American Baptist Missionaries

January 28, 2008
To: First Baptist Menlo Park
Subject: Hernandez Prayer Letter

Dear Friends and Family,
Happy New Year!  We pray that you all enjoyed a great Christmas season celebrating our Savior's birth with friends and family.  We had a great Christmas here in Paraguay, with our new son! We met Levi on December 14th and he was able to spend Christmas with us.  We officially got custody on January 14th.  Thank you all so much for praying for him as we awaited his arrival.  It was an awesome Christmas for us as we gained a son and Levi gained a family.  And we were able to celebrate his 1st birthday together on January 22nd.  Praise God for answered prayers!  We are excited for many of you to meet him when we are home on furlough this summer.

We had a great conference in November where about twenty leaders gathered for training and fellowship.  We were blessed to have as teachers our Grace Covenant Ministry Directory, Dallas Elder, as well as the first missionary to be sent out of Paraguay, Antonio Chavez.  Angel and Pastor Eusebio also taught at the conference.

These last few months have been a time of much change for us in our ministry.  Pastor Eusebio and Zulma had to make a tough decision to focus on only one church and are now in 4 Mojones.  Gloria and Noe have found a pastor from an Assemblies of God church to help them as they continue as leaders in San Antonio Church.  We are working closely with Eusebio and Zulma as they work to rebuild the church in 4 Mojones.

Gloria and Noe's school, Divio Redentor finished up the year well, with fun field trips and graduation.  Angel was blessed to take the 7-9th graders on a retreat at their graduation.  After teaching them for the last two years, some great relationships have been formed.

Due to our furlough coming up this year, Angel will not be teaching Christian Ed next year at Dinvio Redenter.  However, Cruz will be entering 2nd grade and Lucy will be starting Kindergarten!  We will remain active as parents and great friends of Gloria and Noe.

The church in 4 Mojones has applied for funding that has been made available to Paraguayan churches to start feeding programs for children.  We believe this is God's answer to our prayer for a way to help the poor and oppressed in Paraguay. We should hear if the church has been accepted in early February.  Please pray with us!

Prayer requests as we head into 2008:
1.We start to volunteer in Albergues, state run and NGO homes for mistreated and street children.
Pray that we will be able to show the powerful love of Christ to these children.
2. The feeding program at Nueva Alianza Church.
3. Angel will be starting a men's Bible study made up of fathers on the street.
4. Praise and continued growth for Eloisa's women's Bible study.
5. Plans for a study group to meet at the local food court/supermarket.
6. Upcoming Grace Covenant International Conference in the Domincan Republic (April)


In Him,

Malia and Angel,
Cruz, Lucy, Paz, and Levi