Two Kinds of Water

THE CALL: 2023–2024    |    4 MINUTE READ
GABE ERNST, MISSIONARY IN PARAGUAY

Cutting a Path

The jungle in the Paraguayan countryside was a lush, unforged path. As we cut our way through the thick branches and vines, we carried what felt like a hundred pounds of garden hose on our shoulders (over one kilometer of garden hoses). I worked my way through the brush with Peter Ratcliffe (an independent missionary who works closely with WGM), his son Daniel, and a few young guys from the indigenous village. We were heading from the river about a mile from the village to the chief’s house. The goal was simple: get water from the river to the village. I knew God had called me here to serve, so I was confident. 

(L to R) Me, Daniel, Agustín (the chief of the community), and Peter standing downstream of the river on one of the first visits in February 2023

My confidence was shaken, though, when Peter and the cacique (chief) walked ahead, laying out the rest of the hose and leaving me with Daniel and two children from the community. As a storm and nightfall approached, I stood on the hose to make sure it stayed in place. Then Daniel and the children stated that they were going to leave to help connect the hose up ahead, while also warning me that I needed to “watch out for jaguars.”  

I thought to myself, This is it. My ministry just started, and I’m about to die in a foreign land. What brought me to this point? How did I get here, in the middle of the jungle at dusk, possibly surrounded by jaguars?

How I Found My Calling

Two years earlier, I had been a college student at Asbury University discerning my calling. I had been involved in WGM’s Global Café, attending many of its worship services and hearing missionaries share about their experiences on the field. I eventually decided to go on a mid-term trip to Paraguay for three months through the influence of my mentor and friend, James Ballard, the director of student involvement. James is the kind of man that brings out the best in students and really makes them feel loved. He also is the kind of man who helps many answer the hard question, “What is my call?”

God used a mid-term trip to Paraguay to clarify His calling on my life.

After that trip, it was clear that God was calling me into full-time missions in Paraguay. I found out after applying to be a missionary at WGM that a high percentage of missionaries decide to become missionaries after experiencing a short- or mid-term trip. It makes sense when you think about it; the more you say yes, the more open you are to God’s will for your life.

Back in the Jungle

So there I was, starting my first term as a missionary in Paraguay, alone in the dark in a dangerous situation. Thankfully, I didn’t encounter any jaguars, and we were able to get the hose hooked up so the village could have a source of water. We traveled back home, but received word weeks later that the pump in the river was not working correctly.

Left: Members of the Asbury team with Daniel and me testing the RAM pump in the river Right: The water reservoir tank at the village

Two more times, we traveled out to the village and fixed the pump. While we were there, we shared the Gospel and built relationships with the people there. Then, one day, while we were preparing for James to bring a new group from Asbury on a short-term trip, we received word that the pump wasn’t getting water to the community.

Preparing for a Short-Term Team

We had been praying for this group that was coming, and specifically praying for some of them to join our long-term work in missions. The Asbury revival had happened a few months earlier, and we had high hopes that God was preparing their hearts. James had also been praying the scripture Isaiah 43:18–21 over the group:

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise. (NIV) 

Asbury team with missionaries on the dirt road leading to the community with the water project

Once the group arrived, we traveled once again out to the village. But this time, God had bigger plans, ones that went beyond physical water.  As on every previous trip to the village, after the pump had been fixed on the sixth trip, we shared a message of a different kind of water that they could receive—a living water.

“One thing I noticed in the scripture we were praying,” James said, “was this theme of water, and life, and new things. God was working in awesome ways. Our first two days there, we were literally working to bring water to the village.”

God used our consistent returned trips and tweaks to the pump and hose to show the village the consistency of our hearts and our willingness to serve. Peter and I didn’t just come once and then leave. God kept calling us back. That night, after we shared the message, many were saved!

“I Don’t Think My Story Is Done”

While the Asbury team was visiting, we attended another event, this one a gathering of churches in a nearby city. “That night,” James said, “we were vigorously planning before the event. Then Elle, the assistant director of student involvement, looked at me, and we both said, 'Shouldn’t we pray for Jesus to have His way over tonight?’ So we stopped planning and started praying. After the prayer was over, one of the students from the team spoke up and said, ‘I don’t think my story is done here in Paraguay yet. God’s still working on something in me.’” 

James shared, “Throughout the week, people kept reaching out to us through texts saying they were praying for the team. Many shared that they were praying Isaiah 43 over the group and the trip. I didn’t tell them that we had also been praying that scripture over the team. God knew. His fingerprints were all over this trip.” 

God is not done yet, in Paraguay or in these students’ lives. He has so much more to do! The most exciting part to think about is how God might be working behind the scenes in the hearts and minds of those we have yet to meet to soften them to the Holy Spirit and the Gospel message.

ACTION STEPS

PRAY: Lift up these students as they continue to process this trip and other encounters with the Holy Spirit. Pray that God will work through these situations to show them where He is calling them.

GO: Is God calling you to a short-term missions experience? Learn more about what it would look like to take a team to join the work He’s doing in places like Paraguay.

Missionary Bio: Gabe Ernst began serving in Paraguay in January 2023 and is involved in discipleship ministries through the local evangelical churches with youth and young adults, and community development and church planting among the indigenous peoples, specifically with the Ava Guaraní, Mbya Guaraní, and Aché tribes. Follow Gabe’s journey through Facebook, Instagram, or sign up for his newsletter on his giving page.