January
& February.
Thank you for praying for summer camp at Camp Emmanuel in Guazuvirá. Our entire
family participated each week on some level, either as campers or staff. We’re
especially grateful this year for the ministry of Elías Huamán, who dedicated
many weeks away from his family in Peru to serve the Uruguayan church. He turned
our Uruguayan, Argentine, and North American eyes away from our familiar,
comfortable surroundings to realities in the rest of the world—the real world
of primitive and civilized savagery, where billions do not know Jesus and where
Christians suffer for their loyalty to Him. At the same time he encouraged our churches
to financially support their pastors and to engage in gospel work on the local
level. His preaching coincided with some difficult but positive steps toward
independence among some of the churches here.
March. FEBU (Facultad
de Estudios Bíblicos del Uruguay: College of Biblical Studies of
Uruguay) began the third year of classes with 27 active students. Most of these
are studying part time; some are auditing a course. Ten students (these from Montevideo,
interior Uruguay, Argentina, and Costa Rica) are taking a full schedule of
classes: Gabriel, Manuel, Exequiel, Maxi, and Vanessa (third-year students); Noemí
(second-year student); Iván, Katherine, María, and Priscilla (new first-year
students). Please pray that these men
and women (and others who have studied in past years) would continue to seek
the Lord, be diligent to take full advantage of this opportunity, and discern
and follow God’s leading for future ministry within Uruguay and beyond. If
the Lord continues to bring new students, the need for a more suitable location
potentially increases. Our desire is especially to strengthen the FEBU program
(in terms both of discipleship and academics) and to further equip our teachers.
Please pray for wisdom as we seek to
know the Lord’s mind and as we take steps toward these goals.
FEBU students, March 2016
Opening service of the 2016 academic year
April. FEBU is set up as a
non-profit organization, subject to a general “assembly” of Uruguayan pastors
and other church leaders. This larger group approves two committees that work
together to make decisions and handle most day-to-day business. We seek input
from students and teachers. All of this takes place within the bounds of a doctrinal statement that has, so far, been very functional and agreeable to
all of the churches and mission organizations involved. Please pray that God would preserve this wonderful unity. On April 18 FEBU will hold an annual
meeting of this larger “assembly.”
The first children’s class
in A’s neighborhood
Later in
2016.
In an earlier letter we mentioned churches we have not visited for several
years and the possibility of our traveling this year to see them. We are not
currently planning a trip of this nature for 2016. We are waiting for an answer
from the Immigration Department to our request for permanent residency (for JM,
E, and DJ). When we receive this status, we will also be eligible for a six-month
window of permission to bring a tax-free shipment of household items into the
country. Please keep praying not only
for permanent residency but also for the timing of this status and for the
timing of any corresponding travel to prepare a shipment. Elizabeth’s and
DJ’s schooling and the differences between the academic calendars from one
hemisphere to the other also complicate planning.
The 2016 school year is off to a great start!
This semester’s schedule will be challenging
for our family: E is in school in the morning (8:00- 12:00, a 20-30 minute bus
ride away) and DJ in the afternoon (1:00-5:00, a 20-minute walk away); JM and D
teach or are otherwise on call in the evenings (7:00-10:00). So far God has
given grace. We rely on your prayers! Thank-you!
