Light Shining in the Darkness

 Happy October, Dear Friends!

We hope you are doing well! Thank you for your prayers for our health in the changing of seasons; there are lots of bugs going around here right now, but we as a family are all feeling much better! 

Days are getting longer as spring takes off here in the southern hemisphere, and we sure are enjoying the extra hours of natural light after the dark of winter! This whole month of October I'm sharing about “Light” with the kids in Sunday school, memorizing verses about God’s light and doing related activities or games, like Blind-Man’s Pictionary. It’s not easy to draw in the “dark”! 

 (kiddos started a few feet away from the board, but quickly all crowded around to try to guess what their friends' "blind" drawings are supposed to be)

(memorizing last Sunday's Bible verse)

We've been working on several new worship multitracks for Sundays as well as for other special events, and that's been busy but fun work! Well, by "we" I mean mostly Gus, but I have helped out a bit on a few tracks too! ;) He has really enjoyed working on his new desktop computer that so many of you contributed to as a surprise 50th birthday gift in June!

(Adding guitar to a worship song's multitrack is so much easier with a computer that doesn't crash!)

A song that we'll be singing here for the first time this coming Sunday is "Tremble" by Mosaic (of course we'll sing it in Spanish). The chorus says, "Jesus, Jesus, You make the darkness tremble, Jesus, Jesus, You silence fear", and part of the bridge says, "Your Name is Light that the shadows can't deny, Your Name cannot be overcome!"  The Name of Jesus IS the Light that those living in the darkness of this world around us so desperately need... Lord, help us to see and seize those daily opportunities to shine Your love and Truth through our words, attitudes and actions!

Praises:

-   As a church, we've recently hired a van to drive a pick-up and drop-off route so that members without vehicles have a more consistent way of getting to the Sunday service! This has been a blessing already and we pray that it would open new doors for people who haven't been able to make it church regularly before...

(the hired van waiting to take church members home after service!)

-    Last week, instead of having small group on Wednesday at our home, we had it at our friends' Claudia and Werner’s house! Claudia has been a believer since she was a teenager, but Werner is only just opening up more to the gospel recently. This was a first for them to host the group in their home, and we are hoping and praying God does a new work in Werner’s heart and through him, in his extended family!

-    No more masks! As of last weekend, wearing masks is no longer required in Chile (except in medical facilities)! This is a huge praise as it really changes the dynamic of worship time to have everyone singing louder and seeing each other’s full faces!

-  A family that had left the church (and mission organization) over two years ago has asked to join the newly re-launched church in Lautaro! We had a good, long talk with Jorge and Rita on Sunday after lunch at their home (while our kiddos played with theirs) about past issues and a renewed commitment to what God is doing... He is most definitely our Way-maker, Miracle-worker, Promise-keeper and Light in the darkness!

(Jorge and Rita, and their twins, Jorgito and Eduardo)

Prayer Requests for October:

-     Our kiddos have been VERY busy this week taking practice tests at home because they'll be taking their homeschool validation exams October 11th thru 18th! This has been a super short school “year” and everyone is extra nervous, so we really appreciate your prayers for all 4 of them! (Yes, Diego will be taking the exams for the first time too!)

("Sooo many practice tests, Mom!" But it'll be worth it to be ready for the official ones!)

-    On Monday, Oct. 24^th we will hopefully be driving to Santiago as a family for a couple of mission organization meetings. It will be a quick drive up and then back Tuesday night probably. Please pray for a smooth trip and an encouraging, productive time there!

-    The Lautaro church is planning a “Light Festival” for Friday, Oct. 28th! The idea is a fun costume party in the gym with karaoke songs, games and prizes, so please pray as we're organizing all the details for that fun evening and most importantly that God would bring new visitors that maybe haven’t ever been to a church event before, that they could see His Love and Truth through all of us!

-    Continued prayers for Sunday meetings and weekly small groups. Several of those in attendance have been dealing with very painful situations recently. As a church we're going through the “Purpose Driven Life” study (both on Sundays and in mid-week home groups), and that has been super relevant for newer attendees as well as regular members...

-    Please pray for Rubén, a leader at the Lautaro church, and his wife Clara, as unfortunately last week their business was broken into and a significant amount of cash and merchandise was stolen... This of course is a blow financially, but also a frustration for their clients who will not be getting their orders any time soon... Pray for them and for empathy from their clients. They cling to the fact that God works all things together for good!

-    A huge "Thank You" to those who have reached out saying that you are sending a one-time gift to help with our current financial struggles! We are so very grateful for your generosity!!  At the same time, we have been advised to actively pursue new regular monthly support commitments to cover our family and ministry deficit. So, would you please pray with us for TEN new financial partners, willing to contribute $50/month to bless our family and the ministry God has called us to here in Lautaro? And, if God puts it on your heart to become 1 of those 10 new financial supporters, please let us know so we can thank you personally and answer any questions!

 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:6-7)

Friends, we are only jars of clay: imperfect, cracked, and definitely not the fanciest material. But His Light is AMAZING, and it lives in us and shines through us!! We are so humbled and honored that God would give us as a family the privilege of serving Him here in Southern Chile... And we are SO grateful for your encouragement, prayers and financial support that permit us to continue pressing on!

In order that others may come to the True Light,

Gus, Karissa, Jeremy, Liz, Cristina and Diego

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