The Sheaffers - Church Planting in Uruguay: April 2009

Check It Out!

Be sure to check out our family update and pictures after the GAP update!

GAP Update - Fellowship Community Church

We just finished up a great week of work with 22 team members from the Fellowship Community Church of Salem, VA. This is one of our partner churches with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia. This team worked with the GAP project in doing a “follow-up sweep” through the Old City of Montevideo. This was a strategic decision made by our fellow missionaries Arnold and Lucy, as they felt a need to follow up with several decisions and contacts made during the recent Franklin Graham Crusade. This part of the city is very transient and we discovered many new people we had never talked to before.

This was an unusual week and God blessed in many ways. The team started without Pam and me; Kaitlyn arrived a day before the team to serve as a translator and led the team with Alfredo (a fellow translator) till we could arrive a few days later. They did a great job and we are proud of how Kaitlyn rose to the occasion.

The team distributed 4,000 Gospels of John. These are the new Gospels which your Lottie Moon Christmas Offerings provide for GAP! These Gospels include pictures of Uruguay and personalized information on salvation and discipleship. We are thankful for your partnership with us through your sacrificial giving to our foreign missions offering.

We had a very interesting Evangelistic Event. We had more people than we could handle so the program did not go quite as planned, but it was a great event. We made contact with over 150 people and feel it was a good touch into the community.

We praise the Lord for at least one salvation decision during the week and the many prospects discovered in the streets and homes of the Old City. We have several who have expressed an interest in seeing new Bible studies started in their homes!

GAP Pictures from Fellowship Community Church

Team #1

Team #2

Team #3

Team #4

Taking it to the streets.

Jacob and Jessica were not intimidated...they shared Jesus without fear.

John and his new friend. He was ready to take her home! Pray for this baby...she and her mother are in need of a permanent home.

You feel so small when the chair is so big.

Bri, working fast and furiously on the Gospels of John.

Like father, like son. Chuck and his two sons Brad and Dirk.

Kaitlyn and her Uruguayan partners...ready to serve.

Family Update...a lot has happened!

Our family is doing very well and a lot has happened in the last few months. Kristin and Aaron (and grandbaby Rachel) are now in Vancouver for Urban Mission Training with the IMB. In August they plan to move to Costa Rica for language school, after a year of language studies they will be serving in Chile with a people group I cannot mention (for security reasons). They are doing well and are excited about their future work. Pray for protection and guidance during this time of transition in their lives.

Kasey is now married! On March 27th Kasey was married to Kelly Conrad in Spokane, WA. She is an awesome girl and we are very happy for how God has worked in their lives. Kasey will graduate from his mission aviation major in May. Kasey and Kelly then hope to do a two month internship in Alaska with a mission organization called SEND. Please pray for God’s wisdom and love as they establish their new home together. Also pray for God’s provision as they begin raising support for their internship.

Kaitlyn will be graduating from High School in May (she just finished up her work). Because she returned with us to Uruguay, she will not get to attend her graduation at South High School. She is planning to attend Liberty University in the fall. She is hoping to major in missionary nursing.

We appreciate your continued prayers for our family.

We are back in Uruguay!

We are now back in Uruguay! We have just returned after eight months in the states for our stateside assignment (formerly known as furlough). Our time in the states was an awesome experience and we are thankful our mission allowed us to do this. Much of our time was spent speaking in churches and conferences, recruiting future volunteer teams, working on training material for the IMB, visiting with family and friends, and catching up on the cultural changes that have occurred while we had been on the field. Needless to say, we have been very busy.

We want to thank everyone that helped us during our time in the states. We are grateful for Colonial Heights Baptist Church for allowing us to live in their mission house. Our home church also helped us in many ways and we are appreciative for such a loving and caring fellowship. We are thankful to Vic Davis for lending us a great car for our travels. And finally, we want to thank the many churches for their hospitality and allowing us to share our story; several of these churches helped us financially through honorariums and love offerings. To all of you we say, “Thanks!”

Below are some pictures that highlight some of our special times with our family during these past seven months.