Prayer Request from Antofagasta, Chile
By: Matt Postiff
April 25, 2018
Thank you LIFT! Advances at Camp Chivilcoy
By: Matt Postiff
April 20, 2018
The LIFT team leaves Argentina tomorrow night for their return to Northern Ireland. They will have a lengthy layover on the way. Please remember their travel in prayer.
Most of the plumbing for the filter system on the pool was finished, and all the remaining walls put up in the second cabin complex. Thank you LIFT for all your work at Camp UCB Chivilcoy!
New Old Building at Camp Pirque
By: Matt Postiff
April 20, 2018
It is great to see work progressing at Camp Pirque outside of Santiago, Chile. The former “bodega” has been converted into a two-story building with office space, infirmary, men’s and women’s bathrooms downstairs, and three guest suites, office/meeting room and full apartment upstairs. Remember Danny Vallette and Ivan Maluenda and their families as they oversea the construction and lead the camp ministry.
Spring (Fall?) 2018 Improvements at Lican Ray Camp
By: Matt Postiff
April 20, 2018
Dan and Liz Thompson and their children poured the slab for a new staff house at Camp Lican Ray this week. Maybe they had some help not seen in the pictures. We are grateful for their labor of love to the Lord, and give thanks for progress.
Also take a look at the soccer field! How many mom’s have fond memories of washing feet, socks and sneakers blackened by the volcanic dust?
Bible Correspondence Courses from Temuco, Chile
By: Matt Postiff
March 29, 2018
Teresa Thompson (pictured below, left) shared the following regarding the Bible correspondence course that she is involved with, along with missionary Gabriele Beyer (pictured above, on the right).
March is here once again, and for us at the Bible correspondence courses that means movement has picked up. People are back from their summer vacations and have recharged for the new year. In these first fifteen days we already have nine new students for whom we praise the Lord!
A few months ago someone asked us what our purpose was for having Bible correspondence courses. In the following lines, I would like to share with you a little bit about our history, purpose and day to day operation.
In the U.C.B. (Association or “Union” of Bible Centers) this ministry has been around for a many, many years. In the past we had local offices in Santiago and Temuco. Today we have everything concentrated in Temuco. Many missionaries and brethren have contributed to this ministry from its beginning up until now. Janet Drukenbrod is one of the first missionaries that we have registry of in the mid 1900’s. Others who came later were Hilda Swanson, Monica y Christina, Cliff y Cathy Truman, Charles and Delphine Hammel, Helen Prado, Aliani Valencia, Margarita Palacios, Lina Sáez, Mauren Céspedes, Damaris Pérez, just to name a few.
Today our team is comprised by Gaby Beyer, Thamar Beas and Teresa Thompson. Gaby Beyer has led this ministry since 2006. Thamar has been helping since 2015 and Teresa since 2012.
Our purpose is to provide people with Bible study material that can help them to better know the Word of God.
The courses are available to all people; believers and unbelievers alike. The believer can grow and mature in his understanding of the scriptures and the unbeliever can be exposed to his need of salvation in Christ by the study of the Word. We have courses for children, teens, and adults.
The courses are free of charge for those who enroll in our program. This means that we provide the booklets and the students return the exams to be corrected and graded. The only thing that students pay for is the mailing cost, when there is one.
We have students from Temuco and the surrounding countryside, and all throughout Chile. We have had several groups who have taken courses. One group was from the local jail. Today we have a new group of 24 people from Arica (northern Chile).
There are also members from our local churches in the country areas who study the Bible correspondence courses as a way to grow in their personal understanding of the Scriptures.
Three years ago, elders from the local churches were challenged to study the course we have on the book of Acts. Several of them took the challenge.
This past year we had a young man who had begun to study in 2009 return to continue studying. He has now finished one series and will continue with another.
In December a group of seven your teens from a country church in Quino, IX region, completed a series. It was a joy to be able to present them with their diplomas!
We are so thankful for the generous offerings that are given to the ministry. We recently received an offering that will allow us to renew our current stock of books for this year.
Many of our students who live locally bring their exams personally to our office to be corrected. This gives us an opportunity to get to know them much better, and sometimes counsel with them.
Our office is temporarily located on the same grounds as the Bible Institute, at least for this year. We would appreciate your prayers as to where the Lord would have us to continue.
New Missionary Challenges
By: Matt Postiff
March 29, 2018
One of the first things new missionaries face when they arrive in their host country is acquiring permanent residency. This process, though not necessarily difficult, can be bureaucratic and time-consuming. The process requires bringing together documents from multiple US and host country agencies. It’s not uncommon for paperwork to be misplaced or delayed once submitted, and expiration dates may come and go. In such cases, a missionary may have no other recourse than to reinitiate one part or another of the process. Document translation and the corresponding government certification, multiple tariffs, etc., and travel can be costly, especially when expired documents must be redone and resubmitted. From time to time there are un-communicated procedural changes which may have a negative impact on the missionary who is in the middle of this process. In some cases, everything unfolds smoothly and things come together in a timely fashion. Unpredictable is a good word to describe it!
So, when your new missionary writes home and asks you to pray for their “residency paperwork”, be reminded of this short article. Pray that they will not grow cynical or discouraged in the process. The enemy easily capitalizes on such attitudes. Remember, world missions is trench warfare, and our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Pray for your missionary to resist him steadfast in the faith.
GMSA missionaries James & Donelle Morrell and their six children (Argentina), Mark & Bekah Perry (Chile), David, Patti and Michael West (Argentina), are all at different stages of seeking permanent residency in their respective host countries. Bob & Nadia Vallette (Uruguay) await the arrival of a visa so Nadia (Uruguayan) can enter the US for their furlough.
Would you take a minute to pray for God’s grace for these servants of His?
No Greater Encouragement: Souls Saved in Fray Bentos, Uruguay
By: Matt Postiff
March 28, 2018
Punta Mira Church
By: Matt Postiff
March 24, 2018
Missionary David Flinck recently visited another northern Chile church plant in Punta Mira and shares the above pictures with us. Missionaries Curtis and Diane Steward have taken up the leadership responsibility in this recent church plant after moving north from the capital city of Santiago.
The Punta Mira church is a daughter church of the church in San Juan. Recently the new church plant has taken on more financial responsibility, but it still has the help of supported missionaries. Please pray for the work to grow and be formally organized, for the believers to take up all the necessary ministry responsibilities and support, and for a Chilean pastor to be called to lead the church.
May the Lord bless the growth of His church. HE is still building the church!