Dear friends, family, and supporters,

It is—and has been—my (Tabi’s) turn to write the newsletter for a while now. Given that I have gone four months without sending one out, I probably have some explaining to do before I dive into everything we’ve been up to.
Several months ago, I had this idea for how to turn our newsletter into a video update. It would include news updates, a “person of the month” section, and a “Chile tidbits” section. I named the project Kimelü, the Mapuche word for “to make known.” I scripted it, filmed the first rough episode (if you could call it that), and began editing the video content. At this point, my computer problems began.

First, the monitor gave out. That wasn’t too hard a problem to get around, since we have other devices that could connect to it and function as a monitor. I kept editing for about a week. Then the computer started crashing. Sometimes, it wouldn’t turn on. Sometimes, it would turn on, but not allow the other device to connect. The problems got worse and worse until one day, it just wouldn’t work for me anymore. I took it in for repairs.

The technician, having checked my computer, told me that the hard drive had been ruined. It needed to be replaced. Any files, programs, or settings I had on the old one would be lost. This was a devastating blow to me. I checked an external hard drive of mine to see if I had a back-up of the information. I did, but I couldn’t get to the information. The technician suggested that perhaps the hard drive had corrupted my backup. I had backed up my pictures and music separately, so I hadn’t lost that . . . but I had lost everything else.

We bought a new hard drive for the computer, the same size and with the same capabilities as the old one. A couple of weeks after we got the computer back, Mike found a way to access my backup, and I recovered all of the files I had believed lost forever. I felt like the woman who lost a coin of value to her (Lk. 15) and, having searched her house thoroughly, found it and threw a party.

Now here I am, writing a newsletter on a working (if considerably emptier) computer. I am, bit by bit, recovering the files and programs I used to have on it. Until I get things back to normal, I have decided that going back to the letter format for the newsletter is probably the best option for now. I offer my deepest apologies for the long time without hearing from us. I made the mistake of thinking that something fancy would make up for a long silence.
So what have we been doing all this time? Here’s a letter I wrote in May (but never sent because I tried to turn it into a video).

Hello, friends and family! Tabi here, writing the newsletter this time around.

I keep wondering: Where does the time go so fast? And why is it in a hurry to get there, anyway?

We are comfortably into May, the weather has cooled down from sizzling temperatures back to something much more comfortable. It even rained one day. Complete with thunder and lightning. Now, having grown up in a tropical area of Mexico, where thunderstorms are fairly frequent in the rainy season, I deeply enjoy hearing storms outside my window. The lightning illuminates the sky, the thunder booms and rolls by, and then everything goes back to the rain whispering, “Shhhhh . . .” Santiago does not get these kinds of storms very often at all. Having a vibrant thunderstorm the other night was a delightful treat.

In April, my mother came to visit Chile. She stayed for two wonderful weeks, time in which we visited several tourist spots in the city, as well as traveling a few hours south. She seems to have had a good time. I know I did.

Earlier this month, Mike fell pretty violently ill. He told me that his back hurt and itched, and when I checked, I saw he had an angry red welt. We wondered if maybe a spider had bitten him. As soon as he felt steady enough the next day, we hurried to a nearby clinic. “Did you see the spider?” the doctor asked. “No,” we replied, “we just assumed . . .” He asked a few more questions, then wrote out a prescription, as well as an order for several lab tests. “I think it’s shingles,” he told us, “but get the tests to make sure.” To make a long story short, it was shingles. Mike had been taking an allergy medicine that lowered his immune system, which made him catch a stomach virus, which totally depleted his immune system, and caused the shingles to break out. He’s recovering quickly, and that’s a praise.

I’ve taken to doing translation work, since it seems that the radio station is out of commission, at least for a few more months. I’ve also had time to dedicate to working on updating our Facebook page, as well as a new project I’ve got going called “Operation Encouragement.” I’ve made a group that dedicates itself to doing anything they can to encourage someone else. Whether that be leaving a hand-written note for them, giving a compliment, doing random acts of kindness, joining the “free hugs” movement . . . it doesn’t matter, so long as they find a way to encourage someone else. We keep in touch on Facebook. It’s only in its opening stages, but already people are sharing encouraging things they’ve seen . . . which, of course, is encouraging to me, as well.

If you have Facebook, remember to visit our page. We post pictures and updates there regularly. We love to hear from you via comments or simply by “liking” our stuff.
That letter takes you up through May. Here’s the rest to catch you up through June and July.

In June we celebrated our sixth anniversary by going to a cabin in the Andes for a couple of days. We hiked every day, grilled all of our food, and had a lovely time. June was the month where everything went awry with the computer. With no computer to use, I turned to deep-cleaning the house, selling old furniture, buying new, and getting things in a little more order. June also marked a new experience for Mike—he got his first interns. Jay Lanunziata and Brittany Meinsen came early in June to stay in Chile for two months. They wanted to work at the Swanson’s children’s home (Residencia Familia Cristiana), but the Swansons wouldn’t be around to receive them, so Mike received them instead. They arranged to have the two interns work at Residencia Familia Cristiana (RFC) and live there, under the watchful eye of the supervisor and resident psychologist, Fabiola Ojeda. Mike has been in regular contact with the children’s home and with the interns, trying to make sure their experience here is positive. I have continued to cook there once a week, searching for recipes from all over the world in order to give them new culinary experiences.

July was fun. We had a 4th of July party with the kids at RFC, and invited a few American friend over to join us. We played board games with the kids and had a blast. Later on in the month, we took the interns far south in Chile, to a town called Puerto Varas. It’s extraordinarily beautiful, and we got to see sights, as well as meet our Christian brothers and sisters down that way. I also got most of the kinks out of my computer in July, which to me is another cause for celebration.

So there have my extremely long update for you all. Do remember to check out our Facebook page, if you have Facebook. You’ll find us as Cornerstone Chilean Mission. Or you could drop by our website: Cornerstone Chilean Mission. We love to hear from you (probably as much as you love to hear from us). Once in a while, we receive a hand-written letter, and it blesses us greatly.

May the Lord bless you all richly.

In Him,

Mike and Tabi Boyce

Summer is coming to an end here in Chile. We are enjoying some cooler temperatures now with highs only in the 80’s and lows in the 50’s. We still have no clouds most days. Kids go back to school at the beginning of March, following their summer vacations and church attendance picks up as family vacations are mainly over. For me, this has meant resuming my classes. It looks like I will have 4 groups going through courses. Three of them will be doing basic doctrine and I will be writing a new course for the other group. The largest group has 12 people signed up. The second group will have around 6 people. The third group is just forming, so the size is unknown. The group getting a new course will have 3-4 people. It is the group that has gone through my other three courses and is eager to proceed. I am very happy to see the courses moving forward in this way. The Lord is seems to be blessing this work a lot. My other ministry activities have continued. I continue as an elder of the local church. The elders rotate preaching and teaching. My main role in the eldership is coordinating the preaching and teaching, developing sermon series and Sunday School classes. I revise the sermons when the others preach to give tips and suggestions, as well. Tabi and I participate in home group and are hoping to start planning some activities with the church’s young adults.

Tabi’s work has faced a setback. The website that hosts the radio where Tabi does her program was hacked and started distributing malware. The missionaries that run the site were forced to take it offline. They have decided to go ahead and use this opportunity to modernize the site before going back online. They expect to start the radio program again in May, Lord willing. Tabi will be helping on some church projects in the meantime and we’ll see what else God may have in store for her. One great thing in store for her (us) is that her mother will be arriving to spend a fortnight with us!

Overall things are going well here. We hired a real estate agent to help us find office rental space. I am hoping to be able to use it for my classes, make better use of the space in our home, and hopefully to enhance my productivity. We are looking at various options including places that might serve as a home and office, might be adequate to share with the local church, etc. We are asking the Lord for wisdom in considering locations, price considerations, and so forth. Our first application for residency was not accepted on a technicality. This is not uncommon. A local church with experience with these matters (and where I am teaching one of my courses) has graciously offered to help us in this. We are grateful for pretty good health (besides some minor colds and such). We are grateful for the good friends we have here and the many opportunities we have to minister. We are also grateful for the thoughts and prayers of all of our friends and family in the USA. Thank you for all your support, and prayers, and Facebook messages, and emails.

We meet for prayer with other independent missionaries (Jack Swanson and the Fought family) weekly. If any of you have things you would like us to be in prayer for privately or in this prayer group, please let us know.

Prayer Requests
· Radio station progress
· Office hunt
· Spiritual growth and ministry effectiveness
· Wisdom in a whole host of matters

Blessings,
Mike and Tabi Boyce
Cornerstone Chilean Mission
330-596-2390

We’ve had an exciting time here lately. We’re glad to hear that everyone is okay after the earthquake in the US!

Hello everyone,

Life in Chile

We are having a good time in Santiago, Chile’s winter now. In the winter we get lows in the 30’s and highs range from 40’s up through 60’s. It is also the rainy season. It isn’t really all that much rain compared to most of the U.S. but more than enough to flood the streets here. Our street seems to be especially susceptible to flooding. We celebrated our anniversary on June 3^rd, marking 5 years!

Tabi’s ministry

Our ministries are progressing. Tabi has been hosting a radio program online at Radio Integridad. Her co host will now be forming his own program. Here is the link to listen: (http://www.integridad.com/radiointegridad.php). Tabi’s program airs from 3:30-5:00PM eastern time on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She talks about topics relevant to Christian living and plays music. Some topics have included: Christian service, bullying and respect in debate, church traditions, and family relations. It is an interactive program using a live chat program. Just as a warning, it is in Spanish. Tabi continues to help in the Sunday School class for kids when necessary and helps lead the singing on Sunday mornings. Tabi had been doing a fair bit of translation work, as well.

Mike’s ministry

I, Mike, continue to teach classes from the house, and am working on how to get some good reading material for my students. I’ll be starting the 3^rd round of courses in July. In the first round I taught a hermeneutics class for 6 weeks. In the second round I expanded the hermeneutics class to 8 weeks and introduced an 8 week basic doctrine course. In the 3^rd round I will introduce a preaching course for those who have successfully completed hermeneutics and doctrine. I had a meeting on June 21^st with a young leader from a local church, Darío, and will be helping teach a biblical study on Thursday evenings there. In addition to my teaching ministry outside our congregation, I am also teaching Sunday School, have been named an elder of the church, am helping plan sermon series, am part of the preaching rotation, am proof-checking the sermons of the others who preach, and have a few other responsibilities in the church we attend, Iglesia de Cristo Jesús es el Camino (Jesus is the Way, Church of Christ). It is a great blessing for me to be able to serve in these ways, especially teaching and training. My Spanish continues to improve. I switched over to writing lessons plans and sermons in Spanish (rather than writing in English, then translating) several months ago. At first Tabi had a lot of proof reading to do on each. She doesn’t have to do quite as much now in each document. She does still check all of my documents so I can be sure I am saying what I intend to say.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Tabi and I are planning to be in the US in October and November. We would like to start arranging times to visit with any of you who are interested in October and the first half of November. We will be heading to the National Missionary Convention Nov 16-20 in Atlanta. Please be in prayer for the trip, the visits, and our transportation situation (we sold our cars before coming to Chile). We’ll be trying to get a little more support since we came on about half of our original goal.

Thanks so much to all of you have sacrificed for our sake and for the Kingdom. It is always encouraging to remember that prayers are being offered on our behalf, and we don’t doubt God’s power to respond to our prayers. We wish you all many blessings.

Greetings to all our friends and family who support us in more ways that we can count! It was brought to our attention recently that we haven’t written a newsletter since December. Much to our surprise, we found this to be true. So much has happened since then that we seem to have lost track of time. Let’s catch up, then, shall we?

January

Having enjoyed a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s, we got back down to business, Mike continuing to preach and teach Sunday school at church, and Tabi going twice a week to do volunteer work with another missionary, as well as still singing on the music team at church. During this time, Mike also visited a man from our congregation who has cancer, and another girl from church who had to have an emergency gallbladder surgery.

Some special events:

January 22nd, Mike began teaching his first class from home. He decided to make the first course a study of Hermeneutics (how to study the Bible) since, to his thinking, there’s no better place to start with than the Word of God. For 8 weeks after that, five students gathered every Saturday to take the class.

January 28th, Tabi went to a women’s retreat just outside of Santiago. The theme for the week was “Worshiping God in Everything.”

February

The weather in February was fabulous (albeit excessively warm some days). Mike, as a Sunday school teacher, joined the ranks of church leadership as a voice on the board. In order to fully and carefully address various issues in the church, the leadership board met every week for the entire month of February. Mike also continued to preach.

Some special events:

February 6th, we invited some friends over for the Super Bowl, which was being streamed in Spanish to Chile (minus the commercials, sadly). We made all kinds of fun “traditional” Super Bowl food, like hot wings, chili dogs, and chips & salsa. Of course, we watched the game, too.

February 15th, Tabi went back to Penco to do some work as photographer and sound technician. They did activities for the children every afternoon; singing, playing games, and giving child-friendly classes.

February 27th, we took another trip over to Argentina to renew our Visa.

March

The temperatures stayed high this month. March was a month of settling into routines, then getting shaken up abruptly into furious activity. Mike continued as occasional preacher and regular Sunday school teacher at church. Tabi began her internet radio show with co-host Luis Almonacid on the Integridad Ministries website. She also stayed on as singer on the music team. At the end of the month, Mike also started up his second round of classes; Hermeneutics on Monday evenings, and Basic Theology on Saturday mornings.

Some special events:

March 11th, we heard about the devastating earthquake in Japan. Our church, having been through a massive earthquake themselves, promptly dedicated themselves to praying for Japan.

March 19th, the church began the process of changing buildings. The new building, however, needed some reconstructive work done on it, so several of the members met at the new place and worked all day to improve the building. This activity was repeated the next Saturday, as well, on March 26th.

April

April has brought us changes in temperature, as well as many changes around us. The church switched over the new building and has been trying to figure out how best to lay out their chairs, instruments, etc. The music team changed their style from “contemporary” to “acoustic,” switching the drum set out for bongos, the electric and acoustic guitars for one bass guitar, and one of the voices (Tabi’s) for a flute. Mike preached three sermons in a row this month, on top of his giving his classes, Sunday school, and keeping up his regular weekly activities. Tabi and Luis settled into a comfortable routine for their internet radio show, and covered such topics as freedom, bullying, and family.

Some special events:

April 9th, Mike convinced the leaders to have a meeting to restructure the leadership following a Biblical model. After a long meeting and much debate, the group emerged with four elected elders and one deacon. Mike agreed to step in as one of the elders for the duration of one year, after which time he would step down.

April 22nd, the church had a special Good Friday service. Mike preached about how the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur was a festival designed to illustrate the death of Jesus, and what it would accomplish. Tabi dusted off her classical flute-playing skills and played a piece by Bach. And most exciting of all, a girl came up after the sermon, asking to be baptized.

April 24th, Easter Sunday! Always a day to celebrate and remember.

So that’s our time so far in Chile. We’ve been busy and loving it. We pray that things are going well for you, and that God blesses you as much as He has blessed us.

Blessings,

Mike and Tabi Boyce

Hello everyone,

December 10^th will mark one year for us in Chile. Time really seems to be flying by. When we arrived one year ago, my Spanish was barely enough for me (Mike) to get by with. My main goal for our first year was to improve my Spanish. I think I have been able to do so. I still have my problems, and a thick “gringo” accent, but it is adequate for most situations. We quickly found a cheap little apartment to rent in about the area we wanted to be in. We have excellent access to public transportation from here, as well as street markets and supermarkets.

I praise and thank God for the opportunities He has given us to minister here. In January (just a month after we got here) we went on a youth retreat and I was able to teach the Bible portion of the lessons for each day. I also started to integrate into the preaching rotation and help with the preparation of Sunday School material.

In February, as you all know, we experienced a very strong earthquake. We were able to comfort our neighbors who were very frightened at the time. We spent the following week planning how we could help nearer to the epicenter. I went with a group of guys from a couple of churches to a coastal town where we distributed food and other supplies and helped with the manual labor such as tearing down unsafe houses and helping people digging through rubble for their belongings. We have also been to another town where there is ongoing work with the Swansons.

I have continued since then to be part of the regular preaching rotation in the local church. It is good practice for my Spanish and preaching skills, and of course, an opportunity to preach the gospel. After one sermon, two people came forward to be baptized. I have also been able to be part of a home group, I have been able to make friends, and to visit people from the church. The planning of Sunday School lessons has been very rewarding, and together with a fellow named Ivan, we recently completed our lesson plans for the book of 2 Corinthians. I also get to teach Sunday School, alternating with Ivan.

In addition to these ministries, I get to be part of the leadership meetings for the local church, helping to plan sermon topics, address issues and such. It is helpful for me to watch and learn how things are done here, what meetings are like, how people address issues, etc.

We have been able to travel and get to know several churches throughout Chile, meet some former missionaries, and go to a conference for ministers and their wives. I was able to make a lot of contracts through those meetings, that I hope to be able to use for future leadership training.

Tabi has also had a lot of opportunities since being here. She too was part of the youth retreat in January, and has been part of the earthquake relief. Since her focus is on media ministry, she filmed some of the work that was being done on the coast and made a video for it. She has also produced videos for the local church and a DVD for the Swansons (the missionaries with whom we work most closely), among other miscellaneous projects. Another missionary family, the Thurstons, have allowed Tabi to work with them. They have been on the field for 40+ years and have a lot of valuable experience and wisdom to share. Tabi volunteers there and thereby gains experience that will help her when she is able to set up her own media ministry in the future.

God has given us a lot of opportunities and a lot to be thankful for. Our whole life can be a ministry for Him if we’ll allow it. For example, buying fruit in the street market, Tabi struck up a conversation with a vendor. A couple weeks later, we were able to get a couple that hadn’t been to church in a long time into a local Church of Christ. Now we are developing friendships with other vendors. We’ve gained the trust of our neighbors in our apartment building, and I foresee good things coming out of that.

I thought I would include in this one-year anniversary edition a little about our life here. Most of you already know that our seasons are opposite the US. We are going into summer right now and have sun almost every day. Highs have been upper 70’s to mid 80’s for the last couple of weeks. It is still odd to walk into the supermarket and see Christmas trees and ornaments alongside beach towels and swimsuits.

Twice a week, each neighborhood has a street market with fruits and vegetables, called a feria. There are several that we can easily walk to, but the closest is only a block away and occurs Tuesdays and Fridays. On those days, they close the street early in the morning. By about 10 AM most of the vendors have set up their booths. Most of the booths sell fruits and/or vegetables, but there we usually have a fish and seafood booth or two, a few selling plants, some selling clothes, others with kitchen supplies and other food items. There is one stand selling hotdogs and sandwiches. The whole thing ends in the early afternoon. We usually prefer buying meat at a butcher or at the supermarket (Wal-mart even owns a supermarket chain here), rather than from the street vendors

On weekends and holidays, we can walk to another type of street market that is sort of like a flea market, called a persa. This street market sets up on Saturdays and doesn’t end until Sunday night. Bigger than a feria, it sprawls across 10 to 20 city blocks. Instead of food, here we can find clothing, kitchen items, appliance parts, pet supplies (and pets), sunglasses, toys, and even paintings. Some items are new, but a lot are used. If we get hungry doing all that “window” shopping, sprinkled all through thepersa are little food stands selling hot dogs, pizza, and sandwiches. Or you can get ice cream, candies, desserts, or juices.

As fun as it is to wander through the persa, it’s also fun to hop on the bus and head down to one of the malls in Santiago (Santiago is a large, modern city), or to visit one of the beautiful parks and see the street performers entertain passersby.

Well, this coming year promises to have a lot in store for us as well. Our new home has made the news a few times this year. From the earthquake to the 33 miners to a major fire just this week killing 80+ people. But God has been good to us, has given us opportunities to serve, and has allowed us to grow spiritually as well. We pray that He will continue to allow us to serve Him effectively.

We thank each of you for your prayers and concern for us through this year and into the future. We are hoping that we will be able to visit the US toward the end of 2011, including the National Missionary Convention and will look forward to seeing as many of you as possible! May God bless you in the Christmas season coming up, as we remember the blessing He has given us in sending His Son to be our Savior.

Greetings all,