As we enter the New Year, we are feeling quite blessed in so many ways. 2021 hasn’t necessarily been the easiest year for us, we see God’s working even in difficult times. We know that for many of you as well it has been a trying year. We pray for those suffering from loss and uncertainty be comforted by God and sustained in the coming year.

As of our last update, Tabi was working on translating Jack Cottrell’s commentary on Romans. She is still working on that. She still sings in our church meetings.

As of our last update, Mike was teaching classes online and continues as an elder in the local church and shares in the preaching with Jaime Escobar, with each preaching about 50% of the time. This continues to be the case.

As of our last update, Lydia was in kindergarten. She did great (as expected) and loved going to school.  Next year she will be attending a virtual school for first grade, and we are sure she will do well with this too.

As of our last update, Caleb was getting lots of testing done. The results of a genetic study sent off to Germany came back with a diagnosis. Caleb has a genetic condition called Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome. We had never heard of it. So, if you haven’t, you aren’t alone! It is a rare condition affecting less than 1 in 100,000. We had to do a bunch of follow-up testing such as EKG, ultrasounds, ECG, MRI and blood work. So far, the results of those are good. He mainly is showing behavioral issues and delays in language and development. We are seeing occupational and speech therapists and searching for the best strategies to help him advance as much as he can.

Our church is back to fully in-person. We are trying to get back to the pre-pandemic format we used, where there was a light breakfast served and we sit at tables during the service, to encourage fellowship and seeing the faces of our brothers and sisters in the church instead of the back of their head. We still transmit on Zoom for members or visitors who need that for some reason (quarantines, health, distance). But absent a good reason, we ask people to make the effort to be present and experience Christian fellowship, believing that to be an important part of the Christian walk.

We hope to get back to some in-person studies and classes and to be able to travel and get together with people. We ask for continued prayer as Chile writes a new constitution that should be finished this year and then there will be a vote to approve or reject the new constitution. If rejected, the current one will remain in effect. Chile could use a lot of prayer for peace in the political realm, with regards to increasing crime, and some terrorist groups operating in the last few years, which seem to be getting bolder over time.

As of our last update we hoped to be in the US in the second half of 2022, and we still hope to do this. We will be working on scheduling church visits and planning our time in the US. If you or your church would like to get together with us between July and November, please let us know.

Of course, we are not Paul and our sufferings don’t compare but this passage expresses well my desire to continue serving the Lord and the church to help Christians reach maturity and to help current leadership and assist with the training of new leaders.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. (Col 1:24-29)

Hello to all our brothers and sisters in Christ,

What a blessing it is to be able to serve our Lord! We are glad to be under His care and to be part of His Kingdom. We are grateful to God for each of you and for prayers that you send up on our behalf.

We are here in the middle of the Chilean winter. Temperatures in the winter here get down around freezing at night, and commonly up to the 50’s in the days. A lot is happening this winter that we are happy to be able to share.

 

Tabi’s work is progressing. She has been helping some other missionaries who have a media studio. She is learning a lot from them and has some upcoming projects with them, such as a conference in Buenos Aires in September. She will be working with her brother to design a website for our ministry and will be putting together a VBS packet for churches in the US. She has some projects for the church here that she has completed, such as a short video for the children’s Sunday that we had recently. Some other churches have expressed interest in her work as well. She has a good start and, as we all expect, everybody here enjoys getting to know her.

Mike is in the preaching rotation and is continuing to make progress in his Spanish. His preaching in Spanish still isn’t quite as fluid as in English, but is getting better and people in the congregation can now understand the majority of what he is trying to communicate. Of course, God’s Word is powerful and effective, even if the preacher mispronounces a word here and there! After his sermon on July 25^th, two people came forward to ask to be baptized! Mike still works in the Sunday School program with a Chilean named Ivan. They meet together weekly to prepare a lesson plan and co-teach the class Sunday morning. The class is currently going through 1 Corinthians. In addition to preaching, Mike helps plan the sermon topics and themes for the local church, meeting with the leaders. This year’s theme is Spiritual Maturity. In addition to the church work, Mike is still coordinating contacts with people interested in Christian education in Chile. We schedule at least one Sunday per month to visit a different church to try to build new contacts and relationships. Mike will be going to a gathering of Christian Church leaders a few hours south of Santiago in August.

 

Things are going well in terms of health. We are feeling more and more at home here. We have lots of good friends here in Chile and enjoy spending time with them. It is nice to feel “at home” in our little apartment.

 

Blessings,

Mike & Tabi Boyce

 

Prayer Requests

 

• Continued Spanish and culture learning
• Relationship building
• Spiritual growth for us; also wisdom and discernment
• That God will utilize us for His Church
• Ministry progress

Hello everyone.

Blessings from Chile. We haven’t sent out an update since letting you all know that we were okay following the earthquake. Things have been busy and good. The number of things we’ve been a part of since being here in Chile seem astounding to me. We have helped in English Club in a school and another one for adults. Both English Clubs are once-a-week ministries here. We help out once in a while.

We did a one-week youth retreat back in January that went well. Mike got to teach youths from the church some basic doctrine and Tabi filmed and photographed the retreat as well as talking to the kids about developing and using artistic abilities for the Kingdom. Seeing the youth make genuine progress was rewarding.

We also have gone through the earthquake and taken relief trips to help after the earthquake. Mike met with church leaders and missionaries and made them aware of IDES so that they could help more. Following the earthquake we have also created a Facebook page for the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ in Chile. As ongoing earthquake relief progresses, we are hoping and praying that this Facebook page can become a means by which churches and missionaries can coordinate work and resources, so that Kingdom work can be done as effectively and efficiently as possible. The earthquakes have “thrown a wrench in the works” as they say. Lots of things we had planned pretty much got put on hold for a month or more. It was good that we did not have a lot of obligations yet, which left us free to help others with immediate needs.

From Mike: Unfortunately, the Bible Institute plans that I had have not materialized as planned. In fact, to the best of my knowledge the Bible Institute that I was planning on helping is nonfunctioning at this point. I am, therefore, using my gifts in other ways – still with the goal of training and equipping future church leadership, especially in the areas of Bible and Doctrine. At the moment I am planning on offering weekend seminars at Christian Churches and Churches of Christ throughout the country. This will give me the opportunity to polish my Spanish (which has been coming along quite well, I think), teach and train, as well as gaining recognition among the churches. I am hoping to build on the seminars in the future. I have been looking to plug into some work already started, but have not found any among the Restoration Movement churches yet – though my contacts are still limited. I am praying about and considering possibly starting a Bible Institute at some point in the future. Meanwhile, in the local congregation I am helping with coordination of Home Group themes, creating Sunday School lessons for the adult Sunday School and helping with the teaching, entering the preaching rotation, and participating in various other coordination efforts in the church. I am also offering to guest preach at other churches. In fact, May 16th was my first guest preaching outside of our local congregation. In addition, I am monitoring the Facebook page and trying to extend it to be an aid to unity among the churches. So far it has 90 or so “followers” from various parts of Chile.

From Tabi: Although there have been some delays, I am now working with Jim Thurston (another missionary with a media studio) who will be helping to further train me to go out and start my own studio. Jim Thurston has two extensive websites, on which he posts news stories, articles, interviews, music, videos, and events. I work with him two days a week, during which time he talks to me about the logistics of setting up a media studio. His son, Paul Thurston, knows a great deal about technology. He gives me suggestions for what to buy, and what kind of equipment would be best to have. I’ve been editing a video lately. I didn’t realize how much I had forgotten from college! Fortunately, most of it is coming back to me quickly. Besides this work, I have enjoyed playing hostess to guests who come to our home, am helping teach the 5th – 7th graders at church, and have been doing odd jobs here and there in the graphic design area. I’ve been kept pretty busy, and that has been exciting and fun. I’m looking forward to what God has in store for me and for Mike.

We thank God for all the prayers for us and the people here following the earthquake. What a blessing all of the encouragement that we received was! Our God is good and wise and loving and powerful. The earthquake was a good reminder of what a firm belief in our Lord Jesus Christ can do. Following the earthquake many people panicked. They no longer felt safe in their own homes. Yet, during the earthquake we knew that come what may, we had nothing to fear although we didn’t know what physical harm may come. Rather, we know that we had placed our hope in our Lord and Savior. Our sins have all been forgiven, and we can rest assured of God’s grace. What a blessing that assurance is (kind of reminds me of a hymn)! So, in the midst of so much fear, we could calmly be a light as we sat outside in the middle of the night conversing with our frightened neighbors. When we went to the earthquake zone (within 10 miles of the epicenter), we had no fear. Our lives are, as always, in God’s hands. We never have any assurance of what this life will bring, except that God will be true to any promise He has made. As He has blessed us in so many ways, including through your prayers, may He continue to bless all of you, richly.

Blessings,

Mike & Tabi Boyce