Spring 2012 Report

Dear Friends,

Many of you will remember that the focus of our upcoming work in Uruguay is the training of Uruguayan laborers in EMU’s existing Bible institute, and especially a partnering with the leadership there to see a higher-level Bible-college program of study, both for new students and for pastors already serving in the churches. This goal continues to be not only our own, but also that of our mission agency and of our co-workers, the Espinels. The final appearance of this project has not yet become clear, and we are agreed that the outcome need not exactly duplicate what we are familiar with in North America; but there are some clues that the Lord might be putting pieces in place for some exciting developments in the next few years. Recently several men from a like-minded mission agency approached Matías Espinel with their desire for the development of such a program, a meeting which has resulted in the involvement of several good mission groups and local churches in Uruguay. A comisión of seven men is now meeting monthly to gather information and to communicate. Everyone involved would appreciate prayers for wisdom and for an obedience to God’s leading that neither rushes nor delays. Always with opportunities such as these there is need for sensitivity to the unique situations “on the ground.” 

The last several months have seen progress in organizing our affairs for a move to Uruguay: details such as health insurance decisions, a new bank account, choices about our belongings, buying consigned clothing for the next three to four years, and preparing our home for re-financing and possible rental are small but necessary steps. We have reached 60% of our required support level and are expecting that a permanent move is in the near future, if the Lord wills. In the meantime, we are scheduling meetings or visits to churches for at least the remainder of 2012. Thank you for the interest, encouragement, prayers, and financial support that so many of you give us.

At the end of March we were pleased to see the completion of a tract (in English and Spanish) and an accompanying website, both dealing with our nephew Jonatán Torres’ successful journey with osteosarcoma cancer. Our part in this effort was comparatively small, given the many, many hours invested by other friends. But we’re thankful for the Lord’s provision to us of time and energy to help with some of the writing and proofreading in the project. Students from his high school, Bob Jones Academy, took the tracts on an evangelistic trip to New York City in April. Please take some time to visit www.jonatorres.com to read and hear Jona’s story, to see pictures of his life, and to read or order the tract. Please pray for the Lord’s working through these media. Two thousand Spanish copies recently arrived in Uruguay.

Since our last report we have also completed our teaching in the Bible institute and Bible college programs at Iglesia Bautista de la Fe in Greenville, SC. The semester ended in May, and we participated in the first graduation ceremony of the college on May 20. Elizabeth finished kindergarten on May 25, and we have since begun homeschooling her first-grade studies. A strength of her early elementary school experience continues to be geography! Please continue to pray that our children would faithfully follow Jesus.

For the next six weeks we will again be traveling west, during which time we anticipate specific evangelistic opportunities in Idaho, along with numerous occasions to talk about what God is doing in Uruguay. Please contact us if you would like to know our itinerary.

Two thousand Jona Torres tracts are now in Uruguay

Please pray for the success of the gospel and for God to call many to Himself.

Spanish Music Resources

A couple of years ago we started very casually posting links to Spanish music resources after someone asked us for some direction. The list is very short (we've spent very little time on it) but includes some helpful sources, including Church Works Media's new Spanish tab. Please feel free to offer others that you're aware of.

 

www.musicadelaiglesia.blogspot.com.

www.jonatorres.com

April marks the one-year anniversary of our nephew Jona Torres’ homegoing. Several friends, along with his family, have worked very hard to put together a gospel tract and accompanying website, highlighting his response to cancer and the Lord’s work in his life.

Please pray for the success of the gospel this next week as students and faculty from his high school, Bob Jones Academy, take these tracts to New York City on their annual evangelistic trip.

 

 

Pray for grace for his family during these anniversary days.

Visit the website and view the tract (in English and Spanish); read, see, and hear Jona’s story; and give glory to Christ for His gracious work!

Winter 2012 Report

The apostle John opened his first letter (1 John) by referring to his eyewitness testimony that centered in Jesus Christ, “the Word of Life.” He announced this gospel in order that “you, too, might have fellowship with us.” This fellowship (which ultimately is fellowship with God the Father and with His Son) implies certain responsibilities and (especially) evidences—evidences and responsibilities that are rooted in the good news of the person, the words, and the work of Jesus Christ. We hope that you have placed all your confidence in Him alone.

The day after Christmas we left for Miami with Esteban, Esther, and Marcos Torres. (Esther is Déborah’s sister.) We were joined by a friend from Colorado, a high-school girl from a church we’ve visited, who then traveled with us to Uruguay. We’re thankful for the opportunity to show her some of what God is doing there, and for her help along the way. The purpose for our trip was to attend the wedding of Esteban’s sister, Julia, who had asked us to provide music (play the piano, compose a musical number, and sing) for the ceremony. The Lord had provided airfare from a source apart from ministry gifts, and we believe the trip was the best use of those weeks. (You can see pictures in a previous post.) One highlight of the visit was time with young people, some of them Bible institute students or potential students, who regularly express their eagerness for our move to Uruguay.

Our travels during this spring semester are mostly regional. Several days after our return from Uruguay we took part in a conference in Ohio, where JM preached several times and Déborah shared in a ladies’ meeting. In mid-January, JM took a class focusing on preaching from historical narrative, material that we expect will be integrated into Bible college courses in the future.

Last August we enrolled Elizabeth in a K-5 program in Simpsonville, SC. We’re thankful for their flexibility with our schedule, allowing her to do some schoolwork while we travel. She will finish kindergarten in May, after which we will leave again for an extended trip west. Please pray that we will be in Uruguay by the end of this year. Our current plan is to begin homeschooling in June, so that Elizabeth can finish first grade before we move to Uruguay. She would then turn seven in January 2013 and be able to start second grade in March 2013, when the Uruguayan school year begins. We appreciate your prayers for us as we train our children. We desire to see them become true disciples of Jesus Christ, showing evidences of Life that come from genuine faith in Him.

March is also the beginning of the school year in the Bible institute in Uruguay. The Espinels (Matías, Kristine, and David Misael) are now there; please pray that they will be able to stay long term. Matías will be helping with some Bible institute teaching this semester. Pray for the Lord’s help in their transition to life and ministry there.

As you pray for classes in Uruguay, please also pray for the Bible college and Bible institute ministry of Iglesia Bautista de la Fe here in Greenville. Déborah is teaching a Spanish grammar course, and JM is teaching a class on 1 John. Please pray that God would use these weekly classes to conform us and our students into Christ’s image, that the classes would better prepare us for teaching in Uruguay, and that they would contribute to the health of His Church worldwide. This is experience that will directly benefit the Bible college program in Uruguay.

Thank you for your prayer and support! “Keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21)—they appear in many forms.

Post by Deborah: "Recent Travels"

We’re thankful for God’s gracious provision!

The day after Christmas found us on the way to Miami with Esteban and Esther and Marcos on a whirlwind two-week trip to Uruguay for Julia’s and Dilney’s wedding. We spent ten wonderful (summer!) days there and four more days (two on each side) driving to Miami and back.

We’re thankful for the time with extended family.

On December 31, Esteban and Esther reminded us that the last time we three Garwood siblings were together for “the holidays” was twenty-three years ago.

We celebrated Dosila’s birthday on Dec. 31.

The cousins enjoyed some good times together.

DJM reached the 14-month milestone while there. It was fun to take his picture by Tia Viviana’s Christmas tree – in summer! (Christmas in Uruguay isn’t over until after January 6.)

JM preached on New Year’s Day at Iglesia Biblica Maranatha on the outskirts of Pando, and Esteban preached that evening at Templo Betel, the church his father pastored for many years. We also attended mid-week services at three EMU churches.

We’re guessing that folks from EMU churches all over Uruguay attended the wedding. We enjoyed many opportunities for fellowship and left greatly encouraged and more eager than ever to get back – to stay!

Although exhausting, it was an encouraging trip overall.

Two days after our return to the Upstate found JM and me on icy highways on the way to a conference in Ohio. As I commented on FaceBook last Thursday:

A week ago, I was walking the length of “18 de Julio”(one of Montevideo’s main thoroughfares) with John Mark and Kenzi and the kids – in summer! Tonight, I’m on my way to a conference in Ohio– trying to remember how to drive in snow!

On Monday, JM began a two-week D.Min. course.

Please continue to pray for us!

Fall 2011 Report

We’re thankful for your prayers and concern for what God is doing in Uruguay. And we’re thankful for your interest in our family and for the ways that you continue to encourage us as we prepare for work there. We’re currently in Greenville, South Carolina, and are enjoying being in one location for a sustained time! During September John Mark spent three focused weeks in Alaska, where he made or renewed contact with about a dozen churches or pastors. Then in October and November for nearly six weeks we did the same as a family, this time seeing churches, friends, and extended family along a route between South Carolina and Edmonton, Alberta.

At the end of a year it is often profitable to look back gratefully at what God has done to carry us to this point. Perhaps doing so now will serve as a helpful reminder and will fill in details for those we’ve only recently met.

Three years ago, at the end of December of 2008, we were accepted as missionaries with EMU International. For over a year we continued to work jobs in Greenville, though we were able to make progress by preparing information for presentation, scheduling future meetings, and presenting our anticipated ministry in several churches during this time. John Mark taught a semester-long church music course in a local Hispanic church’s Bible-college ministry (spring of 2009), and we also spent a month in Uruguay, where he taught similar material at a family camp and an EMU workers’ conference (February of 2010).

In May of 2010 we left our jobs and began full-time preparation for a permanent move to Uruguay. During that first year the Lord abundantly supplied our needs, and our level of financial support rose from 9% to 42% of EMU’s goal for us. The Lord also gave us our second child, Daniel James Matías. Then from late May to late August of 2011 we helped oversee the ministry of Maranatha Bible Church, a church being planted by Déborah’s father in Uruguay. After returning from Uruguay we began what is essentially our second year of full-time travel.

The job of a missionary teacher or evangelist is, of course, to make disciples and to equip Christians by preaching the gospel and teaching the Bible. Ideally this happens largely in the context of relationships. It is our desire to serve in this way now among North American churches—in preparation for doing the same in Uruguay. We have the added privilege of telling about God’s works in Uruguay and of requesting prayer. These activities then serve a secondary purpose—that of giving God’s people opportunity to evaluate their sense of God’s calling and of our qualifications. The result is their acknowledgement of God’s leading and in various ways helping to send us. We are presently maintaining contact and fellowship with 40 to 50 churches, while seven churches and six individuals have partnered with us in regular financial support, prayer, and accountability.

We plan to continue this deputation process until the Lord opens the door for our move, knowing that if we are not yet in Uruguay it is because He has something genuinely better for us and for the churches there . . . at least for now. However, please ask Him to put us in Uruguay permanently this next year! Plans for the next several months include participating in a wedding in Uruguay. (We plan to post details and updates on our trip here.) In January John Mark will be preaching in a conference in Ohio and taking two weeks of classes at BJU. Déborah expects to teach a college course in Spanish grammar. Pray for us as we continue to schedule meetings, visit churches, and organize our belongings with a forward look toward our transition to Uruguay. Thank you!

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