10 Baptized at Evangelistic Meetings (July 16-24 Work Team) A combined team from three churches worked with us from July 16-24. The team was comprised of 25 people from Center Pointe Christian Church, Hamilton, OH (Barry Shelley, leader);  4 people from Lakeside Christian Church, Lakeside Park, KY (Dale Schaber, leader); and 3 people from North Terrace Church of Christ, Zanesville, OH (Dick Brown, leader). The group conducted a Vacation Bible School with over 400 children in attendance. The team also had a siginicatnt role in Old Harbour’s “week-long” evangelistic meetings. Shawn Spradling (Center Pointe minister), preached for the services. Justin Mosteller (Center Pointe worship leader) and Craig Crynes (Lakeside worship leader), led in worship and praise times. The services were a beautiful blend of both Jamaican and American styles of preaching and praise. It was an exciting week as ten people were baptized and there were several rededications. The team was a tremendous blessing and their hard work was truly appreciated.

Meet Dianca Dianca (pictured with Dennis and Mary) is one of the 13 people from Old Harbour who have been baptized this year. She is the oldest child of parents who became Christians just a couple years ago at Old Harbour. Dianca was baptized at Church Camp in July.

Summer Intern  We are thankful for Todd Rhinehart who conducted a summer internship with us. Todd is from the North Terrace Church of Christ in Zanesville, OH, and he is a college student at  Ohio University. Todd has been with us before on a mission trip and he was a blessing and a joy to work with this summer.

Spanish Town Church Plant We are in the beginning stages of working toward a new church plant in the Angels section of Spanish Town. The first prayer journey (prayer circle pictured) for this church plant was held on July 22. We prayed for the community to be receptive to the Gospel, for God to lead us to the location for the church site, for Jacen and Amanda Hendricks and family who are mission recruits to help with the church plant, and for Herko Family Mission’s role in the start of this new church. We need churches and individuals who will commit to help us in this new endeavor.

Her Heart is Better Now
-Thank you everyone for joining us by being a support to Leo and his mom! From what we hear Leo’s mother is doing much better, her surgery recovery went better than could be expected. She was off work for quite some time, but Leo and his younger brothers loved having her home and she was able to do some painting. Leo was impressed that so many were praying for him and his mom. We give praise to God for His healing and presence.

Meet The Team
-We are pleased to officially introduce the newest team member to Urban Action, John Laffoon! John arrived 2 weeks ago and will be with us for a 3 year term. He is the Director of Spiritual Formation. We are blessed and excited to have him here and ask for your prayers as he settles, learns and works. If you’d like to receive his update, let us know.
-Also we have our first Chilean team member! Daniela Ramos, Habacuc’s cousin, has joined with UA part-time. She is a university student and will be using what she’s learning to help UA look into grants and possible ngo status here in Chile. She’ll also be working with Liz in researching into the future of a skate shop.

Sex Talk with a Skater Girl
-In the past 2 months God has been working in some interesting and unexpected ways. We (Habacuc and Liz both) have been asked several times by several skaters about relationships, specifically about sex. Liz talked with a girl about her relationship with her boyfriend, and what it meant to being have sex. Liz had peace about her part in the conversation and God’s part in the conversation. While these conversations have surprised us, we are welcoming them, doing our part and allowing God to do His.

Rebel 101!
-Last week Habacuc and John went to observe a student protest by the skate park. They went semi-prepared, and came back feeling VERY sick. Being John’s first time in tear gas, we wanted to share a few pointers with you all in ‘how to go to a protest properly prepared.’
1. Take a scarf. Which you will use to wrap tightly around your head, covering your nose and mouth, leaving your eyes uncovered.
2. Wear sensible shoes and be prepared to run.
3. Bring lemons. Once you’ve been in the tear gas, suck on the lemon, it helps.
-Protesting is deeply rooted in the culture of Chile. We’ve seen several. We’ve gone through tear gas several times. Even the kids have been through tear gas. It doesn’t make the country dangerous, adventurous yes, dangerous no. But it does give insight and opens our eyes to a deeper need of the people, of these student who are protesting. So many are angry and bitter, and they don’t know what to do with those feelings, how to express them. Even Christian students struggle to know what to do, what God wants from them. Please be in prayer for the students and the leaders as protesting continues, and communication continues to be a struggle.

You Skate Like a Girl!
-This month has seen the formation and launch of ‘The Girl Skate Crew’. Urban Action had the privileged to be apart of the brainstorming and launching. God is so good! One of the joys and goals of UA is to be something that the youth can bounce their ideas off of, to encourage their ideas and help out where needed. Often we’ve waited and prayed for when the youth really start talking about an idea seriously and it’s hard to wait sometimes. But we do and the results are worth it! Tamara is the girl, the skater, who began The Girl Skate Crew. She’s smart, motivated and has great ideas, and the best part, she’s excited and passionate about it! Oh the great things God will do through this!

8 years old!
-Yael turned 8 years old in June. We had an indoor picnic with several friends and had a great time celebrating her 8 years!

Operation Muffin
-We also began Operation Muffin. As parents of little students we wanted to do something to encourage and show are appreciation our childrens’ teachers, so we invented Operation Muffin, where we take homemade muffins, coffee and tea to the kids’ teachers. We’ve already been to Matias’ and Tomas’ school, next month we head to Yael’s.

Praises
-We’ve stayed pretty healthy this winter and our 3^rd winter in a row is almost over!
-God continues to bring new partners to Urban Action
-The opportunities God has given us to connect with the youth

Pray for
-Upcoming school search for Matias and Tomas
-Daniel, he hurt his ankle skating, we don’t know if it’s broken yet.
-God’s wisdom to know when to speak and when not to speak.
-The UA team, as we learn to work and communicate together.

Herko Family Mission Turns “25″ (25th Anniversary Banquet was held on May 14th) On  March 21, 1986, Herko Family Mission was officially incorporated. (It was actually in the Fall of 1985 that Dennis and Mary began their fund raising efforts to move overseas to Jamaica.) On May 14th, Herko Family Mission celebrated this milestone with a banquet at Northeast Christian Church in Lexington, KY. So much has happened over the past 25 years that the Herkos could write a book about their work and their adventures. Aspects of the mission work were highlighted and an update on the future vision and direction for ministry in Jamaica was shared. Over the years, Dennis and Mary have worked with 19 churches. They have hosted 96 work teams, worked with orphanages and public schools, and they have built homes for needy people. Many have partnered with the Herko Family. The accomplishments that have happened are the result of lots of hard work, the faithfulness of many in prayer, encouragement, personal involvement,  financial support, and God’s blessing.

Catalyst Christian Church A team from Catalyst Christian Church in Nicholasville, KY, worked with us from February 26 – March 5. The team was led by John Kelley, who is the Worship Leader at Catalyst. The team built a sound booth for the Old Harbour Church. They installed a 16 channel snake (donated by Share the Sound Ministries), installed overhead speakers and a video projector, built sound baffles, painted, and built two carpet ball tables for the youth fellowship at Old Harbour. They also led in worship for the Sunday service and for a youth fellowship meeting. Additionally on the team was Paul Ross, Youth Minister at Catalyst, Adam Tipton (Catalyst member and Facility Manager at Blue Grass Christian Camp), and Angela Parker (whose husband, Chris, previously worked with us in Jamaica) from Hartford Christian Church in Hartford, KY. The team was a tremendous blessing and their hard work was truly appreciated.

Big House: Let us dream a little dream.
Habacuc is back at the park, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening. His first time back was awesome and reassuring. It had been 7 months since he’d last seen the concrete of Parque Bustamante and the youth who skate it. When he arrived all the kids of Busta Sur (the group he skates with) were so excited to have him back. They embraced him and kissed him on the cheek, as is custom in Chile. After skating for awhile, they sat down and started talking about our trip to the States, the people we met, the blessing that it was and what it meant for them.  And then the fun started. The Busta Sur crew started dreaming together.  Sharing what they saw for the future of Urban Action and their outreach center. They began taking ownership of it, designing ramps, laying out floor plans, what to have in the living room area, what art to put on the walls, events that they want to have.  Habacuc had the privilege of just sitting and listening, sharing in their excitement, encouraging their ideas, vision and passions. We don’t know everything that God has planned for us and for UA, but we are so excited to be dreaming and doing our part to follow God’s direction. But for sure, we love seeing God’s plans being expressed through the hearts of the youth that we work with. So dream and pray with us as Big House, the outreach center, comes together and God’s plan unfolds!

Pan: a Chilean experience
We’ve lived in three different areas of the community Ñuñoa, in Santiago since we arrived in Chile over 4 years ago. Each area has its own way of life, places to shop for daily needs, a park for the kids to play, the lady selling prepared salads by the fruit & veggie store and the old guys sitting outside the local “hole-in-the-wall” restaurant, chatting. Our fourth home is no different, it has its own park, schools, shopping area, and most importantly bread stores. Mmm… bread, the fruit of Chile. We call it “pan”, even when speaking in English, it just rolls off the tongue more naturally. For the past 4 weeks Liz has been visiting all our local bread stores, buying from each, discovering which ones we like. But it’s not just about buying the better taste, it’s about getting to know the shop keepers. Greeting them, asking how they are, quick funny banter, becoming a regular. There’s this one bread store, Liz has bought our pan for breakfast there every school morning for the past 2 weeks. They know her now, when she steps in, the shop keeper smiles at her and takes a guess to how many pieces of bread she wants. They chat for a quick 30 seconds, she pays already knowing the costs, she’s been so many times to this one place, leaves saying “Hasta Mañana!” We are becoming a part of the community, by this simple act of buying pan.

Eucalyptus: Strong Enough for our Kids
The two big things for the kids have been, 1. being back together again and learning to all play together again and, 2. new beds and mattresses! Oh what an exciting thing to have new beds, both for the kids and parents. The boys have big boy bunk beds, so they have plenty of space to stretch out, and what little boy doesn’t love having a high place to hang out on? Yael loves her new, much needed bedding and the space that her new room allows her. And best of all, for us parents, the beds are made out of eucalyptus, so we are both earth friendly and indestructible, very nice, especially with two rambunctious boys.

Pray with Us
-Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays, when Habacuc is at the park
-As the kids continue to adjust
-The youth, as they are challenged by the negative aspects of the skate scene
-Liz digs deeper into language learning
-Our continued work to becoming 100% funded, we are at 76%.

Praises
-the 20,000 miles of safe travels that God saw us through
-the kids are doing well in school, after a 6 month sabbatical
-the youth of Santiago, and all that God has planned for them

Celebrate!
This past month we celebrated several birthdays. Habacuc turned 31, and it’s hard to believe, but our little Valentine’s Baby Matias, is now 5. We were also blessed to celebrate Habacuc’s brother’s birthday and Liz’s grandmother’s 95^th birthday, with them.

2 Continents & Skype
Habacuc, Yael & Matias arrived home to Santiago on February 22^nd, after a safe & very long trip. They have been busy starting school and finding an apartment, but both have gone very well. This weekend they will be cleaning our new home to move into on Sunday! We miss each other, but talk often on skype, so that lessens the distance. Habacuc has seen and skated with our youth several times and it feels good to be back.

Together Again
We are now at about 75% of our needed monthly commitments. Liz & Tomas will be working for the next 6 weeks to reach 100%. They will be arriving to Chile on April 7^th and we will be together again. We look forward to celebrating 100% support together as a family!

Pray with us…
-that we reach 100% funded by April 7^th
-that our one-time-needs budget is met (we have 35% raised!)
-for continued safety while Liz travels
-for health & transition back to Chile
-and of course, for the youth of Santiago, Chile. (Specifically, for one of our youth, Manuel Espinoza, who got in some trouble a while back.)

We thank everyone for their generous gifts during the Give Challenge for the Million Meal Feast. We will be packing meals for Haiti and North Korea this weekend. We need your help to fill the shifts on Monday, Feb 28. Shifts are open 4-6 and 6-8pm.

800,000 meals have been packed for Haiti and North Korea through our efforts with LifeLine Christian Mission and area churches. We want to continue towards the goal of 1 Million meals so we are packing again.

Mark your calendars now for Sunday, February 27 – Tuesday, March 1. We have a goal of packing 100,000 meals or more during those three days.

It will take $15,000 dollars to buy the supplies for these meals. With the help of other churches, a large faith, and much prayer we can reach the goal.

Come to the Christmas Eve Potluck & Praise prepared to give an offering which will launch us towards this big goal. Our personal goal as a church is to raise $5000 towards this effort.

On Sunday, December 18th the Outreach team is going to serve dinner at the Ronald McDonald House. For the next three weeks we will be collecting items the house needs. You can drop these items off at the preschool drop-in area at church. Here is a link to the most up to date list: http://www.rmhclexington.com/RMHC_Lex_WishL…ist.pdf
Thanks in advance for your help!

HUMAN - Him, Us, Me, and Nations

This is the name of a new outreach team that has launched at Centerpointe. The purpose of this team will be to communicate to the body of Centerpointe outreach opportunties in the community and in our world. They will also be responsible for communicating with ministries that Centerpointe actively supports and giving updates in regards to current prayer and other needs. Please be patient as we get both the blog and facebook site launched. We plan to have links on the www.mycpointe.com site soon.