Greetings friends, prayer warriors and faithful supporters;
I'm starting this email on a flight to San Jose, Costa Rica where I'll be joining other Latin American Regional Leaders from Mexico, South America as well as a couple from our own region: Matt and Lisa Befus who we've been working with over the past few years as part of our region's developing Leadership Team. Originally, Claudia and I envisioned this team to be a support in our planning, leading and carrying for those in our region of Central America and the Caribbean. However with Claudia's illness (more on that in a moment) which for now makes travel difficult, as well as my own exhaustion related health issues that began even before all the emotions of mom's passing and the resulting administrative work that followed, this team of leaders had become a life-line and significant support. So on April 1, we will be stepping back as Regional Leaders as Matt and Lisa step in and use their own giftings to guide and oversee the UWM missionaries and national partnerships Claudia and I have had the privilege to steward for many years now.This is a bitter-sweet time for us, but we see God's hand in all of it, and though we didn't envision needing to step away for a period of recuperation, He's orchestrated the timing and the people beyond what we could have hoped for.
We'll get into more of the "what's next" in our future newsletters, but for now the primary focus over the coming months is healing and care for Claudia's thyroid issues due to Grave's disease, as well as my own burnout triage and healing. Claudia's current care includes managing her heart rate and blood pressure spikes and drops, and we've seen a degree of her energy return, but there are multiple challenges associated with this illness that we're prayerfully navigating as they develop. We're thankful for the care she's receiving and we're both seeking the Lord's hand for healing as we ask Him for the wisdom and strength needed each day, and as we consider future plans and God's calling for this unique time.
We had been planning on an upcoming period of rest knowing that the past few years have warn me down, but Claudia's physical challenges solidified this decision, hence the April 1 date for us both. During this time we'll be praying for wisdom and direction, and for both where and how to steward our time and energy in the coming years. I'm still involved as a non-staff Elder at our church in Miami, and this week's UWM meetings in San Jose, Costa Rica are related to a project that is dear to our hearts, so we're proceeding cautiously. We've both been encouraged and excited about the development of a Latin America "Regional Training Hub" initiative which I've shared about in previous newsletters. The focus is in connecting and leveraging the strengths of Latin Ministries (primarily non-US) throughout the region to address the challenges of equipping Pastors and Churches in their work, equipping ministries for the many challenges that the Global church is facing, assisting in the mobilization of Latin missionaries throughout the world and envisioning those within Latin America who are adept at "building the Church" to do so using their giftings, resources, and partnerships to produce Biblical leaders. It's an exciting time as we see the Latin Church gain momentum toward healthy doctrine, solid sustainable churches and ministries, and increasing their stride in "making disciples of all nations" in Latin America and around the world. This week's meeting agenda is an in-person follow up to our meeting over a year ago in Colombia. Sadly, Claudia is not here with me in parson for obvious reasons, but definitively in spirit. Please be interceding for this time, for Claudia and me, and for all of the gathering leaders this week.
