Summer 2010 Report

Dear Friends,

We thank you for your part in sending us to Uruguay, and we thank God for His gracious, ongoing work in you and in us. Though we do not yet know the date of our departure to South America, we believe that each day brings us closer to ministry there. While we ask you to pray that God would send us quickly, we do value these days of preparation and service among North American churches.

In the middle of June, I left South Carolina with Jonathan Blumer, a new friend from another church in town. Four days later, following planned nightly stops, we arrived in Alberta, where we presented the future ministry in Uruguay in two churches. During this week we also attended a pastors’ conference in Saskatchewan. Deborah and Elizabeth flew to Alaska, where we joined them by car. We began July with a trip to Fairbanks for meetings in two churches, one of which is currently home to a surprising number of our personal friends from college. We enjoyed the renewal of friendships and the making of others. Jonathan remained in the Fairbanks area to help with this church’s camp ministry, while our family traveled to a series of meetings in places that generally receive comparatively fewer phone calls from missionaries requesting meetings. Our time in the Alberta and Alaska churches was very encouraging to us, and each church has taken some part in sending us to Uruguay. We’re thankful for this answer to prayer.

In addition to weekly preaching and teaching responsibilities, God has also given us a glimpse into the nature of ministry in this part of the earth. The harsh environment, the history of native peoples and homesteaders, the continued remoteness of certain villages, the forces behind the ongoing arrival of immigrants from Outside, and the universal and total depravity of man create a complex picture whose only hope is God’s intervention. Indeed—and I write this for the sake of the wide variety of friends who tend to receive these reports—your only hope to be rightly related to your Creator is the intervention already accomplished in the Gospel. That is, that Jesus of Nazareth, who is rightly designated as “Messiah” and “God,” became the sinless substitute for those who will acknowledge their own sin and flee to Him for mercy.

After wrapping up our longer travels for the summer, we will continue to visit churches in the Southeastern U.S. during the coming months. At the end of October we anticipate the arrival of our second child. We thank the Lord for this, another answer to prayer. Our future co-workers, Matías and Kristine Espinel, are expecting their first in January. The Lord is always good, but we can say that we have experienced His kindness to us in exciting ways this year. Thank you for your prayers and praise on our behalf. I close with several specific requests for prayer:

Increased knowledge of and love for God and His Word

A fruitful second semester of Bible institute classes in Uruguay

A safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery of our second child (due the end of October)

Salvation of believers’ unsaved spouses and of other contacts in churches we have visited

Our parents’ and families’ ongoing ministries in South Carolina and Uruguay

Wisdom concerning planning of future meetings, travel, and ministry

Our arrival in Uruguay next year with co-workers Matías and Kristine Espinel


¡Qué Dios les bendiga ricamente! May God richly bless you!

John Mark, Déborah, and Elizabeth Steel