap ups, but also some planning for the future. We are excited to share with you some of the things we are looking forward to as we start into 2026. We hope that this ministry update will give you some very clear things to pray for, but also encourage you in that the Lord is not done, the harvest is still very plentiful!

As many of you are aware the last several months we have spent time working on discipleship with a group in Hernandarias. This is a city just north of us about 20 to 25 minutes that is growing rapidly. It is our desire that in the first few months of 2026 we will start an evening Bible Study that will open the opportunity for some of those from the group to invite their family and friends. We are asking for specific prayers for strength for the core group that has been meeting, but also for a young man and family to join in the work as the Pastor of the church. Would you please join us in praying for the work in Hernandarias!

Secondly, it was brought to my attention that Missionary Felix (the man whom I do most of my traveling with) and his wife, Adela, are planning to leave in June or July to begin a work in in central Paraguay. While we are sad to see them go, we are excited to see them following the Lord into ministry. We are praying for how we can be part of this ministry and how the Lord would use us in helping encourage our brother and sister as they go. Will you please be praying for this opportunity now and we look forward to sharing more about this couple and the ministry that God leads them to.

Thirdly, God has blessed us with the opportunity to connect with other churches in Paraguay and to begin to organize some conferences to help encourage local churches. At the end of February and the beginning of March we will be traveling for about two weeks and sharing in a couple different conferences. These will allow us to support the local pastors in their ministries and encourage the church bodies to be faithful in their local church and its ministries. One of the desires we have is to help strengthen local churches that they would be able to send out men and women into the ministry.

What will we do with the other ministries that we have been involved in? We are glad you asked! We still plan to be involved here at Iglesia Bautista Biblica Jerovia, but it will require that we find some other helpers to fill in. The Club de Niños and discipleship ministries are precious to us! However, we were called for other ministries as well and so we ask that you pray for other leaders to be involved and to step up to help out.

How is that for some exciting news? God is doing great things here in Paraguay and is taking the gospel to new communities. We are excited to be part of the process, but we know we do not do it alone. We want to thank you for your faithfulness in love, support and encouragement that made the 2025 year such a great success. As we continue to adapt to life in Paraguay, and the Lord continues to move us forward, we know we do not do it alone! What does 2026 have in store for you? Just as we have asked you to pray for us and the ministry in Paraguay, how can we then pray for you?

Thank you for faithfully taking time to read our ministry updates and to pray for us. Missions is a team effort, and we are glad you are part of it!

Jaha Paraguay Pe,

The Loucks Family

Christmas 2025

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:14

I must honestly say how I greatly enjoy the Spanish translation of John 1. In Spanish there are two words that can be used to express “Word”. One of those is a “palarbra”, a general word used, but in John 1 they use the word “Verbo”. This carries the significance that Christ’s coming had action, it had reason, and purpose. The reason was what Paul Tripp describes as the dark side of the Christmas story. Our sin is what brought the Son of God to the earth. We were the reason, but God had a purpose. Our Salvation! The baby laid in the manger was on a rescue mission. We pray that in the middle of all the running around this Christmas season, that you would take a moment to reflect on our great need of that baby boy. Emmanuel!

Most of the months just mix together at this point. November turned quickly to December and just like that the month is almost over. However, I am thankful for the moment this morning to pause and give thanks to God for what he has done in the last month. As the temperature rises here in Paraguay we begin to close out ministries for the year and prepare for summer break. Here is a quick recap of what the last month has looked like.

Closing out ministries is never fun. We have had a great year making memories with many wonderful people. Kids club wrapped up really well for the year. The heat snuck in those last couple weekends, so numbers were down, but we were able to give the kids a nice meal and some cake on the last day. It really is a joy to serve these communities and to finally be breaking ground into their lives. The other day while Kathleen and I were out on a walk a couple of the boys from the kids club yelled out to say hi, and that was pretty special.

Last night we had the closing of our Bible Study group in Hernandarias. I have really grown to love this group and Kathleen has just started her connection with the ladies. We are excited for what 2026 will bring as we hope to start an evening Bible Study that we can open to the community. Will you please pray for this? Also, please pray for a young couple that has come a few times to the study. I am fairly confident that they are not believers, but they are asking a lot of questions!

We also had the blessing of having Pastor Mancuello and his wife stop by for a quick meal. It was great to finally have some one-on-one time with them to discuss how we can help better serve them down in Encarnacion. We are excited for how the Lord is opening doors into this ministry. We will be sure to share more about this in the near future.

The kids are setting in nicely to a few weeks off from school. Kathleen is able to connect with more of the teachers because they are free in the mornings. The girls have helped with making many Christmas treats and Temperance has been hard a work making Christmas gifts. As many of you are trying to keep warm, we are working hard to cool off these days, so often the kids will throw on their swimsuits and go play in the water out back. It is nice to have all the laughter around the house and to hear the kids making great memories. We even spent one afternoon making gingerbread houses and it was a blast!

While things are slowing down and Ciudad del Este is becoming a ghost town we will be staying home and keeping busy. The kids will resume school after the new year and we will try and take a few days to get out and enjoy. However, I will be preaching twice in January and as we bring in 2026 there is lots to be working on and get organized. Lord willing I will be able to share more details about the 2026 year in our January update. As for now, please continue for the growth of the ministry here in Paraguay.

We thank you all for taking time to read our ministry update and for your faithful prayers for the ministry here in Paraguay. We pray that you all have a wonderful Christmas season remembering the greatest gift of all was a little baby boy laid in a manger, God with us.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us to you!

Jaha Paraguay Pe,

The Loucks Family

September 2025

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

1 Chronicles 16:34

It has been a great year reflecting on verses that draw our attention to the goodness of our God. Matthew Henery in his commentary states that “Let God be glorified in our praises. Let others be edified and taught, that strangers to him may be led to adore him.” The message of Christ is greatly affected in how we choose to live for him. May we glorify the name of Jesus and may it speak volumes to the lost around us.

This Month has been a busy month that we almost forgot it was coming to an end. As I stated in the last ministry update I (Jared) would be traveling with Missionary Felix to Encarnacion to check in on Pastor Juan Carlos Mancuello as well as making a trip to Pilar to check in on Missionary Victor. Praise the Lord we were able to organize a trip and go serve our brothers and sisters in these two cities.

We did a lot of driving in the four days while we were gone, averaging about 4 hours a day in the car, but it was very worth it. The pictures above are from the new ministry work in Pilar that we will share more about in coming months. Missionary Victor and his wife Mercedes are doing a great work at reaching a cold community. I say that not just because they sit off the river in the south of Paraguay, but because the people are unlike any I have met in Paraguay. Will you please continue to pray for this wonderful couple and the people that God has called them to serve.

It was great catching up with Pastor Mancuello again and share from the Word of God. The church added two new deacons just the week prior to our visit and we were encouraged at the growth and hunger for the word of God. Pastor Juan Carlos Mancuello was blessed to receive a VISA for the United States and is praying to return to the US in 2026 to share of his ministry. If your church would be interested in having him share his ministry please let me know. I would love to help you make contact with this great brother and his ministry.

We have had an abundance of opportunities to plug into the lives of believers and encourage them in their walk with Christ. Kathleen gets to teach a lesson for the ladies group every other month, along with opportunities to teach in Children’s Church and Kids Club. These are growing times as they help us in building relationships and discipling lives. This month I was asked to teach at a youth conference on “The Battle for Holiness”. The youth included those from 13 years to 30 years old, and it was a great opportunity to encourage them in their Spiritual Walk. The battle is one we all face daily, but the blessing is we do not face it alone!

This month’s ministry video will be focused around our Kids Club (Club de Niños). We have learned so much through this program and are blessed to serve the Lord by reaching the community around us. Iglesia Bautista Biblica Jerovia was stated with a kids ministry and we have learned that the best way to impact lives here in Paraguay is through ministering to the kids. We hope that you will take a moment and watch out update and see why this ministry is so important.

Thats a wrap for another ministry update. We want to thank you all for your faithfulness in praying for us and encouraging us along the way. Now, how can we pray for you? Please send us an email and let us know how we can lift you up in prayer!

Jaha Paraguay Pe!

The Loucks Family

Kid’s Corner:

A man from our church asked if Jedidiah and I wanted to train with his team in Kickboxing. As a father I thought it would be a great way to connect with Jedidiah more and he has loved it. Not only has he been training hard, but he is also connecting with others and learning to follow leadership. Would you please pray for him and his testimony among his team members? We train with the team two times a week and there is a variety of contacts (it also helps that our coach goes to our church!).

June 2024, We made it!

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:7

Paul writes this letter to the church at Phillipi and in many ways it is a very encouraging letter. However, when he gets to the end of the letter he is led to write about the need for unity among the whole body and the responsibility of the church to aid in relationships. In the midst of dealing with complicated issues, we are to bath them in prayer, casting our cares unto the Lord and finding the peace of God to guard our hearts and minds. We have not been dealing with any interpersonal conflicts, but each season of change can bring its own anxiety and as we bath the newness in prayer God has been very faithful in providing an amazing peace in our lives.

POR FIN! POR FIN! POR FIN!

These words were said over and over again as we exited the bus and gave hugs entering our new hometown of Ciudad del Este. Words that express the long-awaited arrival as missionaries. Words that express their anticipation of our coming and their faithfulness in praying for us as we prepared for this step in our lives. Words that will forever be etched in our brains. Finally! POR FIN!

We left the Pasco, Washington at 5:30am on Monday the 10th and arrived in Asuncion, Paraguay on Tuesday afternoon/evening. After getting our visas and hulling all of our luggage through security (this is a story for a different day) we were greeted by a great brother in Christ, Jim Showers. They allowed us to call their place home for the two nights while we were in Asuncion. Wednesday, we got up and at it with getting to the immigration office to begin our temporary residency process. Things went smoothly as we have hired a great team to help us with the process. Until it got to my (Jared’s) paperwork. We left that day with everyone else’s papers being sent off for residency and a peace knowing that it was God who had brought us this far and it would be God who would sustain us here. After looking into several options, we submitted some papers and finally got approval to move forward with the residency process! Praise the Lord for all of you who have been praying for this. I will head back to the capital and meet up again at immigration and move forward for my temporary residency.

After 4 airplanes, and two bus rides, we were ready to be home! In all we slept one night on a plane, two nights in the capital and one night at a hotel. After all of that we were excited to just be home. Our family and friends at Iglesia Bautista Jerovia have done an amazing job in seeking a home for us, getting it cleaned up, and setting up furniture for our arrival! We cannot thank them enough for all of their hard work! We have a beautiful home, with lots of space and only need a few more things to make it complete.

As we are getting settled in, we are also getting to work. Thats right the ministry moves forward and we are excited for that. We have friends to meet up with, lessons to write and memories to make. July is a very busy month for the ministry here and we would ask for prayer as we get busy with serving the Lord. There will be a group coming from Vista Mission to do a vision clinic as well as preparing for the missions training camp. I have been asked to teach a few lessons during the camp and am blessed by the opportunity.

We continue in confidence knowing that it is the Lord who has prepared the work for us and that it is God’s people who send us into the field. Your prayers have been such a great encouragement to us as we make the adjustment onto the foreign field. It is a blessing to report that aside from a little sickness the kids have been adjusting well and are making great connections and strides in relationships. While the language barrier may seem like a big one, their ability to communicate has been such a great encouragement. We pray that our kids would not only make good friends but that they would be good friends to those in the church.

Elijah can make friends just about anywhere He goes. And it was one of the things he was most excited about in coming to Paraguay. He is off to a great start! These boys have been waiting to meet each other and we are excited for the friendship that has already begun!

There are so many stories we could share already but for now we will leave it at this. We look forward to sharing all the fun and exciting things along the journey!

Please continue to pray as we get settled in. I will travel to the capital the beginning of the next week to continue my residency process. Please also pray as we look at vehicles, we have one on our minds, but we can only pull a little cash out every day and we are praying it will be available when the time comes. Thirdly, please pray for our health. Adjusting to a new culture can be tough on the body. Fourth, pray that we are found faithful.

Now how can we pray for you? It encourages us to pray for others! Let us know by sending an email to jared.loucks@hotmail.com

Jaha Paraguay Pe!

The Loucks Family

December 2023…

“I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I love to see you, that I may be filled with joy.”
2 Timothy 1:3-4

The life of the missionary is full of goodbyes. We spent two years on deputation meeting people for short times and having to say goodbye. We spent the last year at Rio Grande Bible Institue, studying a language, learning a culture, but most importantly connecting with people, and now we have said our goodbyes. As I sit in our temporary apartment and reflect on the fast trip to get home, I cannot help but think of the powerful words that Paul wrote to Timothy. We have so many wonderful memories of great people at RGBI and I pray that they continue to “fan into flame the gift of God” (2nd Timothy 1:6).

We left campus at 3:30am on Tuesday, December 12th, and arrived in Washington at 12:30pm on Thursday, December 14th! At just shy of 2200 miles we drove 17 hours the first day, 16 hours the second day, and finished with just a 4-hour drive from Notus, ID on our last day. It was great to stop the last night to stay with Pastor Sparky Clancy and his family Wednesday night. We consider them part of our team of mentors in the ministry process and were greatly blessed to share and reflect on God’s goodness through the process of language school.

When we arrived at home, we had a couple of surprises as we were not expected until Friday. It was great to share in the moments of surprise but really, we just cannot wait for Sunday to come so we can get all the hugs! Our home church has done a great job preparing for our arrival. Kathleen, just commented that she needed some facial tissue (I think we all do) only to turn around and find a box sitting on the shelf. We have food in the pantry, beds in the rooms, and love from all around! We are blessed! Thank you, Grace Baptist Church, for welcoming us home and reminding us of the great God we serve together.

We expect the remainder of December to go quickly. The kids have some fun activities to be part of at church, we have friends to connect with and Christmas just around the corner. We are looking forward to the moments of family time as we prepare for the adjustment to the mission field.

What lies ahead? The end of November we finally received the final passports in the mail. The beginning of December we purchased our official tickets for the move to Paraguay! We will have our commissioning service on February 11th at Grace Baptist Church and then begin the move to Paraguay on February 13th. We have arranged a stay in the capitol with some friends while we work with a lawyer to get documentation in order and submitted for our residency. This will also give us a little time to get adjusted after jetlag. Our plan would be to arrive in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay on February 19th.

How you can pray: 1)Please pray for our time in Washington that we would enjoy the moments as a family. 2)Secondly, please pray that we would get all necessary documents in order, we think we have everything we need but we will check the list and maybe twice. 3)Third, please pray for our partners in Paraguay as they look for a place for us to rent upon arrival. 4) Fourth, we have been in contact with a missionary in Paraguay that is looking to sell his mini-van which would be a good fit for our family. We are waiting on some details but please pray for wisdom as we take these steps.

We want to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas! May your hearts and homes be filled with the joy that filled that stable that silent night in Bethlehem.

Jaha Paraguay Pe!

The Loucks Family