The Abegg's Love Letters

I meant "Whirlpool" not "Whirlwind"...

2012-02-10T09:53:00.004-05:00

I know God is teaching us to trust and rest in Him. I'm sure there are countless other things He's teaching us, but for right now I can clearly identify "trusting in Him"...Faith...as a theme.

Not two hours after my last "whirlwind" post, we were literally in the whirlpool (and I'm not talking about a hot tub!). Claudia had taken a few hours to go out with the boys and do some grocery shopping, leaving my dad resting in bed. He's continuing to do better and slowly regain his strength to the point that he was able to get into his electric scooter and make his way to the bathroom. I've added some support bars to the master bath for him for stability sake, so he managed to take care of what he needed and return to bed, but did't realize that not only had the sewer clogged, but the flush handle on the toilet was stuck down and continued running for at least the next two hours. If a toilet fills a 3 gallon tank in less than one minute, that makes at least 360 gallons of water pumped into the master bath, closet and bedroom before it was discovered by Claudia when she returned home. 360 gallons is the same amount of water dropped from firefighting helicopters when fighting a forest fire! So I can confidently report that there are currently no fires in our home at this point!

The sheetrock walls had already sucked up a fair amount of water, rippling and changing color up to 12" from the floor. Little geysers squirted from the laminate floor boards as we walked around surveying various cardboard boxes filled with books, files and photos pulled out of the office to make room for a hospital bed. Claudia had beat me home by 10 minutes and I found her sitting in shock surrounded by our new bedroom pool, but what I saw in her was grief accompanied by a solid conviction of God's promised love and care in all situations. Some of her first words were: "God has allows this for a reason." I couldn't have been any prouder (or more in love) with her than I was at that moment, & she was right...this could have happened at any time during the previous week. The sewer clogging, the toilet getting stuck running (it never does that) and nobody being home to find it. What that purpose exactly is, we don't yet know, but according to James 1, He will at least use this to continue us on our road to maturity in Him. We are getting the opportunity to share this conviction with and minister to my dad who obviously feels guilty, but just helping him see this from an eternal perspective alleviates much of this.

So, we've already torn out the flooring, have drilled holes in the walls and have dehumidifiers and blowers running 24/7 to make sure no mould takes hold. Then it's waiting on insurance (there's been a lot of that lately) and see how to do the repairs. We were hoping to remodel the bathroom & closet in the next few years...I guess our timeline was a little further out than Gods!

A note of praise is that my sister has found a very good housing option for my dad in CA close to his doctor's office where he can be cared for up to the spinal surgery and afterwards if necessary. We are working through the paperwork now and I plan to fly him out next Friday the 17th and help get him settled. We are looking forward to having him more mobile and in better spirits this coming week prior to his return as we spend time with him outside of the hospital setting or on bed rest.

Please know that we appreciate your prayers and encouragement immensely! Thank you for your support in so many ways.

God bless!

If you would like to support our ministry with Latin America Mission or make a special donation, please visit our missionary page:
http://www.lam.org/missionaries/abegg

In His Hands / En Sus manos;

Kevin S. Abegg

Latin America Mission

Director, North American Alliances

Office: 305-884-8400 x225

Missions Partnership links

Peace within the whirlwind -update on dad and the family

2012-02-02T15:39:00.001-05:00

These past few weeks have been VERY full, and we appreciate the prayers of all those who have been interceding on behalf of our family. During the first week of January I made an emergency trip to CA which resulted in my bringing my Dad back to Miami with me in order to physically care for him until a long term solution could be found. During our trip out he began suffering from intestinal indigestion which worsened throughout his first week at our house resulting in his hospitalization for 10 days. More than likely he contracted "C diff" during his hospitalization over Christmas and New Years. Known as a "super-bug" this is one nasty intestinal infection, which is finally responding to some very strong antibiotics. He is now home again with us but having to receive our care for all his basic necessities.

Needless to say, our stepping into 2012 has felt much like being in the center of a whirlwind as we consider all the changes to walk through in the near future, but Claudia and I are immensely grateful for the many, many mercies of God that we have seen during this time. A few passages have ministered to us recently:

Zeph 3:14-17
¹⁴ Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
   shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
   O daughter of Jerusalem!
¹⁵ The LORD has taken away the judgments against you;
   he has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst;
   you shall never again fear evil.
¹⁶ On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion;
   let not your hands grow weak.
¹⁷ The LORD your God is in your midst,
   a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
   he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

What an amazing passage! The first 2/3 of Zephaniah explains with no vagueness that Israel is deserving of judgment and God's wrath for their willful disobedience and sin. Yet here he says that though they deserve judgment, He opts for mercy, compassion and love to the point of saying: "He will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love, he will exult over you with loud singing."

Another passage that has blessed us is Ephesians 1: 1-10. Consider Paul's view of God, Christ and the abundant blessings He has received, remembering that he penned these words from within a jail cell more than likely awaiting his execution:

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and ^(C)are faithful in Christ Jesus:

² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ¹¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹² so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Again, what amazing grace has been poured out upon us. It's all God in this passage. the only thing we bring to the table is "our trespasses" (sins) in v.7. And to think of the road Paul had traveled, and his heart of gratitude though under guard and imprisoned encourages me to see my own circumstances in light of God's glory, plan and from the perspective and measure of eternity.
We trust the Lord has a plan...a good plan for the care of my parents. We see how God is caring for my dad's heart and mind even as we seek to care for his body during this time. Thank you for your prayers on this.

There is so much more to share with regards to LAM, ministry and the immediate family, but I will save that for the near future. For now, we are tired but with our eyes fixed on Him and trusting that He is the one who provides shelter in the storm and purpose within pain.

God bless!
-Kevin for the family.

Prayer for care of parents

2012-01-07T02:40:00.002-05:00

Dear Friends and Partners in the Gospel;

Happy New year to each of you. We are rejoicing that Christ's mercies are "new every morning" and that we can look back at God's faithfulness in 2011 and look forward to 2012 with hope and confidence that He will never leave us nor forsake us. This is encouraging even as we continue to walk through a situation we find my family in.

I find in scripture that I am to "honor your father and mother" (ex. 20:12), and "if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." (I Tim 5:8). We are also told (and Claudia and I have experienced): "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold…"(Mark 10:28-30). So as we enter a season where our parents are aging and in need of a different type of care and relationship, I find myself seeking wisdom throughout Scripture to understand how to walk out these passages and honor and care for mothers and fathers, even as our Gospel call has us living at great distances from both sets of parents.

I began writing this as I was flying to CA last night on short notice. My dad has been suffering with extreme spinal pain due to twocrushed disks that result in pinched nerves. Up until the middle of December this has been managed with pain medication, but due to the side effects (confusion, instability etc…) he unintentionally over medicated himself and had to spend most of that week and a few days beyond Christmas in ICU. My father is a strong willed individual, and managed to have himself released from the hospital against the doctor's recommendations. He is a potential candidate for spinal surgery which would possibly alleviate the majority of nerve pain, but he could lose his candidate if he does further damage or rejects the Doctor's current care. My mom is not doing well herself, and cannot manage his medications, so after his hospital "escape", we convinced him to stay in a care home run by family friends, but by New Years Eve he once again removed himself and was back in their 3 story, split level home filled with stares he simply cannot navigate. The day after his return home, it was obvious that his being there was an unhealthy situation for both of my parents. My sister has been attending doctor's appointments and attempting to manage things to the best of her ability from her home two hours away in Sacramento, but we must come up with a different, short term solution leading up to the surgery, as well as a long term solution post surgery.

There is much more to this situation than I cannot share here, but I do ask for your prayers in the following areas:

Wisdom, grace, patience and discernment for myself as I work with my parents on many fronts including finances, properties, living arrangements, care leading up to a possible spinal surgery and long term care thereafter.
The physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health of both parents.
It is everyone's desire (save my dad's) that he come back to Miami with me at least up until his potential surgery. Pray that the glimpses of compromise I've seen will open up to a willingness to do so.
My ability to care for my parents while I'm here, yet cover my own family back at home, manage the demands at work (my boss has been extremely gracious in providing me time away from the office, yet there are multiple things that I cannot simply "drop").
For rest in the midst of a difficult time. We are all emotionally taxed which has manifested itself in physical exhaustion.

Thank you all for your prayers, encouragement and loveboth for my immediate family as well as my parents. Please understand that this is obviously a sensitive issue for my parents, so for those of you near them, unless already involved, please do not feel the need to initiate with them but please do intercede for us all. I am grateful to have numerous "advisors" assisting me with regards to medical care, property and long term care. Thank you for your understanding and once again, we so value your prayers.

In His Hands / En Sus manos;

Kevin S. Abegg

Forward Motion!!!

2011-12-14T14:32:00.002-05:00

It was almost two years ago that I accepted the assignment of developing LAM’s North American Alliance department in order to work with, assist and develop resources for missionary sending and supporting churches, but that was immediately sidetracked when I had to take over and re-structure our International Alliances Department. I am 100% certain that this was by God’s design and it gave me a spectacular overview and introduction to all of our international ministries, equipping me to advise North American Church’s on how to intelligently work with Latin partners. As recently as two months ago the banner of International Alliance Director was definitively handed to a co-laborer, finally liberating me to peruse what I’ve been chomping at the bit to work on. The only question was where to begin...

Well the conference I attended last week was a huge encouragement in this direction. The "Interchange" Conference put on by Catalyst Services focused on coaching in the context of partnership development, training mentors of future missionaries and conflict resolution between missionaries, churches and missions agencies. If it's a surprise to you that there's conflict involved in CHRISTIAN missions, so sorry! Actually, this conference touched most of the areas I have been, and am currently working in spanning our international alliances, the missionaries that work there and the churches that send these missionaries out. I also had the spectacular opportunity to learn from others that facing similar challenges as LAM, and those who are a few years ahead of us in developing their own North American focus and can help me avoid many of the pitfalls they have had to learn from.

All in all, it was a VERY encouraging time for where I believe the Lord is leading LAM, and our role in assisting North American churches and Christian ministries assess, or re-think how their particular vision and calling at home, relates to the commandment of "GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS...".

Please be praying for me as I work to create a master plan for this department even as I continue to work with many of the churches that have partnered with us over the years. I have already been blessed in being able to take part in re-connecting churches with Latin ministries they had lost contact with, mediate various issues between missionaries and their sending churches and assist numerous churches as they work through a re-structuring of their missions program. I feel like a kid in a candy store (or myself at Outdoor World) in what I believe the coming year may hold, but I also see an OVERWHELMING amount of work, and for this I need your prayers as well. Please pray for wisdom, endurance, discernment and the Lord's provision of an assistant (a supported missionary would help keep costs down) who could help me keep up on all that needs to be done.

Thank you for your prayer and financial support as we enter into this new year. Check out or new web page, and please consider making an end of the year gift via:

Online giving page: Abegg Online Donations
Printable Mail in: Abegg Printable Donation slip

God bless and Merry Christmas!

Valley Forge at Sunset on my way back to Philadelphia.

LAM Has a New Website!

2011-11-21T15:19:00.001-05:00

It's been a long time in coming and desperately needed in order to better communicate with and to all of our partners, missionaries and those who simply want to grow in there missions understanding of Latin America or the world in general.

Personally, I am most excited about the "Partnership" section (which includes my area of responsibility in North American Alliances) and particularly the various resources we're beginning to gather to help our alliance members. Please take a few minutes to see what I've been working on lately and the direction we're going for the future. Here's a few links:

You can find my North American Alliance Director Bio on the "team" page: http://www.lam.org/about-us/our-team

And don't forget the Abegg family Bio as well as our new donation/support link (use well and use often) J at: http://lam.org/missionaries/kevin-and-claudia-abegg

MISsionUNDERSTANDING : Partnership

2011-11-17T10:50:00.000-05:00

I've placed a new post on our other blog: http://missionunderstandings.blogspot.com

MISsionUNDERSTANDING : Partnership

…something I believe needs to be re-defined in the North American Church's understanding of international missions, especially when it comes to our perception of the Latin American church's current and future contribution toward "making disciples of all nations…".

Too often there is the perception that North American Missions to Latin America consists of: "us going to help them because they need our help", or the other extreme: "Latin America is now evangelized so we should focus elsewhere". If we approach missions to Latin America from either of these perspectives we fail to recognize what God has accomplished through generations of missionaries and that the Gospel has not returned void but produced much fruit and new partners in the Great Commission…

See the whole article at: http://missionunderstandings.blogspot.com

Lessons We've Learned from our Kids #17

2011-11-15T14:23:00.002-05:00

If you use a dry-erase board for Home Schooling your 7 year old, and there happens to be one permanent marker hidden somewhere safe in the same house, the 7 year old will find it and use it for schoolwork on the dry-erase board, leaving a record for future generations to enjoy.

This same 7 year old, using this same permanent marker, just may happen to “accidently” draw eyebrows and a mustache on his younger brother.

If you are going to carve something into mommy and daddy's office desk and then attempt to deny it, do not carve your own name.

Anything and everything can be a musical instrument…a VERY, VERY LOUD musical instrument.

On that note, for the life of me I can’t remember why we keep bongos in the house.

Back Pattio Update

2011-11-12T12:30:00.000-05:00

Prayer Item: I received a call from the insurance adjuster who I’ve been working through in dealing with our patio and back door issue (see previous entry) . She called to give me the good news that we are not sitting on top of a sink hole. That is great news! (Sink holes have been known to swallow entire blocks of homes without so much as a single burp). The bad news is that the dropping of our patio was due to “organic deterioration erosion” or something to that effect which means that there is no assistance available from insurance (aka: “not covered”). They will be sending me the written report in a few weeks at which point I’ll have a chance to wade through their reasoning and give a response.

Praise Item: As we currently could not afford to replace the boy’s bedroom window on our own, we’ve had the hurricane shutters up to keep rain, bugs and anything else out until we heard back from the insurance company. Some dear friends however felt that we shouldn’t wait on this and blessed us a love offering of $400. so we could replace the window and air out the boys room. (A room housing two active boys who live in a tropical climate desperately needs ventilation!). At the time our friends did not know the replacement cost of the window, but including a few complications, the labor, materials and everything came exactly to $402! We want to thank these friends, those of you who have been praying for us now and all of you who continue to provide amazing prayer and financial support to the Abegg family.

Excitement, Cracks and Insurance

2011-10-11T11:34:00.002-04:00

A few weeks back, around 10:00 AM, Claudia, Jeremy and Nico were at the dining room table doing their morning classes when the house gave a short, violent jolt very similar to the small Californian and Chilean earthquakes we used to experience. The jolt was immediately followed by the sound of shattering glass from the boy’s room where their sliding glass door had exploded sending glass debris throughout their room and 20 feet into the back yard.

The sliding glass door had exploded as a result of our cement back patio dropping up to 5” in places and creating giant cracks that now crisscross the entire slab. We thank God that this happened when the boys were out of the room (they could have been in bed or playing with Legos in their usual spot right in front of the door) and that nobody was hurt.

So we boarded up their room with the hurricane shutters (essentially turning their room into a dark cave), reported the insurance claim and started thinking of how to deal with this new challenge. In order to make sure that we weren’t sitting on top of a sinkhole the insurance company sent a geologist team to our house who spent two days hammering and boring holes, dragging measuring devices around every corner of the house and measuring things like elevation changes, water levels and who knows what else.

For now we need to wait for the report before any possibility of insurance assistance comes through, but here’s the catch (as I understand it): If there is a sink hole under our house, the necessary repairs will be covered (new sliding glass door & replace patio), BUT we can pretty much plan on never being able to sell a home that has a sink hole attached to it’s permanent record. If there is no sinkhole we don’t have to be concerned about being swallowed up by the earth in the middle of the night, we can sell our home in the future, but we are on our own with the repairs. (Oh how I love insurance companies). So... I’m praying for wisdom and discernment on how to navigate this and would ask you to do the same.

Thanks!

30, 60, 100 X!

2011-09-15T15:28:00.005-04:00

In July the Abegg family took part in a reunion with the families of six life long friends from my UCSanta Cruz days ('88-'92). These men and their respective families have, and are serving the Lord literally in all corners of the globe. Dan McWilliams, the Intervarsity leader who put up with us all those years ago wrote about the time in his most recent news letter. Since I haven't uploaded any of my pictures or shared my thoughts on this time, I'll pass his along. (click on the image to enlarge). Praise the Lord with us in what He has, and continues to do through a group of radically different, goof-ball freshmen that He brought together in the very secular setting of Santa Cruz. He truly is a "God of Wonders"!

Reports from the Field - Medellin, CO

2011-09-09T15:58:00.002-04:00

Being involved with both the North American and International Alliances department of Latin America Mission gives me a great view of many of the things that God is doing, but would never come out in the evening news or the Sunday paper. When I’m able I like to pass along the good news.

Alexis & Nicole Pineda serve as LAM missionaries in Medellin Colombia. They work with our partner ministry Open Arms Foundation reaching street kids with the truth and healing of the Gospel. In their most recent news letter they shared the following testimony:

Alexis and Daniela at the Girls’ Home

Daniela is now 17 years old. When she was just a baby, her father died. Since her mother was living in the streets at the time, she was then raised by her grandparents (her father’s parents). She had always thought that her grandparents were her parents, but when she was 11 years old, her grandmother told her the truth about her mother living in the streets and her father dying many years ago.

Daniela’s grandparents are Christians, and they always took her to church. Once Daniela found out the truth about her parents, she asked God to let her meet her mother (she had only seen her in photos). Daniela ran away from home several times in search of her mother. One day, a few days after she returned back home from the streets, her grandmother took her to church to be baptized. A month later, she ran away to the streets again. She was then 13 years old and already knew how to get around much of the city. That same day, she found her mother. She hugged her mother tightly and didn’t want to let go. Her mother then took her to where she lived in a motel room. A couple of hours later, some men arrived and raped Daniela. Her mother had sold her for just a small amount of Colombian pesos because she needed money to buy drugs. Her mother then gave her marijuana so that she would forget about what happened, and so that she would do it again. If she wanted to live with her mother, she had to prostitute herself to pay for food and her mother’s drugs.

After a period of time, Daniela decided to leave her mother, but she was already trapped by the life of the streets. She began to live in a little cave along the dirty, brown Medellin River. She worked at night and rested during the day. She took in some little street boys and took care of them and they took care of her. They called her “mom”.

She then went and lived in a motel for a while, and was found and sent to the Open Arms Foundation. She has been living at our Casa Helena Girls’ Home since February 2011. It has not been easy for her and she has wanted to run away and return to the streets several times, but she has persevered. During the early morning devotions, she started to ask for prayer for herself because she had such a strong desire to change but it was so difficult.

She then began to be more active in the Foundation church and to participate in the devotions. She wants to have a good future, and she says that Jesus has given her hope. She knows, however, that she needs to be reconciled to God, and she has asked for help in this. In August, Alexis began to lead Daniela in a process of forgiveness and reconciliation. The Foundation’s Robledo Church (located at the Casa Helena Girls’ Home) will hold a special reconciliation ceremony for her when she is ready. She is very nervous, but very excited, too.

This is just one example of what God is doing. Thank you so much for your prayers and support because you are helping give hope to many kids like Daniela.

Please keep the Pineda’s, those they serve and the many other ministries served by LAM missionaries in your prayers. Likewise, I covet your prayers for the work we do at LAM’s Miami Service Office in order to forge new partnerships, maintain the network we already have and support missionaries to, within and from Latin America.

In His Hands / En Sus manos;

Kevin S. Abegg

Hurricane IRENE

2011-08-22T15:53:00.001-04:00

Could make for an interesting week in South Florida!

Summer Visitations I

2011-08-19T15:18:00.004-04:00

I spent nearly all the month of July away from the office. In some ways that was wonderful. I love my co-workers, but when your heart is on the mission field, it's hard to connect the dots between e-mails, phone call and strategic planning meetings to how the Gospel is being spread in Central and South America. As I covered ground from Miami to Southern California to Tijuana to Mexico City then back up North I had the best of intentions to update our supporters while traveling, yet I find myself back at my desk and having worked right up to Friday afternoon without having carved out the time to "tweet" or even "peep", so this will be more of an end of the week "grunt" in anticipation of more "meat" next week.

One of my stops was Mexico City. LAM's president Steve Johnson, along with our Ministries Department coordinator Marcos Guerra and I met with the Staff of "Spearhead", LAM's traditional summer/year out/two year out short term program that functions more as in depth missionary training. See: http://www.spearhead.org. We had a number of long days discussing the situation as well as the "perceived" situation in Mexico, various structural and leadership changes and how we can improve and possibly export what is already an amazing program. It's times like these that give perspective to the work that goes on in the office. Spending time with those we serve logistically, spiritually and in other ways reminds me of how exciting my work is as we work to be a healthy link between the North American Church and the Latin Churches and ministries that are caring out the Great Commission. If you'd like to see one of the participant's impressions of Spearhead go to: http://youtu.be/LzI6DxbhZXM

Before I close I just have to show you the room I had while in Mexico, it was very ...vivid!

Strategic Alliances for Global Missions

2011-03-09T15:13:00.006-05:00

Latin America Mission has traditionally (and obviously) focused on "Strategic Alliances" (partnerships) within Latin America (not rocket science given our name). However, as many of the ministries we work with (some for nearly 100 years) have moved from inception on to maturity, what it means to partner with them has obviously grown and changed as well, giving way to a much more global understanding and practice of fulfilling the Great Commission.

What do I mean by this? Well, most people are aware of the Gospel need within the "10/40 window" (primarily countries located within the latitudes of 10 degrees North and 40 degrees North). Many of these countries also happen to be at odds with the U.S. and by default US citizens, making it more than difficult for those with a US passport to minister there, but not so for Latin Americans who are for the most part received and welcomed. A "Global" approach to missions understands the need for a new type of partnership that shares in giftings, resources, networks and abilities that can enable those most equipped for the front lines to be on the front lines. Hence a Latin Missions Movement. Those who were previously on the receiving end of missions are increasingly able to be senders, but re-inventing the wheel would be counter productive. Hence, a new type of "Strategic Alliance" between N. America, the Latin Church and into the rest of the world. But more on this later, there are potential pitfalls. For now, I want to simply introduce you to "partners to our partners" or ministries that our partners are working with and through, If nothing else, for now its a great, immediate resource to those who are prayer warriors:

Libya needs prayer, if your so inclined please check out: http://www.pray4libya.net/ . This has been set up as a gathering point for prayer requests for a country, and a people desperately in need of God's intervention and our intercession. I encourage you to check it out.

God bless and thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

-Kevin

Generations of God's faithfulness in Costa Rica

2011-03-02T10:36:00.005-05:00

While I was in Costa Rica over the past two weeks with LAM’s Ministry Team (yeah, I haven’t been good on sending out updates), Valdir Franca our director of International Partnerships taught from Matthew 1, the genealogy of Jesus. Now that may seem like a difficult text to draw application from, but one of his points was how God works through those who the world would otherwise dismiss. If you read through this text you will come across prostitutes, non Jews (an unthinkable thing at the time) and adulterous relationships. Not exactly the cream of the crop if you’re looking to promote genealogical pride or purity. But Matthew was making a different point. He was showing that God was at work in unlikely ways, though unlikely people in unlikely circumstances.

I was blessed in being able to see God’s hand at work through similarly unlikely people in a story that continues to be written in Costa Rica, branching throughout Latin America and to the rest of the world. Nearly 100 years ago LAM was born in Costa Rica through a series of ministries established by Harry and Susan Strachan. Orphanages, medical clinics, Bible schools and many more. We visited nearly 20 ministries during our time in San Jose and I was continually amazed at what God has done throughout the last century in protecting the Gospel foundations and evangelical heart of these organizations that serve thousands of peoples hearts minds and souls.

LAM missionary Estelita Cevallos is a fiery Ecuadorian that the Lord called to Chaplin at Clinica Biblica (Bible Clinic) when it was a small medical clinic. It’s now a sprawling medical center recognized as one of the 5 most modern hospitals in Latin America and recognized as on par (or surpassing) North American standards. They continue providing affordable service to those who cannot otherwise afford care. This is balanced with the “medical tourists” from around the world to are willing to pay for procedures they cannot afford in their own country.

We spent time with Shellie Rice serving at “Fundacion Rahab” named after the prostitute listed in Jesus genealogy (See Mat 1:5). Here “women at risk” find care, conseling and can obtain marketable skills that provide a long term income and an alternative to prostitution.

We spent time with at Roble Alto which has many branches of it’s own including a school that both provides quality education to children of low income families while counseling and caring for those very families hearts, minds and souls. In this way the children and their families are given an understanding of their value to God and tools to provide for themselves and bless their communities.

At Roble Alto we met up with LAM missionary David Longworth, now working with Glorioso Dia Children's home. David is standing in front of a picture of his mom (as a young woman) working with children at Roble Alto Hogar Biblico. That's generations of faith, commitment and service!

In every case, I was impressed at how a solid, Biblical foundation accompanied by long term faith and work have been richly blessed by the Lord. These ministries did not spring up over night and accomplish something grand, but have developed over time (some of them a century) and generations that have followed Christ's example, seeking God’s glory by "considering others..." (especially those of lesser means, education etc,) "...better than themselves" (see Phillippians 2:3). It gives me hope for the future and a joy in what the Lord has called us to today, knowing that though we may not get to see the fruit of what we’re planting, in God’s time, and under His hands, there will be a harvest.

If you want to learn a little more about LAM’s history, please see: http://www.lam.org/about/history

Servant & Follower of a Tireless Lord

2011-02-12T13:32:00.001-05:00

It's good to know that God never tires, gets "moody" or forgets where the car keys are. I've been thinking about that recently and how it's also very good that I'm NOT God. God doesn't have "intentions". He speaks and it's done. In a one week brief auditory lecture God brought everything into being that exists. I can barely create a cup of coffee in the morning without accidentally putting salt into Claudia's cup instead of sugar. (It hasn't happened yet, but I've come dangerously close).

God also has a perfect balance of work and rest (He initiated the idea). I find myself struggling lately to prioritize my work, which just happens to serve missionaries similar to myself as they do what God has called them to do. It is increasingly difficult to balance this work and my time with family, church, home repairs, communication with supporters (hence the amount of time from my last entry) and get some rest in there at some point. Yet in this all God has a perfect balance. A balance which I continue to seek in this life and will fully experience in the next. I don't believe we'll be floating around playing a harp in Heaven. Like Jeremy and Nico, there daddy would be too tempted to shoot Nerf arrows from the harp strings and probably get kicked off my cloud for hitting a Seraphim or something! God designed work pre-sin. Adam and Eve were called to dedicate themselves to caring for the garden, so it would stand to reason that we will do work in the new creation. But this will be fruitful, productive work where every effort undertaken will have the intended, glorified results since sin and its influences will reign no more. A welcome thought as I survey the bunk beds I'm building in my garage...supposedly a Christmas present to the boys.

But enough of my rambling, my point was balance. Balance of work, rest and overall responsibility. I enjoy what I do as work because I get to see many ways the Kingdom of God is advanced not only in Latin America but throughout the world. I have the privilege of working with and assisting ministries that are evangelizing future believers and training present leaders in the Gospel. We also get to partner with ministries in Latin America that are sending Latin Missionaries to countries that a North American simply does not have access to. Places familiar to me like Cuba or unreachable such as many countries in the 10/40 window where someone with a North American Passport simply cannot go. I have the privilege of taking part in a "global partnership" to reach the world with the Gospel, and I love it!!! So that's where the temptation comes in. I love what I do, but in order to honor God (and simply survive) as I do it, I need to embrace His balance for my life. We see in Genesis that God loved what he did in creation proclaiming it "Good" and "Very Good", yet even He rested. What makes me think I cold ever do any different? I desperately need Him to pour into me if I can ever hope to have anything to give to others.

Like I said: "It's good that I'm not God" but it's also good of God to give me Himself as my savior, my hope and my strength, not to mention an example of how to live the very life He gave me.

God bless!
-Kevin

2010-12-17T08:57:00.000-05:00

One of our fun Christmas favorites

Ministry Prayer Needs:

2010-12-01T13:40:00.003-05:00

Over the past few months it’s been exciting to work with many LAM missionaries and associate ministries as they seek to respond to God’s call. The following are a few items that I would ask you to lift up in prayer:

I am exploring how to send a pastor working in the US and his family back Panama to continue working with, and ministering to fledgling churches of the Embera tribe (his tribe of birth). This tribe was used as actors in order to portray the Auca tribe of Ecuador involved in the martyrdom of young missionaries including Jim Elliot in the movie End of the Spear. Please pray for wisdom and key partnerships in Panama that will allow this to move forward.
Since I was blacklisted by the Cuban government a few years back I have continued to encourage our associate ministries throughout Latin America in their own involvement in Cuba. I am excited about the possibility of having someone who has worked on these projects with me in the past return to the MSO next year in order to dedicate themselves full time to these projects. Please pray for this person (name withheld for their security) as they finish up studies, and raise their support. Please pray for me as I renew contacts and lay the groundwork for this ministry, preparing to increase LAM’s involvement in Cuba.
I’ve had the privilege to assist one of our missionary families working in Brazil recently. We believe the Lord has strategically placed them through their ministry, and LAM through our partnerships to help prepare local churches for the 2014 World Cup Soccer Games and 2016 Olympics that Brazil will be hosting. Brazil has a complicate past in dealing with Children at Risk (street kids) and Women at Risk (primarily prostitutes). LAM works with multiple ministries throughout Latin America, many of which have already expressed interest in working together to not only help minimize the damage and abuse to these groups of people during these events, but to share eternal hope and immediate help with those who know neither of these. Please pray for wisdom for all involved in what will undoubtedly be a massive project incorporating partners from throughout Latin America, North America and around the globe.
We have various missionaries in transition at this point, some of whom are changing ministries in the same country, others changing countries but with the same ministry focus (children, church planting, Christian camping, Biblical/Theological education, etc), all of whom need assistance from the ministry department in order to re-engage them in serving the Latin Church or reaching the lost with the Good News as quickly as possible. Please pray for the Ministry Department at LAM where I serve as we provide guidance, assistance and in some cases healing to these other missionaries in transition.

Christmas is coming!

2010-12-01T13:38:00.000-05:00

Depending on how you look at Christmas this thought can cause debilitating anxiety or overwhelming Joy. This year, my anticipation of Christmas began before Thanksgiving and that’s not just because Christmas items hit the stores in August this year (Costco already had one Christmas isle the last few days of August, “Christmas in July isn’t a joke anymore!). Our church has spent the past few months going through the book of Nehemiah, and I was particularly impacted not only in God’s faithfulness to his many promises including the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls, but the preparation that Israel went through in order to celebrate his faithfulness (Giving Thanks) and worship Him as Lord, Savior and Redeemer (See Neh. 12:27-47). Anyone can flippantly say “thanks”, but true, worshipful THANKSGIVING takes not only heart and mind, but physical preparation. Israel literally built tent cities to house all those who were preparing to worship the Lord.

I want to approach Christmas with a similar preparation. Not a running around franticly checking things off my list, but in reflecting on God’s faithfulness. We just celebrated a national Holiday (Holy-Day) dedicated to reflecting on God’s faithfulness and giving Thanks. Is there any other act more worthy of awe and thanksgiving in all of history (make that eternity) than God becoming flesh for the purpose of dying for the sins of His very own creation? In the words of one of my favorite songwriters: “Redemption ripped through the surface of time in the cry of a tiny baby”.

So, even as Claudia does the daily work of homeschooling two high energy boys, as I make phone calls, respond to e-mails and assist missionaries, Latin ministries and US churches, as we go about our daily, sometimes monotonous routines I try to keep the manger, and the cross in the forefront of my mind and give thanks that it’s because of those reality changing acts that there is purpose, beauty and joy (despite circumstances) to the life we’ve been given.

Happy Thanksgiving and a joyous anticipation of Christmas to you!

praise, prayer and partnership opportunities:

2010-12-01T13:34:00.001-05:00

Prayer about Monthly Support: As many of our supporters wrestle with financial difficulty, we have seen our own monthly support suffer. Ultimately we look to the Lord to provide for our needs, and He has done so at times in truly miraculous ways. We however recognize that the primary way has been in His providing for our supporters who in turn include our ministry in their plan for stewarding what they have received. Please join us in praying for the Lord’s blessing and provision for our prayer and financial supporters (which may even include your own family!), but especially for those who are being faced with difficult financial decisions and have had to reduce their donations. Also, please pray for those who would be able to “stand in the gap” of those who currently cannot continue their support.

To make a contribution, please visit:
Link to a Printable Donation Form. (click link for mail in donation form)

Link to Online Donation page (click link for online credit/debit card donation)

Lessons We’ve learned from our kids#16

2010-12-01T13:19:00.006-05:00

Basic Life Skills Classes:

We’re trying to instill a “work first and then play” understanding in the boys. It seems to be working at least with Jeremy: “Daddy, after I clean my bedroom, can I get a tattoo?”

Listening AND Understanding: At Costco: "You two can stay here and watch the video while I get what we need, just DO NOT TOUCH THE GLASSES there. Do you understand?" In unison both Jeremy and Nico answer: "Yes daddy"…also in unison, before the last syllable leaves their lips, they both pick up the glasses to try them on.

Outdoors skills: After three unsuccessful fishing trips Jeremy finally caught his first fish, a pretty good sized bass, which apparently instantly made him an expert: “Daddy, I know why you haven't caught a fish, you’re casting past where the fish are.”

Cause and Effect: "Nico, if you keep doing that you're going to hurt yourself." Nico:"I know, that's why I'm doing it".

Health Education: Nico: “It’s OK if we go swimming daddy, we can’t get sick, we’ve already got colds!”

-For Previous “Lessons” installments, please visit our “Lesson Plan”.

Where’s Waldo Now?

2010-09-24T13:56:00.005-04:00

Where am I? While traveling from Miami to Martinez to Santa Cruz to San Diego and now in Tijuana, I’ve managed to sleep as best I could in six different beds over an eight night spread. I was going to title this entry “Missionaries who Sleep Around” but figured I’d get in trouble somehow, so just pretend you didn't read that potential title :-) !

The Abegg family breezed through my parents house Th. Night, but got to spend the weekend with them and Walnut Creek Pres at their fall conference in Mt. Hermon, CA. Claudia, the kids and I describe Mt. Hermon as “Our favorite place on earth”. I grew up going to conferences and counseling Jr. High and High school camps there while going to UCSC (go banana slugs!). There’s something about the trees, rivers and mountains that nourish our souls, and each time we visit we make a point of taking a family picture in the chapel where I proposed to Claudia.

OK, enough memory lane, what am I doing in Tijuana? After visiting with many old friends in Santa Cruz I headed to Tijuana as Claudia and the boys got to spend the day at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. The bulk of Wed was used to visit Team Tijuana ministries with LAM missionary Greg Saracoff before attending an evening service at a church plant in the slums of Tijuana where another LAM missionary Meagan Riggot is serving at a church plant being spearheaded by Pastor Giovanni Hernandez (who's kitchen I slept in last night. I had a few more meetings this morning (starting at 5AM) and then back North of the boarder in a few hours.

Thank you for your prayers!

Open House In Santa Cruz

2010-09-17T14:08:00.001-04:00

For those in Santa Cruz: This Sunday, Sept 19 at 6:00 PM - Open House for the Abeggs at Tom and Heath Havlick’s in Felton near Santa Cruz . We’ll have snacks, feel free to bring something. 182 View Circle , Felton 95018 From Felton: Hwy 9 South to Glengarry, then two very quick rights to View Circle . (FYI: Don’t let a GPS take you to View Drive !) my cell: 786-457-3340

Nehemiah

2010-09-10T12:16:00.001-04:00

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the book of Nehemiah lately. We’re working through it at church, it was the theme of LAM’s day of prayer last Wednesday, and the Lord has been speaking to my heart in seeing how His hand moves through history to accomplish His purposes.

The book of Nehemiah has opened my eyes in new ways to:

God’s perfect timing

God’s perfect plan

God’s perfect provision

Consider that news of Jerusalem’s destitute state arrived to Nehemiah while he was in captivity, and his response was uncontrollable grief, repentance of sin (both personal and for his people) and seeking the Lord for months (not minutes as I too often do). In God’s providence, Nehemiah had been placed as cupbearer to the most powerful ruler (and enemy to the Jews) at that time, Artaxerxes. The very man who had ordered Jerusalem not be rebuilt decades earlier (see Ezra 4:21-23). Yet God planted a seed in Nehemiah’s heart, nurtured it and at the perfect time gained not only Artaxerxes permission, but protection and the materials necessary for building Jerusalem’s walls once again. Even before Nehemiah came before the Lord with his broken heart, God had put in motion His plan to provide for His people by placing Nehemiah in the King’s service. Absolutely amazing!

Over the past year, as I have responded to the call to head up the ministries department at LAM, I have had an unprecedented and admittedly sometimes unwelcome view of the needs throughtout Latin America. Needs that frankly break my heart. From young, hopeless, pregnant mothers in Costa Rica to the churches in rural Cuba with no Bibles or pastors to lead them. From street kids not expected to survive past the age of twelve to the addict crumpled on the corner, or the “no name” being cared for after being shot and left for dead. It can be overwhelming. But then I get to see the other side of the story as well. Those who, like Nehemiah are rebuilding the walls of broken lives through Christ’s eternal and tangible love and His church.

Michelle Stockman: Building a girls home in Belize to care for orphans and seek out families for adoption.
Matt and Jennifer Allen preparing to leave a comfortable job to work alongside a Honduran pastor as he plants churches and disciples lay leaders and pastors to minister where the only gospel voice is through Radio.
Greg and Cathy Saracoff giving guidance and care to ministries that in turn care for those caught in the middle of Tijuana, Mx. crime, drug wars and poverty.
Megan Riggott helping plant a church in the slums of Tijuana
Lenni Barber who has managed a home and shared the Gospel with young mothers that have no place to turn, or means to care for their children in Costa Rica.

and literally hundreds of others working through seminaries, mercy clinics, schools, Christian camping, Church planting and outreach ministries. God is rebuilding the walls of broken lives and is giving His people both an eternal hope and immediate purpose. Just as building the wall was dangerous, exhausting and impossible aside from God’s provision and protection, so it is with those who respond to God’s call in the many ministries the LAM serves. It is truly a privilege to serve partner ministries and missionaries in the way He has allowed me to. I see how His perfect, patient hand has moved me and my family from the San Francisco Bay Area to working in a small seaside town in Chile, then in Cuba an now in South Florida focusing on all of Latin America. His faithfulness and care throughout miles and trials is faith building, and we trust in His continued perfect timing, direction and provision to continue doing so.

Thank you to all who have been and continue to be partners on this journey!For online donations please visit The Abegg’s LAM page.

The Abegg Family is heading to California

2010-09-03T16:45:00.004-04:00

This is visit will be a mixture of joy and sadness at we pause to celebrate the life and mourn the death of my dear grandmother Martha Stevens. Yet we look forward to gathering with may of our friends and supporters as well. We're working on an itinerary and will have it posted soon, but here's what we know:

Fri Sept 17th – Sun Sept 19th –WCPC Fall Retreat at Mt. Hermon near Santa Cruz
Wed Sept 22 - Fri Sept 24 -Kevin to San Diego/Tijuana visiting LAM missionaries & Ministries.
Sun Sept 26th -Kevin's Grandma’s memorial (see below).
Th. Sept 30 – Oct 3rd WCPC missions conference @ Walnut Creek, Ca.
Tue Oct. 5th Flight SFO - Miami

We would love to set up a few "open house" times while out there, so if you think you could help in this, please let us know.

More next week!　

In Loving Memory of Mother, Grandmother, Great Grandmother, "Mor-mor" -Martha Stevens

2010-09-03T16:27:00.006-04:00

Her name was Martha, but she was "Mor-mor" (Swedish for "mother's mother") to me as well as to Claudia and the boys. We so enjoyed her and we will so miss her. Thank you to all who have expressed sympathy.

We will be having a memorial on Sunday September 26th at 3:00 PM in the Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church Sanctuary (see www.wcpres.org for directions). This will be followed by a reception in the sanctuary. All are invited. Claudia, the boys and I will be in attendance and would love to see you.

Tegucigalpa Ministry trip travel clips

2010-08-28T21:01:00.004-04:00

Last week I was in Tegucigalpa, Honduras with Matt Allen. We were getting to know the radio and church planting ministry "El Camino de la Vida" for the Allen's future deployment. My job is in helping set up the official partnership between LAM and the Partner ministry as well as making sure that our missionaries are well placed and well set up. The great part is that I LOVE getting to know what the Lord is doing through some amazing ministries and encouraging our own missionaries as they seek the Lord and walk through what He's called them to. Please keep me, the ministries department and all the other LAM missionaries in your prayers.

Ministry Trip Tegucigalpa 8-2010

2010-08-28T20:36:00.003-04:00

facebook
Kevin Abegg 5:36pm Aug 28th	Ministry Trip Tegucigalpa 8-2010 Toabeggloveletters@blogger.com Pictures from my LAM ministries department trip to Tegucigalpa.
	log on to Facebook to see pix!

The coyote

2010-07-22T08:38:00.001-04:00

As a California native, this is just "too close to home":

California: The Governor of California is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps out, bites the Governor and attacks his dog.

1. The Governor starts to intervene, but reflects upon the movie "Bambi" and then realizes he should stop; the coyote is only doing what is natural.

2. He calls animal control. Animal Control captures coyote and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases and $500 for relocating it.

3. He calls a veterinarian. The vet collects the dead dog and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases.

4. The Governor goes to hospital and spends $3,500 getting checked for diseases from the coyote and on getting his bite wound bandaged.

5. The running trail gets shut down for 6 months while Fish & Game conducts a $100,000 survey to make sure the area is free of dangerous animals.

6. The Governor spends $50,000 in state funds implementing a "coyote awareness" program for residents of the area.

7. The State Legislature spends $2 million to study how to better treat rabies and how to permanently eradicate the disease throughout the world.

8. The Governor's security agent is fired for not stopping the attack somehow and for letting the Governor attempt to intervene.

9. Additional cost to State of California: $75,000 to hire and train a new security agent with additional special training re: the nature of coyotes.

10. PETA protests the coyote's relocation and files suit against the State, costing the taxpayers another $100,000. in related legal expenses.

Total cost to the state: $2,329,400

Arizona: The Governor of Arizona is jogging with her dog along a nature trail. A Coyote jumps out and attacks her dog.

1. The Governor shoots the coyote with her State-issued pistol and keeps jogging. The Governor has spent $0.50 on a .45 ACP hollow point cartridge.

2. The Buzzards eat the dead coyote.

And that's why California is broke.

Have your Passport ready in case you need to travel abroad (or to Miami)

2010-07-20T10:07:00.006-04:00

We are hoping to attend Claudia’s youngest sister’s wedding in Chile in just a few weeks, but realized that Jeremy’s passport will soon expire. (I didn’t even have a passport until college, but we’re already on Jeremy’s second!)

So, Claudia spent hours online and by phone only to find that a child’s passport cannot be renewed by mail, and that both parents must be present to renew. She then phoned all over Miami and found that the only “drop in” office in the city (all others had a month+ waiting list) opened at 10:00 AM. So there we were at 9:30 the next morning only to be told that yes, the passport desk opens at 10:00 but we needed to be there at 8:00 in order to get on the day’s list, which was already full for the day. (Why they left out that one vital detail when we called is beyond me). So, Claudia went back home with the kids, I went back to work and returned at 7:15 the next morning to find two people already in line (probably still there from the day before).

True to what we’d been told (the second time around), a gentleman arrived to open the post office at 8:00, but when we asked him for the passport appointment list he flatly informed us: “We don’t have a list; the passport desk opens at 10:00”. Deaf to our protests he opened a few doors, moved a box or two then had a cup of coffee, leaving us standing in front of the passport counter for 45 minutes. Finally, coffee gone, he casually walked over to the passport desk and produced the very clipboard and list we had been asking for! Everyone in line (there was now a small crowd) stared at him in disbelief, muttering descriptive words just out of his earshot so as not to jeopardize their chances any further. I confess that I myself found it rather difficult to “assume the best” of this civil servant at that particular moment as well.

So, the two men in front of me filled in the 10:00 and 10:30 slots and I took the 11:00. Not wanting to assume anything at this point I asked if that meant I could now go to work and return with the family for our 11:00 AM appointment. Not surprisingly he said “no” and explained that the times do not mean anything but that everyone in line (now about 20 adults, most with fidgety children making the entire post office look something like a sugar hyped, chocolate factory daycare) had to stay until their names were called starting at 10:00. (Flashback to the stunned disbelief and descriptive words from a few minutes earlier.)

“What’s the point in having time slots?” I asked.
“It works better this way” he said as I watched one of the kids spill sticky grape juice all over the floor.

So…Claudia and the boys joined me in line before 10:00. We were the second party to be attended since the first person in line left before 10:00 (possibly having a nervous breakdown). And Jeremy’s passport should arrive within a week.

It makes me proud to be an American and know our government handles these things with such dedication and efficiency. Maybe, once Jeremy has his passport, we’ll actually cross the boarder from Miami and visit the US one of these days!

Prayer

2010-07-14T08:00:00.004-04:00

Simple and straight forward: WE NEED YOUR PRAYERS

Some of you have been praying for the Abegg family for years. Thank you…a true, from the bottom of the heart, THANK YOU! We receive support in numerous ways including monthly monetary donations, emotional support through letters, phone calls or e-mails, and spiritual support through prayer and intercession. Right now I want to emphasize the importance of these prayers and ask each of you to pray and petition the Lord in a few specific ways:

For the MSO (Miami Service Office) where we serve with LAM:

Software transition and the finance department: The MSO is responsible for receiving and receipting all gifts for all missionaries as well as any projects they or their associate ministry are doing. On any given month one family may receive 20 to 50 gifts of varying amounts. Multiply this by 100 and you have only the missionary part of the equation without considering the hundreds of associate ministries we serve. This must all be sent internationally and again, receipted. The software we were using has been on it’s last legs, so a month ago we began the training and supposedly “seamless” transition. Unfortunately the seam has come unraveled in Grand Canyon proportions essentially paralyzing that department and taxing the IT department in unprecedented ways. Yet even in this, God provided. By His design, Rob Johnson was visiting from Phoenix for a few days, and one of his many expertise is in assisting with problematic software transitions. He came for a few days but stayed a month. We are still not fully out of the woods, but we can see daylight. Please pray and intercede for the transition process to come to completion and the ability for the finance department to then catch up on all receipts (if you’ve given toward our account recently and have not received a receipt, please know that it will be generated and sent out soon).

Helping Missionaries stay on the field: The downturn in the economy has hit nearly everyone hard, but missionaries have had an especially difficult time as partnering families or churches face their own struggles and need to lower their support. This however becomes an extremely problematic situation when a faithfully serving missionary family must contemplate returning home for lack of support. In order to prevent this we at the MSO are helping missionaries communicate better through websites, social networking sites and even Youtube. Yet the software problems I mentioned above have slowed these efforts in many ways. Please pray and intercede for the missionaries in general (ourselves included) as they seek to keep their support at a level that will keep them on the field. Also pray that the work of those at the MSO would be fruitful in our attempts to assist them.

For the Abegg Family:

We recently received news that one of our main supporting churches is going through the tough times I described above resulting in lowering our support by about $400/month. We fully understand their reasons and know it was a difficult decision to make. We are praying for all of our supporters, be they families, individuals or churches and appreciate immensely the sacrificial giving in allowing us to serve the many Latin ministries we are involved with. Right now we realistically need to replace that support as well as others who have had to lower or discontinue their gifts over the past year. Please pray and intercede for supporters and churches that are suffering financially, and for others to “step into the gap” and help us cover the monthly needs in order to keep serving the church throughout Latin America. If you would like to consider partnering with us you can easily do so through online donations or a printable donation form.

Link to a Printable Donation Form. (click link for mail in donation form)

Link to Online Donation page (click link for online credit/debit card

Thank you for your prayers. We know the Lord will answer and we pray He blesses you as well.

"On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many."

2 Corinthians 1:10-12

Lessons we've learned from our kids #15

2010-07-12T10:15:00.008-04:00

Another Economics Lesson:

Nico: "Daddy, I need one of those cards you pay for things at the store so I can buy a car."

Daddy: "You know, those cards are the same as money, it just comes out of our bank account instead of my wallet."

Nico: "That takes our money?!"...OK then I'll just get a car from the internet so we don't have to pay!"

---

Zoology lessons via our pet water turtles:

"Daddy, did you know you can't pull turtles out of thier shell?"
"Since turtles live in water they have to drink glasses of air when they're thirsty."
Said while choking back sobs: "The bigger turtles get the harder they bite!"

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At the movies we discovered that 5 and 6 year olds have the uncanny ability to whisper as loud as an adult can yell.

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For Previous “Lessons” installments, please visit our “Lesson Plan”.

Relationships (It's What We Do)

2010-07-09T21:44:00.005-04:00

Over the past six months of overseeing the ministries department at Latin America Mission I’ve come to appreciate the concept of partnerships and real relationships. LAM does not have our own projects on the field but rather we rely on “partnerships” with the Latin Church by strategically placing missionaries under and along side existing, national Latin ministries. This approach is culturally and linguistically difficult in many ways, but enters into a relationship of trust. Obviously these partnerships are of extreme importance for the care of the missionaries, but also for the health, growth and expansion of the Gospel in Latin America. As in the Church, poor relationships and a lack of care poorly reflect the Gospel on the mission field as well, whereas strong, trusting, Christ centered and caring relationships better reflect and personify the Gospel message.

The LAM ministries department is responsible for approximately 100 missionary units (families or singles) and their partnerships or “ministry covenants” with the ministries they serve, be that a children’s home in Costa Rica such as Roble Alto, a seminary in Colombia such as the Biblical Theological Seminary or a Church Planting and pastoral care ministry in Mexico. But as you know, a true relationship is not maintained through a business contract, but regular communication, heartfelt involvement and tangible expressions of care. As I stepped into the ministries department six months ago I was tempted to “just get the paperwork done” and assume in a staunch, business like manner that the partnership was then in place. But a signed document does not a friend make. Relationship building takes time, energy and involvement. It’s slow going, but very much worth it. Please pray for me, the ministries department and the LAM as we seek to better serve those that we have a history of partnership with and those we are getting to know on the road to new partnerships. This is a time of change with the mission, a time of diving in deeper with those we serve along side of throughout Latin America. It’s an exciting time. I’ll share more of this in future entries, but for now I ask you and thank you for your prayers.

God bless!

Roof Repaired! (Room flooded)

2010-07-08T09:44:00.015-04:00

Many of you know that we’ve had struggles with our roof for a long time. We discovered a few years ago that the reason our AC ran 24/7 during the summer in order to “cool” the house to 85 degrees was that our solid, cement slab ceiling/roof had no insulation between the cement and the black asphalt roof. You know how a black car heats up in the sun? Yep, that was our house with the ceiling running a 95degree fever all summer! Then during the rainy season (spring & summer) we consistently had 6” of standing water that the tree frogs loved to fill with millions of pollywogs. Eventually our roof lake started leaking into the house little by little, so after three years, multiple estimates, one refinancing, various gifts (thank you to those who helped in this way!) and a no interest loan from a dear friend, we were able to re-roof almost before the rainy season. I say almost because while Claudia was in Costa Rica for her dental work (see CR trip post), the boys and I came home one evening to their bedroom ankle deep in water, requiring the gutting of everything. Their furniture and most of their belongings were salvageable but the floor had to go down to the cement slab, which we discovered was not covered by insurance due to a previous claim for minor flooding in the same area which was applied to the roof repair. For now the boys have rubber matting and a throw rug, but thankfully no more water entry after two years of buckets!

For the roof we used a company that does “spray on foam roofing” see: http://www.coolroof.biz which provides insulation and a solid, rubberized membrane that covers the entire roof (before & after below).

As I said, we were blessed by a friend with a no interest loan to complete the roof job, but our desire is to return the remaining amount of $4000 as soon as possible and then complete repairs to the boys room. If you would like to assist in this way through a tax deductible donation, please see our support page:

Link to a Printable Donation Form. (click link for mail in donation form)
Link to Online Donation page (click link for online credit/debit card

Thank you for your prayers and the many ways you have and continue to assist us over the years.

God bless!

LAM Missionaries- Baptisms and Funerals

2010-06-23T08:08:00.002-04:00

With my position in the Ministries Department and LAM I have the priviledge to corespond with our Latin partner ministries as well as all of our missionaries, which means I get to here the "Good News" (AKA the Gospel) at work. Here's another example of what LAM missionaries are doing:

From: Mirna Sotomayor y Diana Garrett

I´m racking my brain in the midst of all the noise to write down the words of the Costa Rican national anthem. Beside me is an 11 year old boy who is looking at me with nervous intensity. "Are you sure you want to do this?", I ask. "Yes. For my mother´s sake," he answers, and controls a sob.It was his mother´s funeral. Carlos is the only child of a single mother who just died of cancer the day before. His mother was Costa Rican by birth, and he wanted to honour her. So that is how his aunt, Mirna, Carlos and I sang the Costa Rican national anthem at a Mexican funeral yesterday. I was the only one who really knew it, and I was thanking the Lord for my Costa Rican upbringing.

It seemed hard to believe that just one week ago, on Sunday, Mirna and I baptised another of Carlos´s aunts in the beautiful Tuxpan ocean. Lupe received Jesus, along with her two sisters as a result of the team from Costa Rica that came during Holy Week. One of the team members from Costa Rica is a cousin of theirs and the Lord used the relationship to bring Jesus into their lives. Lupe asked to be baptised last Sunday because she was going to be operated on, also because of cancer, on Friday. She had the surgery on Friday and on Saturday her sister passed away, leaving their third sister, Marta, holding the fort.

Just before we stood up to sing the anthem, Mirna took advantage to share the Gospel to the extended family, many of whom were hearing the Good News for the first time. We were a handful of evangelical Christians that surrounded this family in their distress, and helped them set their hope in their newly found faith. We beg your prayers for the Mora family during this very difficult time, as Lupe is recuperating from surgery and metastasis of cancer to other organs in her body, as the grandmother is ill in a home, and as young Carlos hits his teenage years without his mother. And please don´t forget to pray for Marta, her husband and two children who have been buffetted on all sides, and seek to follow the Lord.

Thank you for your prayers and support for me as I provide support for others!

Partnerships, LAM and Missions to the World

2010-06-17T10:23:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago LAM president Steve Johnson and I had the opportunity to attend a Cross Global Link Conference in Chicago which proved to be very encouraging and challenging at the same time. The conference was entitled “Becoming Globally Friendly” and focused on the changing face of world missions including how a traditional North American missions approach much change to remain relevant and continue impacting the world with the Gospel.

On a personal note, I was very encouraged to see that I am not alone in what I have been wrestling with over the past few years concerning the role of church & parachurch organizations (such as LAM) in world evangelism and missions. There was a general understanding that parachurch organizations have unintentionally damaged the N. American missions by removing much of the care of missionaries from the hands of the sending church and we must now encourage, and in some cases show the church how to re-engage in their own missions calling beyond simply being a financial engine for the missions movement. The local church MUST be both the foundation as well as the goal of missions (evangelism must lead to long term discipleship in a local body), and parachurch organizations must assist in this role, not take it over completely. (For more thoughts on this see my other poorly maintained blog: MISsionUNDERSTANDINGS).

On another level Steve and I came away very encouraged that the Lord has prepared Latin America Mission for an already underway historical change in world missions movements. For over a century North American missions has consisted of the sending of missionaries FROM North America TO the rest of the world, but now countries that were traditionally seen as the mission field have a strong enough church to not only evangelize their own country, but send their own missionaries to other countries as well. In the ‘70s LAM was lead to make the difficult decision of turning over all of their individual ministries, projects and even property that had been managed from North America to Latin ministries. This was unthinkable at the time, but exemplified LAM's vision of partnership WITH and not OVER ministries in Latin America. Since that time our practice has been to place missionaries under Latin leadership and to provide assistance to Latin ministries as they request it. It’s not as clean, simple and concise as simply having one focus be that children at risk or seminary education, but it’s empowered the church in these countries to take ownership of their individual call to proclaim the gospel, care for the needy and strengthen the church.

In the first session of the conference, Steve and I were blessed to hear the speaker name LAM as a ministry that has been doing for decades what many other ministries are now trying to figure out how to do, partnering with the international, indigenous church. As I survey the ministries department and consider the many, long term partnerships we currently have, I’m excited to consider the possibilities for the future. We have been able to walk along side many of these ministries for over 40 years and now we have the opportunity to assist them as they continue ministering to those within arms reach, but also lift their eyes up beyond their boarders and consider where the Lord would lead them next.

Please pray for LAM, the Miami Service Office where I am assigned and specifically the Ministries Department I oversee. Because of all of you who pray for us and assist us financially, I am able to serve many, many others throughout Central and South America, the Caribbean and parts of North America as they further the Gospel. Your prayers and gifts are literally touching and encouraging hundreds of ministries in the Spanish & Portugese speaking countries, and now, little by little from there to the rest of the world.

Thank you for your love, prayers and support!

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Luke 10:2

Link to a Printable Donation Form. (click link for mail in donation form)
Link to Online Donation page (click link for online credit/debit card

Help on the way

2010-06-15T07:57:00.001-04:00

STOP!

That’s what I had to tell myself as I got into the office this AM and dove right into e-mails, phone messages and ministry agreements. I’m saying this because I’ve wanted to provide some updates for the past three weeks as to what’s going on at Latin America Mission and with the Abegg family, but simply haven’t had the chance. So, my goal is to take a few minutes every AM and post at least one update… so for today lets start easy, I’ve got help on the way!!!

Since I stepped in to coordinate the ministries department at Latin America Mission, it’s been obvious that one person cannot manage everything. LAM has just under 100 missionary “units” (families or individuals) on the field, nearly as many active "ministry partners" (Latin ministries we work with through our missionaries or in various projects) and over 250 partner ministries that are awaiting missionaries, projects or assistance in some form. What this means is that my previous assignment in assisting associate ministries to Cuba has expanded to all of Latin America, Spain and even a few ministries in the US. It’s felt like swimming against the current since in order to move forward (develop new partnerships, match new missionaries to their assignments and weigh in on possible projects) I first have to make sure that the daily needs of missionaries and ministries are covered. At one point last week my e-mail in box toped 250 and that doesn't include any spam!

So where does the help come in? Ms. Heather Braden is a missionary “appointee” (accepted as a missionary and preparing to deploy once all her support is raised) headed for El Salvador. She will be joining the ministries department starting Thursday and has committed to helping for the next 6 months as she works on her Spanish, completes her support raising and prepares for “deployment”. Heather is an answer to many prayers and given all the work involved in my current position, will help keep me sane (although some say it’s too late). Please keep Heather in your prayers as well as the whole minisries department as we seek to help the hundreds of partner ministries we partner with throughout Latin America.

Click the link to follow Heather’s blog which includes my letter to some of her supporting churches.

God bless!

Update on NGO Worker arrested in Cuba

2010-06-03T13:06:00.003-04:00

I forget who I was talking to reciently, but they mentioned that they had not heard about the NGO worker in Cuba arrested under spy charges many months ago. Anyway, here's an update:

US has visited man nabbed by Cuba as a 'spy' (AFP)

DATELINE: Washington, June 2 2010

US authorities have been able to visit on five occasions the American contractor arrested in Cuba in December whom Havana claims is a spy, despite a US denial, a State Department spokesman said Wednesday.

"We have been granted access to Alan Gross in Cuba five times, the most recent consular access being on May 25th," spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters. "And we continue to ask that Mr Gross be released immediately, on humanitarian grounds, and be al-lowed to return to his family," the US spokesman said.

Gross worked for an NGO contracted by the State Department to supply computer and communications material to civil society groups on the island, according to the United States. Cuba insists however he is a spy who had sophisticated communications equipment for dissidents in the Americas' only one-party Communist regime.

The US company that employed the contractor, Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), also denied the es-pionage charges. Gross was arrested December 5, reportedly while distributing cell phones, laptops and other communications equipment.

For more updates click this link.

Veteran’s Day

2010-05-31T09:58:00.000-04:00

To those who have served and those who continue to serve, the Abegg Family thanks you from the bottom of our hearts. You have and do live out Christ’s command:

“Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12

Thank you!

-Kevin, Claudia, Jeremy and Nicholas

CHILE RELIEF PROJECT

2010-04-13T23:00:00.001-04:00

On February 27, an 8.8 earthquake (the 5^th largest in recorded world history) hit off the coast of Chile destroying structures and creating tsunamis that swept away entire villages. Second and third quakes measuring 6.7 and 6.0 hit only minutes later. Over the next month and even now aftershocks continue to rattle lives and threaten buildings. The death toll is just under 800, yet nearly 80% of the countries population has been affected, and hundreds of thousands remain homeless as the Southern Hemisphere’s winter approaches.

Chile’s central regions were hardest hit, including Claudia’s hometown of Rancagua. We have been in contact with the leadership (Pastor Juan, Pastor Roberto and others) of Renuevo, our church in Rancagua, monitoring their progress and considering ways to assist them as they seek to assist those in the surrounding communities and rural areas that have yet to receive aid.

As the weather gets colder and rain arrives the most urgent needs are:

Prefabricated Emergency Homes: In the 6^th region alone there is an urgent need for 20,000 emergency homes which allows a homeless family to remain near work, property and their support systems as opposed abandoning all they have to seek winter shelter. Each of these insulated, heated, emergency homes has a cost of $1000.00. Renuevo hopes to purchase a minimum of 10 for immediate delivery and construction.
Emergency Food: With the destruction of homes and businesses, thousands have lost the means to support themselves. Renuevo is distributing boxes of non-perishable food costing $5.00 per box. They hope to provide between 100 to 200 units immediately and then assess further need in the outlying areas.
Blankets: Basic, cheap ($5.00 each) and easy means to provide immediate warmth and comfort from the cold. They hope to distribute 200 immediately and then assess further need.

Latin America Mission is partnering with Renuevo in order to meet these immediate needs. Over the years many of friends and supporters have traveled to Chile in order to work alongside Renuevo or receive from their amazing hospitality. Please consider assisting this church in caring for the immediate needs around them and communicating Christ’s love in both word and deed.

If you would like more information on this project don’t hesitate to contact us at Latin America Mission (1800-275-8410) or via e-mail.

To make an online donation toward the Chile relief project please visit the LAM donations page, enter the amount you desire to give in the “LAM General Fund” section and indicate “Chile Relief Project” in the notes section. Your donation will be credited to the proper account and you will receive a tax deductible receipt.

If you prefer to mail in a donation please make checks payable to “Latin America Mission” and indicate “Chile Relief Project” on a separate piece of paper (not in the memo section) in order to have it properly credited. Mail your donation to:

Latin America Mission - Chile Relief

PO Box 52-7900

Miami, Fl 33152-7900

You will receive a tax deductible receipt.

Map of world's biggest quakes

2010-03-16T09:10:00.001-04:00

This last quake in Chile recorded as #5 in history.
The #1 world's largest quake was also in chile.
Check out CNN's map of the top 10 largest quakes on record.

Rest assured, this is NOT A SCAM

2010-03-16T08:15:00.003-04:00

Below is a standard scam trying to get me to send money. What I found really funny was the "Note" included at the bottom. I just don't know what I would have thought if they hadn't included that!
-------

Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:32:44 -0800 (PST)
From: Western Union®
To: undisclosed recipients: ;
Subject: Western Union®

ATTENTION: Beneficiary,
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There is an issue with the WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER in the amount of $750.000.00 USD United State Dollars directed in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308 at the owner of this email address.

The INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND contacted us for your compensation a couple of hours ago due to your allocated security code. They said that they choose to send it to an email address instead of a name. We are unable to complete a transfer directed at an email address, so we require some more information in order to complete this transfer.

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In order to resolve this problem, Please email via Western Union Solicitors Fund Verification Department: infobureau01@Safe-mail.net) As soon as this information is received and you have complied with the requirements of payment of the western union charges $175.00 USD, Payment will be made to your nominated bank account or at the counter directly from Western Union Transfering Bank.

Note: This is not one of those Republic Of Benin west African scams that all they are after is to ripe you off your money and at the end you wil not receive your funds, And note that this is not a scam and is directly from the Management of Western Union Money Transfer United Kingdom Head Office and our Motto is To Serve You Better. Contact us on our website on www.westernunion.com also note that you would be responsible for any payment that is needed for the transfer of your funds into your nominated bank account or at the counter directly from the Western Union Transferring Bank, According to the section 636(1) of the LPN CAF of the 1999 constitution regarding a contract/inheritance/compensation like you will have to make the payment of $175.00.USD so as to enable the purchasing of your inheritance files to prevent illegal transfer of your funds or any form of hindrance.

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Send Money

Claudia in CostaRica & Daddy hanging with the Boys

2010-03-09T22:53:00.004-05:00

As you may know from earlier reports, Claudia flew to Costa Rica on Sunday and started a week of intensive work on her teeth yesterday. The original plan was for four crowns in three days and return on Thursday. It became apparent yesterday that that’s not going to be the case as they began a root canal but quickly decided to refer her to a specialist starting tomorrow to complete it. Thankfully the crowns have diminished by one, but with the delay due to the root canal the earliest it appears she will be able to fly back would be Saturday. One problem, there are no Spirit Air flights on weekends! So now we’re looking at a possible Monday return. Thankfully she is staying with two wonderful LAM missionaries and has made various other friends (including a Chilean neighbor who made her cheese empanadas on Monday!) Please keep her in your prayers as this is a painful process but one we hope will take care of various problems for years to come.

As for daddy and the boys, I am using up various flex days to be home with them, but it may come to some juggling by weeks end or Monday if it gets pushed that far out. The first 2 ½ days have gone well. Monday they got to celebrate a friend’s birthday party at Chuck E. Cheeses and I was at the office. They had a blast although it may take the birthday parents a little longer to recover. I’m familiarizing myself with the week-day meals, chores, home school, piano lessons, etc routine which I helped Claudia put together on paper, but had never actually walked it through prior to this. All I can say is that my wife is a saint (and I want her back!). Jeremy, Nicholas and I are enjoying the time together and they ask me each morning if it’s “church day” because weekends are the only time I’m home two days in a row.

OK, I’ve got to hit the sack before I fall asleep on the keyboard. Please continue praying for Chile, for Claudia’s dental work and for the boys and I as we try to make it through this week without mommy’s amazing care for each of us.

God bless!

Chile Quake updates

2010-03-02T10:41:00.003-05:00

I just got off the phone with "Obispo Sanchez" of the Free Methodist Church in Chile. He reported to me on many of their buildings having been destroyed and "entire costal towns swept away" by the resulting tidal waves from Saturday's Earth Quake. Despite the suffering he did aproach this with a faith filled humor in telling me: "We have been raising funds to rebuild one of our churches and were about half way to our goal before the quake. But the Lord must want us to do it faster, because He decided to tear the old building down ahead of our schedule!".

I also received an very brief e-mail from our home church in Rancagua, Renuevo. They report that "various families have lost their homes" but thankfully they did not report any loss of life. Please keep Chile, the pastors and the churches in your prayers. Pray for faith and strength for the pastors as they care for their congregations and pray for that same faith and strength for the congregations as they seek to express the Lord's love to the surrounding community.

Sunami Story & Photo Montage

Sunami washes away surifing resort in Pichilemu (Where Claudia and I served and have many friends).

A quick update on the Abeggs.

2010-03-02T09:51:00.006-05:00

Claudia to Costa Rica and Kevin as Mr. Mom (pray for the kids!)
This coming Sunday Claudia will be flying to Costa Rica for some “Dental Tourism”. She will be in San Jose through Thursday in order to get four crowns as well as some other work. Some have asked “Why Costa Rica?”. The answer is that even though we have to pay for airlines, room and board, we will still come out minimally $2000. ahead instead of having the work done here in the States. That’s $2000 we don’t have to come up with or can be used in other ways. Thankfully LAM has numerous missionaries, ministry partners and friends there to help if needed, and she may even be able to meet up with a short term team from Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church on Sunday before she’s had her work done. Please keep her in your prayers as daddy and the boys won’t be there to comfort and care for her in the evenings. Also keep Kevin, Jeremy and Nicholas in your prayers as we’ll be having a guy’s week on our own. Daddy will be attempting to fill mommy’s amazing role of home school teacher, primary guidance councilor and overall house manager.

Rotating Jobs at Latin America Mission
This week in between responding to calls/emails from missionaries and various Chilean pastors or ministries realing from the EQ, I’m also in the process of slowly moving offices. As you know my primary job at the LAM “Cuba desk” has been expanded to the "Ministries Department" and got a jump start with my Tijuana trip last month. Since then my inbox has exploded with correspondence from LAM missionaries and our ministry partners. My primary responsibility at this point is to maintain and develop the depth LAM’s relationships with our partner ministries. A few weeks ago (prior to the Chile EQ blogs) I included a couple of entries on some of these ministries and will continue to do so in the future in the hopes of sharing some of the international (and eternal) good news you don’t usually get to hear on your evening news.

That’s probably one of the things I like best about my current position. I get a spectacular vantage point for what God is doing throughout Latin America through Latin ministries in general and missionaries associated with the LAM. God is doing some exciting things especially in the area of equipping Latinos for ministry both in their own countries as well as abroad. LAM is involved with numerous seminaries, Bible schools and training programs throughout Central and South America as well as entire international denominations that take very seriously the need to have well equipped pastors, teachers and trainers in order to have well equipped healthy churches ministering to entire populations in need of the Gospel. Please keep these ministries in your prayers, and I personally ask for your prayers to manage well the responsibilities and quantity of work the Lord has placed before me.

As you know, this is a “temporary assignment” until we find the right person to fill this position. Similar to when LAM was seeking a new president and the Lord finally brought Steve Johnson to us, I ask you to be praying for the Lord to bring the right person to fill this position. In the mean time I ask for your prayers as I survey the Ministries department, consider changes with the LAM guidance team and seek the Lord for how He would have us position this branch of the ministry for the future. Once the Lord does provide the right person for this I will be able to step back into the role I had for a few weeks of developing the North American Ministries (NAM) department of LAM, something that is very close to my heart as well.

In the midst of what I could perceive as a detour on the road to the NAM work I desire to do, I see the Lord once again educating me. The NAM responsibilities will essentially be as a “match maker” or in essence “marriage counselor” assisting the North American churches to develop and deepen their relationships with their missionaries as well as the ministry partners they are working with in the field. How better to get to know the ins and outs of this than to first do similar work between these very missionaries and their Latin ministry partners? I may be slow, but I’m starting to expect the Lord to prepare me for what only He knows comes next!

What an amazing God we serve!

What an amazing adventure He has us all on!

Thank you for your partnership with us and your willingness to be used by Him both internationally and the daily ways He uses you to accomplish His purposes in this World.

God bless!

Chile Update

2010-03-01T23:03:00.003-05:00

Again, thank you to all who have been calling, e-mailing and praying. Claudia's family is well. We managed to talk to Cristy on Sunday and Barbara today and Claudia got to web chat with Chabe a little while ago. We haven't been able to talk with her parents yet but know they are fine. We are also trying to get news from Reneuvo, our church in Rancagua. The YWAM base in Pichilemu is fine although we have reports that the waves caused by the quake devistated the lower lying areas. Please continue to pray for the needs in Chile, but do not forget the needs in Haiti. Although the quake was 500 times the strength of Haitis, the Chilean death toll is under 800 thus far. We grieve for those who have lost loved ones but thank the Lord for his mercy in sparing life. More soon.

For some of the pictures of the damage in Chile see CNN's site.

Earthquake in Chile

2010-03-01T08:21:00.002-05:00

First we want to thank every one of you who have called and written over the past few days. We managed to comunicate with Claudia's family yesterday and they are all well. We'll try to post more tomorrow. God bless!

Rd to Carretas

2010-02-24T10:19:00.005-05:00

The next three entries are of Carretas, a squatter settlement on the outskirts of Tijuana, Mx. It is one of many places that LAM missionaries such as Megan Riggott along with Greg and Kathy Saracoff of are serving. I had the priveledge of visiting them a few weeks ago to iron out a few details of LAM's partnerships with our partner ministries.
The first clip is of the "scenery" as we entered into Carretas. This visit was one of those great combinations of ministry, four wheeling and hiking, but the bottom line is that the Gospel is being preached AND ministered in the form of meeting physical needs of children and thier families as they learn about a God who loves and cares for the needs of their souls and thier bodies.

Walking down from the Children's Ministry in Carretas

2010-02-24T10:08:00.003-05:00

I'm carefully walking behind Greg as we descend from the multi purpose ministry building where Chella heads up the Carretas outreach. From the small red house they provide tutoring, kids club programs, meals, dental care and many other means of meeting the physical and spiritual needs of the children and their families. (Pardon the unstable camera, I didnt have my hiking boots on!).

Decending from Carretas

2010-02-24T07:54:00.004-05:00

As Greg and I drove down from Carretas we had some tongue in cheek fun considering the difference between a tragedy and an opportunity. I could attempt to spiritualize my comments knowing that God is sovereign...but I wont. Enjoy the scenery of one of the many places LAM is working!

The Gospel presented through Open Arms

2010-02-23T14:38:00.017-05:00

In my new position at LAM I not only have the priveledge of assisting with ministries in Cuba, but I also get to assist other LAM missionaries as they work alongside of, and serve through local Latin ministries. I want to share with you a video of one of the ministries that LAM missionaries are working with in Medellin, CO.:

The Open Arms Foundation from Open Arms Foundation on Vimeo.

Francis Pineda is completing his seminary studies at "Seminario Biblico de Colombia" en Medellin. This is the same seminary I visited over a year ago when we brought pastors from Cuba to receive extensive training on managing a ministry. Nicole George de Pineda is curently assisting at the ministry of Open Arms. If you're interested in learning more please check out their Blog at: http://alexisandnicole.wordpress.com

God bless!
-Kevin

Equipo Tijuana en Accion

2010-02-03T01:11:00.005-05:00

I arrived in San Diego yesterday afternoon and I am thankful that my luggage made it before 1 AM today rather than not at all. I crossed the border with Greg Saracoff (LAM missionary with his wife Kathy and their two kids) this AM and had the privilege to visit various ministries associated with “Equipo Tijuana en Acción” also known as Team Tijuana in English, an associate ministry of Latin America Mission. Our first stop was “Esperanza” (Hope) an amazing drug rehab program where the participants learn practical skills such as welding, glass work, brick making, carpentry and auto repair which will allow them to not only earn an income but keeps them busy, a must for those trying to leave the drug lifestyle. To my pleasant surprise it is run by Javier, a Godly man whom I had the privilege of meeting during the “Instituto Forum Latinum” conference I attended with some Cuban Pastors in Colombia last year. I had forgotten that he was here in TJ and enjoyed catching up with him and seeing his fantastic ministry first hand.

From there we visited Campo de Fe, a ministry that takes in the injured individuals that nobody else cares for and the hospitals won’t accept. “Rosa” runs this ministry high on a hill above TJ where some of the poorest of the poor who have been gravely injured in various ways are brought to heal or die in loving surroundings with people who minister to their body and soul. One of the men I spoke to recently had his middle left toe amputated due to complications of diabetes. Now my dad had a toe amputated (he chose to have the doctor do this rather than chopping it off himself, but that’s another story) and he came home from the hospital with it nicely sewn and bandaged up. Not so here. I’m not a doctor, but what I was looking at seemed more like the chicken meet that Claudia chops up. There was a literal hole where his toe used to be with various parts hanging out that I think should have been inside. He thought the doctors had done a good job, so I just smiled and prayed for him as he dabbed the open wound with some gauze. Wow!

Next we had a meeting with some of the leaders of the ministries associated with Team Tijuana and I get to meet a few of the pastors and leaders I will be sharing more with over the next few days. Please pray for wisdom as I seek to encourage some of them in working together as a team and considering themselves as parts of the body of Christ instead of their own independent, unattached ministries. Pray for a sensitivity to the spirit and a sharpness of mind as I listen and respond to their own concerns, needs and desires for the ministries they are involved in. Also please continue praying for Claudia and the boys back at home continuing with their normal routine while I’m away. Thank you for your prayers and support. I’ll add more in a day or so.

God bless!

Electronic Love Letter -“cito” (meaning “little”).

2010-02-03T01:11:00.000-05:00

Nothing fancy, just a quick update and prayer request.

From our last news letter you know that I will be developing a department of “North America Ministries” focused on assisting US Churches and their missionaries to maintain or develop an even stronger connection once the missionaries are deployed as opposed to loosing or relinquishing that relationship to a third organization such as LAM. We literally want to assist the sending churches in THEIR calling to fulfill the great commission as opposed to taking their place and becoming a “middle man” between the sending church and the missionary.

But that’s not what I’m writing you about. Just after the new year, Steve Johnson, LAM’s president requested that I assist in filling the positions of Ministries Coordinator as they searches for a Latin who can fill the role. I’m Swedish, Swiss-German which is just about as far from Latin as you can get, but Latin through marriage. (Thanks to Claudia!) Once again I am honored and humbled to be asked to work in such a role and am seeking the Lord for even greater wisdom and discernment in order to honor Him in all I do. It’s an exciting role of working with all our ministry partners throughout Central and South America, and assisting our missionaries in matching them with a ministry that needs their giftings and where they would be of the greatest help. In all this I desperately need your prayers. I’ve already seen some wonderful connections that the Lord has brought about and look forward to more.

Tomorrow AM I will be flying to Tijuana and will be working with some of our missionaries, ministry partners and associate churches. Please be praying for me as I seek to learn my job while on the job, and for the Lord’s hand to work in, around and through me while I’m there.

Also, please keep Claudia and the boys in your prayers while I am away, they are just getting over some bad coughs. On my return Claudia will need some extensive dental work on what we believe to be three crowns.

Thank you for your support, love and assistance in so many ways. Keep an eye on our blog this week as I plan to post instead of e-mail updates. (http://abeggloveletters.blogspot.com )

God bless!

Fun comercial: "Llama Shares Starburst"

2010-01-28T13:29:00.003-05:00


I like it (the comercial and the candy)! Llama Shares Starburst Commercial

The Abegg’s Electronic Love Letter 1/09

2010-01-06T11:03:00.007-05:00

To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ;
Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance. -Jude 1:1

Abegg Family Updates

As I mentioned in our last news letter, this New Year is full of changes & challenges. Up until a few months ago we were seriously considering ending our 16 years of full time missions work (see our November Blog entry for more on this), but the Lord made it clear that this wasn’t what He had planned. We are to stay right where we are with LAM and He will be using many of the things He has taught us over the past year about missions, the theology of missions and how to foster international partnerships as a way to assist US Churches in their missions thinking and action. Yet as I return to the office after a Christmas break and begin to consider what lies ahead I am wondering if…or rather know that I am not up to the task in and of myself. But thank God I don’t have to be since I, like anyone else am merely a tool in the Lord’s hands. That’s all I’ve ever been, be that in Chile, Cuba, California or elsewhere, and for me to take credit for what’s been accomplished would be like a farmer’s rake taking credit for the harvest at the end of the season. Already I’ve been encouraged by the initial response of various churches as I share the vision with them, and look forward to exploring the various ways LAM can be of assistance to their existing and developing missions programs, and I trust the Lord will provide even more of these divine appointments. Please keep this new “Department of US Missions” in your prayers, asking for wisdom, the Lord’s guidance and the ability to care for and assist partner ministries in what the Lord is calling them to do in World Missions. This is an exciting time, and we invite you to be part of where the Lord is leading us. Thank you for your partnership, prayers and support. God bless!

Lessons We’ve learned from our kids:

Christmas Carols have funny words:
“Hark the Hairy Angels Sing”
“Gloria! In Egg Shells Day Old!”

While building bunk beds for a friend:
“Straight edges” will not remain straight for long with little helpers at hand.

Wood stain also stains anything else it gets on, including clothes, hair and 4 year old tummies.

It’s hard to pinpoint what makes us “human”: Mommy: “Nico, this is Natalie. Her mommy dropped her off here for a few hours, would you like to play with her?” Nico: “No, I only like to play with humans.” Mommy: “Well, what is she?” Nico: “She’s a girl!”

Those advertisers are tricky!: Nico: “Daddy, they’re advertising a toy Yodda (of Star Wars fame) on the radio, but it’s really expensive!” Daddy: “Was that “toy Yodda” or “Toyota” like our old truck?” Nico: “Our old truck belonged to Yodda?”

We have more teaching to do in economics: Jeremy: “Nico and I are saving up to buy a Wii (video game system costing about $200.) and we already have lots of money!” Daddy: “Where did you get all that money from?” Jeremy: “The change dish next to your bed and we found some pennies on the ground!”

Specific praise, prayer and partnership opportunities:

Please pray for the Lord’s continued guidance, wisdom and provision as we step forward in faith and continue to work with Cuban Churches but also branch out to work with Churches in the US as they develop or improve their own missions programs.

Prayer for Monthly Support: As many of our supporters wrestle with financial difficulty, we have seen our monthly support dip to dangerous levels. Thankfully the Lord has equipped Kevin to work in home repair and Claudia through Lia Sophia jewelry sales to keep the bills paid. Our hope and prayer however is to be able to dedicate this time completely to the ministerial projects at hand. Please join us in prayer for this and for an increase in support in the new year that would allow us to do so. Please see “Support and Special Gifts” below if you would like to partner with us in this way.

Prayer for Roof Repair: Over the past year we have been attempting to save enough to re-roof the living area of our home. This has included refinancing (an answered prayer) and setting aside as much as possible on a monthly basis. Still, we are currently about $3,000. short and need to have the work done before the rainy season begins in April. Please pray for the Lord’s provision in this way.

Prayer for Chilean Wedding: Claudia’s youngest sister Christy will be getting married in Chile on May 28th. We hope to combine this wonderful event with visiting family, friends and churches as well as some ministry opportunities. Please join us in praying for the airline and other expenses of this trip, currently tickets are about $800. each.

Missionary Support and Special Gifts
Through the generosity and prayers of partners like you, we are able to continue ministering to the Churches in Cuba and assisting US churches in International Missions.
If you would like to make a tax deductible donation please take advantage of the links at the top right of the page or simply send checks to Latin America Mission with a note indicating “For the Abeggs” to:

Latin America Mission P.O. Box 52-7900 Miami FL, 33152-7900.

· Link to a Printable Donation Form. (click link for mail in donation form)
· Link to Online Donation page (click link for online credit/debit card donation)

"The Blind Side" -The Rest of the Story

2010-01-04T14:49:00.002-05:00

Over New Years Claudia and I had the chance to see the movie "The Blind Side". What an amazing story! It follows this year's NFL rookie Michael Oher's rise from hopless poverty to being the Baltmore Ravens first round draft pick this season. If you haven't seen themovie, I HIGHLY reccomend it, but even if you have seen the movie, please check out the World Magazine article (a magazine/website I HIGHLY reccomend) "All American Adoption Story" which does an excelent job of filling in the blanks and giving a much broader perspective to the story than the movie (which is very good in itself) is able to.

Thoughts on Christmas by Dr. R.C. Sproul

2009-12-14T09:51:00.001-05:00

DR. R. C. SPROUL:
"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, is the startling conclusion to John's prologue, 'In the beginning was the Word'. The Cosmic Christ enters our humanity. The birth of Jesus is the very center or core of human history. It is the supreme moment of visitation of the eternal with the temporal, the infinite with the finite, the unconditional with the conditioned. It is the center point of the very meaning of human history. It is Christmas, the moment of nativity when the eternal God became flesh for our redemption."

Curtis and Leroy

2009-12-14T09:05:00.002-05:00

You may have seen this, but I thought it was too funny to pass up!

Curtis & Leroy saw an ad in the The Oxford Eagle Newspaper in OXFORD, MS. and bought a mule for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the mule the next day. The next morning the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry, fellows, I have some bad news, the mule died last night." Curtis & Leroy replied, "Well, then just give us our money back." The farmer said, "Can't do that. I went and spent it already." They said, "OK then, just bring us the dead mule." The farmer asked, "What in the world ya'll gonna do with a dead mule?" Curtis said, "We gonna raffle him off."
The farmer said, "You can't raffle off a dead mule!" Leroy said, "We shore can! Heck, we don't hafta tell nobody he's dead!" A couple of weeks later, the farmer ran into Curtis &Leroy at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store and asked. "What'd you fellers ever do with that dead mule?"
They said,"We raffled him off like we said we wuz gonna do.."
Leroy said,"Shucks, we sold 500 tickets fer two dollars apiece and made a profit of $898.."
The farmer said,"My Lord, didn't anyone complain?"
Curtis said, "Well, the feller who won got upset. So we gave him his two dollars back."

Curtis and Leroy now work for the government. They're overseeing the Bailout Program.

The New LAM Video is here!

2009-12-09T10:47:00.005-05:00

Watch for more on these stories in LAM's Evangelist Magazine as well.

You Could Have Bought Cuba

2009-12-01T09:28:00.006-05:00

Dream of a Castro-free Cuba may wash away
By HANK TESTER

You could have bought Cuba, and the package would come without Fidel or Raul Castro.

A real estate group in the Miami area was representing a organization that had the rights to the island and at first glance it looked like a fun project.
"There should be a lot of rich Cubans interested," one of the promoters said.

A video tape prospectus was going to be shipped any day. There was a website. But suddenly the steam behind the project dissipated. The Cuba sale had gone silent. What would have been a fun idea evaporated like spit on a griddle.
The "Island of Cuba" was part of "The World," a man-made series of islands just off the coast of Dubai. Shaped roughly like the land mass of the Earth, the various "countries" were being sold to high rollers and corporations world wide. The islands were to be laced with mansions, hotel developments, resorts, all themed to the corresponding country.

Yes, there is a small island representing Cuba within the $14 billion project, which by the way was basically the dredging costs.
How much to buy Cuba? The ultra small patch of sand would set you back about $10- to $15 million. The owner would have to create the ambiance that would replicate "Cuba."

But alas, there seems to be no chance to purchase "The Pearl of the Antilles." The World project is slowed, if not stopped altogether according to news reports. Not maintained, the sandy islands could slip back into the water. Cuba could go under quicker than most due to size and no apparent buyer on the horizon.

Now the world's financial squeeze has finally surfaced in Dubai. The go-go days have screeched to a halt. Will the financial crisis squash any chance of someone buying "Cuba?" Likely, and so a Cuba without the Castro Brothers continues to just be a dream, at least in the short term.

Hank Tester has been covering news and politics in South Florida since 1992.

Abegg ELL -Pruning and Plans for the Future

2009-11-25T15:20:00.004-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

We are thanking God for so much this year, including each of our friends and supporters.

The Abegg's Electronic Love Letter

To those who have been called,

who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ;

Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

-Jude 1:1

Abegg Family Updates: Pruning and Plans for the Future

I like grapes. I also like what we get from grapes: juice, jam, raisins and good Californian or Chilean wine. (I don't hide my bias). Anyway, what does this have to do with a family update? No, we're not starting a vineyard (though Claudia dreams of doing just that), but the Lord used a recent sermon on John 15 to give me a better understanding of what He has been doing in "our" life over the past few years.

If you've been following the Abegg chronicles you know that up to a month ago we anticipated stepping away from LAM and parachurch missions (missions through a non-church organization). In short we were lead to seriously and is some ways painfully analyze our belief and theology of missions. (To better understand the reasoning behind this please see our "missionunderstandings" blog.) Anyway, I thought that based on our convictions, the best option was to step out of parachurch missions and continue in missions from our local church while supporting the family through a secular job. As the year wore on though, and I didn't sense direction from the Lord as to what occupation I should step into, I began to grow weary and feel more and more barren even as I continued with the ministry projects at hand. I was torn in not being able to see how my theology and my daily work in ministry matched up, and wondered why the Lord (and I do believe it was His hand) would apear to strip something away from me yet not provide something new to serve Him in.

Here's where the grapes come in. Living near wine country in CA didn't make my dad a vinedresser, yet his impressive pruning techniques, akin to current "slasher" horror movies, proved to be exactly what our one and only grapevine needed. Every fall, the yard plants would tremble in fear as my dad got out his preferred pruning instrument, an 18" gas powered chain saw, in order to "clean things up a bit". Nothing green was spared be that oak trees or berry bushes. Guava plants and even the hedge dared not resist his onslaught. Some plants actually survived, their limbs removed, hauled off and burned in our fireplace. But it was the grapevine that always amazed me. Every summer that vine would foolishly send 40 feet of twisting greenery along our fence. And every fall it would stand defiantly before my father only to be hacked back to a pitiful, miserable looking brown stick. Each year I thought, "well, that's the end of that", but each spring it would rise again, stretch its limbs far and amazingly produce clusters of grapes.

In the recent sermon, I learned that true vinedressers do actually prune back each years growth to what looks like a dead stick, although I doubt they use a chain saw. In his own special way, what my dad was doing actually provided the cared that the vine needed and prepared it for the next year's growth and fruit.

What the Lord was doing in Claudia and my hearts over the past "season" is very similar:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful... 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing... 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples… 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last." John 15:1-17

Less than a month ago, LAM president Steve Johnson asked me to assist in developing what may grow into a "Department of North American Church Missions". The idea is to help mission minded churches to strengthen relationships with their missionaries as well as the ministries they partner with throughout Latin America or the world. On of my concerns this past year was in seeing churches essentially "outsource" missions and let the parachurch (i.e. LAM) handle the care and feeding of their missionaries instead of assuming the role of pastoral care and being a full partner in fulfilling the Great Commission thus receiving the rich returns and benefits that accompany that involvement. Over the past year the Lord, in His mercy, has lead me through a course in missiology and church-missionary relationships even though I wasn't aware of the purpose.

I'll share more on what this new work will look like in the weeks and months to come, but needless to say we are VERY excited about the possibilities and ask for your prayers as we step into this new area of growth and by faith…fruit. Cuba will remain in our scope of ministry and we are excited about some new possibilities to help meet the incredible lack of literature and resources that Cuban pastors have to draw from.

Thank you so much for your partnership over the years. We look forward to what the Lord will be doing as our new branches grow and He produces fruit that will last in our lives, the churches we are involved with and in you, our partners in the Great Commission.

Specific praise, prayer and partnership opportunities:

Praise for the Lord's leading: We are so thankful for the Lord's leading and the work He is currently laying before us. Please pray for His continued guidance, wisdom and provision as we step forward in faith.

Praise for safety and van repair: If you've visited our blog lately you know that our van was involved in an accident right in front of our church that totaled three other cars. We praise the Lord that nobody was gravely injured, and also praise the Lord that we just received it back from the body shop in great condition.

Prayer for Monthly Support: We thank God that between Kevin's dedicating one day a week to home repair work and Claudia's jewelry sales, all the bills continue to be paid. Our hope and prayer is to be able to dedicate this time completely to the ministerial projects at hand. Please join us in prayer for this and for a good response to the end of year donation letters that will be going out shortly.

Prayer for Roof Repair: Over the past year we have been attempting to save enough to re-roof the living area of our home. This has included refinancing (an answered prayer) and setting aside as much as possible on a monthly basis. Still, we are currently about $3,500. and need to have the work done before the rainy season begins in April. Please pray for the Lord's provision.

Prayer for Chilean Wedding: Claudia's youngest sister Christy will be getting married in Chile on May 28^th. We hope to combine this wonderful event with visiting family, friends and churches as well as some ministry opportunities. Please join us in praying for the airline and other expenses of this trip, currently tickets are about $800. each.

Prayer for LAM Fundraising Dinner: This Sunday President Steve Johnson and other LAM staff will be in Pheonix for a fund raising dinner in support of various projects as well as the overall budget. Please pray that this goes well and for the Lord's provision through those who attend.

Missionary Support and Special Gifts

Through the generosity and prayers of partners like you, we are able to continue ministering to the Churches in Cuba and elsewhere.

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation please take advantage of the links below or simply send checks to Latin America Mission with a note indicating "For the Abeggs" to:

Latin America Mission P.O. Box 52-7900 Miami FL, 33152-7900.

· Link to a Printable Donation Form. (click link for mail in donation form)

· Link to Online Donation page (click link for online credit/debit card donation)

How to Contact Us

E-mail: kabegg "at" lam "dot" org

Office Mail: P.O. Box 52-7900 Miami, FL 33152-7900

Office Phone: 305-884-8400 x25

Open house in Mt. Hermon, Santa Cruz this Friday PM!

2009-10-28T14:49:00.001-04:00

Hi All!

We've been enjoying fellowship and catching up with friends at WCPC, but are headed down to Santa Cruz next. We'd love to see anyone in the area if possible. We will be having an open house this Friday from 5:00 – 8:00 PM at Huckleberry Cabin at Mt. Hermon. (See below for map link). Huckleberry is located up the hill from the post office. Take Forrest and make your first left on Lake Ln, and first right on Mound. It's the 6th house on the left at the corner of Mound and prospect. Look for the "huckleberry" sign. We'd love to see you there!

In His Hands / En Sus manos;

Kevin S. Abegg

Abegg ELL - To CA this weekend!

2009-10-22T08:58:00.001-04:00

The Abegg’s Electronic Love Letter

To those who have been called,

who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ;

Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

-Jude 1:1

***For those in SF Bay Area & Santa Cruz CA, please note that we will be there starting this Saturday. See below.

In this Issue

Project: Recursos Pastorales Update

Waiting on the Lord: What we anticipate for the coming year

Abegg Family Update: In CA starting this weekend!

Missionary Support and Gifting for the Abeggs

How to Contact Us

Project: Recursos Pastorals

As you know we have been working on a project to provide materials (Bible dictionaries, concordances, Greek textbooks, commentaries, counseling aids etc). to pastors in Cuba. This has been slow going due to the difficulty in getting permission from Cuban authorities to enter religious materials into Cuba. We have been literally mailing in individual books but due to the expense involved are looking at other possibilities for the coming year as well as contacting publishers asking them to partner with us by providing their literature free or charge to a market that they don’t have access to anyway. Please pray for this program and that the anticipated changes would bring greater fruit to the pastors and their congregations throughout Cuba.

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Waiting on the Lord

Over the past year I have been doing lots of praying and thinking through my beliefs on missiology, the church and the parachurch’s role in missions. I believe that the primary intuition that the Lord has given us to accomplish the Great Commission is the local church. Though I highly value LAM I have actually been wrestling with my involvement in a parachurch ministry when my heart is with the local church. Thankfully Claudia, the boys and I are intimately involved in a church that takes seriously our call “to make disciples of all nations” and has a heart for Cuba, the Caribbean and Latin America as a whole. After much scripture searching and prayer we believe that the Lord has us at LAM for many purposes, especially to encourage and assist the local churches in Cuba as they seek to fulfill the Great commission in a very difficult place. Please pray for us as we end this year and look forward to what the Lord has in the coming year for our family, Latin America Mission, our home church in Miami and the many churches and pastors we seek to encourage and assist in thiere own ministry to and through their own local church.

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Abegg Family Updates:

we’ll be in CAlifornia this weekend!!!

For those in and around the San Francisco Bay Area and Santa Cruz. We are headed your way starting this weekend and we’d love to see you!

This Saturday (10/24) Walnut Creek

Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church: Missions Celebration Weekend

Saturday: We will be presenting a ½ hr. seminar and taking part in a Q&A session on missions and our current ministry to Cuba. From 3:00 pm. – 5 PM

(Map to WCPC)

This Sunday (10/25) Walnut Creek

Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church: Missions Celebration Weekend

9:00 1^st Worship service & missionary interview.

10:00 - 10:45 Global Village Missionary Experience

10:45 2nd Worship service & missionary interview.

(Map to WCPC)

This Monday (10/26) Walnut Creek

Open House with the Abegg Family. 5:00 – 7:00 PM. We want to see everyone, but simply cant visit each of your homes. So we have reserved the parlor at WCPC (between the library and the sanctuary). We’ll have a few snacks and drinks so stop by on your way home from work or even feel free to pick up your dinner and eat it there.

(Map to WCPC)

Friday (10/30) Santa Cruz / Scott’s Valley

Open House with the Abegg Family. 5:00 – 8:00 PM. We are thankful for Walnut Creek Pres that is flying us out for the missions conference which also allows us the opportunity to sneak down to Santa Cruz and see people there. Although we don’t know the exact location yet (watch the website next week for details), we plan on having a similar open house at Mt. Hermon. As before, we’ll have a few snacks and drinks so stop by on your way home from work or even feel free to pick up your dinner and eat it there.

(Map to Mt. Hermon)

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Missionary Support and Special Gifts

Through the generosity and prayers of partners like you, we are able to continue ministering to the Churches in Cuba.

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation please take advantage of the links below or simply send checks to Latin America Mission with a note indicating “For the Abeggs” to:

Latin America Mission P.O. Box 52-7900 Miami FL, 33152-7900.

· Link to a Printable Donation Form. (click link for mail in donation form)

· Link to Online Donation page (click link for online credit card donation)

Back to top

How to Contact Us

E-mail: kabegg “at” lam “dot” org

Website/Blog: http://www.abeggloveletters.blogspot.com/

Office Mail: P.O. Box 52-7900 Miami, FL 33152-7900

Office Phone: 305-884-8400 x25

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Sunday's Crash

2009-10-12T11:44:00.006-04:00

We are thankful that nobody from church was injured as this happened right when everyone was arriving for the service. We’re all so thankful for God's hand of protection. Claudia was home with the boys since Nico wasn't feeling well. We think the woman in the black car had a seizure and lost control. Please pray she recovers fully and that the Lord gives us opertunities to minister to her. Our van got the smallest amount of damage of the 4 cars. We need to go to the auto body shop, while the others will be shopping for an auto. Please pray for grace for everyone involved.

Baah We're Lambs

2009-10-04T23:17:00.008-04:00

Palm Vista had our tallent show last night. Jeremy, Nicholas and Kai Ospina did "Baah we're Lambs":

LESSONS WE'VE LEARNED FROM OUR KIDS #13

2009-08-14T15:20:00.007-04:00

Benefit to having a 4 year old: you don't need to purchase a paper shredder. Drawback: he's self serving.
It's a blessing to see that the boys want to serve by washing my car. It's also a blessing when it rains that evening to re-wash what they washed.
Jeremy: "If God is everywhere at once, wouldn't we bump into Him any time we move?"
Jeremy: "Can I pour my own juice when I'm older, like 50 years old?"
Exaggeration happens -Nico to a friend: "Daddy says that if you shake a soda can and then open it, it will blow up the whole house!"
Note to self: the next time you have Jeremy and Nico help with gardening, be VERY specific as to which plants are weeds to be pulled out, and which plants should stay in the ground. P.S. buy Claudia some new flowers.
23 story apartment buildings are for throwing paper airplanes or water balloons off of. (OK, Daddy already knew that one).
Jeremy: “Worms live in dirt so that's what they eat. We live in air so that's what we eat… Wait, that's not right!"
Faith of a child -Jeremy: "I can't wait to die." Daddy: "Why would you say that? Don't you know how much we would miss you?" Jeremy: "Yeah, I’d miss you too but then I get to be with God!" (See Phil 1:12-26)

While at Disney for Nico & Grandpa’s Birthday, Jeremy got to take part in "Jedi Training" and is now convinced he can use the force on Mommy and Daddy: “You don’t want to discipline me”. So here’s some for you Star Wars fans:

Nico: "If knights had to fight dragons today, they'd use light sabers!"
Nico: Ham Solo is captain of the Mañana Falcon.
Jeremy: "If I feed a worm a lot, would he get as big as Jabba the Hut?"
Nico: "If a bad guy came to our house I'd spin around and around with my light saber and he'd just run away!"
Jeremy: "Chewbacca needs to shave like daddy."

For Previous “Lessons” installments, please visit our “Lesson Plan”.

Waiting On the Lord

2009-08-14T14:12:00.003-04:00

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails. Prov 19:21

I first got my missions feet wet 22 years ago. Over the past two decades, my passion and labor for foreign ministry has not changed but literally multiplied as the Lord provided me a wonderful missions minded wife in Claudia and the chance to teach Jeremy and Nico about being “strangers in a strange land” no matter where we are (Heb. 11:13-16). We anticipate always being focused on fulfilling the great commission and foreign missions in particular, yet for over a year now we’ve sensed the Lord stirring our hearts toward a new path. We believe strongly that the Church, and specifically “local churches”, are the means by which the Lord has given us to “Make disciples of all nations” (Mat. 28). For that reason we have made a point of being intimately involved in a local church wherever God has planted us (California, Chile, Florida and Cuba by extension), and sought to use our gifts and abilities in these churches while receiving the benefit of being under the direct spiritual authority and guidance of pastoral leadership.

Lately we have found ourselves hungering to be more intimately involved in missions work from the ground floor, or “grass roots” level of the local church as they partner with other local churches in various parts of our own countries (U.S. & Chile) and around the world. This may sound strange from someone who has been involved with the parachurch ministry of Latin America Mission for many years now, so I want to carefully emphasize that we have the utmost admiration and love for LAM as a whole. We actually joined LAM because we saw in them a respect for Latin leadership, and a desire to work alongside of churches in Latin America, so please understand that as we consider what steps the Lord would have us take next, it is not due to any difficulties with LAM. Instead, any future changes will be as a result of a God given burden for the local church on both the sending and receiving ends of mission and a continued desire to see the fulfillment of the great commission.
We recognize that this is big news, and as one dear friend told me when we first started considering a change: “It seems like the death of your dream of foreign ministry”. I explained to him that at this point we don't know what the change will be, but it is in reality the exact opposite from a "dream death". The very heart of what we are doing now, and wherever we will be working & serving in the future, doesn’t vary in any way from what we’ve been doing throughout our years of missionary work: following our Lord wherever He leads us. If our hope and desire is to Glorify God and make Him known, instead of seeking our own temporal “dreams”, we have nothing to lose, since the very one we want to Glorify is the one guiding our steps! “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.” (Prov. 16:9).

So where do we go from here? Frankly…I’m not sure at this point. So until the Lord opens the next door, we will continue where He has us now, including the various Cuba and other projects at LAM, Kevin working one day a week in home repair, Claudia as a Lia Sophia jewelry advisor and serving in our local church. We are hoping that by the end of summer we will be able to see God’s leading and provision clearly, but as always, we wait on His timing. My purpose in writing this is to ask you to pray for wisdom and guidance for our immediate ministerial work as well as these future decisions. Thank you for your continuing the wonderful encouragement and financial support we have been so blessed to receive over the years. When the time to step into a new job/ministry comes, we will let you, our faithful prayer supporters, our financial partners and our dear friends know with anticipation.

Thank you for your amazing faithfulness which has allowed us to do the things the Lord has called us to over these years.

If you are interested in following my thoughts in a more extensive format, please log on to: http://missionunderstandings.blogspot.com or simply send us an e-mail or give us a call.

In His Hands;
Kevin, for the family.

Cuban economy feels heat of world downturn

2009-08-12T14:01:00.002-04:00

By JUAN O. TAMAYO
jtamayo@MiamiHerald.com
2009 Miami Herald Media Company.

Fernando used to have a cushy job in Havana as a teller in a government bank office with air-conditioning, a nice computer and a bank-provided lunch.

Not anymore.

Amid Cuba's deepest economic crisis in nearly two decades, his office has shut off the AC and his computer constantly crashes because of the heat, exasperating him and his customers. His lunch, Fernando said, has ``shrunk to a snack.''

Driving the bulk of the crisis has been the world recession, which slashed demand and prices for Cuba's few exports, like nickel, and choked off new credits to a government already deeply in debt. Add the island's internal woes, and Raúl Castro's recent description of the problems as ``a matter of national security'' seems like no exaggeration.

After Castro replaced brother Fidel, ``most Cubans hoped for some improvements in the medium term. But now everyone is preparing for worse and worse,'' said one Miamian who recently returned from a visit and asked for anonymity to protect her relatives there.

Castro has adopted Draconian measures to survive the storm in the short term.

To cut electricity consumption by 12 percent -- Cuba imports half its oil needs -- the government has shut down many factories and ordered state office buildings, theaters and other facilities to shut off their ACs. Inspectors also are cracking down on Cubans who steal electricity through illegal hookups with $23 fines -- about five weeks' worth of the average salary.

``Banks are built to keep out robbers, not to let in a breeze,'' said Fernando, who asked that his surname not be published because of fear of government reprisals. ``Without [air conditioning] . . . my office is two bus stops past hell.''

Some hospitals also are shutting down their emergency rooms for two hours a day, and elective surgeries are being postponed until electricity services become more dependable, said Elaine Scheye, a Chicago consultant who has studied Cuba's health system.

LESS FOOD

Portions for many rationed foodstuffs have been cut -- red beans and chickpeas from 30 to 20 ounces a month, salt by half to about four ounces per month -- while food deliveries to factory, office and school cafeterias have been trimmed, according to official announcements.

Harsh police crackdowns on the food black market -- apparently an attempt to ensure that more items reach the legal outlets -- have driven up prices yet left many of the legitimate sales points with shelves oddly bare, Havana residents say.

Even foreign businesses are suffering, with the government tightly controlling withdrawals from their accounts. Castro also replaced his entire economic Cabinet in March, and just last week the legislature created a comptroller's office to attack official corruption.

Yet many analysts in and out of Cuba argue that those belt-tightening moves are far from what's needed to address the crisis.

``Mercurochrome and Band-Aids for deep wounds with heavy bleeding,'' Miami activist Juan Antonio Blanco wrote in his blog, Cambio de Epoca (Epochal Change). Even the official Granma newspaper called the situation ``grave.''

EARLIER TROUBLE

Cuba was already in deep trouble by the fall of 2008, after four hurricanes caused $10 billion in damage -- equivalent to a whopping 10 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) for 2007. Imports for 2008 spiked 41 percent to $14.2 billion from the previous year while exports remained flat at $3.7 billion, meaning the island's already huge trade deficit mushroomed by 65 percent.

Food imports alone rose from $1.5 billion in 2007 to $2.2 billion last year as the government tried to replace hurricane-damaged harvests, according to official Cuban figures.

And then the world economy plunged into recession, drying up lending markets. Foreign commercial lending to Cuba fell by $1 billion in 2008, according to the Bank for International Settlements, a crippling blow to a government that for the past decade had been taking on ever larger debts to pay for imports and older debts -- ``financing by arrears,'' as one economist put it.

Russian auditors reported last month that Cuba had failed on three dates to make payments due on a $355 million loan signed in 2006. And some 80 Cuban government enterprises postponed payments to foreign creditors this year, according to Carmelo Mesa Lago, a University of Pittsburgh expert on the Cuban economy.

GRIM OUTLOOK

With remittances and tourism expected to be flat this year and the price of nickel -- 41 percent of Cuban exports -- at about 25 percent of its 2008 levels, the outlook for 2009 remains grim. Over the past month Havana cut its predictions of 2009 GDP growth from 6 percent to 2.5 percent and then 1.7 percent -- though some Cuba economists are privately predicting a .5 percent drop.

``The country is again facing a situation as adverse'' as the early 1990s, the U.N.'s Economic Commission for Latin America wrote earlier this year. Cuba's economy shrank by 35 percent after the Soviet Union collapsed and cut off its $4 billion-$6 billion annual subsidies to Havana.

LONGER-TERM REFORMS

Since Raúl Castro officially assumed power in early 2008, he has also been putting in place several longer-term reforms that he hopes will give Cuba a more productive, streamlined and less centralized economy.

In his government's most ambitious effort, it has loaned 1.7 million acres of fallow state lands to 82,000 Cubans, hoping to increase food production and slash costly imports. It also shifted Acopio, the notoriously inefficient agency that gathers and distributes farmers' products, from the Agriculture to the Domestic Commerce Ministry.

The government also has increased some salaries as incentives to productivity, allowed Cubans to hold more than one job at a time and let retirees to return to work. Castro last week predicted cuts in government spending on health and education, and said imports would be cut back this year.

Havana also has hinted that it is studying opening the doors wider to foreign investors and abandoning the costly food rationing system. One leading Havana economic analyst, Ariel Terrero, even suggested recently that the government put more of the economy ``in the hands of producers'' -- for example, allowing state grocery or clothing shop workers to run their own enterprises.

`RATIONAL SOCIALISM'

Despite early speculation that the reputedly pragmatic Castro would move Cuba toward a Chinese-like ``market socialism system,'' his reforms have remained relatively moderate.

Brother Fidel remains a powerful opponent of more profound changes even three years after he was last seen in public, analysts say, and Raúl Castro must know that opening Cuba to more market forces could fuel a potentially destabilizing increase in the island's social and economic inequalities.

In a keynote speech to the legislature last month, he prescribed a move toward a kind of ``rational socialism'' that will preserve Cuba's political system while cutting back the bureaucracy, state subsidies and waste, and increasing productivity and efficiency.

``It's a matter of defining, with the broadest popular participation, the socialist society to which we aspire and can build, given Cuba's current and future conditions -- the economic model that will rule the life of the nation in benefit of our people,'' Castro said.

Lest anyone get the wrong impression, Castro added a caution.

``I was not elected president to restore capitalism in Cuba or surrender the revolution,'' he said. ``I was elected to defend, maintain and continue perfecting socialism, not to destroy it.''

In all my trips there, I've always had to bring my own.

2009-08-10T10:18:00.001-04:00

Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
Mon Aug 10 13:32:23 UTC 2009

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba, in the grip of a serious economic crisis, is running short of toilet paper and may not get sufficient supplies until the end of the year, officials with state-run companies said Friday.

Officials said they were lowering the prices of 24 basic goods to help Cubans get through the difficulties provoked in part by the global financial crisis and three destructive hurricanes that struck the island last year.

Cuba's financial reserves have been depleted by increased spending for imports and reduced export income, which has forced the communist-led government to take extraordinary measures to keep the economy afloat.

"The corporation has taken all the steps so that at the end of the year there will be an important importation of toilet paper," an official with state conglomerate Cimex said on state-run Radio Rebelde.

The shipment will enable the state-run company "to supply this demand that today is presenting problems," he said.

Cuba both imports toilet paper and produces its own, but does not currently have enough raw materials to make it, he said.

One of the measures taken to address the cash crunch is a 20 percent cut in imports, which in recent days has become evident in the reduction of goods in state-run stores.

Cuba imports about 60 percent of its food.

Despite the shortages, prices will be cut between 5 percent and 27 percent for some food, drugs and personal hygiene products, officials said.

A visit to a store in Havana's Vedado neighborhood on Friday found that prices had dropped for mayonnaise, barbecue sauce and canned squid.

One customer, who gave his name only as Pedro, complained that "it doesn't look like prices have been lowered for the fundamental products" such as cooking oil.

Ana Maria Ortega, deputy director for military-run retail conglomerate TRD Caribe, said there will be no shortage of basic goods.

"The conditions are in place to maintain the supply of essential products," she said on the same radio program.

Cubans receive a subsidized food ration from the government each month that they say meets their needs for about two weeks.

President Raul Castro told the National Assembly last week that the government had cut its spending budget for the second time this year and has been renegotiating its debt and payments with foreign providers.

Cuba has long blamed the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo against the island for many of its economic problems. It also said that last year's hurricanes did $10 billion worth of damage that forced the government to spend heavily on imports of food and reconstruction products.

Castro, who replaced his ailing older brother Fidel Castro as president last year, also has complained that Cuba's productivity is too low.

He has taken various steps to boost output, including putting more state-owned land in private hands and pushing for salaries to be based on productivity.

(Reporting by Nelson Acosta and Esteban Israel; Editing by Jeff Franks and Will Dunham)

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Hands Off Honduras by Philip Giraldi

2009-07-09T08:18:00.003-04:00

Giraldi does a good job of sifting out the events and giving an understanding of both what happend (and is happening) as well as the consequences. I don't agree with him on every aspect, but I believe he attempted to be balanced in his coverage.

Hands Off Honduras by Philip Giraldi

Stop me if you've heard this one: An Imam, a Priest, a Monk and a Rabbi walk into a Turkish game show…

2009-07-07T09:38:00.005-04:00

In general I'm pleased when God and Salvation are a topic of conversation, it provides Christians an opportunity to share the eternal, as well as present hope we have in Christ. Paul’s discourse with the Greek Philosophers (Acts 17) took advantage of their idol “to an unknown God” as a springboard to teaching about salvation through Christ’s sacrifice. As a result, a few became believers, but apparently Paul didn’t accept the philosopher’s invitation to return and continue in empty dialogue, he chose to move on. The recent article about a Turkish TV game show offering salvation is great, but there’s one big problem, God is not in the equation at all and I imagine Paul would pause shortly to see if the Lord provides any fruit, and then move on. Obviously the Turkish network is focusing on gathering viewers, and it makes business sense if you can do so from four major religious groups. I imagine (although it’s a stretch) that the four contestants are approaching this to see if there will be any fruit for their particular faith, but I look at the entire show similar to the Greek’s Idol to an Unknown God . In a sense it’s “American…” I mean “Turkish Idol” where contestants try to rationally convince the judges who are atheists, that their religion is best. The understanding is that it is possible to bring people to salvation without God first working in their hearts. The show may not necessarily be dedicated to Biblical Principals: "We don't approve of anyone being an atheist. God is great and it doesn't matter which religion you believe in. The important thing is to believe," but quite possibly can be used by those who not only seek to share their hope in Christ’s salvation, but trust in God to bring the fruit as they are faithful to respond to the opportunities He provides as Paul did on Mars Hill.

Today I’m praying for the wisdom to recognize the opportunities that the Lord places before me however strange they may be, and then to respond to them in faith, trusting the Lord to bring the fruit.

Link to Reuters Article on Turkish Gameshow

'We the people are glad he is not in power'

2009-07-01T10:28:00.005-04:00

As my friend pointed out in my previous post, 10,000 monkeys equates to the level of international media coverage on Honduras. Below are excerpts from Hondurans that posted with the BBC, and as you will see, we're not getting the whole story. Just as the US has a Constitution, so does Honduras and apparently Mr. Zelaya has violated it, resulting in his removal from the presidency. Now, to be fair, at this point both sides have violated the constitution through their actions, but let’s not forget that a constitution does exist, is the law of the land and the president must fulfill his duties under its rule. I think we need to remember this same point right here in the US as well.

Page last updated at 01:11 GMT, Monday, 29 June 2009 02:11 UK
Mr Zelaya wanted a referendum so he could seek a second term
A new president has been sworn into office in Honduras, hours after the ousting of President Manuel Zelaya.
Congress speaker Roberto Micheletti will serve as interim president until polls are held, Congress said.
The removal of Mr Zelaya by the army came amid a power struggle over his plans for constitutional change.
BBC News website readers in Honduras have been telling us their views:

Daniella Pineda, Tegucigalpa, Honduras -The event this morning should be taken as an arrest against a Honduran citizen, Manuel Zelaya, who broke the constitutional Honduran law in multiple occasions over the last few days. This SHOULD NOT be taken as a coup d'état. The vast majority of Hondurans firmly oppose Manuel Zelaya and are in favour of his arrest. The events happening today were caused by an attempt by Manuel Zelaya to manipulate our country and its constitution to fulfil his ultimate goal of remaining in power indefinitely.

Kennya, San Pedro Sula, Honduras -I live in San Pedro Sula in Honduras, the second biggest city of Honduras. There is no military action around here, things are running smoothly. If it was a resignation or a coup, good thing Mr Zelaya is no longer in power since he was doing everything illegally and trying to stay in power. Thank God that he is no longer here. Now we may be in peace.

Katherine, San Pedro Sula, Honduras -I am writing from Honduras to inform all foreign Honduran residents abroad that everything is calm and normal. The overall emotion is of joy, and we are proud that we have stood up to a leftist. This was not a coup d'etat as some media reports, it was done following the laws of our constitution. I do hope that the international community stops calling this act a coup, because it was not, and the militaries are taking order from the judicial branch, no on their own.

Jorge Suazo, San Pedro Sula, Honduras -I am a Honduran and although I don't approve a "coup", Zelaya violated Honduran laws and acted as a dictator (with Hugo Chavez being his "mentor"), so we the people are glad he is not in power anymore. The Congress already restored Constitutional normality and the military have all the approval from the people. Is not just four or five persons that are against Zelaya (as he said), it is the majority of Hondurans.

Kenneth, Tegucigalpa, Honduras -My name is Kenneth Bustillo, a Honduran, living in Tegucigalpa, capital of the country, there no military movement of serious concern, ex-president Zelaya violated the constitution of the country, his primary goal was to continue in power breaking all the laws stated by the judiciary branch, the majority of the people are happy and relieved of this burden called Manuel Zelaya.

Laura Eyl, Tegucigalpa, Honduras -I am Honduran, and it is quite confusing to understand why today's events have received an "international condemnation". 80% of Hondurans support the so called "coup". Zelaya's supporters belong to a communist party that admires Hugo Chavez. Zelaya's own party "Partido Liberal" turned its back on him after he sold out to Hugo Chavez. This was not a coup. It was the only way Honduras could try to stop an unwanted dictator to turn the country communist. Please help us communicate this to the international community. Chavez continues to threaten us with his military. We need some sort of intervention not condemnation!

Estrella, San Pedro Sula, Honduras -No military movement has been observed here in the city, just a few planes where observed flying in the morning. Here the great majority of people are happy to see that Mel Zelaya is no longer our president, because he created a terror environment in which we all feared loosing our rights with his plans of handing out our country to Chavez, who has been the greatest sponsor of the poll that Mel pretended to have today, without the approval of congress and the national election authorities. With the only objective of him staying as a dictator. Do not condemn us to a socialist government reinstating Mel Zelaya.

Carlos Rivera, San Pedro Sula, Honduras -I am sad for what has happened in my country, but I am afraid that this all has been a necessary action. I am an 19-year-old student that has no tie whatsoever to political ties. I have been witness to many things happening in my country and many evidences of ex-president Manuel Zelaya of clear disrespect to the laws of my country with the sole purpose of extending his mandate and changing the constitution and the democratic system. I feel the need for the international press to know this and listen the voice of the population. What has happened today is not a "plot by a voracious elite" like ex-president argued, it is the inevitable consequences to the constitutional infringement that this person has done in our country.

Warren Post, Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras -President Zelaya did not respect the Honduran Constitution, Congress, Hondurans or the Supreme Court. He was imposing his views, he was warned of the illegality and unconstitutionality of his acts. His dismissal is a fair one. Alma Garcia, Olancho, Honduras
Here in Santa Rosa de Copan there is an atmosphere of festivity following the military removal of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya this morning. Citizens here strongly oppose Zelaya and are asking one another "What took the Armed Forces so long?" The only anger I saw was in a coffee shop where Hondurans expressed indignation at what they perceived as pro-Zelaya bias in international news reporting.

Original BBC Page:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/talking_point/8123529.stm

Coup, coo, coo-coo

2009-06-30T08:05:00.002-04:00

Thoughts on Honduras from friends there.

In His Hands / En Sus manos;

Kevin S. Abegg

From: Friends

Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 12:26 PM
Subject: coup, coo, coo-coo

Howdy all,
Mmmm, where to begin?
Well, we are safe here in .......... and our streets are fairly quite, for Latin America because no one told the chickens and the dogs!
We now have a nationwide curfew from 9pm-6am. It was effective yesterday and starting again tonight. It really was a good thing that Mel (our ex-president) left, as he broke the law. He and his buddy Hugo Chavez from Venezuela just did not want him to stop being president at the end of the year when his term limit was over. We think this is a good thing.
We have decided to not move tomorrow and not load up the trucks today.
It is not that we enjoy living in an empty house with not fridge, no stove, no washer, no dryer and only 3 office chairs to sit on, it is just that we are unsure of driving across the country and since there is no rush to get there other than some comforts, we thought better safe than sorry.
It is not many times you are given an extra day to pack up a house, so that is good.
We had a HUGE thunder and lightening storm last night which knocked out the electricity around 5pm. It has not fully recovered, as we are in a brown out, but we get electricity a little here and there. Lucky us, it is only our neighborhood.
So, really the fridge, stove, washer and dryer probably would not work anyway!
We had eaten most of our food so we could eat out our last days here, as we love to eat out, but that did not work out so well as everything was closed yesterday. Our great neighbors fed us lunch and dinner!
Our US phone has worked on and off, so we have called the grandmas and the grandpa.
....... said:

Putting 100 monkeys in a room with typewriters for 10,000 hours may not produce Shakespeare, but it will almost certainly produce the international news coverage of the situation in Honduras.

Well put my dear.
So, keeping on praying for us down here. For wisdom when to move, for safety for so many missionaries down here, for Mr Chavez to stay in his own country and not come and visit ours with his army, and for Mrs Clinton to get her facts straight.
Hope your day is dull and boring. It is much more fun.

T.......