JULY

Dear Family and Friends,

My mind is full of things that I would like to write, so many things to say and catch you up on…too much to say in one letter. My desire to write each week is so strong, but my follow-through is lacking!!!

I am going to keep this short and hopefully send out several emails over the next few days to catch you up on what has been going on in our lives since we arrived in Chile.

For today, I write with a few answers to prayer and a few additional prayer requests.

ANSWERS 

• We asked that you pray for all of our hearts and minds…that we can rest in His peace and that He will heal all of our hidden places of fear, anxiety, pain, etc….

We are still works in progress on this one, but we do feel and are resting in His peace. Overall the tremors are minor now...it is rare that we actually feel anything anymore. Thank you so much for your prayers.

• We asked that you pray for language learning

I, Robin, have received news that July 30th is my final day in formal language study. I had an evaluation last week and I am to the level at which I need to be for formal language study. I WILL BE continuing language study on my own as I have A LONG way to go!!!

David is in language 2 times a week at this point in time and hopes to begin three times a week around October. Please pray for him as this is an area that can be frustrating for him as he must acquire the language here and has little time to use it consistently. 

Due to a wonderful gift from a precious church in Missouri, we have been able to have the kids in some formal language classes during this month of July while they are out of school—they are enjoying it and are learning a lot.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• We asked that you pray for a new church home.

We visited many churches the first 6 months and for the past month have been attending one church in particular. Please continue to pray with us as we truly seek to know if this is where God would have us.

• Please pray for David as he is in Brazil until Wednesday for their “mission meeting”. Pray for good communication, for relationship building and for a safe trip home.

• Pray for the three individuals that I have had an opportunity to share with in my limited Spanish. These are teachers in our language school…some who have been touched before by others before me. Pray that the seeds planted would grow!

We can’t thank you enough for the prayers you lift up on behalf of our family. Please continue to let us know how we can be praying for you (thank you to those of you who do share)!!

Blessings,

Robin for the Stow family

March Update

To our dear friends and family,

I cannot believe that tomorrow is April 6th…where has the time gone?  We are so grateful for all of the encouraging words we have received over the past month and for all of the prayers that have been lifted up for our family and for the Chilean people.  Words truly cannot express how grateful we are to all of you.

Last week, things got a bit overwhelming for me.  My days had become a fairly constant routine and I was tired.  On the 24th, as I walked to language, I found it really difficult to think about anything positive and then God placed this verse in my mind, “Robin can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens her.” I repeated that verse over and over in my mind for the whole forty minute walk to class…and have continued to repeat it when those feelings begin to creep in to my heart and mind. Late last week, we received a newsletter from a dear friend who is going through a far more challenging time in her life than I, and I was gently reminded again of something I had once spoken about with a dear Ugandan friend during our first term overseas.

Stella was our housemaid, a non-believer, but a seeker.  One day she came to me telling me she wanted to accept Christ as her personal Lord and Savior.  I asked what that meant to her and her last statement was, “I want to become a Christian because then my life will be easy.”  At that moment, I realized we needed to have a very long discussion about exactly what it means to be His child.

Last week, my friend wrote these words to explain what God is teaching her…, “It’s gonna cost you,”  Our lives in Christ are not going to be easy at all.  Each day, we make countless decisions; all which cost us something.  Every decision is made for Him, or against Him. When I choose to remain in a grumpy mood and don’t take every thought and action captive to Him, it will cost me both in my intimacy with the Lord and in my relationships with my family.

Isaiah 53:5 says, “But He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by his wounds we are healed.”  This whole chapter deals with what Christ has done for us.  It cost Him EVERYTHING.  I thank my friend for bringing this to my mind…it’s an awesome reminder.  Am I content to live my life for myself…thinking I am actually living it for Him or am I willing to sacrifice my life for Him regardless of the earthly cost?

Last month we sent out the following prayer requests…we’d like to update you on their progress.

1.Pray…pray for wisdom for all believers in Chile to know where and how we can be involved in meeting the needs of those around us. Pray that we can be bold in our witness and bring many to a saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We were able to go and help clean a community center with several of our fellow missionaries here in an area where the apartments are still standing, but the insides are destroyed.  There is a small church that meets in the community center. What a huge blessing it was to be a part of that effort.

Fear is huge here right now, but we are able to show His love just by listening and offering an encouraging word.

2.A HUGE blessing and answer to prayer in all of this is something that is happening in the apartment buildings where our people live. Apartment living lends itself to creating distance in relationships to those who are in close proximity every day. For this reason it has been very difficult for our people to meet their neighbors in their apartment buildings. The earthquake has changed everything and there is a moment in time for building relationships. Pray that our people would take every opportunity to build those relationships in this time of need and insecurity. Pray that they would be His love to those around them.

Here are some examples of how doors are being opened.

Well, Robin for us, you know that we literally do not see the same people twice in a month!

Chileans work late hours – long hours.  And for some strange reason being neighbors in a high-rise doesn’t qualify as good enough reason to become friends.

The two things that have given us something to talk to our neighbors about – our puppy and the earthquake.

In my limited Spanish, I can ask if their home and family are okay. And most of the time they are willing to tell me all about it.

We share the 16th floor with one other apartment.  Several days after the earthquake we saw our neighbors in the hall and talked for ten minutes. In the 9 months we have lived in this building, it is only the third time I have seen Lela.
We got our car out of the building parking deck and parked it on the street after the earthquake. We sat in it waiting for the sun to come up.  Leonardo lives in a house near our high-rise and he saw our car parked in front of his house. He came out several times that, morning to check on us and offered us his bathroom, his coffee and his home to rest.

The week after the earthquake I had a car wreck at the entrance to our parking deck.  Many, many neighbors in my building came out to offer help.  Victor and Katarina speak English well and they helped us talk to the Carabineros and even went to the police station with us to file a report.

The commonality of human need and suffering has opened doors of communication. My neighbor Cecilia now waits for me when she sees me walking my dog so we can talk.
This weekend, we are baking goodies for Victor and Katarina and Leonard as a thank you for their assistance. We will also give them a copy of “the Hope”. We pray that this DVD will give us more opportunities to talk about “la paz a Dios” that we have testified about since the earthquake.

Donna

For us on our floor, I had met my neighbor across the hall and we had talked a few times.  The night of the quake when we were stuck in our apartment All of our neighbors were at our door trying to help us get out by kicking the door down and even though the other neighbors didn’t even know us they were all there together.  They all wanted to walk down together to make sure that we were all able to get out.  Since then there is a bond that wasn’t there before.  We’ve been invited to our neighbors house a couple of times.  I’ve taken bread and brownies keeping the relationships going.  

Lisa

Prior to the earthquake, we would go up on the elevator to our apartment on 16th floor and would often just share greetings and small talk.  The Chileans tend to be very reserved and it can be difficult to just strike up a conversation.  However, since the earthquake many times our neighbors begin the conversation by mentioning the effects of the earthquake and showing real concern for us as foreigners. This has opened the door for us to form more meaningful relationships with our neighbors.  It seems that since we share a similar experience, bonds have been formed.  

Evelyn

3.Probably the most efficient and most helpful way for you to offer assistance is by donating to Baptist Global Response (BGR). A team is coming from the States to evaluate and assess so they can know what ways are best to use the monies given. BGR is the IMB’s human needs arm and does an excellent job to meet the needs of those that are hurting. For more information on how BGR will be involved here in Chile go to gobgr.org.

This is a message written by Charles and Karen Clark: "First of all, thank you for all your prayers, emails, phone calls and donations.  We certainly feel your "partnership", love and concern for us during these days!  I want to refer you to this link http://www.imb.org/main/news/details.asp?StoryID=8475&LanguageID=1709#  for some news from the front lines.  Charles continues to be in the south working with volunteers in the most affected areas.  We have two projects underway in addition to meeting emergency needs of food, water, and hygiene items.  One project is for mass food preparation and distribution in several towns/municipalities.  Thousands of meals a day will be prepared and distributed.  Our US volunteers are working hand in hand with Chilean nationals to get this job done.  Also, there is a project for building temporary shelters for families whose homes were severely damaged or collapsed completely.   These two projects are being funded directly by Baptist Global Response, an arm of the International Mission Board.  In addition to the BGR teams of volunteers, we are expecting many others to come and help.  The idea is for churches in the US to adopt a city and come and help, working with Chileans and local Baptist churches.  There is an incredible opportunity not only to serve in a tangible way, but to share the hope that we have in Christ."

One of our churches that have adopted us as missionaries gave us some money to use here in our ministry and we have been fortunate enough to give the money to Charles and Karen to purchase school supplies for children in an area close to the epicenter. They will begin school at the end of this month. We hope to have pictures to share with you  soon.

4.Pray for all of our hearts and minds…that we can rest in His peace and that He will heal all of our hidden places of fear, anxiety, pain, etc….

Please continue to lift this up to the Father for all of us here…and in so many places in the world…this is just a crazy time!

5. Two added prayer request this month…language learning and that God would lead us to a church home for our family.

We can’t thank you enough for your continued prayers for us and for Chile.

The Stows

OUR EARTHQUAKE EXPERIENCE

March 2, 2010

David and I both woke abruptly at around 3:30 in the morning with an immediate understanding that something was terribly wrong. It only took seconds for us to both realize it was an earthquake. As I jumped out of bed to go to the kids, Caleb came running into our bedroom. I told him to get in bed with David and I ran on to the girl’s room. The noise was loud and the movement in our two story house was amazing. Upon reaching the girls room, I found them getting up to head to our room. I quickly “walked” them to our room and then ran back to get Samuel. At this point, things had intensified. I picked up Samuel to bring him to our bedroom and had difficulty keeping my balance. I plopped Samuel in our bed with the other four and then laid down myself. The movement just kept getting bigger and the noise was terrifying. We all held each other and prayed and let the earthquake run its course. It lasted 90 seconds…it seemed like a lifetime. As I sit here writing, not only am I shaking from remembering, but the windows beside me are rattling because of another aftershock. As the movement subsided, I believe we all laid there in a bit of shock as to what just happened. The first words out of Anna Marie’s mouth were, “Mom, I am not sure which is worse, being broken in to or an earthquake!”

We remained on our bed for several minutes shaking uncontrollably from fear as we began to process what had just happened. We were very grateful to be alive and for our house to still be standing. Once again we prayed together and had a big group hug! The electricity was off and phones were out so there wasn’t much to be done. The sound of car alarms set off by the earthquake filled our neighborhood.

After a while we decided to bring two mattresses into our bedroom so we could all sleep in the same room. David and Caleb were in our bed and the rest of us were on the floor on the two mattresses. Our hearts racing, we tried to lie down and rest only to be startled each time an aftershock came. Hearing the noise of sirens going, wondering who was hurt and how many. Millions of thoughts running through our minds. How long is this one going to last? Will they ever stop? Should we go out in to the road? Is our mission family safe? How has this affected the friends we have made here? What are we going to do? How do we get in contact with our family?

Around 6am, I hear the doorbell ringing…who could that be? I get up and tell David there is someone at the gate. We hurriedly get dressed and go downstairs only to hear our names being called from the gate…someone asking if we are ok. Finally at the gate we find our Logistics Coordinator and her husband there to see if we are ok…once again we thank God for His provision of safety. We all swap stories and they head on their way. I tell the kids we need to try and get some rest if we can. We went to bed and rested for a bit.

Pancakes for breakfast…thankfully we have gas…no leaks …and we have water. Then it was a morning of evaluating what had just happened. Looking the house and wall over for damage. Looking at our neighbors houses…one of which lost part of his wall. Speaking a bit to fellow missionaries who came over to our house. Our neighbor’s son coming to check on us and see if we had been scared during the earthquake. Going out in the afternoon to look around and try and get a few groceries since we had no electricity. Trying to send text messages to family in the States. We kept thinking our electricity might come on so we just stayed put. By 7pm we called our friends to see if we can come to their house to use their internet phone to call family and to use their internet to send a message out. We were able to call our parents and to send a brief message to each of you indicating that we were ok.

Sunday we tried to go to church and failed to remember where the church was located. We drove around trying to find it and then finally gave up. We decided to try and go to a mall to eat lunch only to find the only thing open to be a grocery store. Not having electricity I needed to get a few more things so we could eat. We went to the grocery store and were there 3 ½ hours…the lines were so long, people panicked that things might get bad. Upon arriving home we received a call indicating there would be a prayer meeting at the office that night…we weren’t going to go, but we are all so grateful that we did. It was a time of being thankful for His faithfulness, a time of remembering what had happened, a time of reflecting on our emotions and understanding their legitimacy, a time of praying for our Chilean friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, a time for investigating ways that we can minister to those around and a time to pray for those in great need.

Forty-seven hours after the earthquake we finally got power back and thankfully our internet. I would have sent a message out yesterday, but the kids and I spent the whole day at their school helping them to get it organized and cleaned. At this point, the kids school would like to start tomorrow if all of the families have electricity…many still do not. The Chilean government may suspend all schools from opening until Monday the 8th. We have yet to find out when school will begin.

The area of town where we live does not have large amounts of visible damage on the outside, but as I drove to the kid’s school yesterday, there were lots of things sitting on the road for trash pickup that people had lost inside their homes. While there is not visible damage on many of the houses, we know there is “damage” on the inside of all of us.

Many of you have asked how you can get involved or help. Here are some ways that would be most helpful:

1.Pray…pray for wisdom for all believers in Chile to know where and how we can be involved in meeting the needs of those around us. Pray that we can be bold in our witness and bring many to a saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

2.A HUGE blessing and answer to prayer in all of this is something that is happening in the apartment buildings where our people live. Apartment living lends itself to creating distance in relationships to those who are in close proximity every day. For this reason it has been very difficult for our people to meet their neighbors in their apartment buildings. The earthquake has changed everything and there is a moment in time for building relationships. Pray that our people would take every opportunity to build those relationships in this time of need and insecurity. Pray that they would be His love to those around them.

3.Probably the most efficient and most helpful way for you to offer assistance is by donating to Baptist Global Response (BGR). A team is coming from the States to evaluate and assess so they can know what ways are best to use the monies given. BGR is the IMB’s human needs arm and does an excellent job to meet the needs of those that are hurting. For more information on how BGR will be involved here in Chile go to gobgr.org.

4.Pray for all of our hearts and minds…that we can rest in His peace and that He will heal all of our hidden places of fear, anxiety, pain, etc….

Please go to imb.org for more information and for some pictures taken in Santiago.

We cannot express enough words of appreciation for the prayers lifted up on behalf of our family, our mission family and for our new family of Chileans. We know He is faithful and we will rest in that knowledge.

Our love to all of you,

Robin for the Stow family

We are fine after the earthquake

Just a quick note to let you all know we are fine. No electricity or internet (at a friends right now), but we are all well. We will be in touch as soon as we can. Thanks for your prayers. Blessings, The Stows

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Please pray for language acquisition for our whole family.  

1. Pray that we all will be humble in our language learning.
2. Pray that we will all be willing to try to speak and to be willing to make mistakes.
3. Pray that our minds will be sponges that soak up the language quickly.
4. Pray especially for the kids as they are a bit timid right now in reaching out to those around them.

• Pray for our finance team here in Santiago...and for the other three support centers around the world.  There is more work than can be done over the next four or five weeks and many things are not finalized with the new system.  

1. Pray for a constant focus on Him, His leadership and His counsel.
2. Please pray for patience...both for those on the finance team and for the missionaries they serve.
3. Pray for good communication between all personnel.
4. Pray for endurance as they work to implement the new system, start the accounting for the new fiscal year 2010, and work during a time when available financial resources are down.  
5. Pray for wisdom for those in leadership as they make decisions that affect so many.

•  Pray for those we have begun to meet here in Santiago.

1. Pray for our relationships to grow with our neighbors.  We have met two of the families that live beside us...we look forward to knowing them better.
2. Pray that we are His light in our community.
3. Pray that He will put many more people in our way each day.
4. Pray that we will be willing servants, obedient and have the stamina to do what He wants us to do.
5. Pray that we will be able to share our faith, even though we don't know much of the language.

SOME PICTURES OF THE HOUSE

This is the boy's room. And look, a boy!

The girl's room. We have not purchased bed frames for them yet

The master bedroom. It is in dire need of some furniture, which we hope gets here by the end of February.

The stairs that lead to the 3 bedrooms on the second floor.

This is a set of 3 rooms that run along one side of the house. We have borrowed furniture until ours arrives. We will probably use one as a dining room, one as a family room and the other one probably won't be used that much.

This is from inside the kitchen looking toward the outside door. We also took this picture to show that Samuel was helping his mom prepare lunch. Man, he is getting big.

This view is from the door where we enter looking through the kitchen all the way to the front door. We have yet to use the front door.

This is our back porch. The view is from near the front of the house. There is a little playhouse on the left that has been here for years. The swing set in the foreground is being dismantled so it can be giving to a Chilean friend who has a small child.

This is the view from just inside the big, black gate. The first door to the left is the kitchen entrance. There is a garage and 3 storage rooms on the left and at the end.