Paul Abel’s July Update

Dear Friends,

          We have had a month of rain and cold and gloom.  Here in Curitiba we have had more than double the normal rainfall.  It is quite miserable without heat anywhere.  We are thankful for our little fireplace and woodstove to heat up our living room area.  The threat of swine flu is very near and many people are sick with colds and flu. The schools have been closed all this week and will be closed until Aug. 10 because of this threat.  I have had a terrible cough for over three weeks now, but am feeling better.  Rain accompanied us to Campo Mourão for our two camps there.  The first camp was marked by non-stop rain, but the second week we enjoyed a couple days of sunshine - such a relief! There is more rain and cold in the forecast.

          Enough for the weather report!  The spiritual report is more positive.  Our time in Campo Mourão was very encouraging.  We had special times of fellowship with our Christian friends in the churches, and our weeks at camp were blessed moments of investment for eternity.  A majority of the campers had not camped before.  We were happy that the children from the orphanage were able to participate as well as several other children from difficult life situations.  For them, eating three meals a day, sleeping in their own bed and having adult attention all day long was a new experience.  Ten children accepted the Lord at camp, and six teens made a first-time decision for Christ as well.  We continue to believe in the importance of camp ministry to help young people realize the wonderful plans God has for them if they choose to follow Jesus.

Our hearts went out to the kids who have been physically and emotionally abused during these early years of their lives.  Only Christ can heal and restore and lead them into a fulfilled life.  A little 7-yr.old had been raped by her father and her stepfather and had lost all will for living, several of the young teens from the orphanage have lived promiscuous lives, a family of four children all have different fathers and are facing eviction from their present “shack” where they live with their irresponsible mother.  How thankful we are for the privilege to preach the Good News of Jesus to these scarred lives, offering them hope and a different kind of living.  When you talk to the Lord today remember to thank Him for the blessed life you have, and ask Him to bless those who have not been so fortunate.
          While in Campo Mourão we had a fun time celebrating Yara’s birthday and participating in the local churches there.  Paul and I also took a trip to Maringá to visit his brother Jonathan and his family who are planting a church in that city.  We took four young men from Curitiba with us to help as camp counselors and enjoyed fellowship with them during the weeks we were at camp. Marcelo (who lived with us about twenty years ago) was one of the camp speakers.  He is the tall fellow between Paul and me on the photo. It was great to be together and reminisce about the “good ‘ole days!”   We also enjoyed having Pastor Joel with us as a speaker for the youth camp.

Now we are “back in the saddle” trying to catch up on visiting and other activities around here.  Saturday we had a Movie Night in Campo Largo to show the film “Fireproof.”  It was a great testimony and encouragement for our couples.  The church work there continues at a slow pace.  We ask for your prayers that more people would come to our church and that those who are with us would be encouraged in their faith and motivated to reach out more. 

Today we were happy to do our job as “grandparents” as the little girls spent the afternoon with us here at the farm.  For a time there were six little girls here vying for the attention of the charming Grandpa. We hope to be a positive influence on this next generation that they, too, might put their trust in God and live according to His perfect plan. 

We were reminded in our devotions today the importance of our responsibility to preach the message of repentance and salvation and of the necessity to make God’s Word an indispensable part of our diet.  The reaction of those who hear our message is not our responsibility, and God has already warned us that many will have a rebellious spirit and not accept the message.  Yet, we are commissioned to announce the message and leave the results in His hands.  “You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you.”  Ez. 2:7-8

Listen and obey!  Simple?  Definitely not!  Yet possible by the grace of God!

Thanks for your continued prayers for us. 

Love, Paul and Becky

Steve Kvale - Update

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thanks be to God upon all our remembrance of you.  Your prayers are carrying us through tough times.  Thank you for faithful and fervent prayers on our behalf.  We are trusting in God’s all sufficient power to meet our every physical, emotional and spiritual need as He is so faithful to do beyond what we ever imagine. 

PRAY:

• That God blesses and enables the computer missionary team Steve is part of with His wisdom, healing from some illness, and God’s timing in the completion of the current assignment (Database conversion for the Bibleless Peoples Prayer Project).
• For direction in travel plans for Steve to go to Orlando possibly the end of August or beginning of September to meet with the team in completing the current project and being introduced to a new computer project assignment.  It has been so exciting to see God work breakthroughs for language information needs as this team workes together.   I’m avoiding too much “computer terminology” here, so if you’d like more details, call Steve and he’ll enjoy visiting with you!  Pray that funds needed for this trip would come in according to His will. 
• God’s peace and comfort as Glenda’s Dad is likely in his last days in his fight with bone cancer.  Glenda has been with her parents consistently while Steve and the kids remain at home.  Pray that we trust God in the struggles of our family being separated and grieving.
• For the sustaining power of God to reign in our beings under stress.  Please pray for Glenda’s mom and praise God for her parents’ faith.

 In Spirit with 1 Peter 4:7  in mind. “The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sober spirit for the purpose of prayer” (1 Peter 4:7, NASB).

Thank you again for all of your prayer and support that enables us to overcome and remain His servants.  There is no greater joy.

In the precious name of our Lord Jesus,

Steve & Glenda Kvale and family,  www.TranslateTheWord.org

We love hearing from you and what your prayer requests are, too.  1539 County Road 5, Balaton, MN  56115

Darwin Paccha Update

Darwin Paccha is a 2009 graduate of The Association of Free Lutheran Seminary.  He is from Ecuador and is returning there to minister among the people of his nation.

Querida Familia y Amigos,
Hola! We officially send you greetings from Cuenca, Ecuador. ☺ Thank you for your prayers! We arrived safely the evening of July 21st. Before we share about our trip to Ecuador, we want to share with you what we did in July.

Vacation with the Olsons
For about two weeks in July, we enjoyed a time of vacation with Mark and Debra Olson (Kirsten’s parents). Our itinerary included touring Chicago, visiting the Billy Graham Museum, climbing huge sand dunes in Michigan, eating cherry pie at the cherry festival (correction: Darwin and Debra eating cherry pie ☺), smelling a variety of flowers at the Mejier Greenhouse, relaxing by Lake Michigan and Huron, tandem biking around Mackinac Island, eating fudge (Mark and Kirsten with the fudge, since
they do not eat cherries), and more! We especially enjoyed the view of Chicago from the Sear’s Tower and walking out on the glass floor 103 floors up! ☺ The Billy Graham Museum contained a wonderful ‘exhibit’ that shares the Gospel message. It’s hard to describe, but there will be pictures on our blog for you to see. Mackinac Island was our last stop where we enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere since automobiles are not allowed on the island. Tandem biking was a little tricky at first but a fun
time as we got used to it. We were truly blessed to have this time with Kirsten’s parents before heading off to Ecuador.

Our Arrival and Home in Ecuador
Praise God for His answers to prayer! We made all our connecting flights, even the one in Chicago where we walked off one plane and on to another! After going through customs in Ecuador without problems, we quickly found all six pieces of our luggage. Darwin’s parents (Florentino and Gloria) and his niece, Daniela, met us in the airport and we headed off to the mission home in Guayaquil to stay for the night. Two of Florentino’s friends guided us through the confusing and very busy streets of Guayaquil. The next morning we traveled to Cuenca in Florentino’s car. Luis (Darwin’s brother) and Johanna welcomed us to their new home for lunch, and we were reunited with all of Darwin’s brothers and sisters and their families. After staying with Florentino and Gloria for a week, we
moved into a house very close to the Bilingüe to be ‘guardians’ of it and the things inside for the next 4-5 months while a missionary family (McWeeny) is on furlough in the United States.

We are settling in little by little. Many things have changed since Darwin has been here, so he is adjusting as well.

Marriage, Visas, and Work
Regarding paperwork, we are doing very well. Again, praising God for His answers after we faced many frustrations and confusing answers concerning what type of visa we needed for Kirsten.
We are working with a great lawyer who is helping us legalize our marriage here in Ecuador and also helping Kirsten become a dual citizen through naturalization. Instead of having a visa first, Karina (the lawyer) explained how Kirsten could become naturalized right away. We are working through that process in the next couple of weeks and then, we will have to simply wait 3-4 months to receive the papers.

Kirsten met the teacher she will be working with at the Bilingüe (Sara), and they will be working with the 8th and 9th grades. Darwin will be what they call an inspector and will be working with the 9th and 10th grades. An inspector is basically the one who is in charge of discipline and counseling
issues. He will also be in charge of the worship team at the High School and be part of the Bible staff. Classes start September 7th, so please keep us in your prayers as we prepare and look forward to this new stage in our life.

We attended Paz de Dios Lutheran Church on Sunday and are waiting to see what kind of work/ministry we will be doing there. Many members of the church are gone on a retreat to the beach this week.

Prayer

PRAISES:
o Safe trip, easy passing through customs, no lost luggage
o Temporary Housing
o Florentino and Gloria’s help as we adjust to Ecuador
o Karina (our lawyer) and her help with the naturalization process

PRAY FOR:
o Our students at the Bilingüe
o Health as we continue to adjust to food
o Good communication and relationship between Kirsten and Sara
o Continued, successful progress with Kirsten’s paperwork
o Positive attitudes ☺
o Open hearts to the Gospel message

Please feel free to ask us questions! It is difficult to write everything that is happening in a two page newsletter! We can respond to your questions through e-mail or we may include some on the blog. May God bless you as you enjoy this last month of summer!
In Christ,
Darwin and Kirsten

Dan and Marcela Giles

Hello. We apologize for not sending updates sooner. This month has been a very busy and hectic one.

We recently discovered that we had different kinds of "unwelcome bugs" in the house. We thought if we fumigated the house, everything will be o.k., but it wasn't.  The fumigators came and after that, we realized that we had a very serious problem. We called the company again and they said that they would come in a week.  They returned and fumigated again, but still no result. I had to go to the municipal dump to throw away some of the furniture in our home (our bed and dresser). It was our only option to rid ourselves of this problem.  It has been taking quite a long time to put the house together again and we are still not close to done organizing and cleaning.  It has turned out to be a big job.  Regardless of all this, we can see the mercy of the Lord upon us.  Marcela's sister, Adriana and her daughters came to visit us, and they have been a blessing to us.  Adriana has been helping with the cleaning of the house and also taking care of our daughters.

Please pray:

• For my wife's and our son Roberto's health.  She is very tired, and has the flu along with our son Roberto who also has the flu. His first sickness. Due to this and our financial status, we had to cancel our appointment in Monterrey at the Consulate to get Robert's American Passport. Pray that the Lord will provide the means for us to go get his papers along with my passport renewal.
• Pray for wisdom and guidance, since we are in the middle of making important decisions concerning our future.
  

Thank you so much for your prayer support, we wouldn't be here, if it wasn't for you and your support.

We praise the Lord for our kids as they continue to grow and develop, it is a blessing to be parents of our three little ones.

In His Service,
Dan, Marcela, Ariadna, Andrea, and Roberto Giles.

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Chmiel’s Update

Kostya

We just wanted to THANK YOU so much for praying for Kostya and also for writing to let him know about your prayers. He was not accepted to the school but knowing that so many of you prayed was very encouraging. We believe that Kostya can trust that God was in all of it with him and it probably was not His will for Kostya to start attending this school this fall. We printed out all your emails and prayers that you wrote so that Kostya can keep them and re-read your words or encouragement again in the future. If you remember, please continue to pray for Kostya as he and his parents will have to decide what to do next.

Hanna

Many of you asked for more pictures of Hannah so here’s a link for you :) http://picasaweb.google.com/HannahJoyChmiel/  We added a lot of new pictures to the “second month” album and some are now also in “third month.”

Our regular gallery (www.chmiels.com/gallery) is not working properly at this time but you can see some new ministry pictures and some other recent “non-Hannah” pictures here

http://picasaweb.google.com/HannahJoyChmiel/Summer2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCMn83qCFnaC4Kg#

Visas

We also have a prayer request to share with you. Our Ukrainian visa expires this fall so we will need to renew both our visa and our registration. This might sound like an easy thing to do but unfortunately it is not. We just learned today that our close friends Josh and Kelsie (also missionaries in Lviv) will be going back to America for a while and one of the main reasons for this trip has to do with immigration problems that have come up recently in Ukraine. Here’s some of what Josh wrote on his website:

“In May of this year, Ukraine’s parliament passed a new law restricting the amount of time foreigners can stay in the country. In short, the new law says that you can only stay in Ukraine for 90 days out of every 180, unless you apply for an extension. The process of receiving this extension is called “registration” and is not simple or cheap. To further complicate the situation, every government agency that we deal with (e.g. border patrol, foreign affairs office, the embassy) seems to have a different interpretation of the law. There are as many versions as there are agencies, and some agencies do not yet acknowledge that there have been any changes at all! The biggest concern for most foreigners here is that they might make a trip abroad, say, a two-day trip into Poland for supplies, and then be turned away at the border while trying to reenter Ukraine. For those of us who have homes and families here, such a scenario would pose serious problems. Imagine going into Mexico or Canada for short trip, and then, upon trying to reenter the US, being told that you have to stay gone for another three months. Makes you think about how you pack.”

So please pray that God gives us favor with the right people at the right offices and helps us through this whole complicated process! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Have a blessed week,

Tomasz, Miriam and Hannah

Jores – We Made It!

Thank you for your prayer cover as we made our trip back from Jinja, Uganda to Minneapolis, USA.  The trip went very well, although Hannah had a rough time dealing with motion sickness.  We were the ones on the plane with the screaming baby that everyone dreads sitting near. We made all our connections and came out with all our bags - a huge blessing!

It has been so great to be back in the U.S. and to see our families. Rhoda's family gave us a royal welcome when we arrived at the airport at midnight on Monday. We visited my parents and brother Andy who are back from Brazil and my brother Ben who is back for the summer from Tanzania.

The boys have been adjusting very quickly to their new culture.  Everything is new and exciting for them.  It is fun to watch their little minds process what they've been through.  As we were driving away from the airport, Judah said, "Where was America? I didn't see it!" And as we were going to visit Grandpa and Grandma Jore, he asked, "Is Grandpa Jore an African?"  The boys were amazed to find out they didn't have to sleep under mosquito nets. "Aren't there any mosquitoes in America?"

We have a couple of weeks of settling in and resting up before we begin visiting churches in August.  AFLC World Missions has provided us with a mini-van that is perfect for our family.  We are staying in a basement apartment at Rhoda's parent's place.  They had it all fixed up for us and we are really enjoying our new home.

We feel very blessed and look forward to this next leg of our journey.  Please remember the training in Uganda which is continuing every Saturday and Monday.

"Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His mercies endure forever" (Psalm 106:1)

Nate

Jores Arrive in US Monday

Thanks for your recent prayers for our family as we prepare for our first trip back to the US since coming to Uganda.  Our personal belongings have been stored and we are ready to fly! 

We will be leaving Jinja tomorrow after church and traveling to Entebbe where the airport is.  We fly at 9:00am local time (1:00am CST) to London on British Airways and then connect to Chicago and finally Minneapolis.  Please pray for our connections, especially the one in Chicago where we will have 2 hours to go through customs, immigration, and to change terminals.

We are looking forward to our six months in America!  It will be a big adjustment for our three kids who have no memories of life in the States. 

Thanks for your prayer cover during this time.  We appreciate each one of you.

Nate, for the family too

Update from Chmiels

We wanted to share with you the good news of us being back home in Lviv again! Yes, we are back in Ukraine and we are praising the Lord for all His provision. Thank you SO MUCH for praying for us!

We also wanted to thank you for your prayers for our youth group. In our last update we asked you to pray that even though we were gone for some time, that we would be able to pick up where we left off. And it seems like God is really answering that prayer. Not only did all the students come back right away but we even have more students coming on Thursdays than we used to have during the school year! Please pray that God would use us to work in those students’ lives and hearts.

But we also have a specific prayer request to share with you today. One of our students, Kostya (in the picture on the left), is taking the entrance exams for one of the colleges here in Lviv. It is some kind of an art school and he is taking a series of exams this week. We talked to his mom this morning and she said that they were told by the professor in charge that Kostya should not have even applied since he did not do it “their way.” Well, “their way” is that each student who wants to be accepted pays $4,000 a year in advance and for that money they “prepare” him or her for the exams. “Prepare” means they make it possible for those students who pay to be accepted. Kostya did not do that so now they are saying that there is no chance for him to make it into that school even if he did well at all those exams.

We told Kostya that we would be praying for him and he knows that God can do a miracle for him if He chooses to do so. So we wanted to ask you to join us in that prayer. We also thought that if you pray for Kostya (even if you just quickly pray as you read this email) it would be great to let Kostya know. It would be very encouraging for him to know that he is being prayed for and to know that no matter what the result is, God is in control.

So if you pray, please email us and maybe just say “I prayed” or something simple that won’t take a lot of your time. And we will let Kostya know!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Tomasz, Miriam and Hannah