Utter E-mission July 2006

Dear Friends and Family:

Greetings to each and every one of you from a cold, wet, winter’s day in Argentina. We have all now safely returned to Argentina and are so glad to be back home. Although we love seeing everyone, it’s nice to be home.

Our Home Assignment 2006 went so well. The Lord truly blessed our time there. We were able to visit and see so many of you. We saw a lot of the western United States and parts of British Colombia, Canada. All of it was beautiful. We owe a big thank you to several people who helped make our traveling possible. First, David & Carlette Wankel, who provided us a beautiful mini-van to use. They are so kind and good to us and are very dear friends. Thanks David and Carlette. Second, to Ed & Lynne Wittung, fellow missionaries in Bolivia. They loaned us their 30’ motor home to travel in. We appreciate all of you so much.

We also want to thank those of you who came to hear us speak, sacrificially gave to our deputation offering, gave us wonderful gifts, blessed our hearts, opened your homes and in general, were Jesus to us. Our hearts were touched and we will never forget the love and support that we felt from you all.

We were able to meet and spend some time with our wonderful LINKS district – Canada Pacific. A huge thank you to Linda Lavell for all of her hard work in making sure we were where we were supposed to be. Thanks Linda! We met so many wonderful Nazarenes in Canada and were blessed by their generosity and hospitality.

Our upcoming LINKS district for the next two years is Upstate New York. The complete other side of the continent! We’re looking forward to heading out east on our next Home Assignment, which is scheduled for April – June, 2008. We look forward to seeing that side of the country.

Communications here in Argentina has continued without fail. The team here has been doing a wonderful job of keeping things going. Marcelo and Viviana are now proud parents of Jessie Gabriel Fretes Perez. He weighed in at 5 lbs. 7 oz. – just a little sprite. We have been honored by being asked to be the godparents of this wonderful new little life. We are looking forward to spoiling him! Marcelo (a different one!) and Eledy – Eledy works as a writer for us in Comm., just had their first little boy, Camilo, a couple of weeks ago. There are a lot of new little boys around.

Jacob is so thrilled to be home with all of his friends, toys and dogs. We had a little scare with our boxer puppy, Max. While in the US, his kidney’s started shutting down for no apparent reason. He was brought in almost daily for tests, blood drawings and antibiotic injections. Thankfully, he is completely fine now and as hyper and energetic as always. He thoroughly enjoys pestering our 4 yr old boxer, Lucy. Lucy and Max both were happy to have us home. We really missed them a lot. Jacob is continuing on with home schooling, as we just were unable to complete the full semester while traveling. NICA (Nazarene International Christian Academy) is set to start on August 21. He’s looking forward to being in 1st grade. It’s so hard to believe that he’s old enough! What happened to our little baby???

Lynne began working as the Field Treasurer for the Southern Cone Field. This field consists of the following four countries: Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile. There is a new Field Strategy Coordinator (formerly Field Director), Juan Jose Zani, so she is learning a new job under a new leader.

I wanted to get an e-mail out to you, as it’s been quite a few months since we sent one out. Shortly after arriving in the US, my laptop decided that it wanted to die! Thankfully, my brother-in-law, Kevin, is a computer genius, and was able to repair it for me at no cost. It did mean however, that all of the information on my computer was lost and therefore I didn’t have all of your e-mail addresses to send out a newsletter. Please forgive us.

We have some listener comments that we would like to share with you. Feel free to use these testimonials in services or reprint them in a bulletin or Missions’ flyer.

From the trenches…
(Actual testimonies from local WMB radio ministries in South America)

“It is a pleasure to be able to greet you in the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This month we have truly been blessed. A listener named Juan Pablo called us asking that we come visit him in his house because he had been having suicidal thoughts. He found the program curiously searching for music. He was tuning into whatever he could find and without knowing, he found us and began to listen. He share with us that when he listened to us, he saw that we were very happy. He began listening in the morning and kept listening and began to like the music and worship. He told us that sometimes he would listen to many radio stations, but what has impacted him the most is when he listened to the WMB material on suicide. It really got through to him that life does have value and his life does matter to someone that loves him very much and His name is Jesus. He was so astonished by the happiness that he felt that it moved him to call us and asked us to visit his home. So we sent one of our team members to fulfill this assignment to pray with Juan Pablo. We found out that he lives a lonely life. He lives with his father who has wanted nothing to do with him since his mother’s death when he was 12 years old. He felt the need to have someone who actually cares about him. He had some friends, but after the fun was over they left and again he felt an emptiness. He works for a messenger service company, but feels alone and depressed saying his life is boring. Brother Moisés from our team prayed with him and shared from God’s word. Today he decided to attend a nearby Church of the Nazarene in Villa Adela El Alto.”
- From Raul Chipana leader of WMB Program “Levantando Vuelo” (Taking Flight) in La Paz, Bolivia

Alexander’s Testimony: This is the first time that I have listened to your program. Today’s message by Pastor Santiago Bereche was on Mistreatment in the Home. It really spoke to my own situation. I had a family (wife and children) but I mistreated them, especially my wife. I mistreated her verbally and physically. I tried to change and save my family but I could not. We separated eight years ago. My wife left with the children and I was left alone. For some weeks my wife and I have been considering the possibility of reuniting for the years that we have left. Today’s message has been helpful for this possibility. I ask that you pray for my family.
- From Dr. Santiago Bereche leader of WMB Program “Palabra de Esperanza” (Word of Hope) in Santo Domingo, Ecuador

“We Reached the Heart and Saved a Life” This was the title of the WMB program “El Faro” (The Lighthouse) where the main subject was abortion. We both felt that God would bless this program. It was the night that we had the most listeners participating in the program. We talked about the value of life, from fertilization to our responsibility and the love of God. Three days had passed since the program and I met Claudia. Her belly was just being to show signs of her pregnancy. What surprised me most was her face, radiating peace with a beautiful smile. She thanked me for the program from the previous Friday and told me was the key to keeping the life of her baby.

Excerpts from esperanza.net June 2006

“If God loves me, why am I suffering so much in this world? My house is without electricity and water. I am trying to live the good life, although I suffer a lot. I eyes don’t cry anymore because I have spent my life crying. All my life has been bad. Help me, please!! Sometimes I just want to shut my eyes and sleep forever. I feel so alone.”- NV, 31 Chile

“I need to know if God can forgive me, because I committed a terrible sin of fornication. Even though I call myself a Christian, I allowed myself to be touched by a man. I don’t want anyone to touch me.” – MD, 18 Peru

“I have been separated from my husband for seven months. We have a son who is a year and a half old. I have asked God to restore my life, my home and the life of my husband. I am in the process of forgiving him for his lies and unfaithfulness. How can I win this battle?” – SF, 29 Ecuador

Prayer Requests:
1. Please pray for the Fretes family, as they are welcoming in Jessie. Pray for Jessie’s continued health and growth and that we, as his godparents, and his parents can show him the love of Jesus to lead him to that decision as a child.
2. Please pray for Project: Hope for Bolivia, that things would fall into place and that the Holy Spirit would lead and guide in this endeavor to broadcast to these two indigenous groups.
3. Please pray for the South America team as we are under new leadership. A lot of transitions are taking place. Pray for unity and growth among our region.
4. Please pray for Lynne as she begins a new job working in the Southern Cone Field office as their new treasurer. There are a lot of changes and learning a new job is not always easy.