“For I will not see you now by the way; but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit.” (1 Corinthians 16:7). The important phrase, “if the Lord permits” stands out as Paul closes his first letter to the Corinthians. He planned to come and visit them on his way to Jerusalem, and spend a good while with them. However, as we know, this didn’t happen (and the Corinthians were more than a little disappointed with him). But Paul had said, “if the Lord permits.” Certainly not one of us has been able to carry out all his or her plans for 2020. Hopefully we made those plans remembering they were all contingent on the Lord’s permission. And now, here we are, doing what the Lord has permitted and thanking him for his perfect will.
This past month the Lord permitted us to begin meeting in person with our church family on the Lord’s Day. Exactly eight months to the day after we were first kept from meeting, two groups of our church family met in two different homes, connected by Zoom with one another and several others who could not leave their homes for various reasons. We were able to enjoy singing several songs together and concluded with a time of prayer. We continue to meet this way for now, in homes connected by Zoom, because the restrictions for churches are more severe than those for stores or restaurants or even homes.
Last month we mentioned as a prayer request that pastor Andrés and his wife, Cle, were looking for a place to rent and not finding anything. God provided in a unique way, and as he often does, he used his people to providentially do it. If you’d like to hear the whole story, let us know, and we’ll happily recount how God permitted them to find a great place that meets all their needs and is a perfect fit for their family.
We are thankful for God’s grace permitting our teammates, the Flincks, to return from their furlough in the United States. We are glad to have them back and excited to show them all that God has done in the past six and a half crazy months here in Chile.
We are hoping and planning to be able to travel to the south of Chile the first week of January to meet with our missionary teammates in Chile. We would love the opportunities for fellowship and encouragement, but as always, we say, “if the Lord permits.”
- Thank God with us for his grace in continued safety and health each day.
- Thank God with us for his grace in the spiritual growth of our church family.
- Thank God with us for his grace to our teammates (pastor Andrés and his family in their move and the Flincks’ return from furlough).
- Pray to God with us for his grace to wait patiently and submit our plans to God’s perfect will.
- Pray to God with us for his grace as our church seeks to make disciples here in Antofagasta.
- Pray to God with us for his grace for his grace in the ongoing waiting process for our permanent residency documents (18 months so far).
This is our December 2020 email update. You can sign up to receive our updates in your inbox here. You can download a printable PDF here.
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