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WELCOME TO OUR MINISTRY UPDATE
The Thurston Report
March 15, 2000
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978,221 hits to our Christian Webpage this past March.
It is unbelievable! We are reaching unto the whole world with
the Gospel.
  www.intervizion.net
our new evangelistic educational web site is making news. In the Chilean
Christian newspaper, Capitulo 30, they recently ran a two page article
about what we are doing with this new tool. Intervizion is our new world
wide out reach that links together the majority of the Spanish speaking
Christians so the church and missions can increase at a faster rate than
ever before. The goal we have for InterVizion is a means by which information,
materials and services can be shared, so the church doesn't have to reinvent
the same thing en every country, thus building God's Kingdom at a faster
rate. We want to help the church do in 5 years what it has taken it to
do in 50 years.
This past week we were able to get our new TV studio gear hooked
up to the internet so now we are able to send our video programs to a world
wide audience. Although, we have been building our internet site for a
number of months and we thought the word hadn't got out yet, we were very
surprised when the server informed us that during November and the first
three weeks of December over 300,000 people had visited our pages.
I couldn't believe how fast the word of mouth spreads. Now that we
have officially inaugurated it, our goal is to have over 500,000 visits
per month.
The above paragraph was written at the end
of January. Our goal was too low. In February we had just over 635,000.
The end of March we were short of one million. The reports of changed lives
keep rolling in. My son Steve is working hard designing the interface
and most of the bugs are fixed and we are running at full capacity. We
have received comments from Peru, Spain, Uruguay, Argentina, Venezuela,
Bolivia, United States, Guatemala, Canada, England, Colombia and Mexico;
literally...all around the world. I sure wish you could read
Spanish, so you could go directly to our page and see their letters.
Here is what some of our visitors are saying:
Abby Merari Mendoza from Mexico writes, "Your page is a blessing
to me."
Rey Torres from the music group Sound of Praise: "I was very impressed...and
the best part it is for our Lord."
Anabel Cazon from Puerto Rico "...the most important is that
through this media we can help fulfill the Great Commission."
Alan Young: "Congratulations for the effort in creating and
putting this site on the Internet and that our Lord continues
to use it for His glory. We pray that through this web site... that
many may be saved and enter into His kingdom."
Julissa González Medrano from Nicaragua "This site is
a blessing to all those who enter. …keep on preaching the Good
News of salvation...and reinforcing the faith of the believers."
Home Bible study continues to grow
 More
than 13 people meet in my living room each week to study the book of Revelation
with me. It has been a great blessing to those participating.
We are now in chapter 14. It has been exciting because each week the people
have brought some friends and during the last two weeks two new people
have received the Lord. Last week I talked about the rapture and this past
week I showed the movie Thief in the Night to reinforce the teaching.
One of the ladies in the group was so excited by the movie that the next
day when her grandchild came over to her house she started to cry. The
six year old said, "Grandma why are you crying?" and she told him about
the rapture. He became so convicted that he too started to cry and said,
Grandma I want to receive Christ so I won't be left behind. That was a
wonderful afternoon for her as she had the privilege of leading him to
the Lord. She said for the last three days he has been praying to the Lord
3 and 4 times a day and now likes to pray before he eats his food. |
Conference in San Juan Puerto Rico
 Lina and
I had a wonderful time teaching and speaking at the San Juan 98 Christian
conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In the four day event, I spoke twice
on new evangelistic techniques and Lina spoke once on the role of women
in the evangelizing of Latin America. Over 800 pastors and leaders from
different countries attended the interdenominational conference.
Not only did we have a good time, but the Lord brought us into contact
with Carlos. We were sitting in a cafe eating our evening snack, when all
of a sudden (in my opinion at that moment) a half drunk beach bum with
a bottle of beer in his hand staggers over to our table, sits down with
us and tries to hustle and pick up one of the Chilean Christian ladies
also eating dinner with us. Immediately we all started to share Christ
with him. He wasn't too happy with that.
He was only interested in this gal. But what could he do? As we talked
he said he had learned a verse from Psalms many years ago and if we could
tell him where the verse was found he would listen to us.
We had our concordance with us so we were ready for action. He quoted
The
Lord is my light and my salvation-whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold
of my life-of whom shall I be afraid. We didn't need the concordance
for that one, and we said almost in unison Psalms 27:1. He pulled out of
pocket a worn out Gideon New Testament and said, let me see. As he looked
at it with his bleary eyes, he said, "This is it. This is the verse I wanted
to find for a long time." After talking to him a bit more about his life
and how he needed to come back to the Lord, I said, "Carlos, I want to
pray for you right now and after I do, why don't you confess your sin and
return to the Lord."
I prayed and then he prayed. After that I said, "I want to get together
with you tomorrow" and he said OK. I wasn't sure if he remember the next
day or not as he was pretty intoxicated. The next morning there he was
at my door waiting for me to give him more of God's Word. He said his life
was transformed during our time together.
We spent the next three days together and since he was a tourist
guide, he showed us over a great part of the Island. How wonderful it was
to see how God can transform a person. It looks like one of the reasons
the Lord wanted us to participate in the conference just to reach out to
Carlos. |
Lina's Outreach continues to expand
L
to R: Alejandra Zamora and Lina.
Lina has been on the road a lot recently ministering to hundreds
of women. In the past three months she has covered most of Chile.
She went to Puerto Montt, Concepcion, Iquique and Antofagasta, and a number
of other cities near Santiago. (Puerto Montt is 24 hours south and
Iquique is 30 hours to the north of Santiago.) In each city the spiritually
hungry women were waiting to hear the Word of God.
Her city wide evangelistic meeting in the Tupahue Hotel was very
successful as more than 190 women crowded into the conference room to hear
the Ex-Miss Costa Rica, Dr. Alexandra Zanmora's testimony. We praise
the Lord that 27 indicated they received the Lord.
Last week, Lina was in Uruguay where she spoke to over 500 women
in a national women's conference. Her topic was the impact of pioneer
women in the evangelization of Uruguay and Latin America and the
challenge of reaching the new generation. |
Here are some of her favorite recipes that you
might try.
Donated Equipment Arrives
 
The donated equipment arrived and is now up and running.
Steve Bachelder, our engineer from one of our supporting churches, came
down to Chile and installed the equipment. He was a real blessing.
The set up was a challenge as most video centers haven't had a chance to
change over to the new digital equipment yet. We are one of the first ones
in Chile to do so.
Mary Jane continues to teach Sunday school. We
have been looking around for a violin teacher for her as she wants to begin
lessons as soon as we can find a good one. This has been one of her
dreams for many years.
No driver's license for Mary Jane.
Another one of her dreams was to get her drivers
license on her 16th birthday which is this December 22, and a car
from Santa Claus on the 25th. Her bubble burst when she realized that to
drive in Chile you need to be 18. Two more long years of waiting
to get her license. Sorry about that Mary Jane. We were able
to help out in the Josh McDowell campaign recently. Josh is an old friend
that goes back many years. Many received the Lord in the meetings.
Mary Jane learned a lot from Josh, and of course, she wanted her picture
taken with him.
Paul's Outreach
 Paul continues
to help out in the largest Christian6 TV program in Chile, Puertas Abiertas.
It is broadcast by satellite to Europe, Asia and the United States.
It goes over most of the Spanish speaking cable systems. News
Break: Paul's dream of directing a movie has been reached. In early January,
a close friend of his asked him to be the Assistant Director in a film
the friend was making. They have since finished and are now editing. |
Steve Graduates.
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Our son Steve, after graduating from Messiah College
in May, moved to Norristown, PA. He works for the Law School Admission
Council which is the organization that runs the LSAT (law school admission
test) through out the US and Canada. He is their website administrator.
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Both Lina and I participated in the Jesus March held this year.
Over 100,000 marched proclaiming Jesus is Lord. Lina, being on the
national Jesus March board, had the privilege of being on the speakers
platform and I was down front videotaping. In the middle picture
with me by the camera is the mayor (man with tie) of Santiago who came
to the event.
Baptizing new Christians
I had
the privilege of helping out a pastor friend in a baptism of over
60 people who received the Lord this past year. It was an exciting
time to see these new Christians move forward in their Christian life.
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We still need your help.
| Please help us to get the remaining needed equipment so we can reach
more for Christ.
Our money raising campaign for getting the new equipment is not
over yet and we still lack $15,000 to complete it. We were able to
get a lot of equipment and bring it to Chile but we still lack some vital
things. If you haven't had a chance to help out yet, why not do it
now. We can start the year with a great victory. We give thanks to
the Lord for the work He has done and will be doing this next year. To
help us with this endeavor, please send your check to Son of Man's Mission,
P.O. Box 747, Bremerton,WA 98337. Thank you for standing with us in reaching
the world for Christ.
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Thought for the Day
| This is an excellent time to lift up our Savior and Lord and share
Him with our neighbors, friends and acquaintances. It is a time to
reach out with our love. It is a time when we can do what Jesus said, that
the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his
life as a ransom for many. This is what love is all about. If you
feel alone at this time, reach out. Reach out to those who are prisoners
to their sin, those who are oppressed and proclaim to them the acceptable
year of the Lord. Why not focus on the eternal and the divine instead
of putting emphasis on the temporal and the human?
Love,
Jim and Lina Thurston |
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