November 2025
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thess. 5:18
Dear Reader,
Thank you for your prayers, for your support, and for reading our prayer letter. We thank the Lord for you.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” We know because Almighty God has revealed Himself and His plan to us in the Scriptures. “Our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.” He is doing according to His will in heaven and on earth. And His will is good because the Lord is good. So it is His will that we, His children, should give thanks continually for all things as His plan is weaving the tapestry of honor and righteousness and blessing through and with every event.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart . . .” May He send His Spirit to enable us to do so, and to love and serve as we ought. It is a privilege to be alive and serve our Lord through faith in Christ in any way you and I can. We ask for His wisdom, His mercies in Christ, and the guidance of His loving hand.
FIRSTS
Most encouraging has been the decision our friends Víctor and Conny have made to worship with us regularly on the Lord’s Day, expressing their desire to join our church. During October we were also blessed with four special visits, one of which was a first-time visit from Abraham’s Dad, Luis, who recently lost his lower leg due to diabetes. Our son, Josiah, has been praying for Abraham and his Dad for a long time. Rosita M., who has not attended much since COVID began, was also able to come for worship for the first time in a long time after her severe stroke. She continues to undergo physical therapy for her right arm and hand. We are thankful for their improvement. Please pray for her husband, Alonso.
Rigoberto and his son, who study English with Sarah, visited our worship service and afternoon Bible class one Lord’s Day; another long-time friend in town, Daniel, also came to worship with us for the first time. We were also enabled to get to know several new acquaintances a little better during a recent holiday, as many of them came to our home for the first time for a pleasant spring afternoon together.
REPEATS
We were also blessed with a second visit from John, in October, which lifted the beauty of our property to the next level as spring deforestation reached new heights! John-Baptiste received some major inspiration as he teamed up with John to level the playing field by clearing debris, brush, and weeds around the “never-before-seen” portions of our fencing.
Our friend, Pablo, visited again for Reformation Day weekend and Julio continues his seminary studies. As part of his preaching practice, Julio delivered four sermons to our mini-congregation on subsequent Friday mornings in our new meeting place, a sort of homeschool chapel, if you will. Julio has also been teaching our Lord’s Day Bible Class in the afternoon, explaining the Biblical doctrines summarized in the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
Elections were held here in Chile on Nov. 16th for a new President (first round) and Congress. Please pray for the second round election between the top two contenders for President, Kast (Republican party) and Jara (Communist party), set for Dec. 14th. Please continue to pray for Rubén and his family, as he and Paul meet to read through Robert Haldane’s excellent book, “Evidences and Authority of Divine Revelation.”
GUATEMALA
On Monday, Nov. 24th, Anna and Sarah begin their trip to Guatemala City to help out with Vacation Bible School at the Montserrat and Los Angeles churches (first two weeks of December), returning Dec. 16th. Then on Nov. 28th (day after Thanksgiving Day), Geneva travels from Missouri to join them. We plan to hold our own Vacation Bible School here in January, Lord-willing. Our girls look forward to seeing our fellow-missionary again, Pastor Harold Ricker, who is now 102 years of age and still serving our Lord and Savior.
FURLOUGH IN 2026
We hope to take a greatly limited furlough next year, from mid-March to mid-July, as Josiah returns (from Kenya) to Chile and Isaiah keeps him company here until the end of May. Sadly, we may only be able to see Josiah for one day until we are together in June.
MUSIC
We consider the subject of appropriate music to be very important, so we have recently gone through two video series on the subject, in the evening on the Lord’s Day. The first was “The Satanic Attack on Sacred Music” by David Cloud, and the second has been “The Language of Music” by Frank Garlock, which is available in Spanish on the internet. Music is a very large part of life and plays a very significant role of influence for spiritual good or harm. Our Lord calls us to holiness, and all our music ought to promote it.
Pray for our continued Hymn Book project. Our son, Isaiah, is hoping to produce a sizable revised Hymn Book for us during the coming months. Our children continue playing their many instruments (Navarre with the harp; Faith, the cello, recorder and piano; Katie plays the piano very nicely; Isaiah, piano). It has been a blessing to have our girls’ violin accompaniment for our congregational singing (Anna & Sarah). Emilio continues learning the violin and his sister, Sara, the piano, with Anna.
HOME
On the home-front we have been enjoying reading through James Ramsey’s wonderful commentary on Revelation (chapters 1-11) during our evening family worship. We highly recommend it. We hope to read our friend Calel Butler’s work on the Book of Revelation next in our evening devotions.
John-Baptiste has been persevering in learning Hebrew and doing very well. Thanks to our friend John, he is also listening to the Hebrew Scriptures as well!
Anna has several piano students and has made some very nice dresses of late. Sarah teaches just about everything and everyone. Isaiah and Anna have led a pile of Taekwondo classes, and Cheryl continues working with Emilio and J-B in particular.
While we await our new glorious resurrection bodies, please pray for the health of our earthly bodies in the meantime, that we may be enabled to continue in the Lord’s service effectively; and for the Lord’s spiritual strength and grace to guide, improve and prosper our portions in His work. Thank you for your prayers and support.
“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: To shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night.” Psalm 92:1-2
Yours in Christ’s Service,
Paul & Cheryl Durand