Monday, September 30, 2013

Springtime in the South - September

Although it's still brisk, we can tell that Spring is trying to put an end to the cold.  We've seen blossoms on trees and the calendar assures us that it will be warm before long.  It does take longer here because we're so far south.  

Gaiman Flourishes

Speaking of Spring, our local church here in Gaiman, just had a Spring outreach with the theme, Gaiman flourishes, where the good news of Jesus was preached on the streets!  The ladies of the church made close to 700 flowers to give out at the event as a tool to approach the people.  Felicia and Jeremy joined the youth and King's Castle kids in doing street evangelism using choreography and skits.  We also united with the local police department to paint the kid's playground which was long in need of paint.



Couples’ Retreat


The couple's retreat that we were invited to speak at in August was a very special time.  We shared on the intimacy that comes naturally in relationships when there is openness honesty and forgiveness.  Thanks for praying.  There hasn't been a whole lot for married couples down here, so we are glad to share on the subject when the opportunity arises.  Just in case you are wondering, Diana and Eddie shared during the afternoon teaching session and Eddie is shown here preaching during the evening service.  Diana is the one behind the camera.

Trenque Lauquen (try saying that 5 times in a row real fast)

Eddie came back from the one-week-long IBP ministry trip, very pleased and grateful for the Lord's guidance and anointing in every detail of the outreach.  Apart from leading a team of IBP grads from 2012 to minister in several churches during the last week in August, he also organized and led the main event of this trip.  On Saturday, August 31st, in the heart of Argentina, in a dairy city called Trenque Lauquen (pronounced, “train-kay, lau-ken”), his team organized and conducted a day of training in creative evangelism for the youth of the area, which concluded with a tremendous service where many young people filled the altars to seek God with greater passion to fulfill the great commission.


Changes

Sometimes changes put a smile on our face and then there are changes which are hard to receive.  One of those is that our administrative secretary, Carina, has resigned.  She is also the pastor's wife of our local church here in Gaiman and senses God calling her to dedicate more time to her church and family.  She is a wonderfully creative and efficient woman and we will miss her at IBP.    
Also, at the end of this year, we will be saying goodbye to our current student supervisors at IBP, Damian and Emilce and their 2 children (and a 3rd who will be arriving any day now).  They have accepted God’s call to pastor a hurting church about 9 hours south of us in a small coastal town known as Puerto San Julian.  In the mean time, Damian is making several weekend trips to the church in preparation for their move.  
Eddie and building contractor, Daniel Garrido, were able to travel with Damian to Puerto San Julian last week to help him build the little 2-room house (future Sunday School classrooms) on the church property where it will become the temporary parsonage.  During this trip Eddie preached 3 times in 4 days at two different churches.  We're thankful for Damian and Emilce's service here at IBP and even more for their friendship. Their presence and spiritual influence on campus will be greatly missed.


STL Team Coming!

Next week we will be privileged to host a STL (Speed the Light) Excursion team.  Speed the Light is the department of the Assemblies of God dedicated to the raising of funds primarily for missionary vehicles but also for audio visual and media.  The awesome thing about Speed the Light is that it is taken care of by the youth of the churches of the Assemblies of God.  In other words, the young people, along with their leaders, are responsible for raising all of the funds for these needs.  This group of seven youth pastors and District Youth Directors will be sharing in local churches and at our Bible Institute chapel services, during the beginning of our new term.

We thank God for each one of you that is able to help us financially and prayerfully.
Pray for us so that we can continue to wisely invest in preparing those workers that God has raised up in the Patagonia to preach the Good News througout the world!

So all can hear,

Eddie, Diana, Felicia, and Jeremy