NEWS LETTER: SEPTEMBER 2012

Developments:

Last month our pledged monthly financial support remained at 73.8% of our budget; after adding one-time donations the Lord provided 95.7% of our budget—our Lord will be proven faithful..!

* On August 9th our first missionary team traveled to the mountains of Cajabamba where they spent six days ministering the gospel of Jesus Christ and strengthening the local church in the area. As usual, this trip turned out to be an incredible blessing to the missionaries themselves as to the people in the area. 

The Spirit of God moved in the hearts of many in our team. After this trip, many came back truly transformed being able to enjoy new freedom from sin--the freedom that is reserved to those who abide in the Word of our Lord (John 8:31-32).

God's Spirit also moved mightily in the people of the area producing the fruit of many new converts, so much so that I, as the Pastor of the church, am traveling to the area with my two leaders on September 21st. We want to follow up with the new converts to figure out ways to disciple them. We will be seeking God's will about starting remote extensions of our church in the cities of Cajabamba and Huamachuco as an effort to prepare the soil for future independent church plants.

The truth is that a woman from our church has been faithfully praying for this area for the last 10 years, so we are going to piggyback on the blessing that is starting to fall down from heaven. It's all about prayer.!!

Oh, how exciting to see the Lord expanding our territory to go and make disciples of all the peoples!

* On August 18th we had our second Christian rock outreach with Mario Garcia, one the latest additions the Lord gave to our church. Father, thank You for giving us opportunities to reach out the lost in our community. We ask that You would draw them to Your Son.

* On August 19th we said farewell to our beloved missionaries Mayo Schroth and Matyas Csiha as they went back to the US and Hungry, respectably. Thank you guys for letting the Lord use you to strengthen our church in Miraflores!

* On September 6th we had a Night of Missions in the church. There the team that traveled to Cajabamba went through a day-by-day slideshow of their trip sharing with the congregation the many blessings they encountered during their missionary trip.

Prayer Needs:

* For a fresh and empowering view of God, that we may learn to see His goodness in all places and in all things, and that His will be done in our lives.

* For our marriage, our devotional lives, and for our kids to continue to grow in their desire to know the Lord.

* For God's provision to pay for the moving expenses we had when we moved to our new home back in May.

* For God's leading on expanding the church as we are forced into finding a new location for the church by the end of May 2013.

* For a downpour of spiritual realities and an intense hunger for God in the hearts of everyone in the church, including our children and our youth.

* For the healing hand of God on the marriages of our church.

* For the development of male leadership in our church.

* For the Lord to make the ministry of the Alegre's here in Miraflores an extremely fruitful one to the glory of God.

* For the development of healthy relational discipleship groups where our congregation truly come to know and grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

* For the Lord to strengthen and develop godly homeschooling here in Peru.

* For the salvation of the people of the Club Terrazas Swimming Team and beyond.

* For ministry opportunities with the orphanage El Amparo, the shelter for girls The House of Glory, and our local brothers from HeartCry Missionary Society. 

* For the hungry kids of Lurin and Rimac and for the men in the rehab centers in Rimac.

* For Divine guidance and blessing as we seek to make disciples in the cities of Cajabamba and Huamachuco.

* For our monthly financial support to go back to 100% of our budget.

Thank you for holding us up through your love and faithful work of intercession..!

In His love,

Andres, 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 2012

Developments:

Last month our pledged monthly financial support remained at 73.8% of our budget; after adding one-time donations the Lord provided 100% of our budget—our Lord IS faithful..!

* On July 12th I participated in the Master's Long Course Swimming Nationals with the Club Terrazas Swimming Team. During the meets we had an opportunity for our church to mingle with those in our swimming team and let the light of Christ in us shine forth. Father, grant this group of people entrance into Your kingdom--into Your love. Use us in Your work of their redemption in however way it pleases You.

* On July 20th we started our Friday nights' Youth Group at Marita's house led by Matyas Csiha, our visiting missionary from Hungry, and Juan Alegre.

* On July 21st we had our first Matthew Party with the Christian rock outreach ministry of Mario Garcia, one the latest additions the Lord gave to our church. A Matthew Party is base on Mark 2:15 where we see the Lord, His disciples and sinners eating together at Matthew's house. There we had another opportunity to share life with the church outside the sanctuary, but more importantly to reach the world with the message of reconciliation to God through Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5).

* On July 26th Matyas Csiha prepared a Hungarian dish for our Thursday night home group. Thank you Matyas for this delicious dish and for letting the Lord use you to strengthen the church in Miraflores!

* On July 26th Danielito, my second child, had his first pair of stitches from playing in a bounce house. Somehow I knew this would eventually happen… Nothing serious, though; just an excuse for Papi to pamper him with comfort ice-cream and toys.

* On July 30th we received a donation of a much needed brand new 13-inch MacBook Pro laptop. The timing of the Lord being so perfect since our old computer at church broke fried that following Sunday just before service--God You're so awesome!

* On August 5th we, as a church, prayed off our first missionary team of 15 to the mountains of Cajabamba... “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:15)

* On August 7th we got news that the church would have to move from our current location when our lease is up at the end of May 2013. I guess the Lord is pushing us through a door into new horizons of growth and ministry. This has reopen opportunities to move the Sunday services to the theater downstairs… Keep this in prayer.

* On August 9th our missionary team boarded a plane to Cajamarca to then ride a bus for three hours to Cajabamba where they spent six days ministering the gospel of Jesus Christ and strengthening the local church. More information on our news letter next month…

Prayer Needs:

* For a fresh and empowering view of God, that we may learn to see His goodness in all places and in all things, and that His will be done in our lives.

* For our marriage, our devotional lives, and for our kids to continue to grow in their desire to know the Lord.

* For God's provision to pay for the moving expenses we had when we moved to our new home back in May.

* For God's leading on expanding the church as we are forced into finding a new location for the church by the end of May 2013.

* For a downpour of spiritual realities and an intense hunger for God in the hearts of everyone in the church, including our children and our youth.

* For the healing hand of God on the marriages of our church.

* For the development of male leadership in our church.

* For the Lord to make the ministry of the Alegre's here in Miraflores an extremely fruitful one to the glory of God.

* For the development of healthy home groups within our congregation where people come to know and grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

* For the Lord to strengthen and develop godly homeschooling here in Peru.

* For the salvation of the people of the Club Terrazas Swimming Team and beyond.

* For ministry opportunities with the orphanage El Amparo, the shelter for girls The House of Glory, and our local brothers from HeartCry Missionary Society. 

* For the hungry kids of Lurin and Rimac and for the men in the rehab centers in Rimac.

* For our monthly financial support to remain at 100% of our budget.

Thank you for holding us up through your love and faithful work of intercession..!

In His love,

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

PS: Make sure to check out the new pictures of our recent activities to your left... We've been having problems with the blog so if you don't see the new picture slides go straight to Picasa.

NEWS LETTER: JULY 2012

Developments:

Last month our pledged monthly financial support went up to 73.8% of our budget; after adding one-time donations the Lord provided 90.6% of our budget—our Lord will be proven faithful..!

* On June 14th the mission team from CC Ft. Lauderdale - Plantation Campus arrived in Lima. The team was led by Pastor Steve Turner and Pastor Chris Baselice and five more men and four women for a total of eleven missionaries. The team spent a total of ten day ministering to and with our church in Miraflores-Lima, Peru. Below is a highlight of the main activities we had with the team:

- Friday 15th: Movie night with the church.

- Saturday 16th: Visit to El Amparo Orphanage in Chaclacayo. Worship night at the Alegre's.

- Sunday 17th: Father's Day service.

- Monday 18th: Infant Room facelift. Repairs to Marita's house, the future location of our Friday nights' Youth Group.

- Tuesday 19th: Repairs to Marita's house and Prayer Walk with our prayer group.

- Wednesday 20th: Visit to a rehab center at Rimac. Mid-week Bible study with Mike Scruby.

- Thursday 21st: Day off in the mountains of Chaclacayo.

- Friday 22nd: Final repairs to Marita's house and blessing the poor children at Rimac. Dinner in Barranco.

- Saturday 23rd: Men's breakfast with Pastor Chris Baselice and visit to Casa de Gloria, a shelter for young pregnant women. Beach evangelism. Dinner at Chifa Choi Tac.

- Sunday 24th: Service with Pastor Steve Turner. Lunch at the beach and farewell dinner at the Willis'.

All throughout these days many home visits were done where we saw the glory of the Lord as lives were touched and seeds were sawn by the Holy Spirit through this group of missionaries.

Early on June 25th the mission team departed from Lima back to Miami leaving our church encouraged, uplifted and strengthen to continue to abound in the work of the Lord in this corner of the world--thank you guys for your love and support! We are blessed to count with the support of our home church--thank you CC Ft. Lauderdale! Father, continue to pour Your blessing on our home church!!

* On June 20th our church got its RUC number (sort of like the federal tax ID or EIN back in the States) gearing up to implement formal accounting practices, with accountant and all--we're growing!

* On July 4th and the next couple of days the whole Garcia family visited the dentist for our yearly check ups. Pray for our dentist's salvation… She's been coming to our Wednesday services on and off.

Prayer Needs:

* For a fresh and empowering view of God, that we may learn to see His goodness in all places and in all things, and that His will be done in our lives.

* For our marriage, our devotional lives, and for our kids to continue to grow in their desire to know the Lord.

* For God's provision to pay for the moving expenses we had when we moved to our new home back in May.

* For God's leading on establishing the new multiple Sunday service format in our church.

* For a downpour of spiritual realities and an intense hunger for God in the hearts of everyone in the church, including our children and our youth.

* For the healing hand of God on the marriages of our church.

* For the development of male leadership in our church.

* For the Lord to make the ministry of the Alegre's here in Miraflores an extremely fruitful one to the glory of God.

* For the development of healthy home groups within our congregation where people come to know and grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

* For the Lord to strengthen and develop godly homeschooling here in Peru.

* For the salvation of the people of the Club Terrazas Swimming Team and beyond.

* For ministry opportunities with the orphanage El Amparo, the shelter for girls The House of Glory, and our local brothers from HeartCry Missionary Society. 

* For the hungry kids of Lurin and Rimac and for the men in the rehab centers in Rimac.

* For our 1st missionary trip as a church to Cajabamba in the northern mountains of Peru on August 9th to 14th.

* For our monthly financial support to go back to 100% of our budget.

Thank you for holding us up through your love and faithful work of intercession..!

In His love,

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

PS: Make sure to check out the new pictures of our recent activities to your left... We've been having problems with the blog so if you don't see the new picture slides go straight to Picasa.

NEWS LETTER: JUNE 2012

Developments:

Last month our pledged monthly financial support remained at 70.3% of our budget; after adding one-time donations the Lord provided 92.5% of our budget—our Lord will be proven faithful..!

* On May 20th we had a special service in the church where we shared the vision for the church and showed the different ministries and potential opportunities for service. After this, we all filled a spiritual gift survey where we identified the different spiritual gifts that God had given us and are being encouraged to put them to use in the church for the glory of our Father. 

That same day, we said goodbye to the Luna's as they headed to Cuzco for a couple of weeks before returning to the US. We are thankful to God for giving us the Luna's for a couple of months to bless our congregation with their spiritual gifts. Thank you Esteban, Violeta and Patty--you will be missed!

* May 21st was moving day for us and we're glad to report that we survived our move number seven, as a family, and number 13, personally. During this move we saw, once again, the body of Christ come together to help and comfort us. The glory of God displayed in very powerful ways as He orchestrated key resources as they were needed on the spot--God, You're awesome!!

After all was said and done, between the security deposit, a new refrigerator, a new water heater, and other unavoidable moving expenses we are about $4000 in the hole. We're trusting on God's provision..!

* On May 25th I got together with my fellow missionary Shane Treadway for dinner as he was visiting Lima in preparation for this year's missions course, Kairos, from Pioneers, Peru.

* On May 27th I shared the preliminary corporate results of the previous week's spiritual gifts survey with the congregation. We were pleasantly surprised to realize that about 87% of our congregation showed the gift of faith, no wonder the strength of our prayer meeting as it counts with the attendance of about 50% of our congregation--this is VERY encouraging!  Later, Juan taught the congregation on spiritual gifts to equip the congregation and to promote the use of our God-given gifts for the works of service.

* On May 31st our son Sebastian reached a milestone as he started wearing contact lenses. Two days latter attended, all by himself, his first men's breakfast with the church. We're all blessed by his growth, both physically and spiritually--Father, glorify Your name in and through our children.

* On June 4th our TV set, that served our family since 2007, officially died.

* On June 5th Sandra Alegre got back from the States and that night our Prayer Meeting group had our first Prayer Walk. We divided in six groups that took on six different sets of blocks around our church location in Miraflores. We went out praying, as the Spirit led, for the furthering of the kingdom of God all around us. At the end we met back at the church and shared our experiences. We all coincided that we were pleasantly surprised by the strength of the leading of God's Spirit as we went about doing this--thank You, Lord, for opening before our selfish and unbelieving eyes the beauty of the life centered in others and the power of prayer through intercession.

Prayer Needs:

* For a fresh and empowering view of God, that we may learn to see His goodness in all places and in all things, and that His will be done in our lives.

* For our marriage, our devotional lives, and for our kids to continue to grow in their desire to know the Lord.

* For God's provision to pay for the moving expenses we had when we moved to our new home back in May.

* For God's leading on establishing the new multiple Sunday service format in our church.

* For a downpour of spiritual realities and an intense hunger for God in the hearts of everyone in the church, including our children and our youth.

* For the healing hand of God on the marriages of our church.

* For the development of male leadership in our church.

* For the Lord to make the ministry of the Alegre's here in Miraflores an extremely fruitful one to the glory of God.

* For the development of healthy home groups within our congregation where people come to know and grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

* For the Lord to strengthen and develop godly homeschooling here in Peru.

* For the salvation of the people of the Club Terrazas Swimming Team and beyond.

* For ministry opportunities with the orphanage El Amparo, the shelter for girls The House of Glory, and our local brothers from HeartCry Missionary Society. 

* For the hungry kids of Lurin and Rimac and for the men in the rehab centers in Rimac and Victory Fellowship.

* For the missionary team from CC Ft. Lauderdale - Plantation Campus that arrived on June 14th and we'll be staying with us until June 24th.

* For our 1st missionary trip as a church to the mountains of Peru in August.

* For our monthly financial support to go back to 100% of our budget.

Thank you for holding us up through your love and faithful work of intercession..!

In His love,

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

PS: Make sure to check out the new pictures of our recent activities to your left... We've been having problems with the blog so if you don't see the new picture slides go straight to Picasa.

NEWS LETTER: MAY 2012

Developments:

Last month our pledged monthly financial support went up to 70.3% of our budget; after adding one-time donations the Lord provided 86.2% of our budget—our Lord will be proven faithful..!

* On April 19th and 26th we had Israel Night at the church where I took the congregation on a tour through the land of Israel with the pictures and videos that we took during our recent trip to the Holy Land. It proved to be an edifying experience for all of us. 

* On April 28th we had our first Night of Worship at the church. We had awesome sessions of live worship coupled with cardboard testimonies. The room was filled with a rich awareness of God's presence as He enthroned Himself with the praises and thanksgiving of His people. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is GOOD!

* On April 29th we started having double Sunday services--English at 9AM and Spanish at 11PM. Father, minister to Your English speaking sheep and continue to transform us all from glory to glory into Your image.

* On April 29th Sandra Alegre headed back to Florida for 5 weeks to take care of her elderly mother as they're going through a rough season.

* On May 2nd we enjoyed sweet fellowship with our supporters, the Sovis, as they came to visit us here in Miraflores. It's always of great encouragement when our supporters take the time to visit us here in the mission field… Thank you Bill and Kim!

* On May 3rd we said a momentary goodbye to our fellow missionaries, the Blackbell, as they headed back to Australia for furlough.

* On May 4th we celebrated the 8th birthday of our second boy, Daniel. For the sake of Jesus, Holy Father, circumcise the hearts of my children that they may truly know You and love You with abandon.

* On May 5th we started a Men's Breakfast home discipleship group at Juan Alegre's house.

* On May 9th and 16th we took a break from our regular Wednesday night Bible studies to have an evangelism class with Esteban Luna.

* From May 10th to the 12th, myself and three of my leaders, went to this year's Senior Pastor's Retreat in Cieneguilla. This year we enjoyed the teachings of Brian Newberry, Senior Pastor of CC San Diego, and Rob Salvato, Senior Pastor of CC Vista.

* On May 11th the women of our church celebrated Mother's Day at the church with a sweet time of worship and fellowship.

* On May 13th we enjoyed our Sunday services with the teaching of Pastor Ted Meilleur from CC Gainesville. Thank you Pastor Ted and your missions team for blessing our congregation with the fragrance of Christ that you all bear.

We are blessed to announce that, in great part because of your prayers, the Lord found a new and slightly bigger home for us. Very conveniently, our new apartment is located across the street from our current location making the move seamless in terms of our peripheral system of living--grocery stores, study cafes, walking distance to church and to the Alegre's, etc. This is a bottom-floor, three-bedroom apartment so the kids will have room to play outside and an extra room for homeschooling. Please pray for this pastor to trust God with the added living expenses..! :-)

Prayer Needs:

* For a fresh and empowering view of God, that we may learn to see His goodness in all places and in all things, and that His will be done in our lives.

* For our marriage, our devotional lives, and for our kids to continue to grow in their desire to know the Lord.

* For God's provision in order to cover the moving expenses to our new home by the end of May.

* For God's leading on establishing the new multiple Sunday service format in our church.

* For a downpour of spiritual realities and an intense hunger for God in the hearts of everyone in the church, including our children and our youth.

* For the healing hand of God on the marriages of our church.

* For the development of male leadership in our church.

* For the Lord to make the ministry of the Alegre's here in Miraflores an extremely fruitful one to the glory of God.

* For strength, courage and wisdom for Sandra Alegre as she deals with her ill mother situation back in the States.

* For the development of healthy home groups within our congregation where people come to know and grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

* For the Lord to strengthen and develop godly homeschooling here in Peru.

* For the salvation of the people of the Club Terrazas Swimming Team and beyond.

* For ministry opportunities with the orphanage El Amparo, the shelter for girls The House of Glory, and our local brothers from HeartCry Missionary Society. 

* For the hungry kids of Lurin and Rimac and for the men in the rehab centers in Rimac and Victory Fellowship.

* For the missionary team coming from CC Ft. Lauderdale - Plantation Campus on June 14th to 24th.

For our 1st missionary trip as a church to the mountains of Peru in August.

* For our monthly financial support to go back to 100% of our budget.

Thank you for holding us up through your love and faithful work of intercession..!

In His love,

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

PS: Make sure to check out the new pictures of our recent activities to your left... We've been having problems with the blog so if you don't see the new picture slides go straight to Picasa.