Snapshots

We love living here in Santiago because we see God at work at every turn, and he lets us be a part of it! Here are some snapshots of our experiences in the past few months:

Robinson is the pastor of the Haitian church that was launched from our Haitian Bible study two years ago. He invited me to preach there last month on “If God is all-good and all-powerful, why is there evil in the world?” Of the 200-plus there, more than 30 were in Port-au-Prince during the Haiti earthquake. This month I will preach on overcoming post-traumatic stress syndrome. Your support will help us make copies of helpful materials for those struggling with the after effects of trauma. We were also able to equip Robinson with a good Bible dictionary and concordance to use in his sermon preparation.

Erline, a Haitian university student, was in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake hit January 12. She survived it, watching buildings pancake and vehicles get overturned, as she was walking down the street. The next day she walked 5 miles one way to see about relatives. Judy and I called and emailed her and her fiancé for five long days, hearing nothing. We feared the worst. When Erline showed up in Santiago and at our home the next week, we were so grateful that we decided to enable her to finish her last year of university here. Before, she was struggling to make ends meet on $150/month (from us, but we didn’t realize that we were her only sponsors—an uncle lost his job in the US). Now we provide complete support for her from our personal and mission finances. When we told her of our decision, she cried for joy (we almost did too!). She volunteers every two weeks to help Judy do her ironing!

Prosper, a 58-year-old man who survived the quake and came to live in Santiago with his daughter, Valerie, smiles broadly when we visit him. He suffers from an enlarged heart, but he now confesses that Christ died for him—something Valerie said he had not done before. They lost everything in the quake. Your support purchased new single beds for the two of them, as well as medicine for Prosper, who takes 7 different meds which total $200/month. (By the way, we received gifts to help both Erline and Prosper!)

“Mi panaful!!” (My good buddy!!) Our apartment guard Francisco greets me enthusiastically every morning. He is living proof that “The joy of the LORD will be our strength.” We love sharing our food—my pancakes (that’s right, Bob does cook pancakes!), sandwiches, etc.—and praying with this dear friend, our panaful, during his 12-hour shift. He has made living at Las Bromelias apartments a joy with his love for the LORD. He obeys the LORD as well—after we gave him a study on Biblical financial principles, he reduced his $2000 debt to $100 over the last 15 months, on a salary of only $300/month!

Central Bible Church has started a new men’s ministry, declaring as our vision statement, “searching and impacting men from the community for Christ.” Eight men who really love God met last week—I am honored to be a member of this group. But I better get to work fast—we have a camping retreat scheduled for April 30, and I’m supposed to teach on companionship and mentoring.

Al, a youth leader at Central, struggled with his upcoming assignment—to preach on Easter Sunday. He called me for help. I met with him three times to help him develop a sermon on the importance of the resurrection from 1 Corinthians 15. He did an excellent job, explaining why our faith is in vain if Christ did not come back from the dead.

Our Monday night small group Bible study from Central trails the other groups in the lesson book that the church gave us. However, now I understand why. A godly lady, Luisa, joined our group right before we studied forgiveness. She confessed that she struggles with forgiving her ex-husband. We gave her a Beta study guide from Neil Anderson. She said that Beta “is like a precious jewel.” Your support enables us to help our brothers and sisters here fight fierce spiritual battles.

Judy is planning the annual Central women’s retreat with the ladies’ leadership team. They are a group of committed women; yet their personality differences sometimes result in conflicts. Judy is planning to invite them all to supper to teach a short seminar on how each personality type can work well within the team (I’m campaigning to cook pancakes for the ladies; I’m not sure if Judy will let me.)

Judy also recently put her nursing skills to work, helping to care for a terminally ill patient. Don Reynaldo passed peacefully in his sleep after a battle with Alzheimer’s. The family gave him around-the-clock care. Judy went every other day to change his dressings.

We meet regularly with Henry and Blanca to plan the monthly Central couples’ meeting. This month we will discuss the permanence of marriage. God created husband and wife to stick together through thick and thin. In fact, the Hebrew word in Genesis 2:24 for “cleave” or “be joined” has the idea of two pieces of wood glued together—if you try to separate them, you will destroy the wood.

“Why is this guy even here?” I asked myself last Saturday when Eddie showed up to play basketball. Eddie is better than the rest of us—a group of guys who like to play together in a local park. Sure enough, Eddie was killing us. But, Jose showed up too. After we quit, Eddie shared the gospel with Jose. The good news penetrated Jose’s heart, and when Eddie invited him to accept Christ, Jose immediately responded with “YES”. Eddie asked me to pray with Jose, enabling him to confess his newfound faith relationship with Christ.