The Aché are an indigenous community in Paraguay. Aché means “a real person.” They live by hunting and fishing. Among the most commonly consumed foods are palm starch and honey. The language spoken by them is Guarani. If you want to tell the children of PEPE Aché that God loves them, it is very simple: ¡Ñandeyara nde raiju!
On a Sunday, February 5, 2023, after a special service in the Aché community of Alto Paraná Puerto Barra, Paraguay, 34 youth and young adults were baptized on the Ñacunday River that surrounds this Guarani Aché community where we have the PEPE project that reaches many families and their children.
PEPE has been a reference in the community for many years, not only because it helps the children to have a foundation for classes at preschool age, but also because it shows them the true Savior who brings joy and peace to them and their families.
Today we can see teenagers and young people who have been reached being baptized and firmly established in the Church. The missionary-educators and the pastor belong to the same ethnic group and work together in the PEPE and in the Baptist Church of the local community in the zone they administer.
The PEPE has changed the way of life of this indigenous community to the point that the parents insist that all local children must attend the PEPE. They learn and praise God in their own language. This is our God who keeps changing lives and writing new stories at the PEPEs that will continue for generations!
Rosa Piguisi – Missionary-Educator
Pr. Javier Gallarza – National Coordinator of PEPE Paraguay
Translated by Victor Baptista
