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Wed, July 8 - Miami. We gather from various point in the U.S. and Canada at Miami International Airport for an overnight flight to Asuncion, Paraguay.

Thu, July 9 - Asuncion/Argentine Chaco. This morning we arrive at the Aeropuerto Silvio Pettirossi outside Asuncion, home to 3,500 German and Spanish-speaking Mennnonites. We meet Mike and Mattie Marie Mast, who had served in Argentina for 25 years, ministering among the Toba and other Native American peoples. In order to make final plans for our Argentine experience, they will precede our arrival. We board our motor coach and cross the Paraguay and Pilcomayo Rivers to enter Argentina. We head south through flat ranch land and palm trees to Formosa, capital of the province. This is all in the Argentine Chaco region, where Mennonite Mission Network (MMN) has had missionaries since 1943. After finding our hotel we may stroll along the wide main street, enjoy the lookout tower, and continue further along the Paraguayan River. Then it's dinner and a much needed rest.

Fri, July 10 - Formosa City/Toba Native Villages. After a delicious breakfast we will board our motor coach to go to the Indian Souvenir Shop. Then we drive by the large logs at the tannin mill before touring Formosa on our way to the pleasant natural environment of the Laguna Oca Biosphere. We come back for a light lunch, spreading out in some of the restaurants of the city. After our siesta time we will take part in an orientation regarding the work of Mennonite Mission Network in this region and get better acquainted with missionaries, Keith and Gretchen Kingsley and Richard and Ruth Anne Friesen before dinner downtown.

Sat, July 11 - Quaycolec/Barrio nam Zom (or) Mision Laishi. After leaving our hotel we will drive to the regional zoo at Quaycolec and then experience a relaxing Argentine asado. After lunch we will divide into three groups to visit some Toba communities, two groups going to the semi-urban Barrio Nam Qom at the edge of Formosa City, and one to the rural reservation at Mision Laishi. We hope to arrange with an anciano (elder) to talk with the group about indigenous spirituality, evangelization, worship motives, etc. Most of the churches we will visit are affiliated with the United Evangelical Church, a large indigenous denomination that Mennonite missionaries have helped to organize and nurture. In the evening we will participate in the youth culto (church service), where we might be asked to share our greetings and a song or two. After these services which may let out late, we will head back to our hotel for a good night’s rest.

Sun, July 12 - Clorinda (or) la Primavera/Asuncion. This morning we check out of our hotel and head back north toward Asuncion. Again, we will divide into subgroups in order to visit churches in the urban Barrio Toba of Clorinda and the rural reservation of la Primavera. We would plan again to share our greetings and songs in these churches. We may look forward to enjoying a special lunch prepared by the members of the churches. Our groups will meet mid-afternoon and travel back across the border to Paraguay and go to the Hotel Las Margaritas, which will be our home for the rest of the week.

Mon, July 13 - Asuncion/Paraguayan River Cruise. We will board our motor coach and take a tour of the city of Asuncion, where we will observe the Casa de la Independencia, where Paraguayans declared independence in 1811. We hope to also see the nineteenth century Catholic Cathedral as well as the Presidential Palace. We may have a chance to spend a little time at one of the museums so as to learn a little more of the history of the region. Though this city is the center of Paraguay's political, economic and cultural life, only about 15% of Paraguayans live in the capital. After picking up a lunch we will go down by the shore and enjoy a cruise on the wide Paraguayan River. We will see the beautiful city coastline with its array of different types of structures. Then we will head back to Las Margaritas for dinner and a good night's sleep.

Tue, July 14 - Asuncion/Mennonite World Conference. This morning provides some free time. Now that we have had a little orientation to the city, some may wish to hail a taxi and go downtown to shop. Others may wish to further explore the historical buildings and museums. Everyone has a chance again to enjoy a lunch at a local restaurant and try out some of Paraguay's delicious cuisine. After a restful siesta we will head down to the Centro Familiar de Adoracion (Family Worship Center), the site for MWC 15, with seating for 10,000 people. (this is a new building, completed in 2008, built by an Assembly of God congregation). The complex also includes a host of classrooms for seminars as well as a two-tiered, underground parking garage. The Assembly begins with a mass worship service as Mennonites from around the world gather to sing and praise God! The theme of assembly is "Come Together in the Way of Jesus Christ," based on Philippians 1:1-11.

Wed-Sat, July 15-18 - Mennonite World Conference Activities. Shuttle bus service will be provided to persons residing in various hotels in order to get back and forth to the Assembly meeting place. MWC activities will include mass sessions with spirited singing by the congregation and special music groups, as well as inspirational messages presented by speakers from around the world. There will also be workshops, the Global Church Village (which includes performances), recreation, and a variety of tours. These tours will vary in costs and will be a mixture of visiting Mennonite sites and projects and more traditional touristy places. These tours will mostly be done in the afternoons from 1:00 - 5:00. The Mennonites in Asuncion have had a number of spiritual and social ministries. They program and transmit religious broadcasting through the services of Tran World Radio (TWR). The El Abrigo (Shelter for Street Children) has been serving the community for some years, and another ministry is the Psychiatric day Hospital. Though tours at the time of this printing are not outlined, the above listed places may be some of the locations where people might visit.

Sun, July 19 - Asuncion/Mennonite Colonies. In the morning we will join thousands of others for the final worship service of Assembly 15. After lunch we will travel northwest on the Trans-Chaco Highway, noticing some cattle ranches and Native American settlements along the way, as we head toward the Mennonite Colonies. In the evening we will arrive at Loma Plata, which was settled by Mennonites in 1927. We will be staying for three nights at the Chaco Hotel Mora.

Mon, July 20 - Loma Plata/Neuland Colony/Yalva Sanga. Today we will take a tour around Loma Plata, which was the first area settled by Mennonites in 1927. These were Somerfelder Mennonites who came from the Canadian prairies, leaving the North after the authorities there reneged on guarantees against conscription. We will be amazed at the things that have been developed as we visit the Dairy, the Cooperative and Super Market. An interesting museum is there, and among other artifacts, features an 80-90 year-old wagon from Canada that helped haul supplies as they settled. We will also see the Neuland Colony, which was formed by Russian Mennonites who came after WW II on the Volendam Ship. Near here are eight different Native villages. One of them is Yalva Sanga, which the Mennonites have interacted with in various ways. There are about 10,000 Mennonites and a slightly larger number of Native Americans in the Chaco.

Tue, July 21 - Filadelphia/Fernheim. Today we will spend some time in Filadelfia, see the monument at the center of the town, stop by some of the present church buildings, and hopefully have enough time to learn about the ZP-30 Radio Station. We may have a chance to visit the Unger Museum which chronicles Fernheim from the 1930s to the present. We will continue to view some of the outstanding and amazing things these immigrant Mennonites did to change a quite barren land into productivity. Other sites will be included as we have time. We may have a little more free time to visit with each other, digest all that we’ve done thus far, and just relax before our long trip back south tomorrow.

Wed, July 22 - Loma Plata/Asuncion. We leave Loma Plata this morning as our motor coach heads back to Asuncion. Again, since it's a long ride, we have time to reflect on how our Mennonite brothers and sisters in the last century as pioneers turned waste land into cotton fields and productive dairies. We will arrive back at our hotel in the afternoon, and will have some time to rest and relax before we say good-bye to Asuncion tomorrow and head east to Brazil.

Thu, July 23 - Asuncion/Foz Iguassu. As we go east we stop to pay a visit a Kilometer 81 Leprosy Hospital begun by Dr. John and Clara Schmidt over 60 years ago. We may also be able to visit the Beachy Amish Colony to see how they are faring in their farming projects and clinical services. Next we cross the border into Brazil, and enjoy a visit at the Itaipu Hydor Electric Dam. We overnight at Hotel Recanto Park.

Fri, July 24 - Iguassu Falls/Argentine Side. We will spend the day on the Argentine side for a close look at the Iguassu Falls, this magnificent horseshoe of waterfalls. The spectacle of this two-mile-wide torrential downpour – with some cataracts as high as 250 feet - is nothing short of hypnotic. The clouds of spray, its incessant roar, and the surrounding luxuriant tropical growth make this an unforgettable natural wonder. We may wish to take an optional motor boat ride below the falls, or enjoy a long walk out over the river to Devil's Throat, the most magnificent part of the falls. Then it's back to the Hotel Recanto Park.

Sat, July 25 - Foz Iguassu/Sao Paulo/Miami. Departing from our hotel, today we travel back to the Falls, and experience a grand overview from the Brazilian vantage point. It's a challenge to get all fourteen of these falls on one photo as they pound down 350-foot cliffs. We may get a chance to stop by one of the many rock shops, where you could purchase unique and rare rocks. In the early afternoon we leave Foz do Iguassu airport for Sao Paulo, Brazil, for a plane change, and then we are on our journey home, or continue on to Peru. (Arrive in Miami morning of July 26). Others going to Peru will separate from the rest of the group at Sao Paulo, and fly to Lima, Peru Saturday evening.

Sun, July 26 - Lima/Cusco. We arrive late in the evening on Saturday at Lima's Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chavez, where we are transferred to our hotel overnight. Then on Sunday we get a late morning flight to Cusco, grandiose Indian city that was once the capital of the Inca Empire, a metropolitan area that has an altitude of 11,400 feet. This afternoon we visit the Fortress of Sacsayhuaman, perched on a hillside overlooking Cusco. It still remains unfathomable how and when this fortress of gigantic stones - with some blocks weighing more than 350 tons - was built. We will also see the nearby Inca baths of Tambomachay, the semi-circular Kenko amphitheatre and underground galleries, and also Puca Pucara. Then to our hotel.

Mon, July 27 - Machu Picchu. This morning we board a train for a zigzagging journey through the lush Urubamba Valley. Then a transfer to a bus for the ascent to the sacred refuge of the mysterious Machu Picchu, "The Lost City of the Incas," high above the steep valley overlaid with a dense tropical jungle. We will have a guided tour that will help make the ancient history of the Incas come alive! Then we board the train again back to Cusco after seeing this "wonder of the ancient world." We will find a nice restaurant and possibly be favored by one of he many bands of strolling musicians dressed in their native costumes. Overnight at a nearby hotel.

Tue, July 28 - Cusco/Lima. In the morning we hope to get a chance to visit with some of the local Eastern Mennonite Mission workers, and hear how God has been truly pouring out His blessings as many churches are now being established in Peru over the last several years. We may have a little free time to look around and do some last-minute shopping. Then we catch a late morning flight back to Lima. We arrive in time to take an afternoon city tour of Lima, the "City of Kings" founded in 1535. Some of the places we may go on our sightseeing tour are the eleventh-century San Francisco Monastery with its unique cloisters, and the elegant Casa Allago Mansion. We may pass by the Government Palace and the Cathedral situated by the vast Plaza de Armas. Another interesting place is the Gold Museum. We then find our way back to the airport and take a night flight back to Miami, arriving in the very early morning hours. We check through immigration and customs, and find our domestic flights to our hometown, with fond memories of our visit to South America.