Greetings, Friends, from this cold
and rainy valley in Southern Chile! At
this time of year in Lautaro at night, it is common to need to drive under 5
mph, due to thick fog. This makes us very grateful for fog lights on our car,
as well as on other cars driving the roads! The importance of being able to see
cannot be overstated, right? So, inspired by the thought of light shining into the darkness, here are some of the main happenings over this past month:
A Light for the City:
Two more
short-term teams came this past month, one from Thousand Oaks, CA, and one from
Yuma, AZ! Gus continued working with
both teams in construction projects for the church and school! More walls,
roofing and siding have been going up! You can feel the excitement more and
more with each team, as the completed project can now be more easily visualized
by all: Shining His light through hard
work toward better children’s education.
(construction progress on the school)
Some of the
team members that came from Thousand Oaks are professional musicians, so one
activity was to put on a worship clinic one Sunday afternoon! Gus helped
organize that event and also contributed by playing drums and translating for
our visitors. It was a great time full of wonderful music, practical tips and
encouraging words: Shining His light through
excellence in worship.
(worship clinic)
The ladies
from the team from Yuma had a craft evening with the local women, which was a
fun time for all. In addition, Karissa has shared with the leader of the
women’s ministries here that several women in the church have communicated the
need for a regular women’s Bible study. So plans are being made to launch that
at the end of September, and Karissa will be teaching the class for the first
couple of months at least, to set a standard, encourage the ladies and help
them deepen in their understanding and application of scriptural truths to
their daily lives. Shining His light
through fellowship & the teaching of the Word.
(Women’s craft evening with ladies
from Yuma)
A Light for the Region:
Another
rainwater harvesting system was installed for a family in the countryside, and
Gus was able to go be a part of that installation! He was able to spend quality
time sharing with the man of the house, Alex, who has invited us all back as a
family to visit them (we will do that once the rain calms down a bit, since our
van doesn’t handle well in this weather). We are looking forward to developing a
relationship with Alex’s family: Shining His
light through friendship.
Gus also went
with one of the teams to visit the school in the rural area called Galvarino where
a harvesting system was installed last year, and this gave him the opportunity
to visit at length with the school’s director and several of the teachers. Gus
offered the director a free music workshop for their students later this year,
and he loved the idea, so there is a definite open door to deepening those
relationships! Our small group is also
planning to serve the neighboring villages in specific ways, the first of which
will be next Saturday when we go to Jose’s home as a group so that our guys can
build their family a green-house for their garden and the women & children can
visit with his wife & kids: Shining His
light through community service.
(Jose’s son)
A Light for the World:
The purpose
of this church in Lautaro has always been to bring light, to disciple believers
to take the love & truth of Jesus to their neighborhoods, to this region
and beyond the borders of Chile to the nations!
So, this
past week the church here happily sent out the first (in several years)
short-term missions team to Peru! The group is comprised of several of the
church’s youth and young adults, two young married couples and two older
ladies. Over the past couple of months we’ve been able to advise the team leaders
on how to prepare their team before the missions trip, Karissa contributed
baked goodies for support-raising dessert sales and Gus helped organize a “café
concert” with three bands participating (including one Gus played with) to
raise funds for the short-term team as well: Shining His light through raising awareness for international needs.
(café concert fundraiser)
The team is
now in Peru: they’ve been helping with a few small construction projects there
and doing some outreach events for children in the church as well as the
surrounding neighborhoods. They will be returning home this Sunday, so we are
excited to hear how everything went on this cross-cultural venture: Shining His light through missions-training.
(Peru short-term team sent from
Lautaro)
Our
organization has several missionaries and church-plants in Ecuador: ever since
the strong earthquake suffered there in April, those churches have been sending
aid by building homes and other relief efforts. The silver lining in that
tragedy has been the openness to help and the receptiveness to the gospel in
those affected areas. As new needs are coming up, one of the missionary couples
(close friends of ours) have invited Gus to go to Ecuador for a couple of weeks
in September in order to teach both drums and a basic sound engineering clinic!
We are excited for this opportunity for him to go serve our sister churches
there! Shining His light through
international workshops.
To Finish, A Lesson
from Lampposts:
The church
in Lautaro is located at the top of a hill, right off of the freeway on the
outskirts of the city! It’s a beautiful location, with the potential of being
visible to the many, many passersby on that main thoroughfare. However, there
aren’t good street-lights in that area, so it’s very dark, especially now in
the winter with the shorter, rainier days. So, the solution currently being
worked on is better lighting on the property in the form of lampposts installed by the last three short-term teams (Simpson, Thousand Oaks & Yuma): These sources of light provide safety for the
care-takers and others on the land at night while at the same time drawing
attention to the church, gym and school construction. Because the point isn’t
just to have fun activities, a good worship time and great fellowship with other
church members (though all of that is good), but also to draw in those who are
seeking the true source of Light:
(new lampposts on church property)
“You are the light of the world. A city
set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket,
but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men
in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in
heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16, NASB)
Thank
you for continuing to faithfully partner with us (through financial support, prayers & short-term teams) in this work in Lautaro,
reaching this city and beyond its borders with the Light of Jesus!
Because
of His Glorious Light,
Gustavo,
Karissa, Jeremy, Elizabeth, Cristina & Diego
