King David, writing for the pilgrims who would come up to Jerusalem three times each year to worship the Lord, reminds them to thank God for his sovereign protection of Israel throughout her history. If it had not been for the Lord’s help, they surely would have been swallowed up by enemy nations, overwhelmed by waves of attackers, and captured like birds in a snare. But God had rescued them time and time again, so they repeated together, reminding themselves, “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Ps 124:8), We are thankful that God is for us—who can be against us?
This past month has been “quietly busy” with message preparations, Bible studies, and church events. We both struggled through persistent colds, but we have been thankful for the winter sunshine that warms everything during the day and keeps the night from being very cold.
Our teammates, the Flincks, continue to work toward moving to Arica (450 miles away), and God has providentially provided them a great house to rent. Yesterday they signed their rental contract, with plans to move the first week of September. We’re excited for them! This means that, Lord willing, we will move out of our apartment and into their house (owned by the mission) sometime during September and live there for the rest of our time in Antofagasta (at least another year).
Our church is exploring how we can partner with the Flincks as they prepare to move to Arica. We are trying to teach biblical principles as well as take concrete steps. It’s been fun to hear the brothers and sisters growing in their understanding of missions as we walk through the process together. We appreciate your prayers on behalf of a young church that is seeking to reproduce itself.
One of the blessings of this past month was having Ben Flinck (the Flincks’ second son who is a rising senior at Faith Baptist Bible College) come to Antofagasta as part of a missionary internship. He accompanied us on three of our Bible studies, and we enjoyed several great conversations with him. It’s exciting to see how God is working in his life. We continue to pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send laborers into his harvest field.
- Thank God with us for his grace in his continued help and strength in our lives and ministry.
- Thank God with us for his grace in physical rest and recuperation from winter colds.
- Thank God with us for his grace in providing the Flincks with a house in Arica.
- Pray to God with us for his grace for our brothers and sisters in Antofagasta to continue learning how to partner in the gospel in Chile and around the world.
- Pray to God with us for his grace and wisdom in the Flincks’ move to Arica and the beginnings of their future ministry there.
This is our August 2023 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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