On Sunday, May 16th, our family went back up to Lautaro (25 mins north of Temuco) to spend the day and minister at the church. I (David) spoke for the SS hour and in the evening service.
They have been celebrating mothers all month (instead of just on Mother's Day), so Kristi and the rest of the mothers in attendance were given a beautiful big rose.
We brought Juanita, a BI student, with us to introduce her to the church. She will be going to Lautaro three times a month to help serve as a SS teacher and fulfill her BI internship requirements. Our family was able to get to know her more throughout the day...especially Lukas!
There was a short time of fellowship for all of the mothers immediately after the morning service.
Our children enjoyed playing with Felipe in between the AM and PM services.
Please continue to pray for the church in Lautaro. They are still without a national pastor. We cannot go back up to Lautaro for several months, due to some additional ministry responsibilities here in Temuco, but we plan to minister in Lautaro again this year.
The Temuco BI is that there was yet another setback. Around one week ago, there was a small one room fire in the main BI building. Thank the Lord that several men were around when the flames started. Without their quick thinking and action, the main building would have been a complete loss since it's a very old wooden building.
It was caused by the wood stove pipe touching an old wood board.
So, another cleanup and repair job was started at the BI. The BI ministry has been given several large hurdles to overcome this year (kitchen project, the earthquake, and now the fire).
Daryl working on fixing the burnt area.
Victor B. tearing out old boards.
Please continue to pray for the Temuco BI ministry. There are some plans to build a new building on the back side of the BI property. Many things need to fall into place before we can start building (ie approval of paperwork for building, blueprints, finances, and allocation of labor and materials).
Our family congratulates our co-workers, Dan & Liz Thompson, on the safe and healthy arrival of their new little girl, Madeline Colleen Thompson on April 28th.
We welcome the newest member of our personal family (since Dan is Kristi's younger brother) and our GMSA missionary family. Please pray for Dan & Liz as they adjust to a new little one in the house. Follow their family via their ministry blog HERE. Send your personal congratulations to them by commenting on their blog.
One of the ministries I am a part of this semester at the Temuco Bible Institute is being the student choir director. On the last Friday night of every month, all the BI students gather to practice several new songs in preparation for their monthly "BI Promotional Sunday" in surrounding churches.
Photos from our first practice back in April. I am trying to pick some songs that are new (to them) and also have the theme of Serving the Lord.
Chileans are very good at hearing a melody and learning it quickly. Most play or sing by ear. One of the challenges is to convert the North American guitar chords into the South American format so that several students can play with the choir.
Above: A short run through before the evening service at our first BI Sunday at the Mackenna church in Temuco. Besides our special musical number, we (as a choir) planned to teach the congregation two hymns from their hymnal. Many churches in Chile, don't know a large majority of the hymns and songs in their own hymnal, because they can't read music.
The following video should give you the highlights from our first BI Promotion Sunday.
BI Students, Mauren & Bernardo. They plan to get married in Feb. 2011. Pray for them as they desire to serve the Lord. It would be a great answer to prayer if they would go into full time ministry upon their completion of their studies.
The BI Promotion Sunday ended with a coffee & cookie fellowship time. This gave more opportunity for the church members to mingle and talk with the BI students.
Pray for me as I direct the BI choir this semester. It's not a lot of work, but it is something that needs to be done, and I am glad to do it. Pray that our choir will be a musical and spiritual blessing to the churches we minister in throughout the semester.
On the third Sunday of April, our family ministered up in the church in Lautaro. The church is still without a pastor, and asked me again to come up and preach. It was great to see all of the people again. The last time we were in Lautaro was 8 months ago, just after Lukas was born.
We will be going up to Lautaro on the third Sunday of May as well. I have been preaching from Hebrews in the evening service and teaching through some "Basic Bible Study Methods" during the morning Sunday School hour.
All the kids in Lautaro were glad to see and play with our children again. Above: Ben wasn't feeling too well that Sunday morning, hence no smile.
Lukas stole the show after and before the services. The church people hadn't seen him since he was three weeks old, so they were amazed at how much he had grown. Cell phones and cameras were out taking pictures of him the whole time.
Please pray for our small side ministry with the church in Lautaro. After May, we may not be able to get up to Lautaro again for several months due to an increase of ministry responsibilities/opportunities in our church in Temuco (more on that in a future post).
They have been celebrating mothers all month (instead of just on Mother's Day), so Kristi and the rest of the mothers in attendance were given a beautiful big rose.
We brought Juanita, a BI student, with us to introduce her to the church. She will be going to Lautaro three times a month to help serve as a SS teacher and fulfill her BI internship requirements. Our family was able to get to know her more throughout the day...especially Lukas!
There was a short time of fellowship for all of the mothers immediately after the morning service.
Our children enjoyed playing with Felipe in between the AM and PM services.
