TeamDuggan

The year was 1898, and a 22 year-old named David Finstrom followed God’s call to go to Venezuela to share the Gospel. For decades he labored and gave his life in a way that made it clear to the Venezuelans that he was there to help them. But pioneers don’t necessarily make great team members, and soon after other missionaries followed in his footsteps there were striking differences in opinion and approach. Nevertheless, David Finstrom is highly regarded by the Venezuelan church and the last one he pastored in Palo Negro still bears his name.

David Finstrom never wanted to leave Venezuela. He took very few home assignments and stayed in ministry many years after his official retirement. Just one month after his eightieth birthday, he passed away in his home in Palo Negro. His funeral was attended by hundreds, representing churches, government and many who simply knew him as the man who would help in need. His grave is simple, marked with a Bible verse and his name.

I had the privilege to visit this grave and remember that all of the mission work our organization has in Latin America began with this one man. Would he fit the model we seek for missionaries today? Perhaps not. But he was a pioneer when that meant real hardship, and he stayed at it for 58 years. That is amazing, and I am grateful to him for the doors that opened as a result of his commitment made at the young age of 22.

These wonderful folks have hosted me in Cartagena.

I am in hot and humid Cartagena, a beautiful historic city on the coast of Colombia.  This is my first Internet access so I have much to catch up on here from my trip to Venezuela and visit here in Colombia.  Pictures and updates will come as I can find access.  Right now I am in an Internet cafe but later hope to be able to post some updates and pictures from my computer.

Today Cathi and Keri went to a very poor church in the hills to help with a ministry outreach to children. As usual, Keri was a kid magnet, drawing kids to her with a smile and twinkle in her eye. Almost two hours of jump-rope just about did her in though!
We are privileged to have these opportunities to see our kids develop and exercise their gifting in settings that are so different than our own.

4,500 feet elevation, the same as where we live in Costa Rica, but my, what a difference! Instead of lush cloud-forest, we were surrounded by the rugged beauty of an Arizona high desert plateau. This is the first time Cathi and I have had a chance to travel together -just the two of us – for a very long time. With just a five hour window to get all our American shopping done, we must have set a record. Thank goodness for GPS that got us to every place we needed before we had to join our group for a week-long conference!

Meanwhile, back home in Costa Rica, the kids did a great job taking care of things. One morning Cathi checks Facebook and sees on our daughter’s status says, “Happy that there was minimal damage from the flood yesterday”. Well so are we, but what flood? Turns out they handled a water line break like pros. And she was right, no damage to speak of. But they chose an interesting way to let us know about it.

Brian and I have been privileged to attend a working conference on Healthy Teams with some Reachglobal leaders from around the globe. Since it has been a very busy January, we were able to spend awesome time as a couple traveling to the conference, in addition to spending time with others during meals and brainstorming sessions, and playing games as a group in the evenings. Join us in praying that by being true-faced and loving well, ministry teams, marriages and families will be healthy and will be the aroma of Christ to the unsaved world.

For more info on this, visit efcacrisisresponse.blogspot.com

Although we couldn’t get past the damaged roads we were able to visit a number of shelters and view condemned houses.  Many were built on an unknown faultline and have cracks going end to end.  It was amazing to see open cracks in the ground that ran right up through the foundation of the houses and continuing on to the other side.  Many of these affected are working during the day and returning to their families at night in the shelters.  The government is going through and condemning not only the houses, but also the ground that is no longer suitable for building.  Many are fearful that they will not receive any insurance payment, will lose their homes and properties, and will still be liable for their mortgages.

Stay tuned as we seek how we might work with local churches in the region to build hope in the context of the Gospel.