Greetings!
Remember those mix and match puzzles we used to play as a child? This month, it has felt as if we just reached into the box of pieces to find which part of ministry we we would do each day. Everything from preaching, to demolition, to financial reports, to toilet cleaning, to one-on-one evangelism, to painting, to singing, to plumbing, to gardening, to youth ministry, to electrical work, to baking, to floor polishing and to moving has been included in the set of pieces!
It has also been a month of highs and lows - some of which we have shared with you via "special edition" newsletters (Miner's Rescued and Fire at La Gran Comision Church). Hopefully as you read this re-cap, you will better know how to pray for our ministry in the coming months.
|
|
|
The pieces are finally coming together...
 | | Some of our teens at worship team practice |
Last January, together with Pastor Luis Alberto and his wife Daisy, we began Comunidad Cristiana Casa Grande. We've met lots of people and done lots of different things but for the past year, attendance has held steady...about 22 people including kids. Until recently that is...
Average attendance on Sunday morning for the month of October was 30 people. Included in that number are 8 teenagers (all boys but 1) and 10 kids (between the ages of 3 and 10) and so our children's ministry is picking back up (especially since another family of four is moving back to Santiago next week) and we've started a youth group. In addition, we've begun a worship team that is 9 people strong (including the sound guy). We've learned that when 38 people come to church, the sanctuary really is pretty small!
In addition, this month we are inaugurating small-group, in-home Bible study groups and beginning Christmas choir practice for the upcoming Novenas.
|
|
Little Reminders...A Chilean Anecdote
 When we were picking Jonathan up from school one day last week, we saw a man digging a hole. He had gotten in pretty deep, with just barely his head visible above the ground.
Soon a group of boys had gathered around him chanting, "Los Mineros! Los Mineros!" just as the crowds had done a week before as each miner was rescued from the copper mine.
|
|
Annual Reports
For some reason, October is the end of the fiscal year for the Free Methodist Church in Chile. That means that, as church treasurer, Beth had to give a report of the church's financial reality to the church last week.
We were reminded of our own financial state. According to today's report, $83,493 has been given toward our support this year. This means that we still need $35,416 in order to complete the 2010 budget. Would you and/or your church consider a special gift in order to meet this ministry need? Please click here to give on-line now.
Also, we expect that the 2011 budget will be about 16% higher due to inflation and monetary exchange rates. Would you and/or your church be willing to consider increasing your annual commitment to our ministry? If so, please let us know at your earliest convenience.
As always, we are incredibly thankful for each of you who really do make our ministry here possible!
|
|
|
|
|
November Calendar
Tuesdays - Small Group In Home Bible Studies
Thursdays - Worship Team Practice
Sundays - Service at Casa Grande
Nov. 4: Casa Grande Leadership Team Planning and Evaluation Meeting
Nov. 6: Santiago District Annual Meeting
Nov. 13: Church Gardening Day. Working together to plant grass and plants at Casa
Grande.
Nov. 19-20: Chilean Conference Annual Meeting (in Chillan, Chile)
Nov. 25: Thanksgiving. Still trying to figure out just how and when we will celebrate
this year!
|
|
The scene from one of the windows at our new house...
Our New Address
Av. Quilin Norte 8119, Casa 52 Home phone 56 2 891 4452
Penalolen We're still working on getting
Santiago, Chile the US phone up and ringing. |
|
|
|
Putting the Pieces Back Together Again
This is precisely what the congregation at La Gran Comision has been doing since the church was destroyed by fire on October 18. | | The clean-up crew |
Less than 24 hours after the fire, the church had rallied together to not only completely clean up the mess, but to also write inspiring messages of hope and strength on the charred walls and hold their first, of many, open-air services inside the church.
Plans are in the works now to rebuild - better. Their unified response, one which demonstrates their trust in God despite the circumstances is a great witness to the neighborhood and others.
Please be in prayer for this church as it recovers both spiritually and physically. If you would like to help them financially, you may do so using the link below to an extra mile project set up on their behalf.
|
|
Just getting started...
 We made our third trip to Ovalle this weekend in order to support a new church there. The church is still quite small, but is being officially incorporated into the Free Methodist family. It's new name is Iglesia Metodista Libre Mi Nueva Esperanza (My New Hope Free Methodist Church), led by Pastor Roberto Salazar and his assistant Jose Domingo. Please be in prayer for this new church!
|
|
Personal Praise and Prayer
In addition to those things mentioned in the newsletter,
We praise God for...
Our new home. We moved in on October 2 and are pretty much settled! (New address in left column.)
Please pray with us for...
Beth's grandparents. Grandma Jean Absher is hospitalized in Virginia with congestive heart failure.
Juliana. She has really been struggling to get caught up with her classmates after 3 months away. Doctor's also suspect that she has Attention Deficit Disorder. She may have to repeat first grade. It has been a stressful month for her! At the same time, her love of Christ has been shining through. She is trying to teach her classmates songs from church. And today she told me that when one of her classmates got hurt on the playground - she helped, "because that is what Christians should do!"
|
|
