Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Fall in Santiago

The month of April is part of the fall here in Santiago. It’s a great month, the leaves are changing color, the temperature is cooling off and school is in full swing. During the month of April, a number of good things were happening here.

 

First, I had the privilege of preaching a number of times for the church. I actually preached five times in the month including Sunday services and midweeks. I got to talk about incredible subjects such as the power of the resurrection, how the love of Christ compels us, Christ's humble plan for the church, and how Christ cares for his church. I feel amazed and humbled at the fact that God uses me and my gringo Spanish to make his word known. It is truly miraculous!

 

Secondly, Maya did her first ever school presentation. In her class, the subject was the family. Each student had to bring a poster with photos of his or her family  and then present their family to the class. Kay, being the creative and artistic genius that she is, did a fabulous job  creating the poster for Maya. Maya took it to school and according to the Tias (teachers), did a great job presenting her family to the class. We were very proud of her.

 

Finally, at the end of the month, a brother from Boston came to visit us. Hector Morales along with his wife Miriam, leads the Spanish region of the Boston Church. He came to visit to get to know us and to do an evaluation of our work in connection with our project with the Beam Fund. To explain, we are supported by a number of different sources including personal donors, contributions from our sister churches in Florida (Florida Missions Council) and from the Beam Missions Fund. The BMF  was created in 2007 with an endowment by a wealthy brother for the purpose of supporting short-term, overseas mission projects. We made a proposal and won support from the BMF. Hector's visit was a terrific time of encouragement, exchange of ministry ideas and inspiration. He and I went to Concepción (a smaller city 6 hours south of Santiago) to visit the church there as well. And last Sunday, he preached for the church here in Santiago.


 

So, along with celebrating birthdays, leading Bible Talks and devotionals, playing fútbol and watching Maya grow, it was a busy month. Now we just have to see what God has in store for May!