Reformed Bible Study in Flagstaff
Verde Valley Reformed Chapel is starting a new Reformed Bible study in Flagstaff, AZ. The eventual result of this study will be, we pray, to see it become a new OPC church plant.
The content of the study is the Heidelberg Catechism as an introduction to what it means to be a Reformed Christian. The group meets Sundays at 4pm. If you would like more information or know of anyone in Flagstaff interested in a Reformed Bible study or church plant contact Pastor Chang by email or phone (928-649-9520).
Team Uruguay
Dear friends and prayer partners,
The nine participants of Team Uruguay enjoyed Christmas and New Years during the middle of summer! That’s right, we had the wonderful opportunity of working with our missionaries, Jonathan and Margaret Falk, deep in the southern hemisphere in the country of Uruguay, in the town of Rivera. Rivera is a city of approximately 70,000 residents that sits right on the border of Brazil, a little to the west of center of the Uruguay/Brazil border. It is mirrored on the Brazilian side by the larger city of Santana do Libramento, which has about 125,000 residents. It might be more accurate to say that Rivera makes up the lower third of the international city of Santana do Livramento/Rivera. (Think San Diego/Tijuana, but without any visible border at all; it is quite easy to find yourself in Brazil without even knowing it.)
Two countries yet one city; two peoples, two languages, and, as one might expect, a linguistic blend called Portuñol (their reference to the admixture of Portuguese and Español, perhaps similar to the way we refer to Spanglish as part Spanish, part English).
We had a rental van mishap the first full day of our missions trip as we set out from Montevideo. About half way to Rivera, I stopped to get gas and let the team use the restrooms. While I was away from the van the gas station attendant filled our unleaded vehicle with diesel fuel. It ran just fine … for about fifty meters! At 500 meters it said, “No más!” Six hours, one tow truck, seven Team Uruguay members crammed into the back of a pick up truck (although a short distance, the owner of the gas station wouldn’t allow them to walk along the highway … Jane and I rode in the front of the tow truck) and much prayer later, we were on our way. The aforementioned gas station owner could not have been more gracious. He insisted that the responsibility was his and covered all repair costs, even treating Team Uruguay to a meal during the long wait. He only asked that we accept his apology for any inconvenience. As we bid farewell, my only concern at that point was that it was 6 PM and we still had about three hours of travel left. I didn’t want to drive in the dark on an unknown highway to an unfamiliar destination. No problem, the sun set at 9:10 PM and there was a modicum of light in the sky even when we arrived at 9:30! The Falks had a delicious dinner waiting for us at 10 PM (the hour most Uruguayans eat) and we ended the day full not only of great food, but of praise to our faithful Lord.
For the following eleven days (every day except for Christmas Day) our time was filled with ministry to and with the local church (1a Iglesia Presbiteriana Reformada de Uruguay near the center of town) and the one mission work (located about fifteen minutes from town) in Rivera. For three days we passed out thousands of Gospel tracts on the streets of the bustling city. We found the residents to be polite, but not very interested in spiritual matters. In our attempt to engage people in conversation we tried changing tactics by singing in two of the plazas, but with only a little more success. Then we went to a sports complex which proved to be a better strategy to get to know people around a game of soccer or volleyball. The complex was located one-half block from the church, which made invitations to church a breeze.
Meanwhile we also organized and ran a Vacation Bible School at the mission, which saw the attendance increase every day until finishing with fifty-five children present. Each member of Team Uruguay had a specific responsibility for the smooth running of the VBS, and they were terrific in meeting the challenge of cross cultural /different language ministry. Kathleen Winslow taught the Scripture verses and translated two songs into Spanish sung for the purpose of memorizing the 66 books of the Bible. Ben Waggoner taught the catechism questions and answers, breaking out some ‘where did this come from’ perfect pronunciation as he led the children! Jana was our “go-to-gal” showing her amazing gift for ministry to children and ability to converse with people of all ages. She’s tender in the VBS classroom and tenacious on the streets! Adrian and I did the music, Ben Waggoner and Emily Cunningham organized and ran the activities, and Jake Schroeder was in charge of arts and crafts. Every member used their Spanish speaking skills to the best of their abilities!! It was wonderful for me to see them in action … I have watched them grow from their earliest years and now here they are in Uruguay ministering in Spanish!!
Things don’t run as smoothly as they did unless there is a coordinator before, during, and even after the missions trip. That part was played by Jane who did just a marvelous job. To God be the glory! Towards the end of our stay she met with a member of the local church who heads up the ministry to children at the mission work, a very gifted lady by the name of Cristina (Brazilian by birth and bilingual). Cristina accompanies the singing by playing the keyboard, and teaches the children at the mission. John Falk asked if Jane could sit down with Cristina to give her a few pointers on how to hold the children’s attention while teaching the material (we used the Children’s Catechism published by Children’s Ministry International and left it with them for further use), and Cristina did a fine job of teaching on our last day together! Kathleen wrote out the score to the Bible books memory songs, and Cristina led the children on the keyboard as they sang it on our last day together!
Geoff Downey, a student at Westminster Seminary California who speaks both Spanish and Portuguese, gave Bible studies and preached at the mission work. His contribution to the team was invaluable. We were all enriched by his insights and our communication was enhanced by his language skills. My son Adrian also ministered the Word, utilizing his fluent Spanish and giving him an opportunity to develop his gifts in ministry. I preached at the downtown church and gave three conferences on various aspects of the Reformed Faith. I spoke twice to the Women’s fellowship, and Jane gave one last talk. Geoff, Adrian and I each gave a Bible study to the youth group of about fourteen. As you might have guessed by now, we had to divide into two groups on several occasions to meet all of these ministry opportunities. As I said, we had a very full eleven days of ministry!
Our adversary, he who hates God and all things good, and who therefore absolutely hates the Good News of Christ’s Kingdom, was seemingly ‘just around the corner’ at every turn of our trip. Examples are the fact that I was on the verge of losing my speaking voice, and had very little singing voice, during the entire trip due to a cold I contracted two days before leaving. But I never lost my voice!! Adrian was ill the day he was scheduled to teach at the mission work and spent the entire day in bed. (Geoff ‘pinch hit’ wonderfully.)
Also, on the last and largest day of our VBS, a local electric factory was performing maintenance on the equipment which generated such a deafening noise that we could hardly hear ourselves think. (The kids just shouted out their Bible memory verses all the louder ) Another example: you read about the adventure at the outset of our trip. To balance it like bookend trials, on New Year’s eve, Jane’s purse was stolen by someone breaking in through a window, and we had to cut short our stay in Rivera by one day in order to spend that day at the U.S. Embassy in Montevideo to replace five passports that I’d asked her to keep. (Jane is very careful; until this trip, she’d never lost or had her purse stolen in her entire life. Therefore I always ask that items like passports be entrusted to her.) Satan was active, yet in every single example given above, we saw the Lord care for us and bring glory to His name in remarkable ways! To give you an idea, regarding the stolen purse:
Jane had removed from her wallet and purse everything that was not essential or useful in Uruguay prior to her departure (her border-pass Sentri card, cell phone, Kaiser Permanente card, etc.) These were items that would have been a major nuisance to replace.
Her driver’s license had the Chula Vista address and needed to be changed anyway.
She had none of the Team Uruguay cash in her purse; I was carrying that!
While she did have all of the expense receipts in her purse, she had just done a tally the night before, so we had an exact idea of where we stood financially.
The hotel in Montevideo, where we stayed the first night, had a photocopy of her passport which they dug up and gave to her upon our return. This would greatly help expedite the process of acquiring an emergency passport at the embassy, but the passport number was not readable from the copy. It ‘just so happened’ that the hotel in Rivera, a humble abode without the means of photocopy services, wrote down all of our passport numbers! So between the two sources the embassy was able to issue the emergency passports within six hours on Monday, the day before our return flight.
Of course, during such circumstances we can always call to mind Matthew Henry’s famous prayer: “I thank Thee first because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed and not I who robbed.”
But above all, the Lord blessed us in that He provided us with the patience to praise Him during adversity and to be encouraging to one another in all circumstances. This team had an amazing sense of humor which it put to good use. Laughter is more than good medicine, it is a gift from the Lord. As team leader I don’t know which I enjoyed more, laughing at their jokes or just listening to them laugh. I was very proud of this team!
I should mention one more item; the team is very grateful to God for the tireless efforts of several ladies who worked ‘behind the scenes’ to make our missions ministry trip so successful. They are Margaret Falk, Susan Winslow, and Jane Crum. The pre-trip coordination and prayerful planning, together with their loving labor either getting us to and from or once we arrived, made our ministry to others a great joy and lasting blessing. The Falks are wonderful hosts and faithful ministers, and we quickly felt like we had known them forever, simply because their loving hospitality made us feel right at home. We are very fortunate to have them on the mission field as OPC missionaries!
And lastly, speaking for the nine members of Team Uruguay, I would like to express my deep gratitude to all of you who prayed for us throughout this trip and whose gifts made it possible for us to go in the name of Him whose Name is above all names. At one point Kathleen and I were doing the math, calculating the six hours time difference and concluding where you all were on a Sunday a world away, when Kathleen said, “Pastor Gorrell just finished praying for us in the worship service.” We felt privileged to go as Christ’s ambassadors and be sent with the prayers of His people.
Yes, we had a marvelous Christmas and New Years in the middle of summer. Things were so different from anything we have known before. Did you see the beautiful full moon on New Year’s Eve? We did too, but even the face on the moon was upside down! (Some Uruguayans would insist that our moon is just as ‘upside down’, and when you consider things from God’s perspective and not just from our limited vantage point, they are right.) But God’s truth is unchanging, universal, and eternal. His steadfast love endures forever, and His salvation glory is to be declared among the nations. We trust in Him, we rest in Him, we go in His Name … in the name of Jesus!
Feliz Navidad Y Prospero Año 2010 en ¡Emanuel, Maravilloso, Consejero, Dios Fuerte, Padre Eterno, el Principe de Paz!
For His Glory,
Dave Crum