Big Thanks and Big News!

From the Ends of the Earth

Chile Mission News from Jim and Liisa Tino November 2022

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Mission Partner;

“In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ.” (I Thes. 5:18)

I am not, by nature, a ‘thankful’ person. I’m more of a grumbler, glass-half-empty kind of person. It’s not good and it’s not something I am proud of, but there it is. A growth area in my spiritual life.

What trips me up in the verse I quoted above is the word, “everything”. Really, God? Do I have to give thanks in everything? There are some things that just don’t seem to meet the thanksgiving threshold.

I think maybe what God is telling us here is that it’s not so much about thanks giving; it’s about thanks LIVING. Being thankful that God loves you and has made you to be His own child; that He keeps working in our lives to make us more like Him. At least for me, if I can keep that in focus, then I can actually be thankful even for the difficult and unpleasant people, events, and challenges in my life because those are signs that God is working on me and in me.

So Thanksgiving is good for me. I need a scheduled day to focus on being thankful – really, I need a lot more than one day a year to change my habits, but it’s a good place to start.

This Sunday marks the beginning of a new Church Year. How about if we make this the year of Thanks Living?

Big Announcement #1 - a new pastor!

In our last newsletter, we said that we had some Big News to share this month. Actually, we have two Big Announcements! This newsletter is a bit delayed because during our time in the States in October for Liisa’s father’s homecoming, things took an unexpected turn when Jim’s dad was hospitalized. For that reason, we went to Michigan to help out for 2 weeks. During that time, we received the good news that pastor Adrian Ventura accepted the call to serve as pastor of our congregation in Santiago! Praise God, and THANK YOU for your prayers with us!

We are now working on the transition process. We had our first “transition” meeting last Sunday, and Liisa and I were both greatly encouraged by the maturity and leadership of our congregation.

The picture on the right tells a story.

Shown are Liisa and I with new pastor Adrian and wife Cruz Maria (far right). The woman next to me is Elizabeth. She was a member of the youth group in Maturin, Venezuela along with Adrian and Cruz Maria (before they were married, ha!) and when Liisa and I were missionaries there... many years ago. Then life happened and Elizabeth got married, had kids, got divorced, and many other things. In the process, she left the church and left her faith. Now her daughter moved to Chile and asked "grandma Elizabeth" to come and help take care of the grandkids! After 30 years, the Lord is bringing Elizabeth back into His family!

Big Announcement #2: What's Next?

Everyone wants to know – what’s next for the Tinos? We have been praying for God’s answer to that question for the past two years, and God is finally revealing to us His plans. So far, there seems to be two big pieces to the plan.

The first piece is that last July, the board of directors of Global Lutheran Outreach requested that Jim assume full-time leadership of GLO no later than January 1, 2023. In this role, Jim will dedicate his full attention to serving our missionaries and to expanding the organization.

The second piece is that mom and dad Tino are in need of some additional help while Dennis deals with the effects of cancer and cancer treatments. Our current plan is move to the US on December 20, spend Christmas with Soni and Ty in Georgia, then go to Michigan to live with Jim’s parents and be more available to help out.

Will you say “yes”?

We are looking for Go Beyond! Campaign sponsors. A sponsor is a person or congregation who is willing to make a more generous gift or pledge to help Lutheran missionaries pursue their passion and calling! Our Go Beyond! sponsors are multipliers – they multiply the gifts of smaller donors to make a bigger impact, and they multiply the number of people engaged in God’s mission to the world by encouraging new supporters and enlarging our circle. You can learn more about Go Beyond! here. If you are interested in being a sponsor or simply want more information, email

Jim - revtino(at)hotmail.com or Liisa - tinoteam(at)hotmail.com.

No one should say “no” to your dream.

Believe it or not, some people’s “dream” is to serve as missionaries in another country! God has put that calling and passion on their hearts, and the fire within them should not be quenched. For over a decade, Global Lutheran Outreach has been helping missionaries say “yes” to God’s call on their lives - even when it seems impossible.

Providing the services that missionaries need has a cost. In many mission organizations, that cost is 30% or more of a missionary’s “budget”. Global Lutheran Outreach helps missionaries pursue their passion for an industry-low 10% of contributions: a tithe.

As full-time director of GLO, Jim is committed to maintaining or even DECREASING the 10% “cost of services”. To achieve this, we are doing something new and exciting this year – our first ever “Annual Fund” campaign! This 24-hour event on December 27^th will help Lutherans from every land to Go Beyond the barriers to missionary service and minister among the people whom God has put on their heart! Our campaign theme is “Go Beyond!”.

Liisa's Update

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die…A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to dance and a time to mourn.”

Ecclesiastes 3 pretty much sums up the lessons learned in the last month. The fact is, Christ is what gives meaning to my life. I learned this from my father. Even in his final days, he was sharing his faith in Jesus, his Lord and Savior, with his roommate in the hospital. My mother lives with this same Hope even now as we all grieve dad’s passing. It was such a blessing to be surrounded by many friends and extended family as we celebrated his “going home” on October 13. Your prayers and words of encouragement have been a source of strength.

PRAYERS AND PRAISE

*Thank God for answering our prayers and leading Pastor Adrian to accept the call to serve God's people at Divina Providencia Lutheran Church!

*Pray for the Ventura family as they prepare to move from Constitucion in the south of Chile, to Santiago in early 2023.

*Pray for us as we try to draw over 8 years of ministry in Chile to a close, and tackle the logistics of an international move!

*Praise God for the saving faith that Edwin Mattson demonstrated in his life on earth and that he is now in his eternal rest, rejoicing with those who have gone before us.

*Remember Shirley Mattson and the whole family in your prayers as they adjust to a new reality.

*Pray for the health of Dennis & Norma Tino as they deal with challenges of cancer and Alzheimer’s.

*Pray for our GLO Annual Fund event: Go Beyond! which will happen on December 27th! We ask the Lord of the mission to touch many hearts so that others become involved in this exciting opportunity to support those who have a passion for mission FROM EVERYWHERE TO EVERYWHERE.

*Pray that the Go Beyond! financial goal is met or surpassed according to God’s good and perfect will!

*Continue to ask God to guide and bless the search for a new ministry center and/or property for Divina Providencia Lutheran Church. Pray for the lay leaders as they seek the best ways to continue teaching the Word and reaching our neighbors, especially immigrants, with the Good News.

*Pray for the visa process that so many are finding to be an obstacle in their lives. In particular, for Josue Ventura, son of Pastor Adrian, who has been at the seminary in the Dominican Republic for 4 years and is unable to visit his parents in Chile because of his expired visa. Also, for our daughter-in-law, Scarlett awaiting her visa in order to travel to the United States with Ben.

*We join Ty and Sonrisa Howey in thanking God for a new home in Powder Springs, Georgia.

*Thank God that the Medicine for Venezuela Project continues! (see photo, below). We are grateful for the continued funding for the purchasing and shipping of medications to brothers & sisters in Venezuela. Pray for Elianeth as she orchestrates this huge task!

*We praise our Creator & Sustainer for a recent Mission Forum in Chile (see photo below) where representatives from other Lutheran organizations pledged their support for ministry in Chile.

PHOTOS:

1) About 90,000 doses of medicine ready to be sorted, packed, and shipped to Venezuela.

2) 2022 Chile Mission Forum participants

SUPPORT CORNER

We continuously thank God for His provision in our lives, and we pray for His provision in yours! All GLO missionaries are faith-funded. As we move into this new role as full-time GLO director, we continue to need your support. We want to avoid shifting the burden of our support to our other missionaries.

To make an online contribution, click here.

Or, you can mail a check to:

Global Lutheran Outreach

6709 Ficus Dr.

Miramar, FL 33023

(put "Tino - Chile" on the memo line of the check.)

Global Lutheran Outreach is a not-for-profit corporation under section 501 c 3 of the Federal Tax code. Contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by the IRS.

LEAVE A MISSION LEGACY!

Do you have a passion to see that the Good News of Jesus continues to be shared at home and around the world? Rather than being spent on immediate needs, a gift to the Global Lutheran Outreach Endowment Fund will be invested under the management of the Lutheran Legacy Foundation, and the gains on the investment will provide resources for Lutheran mission work for generations to come! Learn more here.

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