May Construction and Repairs!

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your prayers for all of the construction and repair work here in Lautaro last week with the team from ICI Los Heroes (from Santiago)! It was a super productive week, exceeding expectations with fantastic progress, so here´s a detailed explanation of the different projects that were worked on, with lots of photos!

The gym roof has been leaking in several spots, so the broken polycarbonate sheets were replaced with new zinc ones:

There was a Mediterranean-style fake wall and hidden gutter along a big portion of the roof, which was not conducive to the very rainy weather and all the leaves that fall here, leading to clogging and then ceilings leaking. So, the fake walls were removed, the roofs extended, and now it all drains properly:

This open point right next to our Sunday school classroom has been a constant issue because of safety concerns as well as weather issues (rain, wind, etc.). But after hard work this week, it is now closed off as a wall, as well as the second-story wall directly above it!

At the other end of that same back hallway (where future classrooms /workshop rooms will be), it was also completely open, making it a safety issue and allowing all the winter cold to constantly blow down the hallway towards our main church meeting room. This side couldn´t be completely closed off though, since we need access to stairs and the water tanks, so a quality gate-door was built!

The long, dark, uninviting main hallway leading from the gym to the church meeting room, looks sooo much better since a ceiling and lights were installed, making it much more warm and welcoming:

Two trees that were dangerously tall and creaking right next to the building, as well as contributing tons of leaves to the roof situation, were cut down, one completely and the other partially. And the well that we use for all of our water at church got some much needed TLC when the pump stopped working one day:

While the men primarily were busy on all those projects, the women mainly kept busy buying groceries, cooking & cleaning, taking snacks around, making sure everyone had sustenance needed to keep working! Thankfully the broken kitchen sink was replaced with a double sink and we were able to purchase a couple new pots, serving bowls, baking dishes and other much-needed kitchen utensils: 

We realize this seems like a photo dump, but we really wanted to convey just how MUCH got accomplished, thank You Lord!! And we are so grateful for these friends that came from Santiago who generously gave their time and energy to serve so selflessly here! It was such an encouragement, and is so exciting to look toward what else God has in store!!

- Please be praying for another team coming May 29th - June 4th, this time made up of college students from Arizona! We will be focusing mostly on painting the gym and hallways that week, a few other repairs, as well as outreach and relationship-building activities! 

- And we appreciate your prayers for the special Mother´s Day service this Sunday! May God bring those who need to hear about His love and truth! (Oh, and we will write more in our next update about local friends and what God has been doing in their lives!)

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support for our family and the ministry here in Lautaro!

In His Love,

Gus & Karissa

Jeremy, Liz, Cristina and Diego

Our Busy Summer is Almost Over!

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. 21^st, 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 1^st 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!

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!

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.

(The 5-passenger Kia with no a/c that we squished in to get to Santiago and back!)

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)...  

(a huge fire on Feb 4th about 7 miles from our home)

(How the situation looked in these 3 regions the first week of Feb.)

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

 

Gratitude, Peace & Hope

Dear Friends,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Southern Chile! This year has been a whirlwind of events and has seemed to just fly by! And as we reflect back on all of the happenings, in both ministry and family life, our hearts are filled with enormous Gratitude, first and foremost to GOD for His never-ending love and provision, for filling our hearts with Peace & Hope even during the hard days...  And gratitude to YOU for standing in the gap faithfully for our family and for the work here in Lautaro, through prayer and financial support!

As it probably has for you as well, this past month here in Lautaro has been very busy with guests, planning, work-days, special events, etc. Thank you for all of your prayers! Here are some photos and explanations from the last few weeks, followed by prayer requests to start off the new year!

First off, we had a great visit with Monse from Santiago, who was a huge help and encouragement during the 12 days she was here with us! (Including helping out with baking over 450 Christmas cookies to give to friends at church and neighbors!) Monse wants to come back again to help with a kids’ summer camp in a few weeks! (more details about that in the prayer requests below)

The first youth-group meeting was a fun get-together! The plan is to have a regular monthly meeting for the 10-to-17-year-olds starting in 2023:

This month, we started marriage counseling with some church friends and have really enjoyed spending time with them and their boys:

There were a couple good church workdays cleaning, prepping, and decorating for Christmas:

The evening Christmas Service on Friday the 23rd was a very special event with new songs, a children’s play, cool scenery, lights and candles! All the kiddos did an excellent job and we had lots of good help putting everything together this year, praise God!

It was so encouraging to see our brothers & sisters bringing their friends and neighbors, as there were several first-time guests! What a meaningful way to celebrate God sending His Son, our perfect Light, into the world!

Yesterday evening (Friday the 30^th) was our last church service of the year, with a focus on Gratitude for 2022 and Hope for 2023. Almost half of church members were out of town for this long weekend, but it was a blessed time for those in attendance. And we finished the night off with a White Elephant Gift Exchange! 😊

In January please pray for:

-          Bilingual Kids’ Camp that we are planning to put on for a week at the end of January/beginning of February! Pray that the details come together, that church members are on board with helping and hosting, so that this can be a fun evangelistic event to draw kids and their families to the church!

-          Church growth: Continue to pray for good healthy church growth here at ICI Lautaro, for the members to use some of their free time this summer to become more involved in  outreach and service, continuing to grow in spiritual maturity. The church membership has grown by 25% this past year and giving has increased almost 50%, which has allowed the church to host more events and be more generous! So we pray that a spirit of service and active ministry participation would grow in the members at that same rate as well!

-          Youth: We want to plan out a new strategy this year for children and youth ministries, to address in relevant ways the many issues of family problems, depression and anxiety, violence, and general moral decay that are all so prevalent among young people today. May the church be a place of hope, healing, peace and truth for these kids and their families! And may God bring those who need Him and show us how to reach out to them in ways they can understand!

-          Other churches in the South: please continue to pray for the other ICI church plants at different stages here in the south of Chile, for their leadership, and for good unity, communication, accountability, and teamwork between all of the missionaries/church planters here in this region.

-          Hosting: As it is summer here now, we will have several guests coming to visit over the next few months, which always makes for a busy yet very fun time!

-          Car: We still have not been able to properly fix our car’s current issues and need wisdom in what the best use of finances and time would be for a long-term solution, as the advice and estimates we are getting from a few different mechanic friends vary pretty significantly.

-          Health: Pray that we as a family would all continue in good health and specifically pray for Gus’ allergies which are acting up a lot this time of year.

-          Finances: We are so grateful for the regular financial support that several of you have been sending monthly for years now, and for the two new supporters who have joined this partnership recently! Our current income is still about $300/month short of where it needs to be in order to cover regular ministry and family expenses, so we have needed to use special one-time and year-end gifts to break even. Please pray for this deficit to be covered this year so that we are able to move forward in family and ministry without accruing more debt. And thank you SO MUCH again for your generous giving which allows us to continue serving here in Lautaro!

For to us a child is born,

    to us a son is given,

    and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace

    there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

    and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

    with justice and righteousness

    from that time on and forever. 

(Isaiah 9:6-7, NIV)

With so much chaos, confusion and confrontation in the world right now, we really need the “Prince of Peace”, bringing true justice and righteousness to our countries, cities, neighborhoods, families, and hearts. May the Peace & Hope of Jesus emanate from each of us to those around us, and may they come to know Him too! 

Hugs to you and your loved ones this last day of the year, and may you have a Blessed 2023!!

With Gratitude, because of Jesus,

The Guevara Family