| Home | Original State of Property | Photos of Construction | The construction continued | Photos of Church Building | The need for Bricks | Old Newsletters | Jokes & Bible keyword search

Previous Newsletters

San Andrés Arica

Newsletter, Oct - Dec 2004

Newsletter from the Huckers

This has been an amazing year for us and we want to begin this newsletter by thanking you for your prayer support and your generosity in giving to SAMS. We give thanks to God for the progress that we have made this year. We have been dedicated to the physically building of the church and the spiritual growth of the congregation. We faced many challenges and by the grace of God He sustained us and brought about the victory over the various obstacules in our way.

Our children are doing well and are looking forward to the end of the school year. They have been very busy with schoolwork and deserve a rest from the demanding system here. Wesley continues to be actively involved in all sports while Caleb is more reserved in this area. I am always proud of their achievements as growing up cross culturally isnīt easy. Jean is doing well and fully recovered from her fall a few months ago. She continues to be involved in many activities and has a real gift for starting up groups and encouraging their growth and stability.

However this year we managed to demolish unstable buildings on the property, clear out the abundance of trash that had littered the place due to various quakes and tremors, to pour the foundation, claim back land from the neighbour, erect fences, weld columns in place, do some landscaping and construct a temporary room with a net roof. What was a despised and ugly plot now is something beautiful and of value. This describes the transformation of not only the property but also of the change that the Lord wants to bring into our lives.
We constantly have open doors to share the Gospel here of which we are very thankful. One problem is peopleīs lack of understanding of the Bible. When in conversation with our friends it turns out that their idea of the Trinity is Father, Son and MaryWe have any number of opportunities to share the Gospel, but it is difficult to give people the understanding of who Jesus is. At the end of the day this is not our job anyway and we do pray that God would water the seeds that He sows in the hearts of Aricans that we have spoken with
Now after 5 years in the wildnerness with services in houses we have now entered the promised land and have up to now four Sunday services as well as other meetings during the week. We are even in the process of developing a music group!
We are very excited about the future and with the "opening" of the Anglican Church (7th Nov) I believe that we will go from strength to strength. After the first meeting on the property I personally felt that it was the first positive step that we took forward in our time in Arica. As you know we have had a lot of ups and downs, but we have perservered because of the conviction of what the Lord has called us to do and the lost eternal state of many people here

 
Our challenges are very obvious and the coming year will be evidence of this. We hope to receive a group of multi-national youngster from YWAM Chile and the Anglican church in Santiago this Jan. for a month. They are confirmed to come, but living in Chile has shown me that we canīt count on it at this stage. Their outreach will be to help us and the wider church in Arica.
God Bless the neighbours who presently supply us with water and electricity. Unfortunately when the property was sold to us in our absence (we were in England) our lawyer overlooked the non-payment of utility bills, which amounts to a thousand pounds (2000USD, 2500AUD)and can not be re-connected until such time that the bills are paid. Our neighbour supplies the electricity for the Sunday services and for the needs of the workers. We can struggle without water and electricity because we want to invest the finances we do have in the inicial phase of building the walls, or at least some walls of the church.
We have started a campaign within our congregation of buying bricks for the church. We need in the vicinity of 6000, at a cost of 188 pesos each (roughly 17p each). So far we have a few hundred. Everyone likes the idea as the goal is pratical and easy to achieve. The church construction is at a standstill whilst we wait for Godīs provision to so generously and graciously flow. There is a way to go to finish the building, but praise God for this miracle that began in faith some years ago
Next year is the year of new things for our church. We hope to develop many ministries that will be a blessing to Arica. Along these lines we hope to make a big effort to see the Alpha course more established in the church. Using it amongst non-christians, christians, youths and wherever there is an opportunity. The opportunities are unlimited now that we have a place to call home. Thank you for working together with us.

News from Arica - San Andrés
                
Jan 2005
We hope that your celebrations were filled with the peace and joy of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Our Christmas was spent with our immediate family, marked by a barbeque and a Christmas pudding that we managed to save from the previous year. On Christmas eve we celebrated this wonderful event in the church. Chileans celebrate the Christmas eve as the main celebration, rather that the 25th.
As we enter the new year we are mindful of the natural disaster that happened in Asia. Our prayers and sympathy go out to all the millions who have suffered and continue to suffer in the devasation experienced in that region
Our Christmas production was very basic, but conveyed the christmas message of Jesus entering this world effectively. I manage to play two parts. I was the star and a pastor (of the sheep kind). Photos will follow once our photographer (Joann Duncan) sends them to me. But it was a very good evening to focus our christmas celebrations on the true meaning of this day.
We were blessed in our first Sunday of the new year to have many visitors that represented some eight different nationalities. Both our worship leaders were occupied to lead the music and in their absence we were blessed by Lindsay Morgan who came to visit for a few days. Lindsay was a volunteer who served here some two years ago and it was wonderful to see her again. We thank God that we now have two individuals capable of leading worship, which is a far cry from a few years ago when all we had was a plastic bottle with a few beans to make a joyful noise!
When we held our first service on the property back in November, I believe that the Lord gave to me as His promise for us as a local Church the scripture found in Luke 5.1-11. This is the story of the calling of Simon and his fellow fisherman. They had been out fishing all night and once they finished their nightīs work and washed their nets Jesus told them to put out in their boats and let down their nets for a great catch (verse 4). I believe this is the verse appropiate for us. We have persevered believing that God is doing a mighty work. At times it didnīt seem to make sense that we should continue, but in obedience to what God was and is asking us to do, we peservered and are persevering in faith. Simon must have experienced something similar as it didnīt make sense to him that just by pushing out into deep water and letting down their nets that they would catch any fish (verse 5). But notice Simonīs response in the bottom part of this verse, "But because you say so I will let down the nets". This is all that the Lord requires of us, our obedience. Possible what the Lord asks us to do doesnīt necessarily make sense. He doesnīt require that we analyse the situation to see if it is logical, all He is asking of us is to simply let down our nets, believing in what He can do to fill the nets rather than our own efforts.
 
Our construction is presently on hold as we wait for the plans of the Church to be drawn up. But we continually thank God for the present humble surroundings that He has given us. It makes quite a difference to have somewhere where we can actually advertise the services being held and people can have the opportunity to attend by just walking off the street. The bathrooms are now built from the outside, all that remains to be done is to install the toilets, showers and connect the water. We hope that this will be very soon (Feb or March). Photos of Church Building
We continue to pray for the YWAM team that may visit us. Originally they were coming in Jan., now there is the possibility that they will come in March for two weeks. Having been in YWAM ourselves for 10 years we are excited about the possibility of re-establishing links with them. Lindsey Morgan is part of this YWAM team where she is attending a DTS (discipleship training school). As you may remember Lindsey was with us two and a half years ago as a volunteer. Her time in YWAM has been life changing.
Please continue to pray for us especially in the area of growth. We have had many visitors since the inauguration back in Nov. Pray that God would continually send people to hear His word and have the opportunity to receive Him as their Lord and Saviour.
 
March News

Summer came and went. The hot months have now past as we enjoy the cooler weather. We were greatly blessed by the YWAM team who came for two weeks.

The YWAM team daily interceded for the city of Arica and then went out into to the streets to share Jesus. They found Arica a generally cold city, not very open to the Gospel. Maybe the statistics shed light on this. Of the population of 180,000 5% are Jehovas Witness, 5% Agnostic, 2.7% Mormon and 2.7% evangelical. These figures were taken from the national census of 2002.

 My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.        

Hosea 4:6 NIV

We have already seen fruit from the YWAM teams visit. Eight people during the services have given their lives to Jesus. We now will disciple them, most probably through the Abundant Life Bible study and ALPHA course as the decision that they have made for the Lord is only the first step.

Lindsey Morgan and Emily Walker have returned to Arica. They volunteered with us some two and a half years ago. Lindsey was part of the YWAM team and Emily is going to study in the university of Arica for the next six months. It was a strange sensation and very pleasing to see them both at our church again.

We give thanks to the Lord for his goodness, faithfulness and provision as we received a very generous gift that has helped pay the outstanding debts on our utilities for the church. The next step for the project is to connect water and electricity, finish the bathrooms (so that they actually work), draw the plans for the buildings, seek municipal permission and begin the initial brickwork phase. We also give thanks to the Lord because we no longer have to pay council tax on the property as it is excluded because it is a church. Before we had the services there we were paying a considerable amount of tax on the land.

Please pray as we continue the building of the church, both in the physical and spiritual sense. Pray for Godīs strategy to reach Arica with His word. Pray for the Peņa-Soto family as they recover from hosting the YWAM team.

Finally, drop us a line, itīs easy, just use the link below to leave a message on our message board or contact us via email from the email numbers below

Godīs richess blessings to you all,

In Christ

 

David, Gina, Wesley and Caleb

News from Arica  May 2005

Who despises the day of small things? Zec 4:10

We are now entering the cooler months of winter. It is never really cold here, but after you have been aclimatised you can sure notice the difference. At this time of year we are always greeted first thing in the morning by grey skys. Because of this you would swear that rain was imminent by these thick, menacing clouds that smother Arica. However it hardly ever rains in this city known as the "eterna primavera", the eternal spring.

The construction is still waiting for our arcitect to draw up the plans. We are waiting for municipal permission to continue with the building. Please keep this matter in your prayers.

We have been holding Wednesday night Bible studies now for a few months and it is encouraging to see a good size group developing. Basically this group is for all who have a hunger for the Word of God to learn more.

The ALPHA course has been well attended. Yhis ALPHA is basically for the youth that are presently attending church. Around ten youngs ones have been coming along to this course. Gina and myself are the oldest of the group, we feel a bit like mum and dad to them. The course has been a source of blessing to their lives. We hope and pray that they would firstly, understand the Gospel as explained in this course and secondly, live what they are learning.

 We have recently started a new ministry that hopes to feed people of little resourses that work in the street where the church is located washing cars. The idea is to eventually eat on the premises with them, communicating the Gospel both with our actions and our words. The verse that God gave a team member to confirm this ministry is For we are labourers together with God - 1 Corinthians 3:9. We are starting very small with a few pack lunches delivered each Wednesday, but as we are faithful to what God is calling us to do He will guide us and grant us the increase of this ministry.

We recieved a special visitor before a church service in April. The recently appointed Bishop of the catholic church, in Arica called in to greet us. He is a very warm, humble and friendly individual. The location of our church is strategically placed being almost directly opposite the main catholic college.
We celebrated six baptisms after the service in the month of March, on Easter Sunday, a good day to be baptised! I braved the cold water of the humbolt current as we (Gerardo and I) baptised the candidates between waves. Later we all returned to have lunch together on the church property.
 
Who despises the day of small things? - Zec 4:10. This is a word that the Lord has given us in the planting of this church. The feeding program, ALPHA, Bible studies, Sunday services, childrens ministry, ladies group all that we do is for the glory of God. All these ministry are small, but when God builds the house the labour is not in vain.

We ask you to remember in your prayers the building project, ministries and especially Elousia who is needing an hip operation to enable her to walk again.

God Bless you all,

 

David, Gina, Wesley and Caleb

Just returned from England  -   March 2006

We returned on the 3rd of March tired after all the travelling, but really glad to have made it home. We arrive in the middle of a heat wave with temperatures around 30 degrees Celius. Quite a change from the chilly weather we left behind. The one very positive note about the hot weather is that it makes good beach weather for the weekends!!

We were extremely blessed to visit most of our link churches and meet up with old friends whilst making some new friends. Our hope is that we will see some of you in Chile in the next few years.

We got off to a slow start communication wise as we were without internet for a week as we awaited the re-connection. Then to complicate the matter our computer needed a new power supply and mother board. Thankfully all is now well with the computer.

The first few weeks have been very pastoral in a literal sense. We have had to go rounding up the sheep!! But this is usual pratice once we have been away for several months. Guillermo who we left in charge did a good job in our absence and most were enthusiastic about his ministry. He will now go back to Santiago to work in a curch plant where La Trinidad has just started another congregation. They have had the luxury of starting this church with a "team" of 150 people.

Just to update you on one very important issue, we shared with many of you about Ricoberto and Yasna how she was experiencing complications in her pregnancy. It is sad to report that both twins died, as you may remember they were siamese twins, who shared one heart. Through this  suffering in their lives they have managed to draw closer to God and strengthen their faith. Please continue praying for Godīs healing in their family.

We still need to press on with the permission from the municipality for the church building. At present we are waiting on an engineer to complete his calculations for the plans. Then we can submit the plans to the council. This guy is extremely busy as he is the only one in Arica who can do this job.

 

Prayer requests

faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains - Matthew 17.20

We ask you to remember in your prayers the building project and the engineer responsible for the calculations of the building, Efrain.

Please pray for Emily Gomez who has just returned from England after spending a life changing year at Ashburnham Place, near Battle. She now speaks english and has recently taken up work in two schools (in Tacna, Peru) teaching English. Her desire is to work with young ones and she has offered to help us. Emily is an example of what committment to God should be. Every Sunday she leaves Tacna, Peru at 5am so that she can arrive on time for the church service, starting 11am. Can anyone ever have an excuse to be late again?

Please pray for Guillermo Martinez and his continued ministry in Santiago.

Answered prayer. Give thanks because Elousia who needed an hip operation is now able to walk again without any pain or the use of walking sticks.

NEWS JUST IN  22nd March

Arica has been affected by the tragic deaths of 12 Americans. This happened on the 22nd of March. Please pray for the familes of the ones who died. They were all from a community of Jews in the USA. They were returning from a visit to the Lake Chungara when their bus went over the side of the mountain and plunged some 260 yards. Four people survived, the driver, tour guide and two tourists.

 

God Bless you all,

 

David, Gina, Wesley and Caleb

June July 2006

Now that our time in England seems long behind us we are settling down into the work of the Lord here in Arica. We have been very blessed and have seen the Lord working mightily in our midst.

We were blessed to finally solve the problem of the engineer / architect to make the calculations for the church Building. The other engineer who we had hired to perform this function never completed his word with us and continually for months evaded us. This had the affect of delaying the continuing of the construction. The process now is to submit the plans in the next month, receive building permission from the municipality and start building with the limited finances that we have.

 

Firmes y Adelantes -   July 2006

These spanish words best describe what is happening here in San Andrés. The words mean standing firm and moving forward. We have been tremendously blessed in many areas.

Firstly, a young couple from YWAM arrived to start a base here in Arica. They have been a tremendous encouragement to us and the church. In the month of July we will receive a group from YWAM to help us with some small jobs on the property and evangelism. Because of their involvement we were able to meet a visiting Pastor from Spain who ministered with us one Sunday. During this service a few people received the Lord.

A few weeks ago a christian couple arrived to attend our small but growing church family. Juan, Catherine and their baby Lucia are very interested in helping in the area of youth ministry. We have prayed for a long time to have someone work in this area, so you can imagine our delight when they told us of their desires.

On the last Sunday of the month we have initiated a family service. Following this service we share a meal together in the church. This as so far proven a wonderful way to bring unity and help everyone know one another better. Yes, the food is good too!

Last month in Chile the high school students took over the schools because of the declining standards and problems in the education system here. Thankfully our school was only momentarily effected for the odd day. The strike by students lasted for two weeks and at the end none of their demands have actually been met.

Wesley and Caleb are doing well in school. They are both playing golf for their school sports. They both do quite well. Hard to believe that in the desert there is a golf course. Well itīs hardly what you would expect from a golf course nice lush green fairways etc. Imagine the fairways being brown and the greens black.

We thank the Lord for His faithfulness. We see the Lord moving in many areas of the church and we have the belief that this is the beginning of greater blessings to come.

Prayer requests

faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains - Matthew 17.20

Pray for Juan and Katherine who will be heading up our youth work.

Pray for the building project to advance and for God to provide the right person for the actual construction.

Please pray for the diocese in their decisions to ordain men from the USA. That God would give us wisdom in this situation.

Continue praying for Christian and Solange who were involved in the tragic accident where the 12 tourists died. Pray that they would come to know the Lord through this tragic accident.

 

God Bless you all,

 

David, Gina, Wesley and Caleb

davidhucker1@yahoo.com  dhuckerr@yahoo.com

 

Newsletter December 2006

This is a busy time of year for everyone here in Chile as we get ready to close the school year and 2006 itself. It is a time of  parties and many activities !!.

Do you often wonder where the time goes? It seems that each year is becomes shorter (maybe thats because I am getting older!!) Or perhaps it is because Christmas seems to be upon us earlier each year. I couldnt help but wonder why in the supermarkets here in Arica, at the beginning of November the Christmas tunes were in full operation and the decorations were already up. 

This does seem to detract from the true meaning of Christmas as the stores promote it only as a time to buy.

This year we have made progress, but, not as quickly as we would have liked. When one prays and asks the Lord to give more patience one must expect that situations will arrive in our lives to test us in this very area (sounds familiar!!).

 We are still at the same stage as far as the building project goes. We are still praising the Lord in the big shed,  and still waiting for the arcitect to finish his work. When he finishes his work only then can we ask permission from the municipality to be able to start building. We realise that many of you have been under the impression that we have already started to build, but we are still at the same stage as last year.

To answer your question that so many of you are asking about Davids ordination, unfortunately our Bishop Tito Zavala and the theological committee are not accepting Davids studies. David has finished his 1st year with St Johns and has almost finished his 2nd year with the University of Gloucestershire. The diocese is requiring that anyone interested in ordination to study Moore college material. David does not feel that this course is appropiate and that he shouldnt have to start all over again by studying the Moore college course. Added to this is the complication that we would have to leave Arica and upon completion of the Moore college material be assigned by the Bishop to another church in Chile.

The above means that once again we are faced with the problem of not being able to celebrate Holy communion on our property and waiting for clergy to come up from Santiago. Which is really not ideal, as the last time we had a visiting vicar was on May 05. Because of personal family problems our Bishops yearly visit was cancelled and put forward to August 2007.

We were truly blessed over the summer to receive three young, mature Christians from England to help us out for a few weeks. Simon, Melissa and Becky were an outstanding testimony to all of their faith in Jesus. They toiled hard doing some practical work, sanding down and undercoating the railings on the property. They were amazing in the street dramas that they performed even though their spanish was very limited. They used what they had to gloryfy God!! We do hope and pray that they may come back in the future!!

We were also blessed to recieve a team of YWAMers doing their outreach here in Arica, they worked practically on the property, with the youth and in the area of evangelism in the streets. They also worked with several local churches, and once again this brought unity for Arica!!

On a slightly sadder note, we are preparing to say goodbye to a dear friend as she leaves Arica. She is going to live with her family in the south of Chile. Gladys Hulse has lived here for some 51 years. As her name suggests Gladys was born to English parents in Argentina. She has been a mother and grandmother to our children and a pillar in the church. She will be greatly missed not only by us but by all her friends here in Arica.

We have been greatly encouraged  and refreshed this year by one of the main churches here in Arica. They  invite pastors from different churches to participate in prayer breakfasts, where visiting pastors usually from outside of Chile come and minister. Recently a group came from the USA and Mexico. We were refreshed by Gods ministry through them,  we attended most nights that they were ministering and teaching. One particular night the visiting pastor (who originated from Northern Ireland) asked me to pray for the sick with him. I (David) was overwhelmed by the sea of people who came forward to receive healing, they just wanted a fresh touch from God. This ministry is bringing unity with an anointing from the Lord and through it our congregations are growing stronger and very much united.

Yamil and Milena  are YWAMers, who have moved to Arica to start a base here, They are helping us in the area of preaching, teaching, and childrens ministry. They are a blessing to us and to other local churches. If you are interested in doing a DTS think about Arica !!!!

Wesley and Caleb are both growing tall. Caleb especially has grown significantly this year, much to his delight. They both continually do well at school and enjoy growing up here in Chile. They are looking forward to the school holidays where they will be off school for some two and a half months.

PRAYER requests...

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective - James 5.16

please pray for,

a) the unity between the denominations.

b) the solution to be able to recieve Holy communion

c) the Wednesday night service to grow and develop

d) the ladies group that is at the moment stagnent.

e) the Alpha course that we want to start over the holidays.

f) Juan - Cati starting the new youth group.

g) the start of building our church, and funds still needed

h) the YWAM base for students and staff needed

i) the congregation to grow spiritually and numerically

j) SAMS who are going through many changes, for link missionaries who now have to raise 100% of their financial support (we personally are at  30%). As always pray for John Sutton the general secratery and all who support SAMS financially phisically and spiritually.

God Bless

David, Gina, Wesley amd Caleb

.
EMAIL US ON THE FOLLOWING ADDRESSES;
 
 

Stop Press
We will be home in England from the 15th of December to th 8th of March (approx. dates). Please contact us if you would like us to visit with you (apart from the Church visits already arranged).