November News

On Thursday, November 13, confusing questions battled for my attention as I drove to the hospital. Would Charlie survive the stroke, or would it kill him as it killed my grandfather? Would I arrive at the hospital only to be told, “I’m so sorry. We did all we could, but we couldn’t save him.” Would it handicap him so that our ministry would end? 

Swatting at the tears and determined to stay focused on my driving, I kept going. I told the Lord once again, as I have many times throughout our years of marriage, that Charlie is a gift that He gave to me, and He has the right to take him home whenever He chooses. (He doesn’t need my permission, but it helps my heart to say it.) I reaffirmed my trust in the Almighty who knows what the future holds.

Charlie not only survived, but we arrived at the hospital in time for them to give him an injection of tPA, a “miracle drug” for stroke patients. He was released from the hospital four days later. He has now recovered almost all of his physical ability and strength, but his brain is still healing. Speaking, reading, and writing are still difficult.

The day he was released from the hospital, we were supposed to fly to Bolivia. Once again our ministry in Bolivia was put on hold, though the political situation in that country may have meant that our hosts would have asked us to stay home anyway. We are looking at trying again in July or August of next year.

Today we thank God.

• I was with Charlie when the stroke happened.
• The ambulance arrived quickly and the doctors expect Charlie to fully recover.
• Charlie was home for my birthday. He brought me the card he intended to give to me in Bolivia and said, “I’m so glad I get to give this to you today.”

Thank you for your prayers for us. Please keep them coming. Pray that:

• Peace would return to Bolivia and that the Christians there would shine as lights for God during this difficult time.
• Charlie would heal completely from the stroke and be able to return to a full schedule.
• Charlie's project for his doctoral studies would not be postponed too much because of this incident.
• We would be able to accompany the mission’s team from our church when they go to Jamaica in January. Charlie may not be ready to teach yet, but it looks like he will be able to go.
• Charlie would be ready to teach a module in the Philippines in March.
• Pray that future years would be even more fruitful than the past years have been.

Evidently, God still has work for us to do. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Photo: Charlie in the hospital

Questions About Moving Abroad

Montevideo, Uruguay

For years we have considered the possibility of moving abroad.  Right now there are things that are keeping us in the US, but it continues to be in our thoughts and our prayers.  Every time we make a trip abroad, we ask the question, "Is this the place where God wants to send us to live next?"

One of the main factors in where we can live is cost of living.  While we enjoyed our visit to Luxembourg last year, for example, we know that we cannot survive there on the income God has given us.  On the other hand, most of Latin America, some of Asia and some of Europe and Africa could potentially be a place for us.  The world is a big place, and there are many places where we could go.

A second factor, and probably the most important, is ministry.  Is there something for us to do there that fits the skill sets that God has given us?  We do not want to move abroad to simply retire.  We want to be fully invested until we can no longer work.  So every time we visit a country we also ask this question, "If we lived here, what ministry would we have?  Are there teaching and training opportunities here?"

Another major factor is language.  While there are many countries where we could use English to start up a ministry to expatriates living there, we want to be able to minister among the nationals. This trip to Bolivia was a major part of seeing whether or not a Spanish speaking country could work. After a month of living there and getting some language instruction, we think it can.  So now we have two language options - English and Spanish.

There are some other more minor factors that we will consider, like health care and transportation. How hard and how expensive is it to get back to the US if we need to do that? Is it easy for us to get a visa? Is it easy to live without a car? If not, what would that cost? Is it better to rent or own a residence? Would we need to maintain a residence in the US? These and other questions would need to be answered.

The last factor and the one that will be the deciding one for us is God's call.  We want to hear God clearly speak to us about the next step we need to take. It is possible that He will call us to stay in the U.S. or He may lead us abroad. Whatever we do, we want to be sure that we are following His direction for our lives. Wherever it is, we believe that He is already putting together the pieces that will give us the ministry He has for us when we get there.  When the time comes, we will know. In the meantime, we keep doing the work He has for us right now.

Spanish Lessons in Bolivia

Charlie with one of the tutors

In the morning, we filled our hearts with prayer and the Word, our stomachs with a simple breakfast and then left the spacious guest house to fill our minds with Spanish. It was the primary purpose for which we came to Bolivia this time.  By lunchtime, our minds were bursting with conjugations, preterit vs. imperfect, double verbs and subjunctive tenses until it felt as though our heads would explode.

At the end of the first week, Charlie wondered why he was not making faster progress. I was coming to terms with the difficulty of correcting grammatical errors that had become bad habits. Then we realized we had only been here for a week and we still had three more weeks to go. That was reassuring. As Charlie gained confidence in his ability to communicate, I became more fearful that every time I spoke I would be saying something wrong again. But my teachers assured me that this was a sign of improvement.

After we had been here about three weeks, we ate lunch with IPM's missionary, Jose Antonio Jordan and his family.  During lunch, Charlie carried on a conversation with him, and he commented on how much Charlie's Spanish has improved.  I heard it too. This improvement will help us as we continue to make trips to Latin America.

On Thursday and Friday nights I taught a teacher training class.  I took the notes from a class I taught a couple years ago in Mexico and went through them, making changes as I saw the grammar errors I originally made.  Then I took my lessons to my language school teachers and they went over them with me. When we finished, I said to Alicia, my teacher, "Prepositions are getting me into trouble."  She agreed and added, "They seem to be difficult in any language.  I have trouble with them in English."

On Thursday night I was so concerned about my grammar that I had a very difficult time, so all day on Friday, I asked God to give me facility and freedom as I shared some of the things He had laid on my heart.  While my grammar may not have been any better, at least I felt like I was communicating better because I was freer and more fluid.

A month is certainly not enough to learn a language, but it has helped us move forward to becoming more fluent.  We now feel more confident that we can go somewhere alone without the aid of an interpreter for Charlie. I am far from fluent, but at least I will do better than I would have before. When I translated for him on Saturday night, I realized that I need to work on my vocabulary as well as my grammar. I also now have a better idea of what I need to do in order to keep improving and how to progress so that I will not fall back into the bad habits.

January Newsletter

Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. Psalm 66:16

Dear friends and family,

God has done great things in the past year, and we want to declare His greatness to all who will listen.

Church in Guatemala

1. He funded our travel. When we started the year, we saw that the money in our travel account was inadequate for the trips we planned to take. Here we are beginning a new year, and we now have more money in that account than we did last year at this time after taking five trips and visiting six countries. How great is His provision!
2. He brought people to a saving faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Throughout our travels we were witnesses to Christ's great work of redemption. In Guatemala alone, we saw more than twenty people make professions of faith.
3. He gave us new opportunities to serve Him. IPM held their first pastors' conference in the Amazon town of Mazan, Peru, and Charlie was one of the teachers. We both taught in Mindanao, Philippines, and they have asked us to come back and teach again. Joan partnered with Levi Schooley to lead a VBS seminar in Arequipa, Peru. It was the first time they had worked together and they both enjoyed it.

   

   Teaching a game in Peru

4. He gave us the opportunity to take a missions trip "vacation" to Europe where we were able to help out in ministries in Belarus and Luxembourg.

As we look back and see His faithfulness to us in the past year, we have no doubt that He will again be faithful in 2017.

1. We expect that we will take at least five trips again this year and maybe more, and we have no doubt that, so long as we only go where He sends us, He will fund those as well.
2. We expect that He will continue to save people in the various ministries we visit around the world, and we are looking forward to be able to witness His power at work in changing people's lives.
3. We expect that He will help us as we seek to improve our skills to do a better job. In just a few weeks we are headed to Bolivia where we will visit IPM's missionaries there and take an intensive Spanish course. In addition, Charlie has been working on his doctorate so that he will be better qualified to teach at a seminary level.
4. We expect that this will be a full year. In addition to trips to Bolivia, the Philippines, Uruguay and one or two African countries, Charlie also plans to go to Cuba. We also love to teach and preach whenever we are in the U.S.
5. We expect that none of this will be done well unless God works in us and through us, so we value your prayers and support.

Your partners with national missionaries around the world,

Charlie and Joan Farley

A Picture Summary of 2016

Take a trip with us and see where we were and what we were doing abroad during the past year.  We each took five trips and went to six countries.  Five of those trips we took together and we each took one trip alone. That does not even count the trips we took within the U.S. where we went to Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Minnesota, Florida, North Carolina, California, and probably some other states too.  It was a busy and blessed year, and we are looking forward to an even busier one this year.

We put together a Prezi presentation online of our trips abroad. Just click on the link, and it will take you there. Then you can cruise through the photos and, if we visited you, maybe even find a photo of yourself.  Just tap on the link and then in the new window use the arrow keys to go through the presentation.

Missions: Growing in Latin America

In the early years of working in other countries, sometimes North American missionaries made the mistake of not emphasizing the Great Commission in every church.  It is, after all, not easy for a pastor who is not supported financially by the church to encourage the church to reach out further than the immediate area.  Local church planting continued to happen as young men and women were trained for the ministry and sent out, but it was unusual to hear of missionaries being sent by their local churches to other countries.  When it did happen, they often went to the United States to raise their support.

That is now changing.

Every Sunday morning in Arequipa, Peru, the people of Alto Selva Alegre rise to their feet to say their mission statement together:

The Baptist church of ASA exists to worship God and to prepare workers who will carry the gospel from Arequipa to all nations and thereby glorify God.

A ladies' meeting focusing on serving God.

There is an excitement in the air.  This church realizes that they are responsible for their part of fulfilling the Great Commission.  Young men and women are considering the call to missions.  One young man has been raising his support to go to India.  The Peruvian churches who are supporting him are praying that his visa, which was denied once, will be granted so that he can go.

Not only is this church aware of their need for missions, but other churches in Arequipa are sending out workers as well.  A leadership conference, held in Arequipa while I was there, highlighted two missionaries every night - one with ministry within the country and one with ministry outside of it.  A missionary to Turkey asked for prayer in language learning.  He needs to learn Turkish in order to effectively reach out to neighbors and friends, but he and his children also need to learn English in order for them to go to school there.  Another missionary talked of the great things God is doing in Venezuela in the midst of the economic difficulties in that land.

In Bolivia, we met a missionary who is part of a group that is praying that God will raise up 100 Bolivians and send them around the globe.  We also spoke with a pastor whose desire is to see his church plant many other churches throughout Bolivia and go on to send out many missionaries.

In other countries, missionary fervor is growing as well.  In Uruguay, we talked with a man who is considering becoming a missionary to Israel.  In Guatemala, the church where we were has several missionaries they are already supporting and want to increase their missionary budget.   We spoke with one man who realizes that the U.S. is in spiritual trouble, and they are considering the possibility of sending missionaries here.

I love how we all have a part.  I go there, and they come here.  God is sending His people around the world.  Their paths cross each other along the way so that one thing may happen - more people from every tribe, language, and nation will one day gather at the throne of God and worship Him as one mighty throng.

Cultural Differences that Let You Know You've Been Abroad a While

We were gone too few days to experience what some would call 'reverse culture shock,' but we are finding ourselves amused by some of the differences we are noticing now that we are back.  It started as soon as we touched down in the airport in Miami and has continued all week.

So let me put it this way.  You know you have been abroad a while when you:

Protected trees in the middle
of a Bolivian street.

• get excited about how inexpensive something is and then realize that the price is in dollars. 
• find that seat belts actually work and you are expected to use them.
• lean in to kiss the cheek of someone who has offered you a hand shake. 
• look for fresh milk at the grocery store in one-liter plastic bags.
• see a blue-eyed person and wonder what country they are from and how long they have been here.
• cannot find the bill you need to pay for your items because they all have green on them.
• wonder why the driver stopped for a red light when there was no oncoming traffic.
• say "Muchas Gracias" to the clerk who has been speaking to you in English.
• think it strange that so few properties have fences and walls around them.
• automatically toss your toilet paper in the trash can instead of the toilet.
• wonder why people are watching baseball when there surely must be a good soccer game available to watch.
• miss the shade of the protected trees in the middle of the streets, sidewalks, and parking lots.
• are surprised by how few forty-year-old cars are on the road.
• wonder if the tap water is safe enough for you to use it to brush your teeth.
• think it is normal for a taxi ride across town to only cost a couple dollars.
• see a construction site and wonder why they would spend money on a porta-potty.

Since we were only gone a couple weeks, it is not taking us long to get back to the way of doing things here.  However, I am grateful for the tapestry of cultures that we get to enjoy, and we look forward to going again where there will be new things to learn when we go, and thing to unlearn when we return.

A Church's Gift

Every church is different.  Some are friendly, and no newcomer leaves feeling unwelcome.  Some are reverent, and a quiet awe pervades the worship services.  Some are joyful and exuberant as they lift their praises to the Lord.  Some are evangelistic, and they are excited about sharing their faith with friends and co-workers, and they revel in their own salvation.  Some are prayerful, and prayer meetings are well attended and considered to be one of the most important aspects of the week.  Some are seen as theologically deep or mature, and their pastors and teachers enjoy going deep into the Word of God.  Some are missions minded, and their reputation for giving to missions is noticed even by visitors.

One of the families that fed us.

On this trip, we found something in this Cochabamba church that we have seldom seen.  We found a church with the gift of hospitality.  In all of the trips we have taken, both in the U.S. and abroad, we have not
been welcomed into people's homes and lives the way we were here.  Every day, for both lunch and supper, we were fed by the people of this church.

When I mentioned this to Jacky, the pastor's wife, she said to me, "Well, we know the verse in Hebrews that says "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."

"That's true," I replied.  "But you know us and you know that we are not angels.  We are just people."

She laughed and agreed.  Yet somehow this group of people really took the gift of hospitality to the maximum and made us feel so loved and welcomed.  As we joined them at their dinner tables and heard the stories of their lives, it made us feel so much more a part of them.  Some felt unable to have us into their homes, but they showed hospitality to us by taking us out to dinner.  There, too, we heard their stories of faith and family and came to love and appreciate them.

Pique Macho

"What is the typical food here?" we asked when we arrived.

"Oh, Cochabamba has many foods.  We do not have just one."

So through the weeks we were there, the church tried to make sure that we tried many of their typical foods: Pique, Silpancho, Api, Charque, Pollo a la Brasa, Steak, and so much more.  They checked with each other to find out what we had already had so that they could let us try something new.  On our last day there, we were invited to join the college-age young people at a steak house and were able to get to know some of them. 

The church gave us some mementos as going-away gifts, but to be honest, the best gift they gave us during our time there was themselves through the gift of hospitality.  Through that, our hearts were bound to them.  We understand those families better and have an appreciation for their lives.  Had they not chose to share their lives with us in this way, we would not have gotten to know them nearly as well.  As a result, we found we did not want to leave because they had become so precious to us.

We look forward to going back.  Perhaps next time we will be able, in some way, to extend hospitality to them as well.