Baptizing Celia in her Backyard. Launch of LA ROCA # 2. April of 2008
KUNKEL GRAM 7/13/2008
Dear friends, family, supporters, and praying partners,
Greetings to you from Cuidad del Este, Paraguay,
It is hard to believe that today marks 2 years since we have lived here full time in this blessed land. We accepted this post which was offered to us, by our regional leadership, in April, of 2005. So technically we have been linked to Paraguay over three years. After accepting the post, after seeing up close what was entailed in it, we went back to Uruguay, and then packed up our home and things from 15 + years of ministry and life there, and went to the USA for a one year stateside assignment or furlough. During that year we were based out of Jefferson City, MO, and spoke throughout the USA 158 times in total regarding missions. From the USA we also did the strategy coordination for a part of Paraguay. So essentially we have been in this post 38 months, and on the field uninterrupted, 24.
God has been so good and so gracious to us. With the prophet Samuel, we can surely say, here we raise an ENENEZER stone. Up to this point the Lord has helped us.
(I Sam. 7:12) Implicit in this saying is the secure belief that since He has done this in the past surely He will continue to do so in the present and future.
Some of our Blessings:
-We have been privileged to help start 2 simple house churches. What is a simple or house church? It is a church that meets in homes, or any other place it provides for itself. (Some simple churches even meet in the open air, under a mango tree, etc… ) We believe that the church is the people, not a building. In the NT the people met in homes did they not? They did not build buildings specifically for churches until centuries after Christ’s ascension. A church will have 5 characteristics, I believe:
1) It will be a group of born again and baptized (by immersion) believers.
2) They will have regular meetings. (usually weekly).
3) The members will have a passion to serve the Lord and win the lost to Christ.
4) They will have accepted leaders that will naturally arise from within the group. These leaders may or may not be Bible school, or seminary trained.
5) They will regularly practice the 2 ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ. a) Baptism by immersion, and b) The Lord’s Supper.
We believe that if you have this, you have CHURCH!!!
Our desire is to see hundreds of these simple house churches flourishing throughout Latin America.
In Uruguay we participated in many of these church plants. Here we are now on two, and working on the third. The folks of LA ROCA (THE ROCK) may some day build or rent places for regular worship, but this will not be funded by the Baptist Mission. They will do this with local resources as the Lord of the Harvest leads them/us.
-We have been privileged to see REAL AND RADICAL CONVERSIONS. Wow!! When we think of people like Elvio, and Carla, Cepherino and Celia, Carlos, and Olga and Pablo, we can hardly believe the way that they have changed and grown. To see people in the throes of sin, who used to walk in darkness see and come to a great light, is one of the greatest emotions that a person can experience. To see lives transformed by the power of the resurrected Christ, gives us great joy. What a privilege it is for us to be about this. And we can and do our work here, because folks like you believe in us, pray for us, and faithfully support us. How can or could we ever thank you enough?? Please see Hebrews 6:10). Thanks for your support of us through the CP, LMCO, and in other ways!
Challenges:
In my personal Bible study I recently came upon an interesting statement of the Apostle Paul, that great missionary and church planter. “Because a great door for effective work has opened for me, and there are many who oppose me”. (I Cor. 16:9, NIV). We have seen much opposition, especially in the new neighborhood called San Alfredo, where we have established LA ROCA # 2 . The new believers there are daily subjected to ridicule and name calling. Their dog has been poisoned. They have been the targets of several schemes. Their marriage is under attack. We have been threatened to be met with a hail of stones upon our arrival in our vehicle. To go there at night is quite dangerous. But in spite of this, they and we continue on. The man who is the future leader of this new work, (I believe), used to meet the bill collectors at the gate of his house with a machete, threatening to cut their hands off. Now he humbly meets them, and is paying off all of his debts. He was an accomplished street hustler, and con man. He served 7 years in one of the largest and toughest prisons, in Latin America. He has been transformed by the power of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ!! He used to drink and beat his wife. He now loves her with the pure love of a Christian man, explained to us, by Paul, in Ephesians, 5:22-32. All this has transpired in less than 4 months!
Some however are weak, and afraid. Some are falling by the wayside, and this deeply concerns and saddens us. One man recently told me. “I cannot continue on in Bible study and discipleship with you, pastor. All my friends and family are ridiculing me, and they no longer want anything to do with me”. In spite of my pleadings he has abandoned the way. With the Apostle Paul we must say, as he did say regarding Demas, P****, O***, N****, and others “have forsaken us, having loved this present world”! (11 Timothy: 4:9). Please pray for them.
Some are under demonic attack. One of the new couples recently baptized and married, after having lived together for 7 years, yesterday called us quite alarmed. Their two year old daughter was frantic and had not slept all night. She repeatedly was seeing and hearing something in the room. She said it was a monster. She also saw “blood” on her hands. It was undoubtedly a demonic presence that was coming against them. We went to their house and prayed for them, the little girl, and removed from the house some demonic artifacts that their servant girl had introduced into the home. This for us, is par for the course… I just talked to her and last night the little girl slept peacefully. Please do pray for them. The little girls name is C*****…
Prayer Requests:
-For the two new Churches. One in the Parana CC Neighborhood, and the other in Barrio San Alfredo.
-For the preaching points or New Outreach Groups, in the CENTRO, MERCADO, AREA, 4, And in Km 7.5, Acaray. Pray that they soon will become simple Churches.
-For Steven as he finished HS in Dec, and begins online study for his AA degree.
-For continual inroads into the Japanese communities here through the ministry of Steven who is studying Japanese and feels a call to missions with them. This week he has teamed up with Japanese itinerate missionary/evangelist and his wife, and is visiting the Japanese communities spread out throughout Paraguay.
-For John Glenn, who will soon finish up his forth consecutive summer as a pastoral intern, this time in Forks WA, and then he is off to Europe for 2 weeks, and back to Cal Baptist University for his senior year there.
-For John Glenn and another friend, who are feeling led to start a church plant in Riverside Ca. They want to reach out to an unreached segment of folks there. It is a Holy desire that he and his buddy have and we are proud of them, and we are supporting this effort. Pray that they will stay pure and close to the Lord, and do His perfect will.
-For Julia and Jason. They are doing well in Norfolk. Jason just had his 30th birthday June 16th. Julia will be 29 on August 18th. Send her a card if you can! They are faithful members of FBC Norfolk, and are working hard.
With the Apostle Paul, I say and ask that you might pry also for
18 me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak (KJV) (Ephesians, 6:11)
II Cor. 5:
11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men;
13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
What a glorious passage. It is what we and missions are all about.
Please continue to pray for us,
Your missionaries in Cuidad del Este, Paraguay, and regions beyond.
The Kunkels
Dear friends, family, supporters, and praying partners,
Greetings to you from Cuidad del Este, Paraguay,
It is hard to believe that today marks 2 years since we have lived here full time in this blessed land. We accepted this post which was offered to us, by our regional leadership, in April, of 2005. So technically we have been linked to Paraguay over three years. After accepting the post, after seeing up close what was entailed in it, we went back to Uruguay, and then packed up our home and things from 15 + years of ministry and life there, and went to the USA for a one year stateside assignment or furlough. During that year we were based out of Jefferson City, MO, and spoke throughout the USA 158 times in total regarding missions. From the USA we also did the strategy coordination for a part of Paraguay. So essentially we have been in this post 38 months, and on the field uninterrupted, 24.
God has been so good and so gracious to us. With the prophet Samuel, we can surely say, here we raise an ENENEZER stone. Up to this point the Lord has helped us.
(I Sam. 7:12) Implicit in this saying is the secure belief that since He has done this in the past surely He will continue to do so in the present and future.
Some of our Blessings:
-We have been privileged to help start 2 simple house churches. What is a simple or house church? It is a church that meets in homes, or any other place it provides for itself. (Some simple churches even meet in the open air, under a mango tree, etc… ) We believe that the church is the people, not a building. In the NT the people met in homes did they not? They did not build buildings specifically for churches until centuries after Christ’s ascension. A church will have 5 characteristics, I believe:
1) It will be a group of born again and baptized (by immersion) believers.
2) They will have regular meetings. (usually weekly).
3) The members will have a passion to serve the Lord and win the lost to Christ.
4) They will have accepted leaders that will naturally arise from within the group. These leaders may or may not be Bible school, or seminary trained.
5) They will regularly practice the 2 ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ. a) Baptism by immersion, and b) The Lord’s Supper.
We believe that if you have this, you have CHURCH!!!
Our desire is to see hundreds of these simple house churches flourishing throughout Latin America.
In Uruguay we participated in many of these church plants. Here we are now on two, and working on the third. The folks of LA ROCA (THE ROCK) may some day build or rent places for regular worship, but this will not be funded by the Baptist Mission. They will do this with local resources as the Lord of the Harvest leads them/us.
-We have been privileged to see REAL AND RADICAL CONVERSIONS. Wow!! When we think of people like Elvio, and Carla, Cepherino and Celia, Carlos, and Olga and Pablo, we can hardly believe the way that they have changed and grown. To see people in the throes of sin, who used to walk in darkness see and come to a great light, is one of the greatest emotions that a person can experience. To see lives transformed by the power of the resurrected Christ, gives us great joy. What a privilege it is for us to be about this. And we can and do our work here, because folks like you believe in us, pray for us, and faithfully support us. How can or could we ever thank you enough?? Please see Hebrews 6:10). Thanks for your support of us through the CP, LMCO, and in other ways!
Challenges:
In my personal Bible study I recently came upon an interesting statement of the Apostle Paul, that great missionary and church planter. “Because a great door for effective work has opened for me, and there are many who oppose me”. (I Cor. 16:9, NIV). We have seen much opposition, especially in the new neighborhood called San Alfredo, where we have established LA ROCA # 2 . The new believers there are daily subjected to ridicule and name calling. Their dog has been poisoned. They have been the targets of several schemes. Their marriage is under attack. We have been threatened to be met with a hail of stones upon our arrival in our vehicle. To go there at night is quite dangerous. But in spite of this, they and we continue on. The man who is the future leader of this new work, (I believe), used to meet the bill collectors at the gate of his house with a machete, threatening to cut their hands off. Now he humbly meets them, and is paying off all of his debts. He was an accomplished street hustler, and con man. He served 7 years in one of the largest and toughest prisons, in Latin America. He has been transformed by the power of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ!! He used to drink and beat his wife. He now loves her with the pure love of a Christian man, explained to us, by Paul, in Ephesians, 5:22-32. All this has transpired in less than 4 months!
Some however are weak, and afraid. Some are falling by the wayside, and this deeply concerns and saddens us. One man recently told me. “I cannot continue on in Bible study and discipleship with you, pastor. All my friends and family are ridiculing me, and they no longer want anything to do with me”. In spite of my pleadings he has abandoned the way. With the Apostle Paul we must say, as he did say regarding Demas, P****, O***, N****, and others “have forsaken us, having loved this present world”! (11 Timothy: 4:9). Please pray for them.
Some are under demonic attack. One of the new couples recently baptized and married, after having lived together for 7 years, yesterday called us quite alarmed. Their two year old daughter was frantic and had not slept all night. She repeatedly was seeing and hearing something in the room. She said it was a monster. She also saw “blood” on her hands. It was undoubtedly a demonic presence that was coming against them. We went to their house and prayed for them, the little girl, and removed from the house some demonic artifacts that their servant girl had introduced into the home. This for us, is par for the course… I just talked to her and last night the little girl slept peacefully. Please do pray for them. The little girls name is C*****…
Prayer Requests:
-For the two new Churches. One in the Parana CC Neighborhood, and the other in Barrio San Alfredo.
-For the preaching points or New Outreach Groups, in the CENTRO, MERCADO, AREA, 4, And in Km 7.5, Acaray. Pray that they soon will become simple Churches.
-For Steven as he finished HS in Dec, and begins online study for his AA degree.
-For continual inroads into the Japanese communities here through the ministry of Steven who is studying Japanese and feels a call to missions with them. This week he has teamed up with Japanese itinerate missionary/evangelist and his wife, and is visiting the Japanese communities spread out throughout Paraguay.
-For John Glenn, who will soon finish up his forth consecutive summer as a pastoral intern, this time in Forks WA, and then he is off to Europe for 2 weeks, and back to Cal Baptist University for his senior year there.
-For John Glenn and another friend, who are feeling led to start a church plant in Riverside Ca. They want to reach out to an unreached segment of folks there. It is a Holy desire that he and his buddy have and we are proud of them, and we are supporting this effort. Pray that they will stay pure and close to the Lord, and do His perfect will.
-For Julia and Jason. They are doing well in Norfolk. Jason just had his 30th birthday June 16th. Julia will be 29 on August 18th. Send her a card if you can! They are faithful members of FBC Norfolk, and are working hard.
With the Apostle Paul, I say and ask that you might pry also for
18 me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak (KJV) (Ephesians, 6:11)
II Cor. 5:
11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men;
13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
What a glorious passage. It is what we and missions are all about.
Please continue to pray for us,
Your missionaries in Cuidad del Este, Paraguay, and regions beyond.
The Kunkels
1 comment:
God bless you for all you do in His name! I just returned from a mission trip to Niger and thought about my first trip to Brazil where I first met your family. What a blessing to still be part of your prayer chain and see how God is working in your lives. You are an incredible example for those wanting to be involved in missions! Take care and come see us!
Trusting in Him,
Linda & Rick Bilyeu
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