Dear Partners,
The past
two months have flown by here in Lautaro, in what felt like a winter whirlwind!
So many good and encouraging happenings, so we will try to summarize as many as
possible:
At the
beginning of June, we hosted the yearly team from FCC in Yuma, AZ! It is
always so fun to get to reconnect again with those dear friends that return
each year, as well as get to know new team members!
What a great opportunity to help the community in a practical and fun way, while showing God’s love… We hope the team wants to use their gifts and talents to teach English workshops again next year, as well as whatever else God desires us to do together! We love and appreciate this partnership with the Yuma church!
At the beginning of July, we hosted the first team from Thousand Oaks (CCTO) to come in several years! It was such a blessing to have Pastor Joe and his wife Lynne lead this team of very talented individuals: a few of them had been to Lautaro before (even several times) and for others this was their first visit to the south of Chile!
This creative team brought down tons of supplies and helped us put on our first-ever Winter Bilingual (VBS) Camp, which was an absolute hit:
Here’s a video
summary of one of the camp days: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLsHSxxu1kO/?igsh=MXM2Mnk5MHIwdWUyeg==
We had a total of 33 kids participate, more
than any of our summer bilingual camps! Some of the kids were here for the
first time, while most kids were repeats from one or more of those past summer
camps. It was fun to meet new kids as well as follow up with ‘old’ ones and
their families! The team members were able to make special connections with these
kiddos as well as with the regular church families…
It was such
an encouragement to be able to have several leaders from CCTO here on that team to see what
God is doing in Lautaro. We are so grateful for the faithful partnership of this
church and are excited about future opportunities to host another team from
that church soon! Maybe even for next year’s winter bilingual VBS?? (wink)
Ten days after the CCTO team left, a High School team from The Grove in Riverside arrived!
Like the previous team, it had been several years since The Grove had
sent a team down to Lautaro, so it was a huge privilege and encouragement to
host them. We returned to the same four schools we had visited with the
Yuma team, and were able to continue building on those relationships between
the schools and our local ICI Lautaro church! Because this team was comprised of
current sports players, we were able to put a twist on the English workshops by
adding some fun physical activity in there too:
And then in
the evenings, the team put on sports clinics for kids/teens in our
church’s gym! They had basketball, hockey and volleyball as the main focuses
for the week, with some soccer skills thrown in for good measure. The team
brought so much great sports equipment as well as craft supplies and so many
other goodies that are already such a blessing to our church!
(Here's a video reel summary of the week with the team: https://www.instagram.com/
Again, so
many good connections were made between the team members and the kids, families
and teachers here in Lautaro. We are thankful for the support of The Grove over
the years for our family and ministry, and for this special team that we hope
was encouraged to continue serving God with their talents and abilities… We
look forward to seeing them again soon!
https://www.facebook.com/share/1CjXjbPrwt/
https://www.instagram.com/icilautaro?igsh=MWdwbGQ3N201ZGl1bQ==
In the
middle of all of the team-hosting of the past months, there has of course been regular ministry activities going on constantly: Sunday services, team meetings, counseling sessions, birthdays,
funerals, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, next steps in construction planning…
A very
encouraging highlight a couple weeks ago was when Estefany, a single mom
who has been attending church for a couple months with her kids, decided she wants
ICI Lautaro be their church as a family and asked if we could all pray for them:
God is
already using Estefany to be an encouragement to extended family members who
are struggling in their faith... Please keep her and her children (Alonso, Jean
and Trini) in your prayers!
Prayer
Requests:
- This Sunday
(Aug. 10th) we celebrate Kids’ Day! Over the past three
years, Kids’ Day has been our most-attended Sunday of the year, so we
appreciate your prayers for the families who will be coming and for good
opportunities to visit with them after the service to encourage and speak truth
and love into their lives!
- On Monday
the 11th, an electrician and his wife (Mario and Juanita)
from ICI Oriente will be coming down to continue working on the electricity at
our church. Please pray for a very productive week time with them here!
- On Thursday
the 14th, our intern Carson will be returning to the US after
being here for 2 ½ months! He’s helped with all 3 of the teams we’ve hosted,
been a part of the church here during the in-between weeks, and became good
friends with our team and several other families here at ICI Lautaro, where he
will be missed... Please pray as he returns home, that God would lead him in
this next season of life and use everything that he has learned and experienced
here for God’s glory!
- It’s still a
couple months away, but the first week of October there will be a Construction
Team coming from the Grove to replace the 2nd story roof over
the classrooms! That roof has been leaking like crazy and flooding parts of our
Sunday school hallway, so we can’t wait to get that taken care of soon. Please
pray as we work on the logistical details for the team, as well as for their preps
before coming!
- Right after
that team leaves, our four kiddos will be taking their end-of-the-year exams
the 2nd half of October! Jeremy passed his 10th grade exams
in June so will be testing for 11th grade in October! Unfortunately,
Lizzy didn’t pass her 8th grade exams so will need to retake those
in Oct (she is disappointed, but it will be good to get extra focus on 8th
grade material before moving on to high school level). Cristina will do 7th
grade and Diego will do 4th grade testing. Thank you for continuing to pray for our kids’
studies and personal growth!
Almost done, but before
signing off: we would like to invite you all to our next Ministry Zoom Call,
set for Saturday, September 27th from 9-10am Pacific Time in
the US. If you can, please save the date and join us ‘live’ that morning to
hear about what God is doing and what is coming next for Lautaro and our
family!
This is a
busy season of life, but not just for the sake of busy-ness. We truly believe
that God is opening up doors for new opportunities, new relationship, new
discipleship and mentoring… all so that more people join His family and grow in
His love. May we all strive to live out Colossians 3:23-24: Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.
Thank you for your faithful, loving support through prayers,
words of encouragement and monthly giving. We are honored and humbled to work
together, serving our Lord!
In His Love,
Gus, Karissa, Jeremy, Liz, Cristina
& Diego Guevara
