Congratulations, Jonathan!/Felicitaciones a Jonathan

Last night Jonathan graduated with Santiago Christian Academy's Class of 2008. We just wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate him on this outstanding accomplishment. If you would like to do the same, just post a comment and he'll make sure to read it. Again, congratulations, Jonathan, on a job well done!

Anoche Jonathan se graduó con el curso de 2008 de la Santiago Christian Academy. Por medio del blog le felicitamos por haber realizado este logro sobresaliente. Si a tí también te gustaría felicitarle, anota un comentario y él lo leerá. ¡De nuevo te felicitamos Jonathan por un trabajo bien hecho!

Our Glory and Our Crown

Paul tells one of the New Testament churches that they are his "glory" and his "crown". Last weekend we were in Antofagasta and Tocopilla (two of the cities where we worked in northern Chile from 1988-1995). At the pastor's and leader's retreat we took this photo of the pastors that we had the opportunity to train while there. Of the twenty-some churches in that region, twenty are pastored by former students. What a great group of workers they have turned out to be. They are truly our "glory and crown".

The Most Exciting Thing

The most exciting thing we get to do as pastors is to baptize new believers. There is probably nothing quite like it in all of ministry. This past Sunday we baptized seven people and had a wonderful service with over 100 in attendance. We are pictured here with the other members of our pastoral team, Mike and Dodey Files (to the left of Don in the photo) along with Marisa, Daniela, Rudy, Taminne, Nicolas, Daniel and Catalina (from left to right). What a privilege it has been to work with Mike and Dodey these past seven years and what a blessing to share in the fruits of our labor.

What an honor!

As we get ready to leave Chile after 24 years of ministry here, the national church has seen fit to honor us on a number of occasions. This past Tuesday we had lunch with the Executive Presbytery at an Argentine steakhouse (excellent) and they presented both Jacquie and I with a plaque for our time of service here. As well, they gave us our new ministry credentials (valid through 2010) and then told us that after that date, we would become honorary liftetime members of the Chilean Assemblies of God. What an honor! We were both pleased and humbled at their kindness, and blessed to be a part of such a great ministerial family like the Chilean A/G. (Later that day, we had supper with all our missionary colleagues and they presented us with some beautiful gifts and we had a wonderful time of fellowship and took a nostalgic trip down memory lane. We have been blessed with not only great co-laborers, but the greatest of friends as well.) (I tried to post a photo of that, but couldn't get it to upload- sorry!)

Wow!

This past Friday night, Jonathan won the gold medal for the "Outstanding Surprise Performance" award at his high school for the dramatic interpretation of "A Night in Hell". His rendition brought almost everyone in the room to tears and was a powerful performance. We are so proud of him! It's hard to believe he just has three weeks of school left before graduation- where has the time gone??? Congratulations, Jonathan, on a job very well done!

Surprised and Honored

At the Tennessee District Council in Chattanooga last month, Jacquie and I were surprised and highly honored to receive the World Harvest Award for our years of service in missions. We are so grateful to the District Board for having chosen us for this honor, and even more grateful to the Harvest Master for giving us the privilege to serve Him in Chile during all these years.

A Change of Address

We are now finishing the fifth year of our fifth term here in Chile. As we prepare to return to the States for a short six-month itineration, we wanted to notify you all regarding our new change of address.

As of January 1, 2009, we will be moving to San José, Costa Rica, to begin our new responsibilities as directors of the Missionary Training Center for Language and Cultural Studies (CINCEL) of the Assemblies of God. All new missionaries going to Latin America receive their language training at the school there and we are excited about this new opportunity to TRAIN A NEW GENERATION OF MISSIONARIES and to IMPACT ALL OF LATIN AMERICA as we carry out this task.

Please pray with us during this time of transition that God will give us a smooth adjustment to this new location and that He will provide the funds we need to undertake this new ministry assignment.