Merry Christmas

We wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!  May the Lord bless you and be with you in a very special way!  Thank you for your prayers!  We are in missionary planning meetings for 2010.

Paul visits the Caribbean

   Paul made a trip into the Caribbean and enjoyed his visit. It was very hot the time of year when he was there. The highlight of the trip was getting to know the Caribbean people.

   We are making a transition from Ecuador and as the Special Projects for Latin America and the Caribbean to Assistant Area Directors for the Caribbean working in the islands with the Strategic Missionary Force. We continue to direct and travel with the Latin America and Caribbean Commission on HIV/AIDS.

   We feel like we are starting over again with a big learning curve of new cultures and new people to work with. We feel confident it is the Lord’s will and something He spoke to our hearts before we entered missionary service in 1989. Islands have always been a part of the call, however we did not realize to what extent that would be. Please keep us in your prayers.

Encouraging words from our Boss

Excerpt taken from the Latin America and the Caribbean Communiqué  October 2009

WHY WE RESPECT YOU, THE MISSIONARY
“Honor to whom honor is due” Romans 13:7 (ISV)
I’ve been reflecting recently on the fact that the missionary (not to mention AGWM) is under fire and that our relevance in today’s world is being questioned. I’ve also been reflecting on the missionary’s value, his or her worth. What is it about who we are or what we do that is compelling enough to command respect for its own sake?
Here are a few somewhat self-evident points about why we honor and value you. First, you have invested a significant part of yourself in getting to where you are. I recently spoke about the significance of that fact with a missionary who has been on the field for five terms.
For example, let’s assume for the sake of argument that you, the missionary, were appointed in 1980 at the age of 32 and will approach retirement in 2015 at the age of 67. That means:
* You have spent more than half of your life on the mission field.
* Of 35 years as a missionary, about 27 years were spent on the field doing missionary ministry.
* During that time, about 8 years of your life were spent itinerating and building partnerships with churches and pastors.
* Using conservative figures, you probably were in about 1200 missionary services, perhaps logging half a million miles or more on your vehicles.
* To book those services, you made 8400 phone calls or contacts of some other sort, of which perhaps 4200 were ignored/not returned and another 3000 produced no results.
* Of the 1200 services over your career, perhaps 180 (15 percent) or so committed a monthly amount. These were your faithful partners over the years. 
* In other words, about 1 in 50 (2 percent) of your phone contacts resulted in a monthly commitment. So 49 times out of 50 you went to the well, but there was no water there. (I speak in human terms since we know our planting and watering is never in vain. We may not get a commitment, but we nevertheless have invested in the work of missions.)
So my challenge to any detractors would be this: Until you are ready to give half of your life to missionary work and eight years of your life traveling, presenting your ministry in a thousand pulpits, meeting pastors and missions committees, and sleeping in hundreds of Holiday Inns and Motel 6s, why not give honor to whom honor is due and respect missionaries for what they have done? (And lighten up a little on the surveys questioning what they haven’t done!) A missionary is an investment worth preserving.
It is popular today for some to say, “Everyone is a missionary.” Most of us would contend everyone is a witness. Not everyone is necessarily a missionary, however. But you answered a specific call to missions, and you embraced all it means. Many times we hear a missionary colleague at a crossroads in life and ministry ask, “But what about the call?” It is very difficult to walk away from that call.
I’m not sure everyone understands what that call is all about, but you do, and for that we honor you. Thank you for answering that call and investing your life in fulfilling it.
Second, in most cases you spent at least a year—and certainly continually throughout your missionary career—in language acquisition. You have learned Spanish, French (Creole), Dutch, Portuguese, and a variety of indigenous languages (Quichua, Aymara, Kek-chi, etc.). That is significant and valuable. And you work to provide literature, CDs, and a variety of materials in those languages. As one woman put it, “Now I know God loves me, because He speaks in my language!” We honor you for these efforts that bring value to missions work.
Third, you spend a lifetime adapting to the culture. You learn the values, priorities, social mores, and customs of people who are very different from us but who are equally valuable in the kingdom of God. Often our kids are raised in those cultures and become “third-culture kids,” unalterably impacted by those cultures and sometimes more at home in the country in which you serve than in the United States. A veteran missionary stopped by my office recently and recalled how his youth pastor in the States, an MK, struggled to read his English Bible when he spoke to the youth group, so he would revert to his Spanish Bible and translate in his head instead!
All of us struggle to make the shift when we return to the States to itinerate. Reverse culture shock can be formidable, especially given the rapid rate of change in American culture. But you do it, and sometimes make lemonade out of lemons; you take a tough situation and overcome it. We honor you for that effort.
Fourth, although not everyone is multi-talented ministry-wise, you give your best to missionary ministry. Sometimes even miraculously, something wonderful happens: your ministry flourishes, a church is planted, people are impacted, lives are changed, and young people say, “I’d like to be a missionary (or a pastor) someday!” At the end of the day, you look back on something tangible that didn’t exist there before, and you can say, “With God’s help, we did that.”

By Richard Nicholson, Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean
Assemblies of God World Missions

Ecuador Indiana Construction Team

Indiana Construction Team works on 4th Floor of Latin America ChildCare School Quito, Ecuador

In July, missionary Paul Duda along with a team from Lakeview Church, pastored by Ron and Dorene Bontrager in Indianapolis, Indiana completed the fourth floor for the Latin America ChildCare School at Aposento Alto Assemblies of God Church in Quito, Ecuador. The team was led by Pastor Butch Smith. Scott and Aaron Jellison from Hermon, Maine joined the team. There will be several new classrooms full of children needing sponsors for the fall class. If you would like to sponsor a child call the Latin America ChildCare Office and ask to speak to Sarah Hemphill. The number of the school is #2013. Her email is: shemphill@lacc4hope.org or she can be reached at 1-800-289-7071. The website for Latin America ChildCare is http://www.lacc4hope.org/.

We had a financial miracle during the month of July. Over $10,000 came in for our cash budget for the next year. We only lack around $180 in monthly pledged support. Many churches have promised to pick us up for support once the economic crisis is over. We are so thankful to you for your faithfulness! May God bless you in every way.

Medical Team

June 2009

We were privileged to work with a fine group of people from Grace Assembly of God in New Whiteland, Indiana. Tom and Ann Davis and Stacy and Jeanine Johnson were the group leaders for the medical team. National Pastors Alexis and Patti Sarmiento were so pleased to see so many people from the church and surrounding neighborhood receive medical, dental, and eye care. During the week over 860 people passed through the clinic. Spiritual counseling ministered to many needs in prayer and 165 people received Jesus as their personal Savior. We were so happy to have Ray and Barbara Schulz from Marion, Indiana on the team.
It was unique to see how many changes have taken place in the neighborhood. We began the work with Alexis and Patti nearly 20 years ago when there was no running water, electricity and no building except a small shack with a tin roof and dirt floor. Now there is a feeding program for over 300 children daily, a fully functioning Latin America ChildCare School and a church facility with a nice kitchen with clean water, electricity and a paved street. We are thankful to the Lord for His Help and His Blessing.

You can view the article on the Assemblies of God WebPage at:

http://worldmissions.ag.org/regions/latinamcab/__.cfm?targetBay=ac6d31db-8d8e-42ff-9454-08eb791d73e7&ModID=2&Process=DisplayArticle&RSS_RSSContentID=12309&RSS_OriginatingChannelID=1164&RSS_OriginatingRSSFeedID=3692&RSS_Source=

We recently spent time in El Salvador with Missionaries Lynn and Victor Diaz. We were in three different cities, San Miguel, Usulutan, and San Salvador. We taught two day seminars educating Pastors, Latin America ChildCare workers, and local medical workers on the facts of HIV/AIDS and how the church should be a safe haven for those suffering with the illness. Below is a picture of a group of Pastors and workers receiving their certificates for attending the seminar.

Missionary Paul Duda enjoyed a time of worship with David Molina leading worship. El Salvador has some warm temperatures this time of the year, around 95-100 degrees with full humidity. It is a beautiful country with great food. We ate a national dish called pupusas, rice tortillas filled with cheese, meat, and beans.

We finished up in Northern New England with itineration. We got to see family and friends during the month of March. Pictured to the right is Gregg and Jeanne Randall, long-time friends. Gregg and Jeanne were pioneer pastors in Ellsworth, Maine during the time (late 70's - early 80's), we pioneered the church, Elim Assembly of God in Bath, Maine. It was nice to be able to connect with our friends of many years. They work in the NNED District Office.

Pictured to the left is the Duda Family with our brother-in-law Todd Bilodeau's Dad on the far left. Paul's Mom Nancy Duda is second from the end to the right.

We are so grateful to our family, to our Pastors, supporters, and prayer partners for your support over the past 20 years. We could not do our work without your help and love. We do not take this for granted, especially during these hard economic times that everyone is experiencing, some the loss of jobs after many years with a company.

Pictured to the right is Darlene and Ken Bosse with missionary Paul J. Duda at their home in Raymond, NH. Darlene made us a wonderful meal after church.
We enjoyed fellowship with them and getting to know them better after being friends for over 20 years. Itineration is a great time to catch up and spend time together. Pastor Ken and Darlene were very generous to us and very kind.

The End of Itineration

We will have our final service of itineration in our district tomorrow at the New Life Assembly of God church in Raymond, NH, Pastor Ken and Darlene Bosse. Paul's sister Teri and brother-in-law attend the church. We are staying with Paul's brother Steve in Raymond, NH and are enjoying our meetings with Pastors and friends in Northern New England District. We visited with our former Superintendent Sam and Rachel Ditrolio (pictured below), as well as our current Superintendent Dennis and Bevie Jo Marquardt (pictured above). Thanks for your sacrificial giving in cash and regular monthly support. We appreciate you!

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Final Push - Itineration Nearing the End!

March 31, 2009

We will be finishing our itineration in New Hampshire and Vermont and our official last day to itinerate is March 31, 2009. Thank you for praying, giving, encouraging, loving, and being good friends to us. We had the special treat in March of visiting with Brother Gene Petty (our former NNED Superintendent) and Dottie while in Florida and eating some strawberries with them.

We will be leaving for El Salvador in April. We will post pictures and the work late April. God Bless You!

KOA Campground

Orlando, FL

We are parked at the KOA Campground in Orlando in our RV travel trailer. There are some wonderful ducks that visit us. Lana is an animal lover and is enjoying making friends with them. We are here for a Mission's Convention with Faith Assembly of God. We look forward to meeting new friends and renewing old friendships. Faith A/G have been with us since 1989 when we began our missionary ministry. We are finishing up our itineration and the magical date to be finished is March 31, 2009. Please pray with us. We need a financial miracle of $14,000 in cash and around $500 in monthly support. We are trusting the Lord!!!

We visited with Dale and Patti Coad, Area Directors for the Caribbean on our way to services in Florida. Dale and Patti love the missionaries in our region and the national church. It is evident from the care they show. We had a wonderful time in devotions and prayer and the Lord's presence was felt. Patti and Dale have some very adorable granddaughters; we enjoyed sharing a meal together with them.

Indiana Itineration 2009

We recently ministered at the Celebration Church in Lebanon, Indiana. Pastor Shane and Rachel Frazier started the work and they currently meet in a local theater in town. We were blessed by the enthusiasm the folks had for missions and the many wonderful comments and questions sent our way at the display table. The smell of popcorn was enticing, as the church folded up everything, packed up a van, and turned the space back to the local theater for showings that day.

We will be itinerating until the end of March 2009. We lack $1,000 in monthly support and $14,000 in cash. If you have been waiting to send in your support form, now is the time, as we need it. Please help us not take another extension.

Paul and I will be making a missionary ministry change as soon as we are finished with itineration in March. We will be serving along with Dale and Patti Coad in the Caribbean Region as their assistant Area Directors . We are working as the Directors of HIV/AIDS Commission, the Caribbean being the second most impacted area of the world from HIV/AIDS. In April we have an HIV/AIDS Training in El Salvador in three cities for Pastors, church leadership, and Latin America ChildCare School teachers. Thank you for your faithful support in prayer and in finance. At present, we are at 86% on our monthly support and 55% on our cash budget. We are confident by God's grace and with your help we will make our budget and get back to our missionary work.