December 2008

Dear Friends and Family,


First of all we wish you a late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. My first Chilean Christmas and New Year were wonderful; we had a great time together. We definitely missed everyone this Christmas and hope that next year can be our first Christmas in Washington together.
This Christmas Daniel and I along with a group of about seven others decided to do something a little different. Here in Chile Christmas is celebrated at midnight on Christmas Eve. So Wednesday the 24th at midnight we headed downtown with hot coffee and sandwiches for the people who were going to spend this special season alone in the street. We were prepared for about thirty people and only found about five. But these five people were the first steps into a new open door. We were collecting used clothing about a week before and collected a bunch and were able to wrap up sets of clothes for these people and families. The people we met that night were very grateful and received not only a hot cup of coffee but also an amazing message. Everyone got a love letter from our creator and an evangelistic message about our Faith.
This group we have gotten together are mostly young people and we have an older couple with us as well. We all have been given the same passion for being light where it’s needed and warmth in the cold. Another great way to put it is what Daniel and I learned in Mazatlan Mexico at the Vineyard church meet the physical needs first and then you can reach down and meet the spiritual ones. This might just be Uriel growing before our eyes as God wants it to be or it’s just a wonderful opportunity to serve together as God wills it.
The day before New Years Eve we were told that a couple had just arrived to our area from northern Chile and has absolutely nothing. We got our little booties moving that day and prepared a package for them of clothes, and groceries to get by for a while. It was a wonderful visit. They live in one of the poorer neighborhoods around up high in the hills and since they hadn’t found work couldn’t get electricity up. So all of us (the group from above) went to their place and shared some words and this package that they gratefully accepted. We found out that they have a ten year old boy and we were able to find him something as well. This little family has started going to church and the man of the house Carlos found work last week!
Now for some really, really bad news…after eight months here we are going to pack our bags and travel to Washington for a quick stay!!! We are planning on being there for about a month which I know will just fly by but we are so excited for this opportunity to see family and friends and share what God has put on our hearts since we arrived here. We have found a lot of need and God recently has opened some doors for us to start the community center we want Him to control. I hope in the next few weeks we can confirm more about what this means and if it can really happen in order to bring this praise along with us to you personally.
Daniel and I are in a search for a new church. If you can remember from the last letter we were possibly going to begin a search, and well the search has begun. Nothing horrible happened to make us look for a new church, nobody did anything for us to leave but there were a few family problems and thought it might be healthier for everyone if we took a look around to see where God truly wants us. We have not made a decision on where or to stay where we were yet but we have started to visit a church very close by (about three blocks away from the house) and are very interested. I will keep you all updated.
You all are in our thoughts and prayers and we hope to see everyone very soon. A special shout out goes to those in Mazatlan receiving this letter, we love you very much.

God Bless. Daniel and Michal Vergara.