March, 2023
Dear friends and brethren, we affectionately greet you in the grace of our God.
Background
We are the Matamala Colpi family, from Puerto Montt, Chile. We are Daniel and Elizabeth, with our three children, Daniel Josías (9), Joaquín (8) and Catalina (2). The worship of our glorious God has been the center of our home and the purpose of our lives. It is our heart’s desire to serve the Him in life through the preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, in building up the body of Christ (believers), and in defending the faith that God has placed in our hearts.
Looking back in time, our wonderful Lord united us in marriage in 2010. He called us from different backgrounds to come together for a single purpose: “united by God, for the glory of God”. Since He called us to be His children, the Lord has placed in our hearts a fervent desire to serve Him. We have been laboring in God’s harvest field from that moment on, which has included an active work among the fundamentalist youth of our country.
When the Lord blessed us with children, we decided to educate them at home. Elizabeth left her job as a nurse to dedicate herself to teach them. We had lived in Santiago, the capital, but as we saw the need and lack of workers in the south of our country we started praying for God’s will. After much prayer, we decided to move to Puerto Montt to support the local church there. Our Lord provided wonderfully for all our needs, and we began working at the “Genezaret” Fundamental Biblical Presbyterian Church.
Since the days of our youth, God had placed in our hearts the concern of missions. The vision of souls far away from the preaching of the gospel, and the great need to go and search for the lost sheep, were constantly reminding us of the texts of Romans 10:14 “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” and, Isaiah 6:8 “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me”. Therefore, we continued to pray that the Lord would confirm that desire and help us to achieve it; that consuming desire continues in our hearts today.
Work and Ministry
Currently, we remain active in the work of the Lord here in Chile. Daniel has been ordained as an Elder in our Genezaret Church in Puerto Montt. We are leading the work of the local church on Puluqui Island (55 km southwest of Puerto Montt). We are also continuing our studies in the Biblical Seminary. Lord willing, Daniel hopes to finish this semester and obtain a Bachelors of Theology degree. In addition, Daniel’s ministry includes church preaching, Sunday school classes for adults and musical accompaniment on the piano. Additionally, we are part of the summer camp leadership held on Puluqui, where Daniel serves by preaching. Along with other ladies of the church, Elizabeth takes care of the needy from our congregation. She also teaches Sunday School classes and works as a youth counselor at our camp. Recently she was chosen to lead the Presbyterian Ladies of the southern zone of our country. Daniel Josías plays the airboard at church, and Joaquín Esteban is making progress in learning the guitar. Back in 2020, our glorious God, knowing our heart’s desires, gave us the blessing of the birth of our baby girl, Catalina Paz. During 2023, we restarted the camp on Puluqui Island (pictured right), after three years of inactivity due to the pandemic. This year we had an attendance of 160 people. It was a beautiful camp and one filled with blessings.
Future Plans
God has allowed us to work together in His harvest field, and we have been able to develop a beautiful family ministry. We enjoy praising our Lord together as well. Our desire for missions has been a fire that has stayed within us for all these years. During the year 2022 our wonderful God blessed us with the opportunity to go on a short-term mission trip to Isovya, Kenya, as part of the S.O.M.E Team (Student Overseas Missionary Endeavor) under the IBPFM (Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions). This experience further ignited the flame for missions in our hearts. The trip to Kenya was very beautiful, but not exempt of difficulties and trials. It was a great challenge as we traveled with our young children during a pandemic, to a faraway place with health risks. But we saw the gracious hand of God directing each of our steps. The Lord allowed us to serve him in teaching, preaching the gospel and helping with some physical needs there. Yet, we were the most blessed with all the learning we obtained.
We have prepared ourselves by studying at the Christian Pedagogy Biblical Institute and the Seminary of our denomination. Additionally, both of us are nurses. Daniel currently works in a Public Hospital in the Quality and Patient Safety section. We believe that God has given us an academic and theological foundation in training and preparation for His service. That is why we have a burning desire in our hearts to carry out missionary work in Isovya, Kenya. Therefore, we are praying to our God to show us His will for its fulfillment, and that He might provide us with everything we need to carry it out. It is our purpose to support the biblical teaching and education in different areas. We would like to teach at the Bethel Bible and Technical schools there, as well as do visiting and preaching in churches nearby. If the Lord so wills, we would want to open new biblical centers in unreached areas and open music classes. In the health area, we would like to collaborate in prevention and health endorsement, providing essential medicines and vitamin supplements for the development of the local population, and help to improve water treatment and protection against malaria. A greater challenge, and one that requires a lot of prayer and faith, is to reopen the Clinics of Care, where health care and monitoring could be provided to many people who do not maintain control of their diseases due to distance and high costs of medicines, along with the opportunity to deliver the Gospel for the salvation of their souls.
God has been answering our prayers and has enabled us to serve Him in our own country. We believe that it is time for us to take a bigger step, and we trust that the Lord has guided our steps to be full-time missionaries for His honor and glory, and for the expansion of the powerful Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are sure that God has called us to this ministry.
We pray to the Lord of the harvest to send us as laborers into his harvest. We would also ask you, in the love of the Lord, to keep us in mind in your family and church prayers, along with your support to be able to fulfill this call. We ask for your prayers for our spiritual preparation, for God’s providence to learn the needed languages for the mission field, for the culmination of the seminary studies and Daniel’s pastoral ordination, and finally, to obtain the necessary funds to carry out the missionary work.
And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! Romans 10:15
Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvelous works among all nations. I Chronicles 16:24
In the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
The Matamala Colpi Family
Daniel, Elizabeth, Daniel Josías, Joaquín and Catalina.