God is good! (obviously)

I can hardly believe that it has been four weeks since I posted something on this blog. What is that they say about time flying when you are having fun? Well, this month has had some fun times but for the most part it has been rather challenging. However as we are now at the end of it, we are seeing the Lord bringing out beauty from the ashes.
Several prayer requests that we shared in our last newsletter (went out at the beginning of the month) have been heavy on our hearts. We trust that you have been praying along with us for the people and the situations mentioned. Why? Because the Lord is graciously answering the prayers of His people! I cannot go into detail at the moment of each and every way that the Lord has responded to prayer, but He has definitely shown us His goodness and faithfulness. We are so thankful! Please continue to pray for us and the people of southern Chile, in particular the people of Curaco de Velez. Our prayer is that our God would be glorified as He draws men and women, boys and girls to Himself for the sole purpose of magnifying His Name on the Earth!
God is good!

Rain is Good

Ruth, Elizabeth, Daniel and I were able to spend a week of the winter break up north in Iquique. It was nice to go up to the desert and enjoy a different climate for a few days. Although it seemed a bit chilly for the locals, the 65 degree days and 55 degree nights were alright for us. We are in our cold, rainy season down here in Chiloe and sometimes it just doesn't appear to be coming to an end. But it will. Hopefully soon.
The landscape of Iquique is very brown. Brown sand on the beach, brown sand on the dunes/mountains. Brown. Why is it so brown? Because it hardly ever rains. In contrast, Chiloe is green, green, green. Why is it so green? Because it rains a lot. It was so nice to be back and see all of the vegetation around here.
So I say "rain is good". I don't like to get wet, I would prefer to be dry. But I do prefer the green over the brown. And the rain, such as we had last night, helps protect against extremely cold temperatures. One drawback of the rain is that people tend to stay holed up inside on rainy days, so we always hope and pray for sunny Sundays. Today is a rainy Sunday. Hopefully people will value the fellowship of believers and join together with us as we worship the Lord. May we all praise the Lord for the many good things that He has given us. The most precious being His Son Jesus Christ. (John 3:16) Rejoice in God's goodness!