June, 2025
“All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.”
Psalm 86:9-10
These days, our minds are full of what we have to do to prepare for another Winter Youth Camp. The theme will be “Discovering the Greatness of God,” from Isaiah 40, so, we are thinking much of God’s greatness. The text above reminds us of God’s great promises and great resources He has to back them up. We have seen many obstacles this year, but we sing, “El Puede” (He’s Able) and “Cristo puede liberarte a ti” (He’s able to deliver thee). So, we trust in the Lord to help us, and we pray He will be glorified in it all.
The biggest obstacle we face this year is that most of our local university students will not be able to attend camp during the day, only in the evenings. There was a student-led strike in the first months of classes which means that classes must be made up during the winter vacation time. The university students make up a good percentage of our youth group and the leaders in it. So, it will be a challenge. Also, we see many of our youth going through spiritual battles and struggles right now. So please pray for these challenges. Missionaries on foreign fields must always learn to be F-L-E-X-I-B-L-E. You never know what alterations may need to be made until it happens!
The dates for camp are July 15 – 18. Our camp is a bit different. We don’t have a campground, so our local youth will sleep at their homes each night and attend during the day. We had planned to use a nearby park each day until 5PM, and then return to the church for the evening service and activities. But we just found out the park will be unavailable the last day. Remember what we said about FLEXIBILITY??
We are expecting young people from other places as well, such as Iquique (4 hours to the South) and Antofogasta (10 hours to the South). Pray that the young people from La Paz, Bolivia, will be able to come as they have in the past. We are unable to extend the invitation to other places as we just don’t have enough room. The young men that come from outside of Arica will stay at our church, and the young ladies will stay at the Jara’s church and in homes of our people.
As we mentioned at the beginning of this letter that God’s promises are backed by His resources. We are thankful to the Lord for some of the “back-up” He has sent and is sending.
First, our daughter Debbie is back from college and here for the summer. At first, we didn’t understand all the indications of God’s will for her coming home instead of working in the US for the summer. But, we see her as God-sent. After arriving home, she started having a lot of pain from her teeth. Here, it is so much cheaper to resolve dental problems than it is in the U.S.; so that was of the Lord. And then to have her help in the camp preparations and in the camp itself is a special gift from the Lord. Her willingness to serve, her sweet spirit, and her love for our young people is a big plus for camp.
Then, there are others the Lord is sending as reinforcements. Pastor Juan Farias from Chillán will be coming as our main speaker. Also, from the U.S., we’ll have Keith McCoy from Collingswood, NJ, as well as our niece, Hannah Holman, from Nashville, Tennessee, who will be visiting us for the first time. Please pray for their travels and that we might be a blessing to them as we know they will be to us.
As we think of the “all nations” mentioned in the above verses, it encourages us in our ministry with Venezuelan refugees, many more of which are leaving now than coming. Even in the next couple of weeks, Victor and Jearivict, two young people who have come to our Sunday School, VBS, and camp will be returning to Venezuela.
We do have one new teen who recently arrived to join her mother here in Arica, and she has been attending our youth meetings. On Sunday mornings, our car can have up to 17 Venezuelans, mothers and their children, if they all come. From Jim’s years in Kenya, we learned that there is no such thing as a full car!
We have mentioned 20-year-old Jealid before. In May, on Melody’s birthday, after going through “The Exchange” (an evangelistic Bible study), Jealid received Christ as Saviour! What a birthday gift! Last Friday, at 6AM, Jealid called us. Melody quickly got up and took her to the hospital for the birth of her baby; Aylanis was born later that day. She was not breathing when she was born, but the Lord, in his mercy, allowed her to be revived. She had to be in an incubator for a few days, but today, five days later, was allowed to go home.
One month ago, our ladies showed God’s love to Jealid by giving her many of the things she would need for her baby. Please pray for Jealid and her baby as we don’t know what their future will hold. She’s pretty much alone here and she may decide to go back to Venezuela in the near future as well. But, we are thankful for the privilege to minister to these dear ones as long as we can. Melody is in contact with others who have left Chile and she is even doing an online Bible study with one of our ladies now back in Venezuela.
We mentioned in our last prayer letter that Melody would be traveling to San Francisco to be with Becky and Jake for the birth of their first daughter. Melody arrived in time to be at the hospital when Madeleine Ruth Gardiner was born, via C-section, on March 17. It was such a joy for Melody to spend over three weeks with our new granddaughter Maddie, and help Becky get accustomed to being a mommy. Joshua and Debbie were able to fly out to meet their new niece as well!
In closing, we just want to reiterate how much we appreciate your prayers for the ministry here in Arica. Quite honestly, attendance has been a little discouraging lately, as well as seeing so many of our young people struggling. Please pray that the camp would be a real encouragement and spiritual boost to our brethren. Also, please pray for God’s provision for all the needs for camp. We never like to have to charge the young people much, so as not to put a hardship on them. Thanks so much. We look forward to sharing with you all the “wondrous things” that we trust our God to do in the days ahead.
In Christ’s love,
Jim and Melody Bjur