Greg's December 2012 Newsletter

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from Chile! As we roll into the warmth of summer here I often have to remind myself that you all are entering into the cold of winter; but wherever this finds you, I wish you much love and joy this holiday season. As I have followed the tragic events of the recent shooting in Conn., I am also reminded to stop and appreciate every day I am alive because you never know when our time is up. All that to say, I pray that all of you are able to spend the holidays with your loved ones and remember the one true Gift of the season: Jesus.

FIRST: We finally found a place to have our larger Fuego Urbano gatherings!  The place I mentioned in my previous newsletter didn’t work out but we found a better place that is right across the street from the beach and the surf-school that is the gathering place for all the surfers in La Serena. Everyone in La Serena surfs right there because it is the only half-mile stretch that has surfable waves, and the place we have reserved is right in front of it! We actually tried to get this place before but were not able, and it only worked out this time because we know someone who knows everyone who works there. The room will cost $1350/month and fits up to 120 people, so it will be a bit of a challenge to cover all that but we already have a financial commitment that covers almost half of the yearly-amount, which means we will need to come up with the other half this year. In order to do that we will begin taking offerings right away with the hope that when it comes time for us to pay the rent, we will be able to. The surfers Bible Study will get rolled into this Sunday night gathering starting on Sunday Jan 6^th, and the gathering in Las Companias will move to a mid-week time because many there will also be going together. We are super excited about all the possibilities this opens up for us, as it puts all the surfers, body-boarders, and all those who hang out at the beach or do any kind of beach-activities of sports (there are lots) at our fingertips. It is also pretty ideal for the skaters, since the new skate-park on the beach is just a couple miles down the beach. Please pray God will use this new opportunity to really impact La Serena! Here is a picture from the beach looking back at the surf-school on the left, along with the hotel we will be using just over to the right:

SECOND: The Brazilian mission-team that came last summer has just arrived again to help with the summer sports programs in Las Compañías for the next 3 weeks. They will be helping Pepe run all the sports programs, allowing me to be freed up to focus on the skaters and surfers. Please pray God would draw lots of people to Him through the programs and through the visit of this team.

THIRD: We have finalized the team of elders for Fuego Urbano. They are Sandra, Mauri & Kara Farias, and Gislaine (Pepe’s wife). These 4 will serve with Pepe and I as a sort of pastoral team for the church. Mauri & Kara are a Chilean/Canadian couple who has lots of history with Pepe, Gislaine, and I since we all served together in the same missions organization about 7-8 years ago. They bring lots of trust, maturity, strength, and gifts to their respective roles with Fuego Urbano. Sandra runs one of the hotels in La serena and we met her while looking for a place to have our larger Fuego Urbano meetings. Sandra has 2 teenage daughters and is incredibly passionate about Jesus and young people, acting like a mom/mentor/older sister/aunt to all the surfers at the Surfers Bible Study (she buys and prepares pizzas each week for everyone). She has been a huge blessing to us and knows everyone in La Serena. In fact, if not for her we would not have been able to get the hotel we now have reserved. We are blessed to have her! And you all know Gislaine (Pepe’s wife), but with the very complicated pregnancy, birth, and recovery of Gean Felipe, Gislaine has been out of any official ministry roles for the past 1.5 years. This is her first step back into active ministry, now that Gean Felipe is over a year old and doing great.  Pepe and I will meet once every month, or every other month, with this group to pray for Fuego Urbano, talk about any issues, and cast vision for the future.

FOURTH: While skateboarding in Santiago with Henry last month I suffered some pretty bad bruising and swelling all over my left hip/thigh and elbow. 1-month later the bruise on my thigh is still not completely gone, and I experienced swelling like never before. It got so bad that my body started responding to any small incident by swelling up. That led to my right hand swelling up for 2 days, then my left one; then I burned my lip drinking some hot tea and my whole upper-lip swelled like a balloon, which then spread to my right eye for a few days. All that to say: I’m not sure what I’m going to do about skateboarding because I’m a little concerned about the physical toll the falls have taken on my body. So please pray God would watch over me and give me some discernment.

FINALLY: As always there are 3 ways you may give financially to Fuego Urbano. For Automatic Monthly Online Donations you may sign up for amounts of $25, $50, $100, or $200 per month. Just go to the right side of my Blog (http://greghaugh.blogspot.com) where it says ‘Recurring Donation’ and adjust drop-down menu to the amount you’d like to give each month; then click ‘Subscribe’ and it will take you through the process. One-Time Online Donations are available as well: click the ‘Donate’ button on my Blog just below where it says ‘1-Time Donation’ and it will take you through the process. Or if you prefer Personal Checks you can make them out to ‘Fishers of Men Fellowship’ and mail them to: Fishers of Men Fellowship, PO Box 9284, Newport Beach, CA 92658.  And all donations are fully tax-deductible.

We're so grateful for all of you and wish you all the best this Christmas & New Years!

Greg Haugh & Jose, Gislaine, Gabriel, and Gean-Felipe Eyzaguirre

Greg's Newsletter, November 2012

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! As I write this letter on Thanksgiving Day in Chile, I can not let this opportunity pass without telling you all how thankful we are for you. The past 2 years have been filled with amazing challenges but we serve an amazing God who has provided for our needs through your support and prayers; so this Thanksgiving we give thanks for you!

FIRST: We found out last week that the room we were going to rent for our Fuego Urbano services is no longer available to rent. That was both a bummer and a surprise, since the owner never mentioned anything about any issues before, so we began looking immediately for another room but without much success. Then just today we spoke with the manager at a nearby hotel who was really excited about us being there and reserving one of their rooms. It fits about 100 people and the hotel has incredible geographic location: about 100 yards from the beach and right next to the biggest landmark in all of La Serena, so everyone knows exactly where it is. It is also about a 5-10 minute walk to the university campuses, so it would be really close for university students as well. All in all, the room would be great, but it would be a little more then double the price of the room we were going to rent. All things considered, it is still fairly cheap compared to other rooms, and the geographic location is a huge plus. So please pray that all goes well in this reservation process, as we could meet with the person to finalize everything as soon as tomorrow (Friday, Nov 23).

SECOND: Last Friday Henry & I went to Santiago to skate the highest bowl in Chile. Henry and I have always talked about making trips to skate different skate-parks, and since both of us love skating in bowls, we have always wanted to go skate the bowl at ‘Parque O’Higgins’ because it is the highest bowl in Chile. We traveled through the night, arrived around 8am and skated all day until coming back home around 7pm. We were absolutely exhausted when we got back but all in all it was an awesome time together. Just so you know: the bowl there starts around 9ft and goes up to about 12ft, and next time we go we will bring a few others along, now that we know how to arrive ok. Below is a picture of one of the local skaters at Parque O’Higgins as he flies about 6ft above the bowl:

THIRD: We continue to be amazed by the hunger, openness, and genuine desire to know God by those who come to the Surfers’ Bible-Study. In fact one of our regulars, who is also one of the managers at the local surf-school, was invited by Chile’s Olympic Committee to go to Peru to compete for Chile in an international surf & beach-games competition. He was invited to represent Chile as a long-boarder, since that is what he specializes in, and did not have to spend one peso since he was invited by Team Chile. Please continue to pray that those coming to the bible-study would continue to open their hearts and minds to Jesus and his Kingdom, and that through this group of surfers we will be able to have a major impact on the whole beach and surfing culture of La Serena this summer. If we are indeed able to get this new room at the hotel I mentioned above, we will be able to do massive amounts of outreaches all over the beaches this summer, and since the hotel will be close by, it will be easier for people to come to Fuego Urbano straight from the beach.

FOURTH: We are still firming up our team of Fuego Urbano elders so please pray God would guide that whole process. We should know within the next week who will be on that team, but please pray God would lead just the right people to step into those roles, as they are crucially important going forward. The idea is that the elders will form part of a pastoral-team with Pepe and I, in that we will all work together to guide and care for the flock of Fuego Urbano. This will be extremely important as we continue to move forward and grow in numbers and ministries.

FINALLY: As always there are 3 ways you may give financially to Fuego Urbano. For Automatic Monthly Online Donations you may sign up for amounts of $25, $50, $100, or $200 per month. Just go to the right side of my Blog (http://greghaugh.blogspot.com) where it says ‘Recurring Donation’ and adjust drop-down menu to the amount you’d like to give each month; then click ‘Subscribe’ and it will take you through the process. One-Time Online Donations are available as well: click the ‘Donate’ button on my Blog just below where it says ‘1-Time Donation’ and it will take you through the process. Or if you prefer Personal Checks you can make them out to ‘Fishers of Men Fellowship’ and mail them to: Fishers of Men Fellowship, PO Box 9284, Newport Beach, CA 92658.  And all donations are fully tax-deductible.

Thanks so much!! We give thanks for you this Thanksgiving!!

Greg Haugh & Jose, Gislaine, Gabriel, and Gean-Felipe Eyzaguirre

Greg's Newsletter, October 2012

Blessings from Chile! We are moving towards summer here and excited about the growing warmth and sun that we will get to enjoy over the next 5 months. That also means lots of cool things for our ministry, so please read below to see and hear more about what God is doing in La Serena through Fuego Urbano.

FIRST: The Ministry with the Surfers of La Serena continues to blossom and grow.

Our surfers-bible study continues to meet weekly, and while we are still hindered by the small space in my apartment where we meet, we know that we will soon have more space to invite lots more people. That said: the surfers’ bible study continues to be an awesome time of conversation about life and God, biblical exploration, and a time to connect relationally with all sorts of surfers and young people. I am teaching a series on the ‘Kingdom of God’ and how it is the key to understanding both Jesus and the Bible, and so far it has gone really well. The surfers continue to be extremely open and hungry to hear about God, Jesus, the Bible, etc. so we continue to have great times in the studies. We have also been surfing together quite a bit, as more and more surfers begin to come and find out about what we are doing. I even made two 3-day surf trips this month with a couple of the better surfers from the group, and it was an awesome time of getting to know each other deeper and developing more trust between us. One of the trips was to accompany Tomás (the best surfer in La Serena and one of the best in all of Chile) to a contest that was ‘invite only’ and devoted exclusively to aerials, so those who were invited were the best aerialists in all of Chile. Tomás had stepped out of the world of surf-competition for almost a year and just recently returned to it, but since it is not an easy world to be around as a follower of Jesus, I told him I would be willing to go to support him if he wanted to go back and compete; so we went and it was an awesome time of getting to know each other better and of being able to meet and share some with some of the best young surfers in all of Chile. Please pray God would continue to open the hearts of the surfers (and the skaters, as I continue to skate 1-2 times per week in both skate-parks in order to continue our ongoing relationship with them) up to His love.

SECOND: We are in the process of forming a church-leadership team for Fuego Urbano.

The team includes Pepe and I as co-pastors, along with a group of 4 others who would basically form a group of 6 elders, and then another group of 8-12 people who would serve as our various ministry leaders. Pepe and I have spoken lots about our vision for this and we have already met with the other 4 potential members of the team of elders, where we explained everything and asked them to pray about it and let us know soon. Then we will begin to work on meeting and talking with the various ministry leaders. The point of all this is to form and prepare our church-leadership so that when we launch our worship services in the hotel this January and are finally able to invite lots more people, we will already have a church-leadership team and ministry-structure in place to receive and care for those who come. Please pray God would continue to prepare the hearts of these leaders and that He would send us gifted committed people as well.

THIRD: We did a short day-trip last Sunday to a beach about an hour north with a number of the people from Las Compañías. We wanted to get away and go have fun with those who could come, so we planned it and made a day out of it. The beach we went to was called ‘Chungungo’ and was awesome for us to BBQ, eat, hang out, play bocce-ball, shoot BB-guns, mess around in the water at the beach, and then finish off with a short message from Pepe. Here is a photo of the group who went from the morning when we stopped to take this picture at a nearby fishing port:

FINALLY: As always there are 3 ways you may give financially to Fuego Urbano. For Automatic Monthly Online Donations you may sign up for amounts of $25, $50, $100, or $200 per month. Just go to the right side of my Blog (http://greghaugh.blogspot.com) where it says ‘Recurring Donation’ and adjust drop-down menu to the amount you’d like to give each month; then click ‘Subscribe’ and it will take you through the process. One-Time Online Donations are available as well: click the ‘Donate’ button on my Blog just below where it says ‘1-Time Donation’ and it will take you through the process. Or if you prefer Personal Checks you can make them out to ‘Fishers of Men Fellowship’ and mail them to: Fishers of Men Fellowship, PO Box 9284, Newport Beach, CA 92658.  And all donations are fully tax-deductible.

Thanks so much for your constant prayers and support!!

Greg Haugh & Jose, Gislaine, Gabriel, and Gean-Felipe Eyzaguirre

Greg's Newsletter: September 2012

Greetings once again from Chile!! Time flew while I was in CA this summer but it was awesome to get to see and reconnect with so many of you. Since getting back on Sep 8^th, God has been reminding me just how much bigger He is then I give Him credit for. Please read on to learn more!

FIRST: As I mentioned, it was so great to be home and see as many of you as I could, and I hope you were able to get a good idea of all God is doing in Chile through Fuego Urbano. We are entering into some pretty exciting times and would really appreciate your continued prayers, especially over the next 6 months because they will be really significant for the future of our ministry. Also: THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL WHO HAVE GIVEN FINANCIALLY to help support the vision God has given us for La Serena and the young people of Northern Chile! I know that in the midst of what are still the worst economic times since the Great Depression, it is not easy for many of you to give what you do, and I want you to know that we do not take that lightly. From the bottom of our heats: THANK YOU for giving so sacrificially!

SECOND: While I was gone, Sinergia held our biggest training event yet with about 130 attendees and 40 volunteers. Sinergia is a group that Pepe and I started along with 2 other people to join forces with other ministries and missions organizations, in order to teach and train the local churches how to develop ministries in their own communities that do the kinds of things we specialize in. Sinergia is made up of: sports-evangelism ministries, music ministries, chaplains of jails, hospitals, & sports teams, community-service ministries, dance ministries, break-dancers, bible-publication organizations, and many others. We believe the reason these organizations and ministries exist is to fill the needs that local churches are not filling or meeting; but we also believe that the answer to this problem is not for one or two ministries or organizations to try and do it all, but rather for the entire Church to learn how to put these ideas and strategies into practice in their own communities. That way thousands of local churches will all begin to change and address these issues, but as a result of the sheer numbers, the effect will have a huge impact on reaching and transforming our society. Our next event, which is on “Missional Church,” will be in late November; and we expect a lot more people due to the excitement and expectations everyone had after the August event. Here are 2 pictures from our August event: the 1^st is of the whole scene; the 2^nd is the Sinergia worship band: 

THIRD: The Surfers’ Bible Study is off and running again. We have already met to re-connect and talk about where we are going, but it has been awesome to see how eager they were to start meeting again. I have been surfing and re-connecting with a lot of them, and I continue to be humbled and excited about how hungry they are to know God. Please continue to pray for them and us as we all meet, and seek to change and transform the whole surfing community here in La Serena!

FINALLY: As always there are 3 ways you may give financially to Fuego Urbano. For Automatic Monthly Online Donations you may sign up for amounts of $25, $50, $100, or $200 per month. Just go to the right side of my Blog (http://greghaugh.blogspot.com) where it says ‘Recurring Donation’ and adjust drop-down menu to the amount you’d like to give each month; then click ‘Subscribe’ and it will take you through the process. One-Time Online Donations are available as well: click the ‘Donate’ button on my Blog just below where it says ‘1-Time Donation’ and it will take you through the process. Or if you prefer Personal Checks you can make them out to ‘Fishers of Men Fellowship’ and mail them to: Fishers of Men Fellowship, PO Box 9284, Newport Beach, CA 92658.  And all donations are fully tax-deductible.

Thanks so much for your constant prayers and support!!

Greg Haugh & Jose, Gislaine, Gabriel, and Gean-Felipe Eyzaguirre

Short Aug Update: Some Financial Needs

To all my friends, families, and supporters:

As another month goes by and my return to Chile approaches, I want you to know I will not be writing my typical monthly newsletter this month because most of you have seen or heard me talk about Fuego Urbano in the last couple weeks and are caught up on what God is doing in Chile through our ministry.

However I do want to write to share some specific financial needs with you in case you are able and willing to help: over the past 8-10 months we typically came up about $200 short each month in our monthly support that I was able to cover by putting onto my credit card. Because of that I arrived in the USA with a credit card balance of about $1,700 that had slowly gathered over the past year. Then I had to buy my plane tickets to return to Chile, and after my luggage fees, it will cost another $2,000. So I currently have about $3,700 on my credit card that I would like to ask for help with if you are able and willing. So many of you have given so much already, and I want to thank you all so much, but I would also just like to let everyone know about this need in case anyone else is able and would like to help us cover it.

If you would like to help with these extra expenses, there are 2 ways you can make tax-deductible donations to us through our umbrella organization ‘Fishers of Men Fellowship’:

1) To Make One-Time Donations Online: Scroll slightly down the right side of my Blog here and click the 'Donate' button just under where it says '1-Time Donation' and it will take you through the process.

2) To Write Personal Checks: please make them out to ‘Fishers of Men Fellowship’ and mail them to: 

                Fishers of Men Fellowship

                P.O. Box 9284

                Newport Beach, CA  92658

Thanks so much and please feel free to email me if you have any questions or concerns...Thanks for all your prayers & support!

Greg Haugh

FUEGO URBANO

Greg's July 2012 Newsletter: I'M HOME!!

It’s great to be back in California!! Alright: I’m not technically back (as I write this) but when you read this I will be; so I’m predicting that it will be great to be back! I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible this summer, so please read below to find out about the sharing events I’ll be hosting, as well as the cool stuff God keeps doing through Fuego Urbano.

FIRST: WHEN YOU READ THIS I’LL BE HOME IN COSTA MESA!!

I’ll be in So Cal from July 20^th until early/mid September, and would love to see and catch up with as many people as I can during that time. I would also love to share personally about Fuego Urbano with anyone who would like, so if that would be something you’d be interested in then please email me at  greg@fuegourbano.org  and we can set something up. Or if you know of any group, church, organization, or people who would like to know more about Fuego Urbano, then please let me know and we can set something up too. Also: my trip to CA will cost around $1,800-$2,000 (tickets plus extra luggage fees) that is above and beyond our normal monthly expenses; so if you would like to help us cover that expense we would be extremely grateful, and directions on how to give financially can be found below in the last paragraph.

SECOND:HERE ARE SOME KEY SUMMER EVENTS TO REMEMBER:

1)  ‘Fuego Urbano’ Open-House Sat. Aug 5th from 1pm-6pm

          -At my parents' house in Costa Mesa

-The Address is: 3209 Vermont Ave., Costa Mesa, CA  92626

-Stop by for as long or short as you'd like to visit and catch up

2) Fuego Urbano Sharing Event Sun. Aug 26th at CPC in HB

       -12:30pm in Rm 102-103 at Christ Presbyterian Church (CPC)

            -CPC's address is:  20112 Magnolia St., HB, CA 92646

           -I teach at CPC's morning services that Sunday (8, 9:30, 11am) so

                    come and stay for the Fuego Urbano sharing time after

                    if you would like

3)     I will be teaching at CPC's 3 Morning Services Sun. Aug 26^th

-Come hear/see me teach at 8, 9:30, or 11am and then feel free 

         to stay for the Fuego Urbano sharing event at 12:30pm  

-CPC’s address is:  20112 Magnolia St., HB, CA, 92646

THIRD: The Surfers Bible-Study has been powerful and God is doing amazing things in the lives of the surfers there.

God keeps bringing really key people of the surf culture here in La Serena, and those who are coming are super exited to know and draw deeper in their relationship and commitment to Jesus. We meet on Wed nights and I can never get to sleep afterwards because I’m always too fired up about the study and all the genuine growth and transformation that happens in the lives of those who are coming. Please pray that we keep growing in depth and numbers, and that God would guard the hearts, lives, and faith of those who are coming while I am in the USA.

FOURTH: THE NEW SKATEPARK ON THE BEACH FINALLY OPENED!

This opens up tons of new ministry opportunities, since the surfers and skaters of the downtown & beach-community of La Serena are skating there non-stop. It has been packed since it opened, and means that almost all the surfers and skaters of the downtown & beach communities are now right at our finger-tips. I’ve been skating there lots to strengthen and solidify many of the relationships I already have with those skaters, and to meet as many new people as I can. Here is a recent picture (notice the beach/ocean in the background): 

FIFTH: I continue writing for the Christian discipleship website Trochia.org and encourage you to check out the Website (www.trochia.org) & Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Trochia) to be encouraged and equipped in your faith.

FINALLY: As always there are 3 ways you may give financially to Fuego Urbano. For Automatic Monthly Online Donations you may sign up for amounts of $25, $50, $100, or $200 per month. Just go to the right side of my Blog (http://greghaugh.blogspot.com) where it says ‘Recurring Donation’ and adjust drop-down menu to the amount you’d like to give each month; then click ‘Subscribe’ and it will take you through the process. One-Time Online Donations are available as well: click the ‘Donate’ button on my Blog just below where it says ‘1-Time Donation’ and it will take you through the process. Or if you prefer Personal Checks you can make them out to ‘Fishers of Men Fellowship’ and mail them to: Fishers of Men Fellowship, PO Box 9284, Newport Beach, CA 92658.  And all donations are fully tax-deductible.

Thank so much for your constant prayers and support, and I hope to see you soon!

Greg Haugh & Jose, Gislaine, Gabriel, and Gean-Felipe Eyzaguirre

Greg's June 2012 Newsletter: La Llama

I hope you’re all enjoying summer up in the Northern Hemisphere! Winter down here has been pretty nice and sunny so far but I’m looking forward to being back in California in about 4 weeks and getting some real warm weather! I hope to see you all while I’m there, so please read below to find out about what’s been going on here and about my coming trip home July 20^th-Sep 10^th or so.

FIRST: I’ll be home from July 20^th until early/mid September and can’t wait to see as many of you as I can!! My goal will be to see and share with as many of our Fuego Urbano family, friends, and supporters as I can about all God is doing through Fuego Ubano, as well as with any people, churches, groups, organizations, or ministries who are new to Fuego Urbano and would like to know more about us, so if you know of any then please let me know so we can try to set something up. And if you’d like to meet individually to catch up or hear more on a more personal level, then just email me  greg@fuegourbano.org  and we’ll schedule it. I’ll be hosting a couple larger sharing events like last summer and let you know about the dates once I have them, but until now nothing is set. That also reminds me: my travel expenses for this trip home will be around $1,800 which we currently don’t have, so if you would like to pray about helping me cover that cost, that would be a HUGE blessing too (see giving instructions below).

SECOND: God has been doing amazing things in the Surfers Bible Study in my apartment! It’s been awesome to see how God has opened the hearts and minds of so many of the surfers here recently. We’ve been meeting now for about 6 weeks with some of the best and most influential surfers around, who also happen to be super hungry and motivated to know God. In fact, one of the most motivated of all also happens to be among the top 2-3 surfers in Chile for his age! Anyway, the group already has all kinds of ideas about planning surf competitions for the local surfers where we share about Jesus and invite them to Fuego Urbano, as well as wanting to do some surf-trips where we surf but also use it as a spiritual retreat. Love it!! Please pray God continues to nurture the faith of these surfers and call all the surfers of La Serena to come to know Him! Here are couple recent pictures:

THIRD: Gislaine started a women’s prayer and bible-study group at their house because God keeps bringing us all these people from the downtown and beach areas of La Serena; so even though we won’t launch our services in the hotel until January, we’re using this time to develop leaders among the surfers, women, and the group in Las Compañías, so that we’re all ready to launch big in January.

FOURTH: The new skate-park on the beach is done and simply awaiting it’s official opening. It should clear all the legalities and open in the next week or two, and will be a huge focal point for all the skaters of La Serena who live closer to the downtown and beach areas. Once it opens we’ll be skating there lots to mark a presence with the skaters, share with them, and eventually invite them to the Fuego Urbano services we’re going to launch in the hotel in January. Please pray for us and them!

FIFTH: I was recently asked to write and contribute to the Christian discipleship website ‘Trochia,’ which seeks to encourage & equip followers of Jesus Christ. My writings post a few times per month and there are other contributors too, so check out the website at:   http://www.trochia.org/   and the Trochia Facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/Trochia  to get encouraged in your faith.

FINALLY: As always there are 3 ways you may give financially to Fuego Urbano. For Automatic Monthly Online Donations you may sign up for amounts of $25, $50, $100, or $200 per month. Just go to the right side of my Blog (http://greghaugh.blogspot.com) where it says ‘Recurring Donation’ and adjust drop-down menu to the amount you’d like to give each month; then click ‘Subscribe’ and it will take you through the process. One-Time Online Donations are available as well: click the ‘Donate’ button on my Blog just below where it says ‘1-Time Donation’ and it will take you through the process. Or if you prefer Personal Checks you can make them out to ‘Fishers of Men Fellowship’ and mail them to: Fishers of Men Fellowship, PO Box 9284, Newport Beach, CA 92658.  And all donations are fully tax-deductible.

Thank so much for all your prayers and support, and I look forward to seeing you soon!

Greg Haugh & Jose, Gislaine, Gabriel, and Gean-Felipe Eyzaguirre

GREG'S MAY 2012 NEWSLETTER: LA LLAMA

Reflections on the Lakers: Watching Lakers games is one of the simple things in life that I truly love, and when the playoffs roll around everything is magnified: the highs and lows, successes and defeats…the very future of the team is held in the balance. That’s how I’ve felt the past couple of months: significant challenges mixed with new & exciting opportunities. Keep reading to find out more!!

FIRST:  Our greatest current challenge has to do with where we’re having our Fuego Urbano meetings in Las Compañías. For a couple months now we’ve been meeting in the house of a family who goes to Fuego Urbano because the multi-purpose room we were meeting in wasn’t conducive to discussing things at a deeper more personal level like we wanted. The acoustics were terrible and made it almost impossible to understand one-another while discussing things. The problem with the house we’re in now is that it only fits about 15 people, and in an effort to protect the house and family from a potential break-in that would be almost certain if we were to give out their address, we haven’t been able to invite new people to Fuego Urbano for a couple months now. That’s a bummer because we have about 40-60 people Tuesdays at our soccer programs and another 20 on Fridays for basketball, and a large percentage of those groups are pretty new to our programs. We did recently find out about 2 community Cede’s that we might be able to use, which would be awesome, but we’re not sure what will happen. We’d love it if you could pray that God would bring us a bigger place so we’re no longer hindered and limited like we are now.

SECOND: God is doing amazing things among the surfers here, so much so that we’ve just started a weekly surfers’ bible-study in my apartment. Its been so crazy to watch God move among some of the best surfers in the area, as well as the surf-shop owners and surf-school directors, to the point where after talking lots with a number of them I decided to start a surfers bible-study in my apartment and invite them all. We’ve only been going for 2 weeks now but both weeks have been awesome and led to lots of really good reflection & discussion. God is really opening up the doors for us into the community of surfers here and we believe He has really big things in store for both us and them and over the next year or so; so please pray for us as we move forward in faith and follow God’s lead on this one. Here’s a picture of me surfing a couple weeks ago (on my Almond) with some friends on a small but fun day:

THIRD: A brand new Christian school called ‘Amazing Grace English School’ is being built a few hundred yards from where we live and will launch the Fuego Urbano worship services in the hotel in January. It will focus heavily on English and sports, and their goal is to have a thousand or so students so we’re talking with the directors about possibly working together in some way in the future. It opens in 2013 and once again gives us tons of doors and opportunities than we weren’t even expecting.

FOURTH: We just met with the directors at the Hotel Costa Real again and its official that we have reserved Sunday nights starting in January for our Fuego Urbano service(s). The best thing is we can use the room anytime from 4pm-11pm and they won’t charge us extra. That means we can have up to 4 services or so but like I mentioned before, the rent is about $1280 per month so we’ll need to raise more support to help cover the cost. This location however will put us at literally the front steps of thousands of university students, young people, skaters, surfers, etc. and is easily accessible from anywhere in the city. It will enable us to focus on and draw from the entire city, which is what we’ve always wanted; and we actually just found out that the manager of the entire hotel is a Christian! She called us out of the blue when she found out about what we want to do there with Fuego Urbano, and told us she’s excited we're going to be there and wants to help us out in any way she can. Praise God!!

FIFTH: I’ve been asked to write and contribute to a Christian discipleship website called Trochia. The website  http://www.trochia.org/   is dedicated to encouraging and equipping followers of Jesus Christ. I’ll be writing a few times per month and there are 6 other contributors too, so check out both the website and Facebook page, and sign up on both if you'd like for updates or ‘like’ it to get updated about new posts, devotionals, and daily reflections. My first post just got posted yesterday so go check it out if you can and try to make a habit of visiting the sight to help build up your faith on a weekly or even daily basis.

SIXTH: I’ll be home in CA from July 20^th to early/mid September and would love to see or meet with you. I’ll be around to share with any churches, groups, organizations, small-groups, church-groups, families, ministries, student ministries, etc. that would like to hear about Fuego Urbano and what God is doing in Chile. Or if you’d like to meet up personally I’d love to do that too: just email me at greg@fuegourbano.org and we’ll schedule it. I’ll also give more info as I get closer to the dates and schedule some sharing events for people to come to.

LASTLY: As always there are 3 ways you may give financially to Fuego Urbano. For Automatic Monthly Online Donations you may sign up for amounts of $25, $50, $100, or $200 per month. Just go to the right side of my Blog (http://greghaugh.blogspot.com) where it says ‘Recurring Donation’ and adjust drop-down menu to the amount you’d like to give each month; then click ‘Subscribe’ and it will take you through the process. One-Time Online Donations are available as well: click the ‘Donate’ button on my Blog just below where it says ‘1-Time Donation’ and it will take you through the process. Or if you prefer Personal Checks you can make them out to ‘Fishers of Men Fellowship’ and mail them to: Fishers of Men Fellowship, PO Box 9284, Newport Beach, CA 92658.  And all donations are fully tax-deductible.

Thank so much for your friendship, love, prayers and support, and I hope to see you real soon!

Greg Haugh & Jose, Gislaine, Gabriel, and Gean-Felipe Eyzaguirre

GREG'S APRIL 2012 NEWSLETTER: LA LLAMA

Blessings from Chile! As all of you in the USA enjoy the warmth of spring and the coming summer, winter’s chill has already started to cool things off quite a bit down here; but we keep on truckin’ so please read below to find out what we’ve been up to in April, and about my trip home this July-Sep.

FIRST: God has guided us to an amazing facility at the ‘Hotel Costa Real’ to have our future Fuego Urbano service(s) in the downtown/beach community of La Serena. It was pretty amazing how it all worked out and totally evident of God’s guidance. In our own (human) planning, we wanted to find a place right in front of the beach in order to be as close as possible to the surfers and beach community, but none of those hotels and places with large event rooms wanted to rent to a church. After having all those doors closed we began to get worried and went by one more place on a whim, the Hotel Costa Real, which is a super nice hotel but a bit further from the beach then we originally wanted (it’s about 1/2 mile from the beach). So we went and asked and they said they had a room that goes up to about 100 people if we liked, and then as we thought and prayed about it God began to show us how much better this place is than what we originally wanted at the beach. The beach would’ve been about a 15 min walk for the thousands of college students who don’t have cars, whereas the hotel is literally within a few hundred yards of 5 universities and the thousands of university students who attend them. Not only that, but the fact that it is still super close to the beach means we can easily get the surfers to head on over because almost all of them arrive at the beach in cars or transportation anyway; and the skaters who skate all around the downtown area, including those who will skate in the new skatepark on the beach, will also still be really close by. As if that weren’t enough, the hotel is about 100 yards from essentially the biggest traffic intersection in the city, where just about every bus, taxi, etc. either comes from or goes through, making it easy for anyone to get there from literally any part of the city.  Below is a picture of the front of the hotel and the room we’d use is just over on the left:

The only downside is that because it’s such a nice hotel, it’s a bit more expensive then we were hoping. They’ll charge us $320 per week, which works out to $1280 per month, of increased monthly support that we’ll need to come up with before we begin. But the good thing is that we can have anywhere from 1-4 services back-to-back in our time-slot without having to pay any additional fees, and we’ll also be taking offerings each week to help cover the costs. The really exciting thing is that this situation could sustain our growth all the way up to about 400 people or so, and we’re really excited about the thousands of young people who will literally be at our doorsteps because we know it has the potential to blow up very quickly. Because of the increased costs and the additional support we’ll need to raise to help cover those costs, and in order to launch in summer with lots of momentum and energy, we’ve decided to begin all this in January 2013. We’ll do the main service(s) at the hotel Sunday nights and then the service in Las Compañías will change to a mid-week gathering. That way we’ll be able to fulfill our commitments and grow our ministries in both places. Please pray God will keep guiding us and putting all this together, and that He’ll provide the additional finances we’ll need to launch this exciting new phase of ministry!!

SECOND: After 1.5 years we’ve FINALLY found a worship leader to develop the worship and music ministry of Fuego Urbano! Her name is Erika and she’s an incredibly gifted musician, singer, and worship leader. I was amazed the first time I heard her sing because she sounded like the woman from Hillsong, except in Spanish. Erika is 21 years old and really excited about coming on-board with Fuego Urbano. She’ll be leading worship at all our services and joining our leadership team as well, so please pray God gives her grace and favor as she begins to put together that whole ministry. It’s such a relief to finally have someone who is gifted and passionate about developing the worship ministry of Fuego Urbano, and with the new services starting in January we’re hoping the worship will be a powerful part of it.

THIRD: The International Sports Coalition (ISC) hosted another workshop in sports-evangelism & outreach here last week and about 75 people came for 3 days to get trained on how to reach their communities for Jesus through various sports and activities. It went really well and as one of ISC’s leaders in Chile, they’re now flying Pepe to Ecuador for a huge ISC conference at the end of April to discuss implementation of continental goals and strategies for all of America. Go Pepe!

FOURTH: I’ll be in CA from July 20^th to early/mid September and would love to meet with you and share personally about Fuego Urbano. I’ll be around to share with whatever churches, groups, organizations, small-groups, church-groups, families, ministries, student ministries, etc. you would like. Or if you’d like to meet up personally I’d love to do that too. If you’d like to schedule something just email me at greg@fuegourbano.org and we’ll schedule it right away. Otherwise I’ll be continually giving more info as I get closer to the dates and schedule sharing events for people to come to as well.

LASTLY: As always there are 3 ways you may give financially to Fuego Urbano. For Automatic Monthly Online Donations you may sign up for amounts of $25, $50, $100, or $200 per month. Just go to the right side of my Blog (http://greghaugh.blogspot.com) where it says ‘Recurring Donation’ and adjust drop-down menu to the amount you’d like to give each month; then click ‘Subscribe’ and it will take you through the process. One-Time Online Donations are available as well: click the ‘Donate’ button on my Blog just below where it says ‘1-Time Donation’ and it will take you through the process. Or if you prefer Personal Checks you can make them out to ‘Fishers of Men Fellowship’ and mail them to: Fishers of Men Fellowship, PO Box 9284, Newport Beach, CA 92658.  And all donations are fully tax-deductible.

Thank so much for your continual prayers and support, and I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Greg Haugh & Jose, Gislaine, Gabriel, and Gean-Felipe Eyzaguirre