by Bill and Eunice Schmidt
14 March 2005
Tom and Kelly Stout are California kids; they like the sun, the outdoors, and nature. There is no California surf where they live, however. They have been SIM missionaries in Paraguay for over 10 years.

They began planting a church in Villarica, a small city southeast of the capital city, Asuncion. Over the years, their desire burgeoned to plant a church among the neglected country people out in the campo (literally means "field"). After struggling in prayer for months, they finally pulled up roots and settled out in the countryside many miles and hours from any town life.

Tom and Kelly found a simple, but adequate, home to rent on the corner of a busy country intersection. All day and all night people walk by, and riders on horses pass their windows. From time to time, a herd of long-horned steer, cows, and Brahman bulls crowd the street in front of their house. "Eating out" is no option in the campo. Electricity is unreliable. Phone lines are nonexistent, and privacy is a luxury. Everyone here scratches out a peasant's existence.

Their truck was stolen, but they have carried on undaunted since no one else there has a truck anyway. Now they walk and ride horses like everyone else, while their kids play with neighbors and speak in flawless Guarani, the ancient language of Paraguay.

For the last year, as they built relationships and started small Bible studies, Tom and Kelly prayed for a breakthrough in this spiritually emaciated outback. God gradually laid a vision in their hearts. First, Tom bought two large cook pots of 100 liters and 85 liters each. Then, out of their own grocery budget he bought local meat and vegetables. Next, volunteer neighbor ladies cooked it over an open fire.

Now each Saturday and Sunday, the aroma of savory vegetable soup and the promise of mouth-watering scrumptious food lure over a hundred hungry families to the Stouts' yard for a bowl of soup and a dish of boiled cassava. When they began, Tom couldn't imagine how to prepare a cauldron of vegetable soup for a hundred families. "Now," he exclaims, "it's second nature to us!"

With this gesture of sacrificial kindness, Tom and Kelly build relationships with local families and meet a basic need for good nutrition. They attract lots of attention too. And one by one people are coming to Jesus; a church is beginning to form!

There may be no California surf in the Paraguayan campo, but the waves of Jesus' love and forgiveness are surging against the shores of many hearts.