Thrivent Choice Dollars® can help missionaries!
Are you a member of Thrivent Financial who's eligible to direct Choice Dollars®?
Choice Dollars charitable grant funds can make a world of difference to our organization as we work together to send missionaries! Directing Choice Dollars is easy. Simply go toThrivent.com/thriventchoice to learn more and find program terms and conditions. Or call 800-847-4836 and say "Thrivent Choice" after the prompt.
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Quick Fact:
IT'S PLUM SEASON!
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Did you know Chile is the main plum supplier in the Southern Hemishpere? This isn't hard to believe when you walk throught the local street market...Not only do you see the typical red, dark purple, red, pink and yellow varieties, but I also spotted the coveted Lemon Plum! It's yellow and pointy, turning rose colored as it matures.
But, a better indicator is the groups of women picking them over fences, on street corners, on vacant lots. My favorite is the "Blue Easter Egg" (my name) that hangs from the tall branches of a tree in the yard next to my apartment!
After "harvesting" a grocery bag full from our new church property, I found an easy & tasty way to prepare them. As they cook, the aroma took me back to early summer rhubarb sauce cooking time!
RECIPE:
"
PLUM COMPOTA"
Rinse plums. Put in a large pot. Cover with water - about 1 inch above level of fruit. Bring to a boil. Simmer about 20 minutes. Add sugar to taste. I put about 2 cups for 6 cups plums. They were tart. Simmer another 15 minutes. Chill. Eat as is or over vanilla ice cream! Que Rico!
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Prayers & Praise
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* Praise God with us for a strong "core group" in Santiago that are living a life of faith...working, witnessing and showing mercy!
* Pray for Lutheran Hour Office director, Marianela, as she recovers from surgery this month.
* Thank God that our 4 children were all able to spend Christmas together in Miramar, Florida.
* Pray that Nika, our daughter who is studying Chiropractics in St. Louis, would find a part-time job.
* Pray that our son-in-law, Tyler, would be able to find steady employment.
* Thank the Lord for the many volunteers that have served here in Chile last year. Pray for the groups that are preparing to come in 2016.
* Pray for the family of Don Julio on his passing. This dear brother was confirmed at our church in November, as several of his family were also baptized. Recently, he lost his battle with cancer but gained his heavenly home!
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"FELIZ ANO NOVO..."
As December 31 ended and January began, we heard these words ringing in the air as we celebrated the New Year with a group of volunteers from Brazil! (Yes, that's Portuguese in the headline!) This was the first volunteer mission group to come from the Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB). Pastor Jim worked with Pastor Juan Pablo of Valparaiso to organize this team of 8 young adults and a pastor for work in the new Lutheran community center on "Cerro La Cruz". What a blessing to unite brothers and sisters from around the globe in God's mission! (
click here to see more about this project)
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Christmas Outreach!
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"Come one, come all to the Living Nativity tonight at your neighborhood community center!" blasted the megaphones on a truck that went up and down the streets of "Los Quillayes", the new area the we are evangelizing in Santiago. As a result, we had standing-room only at our Saturday night church program! Not only did we share the true story of Christmas, but also the reason
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| Christmas program in the Los Quillayes neighborhood |
Christ came, and what that means for our lives today. The actors were top-notch. The children sang joyfully. The handbell and vocal choirs performed beautifully. After the "show" many un-churched people asked WHEN will we start having services! We explained our plans for building on our nearby property so that maybe by March we will be worshipping on site. We are excited to see what the Lord has planned there for 2016!
On Sunday we presented another program at our second outreach area. There were no megaphones, but people stopped and watched our presentation in a small plaza in Ciudad Satelite. The turn out was smaller, but the seed was surely planted.
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Church Construction has begun!!
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Young and old, male and female all joined in with the first of many WORK days on our new church property. Now that we have 2 converted shipping containers set up on the land, it's time to move forward. There we
re LOTS of brush and debris to remove.
The containers need
e
d cleaning. There was concrete to bust up and remove. Th
e wooden cabin on the back of the property served as our home base. It gave us a shady place to share a tasty meal of noodles in meat sauce cooked outdoors in a big pot by one of the members of our congregation.
We are thankful that we now have both water and electricity on the site. We have office space and Sunday school rooms in the containers and cabin. Soon a concrete floor will be poured and a roof put up. Then we will begin to worship in our new home! Pray that all the paper work and permits continue to fall in place!
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Summer Church Outing |
Yes, December marks the beginning of vacation time here in Chile! To kick off the season, the Lutheran Church of Santiago had a family outing up in the foothills of the Andes. We carpooled 40 people up to a the retreat site, which is also used as a school. After outdoor worship, we spent the day in the pool, in hammocks, walking in nature and sharing a great chicken barbeque. Many of the people were un-churched family or friends. What a wonderfyl way to share the love of Jesus. It was a day of physical and spiritual refreshment.
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A huge THANK YOU to all who made an extra financial gift in December to take advantage of our Matching Support challenge. We are excited to announce that we received just over $7500 in additional gifts, which were matched dollar-for-dollar by a special ministry partner. This brought our support level from under 2 months funding on hand, to nearly 5 months of funding on hand - a positive change of 3 months. This is really significant, and we praise God for each of you.
OR
Mail a check to:
Global Lutheran Outreach
6709 Ficus Dr.
Miramar, FL 33023
(Put "Tino" on the memo line of the check.)
Projects in need of support (click to view)
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