Dear Everybody,

A beautiful sunset on Lago Calafquen. Pucura Beach

And... Volcan Villarrica in his best attire.

Just a glimpse of our neck of the woods. Anybody want to visit?

Liz

What our 4th of July looked like!

Dear Everybody,

Of course today was the 4th of July but for us in Chile, it was just another Sunday. We did wake up to very stormy weather. The roads were flooded and the temperatures very cool outside. We didn't expect very many people in church since most walk to the service.

This morning we worshipped with our church in Conaripe. If you were to stop by for a visit you would notice many similarities with your own church services in the US. We sang hymns and choruses. We had a time of prayer and sharing. Then we divided into our Sunday School classes. The adults and young people stay in the main room and the kids go with their teacher to another class.

Danny has been preaching through the book of Ephesians. We are now nearing the end of the study after a whole year. Today we learned about the armor of God which is found in Ephesians chapter 6.

After the preaching time, the kids come back to the main auditorium and share what they learned in their class. We are thankful for a young lady from the Bible Intsitute, Pamela, who comes and teaches the kids. They shared a song and their verse for the week.

After the service we had a potluck. This is where the similarities become more scarce. Some brought meat and others salads and deserts. Most of the food was warmed on the only source of heat for the building: a wood stove!

No drinks were served except for "mate" for the adults and some warmed up chocolate milk for the kids. is a crushed, loose tea served in a little tin cup.

They pour hot water into the cup, along with a teaspoon of sugar and sip the liquid trough a special metal straw. Two "mates"got passed around with the meal.

Pamela, Matthias, Micah and Cesar

As we ate and fellowshipped we could hear the wind howling around and through the church floorboards and walls. One definately has to dress with layers to stay warm during the service!

Keep praying for the work in Conaripe. Because of past sin and neglect, the church now needs much prayer and sound teaching to start over again and grow.

Will you pray with us?

Liz

Family

Dear everybody,

Our family just returned home yesterday from a trip to Santiago. The main purpose for the trip was to visit our family here in Chile. As missionaries we leave family and friends to go where the Lord calls, but in His goodness to us God provides us with a NEW family and NEW friends.

Back Row: David Flinck, Sharon Bisbee, Dan Kunnari, Daryl Thompson, Hartmut Beyer, Curtis Steward, Dan Thompson, Richard Allen, Jonathan Rea.

Middle: Diana Kunnari, Earlynne Thompson, Diane Steward, Elizabeth Thompson and baby Madeline, Carolina Rea.

Front row: Kristi Flinck and Kaylee, Leah Kunnari and Lukas Flinck, Jordan Flinck, Ben Flinck, Troy Kunnari and Morgan Thompson, Matthias Thompson, Timothy Rea, Micah Thompson and Noemi Rea.

We are thankful for each GMSA missionary here in Chile.

The Rea's are from Northern Ireland and the Canary Islands and serve in Santiago in church planting.

Sharon Bisbee is a single missionary also serving in Santiago. She teaches at the Bible Institute and also ministers weekly at various jails.

Curt and Diane Steward are working in a leadership capacity. He is our field director in Chile. Both teach at the Bible Institute and serve in our churches in the capital.

Dan and Diana Kunnari are new missionaries to Chile. They are serving in Santiago, in a church that went through a split.

In the south of Chile, Daryl and Earlynne Thompson are directing the Bible Institute in Temuco. They are the house parents for the live-in students there. Daryl also teaches classes at the BI.

Hartmut and Gaby Beyer are German missionaries working in association with GMSA. He teaches at the BI in Temuco and she heads up the correspondence course ministry.

David and Krisiti Flinck are also newly arrived on the field. They minister in a church in Temuco with discipleship and also teach at the Bible Institute.

Will you pray for the Chile Field missionaries?

We all have our struggles in ministry. What a joy it is to meet together and through prayer and fellowship, return to our ministries with lighter hearts.

Liz

Part II - The Surprise Project

Dear everybody,

It's always exciting to have a work team on camp. Why? Because we can tackle so many projects that are put on hold for lack of manpower. With the Nazaret Cabin remodel as the main project, we thought the NTI team would be busy enough during their stay, but a few days before they arrived our tool shed was broken into and tools stolen. After getting over the shock of the breakin, we decided to make a new and more secure tool shed a priority project. God provided the finances for the project through a donation to the camp so we were ready to start the work.

Here is what the tool shed looked like before. Years ago, when German missionaries were in charge of the camp, the tool shed was actually a chicken coop.

Some big chestnut trees that were leaning over the neighbor's fence had to be taken out to make room for the new shed. The team helped clear the area.

Then started tearing out part of the old shed.

The new shed was then built over the existing tool shed.

We brought a sawmill in which milled up the lumber needed from the trees taken off the camp.

Later the guys installed metal roofing and skylights. One half of the shed is for firewood storage and the other half will be for the shop.

As finances come in to complete the project, we want to pour a cement floor in the shop and enclose it with metal sheeting.

While the men worked on the new shed, the ladies of the team painted the inside of one of our cabins. Unfortunately, over the years, campers have been allowed to write all over the walls and ceilings of the cabins. They leave their autograph and a mesage for prosperity's sake but it looks more like grafiti. The ladies did a great job painting Galilea cabin. Now we will have to finish painting the trim. Only 10 more cabins to go!!!!

Thanks for your prayers for this ministry. As you can tell, there is more work on camp than there is time to accomplish it but little by little projects are getting done. We are thankful for the help NTI was to our ministry here in Chile.

Liz

Dear everybody,

The first three weeks of May we hosted Nehemiah Teams International headed by Matt Chamberland. This mission board is based out of South Dakota and this is the second time they have come down to Camp Lican Ray to do some work projects. Each time the team is composed of different team members so we have the privilege of meeting and serving different people. Would you like to join a team and come down to Chile?

Visit: http://nehemiahteamsinternational.org/

The renovation of Nazaret cabin was the main project this time around. The main use for this cabin is as a kids classroom during our summer camps and church rentals. The back part of the cabin had been divided years ago to make room for two smaller bedrooms. Unfortunately, the wood floor in this cabin was rotting out and was a danger for kids and adults alike. The NTI team responded to the challenge of pulling out the old wood floor, doing away with the cabin division and pouring a new cement floor. What a job!

This is Nazaret with the bedroom division and some of the floor taken out.

At least three dump truck loads of fill had to be shoveled into the building to make it higher for the cement floor.

Here are Jeremiah and Evan becoming experts at cement mixing!

We are thankful for this power trowel that made a super nice finish on the floor. Matt spent some sleepless nights working on the floor to get it just right before it was completely dry.

As an added bonus, the team built a deck onto the back of the building so that during the summer, classes could be held outdoors.

Our job will be be to roof it and add some steps, railing and benches.

That is phase one of the Nazaret renovation project. As you can probably see by the pictures, the whole building needs replaced but for lack of finances we are doing it little by little. Next year we hope to tear out the walls, the roof and rebuild.

Come back for the second part of this posting on NTI to see what ended up being the surprise project they tackled.

Liz

Baby Madeline

Clearing trees and brush on camp

Dear everybody,

One of our favorite jobs to do on camp is to clear brush.

I think it's our favorite because we can all participate and do it together. Dan has the monopoly on the chainsaw work and that's fine with us. The boys are great at stacking firewood and hauling off the brush to the burn pile.

Even Morgan has learned to throw firewood into the back of the pickup.

One of our problems on camp right now is the lack of sunlight. We get plenty of rain for which we are thankful for because it keeps everything green. But when the sun does shine, vegetation is so dense that the sunlight doesn't reach the ground. Slowly but surely we have picked areas on camp that need cleared so that we can grow grass and so that other trees which are more picturesque can thrive. People also enjoy the sunshine during the summer because the shade is often very cool.

Work is never ending here on camp, but every little bit counts.

We hope to see volunteers from local churches come to camp and help with this type of work in the near future.

Dan has given the challenge many times and we are praying that the churches see the need and are willing to participate. Would you pray with us?

Liz

Church Service in Llonquen

Dear everybody,

Every Sunday Danny preaches in our church in Conaripe.

Twice month, we drive up into the mountains and minister in the church in Liquine. Liz teaches a junior high Sunday School class and Danny teaches the adults.

This past Sunday, Danny visited the church in Llonquen for the first time. The work in Llonquen is new. It is located half way between Conaripe and Liquine.

Matti rode up with Dan

A few people in the Liquine church started the work there and it is under the oversight of the elders in their church. Danny was invited as pastor to preach and celebrate the Lord's supper with the group. We hope to encourage the believers who meet there every so often. They are very starved for good teaching!

short clip of the congregational singing in Llonquen.

Pray with us for this group of 20 or so believers who walk for miles to meet every Sunday. They need a better winterized building but more than that, they need good teaching from the Word of God.

Liz

Friends

Dear everybody,

We were so thrilled to have some guests come to our house lately. Mark and Bekah Perry are friends of ours from our Bible College days at Northland Baptist Bible College (now Northland University). During those days, we talked of "some day" getting together again once we were on the mission field. And that day became a reality!

Mark is an assistant pastor in a church in Ohio. They also help out with the Seniors and Teen groups in their church. It was so much fun to reconnect with them and to hear how the Lord is using them.

We also enjoyed showing them our neck of the woods. Of course they fell in love with Lican Camp - Who wouldn't? :). Here's a picture Bekah took of Dan and I on camp property.

We took them to our churches in Conaripe and Liquine. They shared a word of testimony and Bekah joined me in the teen Sunday school I teach.

We went souvenir shopping in Villarrica and Pucon, where they took us out to eat.

Not only did they spoil us with their visit but also brought us some goodies.

What does a missionary miss from the Good Ol' USA?

Chocolate Chips! Bath and Body Works products, Bible study books in English, ziploc bags (yep, I'm not kidding)...

The kids were thrilled with some new walkie talkies and Morgan received some new hair ties. Even our baby girl on the way got some new clothes. Thanks Mark and Bekah!

Mark did me a huge favor when he volunteered to trim the kids' hair for me... no trip to the barber this month! Thanks again Mark!

There would be much, much more to mention but those were the definite highlights. We enjoy visitors so if you get a chance, come and see us!

Liz

New Sign!

Dear everybody,

Many people wonder what we do on camp during the "off time" which follows the crazy summer season.

The best answer to that is:

We LOVE working as a family.

Today was one of those opportunities. We each had our job to do and got the work done.

We installed a new camp sign. We had been working on this sign during the last few weeks of camp. Our neighbor carved the words out and Dan and I painted the logo on it. After getting the posts ready, we were finally ready to mount the sign and set it up at the entrance to the camp property.

The boys helped dig the holes and fill in once the posts were in place. They thought they were pretty big stuff posing by their handy work!

After setting up the new sign, we worked on the new parking lot. We used an invention of Danny's to mark out the perimeter and the new parking spots. He turned a coffee can into a useful tool. He attached the can to a stick, poked a few holes in it, and filled it with chalk. As Micah shook the stick, the chalk came out and marked the line. Voila! Morgan and Matti's job was to hold down the rope while the line was being marked.

Later Dan went into our woods and thinned out a few slim trees that we will use to make the parking spots more defined. Of course Danny had lots of fun while doing that!

Here's Morgan, showing you a beautiful Copihue: Chile's National Flower

Thanks for your prayers as we continue to work on camp in the days ahead.

Liz

Will you Pray?

TEEN CAMP LOGO 2010

Dear everybody,

Summer is definately a hectic time for our family. On the heels of a pastor and missionary camp, comes a youth group renting the grounds for a 2 day retreat. Following that, we start up our family camp. We are expecting families from all over the region and also some coming from the capital city for a week long camp.

Before the end of family camp week, we will be traveling up to Santiago on bus, to then catch a plane to Argentina. Another missionary family will give us a ride to the Paysandu Bible Camp where we will attend our GMSA annual missionary conference. The conference lasts one week and then we will do the whole process back to Chile to arrive just in time for our teen camp at Lican.

Will you pray for us? We are tired and getting worn out. Each week brings its blessings and challenges but we look forward to each one. As we work hard and pray faithfuly we are watching God at work in the lives of adults, teens and kids.

Pray with us for spiritual fruit from this hectic time in our ministry.

We would especially covet your prayers for safety as we travel on the 28th of January and back on the 6th of February.

Pray for strength for Liz as she has entered her 6th month of pregnancy.

Pray for the preparations for teen camp underway.

We are thankful for a team of volunteers helping in getting things lined up for the camp while we are out of the country.

Thank you for your prayers.

Liz

Youth Camp NEWS

Dear everybody,

Here is our brochure for our youth camp 2010. Pray with us that a good number of church kids as well as unsaved kids would attend and hear God's Word preached. The dates for the camp are February 8th through the 13th.

Liz