July 2013 Report

The following is our post from July 1 (more updates forthcoming):

Greetings from Uruguay!

We are grateful to report that by May 1 the Lord answered your prayers, providing the remainder of our required support and opening all doors for departure. Our final six weeks were divided between travel to churches in the eastern U.S. and packing in preparation to leave the country on June 11.

 

Flying over the Andes -- breath-taking and sobering...

We are renting the upper floor of a house owned by the Evangelical Mission to Uruguay, the building in which the mission’s office and Bible institute classes are located. The situation for the present appears to be advantageous, given the proximity not only to JM’s teaching but also to downtown Montevideo. Our home is extremely close to nearly any major bus route, including the route to Pando, where we have begun helping on weekends. Please pray for the ongoing discipleship and growth of people in Iglesia Bíblica Maranatha in that city.

Establishing legal residency in Uruguay is not excruciating but does take a fair amount of time. Though we completed what we could before leaving the U.S., this process involves visits to the immigration office and the gathering of required papers. Our belongings will not ship from SC until we receive official government permission (which in our case is connected to establishing residency); consequently, we will not be able to ship before late July and (depending on the source of information) it could be as late as mid-October. This does complicate our settling in, and we would appreciate your prayers.

JM has been invited to join the committee making plans for the opening of the new Facultad de Estudios Bíblicos del Uruguay (FEBU) (College of Biblical Studies of Uruguay). Over the last year and a half, this planning committee—with your prayers and with regular input from area pastors and missionaries—has spent many hours preparing for what we hope will be a Christ-centered, college-level program of study serving the churches here in Uruguay. Please pray as this process continues. An important need is the Lord’s guidance to and provision of the proper location for the school.

 

July: From July 22 through 26 Dr. Nick Uwarow (Division of Teacher Education, School of Education at Bob Jones University) will be holding  workshops for prospective teachers of FEBU. These will take place at Camp Emmanuel outside of Montevideo.

August to November: On August 19, the FEBU planning committee will again hold a meeting with pastors in Montevideo to share updates and make further decisions ahead of the opening of classes in March 2014. Also, EMU Bible institute classes, which will have begun the last week of July, will continue through early November.

June through August are not warm months in Uruguay. Please pray for continued health for us and for God’s grace as we adjust to life and ministry here. We are glad to be here and depend on your prayers. Thank you!