Great is HIS faithfulness!

Dear Partners,

Winter here in the southern hemisphere will be coming to a close soon, and we KNOW spring is just around the corner, in so many ways! 

A lot has happened here recently in ministry, so we would like to share our joy in God's Faithfulness with you!!

-           As a church we decided to celebrate Chilean “Kids’ Day” a couple weeks ago, which first meant a Saturday of cleaning & setting up:

-          And then, the special Sunday service and party time!

-          The following Saturday, as a family we drove to Los Ángeles (Chile, not CA 😉 ) to teach a marriage seminar for the new church-plant there and a few couple visiting from Ralco and Santiago too!  

 

-          Yesterday (Sunday) the ICI church in Lautaro celebrated the 1^st anniversary since we relaunched meetings in that building! We reflected as a group on God’s faithfulness to each of us individually as well as His faithfulness to this church and mission movement... In spite of our imperfections, God is always so incredibly faithful and good! He is doing something new in this place... And He desires that we move forward, in faith, following His lead!

 

Thank you so much for your prayers for the church group in Lautaro over this past year of so many challenges and soooo many amazing answers to prayer!! May God continue to grant wisdom, lead and provide for each need, both here in the south of Chile as well as in your families and home churches!

September Prayer Requests:

-          - For a special church service we are planning for September 18^th (Chilean Independence Day)

-         -  For a young family we have started spending time with: Carlos & Claudia have two young daughters, are recently (re)committing their lives to God and want to get married at the end of this year, so we will be going through some counseling material with them over the next few weeks!

-         -  For several close friends recently going through very tough physical and/or psychological challenges in their families: Car accidents, work accidents, scary medical diagnoses, drug overdoses, teenage lying/manipulation... So many families are struggling on so many levels, that all connect to the spiritual. May God give us and others wisdom in how to pray, help, encourage, exhort, comfort, in each case!

-          - For the weekly home group meetings in Lautaro (Gus leads one in our home in the countryside and another one in Lautaro at a church family’s home, and other church members have a 3^rd group in their home)

-         -  For our weekly zoom meetings with the other missionaries in the South of Chile (working in Melipeuco, Los Ángeles and Ralco)

-          For our kids’ homeschool studies to progress well, as they prepare for final exams in October.

-          - For our family finances, as several mission administrative changes and increasing ministry needs over the past few months have added additional work expenses that we are currently covering out of our personal budget. Right now we are about $500/month short of where we should be at a basic level, and that has put a serious strain on our food, clothing and health care budget as a family (not to mention having any sort of savings). We ask for you to please join us in praying for this need, and if you are able, to consider joining our financial support team, through a one-time gift or regular monthly support! (Giving info at bottom of update)

 

I know we write this often, but we could NOT be here serving in this way if it weren’t for your faithful prayers, giving and words of encouragement... God blesses us constantly through YOU (supporting churches, families, individuals), as you hold up our family and the ministry here in Lautaro and the surrounding areas. We are humbled by this blessing of partnership, and pray that God would encourage you with a clear reminder of His faithfulness toward you personally!

 

“For the Word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all he does!” (Psalm 33:4)

Only by His grace, because He is always Faithful,

Gus, Karissa, Jeremy, Liz, Cristina and Diego

For tax-deductible donations:

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

Monroe, WA 98272

 

 

Falling Into Place

Dear Partners, 

We hope you and your loved ones are doing well! Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support for our family and the ministry here in the South of Chile. 

It is now fall here in Chile, the days are getting shorter and much cooler, and life seems to get busier and busier! As we have preferred posting short updates on Facebook and over email, it´s been a very long time since we've posted on this blog! But we've had a busy past month and haven't sent out an email update, so thought it would be good to share a several photos and explanations about what has been going on here in ministry: 

The first weekend in March, we held a worship workshop at church, after the normal service and a quick lunch together. It was a fun and encouraging time with several friends who want to become more involved in that ministry! Two of the teenage girls who participated that day have each been on the worship team one Sunday since then, and other participants are lined up to join in soon as well. Please pray for these good steps of growth! 

Three weeks ago, our friend Isabel was hit head-on in her car while driving her daughter and a friend to school. They´ve had some physical complications but nothing broken or terribly bad. Her car, however, is in bad shape. For now we are lending her the 5-passenger car the mission organization gifted us, and are helping to organize a raffle for the end of April to raise funds toward her car repair. Pray for Isabel and her car situation, which she needs for her work deliveries. 

Gus spent a couple weeks in Melipeuco this month, helping with the 2nd stage of the church construction there! It was a very productive time and the church is looking fantastic! Thank you, Lord! And thank you, friends, for your prayers! 

While Gus was gone, I was busy getting into back-to-school routines with the kids, and we had a couple of outings too: church, the park, Temuco, and even up to Melipeuco to help the team there for a day! 

Last Saturday was our daughter Liz' 12th birthday, so we had a fun party with lots of friends here at our home! 

Then Sunday was a busy day with the regular church service, and most of the kids in Sunday School had practiced a short play (Daniel in the lion's den) to show the congregation after Gus gave sermon on Daniel! It was very special, as most of these kids had never been in a Bible story play before! 

And now we have guests here for a week, a family from Santiago who are good friends of ours and wanted to spend part of their vacation time with us! And since the man is also a sound tech guy, he´s going to help Gus get a new soundboard set up for the church in Lautaro! Yay for opening up new doors in ministry with technology! 

Ok, that's it for now! Life has felt crazy busy lately, but in mostly good ways. And we are just grateful how God has been working out even the complicated details of life and ministry and allowing things to ‘fall’ into place well and providing for every need… 

Thank you for reading this update, friends, and for praying with us for the needs mentioned and for our family! We are blessed to be in partnership with you!! 

In His Love, 

Gus, Karissa, Jeremy, Liz, Cristina and Diego

September News and Prayer Requests

 Dear Friends,

We pray that you and your loved ones are doing well, in the midst of this very different year. It is already September, and many people have been expressing that 2020 has felt very long, but also flown by, simultaneously! It is a strange phenomenon with so many things still up in the air, and yet new opportunities each day to praise God, enjoy peace in Him, and share His love with others...

Over the past few weeks we have started having some friends and families over as the weather is getting nicer and people are feeling better about interacting with some outside of their immediate family. And a couple weeks ago we all were able to go to Melipeuco and spend some time with Luis and Andrea after Gus had a meeting with an engineer. (We even got to play in the snow for ½ an hour!) It is very encouraging for all of us to get out and about a little bit, and mostly just to be able to do more things in person with friends!  

(going to Melipeuco!)

Gus continues to connect on a weekly basis with other missionary guys here in the south over Zoom in a couple different meetings, to encourage and build each other up. And I just recently started doing the same with the missionary ladies/wives. We are also regularly messaging back and forth with or calling local friends and acquaintances who are going through hard times and need help, counsel or just a listening ear, some of whom have come over to our home for a couple hours to share their hearts. I’ve been able to go to two different friends’ houses in the past couple weeks to hear what they are going through physically and spiritually, and pray for them. These are opportunities we don’t take for granted anymore!

Besides ministry, it has been good to keep busy physically this past month with different projects: Gus built shelves for our closet and desk/shelves combos for our bedroom (the kids and I helped sand and paint them), and on the sunnier days we’ve all been working together outside, fixing up the property little by little, and prepping for building the fence in October, hopefully. Our continued desire is that this would be a fun, relaxing and rejuvenating place for guests who need to recharge or even reconnect with their Creator!

(our neighbors' turkeys decided to come say "good morning" the other day)

Here are some specific prayer requests for September:

- Next week (Sept. 6th-14th) we will have a missionary family of five coming to stay with us. Please pray that it would be an encouraging time for all, that relationships would continue to be strengthened and that they would continue to adapt well to ministry in the south of Chile (even as ministry looks so different this year!).

-  Please continue to pray for Agustina, a 9-year old girl who has been struggling for a couple months with spiritual and psychological issues, and who was just diagnosed a week ago with thyroid cancer. Please pray for healing for her and for wisdom & peace for the whole family as they go through this treatment process.

- Thank you for your prayers for Simón, a teenage young man who has had really bad digestive pain. Thankfully, testing came back negative for stomach ulcers, praise God! Please pray for him to make good choices in his eating habits and pray that God would heal him and his family from the damage apparently caused when the father left them (which has led to enormous emotional stress and anxiety).

- Pray for a few different friends who used to attend church (most even served in different ministries), but left a couple or a few years ago after feeling misused, misled or abandoned in different ways. Right now they are each struggling in their faith and reaching out for help and spiritual friendship. Pray that God would use us to point these friends back to Him, not covering up the wrong done, but showing through our words and example that God’s love never fails.

- Pray for a team bonding/retreat day planned for September 26th (Lord willing). All 4 other missionary families here in the south of Chile will be coming to spend the day at our house, so we can all get to know each other better in person and encourage/challenge one another in this work. It looks like restrictions on travel and private gatherings groups of more than 10 should be over at that point, so prayers appreciated that everything works out, as this opportunity to all get together in person would be a big energy and spiritual boost right now for the team!

- Please pray that the regular weekly zoom meetings would continue to be an encouragement and healthy challenge for all of us engaged in those.

- Please continue to pray for the kids and I as there are a couple months left in the school year (and as we have increased visitors we’ll need to get more creative with class schedule).

- Thank you for praying for our health as a family! We are all doing well and feeling great (maybe just some sore muscles from the outdoor work this week!), none of us have been sick at all the past few months, and we know that this is a blessing!

As always, we are so very grateful that you stand in the gap for our family and the ministry here, partnering through your prayers, financial support, and encouragement! There is a deep purpose in everything that is going on and we are honored to serve in this work alongside you!! 

“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Please let us know how we can be praying for YOU this month as well!

In His Hands,

Gus, Karissa, Jeremy, Elizabeth, Cristina & Diego

Working While Waiting

Dear Friends,

We are coming up on the two-month mark since social distancing officially started, at least here in the south of Chile. “How deserted lies the city, once so full of people!” (Lamentations 1:1) It is strange that to some degree or another, this verse has applied to so many different cities all over the world in the past several weeks...

Do you, like us, feel like you’re in a waiting period right now? Many important tasks or decisions are on hold, some of them indefinitely. Family life, work, studies, ministry, relationships, etc., are at very different places than “normal”, and no one really knows when (or if) if those will go back to how they were before....

Personally, we have been trying to buy a small, used car for Gus to get better gas mileage when traveling for work to Melipeuco, Ralco and Los Angeles, which would also allow me to have the family car when he’s gone in case the kids & I need to go anywhere.  Though there are available, affordable vehicles for sale in the nearby city of Temuco (30 miles away), we haven’t been able to go see them because without a medical appointment or other emergency, no one is allowed to travel into the city of Temuco: it is quarantined off because of the virus. So, the car purchase is on hold for now.

Under normal circumstances, social events, hosting people in our home (one of the main reasons we wanted a nice, big house in the countryside!), and deepening relationships with friends are very active parts of our weekly life and ministry as a family. And yet right now none of those “in-person” times can happen and almost all communication is over messages or calls. A couple of people close to us are needing treatment for serious health conditions and it is very hard to not be able to be with them physically through this difficult time in their lives.  Gus was able to take one of those friends to the hospital in Temuco for some tests a few weeks ago, but in most practical ways, doing “life” with our friends and with our community is definitely on hold. And that is tough.

For work meetings, we are using Zoom & Whatsapp, as are many others around the world now.  However, our monthly Internet wi-fi package is not large enough to cover all of these new conference-call needs.  We have been trying to purchase a larger Internet package, but the Internet company’s phone numbers aren’t working and the online forms aren’t going through. We could place the order in person at the company’s office, but it’s in Temuco (again, we can’t go because that city is quarantined). So, we are juggling our Internet usage, prioritizing work meetings and completely eliminating school videos or online family entertainment. Some things just have to wait.  

A couple of friends here have asked Gus to help them record some worship songs to use for the encouragement of the local church through social media, so he has been involved in that the past few days. Yesterday, however, his computer’s hard drive completely crashed. They were able to work around that and continued recording with one of their computers (albeit a less efficient system). However, Gus needs a working computer and right now he can’t take his into the shop (because, guess where that is? Yep, in Temuco...). So, he’s investigating and trying to order parts online and then see what else can be done. That will most likely imply waiting for weeks to have a clear solution, but right now it looks like we may need to nix the idea of buying a small, used car this year and instead use those funds to purchase a computer, which is a bummer.

Even though this is a time of being “on hold” in so many ways, we are trying to be creative & active:

- We took some cookies and handmade notes to a few families on Easter Sunday,

- Gus has a weekly Zoom group meeting with the leaders he works with from Melipeuco, Ralco and Los Angeles, in an effort to unite and focus the churches in the South toward common goals,

- We’ve purchased many goods from local friends to help their business ventures as they’ve struggled to make ends meet in these strange times,

- Gus took flowers to a few mom-friends of ours for Mother’s Day, as a special show of appreciation despite this time of social distancing,

- I send regular voice messages to encourage & challenge local ladies who have said that they would like to receive those,

- Gus started a weekly virtual drum class to raise money for food baskets to bless needy families in Melipeuco and Ralco,

- The kids are having a good homeschool year so far and Gus has even been able to help teach some of their classes too, since he is mostly working from home,

- We have been tackling projects and activities together as a family to be active, productive and get those healthy rays of sunshine and fresh air when weather allows being outdoors!

In the midst of all this craziness and uncertainty, it is SO reassuring to know who holds our futures, isn’t it?? None of this surprises God at all; He’s not caught off guard by current events!

I think if we are willing to look at this time we are living in as an opportunity and plough through the challenges with perseverance and patience, God will bless & use us in new ways. No matter what our current struggles are, we are still called to be joyful, to love & pray for our neighbors and for our enemies, to be a shining light for Jesus especially when it is dark or confusing around us. Right now people really need hope and a secure place to take their fears, frustrations and disappointments... God is the only real Security there is and He calls us to be instruments of His Love in the lives of others!

So as we wait to find out what is the next step in this “new normal” for each of us in all aspects of life, let us cling to God, because He is unchanging in the midst of this chaos.  Let us work hard and find creative ways to encourage others, even as we wait patiently for answers. And let us be thankful for all of God’s blessings! “Do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:16)

Thank you so much for your prayers, your words of encouragement and your financial support for our family and work here in the south of Chile. Partnering with you in this ministry is a privilege that we don’t take for granted! May the Lord bless you and supply all your needs, giving you wisdom and perseverance to navigate these unique times we are all traversing together...

Because He is our Firm Foundation,

Gus & Karissa,

Jeremy, Liz, Cristina & Diego