Dear Partners,
We hope you are doing well! Most of you are
halfway through your summer, while we are halfway through our first winter here
in the countryside. 😊
(would you believe that less than 24 hours passed between these two photos, and no filters used?)
Weather was very strange and unpredictable here in July (many
locals said so too), causing damage to roads and fields and even houses in many
cases, not to mention the illnesses and infections going around. We weren’t able to visit
several people that we had wanted to, and there were meetings that had to be
cancelled due to being unable to get our car out after one especially rainy and
muddy week!
(our destroyed road/driveway)
So, all that to say, this past month was in many ways different
than planned (when does everything really go according to our “plans”?), but it was still a
very good month nonetheless!
Here are some praises from July as well as prayer
requests for August:
Praises
- The short-term team from Oriente did a great job in Ralco in July and it was a great experience for everyone involved! Amador and his family are getting the hang of hosting and organizing the work to be done (with Gus’ guidance and help), and we know that God has amazing blessings in store for that town and mountainous region!
(the Oriente team in Ralco)
(Gus doing the bbq for the team on the last day)
- There are 10 leaders and volunteers between Melipeuco, Los Ángeles and Ralco that signed up this past month to start studying in the online IberoAmerican Bible Institute program! Gus has been encouraging them for the past few months to take advantage of opportunities to deepen and formalize their theological and practical training, so when this new program became available, most of them signed up right away! May God bless and lead those who are seeking to better understand His Word and His calling on their lives...
- Our well is now functional, so we have plenty of water! What started as a frustration & concern (our road/driveway being destroyed by rain and the city water truck not able to bring us water anymore) became the push needed to get the well usable and now be independent in that area! We are grateful for the help of friends to make this possible. And now our kind neighbors are allowing us to park our car on their land and leave via their driveway since we don’t have access to ours right now, until we are able to get the road fixed when everything dries up. We are so thankful to God for his provision, in every sense of the word!
(pumping out the contaminated well water)
(we now have a working well, with protective walls and a cover!)
- None of us has been sick at all over the past 6 months. Good health, especially for the kids, is an enormous praise and blessing that we don’t take for granted!
- Our oldest child, Jeremy, turned 11 this past month! It is amazing how time flies... but what is more amazing is seeing what God has done and continues doing in Jeremy’s life, heart and mind. If asked, he’d tell you that he wants to be a missionary when he’s older and preach the Word to those that don’t know Jesus; he wants to write worship songs but also songs about the challenges of life; he wants to direct and produce movies that are “family appropriate and have good, encouraging messages”; he wants to make fun, family board games about seeing the world and learning about the Bible... among many other things! Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise us if Jeremy did all that and more, because God’s love and passion just pour out of him... God teaches us so much through Jeremy (as well as through each of his siblings, of course), and we are so blessed to see him grow into such a sweet and conviction-filled young man!
(the big birthday boy enjoying his cheeseburger at a fun, U.S.-style restaurant in Temuco)
August Prayer Requests
- This weekend (Aug. 9th-11th) Gus will be in Santiago seeing to some things there. Please pray for his trip to be good and for us here without him those couple days.
- This Saturday (Aug. 10th) while Gus is gone, I will be going to Melipeuco with the kids and with a couple friends, to have a Bible study for the women there. Please pray for a safe drive and for us to be a blessing to the ladies in Melipeuco!
- On Aug. 21st we’ll be driving up to Santiago to see family there for a couple days, before flying to Ecuador on the 24th! We are going to help set up the space for the conference, Gus will help set up and execute the sound & worship for those few days, and we'll be teaching a marriage workshop, as well as visiting with those attending and serving in any other ways we can. Please pray for a safe trip for our family, for all of the preparations for this conference, for wisdom in what we will be teaching, and ultimately that God would use all of those serving to be a blessing to our Ecuadorian brothers and sisters. Also, please pray for protection over our house here while we are gone for those couple weeks.
- We greatly appreciate your prayers for continued good health and protection during the remainder of winter, the transition to the heat of Ecuador, and in general with all the traveling over the next month!
Thank you dear friends, as always, for your prayers, your
encouragement and your financial support. We are honored to serve God with you!
Blessings in Christ,
Gus,
Karissa, Jeremy, Elizabeth, Cristina and Diego
Online, please use the link below and scroll to “Gustavo Guevara” under the “Fund” tab: https://pushpay.com/g/iamchilenationalworkers?src=hpp&r=monthly
Through regular mail, please make checks payable to “IberoAmerican Ministries”, designate to “Project: Guevara - Chile”,
and send to:
IberoAmerican Ministries
P.O. Box 1493
