October 2017 Report

“Uruguay is the country with the most atheists in Latin America, matched only by the Scandinavians.” So began a December 2016 online article, “Uruguayos de poca fe.” This was not good news. Nor—indeed—was it news at all, since Uruguay has long been known for such statistics. Secularism is the air our students breathe. We’re thankful for the opportunity FEBU has given us over the last four years to have a small part in equipping Christian young people to live and serve in this context. Thank you for your part! Ultimately we are grateful to God for this grace.

In October and November seven students in our Apologetics class will be presenting a final project, part of which will include each one’s public presentation countering some non-Christian or non-theistic philosophy or position. They are each required to invite ten people, including at least one non-Christian. Research & Argumentation students are working on papers in which they argue how a Christian should vote (or not) in light of biblical teaching on life, family, government, and the Christian’s place in society. Hermeneutics students are learning to identify relationships between clauses in order to preach and teach the Bible’s flow of thought.

FEBU’s first graduation program—a cause for much thanksgiving—is scheduled for December 2! Over the past years God has provided, guided, and preserved students and teachers to make this moment possible. Please pray for the five graduating—Gabriel, Manuel, Maxi, Vanessa, and Exequiel—that the Lord would continue to lead them as they move on to the next stage of their lives and ministries. In December our E will also graduate (from sixth grade). The kids’ school offers only elementary grades, so we are in need of wisdom during these months to know how to proceed with their schooling in the coming academic year (beginning in March).

Thank you for praying for our parents—D’s in FL and JM’s in SC. In August JM’s parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Though we were not with them, we’re thankful for this milestone and for their unwavering faithfulness to the Lord, each other, and us. A helpful book in preparing for Apologetics this semester includes these comments: “I grew up in a home where the Bible was assumed to be the infallible word of God. Whether they succeeded or failed, my parents tried to submit to the authority of the Bible. I think they succeeded pretty well. [We would say, “Very well!”] That’s probably one reason I never rebelled against them. They tried to form their ideas about God and man and sin and salvation from the Bible. They tried to bring their attitudes and emotions in line with the Bible. And they tried to form their behaviors by the Bible” (Piper, A Peculiar Glory, 24).

Our children, like our students, are growing up in a culture that doesn’t value the Bible. As we write, concerned citizens (many Christians included) are collecting signatures to counter the latest implementation of sex education in elementary schools. The new guidelines are blatantly and explicitly biased away from biblical (and traditional and even proven scientific) norms. Please pray for God’s protection for our children and for wisdom for Christian parents to instruct their families and to win their children’s hearts by consistent lives and biblical words.

We know that votes, signatures, and even logical arguments—as helpful and right as all of these can be—are not the final answer. Nor is there any geographic refuge from the onslaught of unbiblical ideology. We—and you—are where we are by God’s appointment and must be faithful, depending on Him and on His self-authenticating Word, especially His revelation of Jesus Christ in the Gospel.

We rest on Him and in His strength we go!

July 2017 Report

Thank you for taking a few minutes to read this slightly abbreviated July 2017 update.

Tonight we said “so long” to Ken Casillas, one of our former pastors and seminary teachers and a longtime friend. During the past week he taught an intensive Hermeneutics class to a group of pastors and other leaders in Paysandú, a city on the river that separates Uruguay from Argentina. Numbers of you prayed over the last several months that the Lord would superintend the logistics of this class. Thank you! We’re thankful for the group of approximately 25 students who were able to attend and for the excellent reports we’ve heard.

A highlight of Dr. Casillas’ time in MVD for E & DJ was

asking lots of questions—and learning a little Hebrew!

Tomorrow evening the new FEBU semester begins. Our focus for the next several months will be the teaching of Hermeneutics, Apologetics, and the second semester of Research and Argumentation. We will undoubtedly be entrusted with many discipleship opportunities. Please pray for wisdom!

“Punto de Contacto” is the electronic newsletter that FEBU has begun to publish—in Spanish. (We’re sorry that an English copy isn’t available.) Please feel free to pass this along to your Spanish ministries or others who may be interested.

Pictured next are teens and young adults and some of the staff that attended the brief winter camp in Guazuvirá earlier this month. Some of the faces are those of current and future church leaders. Others represent struggles with love for the world or such questions as the truth of Christianity or whether to believe in a God that mandates sexual norms. Some represent youth who have grown up hearing the gospel and have yet to follow Jesus.

Four from Iglesia Bíblica Maranatha in Pando (and two invited visitors) attended camp. Please continue to pray for perseverance and growth of (especially) the teens and young adults. Several continue to take good steps. A few hours before going through security at the airport this evening, Dr. Casillas challenged the church from Psalm 84:

The Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You (Psalm 84:11-12).

April 2017 Report

Greetings from Montevideo! Thank you for your partnership in so many ways. The past three months have been some of the most intense since our arrival in Uruguay. We rely on your prayers. We appreciate you.

Campamento Emanuel and Misión Evangélica del Uruguay (MEU). This year’s camp theme was the Scriptures, taught and applied in different ways to age-oriented camps. During the adolescentes and jóvenes camps, JM taught basic Bible study steps, and we repeated this theme as our family worked again with the children who attended the MEU workers’ conference with their parents. MEU pastors have also been studying principles of interpretation and recently asked JM to teach grammar for Bible study in their twice-per-month meetings. Several students and pastors are showing interest in learning to analyze, phrase by phrase, passages of Scripture through an online program that JM enjoys. We have requested prayer in the past for this kind of commitment. It is appropriate to conclude that God is answering your prayers! Personally, we have also grown more and more excited about tracing the argument of Scripture. Please pray that we would humbly respond to God’s way of thinking.

Facultad de Estudios Bíblicos del Uruguay (FEBU) (College of Biblical Studies of Uruguay). In early March, D finished a six-week course toward the MEd in Teaching & Learning, which is already helping in the developing college program. We both hope to graduate in 2020. FEBU’s first semester classes began March 6, once again with approximately 27 students, 9 of these full-time. D and JM are teaching Research and Argumentation; JM is teaching Church Music and preparing to teach Hermeneutics and Apologetics.

In a recent video call with one of our partner churches someone asked what our weekly schedule looks like. On Sunday we continue to help Iglesia Bíblica Maranatha in Pando. (We’re encouraged, overall, with steps that some of the teens and young adults are taking. Please continue to pray for the growth of this church and for the Lord’s provision in His time of a Uruguayan pastor.) Monday through Friday our mornings tend to be dedicated to study and class preparation, bookended by JM’s taking the kids to school and picking them up. (The schedule this year is much easier now that both E and DJ are in the same school and on the same schedule.) FEBU continues to use the MEU library (downstairs from our living area) for classroom space; both FEBU and the MEU Bible institute have classes two doors down in facilities managed by Iglesia Templo Calvario. This usually means—Monday through Friday—that students begin arriving mid-afternoon to study and socialize before evening classes. Afternoons and evenings are punctuated by details related to classes, students, and teachers. The blessings of these opportunities—unexpected and in some ways unsought—so far have outweighed the inherent challenges of the living situation. Please continue to pray concerning the Lord’s provision of the right facilities for FEBU. More important—especially as FEBU has begun, step by step, to provide dormitory accommodations for students—is the need for personnel prepared to provide the kind of discipleship that we desire to give to our students.

We were recently reminded that “there are two cosmic powers working in creation. The power of God and his plan are now battling against the power of Satan and his legion. These powers are not at all equal; one depends upon the other.” (Oliphint) This battle is always real and often unseen. It centers in the realm of ideas: “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5 NASB). At times, though, the enemy’s attacks are tangible. Our brothers and sisters—and we—are vulnerable and in need of God’s protection from temptation and from physical harm. Following Jesus is much more than war, but it is never less. We remain confident that God is sovereign over all.

January 2017 Report

October through December. Our entire family are legal, permanent residents of Uruguay! Thank you for praying over these past 3 ½ years. The Immigration Department recorded the final decision on October 28. We are thankful.

In November, FEBU and Bible institute students (including one graduating Bible institute student) finished their semester of study. A couple FEBU students returned home for the months of December through February. Two were married in December, thus forming two more Christian families. Please pray for these students who represent an important part of the future of the church in this region, the “Southern Cone” of Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile.

Between October 19 and December 9 we visited our parents in FL and SC; and JM finished the course “Expository Preaching in Ministry Context.” The class increased his appreciation for the need for prayer and for the Holy Spirit’s intervention during preaching; honed his understanding of such things as the proper use of cross-references in preaching and what it means to preach Christ from all of Scripture; provided ideas for a weekly sermon preparation plan; helped him develop a three-year preaching plan for Iglesia Bíblica Maranatha; and exposed him to Puritan practices of preaching and catechizing. Please pray for wisdom in choosing a research topic that would benefit Uruguayan churches and the FEBU and Bible institute programs.

During November and December, E and DJ attended school in English, thanks to the kindness of teachers and staff at Bob Jones Academy, who assimilated them for a month. Upon our return to Uruguay, DJ graduated from kindergarten in a program that included his speaking publicly—a big day for our family, given his struggles during these years of required K4 and K5. Elizabeth finished fifth grade and—to our surprise—was honored to be among those chosen to escort the Uruguayan flag for next year’s school programs. Our Shepherd—though He would not have had to do so—has demonstrated His trustworthiness in life changes that were in many ways out of our control.

January through March. Please pray for this year’s summer camps, represented in the brief calendar below. Especially pray for several teens and young adults that might attend from Iglesia Bíblica Maranatha, our church in Pando. Many of them have significant needs; the weeks of camp are often encouraging times for them.

Facultad de Estudios Bíblicos del Uruguay (FEBU) (College of Biblical Studies of Uruguay). By the time we report again in early April, FEBU will have started its fourth year. Please pray for ongoing teacher training, the right students to return, and adequate facilities to receive and train every single student God wants to train in FEBU.

January 11-14—Staff training, Camp Emmanuel (JM teaches several sessions)

January 16-21—Children’s camp, Camp Emmanuel

January 23-28—Older teen and young adult camp, Camp Emmanuel (JM counsels)

January 30-February 4—Younger teen camp, Camp Emmanuel (JM teaches morning sessions)

February 13—FEBU teacher training; election of new FEBU president (required periodically by Uruguayan law)

February 20-23—EMU workers’ camp, Camp Emmanuel (D and JM teach workers’ children)

March 2—E and DJ begin school

March 6—Beginning of FEBU school year (D and JM teach Research and Argumentation; JM teaches Church Music)

Thank you for praying!