good news from a distant land

Post by Deborah: "Recent Travels"

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:54:00 +0000

We’re thankful for God’s gracious provision!

The day after Christmas found us on the way to Miami with Esteban and Esther and Marcos on a whirlwind two-week trip to Uruguay for Julia’s and Dilney’s wedding. We spent ten wonderful (summer!) days there and four more days (two on each side) driving to Miami and back.

We’re thankful for the time with extended family.

On December 31, Esteban and Esther reminded us that the last time we three Garwood siblings were together for “the holidays” was twenty-three years ago.

We celebrated Dosila’s birthday on Dec. 31.

The cousins enjoyed some good times together.

DJM reached the 14-month milestone while there. It was fun to take his picture by Tia Viviana’s Christmas tree – in summer! (Christmas in Uruguay isn’t over until after January 6.)

JM preached on New Year’s Day at Iglesia Biblica Maranatha on the outskirts of Pando, and Esteban preached that evening at Templo Betel, the church his father pastored for many years. We also attended mid-week services at three EMU churches.

We’re guessing that folks from EMU churches all over Uruguay attended the wedding. We enjoyed many opportunities for fellowship and left greatly encouraged and more eager than ever to get back – to stay!

Although exhausting, it was an encouraging trip overall.

Two days after our return to the Upstate found JM and me on icy highways on the way to a conference in Ohio. As I commented on FaceBook last Thursday:

A week ago, I was walking the length of “18 de Julio”(one of Montevideo’s main thoroughfares) with John Mark and Kenzi and the kids – in summer! Tonight, I’m on my way to a conference in Ohio– trying to remember how to drive in snow!
On Monday, JM began a two-week D.Min. course.

Please continue to pray for us!

Fall 2011 Report

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:57:00 +0000

Dear Friends,

We’re thankful for your prayers and concern for what God is doing in Uruguay. And we’re thankful for your interest in our family and for the ways that you continue to encourage us as we prepare for work there. We’re currently in Greenville, South Carolina, and are enjoying being in one location for a sustained time! During September John Mark spent three focused weeks in Alaska, where he made or renewed contact with about a dozen churches or pastors. Then in October and November for nearly six weeks we did the same as a family, this time seeing churches, friends, and extended family along a route between South Carolina and Edmonton, Alberta.

At the end of a year it is often profitable to look back gratefully at what God has done to carry us to this point. Perhaps doing so now will serve as a helpful reminder and will fill in details for those we’ve only recently met.

Three years ago, at the end of December of 2008, we were accepted as missionaries with EMU International. For over a year we continued to work jobs in Greenville, though we were able to make progress by preparing information for presentation, scheduling future meetings, and presenting our anticipated ministry in several churches during this time. John Mark taught a semester-long church music course in a local Hispanic church’s Bible-college ministry (spring of 2009), and we also spent a month in Uruguay, where he taught similar material at a family camp and an EMU workers’ conference (February of 2010).

In May of 2010 we left our jobs and began full-time preparation for a permanent move to Uruguay. During that first year the Lord abundantly supplied our needs, and our level of financial support rose from 9% to 42% of EMU’s goal for us. The Lord also gave us our second child, Daniel James Matías. Then from late May to late August of 2011 we helped oversee the ministry of Maranatha Bible Church, a church being planted by Déborah’s father in Uruguay. After returning from Uruguay we began what is essentially our second year of full-time travel.

The job of a missionary teacher or evangelist is, of course, to make disciples and to equip Christians by preaching the gospel and teaching the Bible. Ideally this happens largely in the context of relationships. It is our desire to serve in this way now among North American churches—in preparation for doing the same in Uruguay. We have the added privilege of telling about God’s works in Uruguay and of requesting prayer. These activities then serve a secondary purpose—that of giving God’s people opportunity to evaluate their sense of God’s calling and of our qualifications. The result is their acknowledgement of God’s leading and in various ways helping to send us. We are presently maintaining contact and fellowship with 40 to 50 churches, while seven churches and six individuals have partnered with us in regular financial support, prayer, and accountability.

We plan to continue this deputation process until the Lord opens the door for our move, knowing that if we are not yet in Uruguay it is because He has something genuinely better for us and for the churches there . . . at least for now. However, please ask Him to put us in Uruguay permanently this next year! Plans for the next several months include participating in a wedding in Uruguay. (We plan to post details and updates on our trip here.) In January John Mark will be preaching in a conference in Ohio and taking two weeks of classes at BJU. Déborah expects to teach a college course in Spanish grammar. Pray for us as we continue to schedule meetings, visit churches, and organize our belongings with a forward look toward our transition to Uruguay. Thank you!

John Mark, Déborah, Elizabeth, and Daniel James Steel

If you would like to receive these quarterly reports by e-mail, please send us a note or respond to this post. (Neither your address nor your response will be published.)

Why North America?

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:06:00 +0000

Last week I had the opportunity to meet with a group of students interested in God’s work among the nations. Before the meeting someone asked me, “Why Uruguay?” This is a question that we regularly try to answer, and that I’ll try to review here in the near future.

But we’re not in Uruguay yet. It’s been helpful to me to work through a philosophy of why we’re doing what we’re doing right now, before making a permanent move to Uruguay. The full answer takes much more space, but here’s an attempt to summarize in a hundred words:

As a missionary teacher, my work is preaching the gospel and teaching the Bible, with the goal of strengthening Christians and churches. We are currently trying to serve in this way among a group of North American churches and Christian friends in preparation for doing the same in Uruguay. We have the added opportunity of recounting God’s works in Uruguay and requesting prayer. These activities then serve a secondary purpose of giving people opportunity to evaluate their sense of God’s calling and of our qualifications, resulting in their sending us (in various ways) and thus confirming God’s calling and leading.

(“And who is sufficient for these things?”)

BJU

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:08:00 +0000

It is not outside the purpose of this blog to mention at least once that I hope to be among the large group of BJU graduates who feel secure:

They’re secure enough on the one hand not to look for their identity in a school or movement, because they recognize there is a much greater Cause—that of Jesus Christ, His kingdom, and His gospel. They don’t follow Jesus as well as they should, but they’re sure they want to. And they have experienced God’s grace to help them do so.

They’re secure enough on the other hand not to grasp for position with others by looking for ways to criticize the school. Not everyone who openly criticizes does so from self-seeking motives; but the group I’m talking about is absolutely sure they don’t want that kind of politics. They see enough love of self in their own hearts, and they despise it—especially when it uses other Christians to push an agenda.

This is a group of people, I think, who have never thought their school was perfect, but who continue to support and appreciate BJU; and who honor the many faithful servants who directly and indirectly taught them.

Bob Jones University’s core values

Post by Deborah: "Beginning Year Two"

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:38:00 +0000

Mid-May of last year was a time of great emotion, reminiscent of high school or college commencement; we stood at a defining moment made up of an end as well as a beginning. We were leaving the predictability of life as we had known it in the Upstate to begin full-time travel, preparing for full-time ministry in Uruguay. Originally, our goal was to be in Uruguay in April 2011. We continue to trust God for His perfect timing...

In mid-May of this year, we were preparing to fly to Uruguay as short-term “furlough replacements” for my dad and stepmom. We returned from Uruguay in late August and began Year Two of full-time travel in September. We are currently at 43% of our targeted support level and prayerfully plan to be in Uruguay in mid-2012.

Year One was undoubtedly filled with “stretching” and learning opportunities. Our experiences have been – for the most part! – encouraging and enjoyable. I say “for the most part” because traveling with a four-year-old (now five) and newborn (now one) has certainly provided an array of often unexpected challenges. We continually find our Good Shepherd to be faithful for each step of the way; He is blessing us and providing our every need. His people have been very good to us, and we have enjoyed reconnecting with friends as well as forming new friendships with like-minded brothers and sisters who now pray specifically for us and for the ministry in Uruguay.

Our most recent travels took us from SC through the Mid-West to churches in CO, UT, ID, Alberta, and back through MT, UT, CO, and IA. After that last week of thirty hours in the car, we’re especially thankful for God’s grace and protection. And we’re content to be “sojourning” in South Carolina once again!

Elizabeth gets excited about real-life geography lessons!

(I do plan to post pictures of our trip – as time and the demands of getting resettled allow!)

As we continue this stage of our ministry, we recognize more than ever our need for God’s grace. Each day on the road offers new challenges, new opportunities for growth, and new mercies – all from the hand of our perfect and loving Shepherd. We’re thankful for His promises!

Will you pray for us?

The Law of the Yukon

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 06:18:00 +0000

On more than one occasion last month in Alaska, conversations turned to the needs in the villages. We want to see native churches led by native pastors. In the meantime, what seems to be at least one necessary element is the missionary willing to go for good, willing to be isolated, willing to feel the brunt of winter after dark winter; in short, willing to go there to die. And no doubt the romance of working in a northern village dies at the rate of six or seven minutes each day until the sun no longer rises and one realizes his need for Something greater than romance to sustain him.

At the risk of perpetuating a bit of romance, I quote Robert Service’s personification of the Yukon: “And I wait for the men who will win me—and I will not be won in a day” [HT: Jim Elliot, who acknowledged quoting the words “utterly out of context”].

The irony is that God has chosen the weak—in Service’s words, even “the dissolute, damned and despairful, crippled and palsied and slain”—made whole and strong by the gospel and empowered by grace, to make disciples in this land, by authority of the King of the land (Matthew 28:18-20).

I enjoyed reading the entire poem here.

The Bible and the Book of Mormon

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:19:00 +0000

When an LDS missionary comes to the door, Christians need to know this about them:

“Like most members of my faith I don’t take every word of the Bible literally, Old Testament or New. My embracing of the Bible allows room for human errors of translation or omission, or indeed of interpretation. In that, I’m typical of most Latter-day Saints” (Michael Otterson).

This makes me realize that I have to understand the Bible’s teaching about its own preservation. (In my view this providential preservation has taken place within the totality of the immense number of manuscripts available to us.)

But perhaps more significant than Otterson’s statement itself is that he says nothing comparable about the Book of Mormon, thereby leaving it in a position of superiority to your copy of the Bible.

His entire post is here.

Psalm 67

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 01:23:00 +0000

The first time I remember paying attention to Psalm 67 was when reading notes that Jim Elliot had made in his journals. Appropriate, considering his interest in the subject that interests the psalmist: the nations of the earth.

In the years following 9/11, nations new and ancient have occupied our attention: Iraq and Afghanistan, Russia and Georgia, Libya and South Sudan. Some nations, like South Sudan, should receive more of our attention.

If we would allow this psalm to renew our minds, our interest in these places would go beyond our own national security, beyond our questions about the economy and price of gas, and beyond even a love for democracy and freedom. The writer of Psalm 67 prays for the nations to be rightly related to God. How would this happen?

His first prayer is for God’s blessing on His people, the Jews, a blessing that he hopes will result in the nations’ praise of, fear of, and joy in God. We haven’t seen this yet. How would this happen?

The Queen of Sheba’s visit to Solomon piques our interest as we watch her observe God’s blessing on Israel and as she then praises Yahweh (2 Chronicles 9:1-8). But this leaves us unsatisfied. Has God answered the Psalm 67 prayer? What kind of blessing would result in the nations’ being rightly related to God?

The answer is found in the New Testament, where we read of God’s blessing on the Jews in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah . . . “that the Gentiles (the nations) might glorify God for His mercy” (Romans 15:8-9). We wait to see further fulfillment of the psalmist’s prayer when Jesus will exercise His full, visible rule over this planet and its nations. But in the meantime, you and I as (mostly) Gentiles from the nations rejoice and glorify God for His mercy to us. Undeserved mercy! Why did we respond to the gospel when North Koreans will die without hearing Jesus? How will they call on someone whom they will never hear?

There is a right way to think about the nations of the earth. Jesus is the only way for these nations to be rightly related to God. We glorify Him for His mercy to us. And those mercies are adequate motivation for us to present our bodies in living sacrifice . . . that the nations might experience such mercy and thus glorify God. And South Sudanese brethren have known greater sacrifice.

Summer 2011 Report

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:32:00 +0000

Dear Friends,

We have returned to the U.S. following a three-month visit to Uruguay, which we began in late May. The primary reason for the trip was to oversee the ministry of Iglesia Bíblica Maranatha in the city of Pando while Don and Pat Garwood were in the U.S. for a short furlough. The Garwoods are Déborah’s father and stepmother and serve with Maranatha Bible Missions. Thank you for your part in sending us. We will continue to need your prayers.

The Garwoods have diligently worked for years on the side of railroad tracks that more or less form the boundary of a particularly difficult area of town. Some of these northern barrios tend to be known for crime and vice and are more economically challenged than are many other areas in Uruguay. Déborah’s brother (Daniel), and his wife (Viviana), faithfully help with morning Sunday school and the Sunday evening preaching service. For thirteen weeks we had opportunity to better acquaint ourselves with a group of people that came to one or more of the four regular weekly meetings. Don and Pat are eager for help in making disciples of these and other contacts.

Other towns across the Uruguayan pampas are in need of clear gospel testimony and sustained Bible teaching. In other nations the landscape is even bleaker. But we are encouraged by the condition of the Uruguayan churches, and we look forward to their being further strengthened and used by God to proclaim His glory in this region and elsewhere around the world. Our future ministry will focus on training laborers, as we work alongside these churches, national pastors, and faithful missionaries. The warm welcome we received from people—some connected to the EMU churches, others not—encourage us that there is a definite place for us here.

During these months John Mark attempted to emphasize certain themes (as did Déborah in a couple of encouraging, well-attended ladies’ meetings): understanding of the gospel, recognition of God’s control of everything (Dan. 4:35), and identification of God’s good purposes (Gen. 50:20; Rom. 8:28-30). We encouraged memorization of these verses and reading through the gospel of John. On our final Sunday evening, we heard testimonies of the Lord’s work in people’s hearts, followed by a time of food and fellowship they had planned.

We were also able to have regular contact with some of the EMU ministries: JM attended a couple of morning prayer meetings with the Montevideo-area missionaries, visited Camp Emmanuel, and sat in on a Bible institute class. Many opportunities arose to see other pastors and friends. We’re thankful for friendships strengthened, and we’re hopeful that the Lord will use in the future what we experienced these months. The primary benefit of our time in Uruguay may have been our own learning and the further preparation that it provided for our upcoming return. Please pray that we, along with Matías and Kristine Espinel, will be able to move permanently within this next year. We have reached 43% of EMU’s goal for our financial support; the Espinels are receiving 54%.

During the fall we will again travel to the western U.S. and Canada, beginning with three weeks in Alaska, where JM plans to visit churches, preach and teach, see friends, talk with pastors, and share information about the work in Uruguay. Please pray for encouraging services and conversations in which the Lord will accomplish His purposes among His people through His Word. Thank you for the many ways you encourage and help us.

John Mark, Déborah, Elizabeth, and Daniel James Steel

Jesus to a man with wealth, youth, and influence

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 17:05:00 +0000

Do you desire eternal life? Or, in other words, do you want to enter the kingdom of God, do you want to be “saved”? Jesus says that only God is good. Jesus is both God and good. You are neither. When confronted with God’s law, you fall short (especially if you consider how Jesus heightened the standard). Even if you can in some way say that you’ve kept the impossible law of God, you still lack: “Leave everything for My sake and the gospel’s sake; you’ll be abundantly blessed in this age and receive eternal life in the age to come,” says the One who died and rose to give eternal life to those who respond in this way. Cling to everything (your god, your goodness) to lose everything; follow Christ to gain all.

Mark 10:17-31 (also Matthew 19:16-30; and Luke 18:18-30)

Your place in society cannot keep you from pleasing God.

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:59:00 +0000

According to Luke’s gospel, your place in society cannot keep you from pleasing God. Jesus’ identification of the Samaritan (10:25-37); his commendation of Mary (10:38-42); and his story of the rich man and Lazarus (16:19-31) give hope that such classifications as race, gender, and economic position are no liability for the one who would please God. The fatal liability is one’s pride that refuses to place him or her in the only category for which Jesus offers hope: the category of sinner (5:30-32). Justified sinners can please God as His grace works in them.

Prayer for us and for Iglesia Bíblica Maranatha:

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 20:50:00 +0000

Reliance upon God’s grace for faithfulness in regular Bible reading;

Complete trust in God’s sovereign hand (Daniel 4:35);

Admiration for the Lord Jesus for his works (in John 5, those of future judgment and of giving us eternal life); and

Encouraging meetings for the Garwoods in the U.S. during these months, as well as the rest that they need.

Our Trip with Jona

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 23:52:00 +0000

Written Wednesday, 25 May 2011

When our nephew Jonatán was five years old, we took him along with us on a month-long trip to Uruguay. Our 1981 diesel Oldsmobile took us first from South Carolina to Miami. Jona sat in the front seat, between Deborah and me (though now with kids of my own, I’m wondering if he was really supposed to be up there). We had no children at the time; but Jona as a five-year-old counted for maybe three. A theme that developed in the front seat was—directed to him to encourage calmness—“If I crash, you crash.” He liked it. In Costa Rica, rather late in our layover, we decided to try to tour as much of the country as we could in half an hour or so. Barely returning to our gate in time—Jona in tow—we caught our flight to the next layover in Lima, Perú. Our memories of Lima include running Jona in the airport to tire him out, following one of his dad’s suggestions to us.

The purpose of our trip was both to visit family and to continue surveying the possibility of returning someday for the sake of the gospel. A more deliberate theme for the trip came from the first few verses of Psalm 105: “Make known his deeds among the people. . . . talk of all his wondrous works.” I distinctly remember talking with Jona about some of this. And certainly our trip included some opportunity to make God known—a daunting and humbling idea for sure—as we at least a few times talked about what God had done.

As I write—sitting in the same Costa Rica airport en route to Uruguay with my own energetic five-year-old—we are finishing the first month since Jona’s life was taken by cancer. At his memorial service several people spoke; but much of the time was taken up by recordings of Jona’s own testimony. With the psalmist David (Jona’s middle name), Jona talked of God’s lifting him from the miry clay and setting his feet on a rock. And he did this before an audience of a thousand people. But the audience in reality was much, much larger. For twenty months believers from literally across the globe watched this young man respond to God’s dealings with him. Jona’s life and words tell of God’s work in one of His children.

Though we acknowledge many God-given talents that Jona enjoyed, if we’re honest we have to admit that in many ways he really was a rather ordinary guy. The chemotherapy was excruciating. He told us in his memorial service of even wanting to end his own life, due to the effects of the treatment on his body and mind. And he of course struggled with sin along with the rest of us. But his life was one that knew God’s grace: God’s saving grace given to him in the gospel and His ongoing, sustaining grace, also given to Him in Christ. And in his weakness and ultimate death, he made known God’s deeds and talked of His works “among the people.” It was God’s grace at work in ordinary weakness. That offers hope for my own five-year-old (and seven-month-old). And it provides hope for ordinary people like me.

O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.

Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works (Psalm 105:1-2).

Prayer for men

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:50:00 +0000

Please pray for men, and for men that will be men. We do want to see whole families discipled. And we value every person whose heart the Lord has opened. But if it’s true that we should gravitate toward people, we want to deliberately run toward the men. Please pray for desire in the hearts of men to lead their families and the church.

This past Sunday afternoon, M (a man) visited the preaching service. He has known the pastor’s family, his sister-in-law attends services, but this was his first visit. Please pray for profitable future contact.

Request for Prayer: 27 May 2011

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Sat, 28 May 2011 03:12:00 +0000

A company based in Provo, Utah, has recently begun business in South Carolina. Apparently much (perhaps most) of the door-to-door sales work is done by employees who are either former or future LDS missionaries. Please pray for Samuel (not his name), who will begin his mission this summer, and for Yadín (no, not his name), a former Mormon missionary to Chile. According to one website, Chile has the first and “Uruguay has the second highest percentage of nominal LDS members in any nation with over one million inhabitants . . . , although only about 0.5% of Uruguayans are active Latter-day Saints” (www.cumorah.com). Nevertheless, a visitor to Uruguay would not likely go far or long without noticing the presence of Mormonism. We would be thankful if the Lord would give us contact and opportunity to give the gospel to these who are believing a “gospel” much changed from the good news that we have been given in our Bibles.

Spring 2011 Report

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Fri, 20 May 2011 00:58:00 +0000

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement as we continue to prepare for work in Uruguay. Much has happened—and much has changed—during these last three months, and we are as always in need of the Lord.

At the end of March we completed meetings in Ohio churches, returning just before Jonatán’s battle with cancer ended and he courageously completed his 16-year race. Jonatán (Jona) is Deborah’s sister’s son. During the last 3½ weeks of hospice care, God had already arranged our travel schedule to allow us freedom to stay with Jona’s family and to help with his care. John Mark traveled briefly to Iowa for a conference; and the week following his return, on April 20, Jona went to be with the Lord. Though we understand so little of God and His ways, He has revealed enough to us in the Bible that we can look confidently toward the day when we will see Jona in Glory. This confidence is based on God’s words: that the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ has been imputed to those who have believed the gospel. The Father punished His righteous Son in order that He might call unrighteous people “righteous”—and be Himself righteous in doing so. We sing with confidence one of Jona’s favorite hymns: “When disappointment, change, and tears are past, all safe and blessèd, we shall meet at last.”

God has also revealed that He causes such changes to result in His people’s being presently, “practically” conformed into the image of His perfect Son (Romans 8:28-30). Much could be written about the effect that Jona’s life and death have had around the world. Approximately a thousand or more attended his memorial service.

Plans to return to the western U.S. and Canada this summer have also changed: In addition to reasons mentioned above, the Lord has opened to us an opportunity to go to Uruguay during this time. Deborah’s father and step-mother, Don and Pat Garwood, returned in April from Uruguay to begin several months of furlough. They began their trip by spending time with family (especially Jona); but they remained uncertain about whether they would be able to complete their furlough, as they had not found someone to oversee their church-planting work during their absence. At the end of April the Lord put together the necessary details for us to make definite plans to help for part of this time. On Monday, May 23, we will leave South Carolina to spend the next three months in Uruguay. We have tickets to return the end of August. We’ll plan to post notes on our blogs and to send several email updates between now and September 1, when our summer report will log our South American winter.

Pando is a city of approximately 24,000 people (not counting surrounding areas) just northeast of the country’s capital of Montevideo. We will live in the Garwoods’ home in Totoral del Sauce, outside Pando, while we work with Iglesia Bíblica Maranatha (Maranatha Bible Church), located on the northern edge of Pando. Our activities will include the oversight of the regular services, including most of the preaching and teaching. Regular meetings include a Saturday afternoon youth meeting, children’s and teens’ morning Sunday school, a Sunday afternoon preaching and worship service, and a Tuesday afternoon prayer meeting. We will also visit in people’s homes.

This church will likely be our “home” church after our permanent (future) move to Uruguay, while the future focus of our day-to-day work will be serving the Uruguayan churches by assisting and strengthening the EMU Bible institute in Montevideo. We’re thankful for this early introduction to all of these aspects of the work.

Thank you again for your prayers!

Funeral

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:04:00 +0000

This afternoon the gospel will be given and God's glory displayed at Jona's funeral. Please pray according to His will.

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:44:00 +0000

Thank you for your prayers for Jonatán. He is now Home. Though we sorrow, we do not sorrow as did so many homes around the world last night without hope. Such confidence is the air we breathe.

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 12:38:00 +0000

Final Ohio meeting today (Cuyahoga Falls).

Our nephew Jonatán would appreciate prayer as he experiences the progress of the cancer. Updates have been posted elsewhere. Will try to give more information here soon.

The pearly gates will open wide,
And we shall enter in,
To know henceforth no tear or sigh
No sorrow and no sin;
O come with us by Jesus' blood,
That land is bright and fair,—
We cannot leave you lost and lone,
We want you Over There!

(Matilda Bass)

Winter 2011 Report

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 19:22:00 +0000

Dear Friends,

Some of Jesus’ last words to His followers were instructions to them to make disciples. Though it may seem presumptuous, these eleven men had the right to make disciples in all nations of the earth. They could have this confidence because Jesus is King: All authority in heaven and earth is His. We are convinced that the King’s orders apply to us as well, even as His accompanying promise encourages us: “I am with you ‘all the days’—even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). We are going therefore, believing that God has specifically led us to have at least a small part in the ongoing teaching of “all things” to faithful Uruguayan leaders, who will in turn teach others. We look forward in faith to the day when Uruguayan churches are sending well-trained laborers to nations to which we will never be able to go.

We are currently serving among a group of North American churches and friends who, as they recognize God’s calling and preparation on our behalf, are helping in various ways to send us to Uruguay. At the end of December (2010), we resumed travel, presenting our anticipated ministry in three such churches in Ontario, Michigan, and Ohio. In Michigan we attended a family wedding in the Upper Peninsula and a conference in Troy. We are now dividing our time between South Carolina and Ohio. In April we return to the western states and provinces.

We would ask you to labor with us by praying for the following things:

Please pray that we would be faithful in what we view as our present work: “prayer and ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:4), introducing ourselves to churches, serving in these churches (Acts 13:2), and sharing information about God’s work—past, present, and future—in Uruguay.

Please pray for success in our present goals: First, that we would help to “present every person complete in Christ” (Colossians 1:28) and would help to equip and edify local churches (Ephesians 4:12); second, that our visits to churches would provide opportunity for them to evaluate their perception of God’s calling of us (Acts 13:1-4; Romans 10:15); and third, that God would continue to prepare us for Uruguay.

Please pray that the soon result of this would be our being sent to Uruguay. (We believe that it will!) Our being sent is not our work. It is our desire, it is a goal, and it will be the result—perhaps only when the Lord knows that His work has been completed for this stage of our lives and ministry. We are currently receiving 32% of our financial support.

Please pray for grace, strength, and safety for the entire family as we continue to travel this year.

Please pray for Bible institute classes which are now beginning (the fall semester in Uruguay).

Please pray for adequate oversight and continued growth of Maranatha Bible Church in Pando during the Garwoods’ furlough (April through October).

Finally, please remember to pray for the Espinels, who are also preparing to join us in Uruguay.

We appreciate your love, your prayers, and your encouragement! If a letter like this—especially words about Jesus as Lord or King—seems strange to you, we would love to talk with you about the gospel! Please contact us.

John Mark, Déborah, Elizabeth, and Daniel James Steel

January 2011

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 05:27:00 +0000

This month took us to Michigan, Ontario, and Ohio. After completely circling Lake Michigan in January, the worst road conditions we saw were in Greenville, SC, within a few miles of home.

Today will preach in Linville, NC, from Psalm 63: Because God is all-satisfying, we should seek Him, rejoice in Him, praise Him . . . and take to the nations the good news of that all-satisfying God who offers salvation in His Son.

Hoping for gospel conversations with Uruguayans in coastal SC this coming week.

Campamento Emanuel

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:58:00 +0000

An average of ten kids from Iglesia Bíblica Maranatha (Maranatha Bible Church) in Pando are expected to attend this week’s and next week’s camps at Camp Emmanuel. A teen camp is being held this week and a children’s camp next week. Many of these young people do not know the Lord.

Who is this?

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:36:00 +0000

For those who have ever spent a Christmas wondering about the identity of Jesus, or about your relationship to Him, but who now know—rejoice!

For those who rarely think about Jesus—make good use of the season to consider His claims!

For those who are still plagued by doubt—consider the individual statements and the overall impression that the Bible gives of Jesus.

The hymn is true:
Who is this so weak and helpless, child of lowly Hebrew maid,
Rudely in a stable sheltered, coldly in a manger laid?
‘Tis the Lord of all creation, who this wondrous path hath trod;
Christ our God from everlasting, and to everlasting God.
(William Walsham How)

Nate Saint's Christmas Letter

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 19:59:00 +0000

“As we weigh the future and seek the will of God, does it seem right that we should hazard our lives for just a few savages? As we ask ourselves this question, we realize that it is not the call of the needy thousands, rather it is the simple intimation of the prophetic Word that there shall be some from every tribe in His presence in the last day and in our hearts we feel that it is pleasing to Him that we should interest ourselves in making an opening into the Auca prison for Christ.

As we have a high old time this Christmas, may we who know Christ hear the cry of the damned as they hurtle headlong into the Christless night without ever a chance. May we be moved with compassion as our Lord was. May we shed tears of repentance for these we have failed to bring out of darkness. Beyond the smiling scenes of Bethlehem may we see the crushing agony of Golgotha. May God give us a new vision of His will concerning the lost and our responsibility.

Would that we could comprehend the lot of these stone-age people who live in mortal fear of ambush on the jungle trail . . . those to whom the bark of a gun means sudden, mysterious death . . . those who think all men in all the world are killers like themselves. If God would grant us the vision, the word sacrifice would disappear from our lips and thoughts; we would hate the things that seem now so dear to us; our lives would suddenly be too short, we would despise time-robbing distractions and charge the enemy with all our energies in the name of Christ. May God help us to judge ourselves by the eternities that separate the Aucas from a comprehension of Christmas and Him, who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor so that we might, through His poverty, be made rich.”

(From Elisabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendor, 165-166)

noreply@blogger.com (John Mark and Deborah Steel) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 02:46:00 +0000

“My testimony is that of a dishonorable man that God has saved and honored in every conceivable way. Every good thing that I’ve ever wanted to do, God has let me do; and every good thing I’ve ever wanted to have, God has let me have. That’s the way dads are to their children.” — J.D. Crowley, missionary to Cambodia