The Abegg Love Letter

To those who have been called, who are LOVED by God the Father
and KEPT by Jesus Christ; MERCY, PEACE and LOVE
be yours in abundance.
-Jude 1:1

Strategy & Vision

Mission Fields Becoming Mission Partnerships

In December I spent one week meeting with partner ministries in Costa Rica, the birthplace of Latin America Mission nearly 100 years ago. The mission vision carried all that time, and which is now part of United World Mission is to "Come Alongside the Latin Church", not taking the lead as "those who know", but neither following sheepishly assuming nothing to offer. The vision is to struggle through and labor together as equal partners, capitalizing on the strengths of each and growing in our areas of weakness.

During my visit, the director of a particularly vibrant christian school took me by surprise in telling me very directly how he believed UWM could help academies like theirs avoid hazards he saw US institutions falling into in not equipping Christian students for the demands of the world. He saw a weakness in the US of not training students to think critically, debate logically or live Biblically, and he wanted to know what we had learned from our struggles.

As we continued conversing we came to the conclusion that yes, there were many things to be gleaned from the US, but that there were many like minded ministries throughout Latin America confronting the same issues, and working to identify uniquely Latin solutions. Helping these ministries come together to share their own collective wisdom on how to respond to cultural change as Christ centered institutions would produce more immediate fruit than any non-Latin context. And with that we started discussing the framework for just such a trial event this summer!

Please pray for our Latin ministry partners as they work together to keep the Gospel in the forefront of cultural change despite challenges of a rapidly secularizing society that often celebrates US worldly directions without recognizing the disastrous consequences.

Pray for the UWM missionaries Claudia and I are re-engaging with. Those serving alongside and within these ministry partners in order to see the Gospel permeate and growing in the contexts of education, health care, children at risk, women's ministries, sex trafficking, theological education and entire denominations.

Pray for our family as we anticipate and prepare for a 3 month assignment in Costa Rica this summer. Pray for our planned times of working with, connect to and "coming alongside" these partner ministries and UWM Missionaries in multiple ways.

Anti Sex Trafficking

During my December visit to Costa Rica, I made a point of asking ministries that dealt with at risk children, women's care and medical provision in impoverished in impoverished areas if they were aware of any anti-sex trafficking education. I received a resounding "no". Apart from Rahab Ministries in San Jose (the organization that inspired Claudia and I to learn about sex trafficking), most even believed it was not an issue in Costa Rica.

This unfortunately couldn't be further from the truth. Costa Rica and other countries such as Panama, Mexico and Colombia have a "perfect storm" of poverty and wealth, illegal immigration and mass tourism colliding in such a way for this vice to grow unchecked. Domestic trafficking flourishes when impoverished populations are un-informed of the dangers and readily accessible to wealthier populations known for tourism, sporting events and business conferences ...not so different from Miami where we've served these last three years!

We are thankful to already have a few partner organizations in Central America ready to train other ministries in a gospel oriented approach to trafficking awareness and healing for survivors.

Pray that as we come along side these partner organizations we would be able to multiply their efforts through UWM's network of associate ministries and missionaries for the good of all these countries.

Pray for the networking and anti-trafficking training we are in the process of planning as part of our work in Costa Rica this summer. Pray that the Lord would give us wisdom as we then consider plans for other countries throughout Central America and the Caribbean.

Run Against Trafficking!

If you've been following us on Facebook (and please do) you saw a number of exciting events in January which was International Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

Last weekend four dear friends dedicated months of preparation and a lot of hard work to raise support for all of the Anti-Trafficking work we've shared above and much more! Marcos & Becky Gonzalez, Melinda Bush and Kirsten Bjorkman managed to raise $1,800 to assist with our work in Central America this summer! They, along with each and every person that sponsored their runs will be helping us bring care and training to Central American Partner Ministries and UWM missionaries. Training that will literally save lives and help identify victims so that they can become "survivors".

The Abegg family, and those we seek to serve, thank every one of you for your generosity and partnership in this fight!

Hear & See What We're Doing!

Claudia put the best of our two faces forward for Human Trafficking Awareness month (January) by hosting a series of Facebook Live Events to educate people on Human trafficking. Check out her last Live Post on "Methods Traffickers Use" as well as the rest of her posts on her Facebook Page!

For those who missed it last year, Kevin was a guest on the podcast "Forget Me Not, Stories of Hurt, Hope and Activism". Listen Online or as a Podcast to hear why we believe the Gospel is the needed response to Human Trafficking.