The Abegg’s Electronic Love Letter 1/09

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

Abegg Family Updates

As I mentioned in our last news letter, this New Year is full of changes & challenges. Up until a few months ago we were seriously considering ending our 16 years of full time missions work (see our November Blog entry for more on this), but the Lord made it clear that this wasn’t what He had planned. We are to stay right where we are with LAM and He will be using many of the things He has taught us over the past year about missions, the theology of missions and how to foster international partnerships as a way to assist US Churches in their missions thinking and action. Yet as I return to the office after a Christmas break and begin to consider what lies ahead I am wondering if…or rather know that I am not up to the task in and of myself. But thank God I don’t have to be since I, like anyone else am merely a tool in the Lord’s hands. That’s all I’ve ever been, be that in Chile, Cuba, California or elsewhere, and for me to take credit for what’s been accomplished would be like a farmer’s rake taking credit for the harvest at the end of the season. Already I’ve been encouraged by the initial response of various churches as I share the vision with them, and look forward to exploring the various ways LAM can be of assistance to their existing and developing missions programs, and I trust the Lord will provide even more of these divine appointments. Please keep this new “Department of US Missions” in your prayers, asking for wisdom, the Lord’s guidance and the ability to care for and assist partner ministries in what the Lord is calling them to do in World Missions. This is an exciting time, and we invite you to be part of where the Lord is leading us. Thank you for your partnership, prayers and support. God bless!

Lessons We’ve learned from our kids:

Christmas Carols have funny words:
“Hark the Hairy Angels Sing”
“Gloria! In Egg Shells Day Old!”

While building bunk beds for a friend:
“Straight edges” will not remain straight for long with little helpers at hand.

Wood stain also stains anything else it gets on, including clothes, hair and 4 year old tummies.

It’s hard to pinpoint what makes us “human”: Mommy: “Nico, this is Natalie. Her mommy dropped her off here for a few hours, would you like to play with her?” Nico: “No, I only like to play with humans.” Mommy: “Well, what is she?” Nico: “She’s a girl!”

Those advertisers are tricky!: Nico: “Daddy, they’re advertising a toy Yodda (of Star Wars fame) on the radio, but it’s really expensive!” Daddy: “Was that “toy Yodda” or “Toyota” like our old truck?” Nico: “Our old truck belonged to Yodda?”

We have more teaching to do in economics: Jeremy: “Nico and I are saving up to buy a Wii (video game system costing about $200.) and we already have lots of money!” Daddy: “Where did you get all that money from?” Jeremy: “The change dish next to your bed and we found some pennies on the ground!”


Specific praise, prayer and partnership opportunities:

Please pray for the Lord’s continued guidance, wisdom and provision as we step forward in faith and continue to work with Cuban Churches but also branch out to work with Churches in the US as they develop or improve their own missions programs.

Prayer for Monthly Support: As many of our supporters wrestle with financial difficulty, we have seen our monthly support dip to dangerous levels. Thankfully the Lord has equipped Kevin to work in home repair and Claudia through Lia Sophia jewelry sales to keep the bills paid. Our hope and prayer however is to be able to dedicate this time completely to the ministerial projects at hand. Please join us in prayer for this and for an increase in support in the new year that would allow us to do so. Please see “Support and Special Gifts” below if you would like to partner with us in this way.

Prayer for Roof Repair: Over the past year we have been attempting to save enough to re-roof the living area of our home. This has included refinancing (an answered prayer) and setting aside as much as possible on a monthly basis. Still, we are currently about $3,000. short and need to have the work done before the rainy season begins in April. Please pray for the Lord’s provision in this way.

Prayer for Chilean Wedding: Claudia’s youngest sister Christy will be getting married in Chile on May 28th. We hope to combine this wonderful event with visiting family, friends and churches as well as some ministry opportunities. Please join us in praying for the airline and other expenses of this trip, currently tickets are about $800. each.

Missionary Support and Special Gifts
Through the generosity and prayers of partners like you, we are able to continue ministering to the Churches in Cuba and assisting US churches in International Missions.
If you would like to make a tax deductible donation please take advantage of the links at the top right of the page or simply send checks to Latin America Mission with a note indicating “For the Abeggs” to:

Latin America Mission P.O. Box 52-7900 Miami FL, 33152-7900.

· Link to a Printable Donation Form. (click link for mail in donation form)
· Link to Online Donation page (click link for online credit/debit card donation)

"The Blind Side" -The Rest of the Story

Over New Years Claudia and I had the chance to see the movie "The Blind Side". What an amazing story! It follows this year's NFL rookie Michael Oher's rise from hopless poverty to being the Baltmore Ravens first round draft pick this season. If you haven't seen themovie, I HIGHLY reccomend it, but even if you have seen the movie, please check out the World Magazine article (a magazine/website I HIGHLY reccomend) "All American Adoption Story" which does an excelent job of filling in the blanks and giving a much broader perspective to the story than the movie (which is very good in itself) is able to.

Thoughts on Christmas by Dr. R.C. Sproul

DR. R. C. SPROUL:
"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, is the startling conclusion to John's prologue, 'In the beginning was the Word'. The Cosmic Christ enters our humanity. The birth of Jesus is the very center or core of human history. It is the supreme moment of visitation of the eternal with the temporal, the infinite with the finite, the unconditional with the conditioned. It is the center point of the very meaning of human history. It is Christmas, the moment of nativity when the eternal God became flesh for our redemption."

Curtis and Leroy

You may have seen this, but I thought it was too funny to pass up!

Curtis & Leroy saw an ad in the The Oxford Eagle Newspaper in OXFORD, MS. and bought a mule for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the mule the next day. The next morning the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry, fellows, I have some bad news, the mule died last night." Curtis & Leroy replied, "Well, then just give us our money back." The farmer said, "Can't do that. I went and spent it already." They said, "OK then, just bring us the dead mule." The farmer asked, "What in the world ya'll gonna do with a dead mule?" Curtis said, "We gonna raffle him off."
The farmer said, "You can't raffle off a dead mule!" Leroy said, "We shore can! Heck, we don't hafta tell nobody he's dead!" A couple of weeks later, the farmer ran into Curtis &Leroy at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store and asked. "What'd you fellers ever do with that dead mule?"
They said,"We raffled him off like we said we wuz gonna do.."
Leroy said,"Shucks, we sold 500 tickets fer two dollars apiece and made a profit of $898.."
The farmer said,"My Lord, didn't anyone complain?"
Curtis said, "Well, the feller who won got upset. So we gave him his two dollars back."

Curtis and Leroy now work for the government. They're overseeing the Bailout Program.

The New LAM Video is here!

Watch for more on these stories in LAM's Evangelist Magazine as well.

You Could Have Bought Cuba

Dream of a Castro-free Cuba may wash away
By HANK TESTER

You could have bought Cuba, and the package would come without Fidel or Raul Castro.

A real estate group in the Miami area was representing a organization that had the rights to the island and at first glance it looked like a fun project.
"There should be a lot of rich Cubans interested," one of the promoters said.

A video tape prospectus was going to be shipped any day. There was a website. But suddenly the steam behind the project dissipated. The Cuba sale had gone silent. What would have been a fun idea evaporated like spit on a griddle.
The "Island of Cuba" was part of "The World," a man-made series of islands just off the coast of Dubai. Shaped roughly like the land mass of the Earth, the various "countries" were being sold to high rollers and corporations world wide. The islands were to be laced with mansions, hotel developments, resorts, all themed to the corresponding country.

Yes, there is a small island representing Cuba within the $14 billion project, which by the way was basically the dredging costs.
How much to buy Cuba? The ultra small patch of sand would set you back about $10- to $15 million. The owner would have to create the ambiance that would replicate "Cuba."

But alas, there seems to be no chance to purchase "The Pearl of the Antilles." The World project is slowed, if not stopped altogether according to news reports. Not maintained, the sandy islands could slip back into the water. Cuba could go under quicker than most due to size and no apparent buyer on the horizon.

Now the world's financial squeeze has finally surfaced in Dubai. The go-go days have screeched to a halt. Will the financial crisis squash any chance of someone buying "Cuba?" Likely, and so a Cuba without the Castro Brothers continues to just be a dream, at least in the short term.

Hank Tester has been covering news and politics in South Florida since 1992.

Abegg ELL -Pruning and Plans for the Future

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

We are thanking God for so much this year, including each of our friends and supporters.

The Abegg's Electronic 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

Abegg Family Updates: Pruning and Plans for the Future

I like grapes. I also like what we get from grapes: juice, jam, raisins and good Californian or Chilean wine. (I don't hide my bias). Anyway, what does this have to do with a family update? No, we're not starting a vineyard (though Claudia dreams of doing just that), but the Lord used a recent sermon on John 15 to give me a better understanding of what He has been doing in "our" life over the past few years.

If you've been following the Abegg chronicles you know that up to a month ago we anticipated stepping away from LAM and parachurch missions (missions through a non-church organization). In short we were lead to seriously and is some ways painfully analyze our belief and theology of missions. (To better understand the reasoning behind this please see our "missionunderstandings" blog.) Anyway, I thought that based on our convictions, the best option was to step out of parachurch missions and continue in missions from our local church while supporting the family through a secular job. As the year wore on though, and I didn't sense direction from the Lord as to what occupation I should step into, I began to grow weary and feel more and more barren even as I continued with the ministry projects at hand. I was torn in not being able to see how my theology and my daily work in ministry matched up, and wondered why the Lord (and I do believe it was His hand) would apear to strip something away from me yet not provide something new to serve Him in.

Here's where the grapes come in. Living near wine country in CA didn't make my dad a vinedresser, yet his impressive pruning techniques, akin to current "slasher" horror movies, proved to be exactly what our one and only grapevine needed. Every fall, the yard plants would tremble in fear as my dad got out his preferred pruning instrument, an 18" gas powered chain saw, in order to "clean things up a bit". Nothing green was spared be that oak trees or berry bushes. Guava plants and even the hedge dared not resist his onslaught. Some plants actually survived, their limbs removed, hauled off and burned in our fireplace. But it was the grapevine that always amazed me. Every summer that vine would foolishly send 40 feet of twisting greenery along our fence. And every fall it would stand defiantly before my father only to be hacked back to a pitiful, miserable looking brown stick. Each year I thought, "well, that's the end of that", but each spring it would rise again, stretch its limbs far and amazingly produce clusters of grapes.

In the recent sermon, I learned that true vinedressers do actually prune back each years growth to what looks like a dead stick, although I doubt they use a chain saw. In his own special way, what my dad was doing actually provided the cared that the vine needed and prepared it for the next year's growth and fruit.

What the Lord was doing in Claudia and my hearts over the past "season" is very similar:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful... 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing...  8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples… 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last." John 15:1-17

Less than a month ago, LAM president Steve Johnson asked me to assist in developing what may grow into a "Department of North American Church Missions". The idea is to help mission minded churches to strengthen relationships with their missionaries as well as the ministries they partner with throughout Latin America or the world. On of my concerns this past year was in seeing churches essentially "outsource" missions and let the parachurch (i.e. LAM) handle the care and feeding of their missionaries instead of assuming the role of pastoral care and being a full partner in fulfilling the Great Commission thus receiving the rich returns and benefits that accompany that involvement. Over the past year the Lord, in His mercy, has lead me through a course in missiology and church-missionary relationships even though I wasn't aware of the purpose.

I'll share more on what this new work will look like in the weeks and months to come, but needless to say we are VERY excited about the possibilities and ask for your prayers as we step into this new area of growth and by faith…fruit. Cuba will remain in our scope of ministry and we are excited about some new possibilities to help meet the incredible lack of literature and resources that Cuban pastors have to draw from.

Thank you so much for your partnership over the years. We look forward to what the Lord will be doing as our new branches grow and He produces fruit that will last in our lives, the churches we are involved with and in you, our partners in the Great Commission.

Specific praise, prayer and partnership opportunities:

Praise for the Lord's leading: We are so thankful for the Lord's leading and the work He is currently laying before us. Please pray for His continued guidance, wisdom and provision as we step forward in faith.

Praise for safety and van repair: If you've visited our blog lately you know that our van was involved in an accident right in front of our church that totaled three other cars. We praise the Lord that nobody was gravely injured, and also praise the Lord that we just received it back from the body shop in great condition.

Prayer for Monthly Support: We thank God that between Kevin's dedicating one day a week to home repair work and Claudia's jewelry sales, all the bills continue to be paid. Our hope and prayer is to be able to dedicate this time completely to the ministerial projects at hand. Please join us in prayer for this and for a good response to the end of year donation letters that will be going out shortly.

Prayer for Roof Repair: Over the past year we have been attempting to save enough to re-roof the living area of our home. This has included refinancing (an answered prayer) and setting aside as much as possible on a monthly basis. Still, we are currently about $3,500. and need to have the work done before the rainy season begins in April. Please pray for the Lord's provision.

Prayer for Chilean Wedding: Claudia's youngest sister Christy will be getting married in Chile on May 28^th. We hope to combine this wonderful event with visiting family, friends and churches as well as some ministry opportunities. Please join us in praying for the airline and other expenses of this trip, currently tickets are about $800. each.

Prayer for LAM Fundraising Dinner: This Sunday President Steve Johnson and other LAM staff will be in Pheonix for a fund raising dinner in support of various projects as well as the overall budget. Please pray that this goes well and for the Lord's provision through those who attend.

Missionary Support and Special Gifts

Through the generosity and prayers of partners like you, we are able to continue ministering to the Churches in Cuba and elsewhere.

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation please take advantage of the links below or simply send checks to Latin America Mission with a note indicating "For the Abeggs" to:

Latin America Mission P.O. Box 52-7900 Miami FL, 33152-7900.

· Link to a Printable Donation Form. (click link for mail in donation form)

· Link to Online Donation page (click link for online credit/debit card donation)

How to Contact Us

E-mail: kabegg "at" lam "dot" org

Office Mail: P.O. Box 52-7900 Miami, FL 33152-7900

Office Phone: 305-884-8400 x25