June 9, 2008

Dear Family in Christ.

We are sending our greetings to you with our most profound feelings of our love in Christ for you. We are convinced that your prayers on our behalf move the hand of God to make it possible for us to live and serve Him one day at a time. We write today both to look back upon the last months and to look forward to the new things that God is preparing for the future. Sharing about our lives from this context has to take as its point of departure our sense of gratefulness to God’s caring grace upon us day by day.

After four months of sick leave, Gloria returned from Quito, Ecuador, where she got surgery and therapeutic treatment to repair her torn Achilles tendon last September. Throughout those months of medical treatment Gloria endured a lot of pain in her wound, which little by little and through disciplined work gave way to a slow process of healing. Now the worst days are gone, and she continues to make progress toward walking normally on her left foot. We are so grateful to Gloria’s family in Quito who gave their wholehearted support to her through those difficult times.

A few days after Gloria arrived back in Equatorial Guinea, malaria struck Andres again. This was the fourth time, and it was a very severe infection that left my level of energy and strength very low. At noon of the third day of the infection, after I took the strongest doses of anti-malaria pills, my body collapsed at the front door of our mission house. Gloria and some folks nearby got very scared about my life, but thank God I recovered to a stable condition a few minutes after the shock. Now, I am feeling fairly OK, but continue to take vitamins to keep my strength at normal levels.

Despite these difficult moments, our lives have been filled with the joy of the arrival of our grandson Ilan Andres. Our daughter-in-law Karina and our son Ofir gave birth to their first baby on April 26, at l: l5 afternoon in College Station, Texas. We received the news here in Equatorial Guinea one hour later when Ofir called us to say, “Dad, Mom, you are grandparents already.” There is nothing comparable to the blessing of God fulfilled through the children of God’s promise, and Ilan Andres is fruit of that promise.

Meanwhile, Gloria and I continue ministering in Equatorial Guinea. The life and mission of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Equatorial Guinea (RPCEG) is moving by small but meaningful steps toward self-development, passing first through a dramatic process of renewal and “stewardship cleansing,” which has never been done before. This process is still in progress, and the RPC is determined to meet this challenge no matter the cost because the well being of the national church is at stake. Change is never easy and is never cost-free; moreover, these changes are unavoidable when a community of faith decides to honor God’s will and to obey the mandate of Jesus to do His mission “to the ends of the earth.” For now, the RPCEG is facing serious financial obstacles, and the cause of this circumstance is the interference of external and powerful forces of evil that are preventing it from witnessing Christ.

Amidst this reality characterized by corruption and disregard for the love of God, we are frightened by people who evidently hate to see the RPCEG achieve progress in strengthening itself as an institution or dedicating its gifts and historic patrimony to the work of outreach. Gloria and I are praying fervently every day that the church be delivered from this opposition and that the hand of God be upon the RPCEG to protect her from any evil. We pray also and would like you to join us in this prayer: That God open more ways of connecting the RPCEG and the PC(USA) in order to strengthen our common task in service to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Andres and Gloria Garcia
Bata, Equatorial Guinea

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 21