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276 SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
Bases are being laid for the extension of the evangelistic work and the
field is being studied to determine the areas in which other work should be
begun. The outreach will follow the time-honored example of our Lord and
his express command: Preach, Teach, Heal. Preach to a nation just awakening
from the superstition of idolatry and perverted religion. Teach in a nation
whose school system is in great need of advancement. Heal where bodies are
wrecked by the disease of generations and where death stalks in thousands of
homes which are burdened by poverty, vice, and lack of elementary sanitation.
LAND OF YESTERDAY
"O, yes, for it is true that everything, everything of former times wa
better; men, hearts, intelligence, and material possessions." 2 Paraguay, queen
of the South, mother of Buenos Aires and grandmother of Montevideo, ruled
supreme for three centuries. Then, as a result of the Triple Alliance War,
1870, there came national suicide and utter economic and moral ruin. After
eighty years the scars are still evident. A Robert E. Lee (at Appomatox) might
have saved Paraguay. Instead, Francisco Solano Lopez, her president, a symbol
of the ultimate in physical courage and moral cowardice, led the nation into
ruin at Cerro Cora.
Paraguay, one of the most difficult mission fields today, was once the
of the most flourishing mission work in South America. For two hundred
years the Jesuit order maintained a mission to the Guarani Indians, which
incorporated about 150,000 of them into organized villages and farming communities,
saving them from slavery, destruction, and economic exploitation.
"In no other section of Spanish America had a group of missions among uncivilized
tribes arisen to such prominence; in no other was the eventual ruin
so sadly spectacular." 8
TODAY'S OPPORTUNITY
We enter Paraguay when the nation is beginning to respond to the frien
hand of her good neighbor to the North. The United States Government maintains
three special branches of help to Paraguay (along with other South
American countries)—cultural, medical, and agricultural missions. Young Paraguayans
are sent to the United States to study; hospitals have been built,
clinics established, roads constructed, and at present a model farm-dairy is
operating near Asuncion. A National Vocational School is being started. The
United States Government is putting a lot into Paraguay. Shall our churches
allow the motivating forces of life to pass from their hands to the hands of
the State? Must not we bring to Paraguay the great spiritual truths which
have made America the nation she is today? Shall we send them only the fruits
of our spiritual liberty and not plant the seed as well?
These government agencies are operated by men friendly to mission ente
prizes. The doors which they open are often left open for us also. A real
program of preaching, teaching, and healing, done by true Christian agencies,
will bear fruit in the formation of new churches and the changing of many lives.
TOMORROW'S CHALLENGE
Heal! There is a great need for a hospital under evangelical direction
serve hundreds of evangelicals in Paraguay (Disciples, Mennonites, Hutterites,
Anglicans, Lutherans, Baptists, and interdenominational groups) to provide
excellent nursing, thus setting a higher standard in this field, and to offer
multiple opportunities for personal testimony to the saving power of Christ.
Miss Willis is studying the needs and openings for this phase of the work.
Teach! In a personal interview with the Minister of Education we were
assured of his full co-operation in a program for literacy, using the method
worked out by Dr. Laubach, "Each one teach one." Dr. Santiago Villagra,
an ex-priest now serving as director of a government school, is a Baptist.
converted about two years ago. He will gladly work with Miss Councilman in
such a program, including also other phases of teaching and instruction. There
introduction to "Tres Ensayos sobre Historia del Paraguay"—Garay.
'History of the Expansion of Christianity—Latourette Vol. 3. p. 156.