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Mission Updates Nov 2008Posts on behalf of the Missionary
Families that Hope supports.
Sander Family Ministry Letter
November 2008
Dear Covenant Church Family,
First we celebrated the ordination to Word and Sacrament of Axel
Arteaga in the Central Covenant Church of Monteria. Axel is the fruit
of the ministry of this church. He grew into leadership as a teenager,
left to be educated and equipped through seminary education in Medellin,
got married and returned to Monteria to serve the regional conference
and be a leader in the church. Four years after returning to Monteria
Axel accepted the call to be the pastor. The service began at 8:00 am,
in order to avoid the heat of the day, and the church was packed out in
celebration on this Sunday recognizing the ministry of the pastors of
the region and Axel's ordination. The ministry of the pastors and
churches of the Covenant in this area of Colombia is truly worth
recognizing, because their sacrifice and their commitment to extend
God's Kingdom in an area that is not only hot in climate, but has been
"hot" because of the civil unrest and upheaval that
has taken place in Colombia during the past few decades. It was a
great way to begin the day.
Then we left and drove four hours through the highland jungle
forests, over the river and on to the Covenant Church in El Bagre,
Antioquia. The President of the Colombia Covenant Church, Alvaro
Escallon, the General Secretary of the Colombia Covenant Ministerium,
Javier de Jesus Gomez, Pastor Manuel Castaneda and Gary were spending
this Sunday together in two different Covenant churches in order to
ordain both Axel Arteaga and Miguel Alcides Argumedo. The Covenant
decided to celebrate the ordination of their pastors this year in the
local churches where the candidates were ministering, so that the local
congregations could celebrate with them.
Miguel Argumedo is the pastor of the first Covenant Church which
was planted outside of a major urban area. Fourteen years ago the
Covenant was invited to go to the small, gold mining town of El Bagre,
Antioquia, to search out the possibility of planting a church. Pastor
Miguel lived in an impoverished, challenging neighborhood of El Bagre,
but he had a definite evangelistic zeal and determination to extend the
Kingdom of God through the Covenant in his town. (In fact, the first
time Gary visited the church there was the only time he has had actual
bodyguards around him 24/7 because of the condition of life there.)
Deciding to follow God's leading and plant a Covenant Church in this
area has been a blessing for El Bagre. A number of Covenant leaders
have come out of the ministry of Pastor Argumedo in El Bagre over the
years and the church temple is now an established place of refuge and
outreach in the neighborhood. Children, adults and youth
all gave testimony to the redemptive ministry of the church and of
Pastor Argumedo, and his family, as a part of the ordination
celebration. What a blessing to see what God had done, and was doing,
in this corner of the world.
The next day we again crossed the river, got in the van, and
headed home to our respective cities, having been blessed to accompany
God in his expansion of his Kingdom in Colombia.
Love, The Sander Family
Little Parsonage in the Tundra
October - November 2008
Life is never dull here, although there are times where we really feel down. Thank you for your prayers for us. Last Monday saw our 7 month anniversary since our arrival. We have tried for two weeks to get our newsletter out, but at times it seems a colossal task to have the time necessary to devote to what is truly important. We (the family and village as a whole) have been off and on again sick since the end of September. I am thankful that Ruth is taking the services today as I (Ross) have had a stomach bug since Friday -- the same one that the rest of the family had last week. It's kind of humorous in a weird sort of way -- it's as if we can't carry the ball, no one else is willing to pick it up. Samuel is having to help lead the service and Ruth will be teaching on the life of Saul and life of David from the perspective of Michael -- Saul's daughter and David's wife. It is a dramatic monologue that she put together back in 1991. One of many that she uses to teach in a "non-traditional" manner of story-telling.
I spent the last couple of days with a fellow who is helping me reload bullets. Now how is that for a "pastoral" skill :) Hunting and fishing are a necessary part of life here. One problem though is that the ammunition is hard to come by (can't mail it) and it is not cheap. Reloading helps overcome both obstacles. Having never hunted anything larger than squirrel, I have been practicing. I can now hit, (or consistently come close to hitting :) a CD sized target at 350 yards --- that's over 1000 feet! In another few weeks, once there is enough snow, I will be able to go caribou hunting. Ruth is hoping that I will be able to get either a moose or a musk ox as she likes the taste of their meat better :)
The annual "freeze up" happened pretty much right on schedule -- the first week of October. I had hoped to be able to make it down to Golovin before the river froze, but time seemed to be a commodity I was short on this summer. As we were flying back from a Pastor's retreat at Port Alsworth, most of the river, and part of the bay had glazed over with ice in just a matter of a couple of days!!! We went down and loaded our boat up on its trailer and brought it back up to the house. There was still some open water near our village on that Monday, but by Thursday evening there were already people going out on to the ice to go fishing!!! By Saturday, people were driving 4-wheelers on the ice. Kids and adults alike were out enjoying themselves. I am told that the ice does not normally freeze so clear and smooth. You could actually see through the ice, seeing fish, plants and the river bottom below!!! Some of the kids brought out ice skates.
We have finally had our first "real" snow. In the last week we have had 1-2 inches of the white stuff. I was glad we were able to get most of our "outside" things done before the snow began to cover everything up. Unfortunately we were not able to finish the raised bed for our garden. I am still wanting to try to get more dirt -- if it is not frozen too hard. I anticipate completing the cover during the winter so that we can put it to use come Spring. The temps have dropped to at least -12 now and the daytime highs have only been in the mid 20's. The sun doesn't raise her sleepy head til nearly 11:00 and it is dark again by 7 pm. The end of "daylight savings" will help us a bit in the mornings, at least for a little while.
Now that the snow is here, it highlights our need for a snow machine to be able to get around. Our neighboring village, Golovin, saw their pastor move away this summer. He and his family had been there 12 years. We were saddend to see them go. My hope is that I will be able to make the 25 mile trip down there at least once a month to hold services for them. I will need a guide to help me get there the first time or two. I also need to give careful thought to what I need to pack for survival gear, not just for going to Golovin, but any time I am going to be away from the village. I have already been offered a 10' sled that will complete the rig. It is currently being built and I am told will be here some time before Christmas. In order for us to be able to travel as a family though, it will be necessary to get a second snow machine and sled. That will come in time.
We are finally moving in!!! We have spent the last weeks finishing up projects and settling into our home. I am including a picture of one of the projects, moving the meter and breaker box to the outside of the house. That project required that the house be without power for half a day. Thankfully it all came together easily enough. They dropped power to the house around 1:30 and were able to reattach the main lines around 4:30. It took me another 2 hours to finish routing the individual circuits to the box and reattach the breakers. Insulating and closing up the wall would have to wait til another day. We are still heating primarily with wood, so the power being off didn't hurt us as far as keeping warm. We also took a day to tear up the office so that we could replace the carpet. Painting will come "some day" but since we needed to nearly empty the office anyway to put in an old teacher's desk we got from the old school. I now have a place to store files along with the many sundry items that are part of typical office clutter.
Speaking of homes, we had a second contract fall through on our home back in Texas, so it's back on the market again. I also have the expense of having to get the cover to the septic tank replaced as someone drove over it this summer. We had not anticipated it taking this long to sell, so it does pose a bit of a hardship for us at this point. It's one of those things I, as a guy, just have to leave in God's hands. Then there is my truck that hasn't sold, and then the nasty-grams I've gotten from Allstate wanting to charge me for auto insurance after we moved here -- that's weird. Like I said, I gotta leave it in God's hands.
I mentioned that we were able to get away the end of September for a pastor's retreat in Port Alsworth. It was special for us in several ways. For the children, it was the first opportunity they have had to leave the village. For us, this was the place where Ruth and I first felt God calling us to return to "formal" missions when we were there in May of 2006 as a part of a maintenance missions trip with our church back in Texas. It was good having the opportunity to go. For me, it was the first time in 6 months that I did not have the weight of responsibility on my shoulders. The three days we were there were far too short.
White Mountain hosted the regional Jr. High Fall Blast this year. We had 30 kids and 8 adults from 6 villages -- including Nome. The weekend event began on Friday evening and finished up on Sunday afternoon. Samuel and Rachel Joy were both fighting being sick that weekend. Things were insanely busy for me as I met planes and ferried people from the airport, across town to the school on Friday and repeated the reverse on Sunday. One trip, I had 9 people in my trailer!!! It was a time of games and fun, food and fellowship, worship and teaching. I was privileged to be one of the three speakers, taking the Sunday morning service. God gave me a message to challenge the young people to stand up for Jesus and to live their lives so others know their commitment. It was funny how God works, as the teachings each of us gave meshed so well together, though we had not talked about it prior to the event.
Our family experienced another hard event -- saying goodbye to people we had grown close to. You may recall me mentioning Yoyo and her brother Shon. Their family has moved to El Reno, Oklahoma. I had come to love Yoyo like one of my own daughters. If this is what it is going to be like in giving my daughter away to be married, he'd better be a really SPECIAL kind of guy. Shon and Isaac had become fast friends as well as they both simply enjoyed being around our family.
Aside from their recent loss of friends, the kids are doing well. Isaac continues to learn guitar. I think he may be doing a "special" in church on Sunday. It will be good having some music to sing to :) He has already begun to play for the children's church a little bit.
We have had several of you ask us about things that we would like to have for Christmas. We have spent several hours in stitches as we contemplate some of the things we would really like and some that we miss: Grilled-stuffed Steak Burritos from Taco Bell, all-you-can-eat salad bars, lots of fresh fruit & veggies, some good Chinese food, a good spread of fajitas with all of the fixin's, more time in a day, friends, wisdom & discernment..... Unfortunately some of those items can't be bought, and of those that could, they wouldn't handle the trip here very well traveling by USPS. :) Other items that we truly have need of, or desire generally fall outside of the realm of the cost of a "typical" gift. i.e. a snow machine, handheld VHF radio, a buyer for our home back in Texas, a Zune for Samuel (like an IPOD.) That leaves us with the smaller items, like herbal teas, dried fruit and York peppermint patties and Skittles that we occasionally indulge in along with other items that we will find ourselves needing like some really good ski goggles so we don't freeze our eyes when traveling outside in the dead of winter on a snow machine. The reality is, we have a few "needs" but really don't have a lot of "wants." We are so totally blessed when the unexpected care-package suddenly show up at the post office. Regardless of what we find inside, it fills us with a warmth realizing that we are loved and that we are not forgotten here.
Samuel, Rachel Joy, Isaac, Leah
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Been sick recently, so I didn't get to do much with the Jr. High Fall Blast, but the little I did was quite fun. Good to meet all you people!
Reflecting on the various events of this particular month, I only have one word for it: Wow! This month was really crazy, but before I say anything else, I want to thank the younger part of the youth group of The Church at West Mountain for sending a packet of letters to Rachel Joy and me. It was greatly appreciated, and we were all laughing (and slightly teary-eyed) as we remember various people and how they sounded the same even in writing *cough* Kaylee's ultra-fast speech, Dakota's hunting, random subject-changers *cough*. Anyway, now that I have that cough out :), time for some other things. I threw the first snowball of this year, Rachel Joy gave the first white-wash (where you smear someone else in the snow and rub it in their face :), and all of us except dad have been out on the frozen river. Which, by the way, looks weird to have the water moving under your feet only a few inches down. Like standing on a sheet of glass, and I better stop or I might start composing poetry about the stuff. Apparently, I've gone slightly crazy, because I started making candy and singing Christmas carols around the house, even though Christmas isn't due for a few months yet. The candy sure tasted good, though.
This is the big week, when I plan on getting in some new songs (rather than just hymns), and have a mic for dad. Could be interesting to see how the elders react to Chris Tomlin, Hillsong, and Robin Mark. Pray that the transition will be smooth, and that God will be in my choices and in the church as I play this music.
Left the National Ocean Science Bowl team this past month, because I couldn't keep up with my other studies and because I really didn't want to be on. Volleyball is fun, though, but most of our team stinks, me included. I'm too much of a gentleman, so I end up not getting the ball when it's in my area, for fear of hitting someone. However, for a newb, I have a mean serve, and went on a lucky streak, enabling us to win against the amazing adult home team yesterday, a first for this season. Pretty sweet!
Well, got some chores to do, and some things to finish up before the snow covers everything. As a request, a cordless mic for dad would be way better than the corded one I have currently, and we really do need a second snow-machine to in order to do anything as a family. It's in God's capable hands.....
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