The Sheaffers - Church Planting in Uruguay

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.

Kasey and Kelly Sheaffer - congratulations!

Rachel...ready for the wedding.

Kasey and his best man Matt.

....going to the chapel...and...going to get married...

Ready for the wedding!

Rachel...definitely the cutest grandbaby in the world!

Kasey shows us one of his projects.

Happy to be with "Nana" and "Baba"...Baba is short for Abuelo

Fun in the sun.

Aaron, Kristin and Rachel.

Family Vacation

International World Changers Comes To Uruguay

The week of June 14-21 was an exciting one here in Montevideo, Uruguay. Fifty four high school and college students, including their leaders, arrived to do the first International World Changers project in Uruguay. It was a huge endeavor but they were definitely up for the challenge.

Throughout the week the students were divided into six separate teams. Each team worked in a specific area in Montevideo. During the morning, every group participated in the GAP project. Part of their work involved prayer walking a specific neighborhood, where they later distributed gospels of John. Working together, the teams were able to distribute over 5000 gospels. In the afternoons, each team worked on a ministry project. These teams were able to minister through a specific project determined by their giftedness. During the week they led children’s clubs, performed a street drama “The Redeemer”, put a new roof on a nursing home in the city, and built tables and benches for a sports club in the Old City. The days were long and hard, but the students were dedicated to the task at hand.

Another highlight of the week was a coffee house that the group hosted on Thursday and Friday night. They distributed invitations throughout the week and had over 70 in attendance for the event. During these two nights, they were able to see two people pray to receive Christ. The team also made some good contacts as a result of the people they met there, and several have expressed interest in being part of a small group.

We want to say a big “thank you” to all those who sacrificed to come and were willing to spend a week of their summer working with us in Montevideo. We also especially want to thank our other IMB missionaries who gave their time to be part of this week. International World Changers was a huge project to take on and we never could have hosted it without your help.

Here is another web page with information about IWC in Uruguay - www.iwcuruguay.blogspot.com

IWC 2008 Uruguay Pictues (click to enlarge)

Sunday Worship with the local church.

Carrying the Gospel to the people of Montevideo.

Nursing home ministry.

Exactly what is Kaitlyn's job here?

The Redeemer Drama in the coffee house.

Sport's Club - reaching to the children of the Old City.

Touching lives of all ages.

Kid's Club on the Rambla.

Taking the Gospel to the streets.

A captive audience...listening to the Gospel!

Post, Texas Returns!

We were so thankful to have a group from First Baptist Church, Post Texas, return to Montevideo last week. This same group came last June to work with GAP in the Old City. This year, they worked with the same church group, doing GAP in the Prado neighborhood of Montevideo. It was a tremendous blessing for the two churches to be reunited and work alongside one another again.

This was the first time for GAP in this particular area of the city. It was a new experience but the group was definitely up for the challenge. Many of the youth from our Amor church group helped throughout the week. It was amazing to see God at work as the groups served together, in spite the grief and hurt both groups were experiencing. For the youth here, it was a huge part of the healing process as they began to minister again after two very hard weeks following Pablo’s death. The Post team was such a wonderful encouragement and strength to the entire church body. God’s timing was perfect in bringing “old friends” at a time that they were needed the most.

Throughout the week, the team distributed more than 2000 gospels of John. They worked long days without complaining. We definitely saw God answering their prayers as the people of the neighborhood were receptive and open. During the week, one of the team members, Wendell, was able to share his faith with a man he met on the street. The man prayed to receive Christ on the spot.

At the end of the week, the team hosted an evangelistic film at a private school in the neighborhood. There were 25 new people who attended, as well as many youth from the church and some of their friends. At the end of the film, 4 people prayed to receive Christ as their Savior.

On Sunday morning, before the Texas team headed home, they attended a worship service with the Amor church group. It was exciting to see two of the people who had attended the film, return for the church service. During that service, one of those people (a 16 year old girl) also prayed to receive Christ. The biggest blessing for us personally was to see Pablo’s younger brother, as well as Sadia’s mom receive Christ during that service. God is definitely at work and we can see His hand even in the midst of suffering.

We want to say “thank you” again to our friends from Post, Texas, for your hard work and the tremendous encouragement you were to all of us in Montevideo. God knew exactly what was needed here and we are thankful for your willingness to allow Him to use you to bless others.