The Santiago Saga - May 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

I pray this letter finds you reveling in joyful anticipation of summer and the delights of our Father's love that will come in these (hopefully) sunny months!

The month of May marked one year since Miguel entered the U.S. for the first time and since I moved back after 5 years of living in Tijuana. It has a been a big adjustment for Miguel and I to experience (or re-experience in my case) four very distinct seasons after living in the two seasons of Tijuana: sunshine for 9 months + 3 months of rain! In the past year we have also experienced different seasons in our personal lives. A sunny summer of reveling in relationship and new experiences was followed by an autumn of difficulty and discouragement. Our winter felt bleak as we mourned the loss of unfulfilled hopes, but the Lord's leading into a springtime of change gave us renewed vision and encouragement. As we stand on the brink of another summer, we find ourselves in yet another season, vacillating between anticipation and anxiousness.

Before I update you on the events of our lives and ministry, I would like to remind you that we are currently seeking to raise support for the ministry we are beginning here in Washington. I say "seeking" because it is still a quest. After our April request for support we were surprised and disappointed to receive a positive response from only one family.

I struggle to find the words to express our need to you, our friends and family. I do not wish to complain because there is no reason to do so. Our Father truly supplies all our needs - we always have gas in the car and food to eat, no matter how little money we may earn in a week. However, I want to impress upon you the urgency of our situation, knowing that we, the body of Christ, are the instruments God so often uses to provide for the needs of others. Nor is it my desire in any way to make anyone feel guilty or obligated to give. "Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." For those of you who responded that you are not able to give at this time, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for considering our request and letting us know that you are thinking of us! Your gesture alone is an encouragement to us.

Having said all that, this is for those of you who have not yet responded or may not be aware of our need. I share our situation with you because I don't know a better way to explain our need: Miguel has not had full-time work since the end of March. We were blessed to be offered the janitorial position at our church, which is about 5 hours per week. In addition to that, Miguel has one lawn-mowing job once a week that will last throughout the summer. Other than that, we have no regular income. Miguel works on people's cars as the opportunity arises, but the jobs are sporadic and it is not income we can count on. We feel that it is the Lord's desire for Miguel to only work part-time in order for both of us to be present in the community for the purpose of building relationships and being salt and light to the people. And we have truly seen how our availability as a couple - and his as a individual - have been key to the relationships that have been built in the past couple of months. Therefore, we are committed to being available to this community, even though it means sacrifice on our part. There are days that we would rather Miguel got a full-time job so life could be "easy"; so we wouldn't have to wonder how God will provide the money to pay our bills this month. Complete trust requires extreme effort! We are thankful for the opportunity to grow in trusting our Father. This is the best spiritual growth class we could take! Yet at the same time we are soul-weary of being in this season of scarcity. It is not our desire to be rich or to take advantage of anyone, simply to serve this Latino community without worrying whether we will have gas in our car to be able to attend an event or whether we will have enough food to share with a guest.

Again, we are seeking to raise $800 a month to pay for our expenses. That means we only need 10 people to give $80 per month; or 20 people to give $40 per month. We are asking for a one-year commitment from you at this time, because we don't know how far the Lord will lead us down this road of ministry or what turns it may take.

Checks can be made payable to: Tillicum Baptist Church
with "Miguel and Shawna Santiago" on the memo line

Send checks to:

Tillicum Baptist Church
Miguel & Shawna Santiago
8415 Maple St SW
Lakewood, WA 98498

Thank you! Your response lets us know that we are not alone out here in the Northwest corner of the country and that you believe that God has called us to this ministry, just as we do. We appreciate your affirmation!

Enough talk about money! Let me tell you what's happened in the past month!
You may recall that Miguel and I are participating in the ESL classes offered by the local college, Miguel as a student, I as a teacher's assistant. These classes have been key in allowing us to make acquaintances in the Latino community here in Tillicum. We were thrilled to receive an invitation from one of the students to attend the Catholic baptism of her children a few weeks ago. This was a great honor for us, because it meant that she was inviting us to transition from acquaintance to friend in her life. Not only that, but it took courage for her to invite us - a couple of Christians - to a Catholic ceremony, knowing that we might reject her based on religious beliefs. We were happy to surprise her by accepting her invitation and attending the baptism and the party later that day. Not only that, but we received another invitation a few days later to a First Communion from a lady who saw us at the baptism and decided to invite us because she saw that we weren't "religious, snobby Christians." Although English class will be over next week, we are happy to have established some tentative friendships and look forward to spending more time with these people during the warmer summer months. We covet your prayers that strong, trusting relationships would be formed during this stage of ministry.

Out of the ESL class, Miguel has also been able to work on the vehicles of a couple of the students, helping them by charging them less then a professional mechanic would charge and helping us by bringing in a little bit of income. This has also helped to establish our identity in the community.

We have had two family movie nights since our last prayer letter. We had three families attend the first movie night, two of which returned for the second. We have realized that many of the families do, in fact, go to the movies here in the States and were not quite as excited about the movie nights as we thought they might be. However, the two families who have come both times are moms bringing their children and they seem to thoroughly enjoy the activity. We, together with these moms, have decided to continue the movie nights, but on a lower scale. Rather than passing out flyers to the whole community we will make it a night for friends to hang out and watch a movie together. Newcomers will always be welcome, but these moms and their kids will get to have a say in the movies we watch and when we get together. We look forward to getting to know Agustina and Angelica better at our movie nights!

We also mentioned in our last letter that we would be offering a Spanish class to the members of the church. We did, but there was not enough interest to have the class, so we have decided to wait and try again later.

All of this serves to remind us that filling our schedules with classes and programs does not necessarily accomplish the work of the Kingdom. Our focus is relationship building and we believe the Lord is keeping us flexible for needs and opportunities that arise in order to continue building those relationships. Again, we ask for your prayers for opportunities and for friendships to be formed and trust to be built.

I have reached the half-way mark in my pregnancy and the baby continues to be healthy and strong. This month's exciting news: It's a boy! I can feel him moving and kicking every day now, although he's not big enough yet for anyone else to feel his kicks. We are so happy that baby is well and that the Lord has considered us worthy of being parents!

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and for your prayers. In this past month that we have felt somewhat alone in the wilderness of ministry, I have realized once again what a HUGE role you play in our ministry. Your financial support, your communication with us, your prayers and your presence in our lives all serve to remind us that we are part of a body. We are not in ministry alone, nor can we be effective by ourselves. We need you to balance us out and remind us that we are all working toward the same goal: Christ's kingdom furthered on this earth. Thank you again!

In Him,
Miguel and Shawna ><>

April 2011
Dear Family and Friends,

What a delight it is to sit down and write this letter to you! In our last letter we shared about our time in Ohio and our upcoming transition to Tacoma, WA. On our blog we shared the adventures of our journey from Ohio to Tacoma, the wonderful people we met along the way and the stories of God’s glory in their lives and in ours, including the way He provided when our heater quit in Minnesota! Three months later, we are happily settling into our new home and life in Tacoma. It’s been rainy outside since we got here, but inside we are full of hope and expectation as we see God revealing one opportunity after another in the Latino community here in the neighborhood of Tillicum.

The people of Tillicum Baptist Church have welcomed us with open arms from day one! We already feel like part of the family and have truly enjoyed getting to know Scott and Caressa (the pastor and his wife) and their family better, since we all live right here on the church campus. When he’s not working outside the church, Miguel enjoys helping with tasks around the church. He’s already fixed several things on one of the church vans, as well as helping Scott with other odd jobs around the campus. The pastor is the only maintenance man here at TBC, and we think it has also been fun for Scott to have someone else to help with the upkeep of these old buildings. Miguel went to his first men’s prayer breakfast and has gotten to know some of the men of the church – especially the ones who have an interest in motorcycles or music! We were picked on at the church’s Valentine banquet to play “The Newlywed Game” since we were the newest and youngest couple there! I have enjoyed getting reacquainted with the ladies I knew when I was here before and am having fun right now planning a baby shower for another young couple in the church. Miguel and I have also joined with two other couples around our age to co-lead a young couples’ group. We have several families with young children in our church and feel that there is a need for support and fellowship in the body of Christ for these young families. We’ve made one of our Sunday School rooms into a lovely hospitality space and dedicated it to the couples’ group which will be meeting on a regular basis.

The Newlywed Game at the Church Valentine Banquet

Since we arrived, we have been praying for God to give us opportunities to meet and build friendships with the Latinos here in the community. As usual, His timing was perfect and He gave us time to settle in, and then started bringing opportunities to us. We are so blessed to be working with an established ministry and people who already have credibility and relationships here in Tillicum. It is through these people – like Scott and my brother, Nate – that doors were opened for us and we began to meet some of the Latino families. For example, the local college offers an ESL (English as a Second Language) class for Spanish speakers that meets at the elementary school right across the street from our church. However, the class has grown so much that they no longer have enough space in their classroom. The college contacted Scott to see if they could use a room at our church for their class! April 4 was the first day of the new quarter of classes with one of two classes meeting at TBC. I (Shawna) am volunteering as a teacher’s assistant two days a week at this class, while Miguel has enrolled as a student in the other class. In this way, we are building relationships and earning trust among the Latino community. God is so good to open this door for us with very little initiation on our part!

While we are excited to have a presence in the ESL classes, we are seeking to create other opportunities to invite the Mexican families into the church building and into relationship with us, which will lead to relationship with the Father. Many of the families are very distrustful of Christian churches because they are such faithful Catholics, therefore they will not come to regular church events. But the Lord has given us some creative ideas for alternative events that will get them familiar and comfortable with the church building and with the faces of church members. On Good Friday we launched a series of family movie nights here at the church. These are low-income families, most of them with children in grade school or younger, which means they do not have the means to get out much for fun family activities. Not only that, but I bet most of you never thought about the fact that if you do not speak Spanish, you cannot go to the movies here in the States! The movies we show at the church will have subtitles in Spanish and we will offer them free of charge, with the families able to bring snacks and sodas should they so desire.

Miguel fixing our rotted bathroom wall

As we work on building relationships with the Latino families, we also want to focus on the current members of the congregation who are interested in reaching out to these potential members of the family of God. We are offering a Basic Spanish class at the beginning of May in order to help the church members feel more confident in interacting with Spanish speakers and welcoming them into our church.

Our hope and goal is that we will be able to earn the trust of several key people or families in the Latino community and then invite them to be part of the discipleship group that will help them know and grow in the Lord. Only the Father knows what the timing will be on this goal, but as we feel out the needs here in the community, we expect it to be sooner rather than later!

We would be amiss if we didn’t give God all the praise for the faithful and abundant way He’s provided for us since we arrived in Washington. He has been so good and timed His provision so perfectly to meet all our needs from day one. Of course, Miguel started looking for work right away, but still has not found anything steady. In the meantime God has used gifts from church members, odd jobs, anonymous donations, people bringing meals and even our tax refund to provide above and beyond what we could ask or imagine!

Recently, Miguel was given the chance to work full-time hours for several weeks, which was another form of the Father’s provision for us. Not only that, but it also helped us to see that a full-time job is not a good fit for Miguel/us in our ministry goals here in Tillicum. Working full-time hours doesn’t give him the flexibility he needs to build relationships and be available to the Latino community. Neither does it give us very much time to do ministry together as a couple, since many ministry opportunities happen during the work week. So, Miguel is now looking for part-time work that will allow him to spend more time at the church and in the neighborhood. In addition to that, we have prayerfully decided to ask for support in the mission God has given us here. That’s where you come in…

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to be serving the Lord in this mission field of Tillicum. We are confident that God has now led us to give you the opportunity to share in this very ministry. During the time that many of you supported me while I was in Mexico I realized the power of partnership in ministry. As children of God, we are all called to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth. Some of us go, some of us make it possible for others to go; we all have a role in carrying out Jesus’ command to spread His love to every nation (see Matthew 28:18-20). Today our question to you is this: is God calling you to be part of this ministry?

At this point in time we are asking you to make a one-year commitment, should you choose to partner with us. By allowing us to live in the missionary apartment, the church already supports us with a sizeable portion of our expenses, including all our utilities. Above and beyond that, we have a minimum of $800 of expenses to cover each month. Our prayer is that the Lord will provide this amount or more through a combination of providing work for Miguel and through your support. If just 15 of you commit to giving $50 a month to us in this ministry, we would have enough to cover our expenses! We all know that the economy is changing, yet we make this plea with confidence, because we know with even more surety that OUR GOD NEVER CHANGES! He is the same yesterday, today and forever! And just as He has faithfully provided for us and for you throughout our entire lives, He will continue to provide and reward our faith and faithfulness.


If you would like to give, please print off and include the reply card at the end of this letter. Then…
Make checks payable to:
“Tillicum Baptist Church”
with “Miguel and Shawna Santiago” on the memo line.

Send checks to: Tillicum Baptist Church
Miguel & Shawna Santiago
8415 Maple St SW
Lakewood, WA 98498

We appreciate your prayerful consideration of our request and joyfully anticipate His answer to our needs and yours for provision!

Before I close, I would like to share with you the exciting news that we are expecting a baby! I am 4 ½ months pregnant and we anticipate meeting our little one sometime around the end of September! We are so thrilled that God has given us this great blessing and we pray every day for our baby to be healthy and for ourselves to be godly parents. We would appreciate your prayers in this area, as well!

Starting in May, we will be sending out monthly updates on ministry and prayer requests through email. You can also check our blog in between for more frequent updates on events in our lives and ministry. God is good and we are so eager to see what He will do in the lives of the Latino community here through our lives and service. To Him be all the glory!

In Him,
Shawna and Miguel ><>

Enjoying a brisk winter day in the Northwest

Shawna and Miguel,

 Yes! I want to support you financially in your ministry in Tillicum.
I choose to give $ __________ per month from May 2011 through May 2012

 Count on me to pray for you and your ministry! Please send me any special prayer updates!
My email is ________________________________________________________________

 I would like to support you and the ministry in Tillicum with a one-time gift in the amount of $ __________


Name __________________________________________________________________________________