One Body, Many Parts

 Update from Gus in the South of Chile:
 
The same team that worked on the Libertad church last week is now with me in Lautaro, a city about 8 hours south of Santiago.  The IberoAmerican church here has a great vision to reach its community through very practical ways, including a huge focus on the indigenous people group of this region (the Mapuches), who are rejected or shunned by many churches in the area. They also have great discipleship and training for believers, with a good focus on preparing for missions work.  Our main project this week is to prepare the ground and lay the foundation for the grade-school that the church is constructing with the support of like-minded churches and the help of short-term teams!

Something we've been talking about a lot this week is how we are a multicultural group, with different backgrounds and different giftings, but we are all members of the same Body serving together right now, each with different functions.  Christ is our Head and we all do our part to keep moving forward in the work He gives us each to do.  This school project is just beginning and will take the work of many more teams coming to give their time, energy and resources over the next several months.  But when it is done, this school will bless over 600 children and their families and allow this church to continue being a witness to the Gospel of Jesus in new, practical ways for the people of Lautaro!

Repairing a wall... changing lives!

Update from Gus:

Hi Friends!  Thank you for your prayers!  We just finished up the first work week with the short-term team that’s here.  They did a bunch of patching jobs, primarily fixing up one of the walls of the Sunday school classroom at the church called “Libertad”, because it was leaking really bad and flooding the room during the rainy season. (Not a very inviting situation to have little kids in!)  So, the team worked hard and it’s looking great now, as you can see in the photos below! 

This church was the first one in our movement here in Chile and has special meaning for me personally.  You see, I was 15 years old, living on the street, a depressed drug addict, and ended up going to a concert at this church even though I’d sworn I’d never set foot in a church again.  But God had a plan, and none of my party plans for that night worked out, so I ended up going to this church, hearing great music, and listening to a testimony from an American guy whose life sounded strangely like mine, except that now he had hope because Jesus had changed him.  And on that night, God touched my heart and I felt compelled to make the biggest decision of my life and give everything to Him.  It was a long process after that, and many more miracles, but that night at that church is what God used to start my conscious walk with Him.

So, this team may have “only” been working on fixing a leaking wall for most of this week… but God knows what little boys and girls are going to be in that room over this next winter, warm and dry, hearing about Jesus’ real, personal love for them for the first time!  No job is too small or unimportant with a God that changes the ordinary into extraordinary and the common into supernatural!

Welcome, Friends!

This is a new space that we’ll be using for short, specific updates on ministry and family happenings.  We’ll continue to send out more “formal”, longer newsletters every couple of months via email (if you don’t get those and would like to, please write us at gusykris@gmail.com).  So, the idea here is that, if you’d like to be kept more up-to-date on current goings-on and join us in prayer for the short needs that we’ll be highlighting here, please subscribe to this blog (using the "follow by e-mail" option on the right)!  

Here’s an update for today:  

Gus –

Our missions organization’s Board (made up of people from various churches in the U.S. and here in Chile) is currently in the middle of their annual board meetings.  I’m helping out with transportation for that and have also been blessed to participate in some of the meetings, including giving a short report about what we are doing.  It is very encouraging to see / hear how things are going in the other churches of the IberoAmerican movement and is great to be able to share with the board members that have traveled down from the U.S. for these few days.  Then coming right up, next Monday two short-term teams will be coming to serve in different churches and communities here in Chile. So please pray for energy and wisdom during this week of meetings and for the next couple weeks with teams working on construction and outreach projects.  We want to be good stewards of our time, energy and resources, and be led by His Spirit in all that we do! 

Kris –

Please continue to pray for us as a family to continue adjusting to Gus’ busy schedule.  It’s nice that on non-team weeks he spends more time at home than a normal office job would allow.  But still, the kids (OK, Mommy too!) definitely miss Daddy during the weeks when teams are here, and especially back-to-back teams.  So I would really appreciate prayers for patience, energy and wisdom for me during these next couple weeks, so that we’re not just “surviving”, but that they could be special times when the kids and I thrive and have fun together in new ways!

Blessings in Christ,

Gus&Kris (and kids!)