NEWS LETTER: DECEMBER 2009

Developments:

* Praise the Lord! We received four new pledges of monthly financial support that put us at 17% of our budget. Through one-time donations and monthly supporters that started contributing we are at 25% of our projected moving expenses. We also received three new open pledges, people who formally let us know they intend to support us financially but don’t know the dollar amount yet.

* This month I attended one more funeral and one more wedding. I’m now 2 out of 3 weddings and 2 out of 3 funerals in my pastoral training track. I also had a one-on-one funeral training session with Pastor John Chinelly. He and I are meeting again in January for a one-on-one wedding training session. This is a great blessing since Pastor John has a wealth of ministry experience—thank you Pastor John!

* Our sister in Christ, Kim Fernandez, organized and hosted a Mary Kay party where all the proceeds will go towards our moving fund. Thank you Kim!

* This month we had our booth giving exposure to our ministry at the Spanish Ministries – Calvary Chapel Southeast Pastor’s Conference in Aventura. We had the privilege to make acquaintances with some of the key leaders of the Calvary Chapel Spanish Ministries here in Miami and in California.

* Our trip to visit Pastor Chet at his house in the Bahamas for fellowship and training was postponed to sometime in January.

* Our friends from the Calvary Ft. Lauderdale Campus are organizing a Love Offering Dinner Party to raise awareness and support for our ministry on 1/15/10.

* We are scheduled to have our booth at the Calvary Chapel Southeast Pastor’s Conference in Merritt Island from 1/18/10 to 1/20/10.

* We are schedule to have our booth at Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale on 1/23/10 and 1/24/10.

Special Announcements:

1. We are selling our cars. If you’re interested or know someone that’s interested, please, let us know. These are the specifics:

* 2007 Honda Civic EX Coupe 2D. 30,000 miles. Gray. $14,500.

* 2003 Dodge Caravan SE Minivan 4D. 130,000 miles. Silver. $3,500.

2. We anticipate having a gap between the time we have to move out of our house and the time we leave to Peru. Please let us know if you can help with our accommodations during that time.

Prayer Needs:

* For the will of God to be done and His kingdom to be further established in our lives.

* For wisdom in regard to the logistics of our move to Peru.

* For God to sell or rent our house.

* For all the items mentions above in the Development and Special Announcements area.

* For one-time donations toward our moving expenses.

* For monthly financial and prayer support for our ministry.

Thank you for your faithful work of intercession..!

In His love,

Andres and Karla, Sebastian, Daniel, and Samuel—the Garcia’s.

PS: Make sure to check out the new pictures of our recent activities to your left...

NEWS LETTER: NOVEMBER 2009

To our dearest Prayer Warriors,

Prophesy to the Spirit:

Consider how essential in the world of missions your work of intercession is…

When Ezekiel was brought out in the Spirit of the Lord to the valley of dead bones he was told by the Lord to first prophesy to the bones. He did and the bones came together and sinew and flesh came to fill the bones and an army of dead bodies was raised. Not being enough, the Lord told Ezekiel to prophesy to the Spirit so that He would breathe the breath of life into the dead corpses. (Ezekiel 37)

It is the same in missions or any other ministry… Those of us in the field can put all the right “bones” of Bible study and Sunday school in their right places, then bring the “sinew” of outreach and evangelistic activities, to then add the “flesh” of feeding the poor and caring for the needy… We can put all the right pieces together but until, through your prayers, the Spirit of God comes and breathes the breath of life it is all bound to remain dead religious activity.

O precious people, how important it is for us to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord and, in fear, trust not in our own abilities and horizontal activities, but to in fervent prayer beseech our faithful Creator. That He would, in His mercy, rain down life upon us and those we minister to and command light to shine out of darkness, to give us all the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ!

Developments:

* Praise the Lord! We received two new pledges of monthly financial support that put us at 13% of our budget. Through one-time donations and monthly supporters that started contributing we are at 12% of our projected moving expenses. We also received one new open pledge, people who formally let us know they intend to support us financially but don’t know the dollar amount yet.

* Karla received her DNI and Peruvian passport—we are ready to start the process for my Peruvian residency.

* I started my pastoral training. This month I attended 1 of 3 weddings and 1 of 3 funerals. I also started meeting regularly with Pastor Steve Turner and I’m scheduled to have a one-on-one training session with Pastor John Chinelly on 12/5.

* Our sister in Christ, Brooke, Juan Guevara’s’ wife, organized and hosted a Pampered Chef party where a portion of the proceeds will go towards our moving fund.

* This month we had our booth giving exposure to our ministry in an ORC event, at CC-Plantation, and at CC-Inverness. Our whole family was brought up to the altar at CC-Plantation by Pastor Steve for the congregation to know us better.

* We received news that our family will have a place to stay in Lima for up to a couple of months, free of charge, while we get settled when we first move to Peru next year.

* We are scheduled to have our booth at the Spanish Ministries – Calvary Chapel Southeast Pastor’s Conference in Aventura on 11/13 and 11/14.

* Karla and I are scheduled to visit Pastor Chet at his house in the Bahamas for fellowship and training from 11/30 to 12/2.

* We are scheduled to have our booth at the Calvary Chapel Southeast Pastor’s Conference in Merritt Island from 1/18/10 to 1/20/10.

* We are schedule to have our booth at Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale on 1/23/10 and 1/24/10.

Prayer Needs:

* For God’s will to be done in our lives.

* Against burnout; at times it’s been exhausting to juggle family, work, ministry, and missions’ work.

* For unhindered and thriving intimacy in our relationship with the Lord and in our marriage.

* For all the items mentions above in the Development area.

* For one-time donations toward our moving expenses.

* For monthly financial and prayer support for our ministry.

Thank you for your faithful prayers..!

In His love,

Andres and Karla, Sebastian, Daniel, and Samuel—the Garcia’s.

PS: Make sure to check out the new pictures of our recent activities to your left...

NEWS LETTER: OCTOBER 2009

To our dearest Prayer Warriors,

Bondage or Liberty:

Hanna Whitall Smith, a late writer of the deeper life, once wrote: “It is a fact beyond question that there are two kinds of Christian experience: one is an experience of bondage, and the other an experience of liberty.

In the first, the soul is controlled by a stern sense of duty, and obeys the law of God either to keep from being punished or from expectation of wages. In the second, the controlling power is an inward life-principle that works out by the force of its own motions or instincts to do the will of the Divine Life-giver, without fear of punishment or hope of reward. In the first the Christian is a servant of God and works for wages. In the second the Christian is a child of God and works for love.

The following contrasts may help some to understand the difference between these two kinds of religion.

The law says: Do, and you will live.

The gospel says: Live, and you will do.

The law says: Pay me what you owe.

The gospel says: I forgive you all that you owe.

The law says: Make yourself a new heart and a new spirit.

The gospel says: A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you.

The law says: “Thou shall love the Lord your God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”

The gospel says: “Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

The law says: “Cursed is every one who continued not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.”

The gospel says: “Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.”

The law says: “The wages of sin is death.”

The gospel says: “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The law demands holiness.

The gospel gives holiness.

The law says do.

The gospel says done.

The law extorts the unwilling service of a bondman.

The gospel wins the loving service of a son and freeman.

The law makes blessings the result of obedience.

The gospel makes obedience the result of blessings.

The law places the day of rest at the end of the week’s work.

The gospel places it at the beginning.

The law says: If.

The gospel says: Therefore.

The law was given for the restraint of the old man.

The gospel was given to bring liberty to the new man.

Under the law, salvation was wages.

Under the gospel, salvation is a gift.”

Dear brothers and sisters let us celebrate the liberty by which Christ has made us free. Free to know God and love Him with abandon and to delight in His presence..!

Developments:

* Praise God.!! On September 9^th we had a very Spirit led meeting with Pastor Chet, the Mission’s Pastor of our home church, Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale. We have now the full backing of our home church! In fact, Pastor Chet wants to take me through an accelerated pastoral track to train me and ordain me as a Calvary Chapel Pastor before we leave to the mission field. He said he realized that, because we’re going to serve in an existing church, we are not being sent as regular missionaries, but as Pastor and Pastor’s wife. Also, Pastor Chet has asked Pastor Steve Turner to put together a mission trip for people from Plantation to go down and support us next year in Miraflores-Lima, Peru.

* We received one more pledge of monthly financial support that puts us in the 9% of our budget. We also received three open pledges, people who formally let us know they intend to support financially but don’t know the dollar amount yet—praise the Lord!

* Our sister in Christ, Niurka, one of our fiercest supporters since day one, organized a support-raising event that she called “Pillows for Peru.” There she sold her homemade pillows and raised awareness within our Christian community about the ministry the Lord is entrusting to us in Lima, Peru; $176 were raised… Thank you Niurka..!

* Our three kids received in the mail their Peruvian passports; they are officially citizens of Peru.

* We set up a booth and officially presented our missions ministry at our sister church, Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood Campus. Thank you Pastor Greg for your encouragement and support..!

* I haven’t given my resignation at work yet, but I told my boss and my boss’ boss about our plans to move to Peru early next year to do missionary work there. This was a scary step of faith that put our family halfway in Peru already.

* We put our house in the market.

* The boys started homeschool with their new A Beka curriculum.

* We will be setting our booth at the ORC, Operation Rescue the Children, “Sponsorship of Love” Auction and Dinner event on October 10^th at the Hilton Hotel in Deerfield Beach. For more information on ORC visit them in the web at www.rescuechild.org.

* We may need to do a preliminary trip to Lima mainly for Karla to request my residency.

* We are planning several support-raising and ministry awareness events in the next couple of months.

Prayer Needs:

* For God’s will to be done in our lives.

* For ORC event on October 10^th, that many kids be adopted and overall be a fruitful and God honoring event.

* Pray for all the items mentioned above in the Developments area, especially for Pastor Chet to hear God’s heart in regard to our pastoral training and for direction in regard to the planning of our church’s mission trip in 2010 to help us in Miraflores-Lima, Peru.

* For one-time donations toward our moving expenses.

* For monthly financial support for our ministry.

Brothers and sisters, like the prophet Hosea said, let us press on and pursue the knowledge of the Lord till He comes and rains righteousness on us.!!

In His love,

Andres and Karla, Sebastian, Daniel, and Samuel—the Garcia’s.

PS: Make sure to check out the new pictures of our recent activities to your left...

NEWS LETTER: SEPTEMBER 2009

To our dearest Prayer Warriors,

Somebody’s been Praying:
D.L. Moody, the great evangelist of the 1800’s, found himself once in need of a sabbatical. He decided to go away from ministry for a season to Scotland. There he visited a pastor friend of his who asked him to preach at his church. That Sunday something amazing happened… As Moody preached the Spirit of God moved and hundreds, in brokenness, came to receive Christ as Lord. Seeing what was happening, Moody’s friend asked him to stay longer to keep preaching, but Moody couldn’t since he had other engagements in other parts of the country, so he left.

Amazingly, even after Moody was gone, people kept on coming to the church to give their lives to Christ and be saved. Throngs of people kept coming even at night when the church was closed—this went on for a couple of days!

Weeks later Moody came back to town and his friend informed him of what had happened even after he left. Wisely, Moody immediately said to his friend: “Somebody’s been praying! We need to find out who it is…” So they started inquiring around town and, sure enough, they found out about an old, bedridden, woman who couldn’t get out of her house. She considered the church of Moody’s friend her church, though she had never been physically there, just because it was the same denomination that she used to attend in her healthier days. The woman had several years earlier read an article in the paper about Moody and his ministry and she decided to cut the article and stick it in the wall of her praying closet to remind herself to pray for Moody every day, and she did so.

Oh, the faithfulness of the woman who by prayer brought about revival in the lives of so many and the wisdom and humility of Moody to recognized where the power really is—in the Spirit of God moved by the prayers of His saints.

I share this story to encourage you to continue to pray for us and our ministry. We, the missionaries that go, can accomplish very little in the field without the prayer support of missionaries like you who stay behind turning the wheels of the spiritual world through faithful work of intersession..!

Developments:
* On August 5th we had a very Spirit led meeting with Lysa McMillan in regard to becoming official missionaries of Calvary Ft. Lauderdale—Lysa is Pastor Chet’s assistant with all the Missions Ministry activity at Calvary Ft. Lauderdale. She was going to update Pastor Chet and get back to us. Three weeks later we checked with her and she said “I updated Pastor Chet on our meeting and he has several thoughts and ideas to convey, but I have no specific details as of yet...” We are all trusting this is part of God’s plan.
* We received our first two pledges of monthly financial support that account for 6% of our budget—praise the Lord!
* We gathered all the necessary paperwork and went to the Peruvian Consulate in Miami. Karla, being a Peruvian born citizen, is sponsoring me to become a Peruvian resident and our kids to become Peruvian citizens. This should be ready by the end of the year.
* We set up a booth and officially presented our missions ministry during all services at our home church, Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale-Plantation Campus. We are scheduled to do the same at the Hollywood Campus on September 13th.
* We went to Calvary Chapel Inverness to share our calling with the congregation back on August 30th. This was such a blessing for which we are so grateful. The congregation at Inverness and their leaders were extremely loving and generous with us. They gave us an infusion of encouragement of unspeakable value and are praying about supporting us financially. Thank you Calvary Chapel Inverness..!

Prayer Needs:
* For God’s will to be done in our lives.
* That the life of Christ and His divine humility be revealed in power deep within us to expel the poison of pride from our hearts.
* That we may grow in our ability to cast our cares upon the Lord and trust Him with abandon in all areas of our lives.
* For protection against discouragement.
* Pray for all the items mentioned above in the Developments area, especially for Pastor Chet to hear God’s heart in regard to CC Ft. Lauderdale’s involvement with our ministry.
* For one-time donations toward our moving expenses.
* For monthly financial support for our ministry.

Let Us Know:
As a way of encouragement, please let us know what the Lord’s been stirring in your hearts in regard to your commitment to our ministry. Let us know if you sense a divine calling to pray for our ministry and if you are planning to support us financially, even if you don’t know the amount yet. Don’t assume we already know; you are a tremendous blessing to our hearts when you share these things with us… Remember, with your commitment to support our mission work, whether by prayer or by prayer and financially, you become a part of our missionary team and the exploits of our ministry are also added to your heavenly account..!

May the Lord richly bless you exceedingly abundantly above all you ask or think..!


In His love,
Andres and Karla, Sebastian, Daniel, and Samuel—the Garcia’s.

PS: Make sure to check out the new pictures of our recent activities to your left...

NEWS LETTER: AUGUST 2009

To our dearest Prayer Warriors,

A Vision is Given:
When I first went to Peru, as the plane flew over Lima, it struck me to see how little vegetation there was in the area. The fact is that it never rains in the coasts of Peru, hence, the landscape around Lima is brown—the fields are brown, the mountains are brown, there are hardly any trees around. I remember saying to myself, ‘I wouldn’t want to live here; this place is barren…’

As my trip progressed I noticed that the food in Lima is extraordinarily tasty. Their fruits and vegetables are extremely rich in flavor and their agriculture in general is very prolific. I couldn’t understand. How could a land so dry deliver such palatable produces?! It wasn’t until I flew out of Lima when I noticed that although the general landscape around the city is brown, if you look carefully, you could see narrow strings of lush vegetation coming down from the Andes Mountains, over the east, running into the Pacific Ocean, over the west. I came to realize that, as the snow melts in the mountains, creeks and streams are formed into small rivers that cross through the brown soil of the coastal Peruvian landscape with lush vegetation developing in the banks of these small rivers. Then I understood how the seemingly dead, dry, and parched soil of Lima becomes a thriving fertile ground: by simply bringing water to it… You see, although the soil around Lima looks dry and dead, when you bring life-giving, life-sustaining water, you realize it is very fertile indeed!

A couple of years later after coming home from my most recent trip to Peru, I was communing with the Lord, seeking His will for my family’s missionary calling, asking Him… ‘Lord, I sense You are calling us to serve You as missionaries in Peru but what exactly do You want us to do there in Lima..?’ It was then that He whispered gently in the depths of my heart:

‘Andres, I have given you grace to prepare your heart to seek My Law, to do it, and to teach it (Ezra 7:10). Now I’m going to use you and your family, among a few others, to bring the life-giving, life-sustaining water of My Word (Eph 5:17) to the dry and parched soil of the hearts of My people that are bound by deceit in the urban culture of Lima and all across Peru. I am preparing the soil of their hearts to receive My Word to yield a crop that is thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold… (Mat 13:8) To exalt the name of My Son, Jesus, (Phi 2:9) and to send Him (Acts 3:20) and form Him (Gal 4:19) in the life of those I have appointed to eternal life (Acts 13:48) in the land of the Incas. That they would “give glory to the LORD, and declare His praise in the coastlands” […of Peru] (Isa 42:12).’

And this is how I knew that my mission in Peru is to, as Pastor Chuck Smith puts it, ‘simply teach the Word of God simply…’ To bring the life-giving, life-sustaining water of God’s Word to a people whose heart condition is being prepared by the hand of God to bear much fruit, fruit that remains; all to the glory of God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Developments:
* We have a meeting on Wednesday August 5th with Lysa McMillan to work out the details to become official missionaries of Calvary Ft. Lauderdale. Lysa is Pastor Chet’s assistant with all the Missions Ministry activity at Calvary Ft. Lauderdale.
* As of last weekend we have all the items needed to set up a booth and present our missions ministry to the body of Christ—we are officially ready to start raising support!
* 60+ letters presenting our ministry went out last week to mostly Calvary Chapel churches in the South Florida area and beyond.
* We are already schedule to be at Calvary Chapel Plantation on August 22nd, 23rd, and 26th, and at Calvary Chapel Inverness on August 30th.

Prayer Needs:
* Simply lift up our names before the throne of God that His will be done in our lives.
* Wisdom and protection against the works of the evil one on our family, especially on our marriage. He’s been working overtime on us lately.
* Pray for all items mentioned above in the Developments area.
* To raise one-time funds for our moving expenses.
* To raise monthly financial support for our ministry.

Special Note:
There have been questions raised regarding Shepherd Staff about what they are and what they do. They are a ministry established to facilitate missions by helping local churches and their missionaries with, among other things, the administration of the funds that come in for the missionaries. They do not provide funds for missionaries; they simply remove the burden from the local church and their missionaries of the administration of funds and the financial legal aspects of doing missions. For more information visit them in the web at www.shepsstaff.org.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.

May the Lord richly bless you exceedingly abundantly above all you ask or think..!


In His love,
Andres and Karla, Sebastian, Daniel, and Samuel—the Garcia’s.

THE GARCIA'S TO THE MISSION FIELD

Dearest Prayer Warriors,

As you know, after coming from our trip to Peru in April and seeking God’s will for our lives we believe He has spoken. The Lord has given us peace and overwhelming confidence in our hearts that He is calling us to serve Him as missionaries to the urban culture of Miraflores-Lima, Peru through the ministry of Calvary Chapel Vida. After much prayer and consideration we now have a take-a-step-of-faith departure date of January 2010. To that end, we have been busy working out the details of our departure to the mission field by figuring out budgets, moving expenses, visas, residencies, passports, schools, sending agencies, applications—it’s been just like planning a wedding! The purpose of this letter is to keep you informed of the latest developments and prayer needs of our ministry.

Developments:
The latest development is that we just have been approved by Shepherd’s Staff, our mission facilitator agency. We have been assigned the account number 4508; this enables us to start raising support that is tax deductible to our supporters. This is huge since it usually takes months to get this.

Prayer Needs:
* That God’s will be done in our lives.
* That the Lord would continue to feed our hearts with fresh revelation of His glory that we may not lose the fire of our first love and single devotion to Him in the midst of busy work.
* That He would facilitate a meeting with Pastor Chet, the missions Pastor in the main campus. A meeting with him is necessary to make us official missionaries of Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale.
* Wisdom to make many practical decisions in regard to our departure to the mission field.
* That He would raise more prayer warriors to keep interceding on our behalf and partner with us in our ministry.
* That He would raise funds for our moving expenses and supporters for our ongoing living and ministry expenses.
* Protection against the works of the wicked one in our family.
* Unity among His true church that we may work in unity for the exaltation of His Son in Lima and all across Peru.

Thank you for your faithful prayers. We truly believe that prayer is the driving engine of the work of God in this world. We’re just the visible tip of the iceberg that labor on top of your faithful work of intercession.

May God bless you with the unspeakable gift of His Holy Presence..!


Love,
Andres, Karla, Sebastian, Daniel and Samuel—the Garcia’s.