Painting Project at Church

This last month, our church was able to tackle the project of repainting the building. We are thankful that this was completed, and that many from the church participated in the project.



There are still so many little and big project to be done this coming year (new bathrooms, fixing & painting the fence, and upgrading the dinning hall). Please pray for our church as we attempt to complete these projects little by little.

Answer to Prayer

We received word today that a church in WI recently voted unanimously to partner with us. This is an answer to prayer, as we are still lacking some support. We are thankful for God's timing and provision.

One Year in Temuco

It was one year ago in April that our family moved to Temuco. We look back on this past year and wonder how it went by so fast. We are thankful for how God providentially lead us to Temuco and put us in a situation of mentorship/orientation during our first full year of missionary service. This past year has had it's highlights and lowlights, as all first years do for missionaries.

I would like to explain several blessings and difficulties that we have experienced this past year, in order to help you understand our situation as new missionaries on the field.

Blessings:
*Our missionary mentors, Daryl & Earlynne Thompson. They have been patient and helpful during this past year. Many questions have been asked. They have attempted to answer those questions as best they know how. They have been an encouragement to our family. We are thankful to God for putting them in our lives, especially during our first year of ministry on the mission field.

*Weekly prayer and fellowship times with our GMSA co-workers. Every Thursday afternoon, we meet for a short time of prayer, singing, a short devotional thought from Scripture, and sometimes for a meal together. This has been more of an encouragement than I can fully express. Times of English conversation and signing is a balm for the new missionary's soul.

*New Chilean friendships

*Proximity to and opportunities to observe various ministries: The Bible Institute, the Bible Camp, local churches, and a new church plant. We have learned a lot by observing. There have been times of frustration during our first year due to feelings of "I'm not involved enough", but now that we look back, we are very thankful for this extended period of learning & observation. The short video below sums up many of the thoughts we've felt during our first year of ministry here in Temuco.



Difficulties:

*Language learning. "What did he say?" "I have no idea what they said?" "Why are they talking so fast?" "Why am I so tired, and it's not even lunchtime yet?" All of these questions stem from the daily battle with the Spanish language. From day to day, there seems to be NO PROGRESS, but looking back over several months, I have always found some encouragement in realizing that I HAVE LEARNED several things.

*Adjusting to life in a new culture with a family of 5 (now 6). Buying stuff takes time. Getting places takes time. Finding parking spots takes time. Standing in line takes time. Greeting and saying goodbye to people takes time.

*Culture shock & stress. While Kristi has a little different experience with culture shock, I have seen my progression from the honeymoon stage (where everything is so new and cool) to the culture shock (where you despise most everything), to the culture stress (where you still are annoyed with many things, but have accepted other things), to mostly fitting in (where you know how people will react before it happens, you accept that Chileans do many things differently, and you're 90% ok with that). While our family is still somewhat in between the stages of culture stress and fitting in, we have been encouraged by the progression of this process during our first year in Chile.

*The unknown. I always remember hearing in my missions classes back in Bible college that a missionary needs to be flexible. I always thought, "yeah, yeah, of course", but after one year on the mission field, I can fully testify to that reality. Missionaries MUST be flexible. Things just don't turn out like you've carefully planned or prepared...pretty much most of the time. Learning to be flexible in my schedule, my pre-planning, my commitments, & my ministry have been a huge difficulty and blessing during this past year.

There are many more items that I could expand on, but for now, I will close this post by saying that we are thankful for God's call in our lives to serve Him in Chile and we are extremely thankful for His provision, protection, and guidance in our family and ministry this past year. We also are thankful for those who have prayed for our family, financially supported our family, and faithfully communicated with our family during this past year. With so many of you, we truly feel like partners in the ministry of the Gospel here in Chile.

Regional Pastor's Meeting

Every three to four months I attend regional pastor's meetings in and around the Temuco area. This last time I went with Dan Thompson into the Andes Mts. to a little place called Pedregoso. The drive was incredible.
The church in Pedregoso, where the meeting was held.

Lunch with the pastors.

On the way home, we stopped at Princess Falls. A beautiful spot!

Click HERE to view the rest of the pictures from our trip.

Kickoff Lunch at the BI

Back on April 6, the BI had a special "welcome" lunch for all of the professors and students. I (David) was able to attend. Kristi stayed home and watched our children and Dan & Liz's three children so they could attend the event. Dan is teaching the missions class year.

Mauren C. helping in the kitchen get everything ready for the special lunch.

Pastor Marcelo (who is also a professor) was the MC (so to speak) at this event.

I sat at the table full of BI students. It was great to meet them all and spend some time with them in order to get to know them a little better.

Daryl Thompson (standing) gave a short charge to the BI students and professors from the Word of God.

Remember to keep the ministry of the Bible Institute in your prayers throughout this school year.

BI Project Repairs Update

The Temuco Bible Institute Repairs

Before

After

The front building was repaired a few weeks back. The new wall was put on before for the spring and winter rains start falling.

As for the rest of the repairs, we (as missionaries) need are waiting to meet with our national brethren to talk about a future rebuild of the back building. We will keep you updated on this in the coming weeks/months.

BI Class Photo

Hermeneutics Class 2010 (First Semester)
Temuco Bible Institute

Seated (L to R): Claudia, Teresa, Pamela, Juanita, & Mauren
Standing (L to R): David, Miguel, Rodrigo, Luis, Mario, Adolfo, & Bernardo
Not in picture: Daniela & Alexandra

First Class at the BI

The Bible Institute year started back on March 29th. My first class was on Thursday, April 1st (9-10:20 pm). Teaching this Hermeneutics (or Bible Study Methods) class will be a big stretch for me, since I am still learning Spanish. I am very grateful for the teaching curriculum I bought from EBI (the Spanish publishing wing of Baptist Mid-Missions). While I have full notes to work from, much preparation needs to go into extra handouts and tweaking Powerpoint slides to fit the objectives of my class.
I was (a good kind of) nervous my first class. First classes are always about meeting your students, going over the purpose of the class, the schedule for quizzes, exams, and homework projects.

My classes aren't without some funny language moments. Here are two examples:

*In my first class period, I was explaining the difference between Hermeneutics (Bible Study Methods) & Exegesis (the Practice of Hermeneutics in a particular text). While I do follow my written notes around 80% of the time, I decided to "go off script" for a time of discussion. This is a big challenge for me, not to mention a lot of spur of the moment pressure to make sense. Well, I was having a hard time pronouncing "Exegesis" (Exégesis in Spanish). One of my students took pity on me and anticipated when I was about to say that word and then he would just say it out loud like it was planned. Finally, I just decided to call "Exegesis" "the other one" since that was easier to say in Spanish (y el otro). After some laughs, one student asked me how to say Exegesis in English...and you know what?...my mind went blank! I couldn't remember how to pronounce it even in English. My mind was such a mess that night, due to the thinking in Spanish. It's the story of a new missionary learning a second language...they pretty much stink at both languages. ;)

*During my second class, I was going "off script" again (do you see a pattern here?) when I was trying to say something like "I want to ______" (Yo quiero _____)and for the life of me I couldn't remember the verb in Spanish. After what seemed like minutes, but more like a few seconds of me staring blankly, I just thought to myself, "Forget it", and said sarcastically (in Spanish) "Yo quiero morir" (I want to die!). Everyone laughed and I moved back to my notes.

I'm sure that there will be more funny blunders in the future. I will cherish the day when I will be able to say what I want to say, and not just what I know how to say (there is a big difference).

I have a total of 12 students in my class. Three of them are auditing the class, the rest are expected to do all of the work/exams.

Prayer Requests for my class:

*Pray for my weekly preparation time. It takes many hours to get everything ready for the next class period. (Handouts, quizzes, grading quizzes, powerpoint, and extra personal reading about my topic)

*Pray for faithfulness in my students. There is always the tendency to forget the overall reason why they are studying at the BI.

*Pray for my Spanish to continue to improve. Proficiency is NOT a word I would use to describe my current level...it would be more like pathetically adequate. Pray for humility, the ability to laugh at myself, and opportunities to learn more.

*Pray that my students will go into full time Gospel ministry. Many don't know what they want to do. There are many hurdles in front of them. Pray that they will seek to know God and His will for their lives today.

*Pray for my students by name: Mauren, Claudia, Miguel, Bernardo, Rodrigo, Adolfo, Alejandra, Mario, Juana, Pamela, Luis & Daniela (I will get a group picture this next week).