70%

Praise the Lord for His perfect timing and provision of another Upper Mid-West church that has committed to partner with our ministry in spreading the Gospel in Chile.

Our support level is now up to 70% (with 12 supporting churches).

Our goal of a Jan. 2009 departure is approaching quickly. Please continue to pray that we will Set Our Hope in God and that the remaining support will be raised.

Missionary Principles from Acts

The following are the notes from a recent missions challenge
by Pastor Bill Hixson, during the GMSA meetings in Florida.


Missionary Principles Today from the first half of the Book of Acts

There are no impenetrable places
Acts 2

There are no unimportant people
Acts 3

There are no unchallenged progress of the Gospel
Acts 4

There are no insignificant provocations of God
Acts 5

There are no unprofitable problems in the church
Acts 6

There are no irreplaceable places or people
Acts 7

There are no unreachable peoples
Acts 8-11

There are no invincible persecutors
Acts 12

-If you liked the outline, Pastor Hixson's Acts sermon series (ongoing) is available HERE

Our Time in Florida

Our time in Florida was profitable on many fronts.
First, it was a blessing to be able to attend the 3 day GMSA Mission Meetings
at the Home Office in Ft. Lauderdale.

Above: The meetings included business meetings, candidate school workshops,
and evening services. It was helpful to learn more about the home office
and people of the mission.

Phil DeMart joined the mission and was attending candidate school.
He will be one of our co-workers in Chile.
Praise the Lord for more workers for the field.
Pray for him as he finishes up his internship in Northern MN
and then starts the process of deputation.

There were many opportunities to mingle and chat (sometimes in Spanish)
with GMSA field directors, home office staff, board members, and Phil.

Our time in Florida also gave us the rare chance to spend time with Kristi's parents.
Above: Kaylee is getting a lesson on counting pennies by Grandpa Thompson.

Grandpa utilized the boys to help him clean up some palm branches around the yard.

It rained really hard the other day...much needed relief for the recent dry spell in South Florida. The backyard driveway always floods right after a hard rain, so the kids enjoyed splashing around in the water and using up some energy.

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Thank you for your prayers during this time at the GMSA home office. Tomorrow we start our travels again. This time we are finally traveling North! Check our travel schedule on the right hand side bar for exact dates and locations. We are getting prepared for the deputation mode again (updating powerpoints and display table) after being in Texas since the beginning of the year.

Pray for profitable meetings and effective opportunities for ministry in several
new churches and many supporting churches.
Our goal is to leave for Chile mid Jan. 2009!

Our trip to Florida

Our trip from RGBI to Florida was intentionally set up to stop several times along the way to visit with old friends.

Stop One: 782 miles to Laurel, MS
Stayed with former GMSA Chile missionaries
Ray & Carol Harbaugh

Stop Two: 90 miles to Mobile, AL
Visited retired GMSA Chile missionaries
Chuck & Del Hammel
and their son, Mark Hammel.

Kristi and Mark grew up together as MK's, so it was a special joy for her to meet his wife and three girls. Their newest little girl was only three weeks old and Kristi held the baby most of the night.

The kids spent their energy outside in the backyard with the two older girls.

After four hours of visiting, we left Mobile to drive late into the night to make it to our hotel in Tallahassee, FL.

Stop Three: 250 miles to Orlando
Spent several days with the Lopez and Spink family.
These days were very relaxing and we enjoyed every minute with them.

Kristi and I were able to go out to eat with Kim and John Spink (without the kids). The Spinks are ABWE Chile missionaries and just finished language school at RGBI. They plan to be involved in church planting in Northern Chile once they arrive.

The photo has a hilarious story behind it...but let's just keep it to: John likes cheese.

Stop Four: 219 miles to Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Upon arrival in Ft. Lauderdale, we met up for lunch with some old friends from college.

While travels can get long, especially with three young children, friends along the way ALWAYS cheer us up.

Thank you for your prayers for our travels to Florida. We made it safely and without delay.
Come back again to hear how our GMSA meetings went in Ft. Lauderdale.

Our Last Week at RGBI

Our last week at RGBI was busy with packing, cleaning, studying, and taking final exams.

Every Friday, our conversation class meets at Phil's house for coffee and cookies.

After our last class on the last day, our class went out to a local Mexican restaurant to celebrate. We all had a great time together recalling all that God has done for us over this last semester.

This one plate feed our whole family. It was awesome food.

Jordan & Ben enjoyed some last moments with friends, Josh & John Lopez.

After packing the van, we left campus around 11:30 am and drove to Beaumont, TX. The kids were excited to head towards Grandpa and Grandma's house in Florida. They traveled well even after four months of no deputation trips.

Thank you for your continued prayers for our summer travels and ministry. In the upcoming posts we will be updating you on our trip to FL.

Contact Information for Summer 08

We leave RGBI tomorrow (May 8th) for the summer.

If you desire to send snail mail to us please make note
of the following contact information below:


From May 8th - May 27th please send mail to:

David & Kristi Flinck
c/o GMSA
1401 SW 21st. Ave.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33312

From May 28th - July 28th please send mail to:

David & Kristi Flinck
c/o Cary Flinck
7224 79th Ave. N
Brooklyn Park, MN 55445

From July 29 on:

David & Kristi Flinck
4300 S. Bus. Hwy 281
Edinburg, TX 78538

The Send off Party

Two weeks ago our class had the honor of planning and hosting a send off party for the graduating class. After several weeks of planning...here's what happened.

The Theme was: Koinonia (Fellowship)

We had a great meal and desert.

Thanks to John Lopez for his leadership in the kitchen.

The chicken was awesome!

During the semester, we all done have time to truly fellowship like we should. We wanted to provide a time for the faculty and students to mingle and share what God has done for them.

We provided Koinonia questions to spurn discussion, a verse for each place setting that talked about fellowship, and one 5x7 group photo of each class to be used as prayer cards.


There was a short program that included a prayer for the graduating class, some words from the dean of the language school, several hymns, and a skit.

Everyone had a great time. A big thank you to our class who came together as a team to be a blessing to others. Many will remember that night for many years to come.

There She Blows!

Authorities evacuated hundreds of people from villages in southern Chile Friday after a snowcapped volcano considered dormant for thousands of years erupted. The blast sent minor earthquakes rippling through the region.

The 3,550-foot Chaiten volcano belched fire and ash Thursday night, causing more than 60 small tremors in the Los Lagos region, 750 miles south of the capital, Santiago, the government's Emergency Bureau said.

Mild seismic activity could continue for the next several days, said bureau director Carmen Fernandez.

Chile's government declared a state of emergency, evacuating as many as 1,500 people from nearby villages and the town of Chaiten, just over 6 miles from the volcano, the bureau said.

The amount of ash falling in Chaiten had dropped considerably by Friday afternoon, and the wind was moving it southeast, Emergency Bureau volcanologist Juan Cayupi told the Associated Press by telephone there.

Ash from the eruption was polluting water supplies and prompting officials to hand out more than 10,000 protective masks, said Interior Minister Edmundo Perez.

Winds also carried ash over the Andes mountains to neighboring Argentina, where the Education Ministry suspended classes in several towns, including Esquel and Trevelin — two popular Patagonian tourist destinations.

Authorities there declared a state of alert on two major highways as falling ash reduced visibility.

The Chaiten volcano has "probably been dormant for thousands of years but that's not unusual," said Charles Stern, a professor of volcanology at the University of Colorado who specializes in Andes volcanoes.

Stern, who has studied Chaiten specifically, said it is still considered "a potentially active volcano."

Chaiten last had "an explosive eruption that generated a very big ash cloud," he added. "I would really worry about the village of Chaiten. I think they would want to get everybody out of there really soon." (source: AP)

Chile is home to the world's second largest and second most active chain of volcanoes, after Indonesia.

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Mi Amigo Seba

There is only one Chilean Bible Institute student here this year at RGBI, but there are three missionary families studying Spanish going to Chile. We all have formed a strong bond due to our love for the Chilean people.

Sebastián Vergara is probably my favorite language tutor since he is from Chile. He is very helpful with teaching me Chilean phrases and accent. Seba and Mari (another BI student from Mexico) are pictured above.

This past week was the last week for tutors.

During my tutor time, we go over my Spanish memory verses and dialog with some random conversation in between. I am grateful to Seba for his friendship, patience, and attitude toward tutoring me in Spanish.

Below is the prayer card I designed for Seba for his summer internship in Nebraska.

If could you remember Seba in your prayers as well as our family this summer as we travel and minister to churches in the Mid-West.