Dear Faithful Prayer Partners,
October has come and gone by so fast. Most of the leaves on our trees are almost gone, there are a few stragglers. We always love this time of year with all the leaves changing color, apple cider, and always a trip to the Pumpkin Farm. We hope you have been enjoying fall as much as we have. We thank you so much for praying for us and for financially supporting our ministry. Some of you we have seen when we are out and about and are so thankful for encouraging us by telling us that you are praying for us. Our hearts are so encouraged and blessed. We are always amazed at how God works through His people.
MINISTRY UPDATE
This month we were able to speak in one church, thank you so much to Trumbulls Corners Community Church for having us come in and share. We are also excited that we gained a supporter. We are now currently at 64% (3428.00), that means that we only need 6% (321.00) to raise in order to leave for Paraguay. We are praying and hoping for a February departure date. In order for this to happen we need to be at 70% (3750.00) and have all of our start-up costs. Some other things that we need to get done in order to leave is to purchase our tickets, purchase the kid’s visas, send our paperwork to the Paraguayan Consulate, finish going through and organizing our storage unit, and pack. This is a pretty big list, but each time we finish something we are that much closer to Paraguay. We are so excited; as we now have a Host Church, Gethsemane Baptist Church. We can’t wait to meet our Paraguayan Church family. We also had the great opportunity to have some great friends and co-workers with us at the beginning of the month. Randy and Laurie Steel came and shared with our church about what our ministry would look like when we arrive on the field. He shared with our church about us learning the culture and language of Paraguay and how important it is to know the language and the culture to effectively communicate the Gospel. Randy is one of the Culture and Language Consultants for the field, so he and the other consultants will be doing our language checks to see how far we are progressing in the language and culture of Paraguay. He also helps us find a Host Church. We are so excited about serving in Paraguay and would love for you to be a part of that. We are in need of Missions minded believers who would like to not only pray for us, but also financially support our ministry. Would you prayerfully consider how the Lord would have you be involved! Please contact us to find our more information on how you can do this.
FAMILY UPDATE
This month we took the kids to the Pumpkin Farm. The kids always enjoy seeing all the things they do with pumpkins. School is going well for the boys; they have made some friends and enjoy what they are learning. Please continue to pray them as they are in school.
NEWS FROM PARAGUAY ~ Let’s Mix Things Up
“I’m often asked: “What language do they speak in Paraguay?” I have an amazing talent of making a very simple question into a very complicated answer. It depends on what you mean by “in Paraguay.” We could mention the 17 tribal languages that we have in Paraguay. We could talk about the large Mennonite communities that speak German. We could include the high quantity of Brazilian and Korean immigrants. But what most people mean by “in Paraguay” is what does a Paraguayan national person speak? The answer to this question is also complicated. The official answers are Spanish and Guaraní. They are both officially national languages (completed unrelated languages by the way). But perhaps a better answer is the unofficial answer. Your average Paraguayan national person speaks neither Spanish nor Guaraní. Rather, they speak what is called Jopará (mixture). There is a traditional Paraguayan soup called Jopará. This soup is called mixture because you take beans and you take corn, mix them together, and you have one soup. That’s how the language Jopará works as well. You take Spanish, mix it with Guaraní, and you get Jopará which is neither Spanish nor Guaraní. To clarify, many Paraguayans can speak pure Spanish. Others can speak pure Guaraní. However, neither of these languages are what we would consider the heart language of majority Paraguayans. The language that they speak to their family, to their close friends, to discuss the weather, to discuss sports games…these relaxed situations you’ll find that many, if not most, speak Jopará. Up to this point, my wife and I have studied Spanish along with Paraguayan culture. Knowing pure Spanish is very important for us as foreigners. However, now that I have a decent grasp of Spanish, we are taking advantage of our continued national language acquisition time to study Jopará. For the past month I’ve been taking part of an intense course to get me going in my Jopará learning. Some things in Jopará are easy to learn if you know Spanish. For example, the word for sheep in Spanish is “oveja” (oh-vay-ha). In Jopará it’s “ovecha” (oh-vay-SHAH). The word for onion is Spanish is “cebolla” (say-bo-yah). In Jopará it’s “sevoi” (say-boy). To say I understand in Spanish it’s “entiendo” (en-tea-en-doe). In Jopará it’s “atende” (ah-ten-DAY). These borrowed words from Spanish really speeds up the learning process. But then just when you get excited, you realize it’s a different language completely. For starters, there are 5
vowels in Spanish. In Jopará there are 14. Did your brain just explode? Most Americans can’t fathom more than 5 vowels in a language, since we have it ingrained from grade school that there are only 5. But really, more than 5 vowels is very common worldwide. The most problematic of all the Jopará vowels for English speakers is written “y”. This vowel is pronounced by smiling a very tight smile; your mouth is barely open and then you try to make a very pure “u” sound (like in the word blue) without moving your lips. It sounds like the noise my mom makes when I tell her I ate guinea pig in Ecuador when I was 16. As I have started learning Jopará, it has opened up an entirely new world to us in Paraguay. Since Jopará tends to be the language of choice between close friends and in relaxed environments, we have never been able to truly 100% enter those worlds with Spanish. Jopará is opening doors that have never been opened before. My gardener is a Jopará speaker, and is visibly uncomfortable with Spanish. Up until recently I could barely get this guy to look at me, let alone start a friendship. By speaking Spanish to him, I was unfortunately keeping him at arm’s length. A few weeks ago I began to greet him in Jopará and converse very limitedly. My interaction is so limited, I figured it might even be hurting our relationship rather than helping. However, strangely enough, it has opened him up to me. We actually visited for a bit the last time he came to cut my grass. He stops and talked to me now when we pass each other in the street. We are actually starting a friendship, and I’m convinced Jopará was the catalyst.”
Written by Jon Quast ~ Missionary in Paraguay with New Tribes Mission
Pray for The Quast Family as they continue to progress in Spanish, and now as they learn Jopará.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read our update and for taking the time to pray for us. We appreciate you all and pray the Lord’s richest blessings on you.
For His Name and His Glory,
The Twigg Family
Colton, Tanja, Malachi, Noah, Gideon, and Jehiah