Greetings from GoServ Global
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Well, that didn’t go like we planned it. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? The plan was three and a half months of missionary training in Libby, Montana. A month and half we had been at Mountainside Ministry Training (MMT) learning in classes on discipleship, culture shock and adaptation, and interpersonal skills (conflict resolution). But then, as we all know, the middle of March hit, and we started having teachers decide to stay home, so a couple weeks of class over video calls and then the decision was made to send us home early. We left the center on Friday, March 27th, and drove for two days to get back home to Iowa. We will have a couple weeks of class in Iowa and then we will be fully trained missionaries! I certainly hope that’s not true because I still have a lifetime of learning, training, and growing ahead of me.
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However, this time of classes and training was very valuable for me. I could fill several newsletters telling you all the lessons learned in and out of class, but I won’t do that. I’ll just share a couple things.
While out at MMT we were asked to find a local ministry to get involved with. Makes sense, right? Training to be missionaries, so practice doing ministry. I got involved with the youth group at the church I decided to attend. There weren’t many high school-age kids who attend the church, but the youth pastor and his wife have done an excellent job reaching out to kids in the community and have built a lot of relationships with them. So most of the youth group are students who don’t attend church. I started praying, hoping God would give me good opportunities to connect with the students in the short time I was there. Well, wouldn’t you know it, there were a couple boys who just immediately made friends with me. You could tell they needed a lot of love. And with one boy in particular, I was able to start getting more involved with him, giving rides and hanging out with him more than just one hour on Wednesdays. God was answering my prayers. One day, a group of us were out hiking, and I made some offhand comment about how everyone deserves to die and go to hell, and it really caught him by surprise. So on the drive home, we were able to have a good conversation as I explained to him how Christians believe that everyone has broken God’s laws on this earth and therefore everyone deserves eternal death as punishment, and that is why Jesus’ death on the cross is so important and we talk about it all the time. His death paid the debt I owed to God for my sin. He literally saved us from eternal death. And during the conversation, it was so encouraging to me, he reached over and turned the music down so he could hear better. But then we had to leave early, and I’m not able to stay in good communication with him. That wasn’t the plan. Thankfully, I had an extra bible with me that I gave to him with a few bookmarks at important verses. But it was difficult to say goodbye to him. Please pray for Cameron to believe the gospel and trust Jesus.
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When I left for the training center, I was still undecided where I wanted to go for mission work. I had a choice between living full time in Peru or staying in the States and joining the domestic ministry arm of GoServ Global. I’ve enjoyed both, but I didn’t know which one I wanted to commit to. I was able to take some time to think and pray about the choice, and God really gave me a clear insight of what’s in my heart to do for mission work. So I’ve decided to join GoServ Global’s domestic team, continuing the same work I was helping with last spring and summer. I’ll be able to go with short term teams to GoServ Global’s different ministry sites around the world, and go to disaster areas here in the States. I am excited about the possibility of bringing other people along on trips, and trying to recruit new people, either to the work or to the faith.
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So what’s next for me? During the month of April, I plan to work on my support raising and transition my life to Albert City, IA, the center of operations for the domestic ministry. I had planned on starting with GoServ Global on June 1st, but that will probably be moved up by a month. The most obvious of my responsibilities will be going out and working at disaster sites when we are deployed for relief efforts. But starting off I believe we have some cleaning and organizing of trucks, trailers, and our “office” space where we store our stuff. And then, once summer rolls around, promotion events will be coming at us. It would take awhile to describe every part of the job, but I want to ask you to pray for me as I step off into this role. I know it is tempting to think I’ll be able to accomplish something great for the kingdom of God with my own strength. But please pray that God would be the one working through me and accomplishing things through me because then He gets the glory. The truth is I can’t accomplish anything for God because he’s the one giving me the breath and strength to everything anyway. I need Him to remind me of His great love every day because my heart wanders off after meaningless things. Please pray that whether I am raising support or cleaning a truck, working at a disaster site or talking to people at a promotion event, I would be God’s instrument, doing His work, building His kingdom because we’ve all seen how fragile our plans and kingdoms are. But His plans are never shaken, and His kingdom is forever!
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Thank you so much for all of you who have been supporting me through donations and prayers. You mean so much to me and encourage me greatly. Your prayers are being answered!
In His Love,
Chipper Fyfe
GoServ Global Domestic/Promotions
TO MAKE A DONATION:
Choose “Chipper Fyfe Support” in the dropdown
*Send a check to GoServ Global, PO Box 193, Eagle Grove, IA 50533,
write “Chipper Fyfe Support”
in the Memo Line
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GoServ Global
310 East Broadway
PO Box 193
Eagle Grove, IA 50533
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