Phillips Woody Nelda 1976 Chile

8/18/2019 Phillips Woody Nelda 1976 Chile

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CHILEAN

CHALLENGE

A P R . 51976

2555 Meridian Avenue

San

ose, Ca. 95124

Woody& elda h i l l i p s

Missionaries to

Chile

Field Address:

Casilla

21119

Correo21

Santiago,

Chile

Forwarding Agents:

Bryce& o

essup

6188 eanA

enue

San

Jose,

Ca.

95123

March 30, 1976

Richard

L,

Bourne

Box

177

Kempton, Indiana

Dear Brother Bourne,

There

are many exciting

things

happening

in

today's world, but

none more exciting to us

than

the opportunities for

making

disciples in Santiago,

Chile Our hearts have been

captured

by this small Latin

American country, and

we

have decided

to

go. We believe

you

will

also

be interested.

You are

one who followed

the work of

the

Christian

Information

Committee as we worked in

mass

communication

and correspondence

course followup in the San Francisco Bay Area, Since the

completion

of

that experiment

in 1973,

Nelda and I

have

lived

in

San Jose

and I have s erved

happily

as Associate

Minister

of Central

Christian

Church,

As you can see in the

enclosed

brochure, the work in

Chile

is

similar in concept

to

what CIC

did,

but

the results are even

greater—actually,

fantastic The

Lord has prepared a field

which is

right nopipe for harvest, and we want

to

g o and

help.

We

believe that our work

with Central Christian Church

and

the

Christian

Church

of Fremont combines with the expe rience

of CIC to adequately

equip

us for this work.

And,

we are g en

uinely thrilled about

this

door the Lord

has

opened.

Our needs are for sufficient

finances

and solid prayer

support.

We would be honored by your participation with us in the

Chilean

ministry. Pleas e lay

our

needs before

the Father.

Yours in Christ,

Woody

Phillips


2/7

y4p^

( ^ l i q l l e n g e

Woody, Nelda,

and

Jeremy Phillips

Recruits

to

Chile


3/7

THE

OPPORTUNITIES

A

stQall but effective team

of missionaries has been

work

ing in

Chile

for the

past

four

years in presenting the gosp el

through

the

mass media.

Inter

ested Chileans respond in

great

numbers

to

the

invitation

to

study the ^Ible by correspon

dence , and.Contacts have been

made all over

the

country. A

great

number of the students

live in Santiago (the mission

aries' home base), and follow-

up has

begun

1

Many of the

thir

ty

thousand students

have

com

pleted the course, and hundreds

are willing to open their

homes

for further personal

Bible

stu

dy. Of those who finish

five

lessons in

the

home,

90%

re

ceive Christ and are

baptized.

New

Christian^

are then

assis

ted in forming home churches

and

the

emerging leaders of

groups are trained. Over

forty

churches are

now

functioning

through

thesei

efforts, and

the

missionaries

there believe that

hundreds mor^ can be started

immediately. |The only hold-up

is a shortage of workers. Ad

ditional

missionaries

mean

that

Santiago

can'

be reached for

Christ,

and other

urban

areas

of

Chile s o o i j i penetrated with

the gospel. In addition, the

plans call

for

sending another

team to Argentina in the near

future.

God

is raising up workers

now to meet

Ithis

unusual and

exciting opportunity

in

Latin

America.

Tiie

need for

Bible

teaching, leadership develop

ment, writing,

and

new church

planting

is

being met

as sever

al couples are stepping forward

to

meet

the

"Chilean Challenge'.'

THE

WORKERS

Ed and Sarah

Holt

began the

work

in

Santiago

in 1971,

eind

were soon joined by Jeff and

Judy

Myers.

A

plea

for

help

in

1973

brought four additional

couples, and a

recent tour in

the

States by one of these

(the

—CtekS-DeWelt

family)

has resul

ted in seven more couples who

are

nowIahs to

join

this exciting work.

Will

these be enough

to

take care

of

the follow-up

of

the "El

Encuentro" correspon

dence course?

Probably not.

Additional advertising

could

easily push

the

student total

to

100,000.

This, of course,

could

mean

literally thousands

of graduates--all needing

fol

low-up and

teaching. The

pos

sibilities

of hundreds of new

churches starting

could

signal

the beginning

of

an indigenous

Christian

movement

in the

lower

half

of

South

America.

Going with

Woody and Nelda

in_j^jgust are

two

couples

from

' S S f r ^ ' J ^ f e - - J i r a ,

and ,

L y n n _ ^ d a r a s

and Jeff and Kathy Phillip^

(no"

relation to Wo'bd^".""^ Fesides

these

three

families,

Woody's

brother and his wife

Col-

.-have

decided to

go

to

Chile and are

making

plans

to

work with this newly emerging

unit of recruits.

The

internship

will

be

with

the

missionaries already

in

Santiago, but when this is com

pleted, the "CalUgmift—

t f t f l l l i . .

tentatively

hopes

to work in

a

nearby urban

area.

More

defi

nite

plans will be

made in 1978.

CM

od

a.

O

CM

Ck;

D_


4/7

vmo ARE l^E?

—̂ oody

and

Nelda

Phillips

are

one

of

the seven couples recent

ly

recruited

for the

work

in

Chile. They plan to be

on

the

field soon to join

others in

this great adventure for Christ.

_->i£aQdy is a

1969

graduate

of

Cfeark Bible College, and holds

his

MA (1975)

from

the Univer

sity of Santa Clara in Counsel

ing. Besides

experience

in the

youth ministry (Nkiskogee and Sa-

pulpa,

(Sclahoma) and a

student

pastorate (Lebanon, Missouri)

while

in

school,

he has served

as minister of the Christian

-Church

of

Fremont, California,

and is presently

the

Associate

Minister with

the

Central

Chris-

"tian Church of San Jose,

Cali

fornia (until June,

1976).

Help

ing

to equip him for the work

was a two-year

experiment

in

mass media evangelism in

the

San

Francisco Bay

Area

(1971-1973)

in which he

did

much the same

work

being carried

on in Santi

ago.

(The

work referred to was

done

under

the name Christian

Information

Committee".) In ad

dition,

Woody has

been

an in

structor

in Mass Communication

at San

Jose

Bible College.

—-.Jiel^a

is

a

graduate

of the

Northeastern State University in

Tahlequah,

Cklahoma,

and grew u p

in the First Christian Church of

Muskogee, Oklahoma. Besides

working as a speech therapist

for

five years,

Nelda has

been

preparing herself through clas

ses

at

SJBC and some practical

experience in ministry.

Jeremy is an active three-

year-old

(July, 1976) and can't

wait to

get

to his new home in

Chile

where

he can talk by the

short-wave

radio to

his grand

parents.

OUR PLANS

To

be

effective in Spanish,

the

Phillips

will

spend

the

first months in intensive

language study

in

San

Jose,

Cos-

_^,_Rlea.

Having

learned

ade-

iiate conversational Spanish,

they will enter the field in

Santiago and

begin

working

with

the missionaries already there.

They should be

able to begin

teaching almost immediately.

After

eighteen months they

will return

briefly to the US

and evaluate this initial two-

y q g ^ T - i r|rpmRtvin..

When

they re

turn

to

Chile, their

plans

are

to

go

with a

team

of other cou

ples and open up the work

of

evangelism and church planting

in another

xjrban

area--iiOS2iiily~

Buenos

Aires,

Argentina, a

city

of eight million

people.

Woody and Nelda

intend

to

leave the States

the,.J.as4^

week

, ^ ^ n f A u g u s t s o t h e y c a n

b e g i n

l a n -

^ ~ ' g b : ^ e ~ ^ c h o o l in Costa Rica

the

first

of September.

Until then

they will

be

completing their

work at Central and securing the

necessary support.

OUR

NEEDS

Each

month

we will

needJ

SALARY

WORK

FUNDSVf

$600

$600

$1200

per

month

To

get to Chile we

needi

TRAVEL EXPENSES

$1500

SHIPPING $1500

$3000 to

go

*Work funds

go

to

pay

for print

ing, advertising, office help,

transportation, teaching

supplies,

occasional property

purchases,

and other costs of the ministry.

(This

estimate

of needs

came

from

the missionaries

already

on

the

field

in Chile.)

Checks are tax-deductible-if

made out to "CehtrraT**Cfiristian

Church and marked

for

the

wctrk

in Chile. These

may

be sent toi

CENTRAL CHRISTIAN CHURCH

2555

MERIDIAN

AVENUE

SAN

JOSE, CA 95124


5/7

^ a n X / i a S . ( ^ w i e K

en

CM

Qi

O

2655

MERtOlAN•

AOBi

264>7«45

SAN

JOSZ

CA4.irdnNIA

95124

Central

Christian Church

has co nsented

to spoii&of Woody

and

Nelda

in

the

mission field of

Chile, and

do

not hesitate to

re

commend; h f r o highly

to

any church...The elders feel he has an ex

cellent background

in the field of missions

and

mass communications

w h i c h v i j l l s e r v e h i m w e l l i n t h e f i e l d h e h a s c h o s e n

to

s e r v e . .

.

His

zeal, for

the Lord's

work abounds,

and his

integrity

is

above

reproach .

Yours in

Christ,

[y Lyle Ottinger

Chairman

of

the Elders

Itlhas

been my pleasure to

have Woody Phillips,

Jr., working

as

r a

y

A . i s o c i a t e for the last two years at

Central...I

have fou nd

h i m

t o i i p o m p e t e n t a n d e f f i c i e n t

i n e v e r y

t a s k h e h a s u n d e r t a k e n . . .

Woody is uniquely trained for this

kind of

ministry with his gifts

and

interests in the area of mass communications.

..

wholeheartedly

endorse him

and

Nelda and

commend them to you, with

the

expectation

that Christ's church will be rapidly growing

in

Santiago, Chile,

through

for the

them.

..The

op po rtunity in Chile is the greatest open door

gospel that I have known in my lifetime.

Yours and His,

Institute

For

Christian

Resources^

Inc.

Note

i

Bryce Jessup, Minister

I

believe

that

Woody and Nelda Phillips are well

suited

for

work on

the

mission field in

Chile.

He is

especially

able in

mass communicating

the gospel

and

in

teaching

by

correspondence; this was demo nstrated in his

work

in

California...Woody and Nelda are both faithful

in

their

service to

the Lord

and with

His

body...Their

decision to go

to Chile

is surely

of

the

Lord.

And they

are certainly worthy of financial sup po rt for the work

they are setting ou t

to

do. I

commend

them

to

you.

Sincerely,

Willard

Black

Director, I.C.R., Inc.

Due to shortage of space,

the above

are excerpted and

condensed from the original letters.


6/7

Central Christian Church

2555 Meridian Avenue

San Jose, CA 95124

CHILEAN

CHALLENGE

Address Correction Requested

Non-profit Qrg.

U.S. POSTAGE

--PAID--

San Jose, CA

Permit No. 999

laime

402 Mulberry St

K c s v O i r n o , Ind,

46901

WoMy

& e f d a P h i U i g s ^

l i f e

Casilla 21119

Correo21

-Smtiago,-Cfrite-

Forwarding Agents:

Bryce&

o

Jessup

October

5,

1976

Newsletter No.

3

We

ade t

The terrific

early-morning

send-off at

the San Francisco Airport brought both

smiles and teeirs

as

we boarded the plane, and was followed by a

smooth

and

relaxing

flight

to Costa Rica. We made a stop in L.Ao to

pick u p Jeff

and Kathy

Phillips (and a

few

others) and flew directly

to Guatemala

City where

we chsinged planes. By six

that

evening

we

had landed in dark and rainy San Jose,

and

with no problems

in

cus

toms

we were

soon greeted

by our "big

brothers"

who took us

to

our

homes. (These are students

at

the s chool who give special

assistance

to

incoming

students,

such

as

finding housing, meeting

us at

the

air

po rt, and

helping

u s find

our

way

around

for the first few d ays.)

We

had about

a

week before language

school

started, and this

gave

us

time to

unpack,

explore.the town,

go

to

the

market and set up house-

Our

little house is a

one-bedroom near city

center

and

the

Insti

tute,

with maid's quarters where Jeremy sleeps. With

forty

buses an

hour lumbering and sputtering

past our

front door,

it

is

not

very

conducive for study, so we try to do

much

of

our

work away from the

house. The house, like most, has no

hot

water,

but the shower

is

equipped

with

a streinge electrical contraption which heats

the

water

just

before it trickles our the nozzle. With water pressure so low

here, it takes a while just

to

get wet And speaking of water, g o o d

old parched California could use some

of

the rain we

have here--dai

ly showers which would cause flash floods in some places. We

had

to

buy good umbrellas

almost

before

we

were

unpacked

We ride the

bus

es a lot,

and are

pleased at

the

fare--five cents. Once aboard, we

have to

hold

on for

dear

life,

since most

of the drivers seem to

have aspirations

to

be

stunt

drivers

in

Hollywood. Going

to the

beach last weekend was an experience, too. A two-hour bus ride

brought

us

to a little coast town with dark

sand

beaches receiving

the

gentle and warm Pacific waves.

Going

back to San Jose we rode

the train,

a

flashback

to

pre-Depression commuter

lines

in Chicago.

It's

a milk-run

and

takes 3-4 hours to

go the

70 miles, but the;

country we saw was gorgeou s--lush green mountains pu nctuated with

;

banana-plantations, little to wns

and

many rivers snaking throu gh the I

deep valleys.

We enjoy

the clean air

and

blue

sky

which greet us every morning

as well as the

colorful markets

full of

exotic fruits

and native

crafts.

The Costa

Rican people

are gentle and

loving

folk

who are

eager to please

and

easy to love. The days

are

warm and our

neigh

bors friendly, and

we

are surrounded with good friends at the school

Costa Rica is a stable democracy, and even though Robert Vesco is on

his way

to

owning

it,

it seems to be a good place to live.

This place where we have come

to

study is

a

mixture

of

beauty

and filth, wealth and pove rty, sun

and rain,

pickpockets

and

smiling

faces, good and

evil. It's

different from what we are

used to

in

California, but we like it. The list of drawbacks and the lack of

conveniences are diminishing

in

their impo rtance,

and

we don't

no

tice them so much

now. Even

after only

a

month, San

Jose is

begin

ning to be "home" to us.


7/7

No comprendo. •

The reason we are here

and

not

in Chile

is

language. We heard

confirmed

by many

that this is the

We are

learning

rapidly

but the

before coming here and

had

it

best school

for

learning Spanish

road

to

fluency is still

long,

and j ^ e e m s

to

stretch endlesslyo (Who,

me

impatientO We have

two hours o j f

Conversation,

one of Phonetics,

and

one

of

Grammer

every day, as wel.l

as

Chapel.

All

classes

are in

Spanish, so

there

have

been

some

frustrating times

while

we struggle

to

under t indo

There are about 200 missionariejs here studying, so

we are meet

ing some very nice p eop le.

The s c t i o o l also provides

some

occasional

seminars on

Latin American

culture

which

are

very helpful. Last

w e e k ,

f o r i n s t a n c e , t w o e x p e r t s

o n

j l : h e

f a m i l y

l e c t u r e d

e a c h d a y . W e

are learning a lot, but also

finding

out how ignorant we really

are.

We study in the afternoons,

try

to use

our

Spanish in the

stores, on

buses,

and

with

the n a t i i ^ r e

people we

mee t here and there.

In this Latin

American

culture we c i r e forced to learn to

speak

Spa

nish just to be able

to

get alongJ

R6\/0nH b r o u g h t

s o m e g o o d

C h r i s t i a n

been a ge nuine bless ing.

When

we

receive

letters from

family and

friends,

we are

lifted

and encourag€id. A

tape from ou r home church

(Central,

San

Jose)

this week

sent us soaring,

as much of a

special

praise service was recorded and i n l c l i v i d u a l s sent spe cial

greetings

during

a pot-luck

following. We a l i - e

held up to

the

Father daily

by

the prayers

of so many,

and we are really grateful.

In

addition,

those who can are help ing financially. Thank

you

for your part in

getting

us

here and keeping us here,

God

is

good, and we know He is at work. We came here because

He led us, a n d w e r e m a i n h e r e b e c j a u s e He

s u s t a i n s

us.

C o s t a

R i c a

i s

a

g o o d

p l a c e

t o

l e a r n t h a t

h a p p r r j i e s s

d o e s n ' t d e p e n d

o n

h a v i n g h o t

water,

television,

o r a car.

H a p p i j i i e s s is

i n t e r n a l - - a g r a c i o u s

gift

f r o m

a l o v i n g

G o d . W e l e a r n

s l o w l y j

b u t w e

a r e l e a r n i n g ,

Jeremv

savs

g e t

u p l i v e r y

d y a t

a b o u t

s i x a n d

l e a v e

* or school at seven. I g o to the p re

school

at the

same place where Mom c i n d Dad go,

and

I really like rt.

My new

friends

are

Corey, Debbie,

l | 9 m m y

and

Melanie

help us cook and

clean, and

I

t a y j

is

nice, but I can't understand

her

Today we went on the bus

to a

nice swimming pool. The water was

real

cold

so

Dad

wouldn't

get

in,

but

I

went

in

the

kid's

pool and

had

lots of fun

with

my

friend

Tomm}^ (This was an all-school o u t

ing.) We

went on

the big slide, top .

I miss

my grandparents

and my

Rica real well. Adios

Zaira comes to

with her in

the

afternoons. She

very well yet

friends, but I

like it in

Costa

Please ask the Fdither..

.

...that we

will

continue

to

adjust

stand it more. We've had some time^

n e s s , a n d n e e d

G o d ' s

h e l p to s e e

u s |

to the

Latin

culture,

and

under-

of discouragement and

homesick-

through each

one.

able to

teach

when we get to Chile,

for regular daily study

...that our co-workers here and

we

|

unit which

enjoys a

rich fellowship

rThat—we win—grasp—Spanish—well

enough

in-

our-^time-here—to--be

Also

that

we will

have a desire

will be

together

formed into a cohesive

.

..that

our family

life

will

be mutually satisfying. We are so me

times

short and impatie nt with

each

other and with Je remy, and need

God's grace to meet e ach other's

nd(3ds

and grow together in

Christ.

...that the work in Chile with Holtp

nue

to

see many come

to

J e s u s

and

c

...that ou r sup po rt will continue i p

ditional amount we need will be sup

Myers

and

DeWelts will conti-

lurches started all over

Santiago.

0 come in well, and that the

ad-

plied

while we

are

in Costa Rica.

Phillips Woody Nelda 1976 Chile

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