Blessings from Chile in our first newsletter of 2011! When I look back on 2010 and how I ended up in Chile I am amazed at the journey God has taken me on, and you all are a huge part of that. I want to thank you all for your love, prayers, and support during 2010, as none of this would be possible without you; and as we are off and running here in 2011 I look forward to a new year of partnership with you.
FIRST: I want to especially thank those of you who gave special year-end financial gifts to Fuego Urbano last month, and to all of you who have given in 2010!! I can not tell you how blessed we were as a result of your year-end gifts and we were able to purchase some crucial items we were still lacking such as: beds, a projector, sound system for worship music, more bibles, and soon Fuego Urbano shirts to give to the kids, along with a few other items. As we are still in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, I realize that so many of your financial gifts this year have come at great sacrifice to you, and every time I think of it I am humbled and grateful for your belief and passion to support our work and ministry with Fuego Urbano here in Chile.
SECOND: We finally got access to the Multi-purpose room in front of the Skatepark for our Fuego Urbano gatherings, at precisely the hour we were hoping for! The past 2 weeks we’ve had about 30-35 people show up which has been really gratifying because while there tends to be a basic belief in God here (as in most places) and some basic verses people have heard, the young people we attract are almost totally uneducated about God, the Bible, Jesus, etc. So it’s super exciting to get to reach out to so many young people who truly have never heard the Good News of Jesus in any way that made sense to them. It’s also gratifying for us to begin to see the fruits of everything we have been working so hard for, and with the projector and sound system we bought we’re able to use videos and media in our messages and services in ways that are really uncommon here, but dynamic and powerful for communicating the gospel and worshiping God together. We are just now incorporating worship music into our gatherings as well, and talking about what it is and why we do it, so please pray that God would raise of worship leaders and leadership among us all. Here’s a picture of some of us from last Saturday:
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| Most of us from last Saturday at Fuego Urbano |
THIRD: We’ve started a summer sports program called ‘Mas Que Vencedores’ (More Than Conquerors) every Mon, Wed, & Fri at the city’s facilities in front of the skate-park where we teach Basketball, Soccer, and Volleyball but use them to teach and apply biblical truths and principles to the participants’ lives. The city had told us they were going to have their own sports programs so we offered to serve in theirs for free, but it turned out they had nothing planned. So we offered to plan and organize the whole thing for them at no cost to them, and they were thrilled. So now we’re able to run the programs in the style we want to and to share with the kids who participate, as well as invite them all to Fuego Urbano, so it’s an amazing outreach and service to the community. The city-park staff love us because we do all this for free, with the goal of blessing and serving the community, so they go out of their way to help us out with anything we want or need. We're up to about 40-45 kids each day who participate in our programs and we could easily get lots more but with our limited personnel right now, we simply can’t accommodate much more than that. More and more of the kids are also making their way to Fuego Urbano as we get to know and trust one another, so that is also exciting. Here’s a picture of some of us huddling up with some closing thoughts after some intense sand-volleyball from our first week of programs.
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| 'Mas Que Vencedores' Summer Sports Program |
FOURTH: Many have inquired about how to give to Fuego Urbano so I thought I’d remind everyone about the 2 ways to support us financially:
1) Checks may be made out to ‘Fishers of Men Fellowship’ and mailed to:
Fishers of Men Fellowship
P.O. Box 9284
Newport Beach, CA 92658
2) Online giving from credit card or bank account here on my blog's homepage
Thanks so much for all your continued love, prayers, encouragement, and support in 2011!!
Greg Haugh
Fuego Urbano
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