Pittman Family Update - Spring/Summer of 2008

Dear Praying Friends,

It has been a busy spring already and we are heading into another full summer of travel throughout the Americas. We wanted to send along an update on our ministry and travels, and let you know some specific ways in which you can continue to partner with us by way of prayer!

On the road in Latin America, Chile! ……HORSE anyone?

In April, I experienced TWO "firsts" in my life: A trip to Chile and eating horse! The purpose of the trip was to visit and encourage UWM’s church planting team serving among the Mapuche people. This was the realization of a desire I have had for many years, almost since we first arrived in neighboring Bolivia in 1995. The second "first" was a meal of horse….yes, HORSE….the Mapuche's eat a LOT of it. When I heard that I was to experience what Flicka or Black Beauty would taste like, I was skeptical….thought I'd just pass. After all, after eating guinea pig and llama, what else is there, right? Well, horse is delicious…….and goes very well with mashed potatoes!

From the very beginning of my visit to Chile with our UWM missionaries based in Temuco, the Jacobsons and the Lynches, I was struck by the incredible beauty of Chile's volcanoes and snowcapped mountains, and its sparkling Pacific shore. As the days went by and I was introduced to Mapuche Christians, I was amazed at how many parallels there are between the Quechuas of Bolivia and the Mapuches. Both are animistic in their indigenous religion, and practice a very syncretistic form of Christianity and paganism. Like animistic peoples all around the world, Mapuches spend their lives trying to appease various spirits to prevent bad things from happen ing to them. How incredibly sad it is to think one has to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, sacrificing various things to various spirits, just to survive here in this world. This makes me ever more thankful for the truth of the Gospel, that Christ made the once and for all sacrifice for all of us. Done. Finished. Praise the Lord!

A Mapuche sister-in-the-Lord making our lunch!	Paul “taming the volcano” La Llaima	UWM’s Mapuche Church Planting Team

Mapuches occupy the very lowest level on the Chilean social scale. Alcoholism among the Mapuche is the very HIGHEST in the world! These are two more strong parallels they have with the Quechuas of Bolivia. The Mapuches struggle with high rates of illiteracy, poor health and sanitary conditions and extreme poverty. Combine this difficult existence with social prejudices and you have a Chilean church which is not even in agreement that Mapuches merit being ministered to. All present real obstacles to ministry among these warm and friendly people. I was honored to sit among them and worship with them. I was humbled to share meals with them when they have so little. I am more than convinced that the tough task of language and culture acquisition, enduring harsh weather, and living with ever-in creasing prices which our UWM colleagues are faced with ARE ALL WORTH IT!

I am always amazed at what a calling to service in the faraway reaches of the earth can enable God's people to accomplish. The Lynches and the Jacobsons have their work cut out for them. But they also are convinced of God having called them to serve the Mapuche people. THAT is the great "equalizer"! I look forward to my next visit to see what God does through them. Please pray for my UWM colleagues in Chile: Jerry and Jan Jacobson, Chad and Ruthann Lynch and their children Marcus, Brandon and Anna.

SUMMER travel schedule………

We hit the road again soon. The first trip (for Paul) will be to Ohio for the annual Cuba Partnership Summit meetings (Charlotte NC & Dayton OH; 5/25-5/31). God is doing wonderful things in Cuba. The ministry there is growing well and soon we will see the newest Cuban missionary couple, Yusvani and his wife Kenia, fielded to Las Tunas province. This is a brand new work and adopted province for the partnership. Pray for Yusvani and his family as their task will be to plant a house church, and mission base, and from there train and send out church planters to saturate that province with New Testament churches and cell groups.

On June 12, the Pittmans head to the U.S. and from there, on to Bolivia. We will be gone from our home in Costa Rica for 6 weeks. We will be traveling in FL, NC, SC visiting supporting churches, friends and family from June 12th to July 3rd. Paul will be participating in UWM’s Candidate Orientation (June 21 – 24) in Charlotte. On 3 July we fly to Bolivia. We will be leading two short term mission teams to Sucre for construction and child evangelism among the Quechua. We praise God for another opportunity to re-connect and minister with Quechua brothers and sisters we worked with for so many years in the highlands of Bolivia (3-31 July). Paul will also be meeting with the new leadership of M.U.M. (UWM/Bolivia) before our return to Miami.

Soon after returning from Bolivia, Paul is off to Cuba (3-10 August) with a team from home church Calvary Chapel/St Petersburg. Please pray for the team as they minister to Mision Mundial en Cuba’s annual Family Camp and to married couples in the Cuban church with praise and worship and teaching on Habakkuk 3:2.

Returning from Cuba, we have another trip planned to Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic to visit and encourage UWM colleagues, Rick and Becky Mackey and their two children, Ben and Elena. This time, we are excited to share that we will be traveling as a family, ministering TOGETHER in that new field for United World Mission. We find that we have a lot in common with the Mackeys as Ben and Elena are near the same age as Sam and Sarah and are adopted (Colombia) as well! We will be in the DR in mid-September for a week. We praise God for opportunities to minister together as a family!

From 16-25 October, Paul is back to Cuba with another team for construction at our Las Palmas Training and Conference Center west of Havana. Pray for God to continue to bless the work in Cuba.

WEDDING bells in Costa Rica…..

On August 2nd, we rejoice to announce the wedding of Costa Rica team mate, Vikki DelosSantos, as she will marry Nelson Maya a brother in the Lord and pastor from Colombia. Vikki and Nelson met while ministering here in San Jose at the Amistad Church. Soon after the wedding, Vikki will give up her teaching ministry at ESEPA seminary and she and Nelson will relocate to Colombia where Nelson will b egin the process of visa application for traveling to the U.S. and Nelson’s application for career service with United World Mission. Congratulations, Vikki and Nelson!

HOMESCHOOLING update…..Mommy wearing lots of hats….wife, mom, missionary, ESL teacher, and HOME SCHOOL TEACHER!

Many of you know that the end of January, after returning from visiting brother Doug during his battle with colon cancer, we decided to accelerate our decision to homeschool Sam and Sarah. This had not been our original plan, but as the school year progressed we noticed some issues developing with Sarah which indicated she needed extra attention. She was gradually falling behind in her school work and was having lots of problems with phonics and math, and staying focused on her work. Having discussed the problem with a couple of professionals, we are sure Sarah has some problems with auditory integration and has a very “hands-on, tactile learning style. While this is not an uncommon problem, it can be aggravated by large class sizes, bi-lingual environment, and noisy classrooms. &nb sp;Sam and Sarah’s 2nd grade class at the missionary school had 27 children and only one teacher for many of the core courses. About a third of the students were Costa Rican, so a lot of Spanish was mixed in with the daily seat work. The obvious occurred and we decided that we could best teach to her unique needs at home. We appreciate your prayers for God to honor this decision and provide all the patience and skill Dori (and I) will need as we complete Sam and Sarah’s 2nd grade curriculum and begin 3rd grade in the fall.

Already, we are seeing some very positive signs! We switched Sarah to a manipulative mathematics curriculum called Math-U-See and she is doing wonderfully. One very positive benefit of homeschooling is that we are able to flex the class schedule as needed and travel as a family in ministry occasionally. We are also able to minister together every Thursday in Barrio Los Guido teaching ESL as an evangelistic outreach. Sam and Sarah are now “kid missionaries” as opposed to missionary kids! They go along with us and help minister to the children who come along with their parents to study English. Did you know that having English skills opens many, many doors here in Costa Rica for better, higher paying jobs?&nb sp; We praise God for this opportunity to serve His people in this way! This is a GREAT way to demonstrate God’s love for us by ministering to both SPIRITUAL and FELT needs at the same time!

We also have a Spanish tutor coming twice a week and Sam and Sarah are rapidly improving their Spanish skills. Also, both are involved in group activities in sports and field trips with other homeschoolers and with Costa Rican friends.

MUCHAS GRACIAS……

We want to thank you all for your faithful support through prayer, encouragement and sacrificial giving! For most of the past twelve months, we have seen a steady decline in the strength of the U.S. dollar, which translates into less-buying power here and higher prices for almost everything. We are aware of these same pressures back in the states, because of higher fuel costs and a slowing economy. This makes us even MORE appreciative of you as partners in ministry! And we pray for you often. Recently, we heard of Nicaraguans eating only white bread for many meals, having given up rice and beans which is a staple throughout much of Central America. We have seen gasoline soar to over $8.00 a gallon in Uruguay. We are so thankful to serve a God who loves and cares for us, in spite of difficult circumstances! And we are thankful for YOU!

Blessings to you this day! Your missionaries to Latin America,

Paul, Dori, Samuel and Sarah