2019 In Photos

Hello Dear Friends & Family!

We hope you and your families had a wonderful Christmas, celebrating the birth of our Savior! What a life-changing, hope-granting Gift!

Well, 2019 is almost over! I feel like we say this every December, but this year seemed to fly by, right?  Here’s a recap of many of this past year’s highlights for us (it's so easy to forget all that's gone on in 12 months!), and then we'll close with prayer requests for the next months:

January - 

Technically, this photo is from December 2018, but we did ring in the New Year too with Karissa’s family in the U.S, even though there's no photo to prove it (wink):

Helped with the VIVE conference, at a retreat center just south of Santiago:

Lots of packing... and moved into our new home in the countryside:

February - 

Moved furniture and people around in our unfinished home as construction/installations were being completed:

Gus worked in Melipeuco with a couple teams that month:

Karissa made her first batches of homemade jams and preserves:

March - 

Adopted an abandoned mommy dog and her puppies:

Gus went to teach a sound workshop in Santiago:

There was a blazing wildfire that came within yards of our home: 

We celebrated Liz’ 9th birthday on that same day anyway:

April - 

We finished building our woodshed:

Gus helped with a music team in Santiago:

We celebrated Easter in Melipeuco:

May - 

Lots of apple-picking and relationship-building with a very kind neighbor:

(We had many visitors at our house, both human and animal😉: 

Spent a weekend in Ralco and Los Angeles for ministry meetings:

June - 

Gus played a concert with a secular band in a city further south:

(We went to Melipeuco as a family for leadership meetings and a women’s Bible study:

Celebrated Gus' birthday & our anniversary: 

Gus worked with a team in Ralco:

Taught a worship workshop in Los Ángeles:

Karissa & the kids dug the100-foot trench for the waterline while Gus was away as a surprise:

July - 

Karissa got a special day away with some friends to a hot springs:

Gus worked with another team in Ralco: 

We celebrated Jeremy’s 11th birthday: 

Prepared a birthday bbq for Amador in Ralco:

Road and water problems on the land:

Finally got the well running:

August - 

Karissa & kids went to Melipeuco with a couple friends for a women’s Bible study:

We had several weekend guests: 

Traveled to Ecuador as a family to serve at the VIVE conference and meet our sponsored girls:

September - 

The “18 de Septiembre”, Chile’s independence day:

Several different families came to stay for a couple of nights throughout the month:

We spent another Sunday in Melipeuco:

October - 

We celebrated Diego’s 4th birthday with the family in Santiago:

Gus went on a missions trip to Iraq:

Our neighbor helped Karissa & kiddos plant our first vegetable garden:

A social crisis explodes in Santiago, affecting all of Chile... Unrest, violence & lack of unity still continue in many regions more than 2 months later:

November - 

We celebrated Karissa’s birthday:

Gus worked in Melipeuco again with a short-term team:

Kids took their final exams to wrap up our home-school year:

We celebrated Cristina’s 7th birthday:

December - 

Attended a special lunch celebrating a rural waterline that hundreds of families (including us) will be beneficiaries of this next year:

 Building & painting shelves: 

Baking & delivering cookies together:

Special Pre-Christmas service & lunch in Melipeuco:

And yesterday we attended a neighbor’s birthday, where we were the only non-family members invited:

Prayer Requests for 2020:

- Please continue to pray for the socio-political situation in Chile: there is most likely an impending recession, there have been thousands of jobs lost, and this affects everyone here in Chile, directly or indirectly. Some are waiting for the perfect solution or a savior of sorts, but we know politics are messy, people tend to be greedy and selfish, and Jesus is the only one who can really save, bring justice and real freedom. Please pray for peace, generosity and love to be shown especially by believers in this country!

- Gus will have strategic planning meetings for 2020 with leaders in Melipeuco, Ralco and Los Ángeles in the next few weeks. Prayers for wisdom & guidance in starting off this new year well in all three of those locations!

- We will be traveling to Santiago in a couple weeks for the VIVE 2020 Conference (taking place January 15th-18th). Please pray for safe trips for all of those who are traveling to be there and for God’s leading in all that takes place that week.

- After VIVE, we’ll be hosting several guests in our home. Pray that those would be relaxing times for these families to get away from their normal routine and enjoy the countryside in the south.

- In February Gus will be working with at least two short-term teams in Melipeuco and Ralco. Please pray for the construction and evangelistic projects they will be carrying out, Lord willing.

- Please pray for Pastor Geovanni & his family (from Ecuador) as they are currently preparing to move down here to the south of Chile in March! We look forward to working as a team with them in this region after their period of adaptation.

- Pray for continued relationship-building over the summer months: As weather is nice and kids are out of school, there are many opportunities to get to know and deepen friendships with neighbors!

- Prayers appreciated for good health for our family over the summer. This month we’ve dealt with bouts of heatstroke, a flu bug and some seasonal allergies too... Please pray that all 6 of us would have good health and energy for everything going on in January and February!

Thank you so much for your prayers: we feel uplifted & protected knowing that you are standing in the gap for our family. Thank you for your words of encouragement: hearing from you means so much to us and seems to close the physical distance gap! And thank you for your regular monthly support, as well as your one-time gifts sent to help with specific needs this year: we are humbled & honored to be able to serve in this region, and your faithful partnership allows that to happen!!

It may sound really cliche, but one of the best ways we could sum up 2019 is with: #blessed.  In spite of the manifold changes and challenges, it was a truly, extraordinarily blessed year...and we are so grateful to YOU for joining us in this work and being a part of our international family.

So, bring on 2020! In His grip and in partnership with you, we are ready for any craziness this year brings!

Happy New Year, from our family to yours!!!

Because His mercies are new every morning (and each year),

Gustavo & Karissa, 

Jeremy, Elizabeth, Cristina & Diego

To the Middle of the World…and Back Again

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your prayers for our family's missions trip to Ecuador! We have all taken turns being under-the-weather (even now we all still have coughs, so appreciate your prayers!), but despite illnesses the time there was such a blessing. Here are some of the highlights:

- Family traveling: There were many hours in cars and planes and airports, but the kids travel well and it is just such a blessing to get to go places all together!

(at the aiport in Santiago)

(on our way to Peru and then Ecuador)

- Seeing how God is blessing and leading the ICI movement in Ecuador:

(praying for the leaders in Ecuador and their new vision of planting 100 churches throughout Latin America in the next 30 years!)

(Pastor Geovanni and his family will be coming to serve alongside us in the South of Chile next year!)

- Getting to praise God and learn from Him alongside almost 200 Ecuadorian brothers & sisters:

- Meeting the two girls, Kiara and Dina, that we have sponsored for 5 years through Casa Amanecer (a Compassion-affiliated after-school program in one of our mission´s Ecuador churches):

- Witnessing 19 people baptized at the conference (including Kiara, who Gus was able to baptize!):

(Pastor Luis from San Vicente leading the baptism time, with other pastors and missionaries ready to help with this special occasion)

(Gus and his dad baptizing Kiara, one of our sponsored girls)

- Teaching a marriage workshop that 45 people attended (one couple that came to our workshop got baptized together on the last day of the conference!):

(this young married couple got baptized together!)

- Helping with Sound and Worship for the conference:

(Gus as the sound guy while his dad, Doug, gets ready to preach)

(two sound guys and both drummers too!)

(worshiping with brothers and sisters from different churches and countries!)

Helping with Vive Kids in the afternoons:

Spending time with old friends and making new ones:

(lots of kids to play with in a beautiful location)

(spending time with Grandpa)

(fellow misisonary kids / new friends in Ecuador)

(Hanging out with their littlest cousin!)

(last Sunday, we visited the Oriente church in Santiago, saw lots of friends and witnessed another 19 people get baptized!!)

Thank you for the generosity of so many of you that allowed this family mission trip to Ecuador to happen! We were so blessed to see and participate first-hand in what God is doing in that country and in the Iberoamerican movement internationally!

And Now… to the Middle East!

The international missions work for the year is not over! Though we just got back home, Gus is already prepping for another mission trip: Going to Iraq for two weeks in October! He will be traveling with a team primarily comprised of musicians, who will be playing a couple concerts and teaching music workshops, both for the local believers as well as secular venues (universities) as outreach opportunities. Besides music, the team will also be working in construction in the newly legalized church space and serving refugees in the camp where they live.

(work being done last month in the new church building in Iraq!)

Since the team really needed a drummer in order to have a complete band and the previously signed-up drummer had to back out for family reasons, we took a step of faith and signed Gus up for this trip, though funds are short. His tickets were confirmed last week and his Visa for Iraq came through today!  There was a special donation covering almost half of Gus´total expenses for the trip, but any financial help toward the remaining $1,300 would be very much appreciated!!

To support Gus´ mission trip to Iraq next month, please use the following link: https://pushpay.com/g/iamchilenationalworkers?src=hpp&r=monthly

(scroll to “Gustavo Guevara” under the “Fund” tab)

Thank you again so much for the special, one-time gifts, for the regular monthly donations, for your daily prayers & words of encouragement… We are so blessed through this partnership and pray that you are blessed and encouraged as well! 

In His Love,

Gus, Karissa, Jeremy, Liz, Cristina, & Diego