James Russell Fehr

A couple of weeks ago I was on a two day trip to Santiago to preach in a graduation. I also got to preach at a church plant in Quilicura. Shortly before the service I read a text that my grandfather, Russell Fehr, had passed away. Although I knew he wasn't doing very well I was shocked and heartbroken at the news. I am so thankful for the hope of heaven though, and the promise of eternal life to all who place their faith in Jesus Christ.

My grandfather was a very talented man. One of his talents was artistic woodwork. As a boy I was very proud to tell people that my grandpa was a carpenter, because Jesus was a carpenter. When I was young I admired him so much for the beautiful creations he did. I felt very privileged when he brought me into his shop one summer to work with him and learn the craft. That summer was just the start, and it became something we would share for years. I never got as good as he was, but I treasure those times together now much more than the craft. We would talk about things. He told me war stories (grandpa served in the Navy), he told me how he met grandma, and we listened to big band, ragtime, and barbershop quartets. Below is a picture of one of the pieces of art I made in his shop as he mentored me; these are called intarsias. I made this one about 12 years ago and gave it to my sister.

One day after finishing work in the shop we went out to one of grandma and grandpa’s favorite restaurants in Whittier called Seafare Inn. As we sat at lunch I asked them if they were saved; if they had come to know Christ as Saviour. I’ll never forget the response I heard, “We believe in salvation by grace through faith.” That is straight out of the Scriptures; Ephesians 2:8-9. I am sad that grandpa is gone and especially that I couldn’t be near him at the end to say goodbye, but I have hope to see him again (1 Thessalonians 4:13). I am so thankful for the memories I have of him and I will always cherish them.

Armed Forces Appreciation Day

When I was a teenager a couple of Christian police officers really took an interest in my life. As I participated in the youth group they ran they began to reach out to me more and more. Through their efforts and those of many others I came to know Christ as my Saviour. From that point forward I have always had a love for police officers. Once I learned what the Bible teaches about them my respect grew even more.

When I was in Bible college I had a professor that is a chaplain who did Law Enforcement Appreciation Days at numerous churches and shared with us about those days. Ever since that point I decided that I would do something like that when I was in the ministry.

Police officers aren't perfect, and as with any profession there are going to be bad people, but as a general rule in the United States you are blessed to have police that are not corrupt. I have been in places where police officers are corrupt and encourage bribes; it is a terrible feeling! Thankfully, Chile is also a country blessed with an upright police force, and if you try to bribe an officer here then you will be taken to jail.

This Sunday night we are doing a law enforcement appreciation day at our church. Since in Chile the police are a branch of the military we are extending the day to all branches. I just got this letter in the mail from an Army Colonel saying that they will be participating by sending three ranking officers and 15 enlisted soldiers.

We are flying a pastor in to preach who retired from the Chilean Air Force after 27 years of service. Pretty exciting! Pray for our day.

Chopped, here I come!

About 6 months ago we got a Mexican restaurant in our city, Coyhaique. We don't really go because it isn't cheap, and because we make some bomb mexican food in the house. Yesterday we were feeling lazy so I picked up some food to go, and when the owners found out I was from California and that I like to cook Mexican food they asked if I would teach them and the chefs some recipes. I went in today at 11 and finished around 2. I taught them how to make chile relleno, salsa ranchera, salsa colorado, enchiladas, quesarritos,, some fresh salsas, taqueria style tacos, and some cool Mexican techniques. Overall I had a blast and they couldn't get enough of the food. Afterwards they wanted to pay me, but I told them that nothing would be better payment than if they were to come to a church service. They said they would!

Here's a high quality picture for your enjoyment. They should have given me a hairnet for my beard ;)

The emotional ebb and flow of missions

When Annie and I left the United States to be missionaries I remember saying to her, “you know, people are going to die.” We are going to be in Chile, and people are going to die. It is just a fact of life for a missionary that while they are abroad, there are certainly going to be waves of change in the place where they are from.

I don’t want to be morbid, but I do want to share some of my raw emotion and that will require talking about an undesirable situation. A couple of weeks ago I got the message that my grandfather’s health was declining. I called him that day to talk with him and pray with him. We talked for about five minutes. I knew he wasn’t doing well when he answered the phone and said, “Kyle, how’s the war?” His mind wasn’t completely there at times, but I could tell he understood just about everything I said. By the time the phone call was ending I was really choking up as the thought occurred to me, “I’m about to say goodbye to my grandpa for the last time.” I had a difficult time holding it together. I got off the phone and just wept.

My grandpa and I bonded when I was younger as I took an interest in woodworking. He is quite the artist, and he taught me the tricks of the trade of artistic woodwork. We made some beautiful things as well as developed a close bond. We talked about his childhood, his religious background, his work, inflation (of all things), how he and grandma fell in love, war stories, and other things. I am very thankful that one day after we finished a wood project I went to lunch with him and my grandma at one of their favorite restaurants in La Habra, the Fish Company. There I explained to them the gospel and asked them if they had put their faith in Christ as their Saviour. I remember the affirmative response as clearly as if it was yesterday, “We believe in salvation by grace through faith in Christ.” I take comfort in the fact that grandpa knows Christ as his Saviour. His health has not been well at all. He was in the hospital yesterday and today and had to have a lot of tests done. I don’t know if he is going to die soon or not, but this has definitely made death of loved ones very real.

Right now Annie’s family is having basically a reunion. There are Aunts, Uncles, cousins, etc. getting together for her grandmother’s 80^th birthday. She never complains that God’s calling on our lives has taken us so far from loved ones; in fact, she never complains about anything. However, I know it is difficult for her to not be there.

As a missionary, one of the things you sacrifice, to some extent, is the relationships dearest to you. You miss pregnancies, births, deaths, marriages, birthdays, etc. And although it doesn’t make the reality of sacrifice any lesser, I know these sacrifices of pale in comparison to what Christ sacrificed for us. Looking to Jesus is always a good choice. He is worthy of my all. He is God’s only begotten Son and God made Him a missionary. He left the glories of heaven to be born as a lowly human and dwell among sinful men. The word missionary means “a sent one” and Christ, who has sent us, was Himself sent by the Father: “…as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” (John 20:21)

There is a wonderful promise that means a lot to me as a missionary:

Matthew 19:29

And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. 

I am not discouraged at all. I don't want to quit. I'm not thinking about throwing in the towel. I am convinced that the missionary life is the best life. I just needed somewhere to express myself. I'm thankful for the assurance that any current suffering is nothing to be compared to the glory that shall come (Romans 8:18 & 2 Corinthians 4:17).

FREE MUSIC!

Annie and I did some recording a few mornings this week. The recordings are not professional quality, but I think they sound decent for being done on an ipad by two people who don't know much about recording. The tracks are simple, A Capella, Spanish, hymns. Some people dread singing hymns, and I don't blame them because I have been in many services where hymns were song and I felt like I was at a funeral. I think the first time I really liked hymns was when I was in chapel at Bible college and my sister-in-law was on the piano. I don't know if fingers are supposed to dance, but hers certainly did. There is just something special about a joyful song leader and stirring piano playing. I have grown to love hymns.

Ephesians 5:18-20
"...be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;"

In my opinion, one of many reasons that hymns can be dreadful is because many churches only sing 10-20 of them and just rotate them through services. The monotony of ritual breeds contempt. I experienced this while working in a church: we would sing about 5-10 songs (three per service) and rotate them. Oh man, I hated it. Most hymnals have hundreds of songs, ours has like 650, so why stick to less than a dozen?!

Psalm 33:3
"Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise."

A "new song" doesn't have to mean it was composed yesterday. Hundreds of hymns are "new" to me because I've never known them. When I was given the privilege to start a church I decided that we would work hard to have an expansive and growing repertoire. One of the ways I have worked at accomplishing that is that for our Sunday night service we are singing through the whole hymnal. We started at number one and usually sing 2-4 per service. We are somewhere near #170! I learned this little trick at one of our supporting churches, Mountain Avenue Baptist Church of Banning, CA. What a blessing it has been learning all of these hymns, and in Spanish too! Another thing that I thought we would do is try to do a simple recording of hymns that are lesser known in Spanish churches to give away for free. That is what led me to this post! We have 9 songs that we did this week that we would like to give away to anyone and everyone who would like them. I wanted it to be more, like 10-12, but time only allowed for 9 for now. Hopefully we can do many more in the future.

If you would like to hear them you can sample them here: http://www.purevolume.com/LaFamiliaSheridan I don't recommend the rest of the music on this website, but it was a cool way to upload our music for free. If you like what you hear and you'd like me to send you the rest of the songs let me know and I'll get them to you! They are free so please feel free to give them away as much as you'd like.

Teaching my son the seven

Micah is starting to imitate everything! It is very helpful for teaching him. It also serves as a great illustration to what we have been teaching our teens on Friday nights, “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12).  My grandparents bought Micah a drawing board where you can draw and erase an unlimited amount. On it I’ve been drawing numbers, letters, and the Do-Re-Mi scale. He does a very good job of matching the notes with me and going up the scale. He says several letters pretty well, and he says some numbers well too. The ipad also really helps a lot too. He is so good at maneuvering it!

While I was teaching Micah some numbers, I was taught a lesson in missiology/cultural adaptation. One of the things that I try to do is make Chile my home while not losing my American identity. I will always be a fair-skinned, freckly, hazel-eyed, American born man. However, as a missionary I want to become Chilean in order to win Chileans for Christ. My cell phone is in Spanish, I use military time, I serve a hot drink after meals when guests are over, I drink mate till it comes out of my ears, AND I write my sevens like Chileans.

In the United States you write your seven like this:

In Chile, if you write your seven like that, then it will be taken as a one. In Chile, your sevens have to have the little vertical line going through the middle like this:

Yesterday I was drawing the number seven for Micah and I said, “We put this little line on it because we live in Chile.” It has taken me about a year and a half, but I have finally rewired myself to write the seven with the vertical line. When you have been doing something the same way your whole life, it can be difficult to completely change it! These are the little things that might not mean much to some people, but to me, as a missionary, it is a major detail!

A cool new look

We have had several things designed lately by our friend Monique, I think they look great!

This is our new letterhead for prayer letters.

Our new prayer card

A new invitation that we are handing out to every home with a copy of the gospel of John

One year anniversary

A little over a month ago we celebrated our first year of ministry in Central Baptist Church of Coyhaique. It was a wonderful day with a total of 41 in attendance. Here are several pictures from the day.