As Of March 2010 Uriel ministries has united with a ministry of educators in order to meet more needs in the city of Villa Alemana. We plan to do community outreach all over the city with the goal of bring families to Christ and planting them in churches. Our vision stays the same for this group of people have a very similar vision and are devoted to evangelizing and bringing whole families into the kingdom of God.
En Marzo de 2010 Uriel ministries se ha unido a un ministerio de educadores para poder suplir más necesidades en la ciudad de Villa Alemana. Planeamos alcanzar la comunidad con la meta de llevar familias a Cristo y plantandlos en iglesias. Nuestra vision sigue igual, este grupo de personas tienen una vision muy parecida y estan comprometidas a evangelizar y llevar familias completas al reino de Dios.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Uriel Work Plans for 2010
Here are some of the things Uriel would like to do for the city of Villa Alemana, Chile.
Prayer Station-Local Hospital
Items Needed- Poster Board and Markers.
Evangelical materials
Baby Blanket Delivery-Local Hospital:Maternity
Items Needed- Fleece
Ribbon
Gift tags
Food Drive- Villa Alemana
Collections done at Church, Neighborhood, Municipality, Town Center, Supermarkets.
School Drive (School Year March 2010)
Collections done at Church, Neighborhood, Municipality, Town Center, Shopping Center.
Items Needed: Notebooks, Pencils, Scissors, Backpacks, Crayons, etc.
Drug Prevention Workshops-Villa Alemana
Possible Locations: school, town center, plaza (summer)
Materials: ordered from www.adrugfreeworld.org - check it out!
Prayer Station-Local Hospital
Items Needed- Poster Board and Markers.
Evangelical materials
Baby Blanket Delivery-Local Hospital:Maternity
Items Needed- Fleece
Ribbon
Gift tags
Food Drive- Villa Alemana
Collections done at Church, Neighborhood, Municipality, Town Center, Supermarkets.
School Drive (School Year March 2010)
Collections done at Church, Neighborhood, Municipality, Town Center, Shopping Center.
Items Needed: Notebooks, Pencils, Scissors, Backpacks, Crayons, etc.
Drug Prevention Workshops-Villa Alemana
Possible Locations: school, town center, plaza (summer)
Materials: ordered from www.adrugfreeworld.org - check it out!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Newsletter Jan 2010
Greetings from Chile January 26, 2010
First of all we want to wish everyone a very happy new year. We hope 2010 is full of wonderful surprises and blessings as God continues to shape and mold every single one of us into His image.
We want to take this time to apologize to every one of you for the lack of communication these past months. More time than imagined has actually passed and that was never our intention. We realize that when an organization stops all communication many thoughts and things can go through one’s mind. We intend to go on to inform you what has been going on recently since our last letter and inform you of what will hopefully be happening in the near future.
Since our last letter Uriel has stopped working at the “Centro Juvenil” Youth Center in Quilpue for various reasons. July 11th 2009 was our last Saturday with the kids at the Youth Center. Many other Christian groups from the community began to help out with the Saturday program and actually applied for financial support from the city, which they ended up receiving. This was awesome news for us because we knew the children would continue to be fed literally and spiritually while we began to look for opportunities in Villa Alemana to start up another program. There were also some legal issues involved in our step down, as these groups began to take over some we realized they had no approval from the actual owners of the Youth Center, which Uriel had from the beginning, and we didn't want to take the chances of being held responsible for any problems that could come up as they were using the same property without legal permission. God, a few weeks later, confirmed to us that stepping down was the right thing to do.
Since July 2009 Uriel has been pretty much on stand-by. The group that was working at the Youth Center dropped down to three people and there has been no luck for a ministry site in Villa Alemana where we are called to be ministering. These problems and more we realize are spiritual and personal. Sometimes when we are waiting on the LORD we forget that we are still to be active in ministry. Sometimes we wait for everything to be in order and to be perfect before we start ministering, and we end up just wasting time. Over this time God has really been working in us. We have come to realize that where Uriel is weak (people, resources, ministry site, etc.) God will be our strength. We can't wait for everything to be in its place, otherwise we will never start; where is the faith? So we apologize that we have left you out of all this struggle, it's hard to explain what God is doing in you sometimes, you’d rather not say anything at all until there isn't anymore confusion.
Even though these past months have been challenging God has put a wonderful Pastor by our side who has been an incredible support for us. He is very interested to see Uriel work in Villa Alemana and has expressed desire to help make it happen. As of now, January 26, we are in the midst of deciding where to start working, and we are waiting on a meeting to be called with Pastor Andres and others to come up with a written plan to present to the municipality, which should happen in the weeks that follow. We are determined to be obedient to God and follow His voice where it leads. We hope that we can have some exciting news for you in our next letter.
Once again our apologies for the long period of silence, and may God bless each one of you at the beginning of this new year.
In Him,
Daniel Vergara and Michal Gettel
First of all we want to wish everyone a very happy new year. We hope 2010 is full of wonderful surprises and blessings as God continues to shape and mold every single one of us into His image.
We want to take this time to apologize to every one of you for the lack of communication these past months. More time than imagined has actually passed and that was never our intention. We realize that when an organization stops all communication many thoughts and things can go through one’s mind. We intend to go on to inform you what has been going on recently since our last letter and inform you of what will hopefully be happening in the near future.
Since our last letter Uriel has stopped working at the “Centro Juvenil” Youth Center in Quilpue for various reasons. July 11th 2009 was our last Saturday with the kids at the Youth Center. Many other Christian groups from the community began to help out with the Saturday program and actually applied for financial support from the city, which they ended up receiving. This was awesome news for us because we knew the children would continue to be fed literally and spiritually while we began to look for opportunities in Villa Alemana to start up another program. There were also some legal issues involved in our step down, as these groups began to take over some we realized they had no approval from the actual owners of the Youth Center, which Uriel had from the beginning, and we didn't want to take the chances of being held responsible for any problems that could come up as they were using the same property without legal permission. God, a few weeks later, confirmed to us that stepping down was the right thing to do.
Since July 2009 Uriel has been pretty much on stand-by. The group that was working at the Youth Center dropped down to three people and there has been no luck for a ministry site in Villa Alemana where we are called to be ministering. These problems and more we realize are spiritual and personal. Sometimes when we are waiting on the LORD we forget that we are still to be active in ministry. Sometimes we wait for everything to be in order and to be perfect before we start ministering, and we end up just wasting time. Over this time God has really been working in us. We have come to realize that where Uriel is weak (people, resources, ministry site, etc.) God will be our strength. We can't wait for everything to be in its place, otherwise we will never start; where is the faith? So we apologize that we have left you out of all this struggle, it's hard to explain what God is doing in you sometimes, you’d rather not say anything at all until there isn't anymore confusion.
Even though these past months have been challenging God has put a wonderful Pastor by our side who has been an incredible support for us. He is very interested to see Uriel work in Villa Alemana and has expressed desire to help make it happen. As of now, January 26, we are in the midst of deciding where to start working, and we are waiting on a meeting to be called with Pastor Andres and others to come up with a written plan to present to the municipality, which should happen in the weeks that follow. We are determined to be obedient to God and follow His voice where it leads. We hope that we can have some exciting news for you in our next letter.
Once again our apologies for the long period of silence, and may God bless each one of you at the beginning of this new year.
In Him,
Daniel Vergara and Michal Gettel
Thursday, January 15, 2009
God has opened doors.
As I am updating our blogspot for everyone to catch up with us before our visit I would like to share with you the doors God has opened in these past couple of weeks.
As many of you know I have started teaching English on Saturdays to a church staff that has a very similiar vision to ours and have started a feeding program for children in their area. They recieve missionary groups often and were in need of English lessons. Well the pastor of this church is named Cristian and is in charge of a youth center where he lives. This youth center is seperate from his church. He has been there for about 20 years, but recently the ministry´s leaders who are in Santiago have not been involved in this part of their ministry. So there have not been any recent events or activities for the youth in this humble area. The main reason no church group or the leaders of "Youth For Christ" (the name of this ministry) have left Cristian sort of out in dust is due to the kind of youth that live around this center. Cristian told us they did not want to risk anything by working with these young drug addicts and robbers. Daniel and I looked at each other and have been brainstorming about how to work with these kids. The property is there and ready to use. Cristian has seen our plan of work for this place and on Thursday Jan 22nd we will travel to Santiago to speak with the president just to see if Uriel could merge on their ground and work with these people that so much need the message of Christ.
Secondly, if you can remember a few months ago I told you all about this little school down the street from us. It is very poor and full of needy children. Well there is a possibility that Uriel could start to do an after school program with these kids. Also a saturday feeding program is also a possibility. We have been told that about thirty of the students there are malnutritioned and the school provides them breakfast and lunch throughout the SCHOOL year, Monday through Friday. That means these kids during summer vacation are not eating what they are supposed to, and the weekends throughout the school year are also not full of balanced meals. We will hopefully be having a meeting with the super advisor before we head off to Washington in order to bring you all this information.
Thank you!!
God bless you all, and I hope you have a wonderful day.
As many of you know I have started teaching English on Saturdays to a church staff that has a very similiar vision to ours and have started a feeding program for children in their area. They recieve missionary groups often and were in need of English lessons. Well the pastor of this church is named Cristian and is in charge of a youth center where he lives. This youth center is seperate from his church. He has been there for about 20 years, but recently the ministry´s leaders who are in Santiago have not been involved in this part of their ministry. So there have not been any recent events or activities for the youth in this humble area. The main reason no church group or the leaders of "Youth For Christ" (the name of this ministry) have left Cristian sort of out in dust is due to the kind of youth that live around this center. Cristian told us they did not want to risk anything by working with these young drug addicts and robbers. Daniel and I looked at each other and have been brainstorming about how to work with these kids. The property is there and ready to use. Cristian has seen our plan of work for this place and on Thursday Jan 22nd we will travel to Santiago to speak with the president just to see if Uriel could merge on their ground and work with these people that so much need the message of Christ.
Secondly, if you can remember a few months ago I told you all about this little school down the street from us. It is very poor and full of needy children. Well there is a possibility that Uriel could start to do an after school program with these kids. Also a saturday feeding program is also a possibility. We have been told that about thirty of the students there are malnutritioned and the school provides them breakfast and lunch throughout the SCHOOL year, Monday through Friday. That means these kids during summer vacation are not eating what they are supposed to, and the weekends throughout the school year are also not full of balanced meals. We will hopefully be having a meeting with the super advisor before we head off to Washington in order to bring you all this information.
Thank you!!
God bless you all, and I hope you have a wonderful day.
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.
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.
September/October 2008
Dear Friends and Family,
So it has been a few months since our last letter. As most of your know Daniel started working in August and school started for me towards the end of August, so we have been getting used to our new schedules and time apart.
First of all I hope and pray that this letter finds you all well. You guys are heading into winter and we are heading into summer, isn't that just so weird. I hope this season doesn’t bring too many colds your way.
Chile is beautiful. There are still many unknowns for me, and I just try to stay on the safe side all the time Daniel wouldn’t have it any other way. In September God blessed us with a little Scotty Dog puppy; his name is Phillip or Poopies. We are in love with him even though he gets into everything, eats everything, and cries for everything. He just turned five months yesterday and is getting bigger and bigger. Also about two weeks ago God blessed us with living room furniture! We can now watch TV or just relax on the couch instead of the dining chairs. Truly we are very blessed and happy.
About two weeks ago we had quite the scare. On Thursday (2 weeks ago) Daniel had to go to the emergency room due to bad stomach pain and a fever. We got to the hospital around 8:00am and didn’t get home that night until about 9:00pm. They put him on an IV because he was dehydrated while they checked out his blood and urine and found an infection. He was then sent to another hospital in ambulance to see a surgeon because they thought he had appendicitis. I went along with him in the ambulance completely freaked, they weren’t driving with the siren or anything because Daniel was stable. Thank goodness because that would have been worse. After hours and hours of waiting for the one surgeon in the whole hospital to see Daniel we find out it was just an intestinal infection. This was after all the nurses had told me they were going to hospitalize him and start the operation as soon as possible. I am sure that God heard me. Daniel had just one day to rest up and was off to work that Saturday.
I am going to take some time and open up to you about some challenges Daniel and I are having. We have been having some spiritual challenges since about September or so. Truly what we need is to hear His voice to give us some direction. Since September so many new ideas and plans have formed in our hearts. What Daniel is going to study, should we really be in Chile, let’s go back to Mazatlan, when will God allow us to start His ministry, why are we stuck, where are we going, who are we hearing, where does God want us to be? We have so many questions like I am sure many of you have had at some point or another in your walk with Christ. I know marriage isn't easy, starting is never easy, being obedient does not come to us easily, but sometimes we just look for the easy way out of things. Personally for me it has been hard having Daniel working so much. He leaves at 9:30am and gets home now after 10:00pm. He has two Sundays a month off, and it’s hard for the both of us. Daniel is personally struggling with our church situation. The pastors are his aunt and uncle, and the church is full of family. I think we all know a little bit about the difficulties or pressures working with family brings. In a nutshell that is where we are at this point. We would really appreciate your prayers and encouragements!
Now for some new stuff. Next Saturday, November 15th I will be starting English classes. This is apart from Uriel, there is a church nearby that was formed out of the church we are going to that is focused on doing community outreaches and social work. They have asked me to teach them English. If this is something I plan on doing in the future I need all the practice I can get, so I said yes. There are people that will be attending that do not know Jesus Christ, and the class will have a Christian foundation. I will let you know how it goes. This month Daniel and I are dedicated to getting through the legal hoops here in Chile to make the Uriel organization legal here. We need 16 board local board members and a written statement of our vision. In October Daniel had a great meeting with a woman in charge of these things, and she loved everything Uriel wants to accomplish here and told us she would arrange a meeting with the mayor once we have our board members. Why a meeting with the Mayor? Well the Mayor has many pieces of property to give away or loan to causes he sees fit. If he likes Uriel´s plans it is very possible that starting December/January Uriel would have a place to start ministry. We hope to send you more news about this next month.
God bless you a million times more than He has blessed me!
Daniel and Michal.
Dear Friends and Family,
So it has been a few months since our last letter. As most of your know Daniel started working in August and school started for me towards the end of August, so we have been getting used to our new schedules and time apart.
First of all I hope and pray that this letter finds you all well. You guys are heading into winter and we are heading into summer, isn't that just so weird. I hope this season doesn’t bring too many colds your way.
Chile is beautiful. There are still many unknowns for me, and I just try to stay on the safe side all the time Daniel wouldn’t have it any other way. In September God blessed us with a little Scotty Dog puppy; his name is Phillip or Poopies. We are in love with him even though he gets into everything, eats everything, and cries for everything. He just turned five months yesterday and is getting bigger and bigger. Also about two weeks ago God blessed us with living room furniture! We can now watch TV or just relax on the couch instead of the dining chairs. Truly we are very blessed and happy.
About two weeks ago we had quite the scare. On Thursday (2 weeks ago) Daniel had to go to the emergency room due to bad stomach pain and a fever. We got to the hospital around 8:00am and didn’t get home that night until about 9:00pm. They put him on an IV because he was dehydrated while they checked out his blood and urine and found an infection. He was then sent to another hospital in ambulance to see a surgeon because they thought he had appendicitis. I went along with him in the ambulance completely freaked, they weren’t driving with the siren or anything because Daniel was stable. Thank goodness because that would have been worse. After hours and hours of waiting for the one surgeon in the whole hospital to see Daniel we find out it was just an intestinal infection. This was after all the nurses had told me they were going to hospitalize him and start the operation as soon as possible. I am sure that God heard me. Daniel had just one day to rest up and was off to work that Saturday.
I am going to take some time and open up to you about some challenges Daniel and I are having. We have been having some spiritual challenges since about September or so. Truly what we need is to hear His voice to give us some direction. Since September so many new ideas and plans have formed in our hearts. What Daniel is going to study, should we really be in Chile, let’s go back to Mazatlan, when will God allow us to start His ministry, why are we stuck, where are we going, who are we hearing, where does God want us to be? We have so many questions like I am sure many of you have had at some point or another in your walk with Christ. I know marriage isn't easy, starting is never easy, being obedient does not come to us easily, but sometimes we just look for the easy way out of things. Personally for me it has been hard having Daniel working so much. He leaves at 9:30am and gets home now after 10:00pm. He has two Sundays a month off, and it’s hard for the both of us. Daniel is personally struggling with our church situation. The pastors are his aunt and uncle, and the church is full of family. I think we all know a little bit about the difficulties or pressures working with family brings. In a nutshell that is where we are at this point. We would really appreciate your prayers and encouragements!
Now for some new stuff. Next Saturday, November 15th I will be starting English classes. This is apart from Uriel, there is a church nearby that was formed out of the church we are going to that is focused on doing community outreaches and social work. They have asked me to teach them English. If this is something I plan on doing in the future I need all the practice I can get, so I said yes. There are people that will be attending that do not know Jesus Christ, and the class will have a Christian foundation. I will let you know how it goes. This month Daniel and I are dedicated to getting through the legal hoops here in Chile to make the Uriel organization legal here. We need 16 board local board members and a written statement of our vision. In October Daniel had a great meeting with a woman in charge of these things, and she loved everything Uriel wants to accomplish here and told us she would arrange a meeting with the mayor once we have our board members. Why a meeting with the Mayor? Well the Mayor has many pieces of property to give away or loan to causes he sees fit. If he likes Uriel´s plans it is very possible that starting December/January Uriel would have a place to start ministry. We hope to send you more news about this next month.
God bless you a million times more than He has blessed me!
Daniel and Michal.
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