Our Next Step of Faith

It seems like the Lord has been leading us to the verge of our next step in the process of getting to the field of Chile. As stated before, we are close to the point of seriously shifting gears and moving to Rio Grande Language School in Edinburg, Texas.


Rio Grand Language School is located in the populous southern tip of Texas, 80 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico along the Texas - Mexico border known as the Rio Grande Valley. Edinburg is located 240 miles south of San Antonio, 350 miles south of Houston, 140 miles from Monterrey, Mexico, 600 miles from Mexico City, Mexico and only 16 miles from Reynosa, Mexico. Edinburg is part of the fast-growing international metro area of McAllen, Mission, Edinburg. It is located in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley, where more than a million people live, 87% of whom are of Hispanic origin. This enables RGBI students (both Bible and Missionaries) to share in the linguistic and cultural advantages of this area. The pace of life is relaxed, and the people are friendly and helpful.

The Rio Grande River forms the boundary between Texas and Mexico. The river, which starts in Colorado, enters the western end of the valley near Roma and finishes the last 150 miles of its more than 1600-mile trek passing through the valley before it empties into the Gulf at Brownsville. The valley is one of the major citrus and vegetable producing areas of the United States. It has also been listed as one of the top birding areas in the world with birders coming from around the world to see the many varieties of birds that are found here. The climate is semi-tropical with mild winters and hot summers.

Approximately 200,000 tourists from all across the United States and Canada make the valley home each winter. These tourists are known as Winter Texans. South Padre Island, a short drive away, is one of the premier beaches in the United States and receives may visitors from both Mexico and the United States (source)

Please pray for the following items this week:
-A trust in God's timing, even among the unknown.
-God's provision of the remaining support needed.
-Diligence and discipline in David's language study even before moving to Texas.

Oakland, MN

Last Saturday night, Jordan, Ben, and I drove to Oakland, MN for a boys only weekend. Kristi wasn't feeling well, so she stayed home with Kaylee. We had a great time together in the van and at our host's house.


This was the second time we have been at Oakland Baptist Church. They have been without a pastor for three years now. I was asked to speak at their special services which included a hog roast and outdoor activities.


The church has a large group of Sudanese children that come to SS and the services. The world has come to their doorstep.


Can you find Jordan in the class?


A church member brought in livestock for everyone to interact with and pet.


The lunch menu included hog, lamb, and goat meat.
Plenty to go around.


Hayrides for the children.


Ben trying to hit the Pinata.


One of the goals of the afternoon activities was to have parents and grandparents come out to the church property. Above is Jose from Guatemala. His daughter has been faithfully coming to SS for some time, but he has never come to church. My goal during the afternoon was to seek out the visitors, greet them, and talk to them about connecting with the local church in the future. I was able to talk with Jose for 10 minutes in Spanish (or pseudo-Spanish).


Most of the children just need some attention and love.

Praises from the weekend:

-Great weather for the outdoor activities (84 F)

-First time visitors in attendance

-One girl made a decision to trust in Christ alone.

-A chance to interact with Latinos.

-A great time with J & B

What to look forward to in upcoming posts:

-David's new hobby
-Our mission house is going to be re-roofed this weekend

Thank you for stopping in and learning more about what God is doing in our lives. Please continue to pray for our family as we wait upon Him to send us to Chile.

Support Scenarios

The picture to the right explains how we feel. We are being supported by a great group of churches and individuals. Thank you each and every one of you.

Currently we are at 60%. On the horizon, there are a couple scenarios that could change our lives quite drastically. Let me explain...

Scenario #1

If the Lord brings in 20% more support by mid Nov., we then can send in David's language school application by Dec. 1st. If accepted, then we can move to Edinberg, TX by Jan. 3, 2008 to start language school.

Scenario #2

If the Lord brings in the additional 20% after Dec. 1, then we will continue to raise our support throughout the spring and summer until Aug. 08 when language school classes start in Texas.

After these 20 months on full time deputation, we are anxious and ready to move to the next stage of preparation (Language school - for David only). The exact timing of this next stage is unknown to us (unfortunately). Only God knows the timing in bringing in the remaining support.

We ask you to pray about this matter and timing.

-Pray for patience even in the unknown.

-Pray for guidance in deputation meetings and ministry opportunities.

-Pray that we will learn the lessons God has for us during this present stage of deputation.

-Pray for additional churches and individuals to partner with us in Great Commission Living.

-Pray for David's language study at home to attempt to test out of several classes when at language school.

Pepin, WI

Last Saturday, we traveled to the river city of Pepin, WI to attend the Laura Ingalls Wilder Days with some old college friends/individual supporting family.


It was a great opportunity to go on a family field trip on a beautiful Sept. day and learn what it would have been like to live back in the 1880's.


Kaylee holding a bunny. Notice her "I-like-it-but-I'm-still-a-little-scared" look on her face.


Jordan's favorite part of the day was holding and petting the rabbits.


The group shot of the kids (J, B, & K, Marisa & Kayla)



Kaylee was brave enough to try riding as well.


David throwing axes.


The Blacksmith


Fresh bacon anyone?


The potter


Train rides for the kids.





Can anyone guess which kids were the city-slickers? Yep...that would be ours.


J, B, M & M out by the Mississippi River


All the bumps on the log.

Snow in Chile...it can't be!

Back in early August something unusual happened in Santiago, Chile that was earth shattering news.

Read the following from an online article...
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Santiago Gets First Snow in Eight Years as Temperature Plunges

Snow fell in downtown Santiago for the first time in eight years last night, downing tree branches that knocked out power in parts of the Chilean capital, as a polar wave caused temperatures to plummet.

Schools closed in parts of central Chile, and the pass through the Andes mountains linking the country with Argentina was blocked for a second day. A white blanket of snow covered much of the eastern half of Santiago. The National Meteorological Service says colder weather may be coming.

Temperatures in the eastern suburbs of the capital at the foot of the Andes may fall to 23 degrees Fahrenheit), which would break a record set July 10.

Seven municipalities in Santiago experienced partial electricity shortages because of fallen power lines this morning, Chile's National Emergency Office said today in a statement.

source

for more pictures click HERE

Expect to pay more for Chilean fruit come Dec. click HERE to find out why.

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A balmy 23 degrees F is nothing to the hearty Minnesotan, but to the average Chilean, it's down right cold.
A couple of inches of snow isn't cause to shut down everything in MN, but in Chile, it's a different story.

Information Through Numbers

60% - Our current support level

11 - Supporting Churches (very thankful for the low number, so that travel on furloughs will be easier)

16 - Supporting Individuals (or families)

2008 - Our goal for going to the field (early 08)

36 - Boxes of books David has recently packed away for Chile

2 - Number of fingers Jordan sucks on a regular basis

5 - States with supporting churches (MN, WI, Upper MI, NE, & CO)

3 - Number of co-workers we desire to join our family to form a church planting team in Chile (one couple and one single missionary)

20 - Months we have been on full-time depuation

1st - The grade Jordan is in this year for homeschool

100 - The age George Black will be in Nov. (one of our co-workers in Chile - 67 years of service in Chile)

12 - Number of GMSA Missionary co-workers currently working in Chile

7 - Current number of GMSA appointees preparing to serve in Chile

4 - Number of GMSA Home Office Personnel needed ASAP (Home Director, another secretary, graphic arts & publication supervisor, etc.)

84 - Years GMSA has been ministering in Chile

1 - the minimum amount of your visits to Chile, once we get there!

Recent Events and Activity

We have been at home now for several weeks and it has been a blessing to relax and get stuff done at home. The following pictures are some of the events and activities that our family has done in the past two weeks.


I have been taking the kids to the local library to help them learn how to pick out books for themselves and checking them out at the self-checkout. We try to read one library book with them after baths and after devos. I also have an ongoing story that I tell them each night about "Bordan, Jen, and Laykee".


We went to a Northwestern College soccer game to watch the DeFelice brothers play. NWC won 5-0.


(L to R) Felipe & Josiah DeFelice (MKs from Chile) Both are seniors this year.


We celebrated Kristi's birthday on Aug. 24th. We received two cakes from people at church.
She was also able to spend a Saturday with 5 other ladies from church, going out for brunch and thrift store shopping.


Did I mention reading to the children.



Every Sept., Central Seminary has a fund raiser for their library by hosting a golf scramble tournament. Three things that I enjoy about the fund raiser: 1.) I get to play with my dad and uncle each year. 2.) As a Central Alumnus, I love to support their ministry and vision of training the next generation of ministry leaders. 3.) I love to play golf.

The about picture is actually from the 2005 fund raiser (the Central website hasn't posted the new pictures yet). (L to R) Cary Flinck, Dana Flinck, David Flinck, Dr. Dan Carlson)

This year we took second place with a 58 (-13 under par).
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We attended a MN Twins baseball game at the Metrodome with a big group from our church. The kids loved the dome, but not so much the game (too slow and complicated). Kaylee really loved TC the Bear (Twins mascot). The Twins won the game. The kids were able to experience Dome-dogs and the seventh inning stretch.
Our seats in the above photos may have been farther away than they appear. We didn't take the camera, so the photo is off of the Twins website.

Brooklyn Park, MN - VBS

During the week of August 20-24, we were serving in our sixth week of VBS ( see previous posts here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 )at our sending church (Berean Baptist Church).


Our theme this year was "Rescue Zone: Saved by God's Power".


Our GMSA co-workers, John and Kristen Ball, were also assisting in serving during the week. They will be church planting in Uruguay.


Paul & JoAnna Harmon (our neighbors) ,also going to Uruguay, were helped for several days in teaching about missions.


Kristi helped in the nursery each day with Kaylee (and other VBS worker children).


The Brooklyn Park Fire Dept. kindly came on Tues to show all the kids the fire truck and all of its gear.


Pastor gave the fireman a certificate of appreciation from our church for their service to the community and a promise of praying for them whenever we hear a siren.


On Wed., a Brooklyn Park Police squad car came and helped the kids understand how to respond to crime and what the police actually do each day.


The church also gave the policewoman 2 copies of the New Testament (with a Police badge on the front) with In Pursuit Gospel tracts .


On Thursday, the North Memorial Ambulance came to explain how they rescue people from medical emergencies.


Each child was free to explore & touch all the gear inside the ambulance.

It was a blessing to serve in VBS and continue to learn about children's ministries (many lessons learned). Deputation has given our family many different opportunities to serve.

Thank you for continuing to pray for our family. You are a vital part of our team!

Come back for more on what our family did during the weeks we are home after our busy VBS ministries.