Category: Mission Update

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,