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| Richard and Robyn Crane Newsletter |
| Report on trip to Chile - part I |
June 12, 2009 | |
Greetings!
It has been a few weeks since we returned from Chile, yet I wanted
to get together a few pictures for you in this report. If you have trouble
seeing the pictures, you may go to our web page and you will see this letter
there in a few days.
http://www.mtwsa.net/people/rcrane.htm
This
letter will be more like a travel log. So many things happened in those
two and a half weeks that I will be reporting on the FLET class in Temuco
and the Grief Counseling class in Santiago in the next letters.
It is such a blessing to be a part of the universal body of Christ and feel so loved by our spiritual family. | |
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There was great rejoicing as the Cristo Rey Church in Santiago, Chile celebrated the mortgage burning of their building on April 18 and 19:
This
picture shows the elders of Cristo Rey burning the mortgage documents as
their pastor Mark Auffarth rejoices with them. This is a great milestone
for the church, giving them more freedom to expand their ministry. It was
a blessing for Robyn and me to participate in this ceremony knowing the part
that you, our supporters, had in helping finance an important part of this
project. This church building is beautiful and in a strategic location in
Santiago.
We
were overwhelmed with the love of the congregation toward us and felt so
much at home among them. We knew that we had been away from them for a number
of years as we saw the grown children of couples that I had married.
There is as much joy in being a spiritual grandparent as there is in being a biological grandparent!
The
night before they put together a multimedia presentation showing different
stages in the construction of the building as well as in the life of the
congregation.
They
interviewed various pastors, architects, as well as old and new members.
It was a great reunion as people that had moved away came for this special
occasion.
It was also a time of healing as we embraced each other with the obvious
recognition that Christ builds His church in spite of and even through these
jars of clay!!.
Each family took refrigerator magnets (left) with the church logo and web site (www.cristorey.cl) that said "Seeking Peace for the City" (Jer. 29:7). |
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On Tuesday April 21, Robyn taught a Bible Study to the ladies group of Cristo Rey:
She enjoyed the fellowship of these ladies, having had an important
role in mentoring them a few years ago. She spoke on the omnipresence of
God.
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On
Monday and Tuesday, April 27th and 28th, I taught a conference on Marriage
intimacy in a city on the outskirts of Santiago, called "Ciudad Satélite":
There were 50 couples that turned out for both nights. On the
first night I spoke on the Biblical bases of intimacy emphasizing the covenant
relationship of God to us as a model of faithfulness and the application
of the 10 commandments to our marriage relationship.
On the second night I gave 5 principles for developing intimacy, illustrating
these with romantic songs and skits. The pastor told us that this was the
beginning of a marriage ministry through their church. A couple of weeks
ago our Flet representative, Fernando Estefó, reported that three students
from there have registered for our masters program. |
Marriage Intimacy Conference in the city of Linares:
On Wednesday April 29, we traveled to Linares, a city 4 hours south
of Santiago. Robyn had already returned to Miami, yet Fernando Estefó and
I had a week of ministry in the south of Chile.
The Pastor of the National Presbyterian Church there is Victor Gaete,
a dear friend of my parents since the 1940´s, when he was a student in the
seminary they formed a couple of hours away in "Quinta". I grew up with
his 12 children!!. So this was a very special time for me to see their families
and reminisce.
Raúl Espinoza, one of Victor´s sons in law, is a radio and television
announcer. He had been promoting this conference for a couple of weeks,
and had us speak on the radio and television when we got there. One of the
big highlights for them was that the city mayor and his wife came to the
conference that evening. I presented the two topics I described above in
a period of 2-3 hours. The gospel and our need for Christ in developing
intimacy was clearly presented.
The next day many of the Gaete clan (they are over 50 in all now) came
over for a home cooked meal. Victor and I enjoyed a drink of "mate" - a
tea enjoyed in that part of South America. |
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Praise and Prayer:
1.Praise
God for the Cristo Rey church and the tremendous opportunities they have
for reaching Santiago for Christ. Pray for Pastor Mark Auffarth and the
session.
2. Praise God for the presentation of the gospel in the context
of the Marriage Intimacy conferences. Pray that the fruit of the gospel
will be evident in these marriages and churches.
3. Praise God for protection
and for meeting more than our expectations on our trip to Chile. Praise God
with us for the blessings of belonging to the universal body of Christ.
4.
Pray for Fernando Estefó, our FLET representative in Chile, as he enrolls
more students into our courses. Praise God for the new students both in
Ciudad Satélite and in Linares.
5. Continue to pray that our support needs will be met, and praise God for His provision in this difficult economic time.
6.
Continue to pray that God will strengthen our whole family through His grace,
so as to love Him more and be filled with His love in order to love those
to whom He has called us to minister. |
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We thank God for you, our partners in ministry. We look forward to visiting more of you personally in the next months.
Please contact us if you want us for a missionary conference. My cell phone is 305-972-9449.
In His loving care,
Richard and Robyn Crane |
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Richard
and Robyn Crane
8460 SW 198th Street
Miami, FL 33189
Phones:
home phone: 786 293 3074
cell
phone: 305 972 9449
E-mails:
Office Richard: rcrane@flet.edu
Office
Robyn: office@kbpc.org
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NEED FOR FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Please continue to pray for our support need. As of this letter we need $397 per month.
(Our support account has dropped by $6,000 in this past year). Yet we see
how God has been faithful to us through your giving. Thank you very much.
Please make check payable to: Mission to the World, P.O.Box 116284,
Atlanta, GA 30368-6284 our account is: #011125 (donations address)
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It was a tremendous joy for Robyn and me to be with friends and "spiritual
children" in Chile. We have missed them since we left and rejoice in God´s
providential care for them through the body of believers there in Santiago.
We had to keep a careful schedule of daily events as we went from one house
to the other enjoying the fellowship of these dear friends.
