Dear Partners,
Wow, it’s
March already! January and February seemed to pass by in a whirlwind! Here’s an
overview of the main happenings here:
Monse, Kendi and Hannah came to serve as interns in Lautaro for a month, (mid-Jan
to mid-Feb). Among many other things, it was so helpful to have them teach the
Sunday School class during the five Sundays they were here and take turns serving on the worship team too!
We also had a
very special visit for a few days mid-January from Gus’ sister Lori, her husband Daniel and
their baby Anderson!
On Jan. 21st, several of us from Lautaro went to Melipeuco to put on a Worship Workshop that morning and then a special Worship Service that evening! It was a very encouraging time of fellowship and learning together with our brothers and sisters in Melipeuco!
Most of our energy the last couple weeks of January went into preparing for ICI Lautaro’s 1st Bilingual Kids’ Camp, with the help of the interns! There were 22 kiddos in attendance, almost half of which were not from the church! Some of the new kids were friends or neighbors of church members, but most had no connection and had just received a physical invitation or seen one on social media. We ended the camp with a closing awards ceremony, inviting their families and friends. The response was excellent and all the kids want to participate again next year! One new family of six attended church a couple weeks after the camp finished and said they would be back to church in March!
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In mid-February
we drove up to Santiago to be with family there to celebrate Gus’ brother
Kyle’s wedding! It was a beautiful ceremony and fun reception, and just so
special to spend time with friends and family there over those few days!
That Sunday we were able to attend the Oriente church in Maipu, which Karissa and the kiddos
hadn’t visited in over 3 years! It was such a blessing to see brothers and
sisters there, including two young guys getting baptized... And as an added
bonus, Gus got to play drums!
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That
following week, we had a 5-day family vacation at the beach! It was our first
immediate family vacation in five years, so we got some good r&r and had a
blast together!
In
not-so-fun news, in the middle of January our Mitsubishi’s turbo quit, so the car has been at the mechanic ever since. Thanks to generous one-time gifts from a
couple of you, the turbo is now being repaired! By next week we should know if
there are any other issues that need fixing before we can get the car back. We
are grateful for your financial help, your prayers, and also for having been
gifted that “backup car” last year that has again been our only running vehicle
for over a month now.
On a very intense note, a situation that’s been going on since the end of January at a regional level is burning of fields. Not the normal yearly field-burning after harvest that sometimes has gotten out of control in this agricultural area, but rather purposefully destructive and coordinated fires being started all over for political or ideological reasons. Unfortunately, government response has been lacking, only a couple of arrests have been made, and fires continue to spring up in areas all around towns and cities here in the south. All firefighters in Chile are volunteers and are very overworked and exhausted right now. Along that same line, there are some local rural shops or plots of land that are again being threatened by violent groups (with the excuse of trying to “reclaim” them for indigenous families)...
Prayer
Requests for March:
-
Please
pray for safety, real solutions, and peace for this region. We know that ultimately,
only Jesus can truly heal and bring peace to hearts that are divided and
antagonistic like this.
-
Pray
that our car’s turbo would be fixed in the best possible way and that any other
mechanical issues would be repaired, so we can have a dependable vehicle again!
-
This
Saturday, Rubén (one of the leaders at ICI Lautaro) and his wife, Clara, are going
to celebrate their “church” wedding! They were legally married years ago, but
only ever had a civil ceremony, never a religious one. Rubén has finally taken
to heart the advice from Gus and others in leadership over the years, so he and
Clara decided to use this as an opportunity to reach out to non-believers in
their family and friend circle, as well as be an example to current church members
as well! Please pray for that special day, that God would be glorified and that
He would bless this couple as they seek to honor Him.
-
This
Sunday evening, a short-term team from California will fly into Temuco, so Gus, his dad
and a couple other guys will pick them up from the airport and drive straight
up to Ralco to work for a week there! Pray for God’s protection over travels
and the work in Ralco!
-
We
will be starting up again with marriage counseling sessions that have been on hold over these summer months, so please pray for those to continue well, that
these couples would progress well, and their marriages would be
healed/strengthened.
-
In
a couple weeks we will have a church planning meeting to organize this year now that
summer is ending: starting up with home groups again, planning special event
Sundays, sharing about short-term teams coming to Lautaro this year, talking
about new ministry opportunities and goals... Please pray for good
participation and energy from church members as we kick off this new season!
-
We
will also be starting up another homeschool year as a family, so as always we really
appreciate your prayers as we balance ministry, school and family life!
“See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not
perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and stream in the wasteland!”
(Isaiah 43:19)
Lautaro isn’t
a physical wilderness or wasteland by any stretch of the imagination! But we could definitely use some rain these days to put out fires or wet the dry grass and chaff so new fire-lighting attempts can't spread... However, more importantly, there is a spiritual, emotional and socio-political wilderness here in the
south of Chile that fervently needs quenching... We know the only Living Water
who can satisfy that deep need and are so blessed & honored to be serving in this place,
sharing His hope!
Thank you
for your support in so many ways, for standing in the gap, for giving
generously, for writing words of encouragement, helping us in this Kingdom
work!
In Jesus' Love,
Gus & Karissa
Jeremy, Liz, Cristina and Diego
