Amundson Anthem December 2010

Praises
Growth in our church

We have official foster care of Eliana and Esther

Another pastor ordained and installed in an ABWE church

We have been told we should get our permanent visas during the month of December!!

Prayer Requests
Ministry growth and qualified leaders for
national churches

Wisdom for ABWE
Ministries

Wisdom for Doug & Heather in teaching
responsibilities at church

Family adjustment and transition to the new twin girls in our home

Mailing Address in Chile
Doug and Heather Amundson
Cruz Almeyda 1389
Peñalolén
Santiago, Chile
South America

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all Gods. Psalm 95:1-3

We, like many of you, are celebrating all that God has done this past year in our personal lives, our recently expanded family, and in our church ministry. Heather and I have had a wonderful year here in Chile, and we praise God for his blessings to our family. We hope that during this season of Thanksgiving and Christmas that you too stop to give God all the glory that is due to his marvelous name.

At the writing of our last prayer letter, we had just received notice that we could visit and bring the twin girls home. We were able to bring the girls (Elizabeth Ana and Esther Saye) home on Monday, October 25th after a wild emotional up and down day with the court system and the adoption agency – but praise God that Elizabeth Ana and Esther Saye are now in our home. We had a second court date on Thursday, November 18th to receive official “foster care” rights where Fundacion mi Casa (our adoption agency) sent their lawyer, psychologist, and two social workers all to testify on our behalf. We are now waiting for our permanent residency visas, which should arrive in December, and then we can complete the adoptions. Thank you so much for your prayers in all of this. With 4 kids and two of them being almost 2 years old , Heather and I feel like walking zombies some days! The extra work has been worth it though, as we have seen a tremendous change in their attitudes and responsiveness since coming home from the orphanage.

Another great thing this past month was the ordination of another pastor, Pablo Uribe, who is now the pastor at one of the ABWE churches in the South-Western part of Santiago. This makes 5 different pastoral ordinations that Doug has attended this year, all of them being products of the ABWE seminary. The other ABWE missionaries working in the seminary have done a fantastic job, and the results are some well prepared pastors working in various churches throughout Santiago and the rest of Chile. As we have mentioned a young man from our church is currently in the seminary, and another young man is planning to begin in March 2011!! Please continue to keep this seminary in your prayers as ABWEs seeks how this ministry can be expanded for the glory of God.

This past month we have not seen the church grow much more, but we still marvel at how fast we have grown these past six months. The youth group is now nearly 15, Thursday night prayer meeting has roughly 25 or 30 each week, and we have seen Sunday mornings creep up into the 75 to 80 range. One of the biggest praises is that our church is located in a community called “La Reina” and for the first time in its long history, it is finally reaching the neighborhood around the church. In the past the church was always full of people that lived further away, and has struggled to reach its own community. As such we are thrilled to see God growing the church through local families. However the need for strong biblical teaching is very evident. Most of the new families know very little if any biblical doctrine, or are coming from other denominations where there was not good sound biblical teaching. At the moment we only have three adult teachers in the church, those being Pastor, one of our deacons, Daniel, and Doug. As such please pray for us to lay a solid foundation for these new families so that the church can continue to grow in sound doctrine and practice. Beyond this Doug had the opportunity to preach in a church near the coast that currently has no pastor, and Heather continues working with and transitioning the ladies ministry into capable hands.

Our plans and schedule for furlough continue to be clarified, and at the moment we plan to leave in very late June or early July 2011. Please pray for us as we make plans to visit our supporting churches, visit new churches, and attend the other required conferences and classes we have with ABWE. At this moment our support level is at 78% of our required support, or said differently we are short by $1,497 per month. This lack of funds can be roughly broken down as $800 due to churches or individuals who could not continue supporting us, $250 cost increases at ABWE (i.e. insurance), $225 increase for children’s education, and $200 due to the expanded family that we now have. As you can see – we need your earnest prayers laid before God to help fill the gap that exists.

We absolutely believe God will provide for his ministry in his time, and we pray and ask, if you or your church would be willing to help fill this gap. Please also continue to pray for our housing need during our furlough from August 2011 through late May or early June 2012. We are praying for housing near the Dayton, Columbus, or Cincinnati, OH area that would be VERY inexpensive or FREE to help rebuild up our support while on furlough. If you know of any opportunities that God might use to help us with this need please let us know as soon as possible. Thank you so much!!

In Him,

Doug & Heather Amundson along with
Caleb, Hannah, Eliana, and Esther