Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving feast!

The turkeys were really small this year :-]  Actually turkeys were selling for around $50-$75 each.  The chicken was bad enough at almost $10.  It was a VERY good meal!

We shared our day with missionary Matt Kling

Rhonda's famous pumpkin pie :-]

Funeral in Cisnes

We made it back last night after the funeral in Cisnes.  We left the house around 10 and got to Cisnes around 3 hours later.  Funeral service actually started around 2:30.  There was standing room only with many visitors from out of the area and many from Cisnes as well.  Christians as well as non-Christians as well. 

Service went pretty good considering the situation.  I preached a simple salvation message and led everyone in the sinners prayer.  Eternity will tell if anyone took it to heart.  There were some very positive comments at least. 

It rained very hard the whole day, one of our Patagonian storms that just don't let up.  Made the graveside time even more miserable.  We all went to the cemetery in vehicles.  First time we've done that in Chile.

We want you to know how much we appreciate your prayers for this situation!  We could see the Lord did intervene in this!

Update on Cisnes

Mari came to Aysen with Enove, Ximena, and their 2 sons to pick up Mari's husband's body.  They then had to get a casket and arrange transport for the 112 mile trip back to Cisnes.

Quite a few people are coming in for the funeral and some rented a bus and will drive in from Temuco.  It will be a long and very rough trip for them.

Tomorrow Rhonda and I will head to Cisnes for the funeral.  They have asked me to prepare a message.  This will be a tough one as the deceased never wanted anything to do with God or church.

So, I need wisdom and anointing to share comfort, truth, and encourage people to prepare for eternity.

Update on Cisnes

Mari arrived here in town with our church leaders a few hours ago.  She's doing ok, I believe she really feels your prayers.  I took them to the morgue and we hope to get his body out in an hour or so.

Family and friends are coming in from all over but it will take a couple days for them to make the long journey.  So the funeral will probably we Wednesday.  I'll try to keep you posted.

Tough situation in Cisnes

We’re dealing with a tough situation today and we’d appreciate your prayers.

Yesterday we were in Cisnes, I preached on the fact that we are all going to be entering eternity sooner or later.  I had finished up with the fact that we dare not put off preparing for eternity because we had no idea on when we would die.  Just as we were finishing up in prayer 2 guys knocked on the church door and told us the husband of one of the ladies (Mari) in attendance had just died.

He fell in the river (had on a good life jacket) and apparently died of hypothermia.  He was not a Christian and wanted nothing to do with God.  We are all trying to help as we can but this is where we really need the Holy Spirit to help our sister deal with this tragedy.

They transferred the body to here in Puerto Aysén (112 miles from Cisnes) for the autopsy.  Several members of the church are bringing Mari to town and we’ll arrange for a casket and transportation of the body back to Cisnes.

Thank you for praying for this situation today!

Guniea pig: It's what's for lunch!

Yum

It really was quite good.

the 18th (Independence day) in Puerto Cisnes

There was no shortage of food :-]

We enjoyed some the best weather we've ever had on the 18th!

Our crew patiently waiting.

Driving to church

The Austral Highway on the way to Cisnes yesterday.  The round trip is a little over 200 miles.

Summer 2011 Newsletter

Right click and select:  Fullscreen

Summer 2011 Newsletter

Mouse huntin

In the last week we (me and the cat) have killed over 30 mice here at the house.  I've lost traps 4 times.  They keep dragging them off.  I've found all but one so far.  Usually with a large live mouse attached.
Good thing I have a BB gun.

Welcome home gift

We arrived home from a long trip Wed night.  As I walked up to the porch in the dark I noticed a cat zoom off.  At the door I stepped on something kind soft.  When I turned the light on I saw the cat had left 4 1/2 mice on the welcome mat.  This morning there was another.  Not even our cat :-\

Plague

Last week we counted 863 mice on the highway on the way home.  Yesterday we counted 1134!  Made the icy trip home more, um, interesting.

They were everywhere, seems most weren't afraid of the car and I ran over lots.  Looks like they are beginning to starve and many were eating the dead mice on the road.

Here is a rather gruesome photo of one of the zombie mice:  (enlarge at your own risk)

Brainssss

Plague

Every 10 years or so the quila blooms.  Quila is our local version of bamboo.  And it blooms, all of it.  At the same time in the whole region.  No idea how it coordinates.

After the bloom comes seeds.  In the fall there is a huge supply of rich, tasty seeds and the mice go crazy feeding and reproducing.

In the winter we have the plague.  It's officially called a plague. 

3 weeks ago we counted mice crossing the highway on the way home from Cisnes.  We counted 40.  Usually we don't see any.  Sunday night, same trip, we counted 863.

There were a few sections where you could barely see the road for all the squished mice.  There were dozens running around and many mice eating the dead ones.  We thought it would be a great spot to not break down in.

No, I don't have any pictures.  You wouldn't want to see them anyway.

Magallanes

Mar 17th drove to airport (2 hours), got there just before 10 with, we thought, an hour to spare.  They were boarding the plane.  I have no idea what happened.  Just made it.
Flew North to Puerto Montt, waited an hour and boarded another plane South.  Arrived in Punta Arenas in the afternoon and pastor Pedro picked us up.  Spend the night and in the morning boarded the 20 passenger plane to Williams.  Great flight with almost no turbulence.
Preached Sat and Sun, met with lots of folks.  The church is doing good and pastor Felipe and family are well.
Headed back to Punta Arenas the 22nd and spoke Wed night at Pedro's church.  They had a surprise snack time laid out and we had a great time sharing after the service.
Pastor Claudio is continuing to build the church in front of his house.  Looks good although progress is slow.  He is doing almost all the work alone.
Met Henry and Claudia, leaders of our newest work.  They came down from Temuco and are starting a work in a rented community center.  We had a great time with them and encouraged them in the work and to work towards credentials.
Got home Fri and today we head to Cisnes.  Hope to return this evening.

View of the plane to Williams.  The same guy checks your ticket, takes your ticket at the gate, and loads your luggage.  Yes they have a metal detector, no they don't use it.

Nice view of the activity in the cockpit.  Captain came back before the flight and assigned 2 passengers to help someone off that was on crutches if we had an accident.

We fly over a number of glaciers on the way.

The church in Puerto Williams sends greetings!

Rhonda eating a Snow crab sandwich.

Puerto Williams is the Chilean capitol of Antarctica.  This could explain the cool temperatures.

Rhonda, Pedro, and Claudio in Claudio's church.

Chileans love you with food  :-]

Puerto Gala

Well, we made it to Gala and back, thought I'd give everyone and idea of what the trip was like:
Drove the 3 hours to Cisnes, ferry was supposed to arrive 11PM.
Ferry arrived at 5AM.
Trip was very slow, the old ferry just makes 8 knots.  We arrived at Gala around 11AM
We went to Leos's family's house.  They were very welcoming and showed us to our room.  We didn't rest although we very all pretty tired.  You can't really sleep on that ferry.

We walked (half mile or so) to town on the new boardwalk system.  Pretty steep in places but you don't have to take a boat everywhere now.  While in town we invited several people to an service that evening.

There ended up being some 10 people in attendance and most of them accepted the Lord as savior!

Next day I went out with Abraham to check his fishing lines.  Catch was poor and even more frustrating was the sea lions took more than half of what he did catch.

Ferry was supposed to arrive 10Pm, it arrived at 9Pm.  We jumped on and arrived back in Cisnes 2:30AM.  Took Leo and family home and got on the road around 3AM.  Arrived home 6AM.


Miscellaneous photos:

Door mat at the house

small skull hanging in the living room

'thank you for coming' gift from Abraham

Video greeting and newsletter

Puerto Gala

Yesterday we were asked to visit Puerto Gala this coming weekend.
Right now the schedule looks like this:
Friday afternoon head to Cisnes, stop along the way and pick up 2 sheep fleeces for a lady in the church in Aysen.
Leave on the coastal ferry around 11pm, looks like we may bring in some food supplies for the locals.
Arrive Gala around 5am.  It's about a 50 mile trip.
Leave Gala sometime Sunday evening
Arrive Cisnes 4am or so.  Head straight home.

We'd appreciate your prayers!

El Lapiz, The Pencil

Ilustración para Domingo:

El maestro tomó el lápiz antes de ponerlo en la caja.  Y le dijo al lápiz: hay 5 cosas que tienes que entender antes que te mando al mundo.  Si recuerdas estas 5 cosas llegará de ser el mejor lápiz posible.

1.  Puedes lograr muchas cosas grandes, pero solo si te permites ser manejado por el maestro.

2.  De vez en cuando será necesario sacar un punto.  Será doloroso pero te hará un mejor instrumento.

3.  Puedo corregir los errores que haces.

4.  El parte más importante de ti es lo que esta adentro.

En cada superficie donde estas usado tienes que dejar su huella

 Sermon illustration for Sunday:

The maker took the pencil before putting it in the box. And he said to the pencil: there are 5 things that you have that to understand before I send you into the world. 
If you remember these 5 things you will become the best possible pencil.
    1. You can achieve great things, but only if you allow yourself to 
         be handled by the master.
    2. Sometimes it will be necessary to sharpen you. 
        It will be painful but it will make you a better instrument.
    3. I can to correct any mistakes you make.
    4. The most important part of you is what is inside.
    5. On every surface where you are used you must leave your mark.

Boat launch

Well, we finally got the boat in the water.  THAT was a chore.  Took 2 days but we finally got it in and to the house.  Engines seemed to run pretty good but we could only get around 7mph from it all the way home instead of the 20-25 expected.  The real bad news is that it sits very low in the stern.  It is so low that we cannot use it.  You can imagine how we feel after so much time and money invested in this project to find this out now.  We and several others tried to get the builder to put it in the water before shipping it down but it never happened.

We could sure use your prayers right about now.  We need to know what to.  About the only hope I can see is to add flotation in the rear.  Something I'm not even sure is possible.

This comes just as we get word that more people are getting saved in Gala and they really want Rhonda and I to visit them and help them on their new journey.  They said "we need someone to guide us!"  And the only way to get there is by boat.  We need a boat!

Anyway, thanks for praying for us as we face this very discouraging situation.

Minga

What is a Minga?  I'm glad you asked, a Minga is a house-moving; Patagonian style.
The need:
A women in Puerto Cisnes had 2 kids, when the oldest was 14 she informed her husband she had fooled him and the eldest wasn't really his.  He went out into the woods and hanged himself.  6 months later she was married to another guy and had another kid.  The first 2 were apparently living in deplorable conditions so the community decided to give the 2 teens (17 & 15) their own house.
The challenge:
The city built a small house for them.  The problem is that it's on the other side of the bay.  Looks like over a mile across.  The house needs to be moved from it's current location, across the bay, and through town to get to it's site.
The solution:  A Minga.
How it's done:
Get a few boats, tie the house to them and float it across the bay.

Then, get a couple strong ropes.

Add a few willing helpers,

Then pull like crazy!

Yes, we helped pull :-]

Check out the video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj12OH7QbSM

Boat work

Got engine 2 (starboard) working.  Got the ignition switches figured out and corrected.  Seems some wires were crossed.
Got the radar installed and working.  Pretty cool to see the mountains and bridge on it :-]
Water pump is not working, trying to figure that one out.  Also the fuel pump for the heater won't work. 
We need to get fuel now.  Figured it up and the main tanks will hold around 350 gallons.  That will be around $1400 dollars.  gulp

Boat work

Been working every day (except Sunday) on the boat.  Yesterday we got one engine running, today we hope to get the other.  Found lots of problems to overcome, wiring done wrong among them.  Got the spotlight installed and working and the radar installed.  I have to wire the radar and that looks to be kinda involved.  I have the windlass installed and now need to wire it as well.

Lets all go down to the river...

Today the church in Puerto Aysen had an all day baptism and cook out.  We loaded up in a bus and cars and headed up the canyon some 40 minutes.  Later we had a short service by the river and buried this group of new believers in a water grave!
Here's  a few pictures from it:

8 new believers added to our Fathers kingdom!

Local version of a BBQ.

Puerto Gala

Our church leader called from Cisnes to tell me about something neat.  One of the members there in Cisnes is actually from Puerto Gala and has family there.  The only way to reach Gala is by boat and is one of our target islands for the boat ministry.  Well, seems this guy (Leo) hasn't been idle sharing his faith with his family and now it looks like we have an entire family of new believers waiting for us in Gala!  They have offered us their home to hold meetings in!

Please pray we get the boat fixed up and running asap!

The 13th of Jan a friend (Dennis Gross) and his wife are supposed to arrive and work on getting the boat ready for launching.  Please pray for this couple!

Rainfall

Well, emptied the rain gauge for the last time for 2010.

Total was 119.3 inches for the year.

Heat wave and drought

Driest spell we've ever seen here.  The drought is in it's 10th day.  Ok, so maybe it's not a drought to you but to us that's DRY!  Got clear up to 82 degrees, too.

Christmas eve

We celebrated Christmas in the traditional way here.  We got together with pastor Hector and family and did a BBQ!

This is summer now and the weather was nice.  I put the food on the grill 10 pm, no problem as it was still light out.  Gets dark around 11 pm.  We sat down to eat around 11 and opened presents on Christmas morning.  Got to bed after 1.