This past month has been a month of farewells. What would an appropriate Christian farewell be? How should Christians say goodbye? The epistles of the New Testament, inspired letters, very consistently end with a phrase. 2 Thessalonians 3:18 says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” There are a couple of outliers (James, 1 John) and a few that end with personal greetings (2 John, 3 John) or a benediction (Romans, 2 Peter, Jude), but most have a variation of this phrase. Interestingly, the “you” is plural, even when Paul is addressing Timothy (singular), which makes it seem to be a very common Christian phrase of that time period.
Our teammates, the Flincks, moved to Arica (450 miles away) this past month, and God providentially brought them safely there without incident. They are currently settling in to their rental house. This past week, we moved out of our apartment and into the mission house. As of today, we think everything is in the house, we just don’t know where in the house it is! We appreciate your prayers as we settle in and readjust.
Our church in Antofagasta has partnered with the Flincks as they seek to plant a new church in Arica. We had a “send them on their way” time their last Sunday with us (in the spirit of 3 John 6 and Romans 15:24), with a time of testimonies of God’s grace through the Flincks here in Antofagasta, a few speeches, a few gifts, and a time of prayer commending them to God’s grace. The church presented them with a lettered verse which we all signed the back of. It was a mix of joy and sadness, as it always has been when churches send out their members to take the gospel to other places: joy because we desire the good news to be spread, but sadness because we miss the fellowship we share.
September 18 and 19 are national holidays (probably most similar to July 4 in the United States), so Chileans are generally in a good mood the whole month. Flags are flying and you see kites everywhere (September is the southern hemisphere’s equivalent to March). Since everyone has next Monday and Tuesday off, they are looking forward to the extra long weekend. We hope to celebrate with Andrés and Cle and the boys, have a cookout, and enjoy the fellowship together.
- Thank God with us for his grace in the Flincks’ move to Arica and our move to the new house.
- Thank God with us for his grace in allowing our church to send the Flincks on their way in a manner worthy of God.
- 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 as the Flincks establish themselves in Arica and the beginnings of their future ministry there.
This is our September 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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