Kid's Edition March - June

 Enjoying a friend's birthday party!

Ben holding up Antofagasta.

Jordan and his friend, Rafa.

At another birthday party at the neighbor's house.

 Ben and Jordan at the Antofagasta pro basketball game.

They were able to meet the two American players after the game.

 On a family walk down by the beach.

Another family outing at the Coloso lookout (just south of Antofagasta)

 Kaylee at the Portada lookout.

 Ben and Nick cleaning at the new mission house.

Playing with the new LEGO sets grandpa and grandma Flinck sent.

Various mission house projects

We've been living in the new mission house for about a month and a half. There is still so much to be done for the house to be fully functional, but we wanted to share some of the completed projects so far.

Nick and Edgar fumigated the whole house a few days before we moved in back in late June.

 Fumigating the outside doors and windows.

 A multi-purpose ladder was purchased to help us complete the painting and other odd jobs around the house.

 A new stove was purchased and installed.

 Our van didn't fit inside the car port...

...because of this cement step.

So we rented a jack-hammer and took out the step...

 ...so that our van could be parked inside of the locked gate.

 Almost all the rooms in the house were painted.

 With the help of Ben...

 Lukas...

 Jordan...

 Kaylee...

 and Claudio and Roman.

Kristi's brother, Danny, helped us install a new calefon (water heater) in the back patio.

This is just the beginning of many small projects that are keeping us busy settling into the new mission house. We will post more photos of future completed projects. Thanks to all who have financially supported us. Without your support these projects would not have been completed. 

Baptismal Service

Back on July 1st, our church plant had it's first baptismal service. So many providential events lead up to that glorious occasion. It would be impossible to share all of those stories in this post, but allow us to share a few of them. 

This past year, the Lord, in His mercy, love, and grace, saved Susana (right) and Anna (left). Through a series of events in their lives, some godly examples, the Word of God, and much prayer, both of them accepted Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior.

I spent several months teaching through the importance of believer's baptism in our Sunday Bible study. After this study was completed, both approached me with their desire to follow and identify with Christ by taking the next step of obedience in believer's baptism.  What a joy it was to hear how the Holy Spirit was using His Word to work in the hearts of His new daughters.

God providentially provided a place for the baptism as well. It's a long story, but the short version goes as follows...Through an American friend of our here in Antofagasta, we were invited to attend an "Ex-patriot" BBQ in order to meet and get to know the growing and loving community that is those who live and work in Antofagasta, but are from the US, Canada, England, Scotland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. While at that picnic, our family was introduced to a family from Australia. They lived in a house with a large swimming pool in the backyard, so I kindly asked if it could a possibility for our church to use the pool for a baptism.  The Pacific Ocean is always available, but it's a bit cold during our winter months of June, July, and Aug. They graciously allowed us to use the pool on a Sunday afternoon. 

Before heading over to the pool for the baptismal, Anna (above) and Susana (below) gave their salvation testimonies in front of our whole group. They also shared with us their understanding of why they wanted/needed to follow Christ in believer's baptism. Many tears of joy were shed during this service.

The photo of our group in Antofagasta (taken at the baptismal service)

Please pray for Susana and Anna as they continue to grow in Christ. It has been an awesome experience to watch God's working here in this needy city of Antofagasta.  Thanks to those who have faithfully prayed for and financially supported our family and new church planting ministry in northern Chile.

Lessons from Slum Dwellers

I have been recently reading through a book that has challenged, convicted, and yet, encouraged me to ponder on many things (i.e. the Biblical definition of poverty, how to help others in need, and my walk with God). Allow me to share a portion of Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert's book, "When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself"

One Sunday I was walking with a staff member through one of Africa’s largest slums, the massive Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. The conditions were simply inhumane. People lived in shacks constructed out of cardboard boxes. Foul smells gushed out of open ditches carrying human and animal excrement. I had a hard time keeping my balance as I continually slipped on oozy brown substances that I hoped were mud but feared were something else. Children picked through garbage dumps looking for anything of value. As we walked deeper and deeper into the slum, my sense of despair increased. This place is completely God-forsaken, I thought to myself.

Then to my amazement, right there among the dung, I heard the sound of a familiar hymn. There must be Western missionaries conducting an open-air service here, I thought to myself. As we turned the corner, my eyes landed on the shack from which the music bellowed. Every Sunday, thirty slum dwellers crammed into this ten by twenty foot “sanctuary” to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The church was made out of cardboard boxes that had been opened up and stapled to studs. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a church, a church made up of some of the poorest people on earth.

When we arrived at the church, I was immediately asked to preach the sermon. I quickly jotted down some notes about the sovereignty of God and was looking forward to teaching this congregation. But before the sermon began, the service included a time of sharing and prayer. I listened as some of the poorest people on the planet cried out to God: “Jehovah Jireh, please heal my son, as he is going blind”. “Merciful Lord, please protect me when I go home today, for my husband always beats me.” "Sovereign King, please provide my children with enough food today, as they are hungry.”

As I listened to these people praying to be able to live another day, I thought about my ample salary, my life insurance, my health insurance, my two cars, my house, etc. I realized that I do not really trust in God’s sovereignty on a daily basis, as I have sufficient buffers in place to shield me from most economic shocks. I realized that while I have sufficient education and training to deliver a sermon on God’s sovereignty with no forewarning, these slum dwellers were trusting in God’s sovereignty just to get them through the day. And I realized that these people had a far deeper intimacy with God than I probably will ever have in my life. - (taken from pp. 68-69)