If you were to visit Antofagasta, you couldn’t help but notice people living without any hope. Some don’t have a home, and no hope of ever affording one. Some don’t have a job, and given their past, no one will ever hire them. Some don’t have any family, and because they have cut off everyone to pursue drugs, may never enjoy those relationships again. Some do have all those things, but they just head off to work every morning, come back that evening, and drag themselves out of bed the next morning to do it all over again. Hopelessness. Peter opens his first epistle like this: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1:3). Although we all have experienced this lifeless hopelessness, God, in great mercy, brought us back to life. Our Christian hope goes beyond our physical existence, because it is a living and eternal hope based in Jesus Christ, who defeated death and lives eternally. This hope is valid as long as Jesus Christ is alive, and he lives forevermore!

Our church continues to meet in the plaza to avoid the ever-changing restrictions on indoor meetings. We’ve had good attendance and good fellowship. Our theme this year has been evangelism and missions, so meeting in a public place and teaching what the gospel is and how our church can go from being an established church to a reproducing church is good for us. When we celebrate the Lord’s Table, we get to proclaim the Lord’s death to children, unsaved spouses, and passers-by in the plaza.

We got to take in some different scenery this past month as we traveled to Temuco, about 1200 miles south of Antofagasta. We stayed at the Bible institute property for two days and met with several of our GMSA coworkers. We’re thankful for travel mercies, and you probably are grateful to see some different pictures!

We are still working on our furlough preparations and look forward to seeing many of you in person—Lord willing, we will arrive in the United States six weeks from today! We still have a lot to do. Please continue to pray for the resolution of our permanent visas. It seems humanly improbable that we will be able to complete this process in just six weeks, but God knows (and has always known), and he’s in control (and has always been). We appreciate your prayers.

This is our March 2022 email update. You can sign up to receive our updates in your inbox here. You can download a printable PDF here.