Prayer for July

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your prayers this past month! It was very busy and very productive! The Projects in Melipeuco, Los Ángeles and Ralco are all moving forward well, as all three locations had short-term teams visiting and special workshops in June:

(Amador & Gus working with a team in Ralco)

(Women's Bible Study in Melipeuco)

(Working with a short-term team in Melipeuco)

(teaching a worship workshop in Los Angeles)

July Prayer Requests:

• On Saturday the 6th, we'll go to Ralco as a family. Gus needs to meet with Amador to fine-tune plans for a team coming the next week, and I (Karissa) will meet with ladies there to continue a Bible study we've been doing together. We will stay that night in Ralco and visit the Los Ángeles church as a family on Sunday the 7th.

• On Sunday the 14th, Gus will be preaching in Los Ángeles and then driving that same day to Ralco, to be there when the team from the Oriente church (in Santiago) arrives on the 15th! That team will be there for 10 days, so please pray that they’ll be able to get lots of good work accomplished!

• On Saturday the 27th, we'll be going to Melipeuco so Gus can continue with ministry planning meetings and I can teach Part 2 of the women’s Bible class we started a couple weeks ago. Prayers for that day trip and the meetings involved!

• This past month, for various reasons I was not able to visit the three women mentioned last update, who all live within a few miles of our home... Please pray that if it’s God’s will, those visits would work out now in July! He knows when the timing will be right.

• We absolutely LOVE hosting but unfortunately have been very short on water these past couple of months. A good friend has graciously financed our well being dug, and we had been moving forward with each step as time and weather has permitted (photo of the kids helping to dig the trench).... Right when the plumbers were here last week to get the tubing installed, a rainstorm started that lasted 5 days straight with no breaks at all. We don’t have the protective walls built yet on the well (we're waiting for the connection to be done and functioning properly before raising up and covering everything), so now the whole well is completely overflowed with flood water... It’s not the end of the world, but we do appreciate prayers for a relatively simple draining solution, that the weather would cooperate for a few days to get it all finished and that we'd have a functioning well soon! It would be nice to actually be able to shower regularly again and wash more than one load of laundry a week... 😉

(flooded well and trench)

• A couple weeks ago while we were in Melipeuco for the day, we came home to one of our puppies dying, apparently severely injured in a fight with a bigger, wild dog who had been coming onto our land regularly. It was of course very sad for the kids, as this was the first pet we’ve had to bury... It also showed us that it is imperative that we build the fence around our land asap. Finances have been holding us back from doing that sooner, but we’re going to have to bite the bullet and get that built this month. There have been plenty of fun animals to have on our land (like horses & sheep), but others have been more dangerous or destructive. So, prayers appreciated for the finances, logistics and weather necessary to get the stakes in and a simple fence secured! (Photo of Cristina with the two puppies we still have)

Besides the busyness of ministry in June, we were also able to squeeze in our first date in 6 months, as well as some fun family activities: Gus and I went out for lunch and to see Aladdin for our anniversary (he got a free movie pass for his birthday!), and then the next week we saw Toy Story 4 as a family! What great movies!! Thank you for your prayers for special couple and family time!

(anniversary lunch date!)

(that was a fun family movie!)

Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support! We continue to be blown away by the generosity of so many of you, which allowed us again in June to visit each ministry location a few different times, not needing to worry about the funds for gas. We are honored to be representatives here in the south of Chile of God’s worldwide family, in partnership with you. Thank you for being a blessing to others! And if you haven't been to this part of the world before, please come visit us sometime!

In Him,

Gustavo, Karissa, Jeremy, Elizabeth, Cristina & Diego