Back to Cuba

Wednesday we are off again. Yup, back to Cuba for 5 days. My fifth visit there, Laura’s second.

Thanks to God for  His great provision of a marvelous caregiver Jaqueline to be with Crista. Seems like His Stamp of Approval on this trip. Boy, do I delight on having Laura with me on trips like these!

Once again we will meet with Coba and Conchi. They are skilled disciplemakers and range this grand island to and fro meeting with disciples they have raised up, speaking, tending to the flock God has given them over the years. Pastors to pastors, they row through rough waters, help hard-working families stressed to the breaking point,  stickhandle through government regulations and limitations all the while making disciples. With constancy!

This is an important trip for us. Our director of the Caribbean Navigator ministry, Joe Maschoff will be with us. We want Joe to meet Coba and Conchi and get a feel for who they are. Face to face, heart to heart, with the Spirit of God bearing witness as to what He would want us to do into the future. Pray for open hearts to His leading as we meet together!

Would you please pray for us? With each trip to Cuba we feel a palpable presence of the Spirit of God and a solid does of spiritual opposition. The Spirit wins, every time. Hands down thanks to your prayers for us.

Please pray for the following:

      A deep and discernable sense of God’s leading.

      Unfurling of what He would want us to do together with Coba and Conchi, along with Joe’s direction and insights into the future.

      The Light of the Gospel to go far beyond any darkness we would encounter

      Strengthening the Hearts and Hands of this fine couple!

      For Crista’s anxiety to be minimized and real confidence for her to have in Jaquelin.

On another note, Laura sent a powerful letter to many of you about our family tragedy with the loss of our nephew Christopher in the prime of his life, living for the Gospel, loving his wife, cherishing the opportunities to bless others such as Friday French Toast and Tuesday Toasted Cheese at his workplace of truck repairs. To update you, the family is doing far better than can be expected. Like the American Bison facing an overwhelming Alberta Clipper, they have rallied together to face their storm shoulder to shoulder and are moving forward. As does the Gospel. Through thick and thin, tragedy and victory.

Bi-Focal Mission

Mission. It has an essential bi-focal aspect to it.

I remember my Grandmother Augustine darning socks in front of the farmhouse window as it looks south towards the barn and on to Lake Erie, about a half kilometer away. She sat there by the big window so she could see better as the gentle winter sunlight shone through. I loved watching her and chatting with her as her fingers went about their business. I loved watching her eyes flit from the bottom part of her glasses as she worked, then to the top when she looked over at me.

We wear bi-focals in our missions work. If we become energized about a house-build in South America with Habitat for Humanity, or plunge ourselves into a cultural and language change, I am able to sustain this energy if I have been looking closely at the mission right in front of me.

This afternoon, we will visit a funeral home. Our neighbours across the street from us will be hosting a visitation to honour a mother's life. We were last there a short 4 weeks ago when they lost a father. We walk with them.

And now my dear friend Amador, my best Chilean friend, is in the last days of his life. His cancer has spread to his brain and lungs. He has lost consciousness and is on a respirator. Despite a 6,000 kilometers gap, it's as real to us as our friends across the street. 

It may seem rather schizophrenic, but our spiritual eyes flit back and forth. We long for the full redemption of humankind and creation! We trust God that the Gospel is having its effect, both in Crestly Place, London ON as well as in Santiago, Chile. We cannot do this without our spiritual eyes seeing with bi-focals.

Nothing was going right in a wonderful way!

Nothing was going right! We had identified our next trip as somewhat urgent. Our mission was to continue our contact with our friends in Cuba and continue to explore what it might look like for us to work together. No small challenge in the constantly changing and turbulent social and spiritual landscape!

We recruited significant prayer from wherever we could. I tried out something new too. With each personal request for prayer, if people said yes, then I asked if they could pray for me right then and there for 15 seconds. It was wonderful! Nobody held themselves to 15 seconds! And as they prayed I felt the kind pleasure and confidence of God! Wonderful, yes, as I had become anxious and doubtful that I had heard Him right when we concluded we needed to go!

It was indeed a wonderful trip! Great personal and spiritual connections. We comprehended in an ever-deepening way the complexities our friends in Cuba work under. We sensed their rock-ribbed faith and engaged them in worship, intercession and spiritual warfare, all fused together with joy, respect and honour.

Laura and I returned with a deepened sense of His Leadership and look forward to how things will continue to unfold.

The Kingdom of God moves forward and it is thrilling to do our best to keep up!

To Cuba and Back

Folks, we’re back from Cuba and so glad we went!

 

We had 5 great days with Coba and Conchi and saw God do far more than we had hoped or even dreamed of.

 

This with the backdrop of so much uphill and challenge in getting this trip together, (we asked a number of you personally for specific prayer beforehand) it seems like a dream come true!

 

We longed that the following would happen:

1. Refreshing of our relationship with this fine couple
2. Confirming their abilities, interest and giftings for our Navigator Ministry
3. Deepening of our understanding of their life-reality
4. Strengthening their sense of emotional, ministry and financial support in a very demanding reality.

 

Our specific outcomes?

1. Much-deepened and confirmed working relationship
2. Strengthened capacities on their end of the equation
3. Increased intentions to move ahead in exploring our work together
4. The strong possibility of a conference on Servant Leadership on-site in mid-April

 

One specific prayer request for them: Pray that they would continue to live lives of honour, integrity and fruitfulness in the midst of a society that is currently very demanding financially, socially and practically!

 

We count it a privilege and honour to have been in their humble home and have them serve us in the way that they did!

 

So thanks for your prayers. If you are able to keep this before you and our Great God for the next two weeks that would be wonderful! One idea is to print this report and keep it in your Bible as a book mark to remind you pray when you have your  personal and individual Quiet Time with the Creator of the Universe!

 

Grateful for each one of you,

Irv, for Laura too.

 

Irving (Irv) Augustine

Missions Director

519-660-8300 x230

Fax 519-660-4922

Irva@navigators.ca   www.navigators.ca

 

 

Mailing Address: Box 27070, London ON N5X 3X5

Courier and physical address: 11 St Johns Dr. London ON N0M 1C0

 

 

 

Take the roads less travelled!

We have met for 6 out of 8 weeks now on our course on mission. We are talking about having bifocal vision: mission before me and mission around the globe. Great participation and engagement!

Acts 1:8 has been a surprisingly important verse for us!

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

We are empowered by the Spirit of God. A big part of mission is determining what God is up to in a particular situation and collaborating with what He has already initiated. Walking with the Spirit allows us to discern this and focus on the right thing.

As we do this we can minister effectively into our Jerusalem: our natural place of living, working and re-creating. Also included are our extended families, workplaces, places of play and our neighbourhoods.

Then we can move towards our Judea! Judeans could relate well to Jerusalemites and vice versa! They were similar in how they lived life, the foods they ate, the religious ceremonies they participated in and how they raised their kids. Missional, yes.

Once we have entered into missional connections with our Judean sisters and brothers, we are called to connect with our Samaritans. They live apart from you. Their values are different. They are looked down on by many of your friends. It's tough to understand the priorities they live by and what they give their time, money and attention to. They smell different, their religious customs are distinct and they are tough to stomach. Even their food is different! They even throw pork on their BBQs, if you can imagine!

Well-connected with Samaritans? Then go for the globe! You have travelled the essential roads leading you to effective cross-cultural mission! And I want to talk with you!

Incidental, Accidental, Manipulational and Frustrational are all Avoidable! By being Intentional and Generational!

Generations. I am thinking about generations almost constantly. I recently finished reading Genesis this morning. Generation after generation after generation are generated in Genesis. God is the great Generator!*

Some big lessons from reading Genesis. There is a lot of incidental, accidental, manipulational and frustrational generational reporting. But God ensures that all of His promises will come true whether we are willing to cooperate and collaborate together with Him or not!

One great example is Joseph. He has a couple of dreams as a young person. Unwisely, he chats up his dreams and what they might mean, and garners the ill-will of his brothers. Look at this from Genesis 37 and his first dream:

5 ¶  Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.
6  He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had:
7  We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."
8  His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

And his second:

9  Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."
10  When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?"
11  His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Joseph ends up sold as a slave, imprisoned for what seemed a life sentence for false attempted rape charges. He was wasting away in prison due to the poor memory of a butler, but eventually finds himself finally realizing the fulfilment of his dreams.

What's my point in all of this? We are called to mission. To exchange our lives for others! To realize the dream of spiritual (and many add physical) generations of labourers until Jesus comes again!

Do generations the right way! Make sure you mix in the key ingredients of:

• Humility
• Love
• Trust
• Obedience
• Generosity.

Focus on all of these and avoid imprisonment, well-tossing, slave trading (where you are the slave!) and the criticism, abuse and conflict with those you should be loving the best!

Irv.
Missions Director

* Yes, we are indeed expecting to become grandparents! How did you guess?? :)

Still At It After 43 Years!

43 years and still at it, still growing, still going and still advancing!!

They were amazed as they watched. Paul got up, went over to the Communist Party Students table, and engaged them in a conversation about the Gospel! Once their disbelief began to fade, their line of thought went something like,

"He must really believe in order to do this! We’re going to pay attention to what he has to say to us when he is finished with them!" And they did. All this started in 1972.

Matti and Marja (pronounced Ma-ree-ya) paid great attention to what Paul and Helen Lappala had to say. And have been making disciples ever since, and are still at it! 43 years later, 4 children, several grandchildren, two countries, numerous hours of Bible Study, and many mountains moved by prayer later.

Laura and I just returned from spending two weeks in Helsinki Finland with Matti and Marja Leisola to celebrate our 35th year of marriage together, as well as celebrate the seminal work Laura's parents carried out in establishing the Finnish Navigator Work 1970 to 1974

Matti and Marja had just believed in early 1972. They gave their lives to Christ and asked God to send someone to help them. He did! Paul and Helen met them at the Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto www.aalto.fi) and began their discipling relationship. 

The Leisola’s have been living and discipling among the many people God has given them over the past 43 years. In Finland Matti obtained his doctorate and went on to lead his research team at the Swiss University of Technology from 1981 – 1988. In that context they led many to Christ, one couple being from Mexico who lived next door to Navigators in Mexico City!

They returned to Helsikini and worked in industry from 1991 to 1997 in his area of specialty of sugars, proteins and enzymes and effectively shared his faith there.

Matti then returned to the Helsinki University of Technology as a professor and finished his career there as Dean of Biochemical Technology and Engineering, now known as the School of Chemical Technology. And once again, he shared his faith, made disciples, and lived and discipled among the people in this context he knew so well.

Matti has become a world leader in the area of Intelligent Design, of clearly seeing how God has authored creation and the impossibility of evolution explaining and articulating the origin of living organisms, let alone the wonder and power of the Human Beings, created in the Image of God, designed to steward creation in such a way as to give glory to Him! (If you want to dig more on your own, check out this link:         ^{http://vixra.org/abs/1504.0130}

So, yes, 43 years later and here they are, still Advancing the Gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom, Into the Nations, through Spiritual Generations of Labourers, Living and Discipling Among All People!