Utter E-Mission October/November 2005

Hello to you all. We are enjoying a warm spring day here in sunny Argentina. The flowers are blooming, leaves are coming out on the trees and the days are getting longer. We are enjoying the glorious beauty of the Lord's Creation.

We're at the middle of November - it hardly seems possible - and places are already decorating for Christmas. It's just so shocking to walk in to our grocery store and see all of those beautiful decorations, while we're running the air conditioners in our cars, homes and offices. The kids have been out swimming whenever they get a chance! It's hard to get into the "Christmassy" mood. Although it does help not to be so homesick during this time of year, so that's a good point.

The Lord is moving in a tremendous way here in South America. At the beginning of November, the Field Strategy Coordinators (formerly called Field Director's) and the Regional Advisory Council met here in Argentina for meetings. This brought in Louie Bustle, Dr. Jim Diehl, and several others from Kansas City. We had 3 evening services with Dr. Diehl and they were tremendous. We had a mini-revival here. It was awesome. Our new Regional Director, Christian Sarmiento also came, and we were able to spend some time getting to know him a little better as a new team. Dr. Diehl inducted him as the new RD and a beautiful memorial service for Dr. Bruno Radi helped us to bring some closure and start new hopes for the future of South America. We are really looking forward to the upcoming changes and building of a new level for the region.

Jacob's happenings: He's had a busy month at school. October was reading month, so each night we read (or mainly Dad did the reading) at least two books before bed. They had read close to 80 books in the month of October. The school had their big Mission's Fair and raised over $5000 pesos (US$1,668) for a local mission's project in one of the northern provinces of Argentina. Jacob's Kindergarten class sold tacos. They were a huge hit and we raised the most of any other class-sponsored project. We really had a lot of fun and so did the kids! This next week or so, the individual missionary families will be able to take in information about their work here in Argentina or South America. He's looking forward to getting a swimming pool, which we'll probably do sometime this week. It's been getting really warm and a nice swim after he gets home from school is something he insists he needs! He also won first place at the Hidden Treasure Scholastics Book Fair at the school. His pirate costume was awarded with 50 gold coins (chocolate filled!) He had a good time.

Lynne's happenings: She's been busy with work. A missionary family that works in the Finance office with her is getting ready to leave for their furlough, so she's scrambling to get things lined up and prepared for the time that they are away. It's going to be a long, yet very busy few months. She's been participating in the activities at Jacob's school and is part of the committee for the Parent's/Teacher's Fellowship for BAICA (Buenos Aires International Christian Academy).

Brian's happenings: He has been extremely busy with the meetings that took place at the beginning of this month. He had a lot of extra work that needed to be accomplished for the meetings themselves. Thankfully, he hasn't had to do too much traveling the last couple of months, but in December, he will be traveling a lot. He has a trip planned to Bolivia, Peru, and two countries in the North Andean Field. He will be doing Radio workshops and meeting with Pastor's and DS's in these countries.

WM Communications: Punto de Gracia (GracePoint) received tremendous reviews and support from regional leadership. On Friday evening, November 4th, Brian presented his annual report and the GracePoint project to the Regional Advisory Council, along with Dr. Louie Bustle and new regional director, Dr. Christian Sarmiento. The response was overwhelming. The region is 100% behind this new mass media evangelistic campaign. Together as a region, we will flood mass media outlets during Holy week in April of 2006.

The International School of Evangelism Video Library. This year the course work for the ISE will be done in our television studio. The goal is to create a video library that can serve as a resource to reproduce the school in other parts of South America.

WM Broadcast: WMB South America was again a sponsor of the annual COICOM conference. COICOM is an association of Latin Christian Communicators. Myriam Pozzi and Susana Cabral from the regional team, along with Elsa Maldonado, WMB National Coordinator for Bolivia participated in the event in Santa Cruz, Bolivia November 2-5. The WMB booth was the most visited in the entire Expo Center. In total, 64 new radios stations were added to the list of affiliates. Many new contacts were made with television networks in anticipation of the new television project for 2006.

New radio discipleship series "Viviendo Sin Barreras" (Living Without Barriers) to begin production this month with target air dates in February 2006.

"Mujer Valiosa" (The Valued Woman) continues to be by far the most listened to and successful radio program. The coming months we will launch the program in Guaraní for the 4.7 million speakers in Paraguay, Northern Argentina, Northern Chile and Southern Bolivia.

"Mujer Valiosa" (The Valued Woman) is also being expanded to television. An open casting call will be done the first two weeks of January to search for three television hosts.

WMB Production Facility - Bolivia. During our last furlough, we presented the need for a Brazilan facility to produce in Portuguese. Today, Paulo Neto and his team are busy producing our Portuguese programs from Campinas, Brazil in a studio that you made happen. This time around, we are looking at a facility in Bolivia to produce for two large indigenous groups. This area of South America is home to the Aymara and Quechua Indian groups. Our Aymara church is strong between Bolivia and Peru, however with 2.3 million Aymaras there is a huge need for radio materials in their language. Also, with a relatively small church among the 7.7 million Quechua speakers, the harvest is ready and waiting to truly be impacted through radio. Radio is the only form of mass media for indigenous groups like these and very little is being done in their languages.

Esperanza.net testimonials:
"I feel alone. God doesn't listen to me. I don't know what to do. My period hasn't come and I am confused. Help me, please. I want to kill myself. I suffer now day and night not knowing what is happening in my body. I am asking for your help. I want to leave my doubts behind. Please, help me. No, I don't want to reveal my name."
(Editor's note: This young lady is receiving on-going counseling and has learned that God is not punishing her, but she is accountable for her own actions.)

"I am a divorced mother of three children 21, 15 and 13. Can you help me to be a better mother for them?" - MG, 45 Panama

"I am shy. I don't know what to do. I want to share with others, but it makes me scared, nervous and afraid to talk in public, especially with women." - DB, 21 Ecuador

"I have arrived to your website thanks to a friend that sent me an email with your reflections. I must confess that I don't go to church. I have always been interested in knowing who Jesus was, his thoughts and attitudes. Thanks." - CC, 28 Argentina

"Today I heard a program for couples that are unable to have children. I have this problem. You talked about three different forms to conceive. I would like you to explain a little more. I am very interested." - LR, 35 Honduras

"Sometimes I feel down hearted. I feel like I can't go on. I want to be an example for my family. I am the only one in my home that has received Christ and it is a little hard. I want my parents to believe in me and not doubt." - JZ, 21 Peru

Prayer Requests:
Travel schedules are full for everyone as the communications team begins traveling presenting the GracePoint campaign in district assemblies. By bus, boat and plane, the schedule is full through February. Brian will be meeting with national leadership in Bolivia, Peru, and countries in the North Andean Field in the coming weeks.

Please remember Marcelo & Viviana Fretes. They are members of our WM Broadcast team. Many of you may have met Marcelo as he accompanied us during General Assembly. They are expecting their first child. We are so thrilled with them and are excited for them. Please pray for an easy pregnancy and that the baby will be healthy. We're not sure of the exact due date, but probably July 2006.

Please pray for our next Home Assignment - March through May 2006. We have many of our dates filled, but still need to fill some. If you would be interested in having us attend your church to share the exciting things the Lord is doing through Communications for South America, please contact us: brian@esperanza.net or lynne@esperanza.net.

Please remember Jacob as this next semester, while we are traveling on Home Assignment, we will be home schooling him. This will be a big adjustment for all of us.