When a Voice Crosses Oceans and Knocks on Your Door: The Story Behind RTM Paraguay

RTM Paraguay has been a fixture in the lives of many across the South American nation since 1994 — but ministry in the area began long before that. 

For many years, it was just a voice.

An invisible presence traveling through antennas, crossing oceans, bypassing borders, and arriving faithfully at a humble wooden house in the middle of a yerba mate field in southern Paraguay.

For Ernesto Weischelberger, a young rural schoolteacher barely nineteen years old, the radio was much more than a device. It was companionship. It was school. It was a window to the world. And, unknowingly, it was the first whisper of a call that would shape his entire life.

Decades later, that voice would have a face. And not just a face—it would knock on his door.

But to understand that moment, we must return to 1964, to the quiet nights of Capitán Meza, in the department of Itapúa.

During the day, Ernesto taught children in a small rural school. At night, when the countryside grew quiet and fatigue invited rest, he turned on his radio.

At that time, there were very few AM stations. Shortwave was the great bridge for international communication. Through that invisible path, Ernesto listened to stations from the Netherlands, London, and the United States.

Among them, one began to occupy a special place in his heart: TWR (Trans World Radio), broadcasting from Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles.

Although Ernesto was born in Paraguay and is Paraguayan, he comes from a family of German descent. That cultural heritage sparked a particular interest in German-language programs, which he listened to attentively from Bonaire.

From that small Caribbean island, programs were broadcast not only in Spanish and German but also in many other languages—a clear early sign of a vision: to bring the message of Jesus to each person in their heart language.

These programs offered much more than music or inspiring words. They shaped a worldview. A young Paraguayan, living alone in a small wooden house, began to understand that the gospel was reaching the entire world through ordinary people who had devoted their lives to an extraordinary mission.

“The radio was my companion,” Ernesto would recall years later. And it was also his school.

Unbeknownst to him, God was using each program, each voice, each late-night message to shape a vocation that would not be fleeting but lifelong.

Time passed. Ernesto continued moving forward in his life, but radio never lost its central place in his heart. That youthful passion did not fade; it became clearer and deeper.

Then something happened that can only be described as a divine appointment.

On July 10, 1968, Horst Marquardt of the ERF ministry (Evangeliums-Rundfunk), today ERF Medien, and host of one of the German-language programs broadcast from TWR Bonaire, arrived at Volendam Colony in the department of San Pedro.

He did not arrive by paved road or commercial airport. He arrived in a small airplane, landing in a nearby field surrounded by nature.

Surveying the surroundings, Horst uttered a simple phrase:
“If there is a cow, there must be a house nearby.”

He walked a few meters.
And he found one.

When he knocked on the door, Ernesto Weischelberger opened it.

For Ernesto, the impact was indescribable. Standing before him was the man whose voice he had heard for years. That voice, which had accompanied him through countless nights, now had a face, hands, eyes, and a living presence.

The radio ceased to be mere waves.
It became encounter.

That moment was not only emotional. It was prophetic.

God was visibly connecting a listener with a mission.

Looking back, Ernesto is convinced that nothing was accidental. God had been shaping him for many years—more than twenty before he became director of RTM (TWR in Spanish) Paraguay, and fifteen years in that role.

“When God calls a person, He shows them their vocation and prepares them for it,” he affirms.

For Ernesto, leading RTM Paraguay was never a position. It was the fulfillment of God’s will.

That personal calling eventually became a collective mission.

On January 31, 1994, on a hot afternoon at the Manzana de la Ribera hall in Asunción, the official launch of RTM Paraguay took place.

What had begun as a seed planted in the heart of a young teacher—and confirmed years later by an unexpected knock at the door—became a national ministry.

Since that day, RTM Paraguay has never ceased communicating the message of hope in Christ.

RTM Paraguay was never conceived as a mere retransmission channel. Its identity has always been centered on communicating, not just transmitting.

“We live in a society full of words,” Ernesto reflects, “but often very little is truly said.”

From the beginning, the model was Jesus: speak the truth, always in love.

This conviction shaped fundamental values that remain today: fidelity to God’s Word, avoiding doctrinal disputes on programs, staying out of politics, and always speaking for Christ, never against people.

These were not marketing strategies. They were spiritual convictions.

Doctrine, Ernesto understood, belongs in the local church. Politics divides. The gospel unites.

Today, TWR produces content in more than 200 languages and is broadcast by thousands of stations worldwide. Yet its essence remains unchanged: proclaiming Christ clearly and compassionately.

Another cornerstone was transparency—in both management and messaging. When taking on responsibilities, Ernesto made a significant decision: to entrust financial management to others, aware that many ministries had suffered from poor administration.

For him, leadership meant setting an example.

That example built trust. Radio stations opened their doors. Producers, hosts, and volunteers joined the project. Many worked with minimal or no compensation—not out of obligation, but because they deeply believed in the power of radio communication to convey the Gospel.

Radio, they understood, is not just a job.
It is a vocation.

Another distinguishing trait of RTM Paraguay has been cultural sensitivity.

Communication is not about repeating formulas. It is about understanding people, their story, their struggles, and how they feel and express themselves.

Here again appears a key principle of TWR: reaching people in their heart language.

This approach guides both production and distribution of content, globally and locally.

In Paraguay, it translates into programs that connect emotionally, culturally, and spiritually with the audience.

More than three decades after its founding, RTM Paraguay continues to adapt.

One example is Código Vital, a long-standing program revitalized to respond to today’s media environment. It now broadcasts live once a month on Facebook, blending traditional radio language with digital interaction.

Recently, the hosting team—Liz Acosta, Guillermo Gallo, and Pablo Vázquez—left the studio to broadcast live from an interschool sports event.

Microphones, cameras, and open hearts.
Hope carried into spaces where youth gather.

The episodes feature dynamic interactions among the hosts, who discuss real-life experiences and apply biblical principles to topics such as relationships, dating, suicide, compassion, and daily challenges.

Not from a podium.
From life itself.

Another flagship ministry of RTM Paraguay is Women of Hope.

For 25 years, this program has maintained steady, consistent work in the women’s prison.

Incarcerated women have found dignity, accompaniment, and the transformative message of Christ. Many lives have been restored. Many stories rewritten.

At the end of 2025, Paraguay’s Ministry of Justice publicly recognized RTM Paraguay for this work, for its trajectory, and for the seriousness with which it has brought hope to women deprived of their liberty.

Yet beyond any official recognition, the greatest fruit remains unseen: transformed hearts.

Looking at the whole story, it might appear as a series of strategic decisions.
But Ernesto sees something else.
He sees God’s hand.

From a young man listening to shortwave…
To a founder leading a national ministry…
From a voice crossing oceans…
To a movement reaching homes, prisons, radios, phones, and hearts.

The story of RTM Paraguay is, in essence, the story of how God takes a small passion and turns it into an enduring mission.

That is why the phrase spoken in a rural field still resonates:
“If there is a cow, there must be a house nearby.”

Where there is a house, there is a story.
Where there is a story, there is a heart.
And where there is a heart, God can plant hope.

Today, RTM Paraguay continues knocking on doors.

Not always wooden ones.
Many are digital.
Many are emotional.
Many are spiritual.

But the purpose remains unchanged:

To communicate, not just transmit.
To speak words that matter.
To share messages that heal.
To proclaim truths that set people free.

Just like that voice that once crossed oceans…
Just like that small airplane that landed in a field…
So that, at last, a voice could knock on a door.