Greetings
from Chile
FIRST: We
are seeing a slow but steady increase in the number of people coming and
getting involved in our Sunday gatherings. As I shared last month, the room we are
using does not allow us to have too many people but we also sense God is
calling us to focus this year on developing the people we have now and not worrying
too much about ‘numbers’ until we have a more developed ministry team. Since,
however, we have begun to trust God in this new focus, He has also sent us some
very key people who are excited about, and committed to, the vision of Fuego
Urbano. Four of these new people arrived in the family of Marco & Mitzi,
their son Maykol, and their daughter Flor. They are the 4 people on the bottom
right of the picture below (with Pepe, Gislaine, and their sons Jean-Felipe and
Gabriel on the left; and a couple other friends). They just moved to La Serena
but are super excited about being here and participating with Fuego Urbano.
I’ve been teaching Maykol (bottom right) to surf and he’s completely hooked
now. In fact I just went out with them to help buy Maykol his own wetsuit and
surfboard, which he just got yesterday, and they tell me he can’t sleep now
because he’s too excited to surf. Maykol is super excited about Fuego Urbano
and keeps inviting his friends to come too. Marco is an accountant and is now
in charge of handling our Fuego Urbano funds here, so there is 100% accountability
and transparency with all the money we receive as offerings and donations; and Mitzi
is one of 3 women who is rotating every-three weeks to take the little kids and
teach them their Sunday-school lesson. Each Sunday the little kids leave the
room where we meet and prepare some kind of skit, lesson, dance, song, etc.
that has something to do with the Bible, and then they come in at the end of
our main meeting and present/perform what they learned. It has been awesome to
see and the parents are always super excited to see their kids learning about God.
SECOND: The
Surfers Bible-Study has been going really well. We’ve had about 10-15
people each Wednesday and I’ve had to buy some stools for people to sit on
because I ran out of chairs. The conversation and time together continues to be
really good, and more and more of the surfers, body-boarders, and skaters are
starting to see that many of their preconceived notions of God, Jesus, Christians,
etc. is not what we are about. Once they see that, they tend to let down their
guard a bit and come check it out. And once they come check it out I know
they’ll like it because it’s pretty cool and not at all what they expect. One
recent development is that there has now formed a solid core of about 6-8 of
the surfers & body-boarders who surf lots but who are also serious about
their faith, drawing nearer to God, and helping others do the same. As a result,
we’ve been surfing lots but also hanging out quite a bit together at night or
during the weekends, mostly in order to eat or have an ‘asado’ (a Chilean-style
BBQ). This might not seem very significant but it has given people an
alternative to what they have always done: get high or wasted and head out to
the clubs all night. Now people know they have another option, and that there
is a group of surfers who are having a good time but in a much more healthy and
positive way. Below is a photo of me with some of these surfers. Please pray
God would draw more and more of these surfers and board-riders to Him through
us!
THIRD: I will be home from
July 18th until mid-Sep, and I hope to see as many of you as I can while I'm there.
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
Thanks so much for all
your prayers and support!
Greg
Haugh & Jose, Gislaine, Gabriel, and Gean-Felipe Eyzaguirre
