12/12/2023 Merry Christmas! / Duggins Family eUp-date
MEDICAL UPDATES: We continue to rejoice that Eric's cancer scans indicate that his situation remains "stable". At the end of February he will reach the two year point since his radiation treatment and if all continues the same, with the March scan we should be able to move to scans every 6 months instead of every 3 months. We are grateful for your prayers. Dee also was having some significant medical treatments. Over the last few years the pain in Dee's legs had increased and even the weakness, making it a challenge to walk significant distances. In October and November, she had out-patient surgery on veins in her legs, removing several veins where the values had stopped working. One leg was done in October and then the next one in November. She had almost immediate relief from the aches in her legs at night and she is now working on increasing her stamina in walking. We are very grateful for the improvement she has experienced.
We continue also with our ministry as the Regional Directors of the Americas. We have 12 family units under our care that are working or based in the countries of the western hemisphere. We call each of those families approximately once a month and we usually do an annual visit with them. We may have some additional families added to our region in 2024, so our time dedicated to the the Regional Director's ministry is increasing. We are very blessed and excited about our participation as RDs. We have been able to speak into strategy and we have had to continue to learn about new mission outreaches in a variety of new cultures where our affiliates are working. In April, New International is holding a "All Mission Conference" during a cruise from Rome to Greece and back. A major donor(s) have made this conference possible which will bring most NI missionaries together. At the end of the conference, the Regional Directors will be holding a 2 day meeting in the area of Rome before returning to our ministry locations. Up-coming Events: 15 December / Flight to Queretaro, Mexico 17 December / Eric preaching at Expansion Church in Queretaro, Mexico 18-19 December / Evaluation and Planning Retreat, Anchor Church, Queretaro, Mexico 3-4 January / Evaluation and Planning Retreat, La Viña Church, Queretaro, Mexico 15-22 January /Merida, Yucatan, Mexico 17-19 January / Evaluation and Planning Retreat, Expansion Church, Merida, Yucatan 20 January / Visit with Affiliate of New International 21 January / Eric preaching at Expansion Church. Merida, Yucatan. 22 January / Return to Queretaro February (Dates still to be set) / Visit with NI Affiliate in Pachuca and Visit with Church Leaders February / Selling of furniture and decorations of house in Queretaro. Return of house to owner. March 1 / Return to Fort Myers, FL Prayer Requests:-
- Thanks for continue prayers for Eric and protection related to the cancer. - Thanks for praying for our travels, to Mexico and in Mexico. - Thanks for praying as we make our transition out of the house in Queretaro to our new phase of ministry in Mexico. - Be praying for Sergio and Holly as they look at Home Ministry and reworking the Church Planting strategies. 8/16/2023 Duggins Family eUp-date / August 2023
7/12/2023 e-Update Duggins Family - July 2023Greetings from Queretaro, Mexico! While in the US we participate in the administrative teams of the new Mexican church plants, and also coach leaders through zoom. But our personal times here in Mexico are so important. Since we have arrived, we’ve been very encouraged to see the advances in the IMPACTO churches here in Queretaro, Mexico. The newest church here, Expansion Church Queretaro is expanding their worship center so they can continue growing. They have been meeting less than one year and have already doubled in size. They had a group from the US helping here this last week doing some neighborhood outreach and helping with the remodeling. 5th Anniversary of La Viña was Sunday, June 25. Seeing our first church here reach this hurdle is a joy. They recounted their history of obstacles, victories and their vision to grow and share God’s word. Eric will have the privilege to inspire them in August with a message on sharing the Gospel with those living in their circle of influence. So many new believers, faithful workers and of course new challenges. Our newest church plant, in the Yucatan, The Expansion MID church has really had a miracle happen. Because of varios trials in their lead up time their launch money had been spent in moving all the families to Merida and setting up of their homes. But God has been extremely faithful. As new contacts began gathering to study God’s word, they knew a worship area would be needed because homes are quite small for gathering groups. Tony, the pastor there came in contact with an owner of a stand alone Party Room, that had chairs and tables, a kitchen, air conditioning and a small courtyard with a small pool. Amazingly the owners were happy to rent this to a church for a very reasonable monthly price. This relieved the church from all the set up coasts! Eric had the privilege of preaching there this last Sunday, July 9 Still to come, we have a trip to Pachuca where Eric will preach at the Jubilee Church and we will visit with many faithful church leaders growing the churches there to continue impacting Pachuca for Christ. It is so encouraging for us to see, the youth of our early churches now participating and leading churches there. An urgent need has accrued as is usually the case when the Gospel avances. Between inflation, the dollar losing strength to the peso and increasing rent prices our churches are all facing sever financial shortfalls. On the positive side. The churches are growing and they are searching for creative solutions. If you are able to give a special offering o increase your current gifts a bit it would be deeply appreciated. We have been blessed that our son Andrew has been with us here in Mexico for about 10 days and will be heading back to Indiana on July 13. He has really enjoyed reconnecting in Mexico after several years of not being able to visit.
We are grateful for you prayers and for your gifts that make it possible for us to continue ministering with IMPACTO and with New International as the Regional Directors of the Americas. We are in the middle of budgeting and ministry plans that begin next month with the new facial year at New International and we are reminded of so many faithful partners that we have had over these many years. Looking ahead...with joy and faith. Blessings and love always, Eric & Dee 6/19/2023 e-Update June 2023Greetings in Jesus.
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Eric has his next CT Scan on August 9 and if all goes well and the results are "clean" it is very likely that he will have a 6 month schedule instead of every 3 months. He is feeling good and is even starting to get back to his walking routine and is starting to loose weight that had moved a bit upwards. We will do a small update after the August 9 scan. |
It looks like we are on our way to Florida. After a lot of conversation and prayer we have decided to move our family base to Fort Myers, Florida. In conversations with our up-line at N.I., there was an interest to have us involved in more projects with International Operations at New International and it was encouraged that we consider the move to be closer to the CGO. We also were concerned at how inactive we tended to be during the Indiana winters and especially Dee would have more discomfort in her legs from the cold. I guess 40+ years in Tropics and Sub-Tropics changes the "old body". We are presently packing the house after making arrangements with a moving company and our house will be for sale starting on August 1. We would ask that you pray for a smooth and timely process! We also put money down on a house in north Fort Myers and that is being built presently. It is amazing all the moving parts involved in this move but we feel the Lord is in it and we would be grateful if you could also keep this process in your prayers. |
In June we had to make an unscheduled trip to Mexico to deal with an emergency with one of our families there. Though we thought we might be there a month, the situation became more stable and clear and we returned to Indiana after two weeks. Be praying for the IMPACTO Latino ministry, Sergio and Holly Alvarado will be moving the ministry forward as the only full-time family presently on the field. We continue to encourage and counsel with them and plan to be with them in December for the year end meetings and planing retreats for IMPACTO and the church plants.
Eric will be in Romania for 8 days during the middle of July to accompany a New International missionary and to observe his ministry there with youth and young adults, many of which are graduates of State orphanages and others that are still residents in those institutions. Jeremy Beford is also helping with refugee relief which is a growing problem in Romania because of war in Ukraine. |
Though our responsibilities as the Americas Regional Directors takes a good portion of our ministry time, we continue to be part of the IMPACTO Team ministry. We are focused presently on the formation and on-going functioning of the Management Teams for each of the New Church Plants. These management teams function as Elders for each church until an Eldership can be chosen. We are serving on the four teams, one of which we lead and two other are in the process for forming. A lot is done by Zoom and other electronic methods, but we are always looking forward to the in-person meeting times. A very important time will be December and January, when the Evaluation and Planning retreats are held for the church by their leadership, when we will be in Mexico. We also continue to be involved in fundraising projects for the church plants.
Next year, Eric will be traveling to several locations related to our ministry as Regional Directors. Though dates are not set, trips will be planned for Haiti and South Africa as well as Council Bluffs, Buffalo, Athens, GA, Phoenix and Los Angeles. All these locations in the United States are with NI Affiliates that are based in the US and have ministries in other international locations or are working with ethnic groups in their US location. The variety of ministries are a challenge and often involve a learning curve which we really enjoy, but we have been blessed to be pastorally involved with these families and as their up-line at New International.
ON THE CALENDAR:
20-29 July / Trip to Romania.
1-8 August / House Showing. 19 August / Admin Meeting Expansion Merida, Yucatan.
1 or 2 September / Moving company packs and moves to storage the INDY house.
16-24 September / New International Reginal Directors meetings and Retreat in Lisbon, Portugal.
27 September / Admin Meeting La Viña Church.
29 September / Admin Meeting the Anchor Church.
26-30 September / Our move to Florida. We will be staying on Campus of New International until our house is closed on in Mid-November.
25 October / Admin Meeting the Anchor Church.
27 October / Admin Meeting La Viña Church
5-10 November / Eric will be participating at the Tri-Annual Mission Week at Mountain Christian Church in Maryland.
24 November / Admin Meeting the Anchor Church
29 November / Admin Meeting La Viña Church
13 December / We will return to Mexico for Christmas and for the year-end planning meetings for the new churches.
20-21 December / Planning meeting for the Anchor Christian Church, Queretaro.
3-4 January / Planning Meeting for the La Viña Christian Church, Queretaro.
10-11 January (?) / Tentative dates for the Planning meetings for the new church in Merida, Yucatan.
Prayer Requests:
- Eric's Trip to Romania, Safety and a good introduction the the ministry.
- Smooth and timely sale of the INDY house.
- Be praying for Andrew, as he also going through transition, again. He has been with us since returning from Minneapolis. He is moving to an apartment in Martinsville, IN at the first of August.
- We are grateful for you prayers. Be praying for our Lord's good mercy as Eric has his next CT Scan. We are praying for a "clean" scan.
Eric & Dee Duggins
The Duggins have been missionaries for more than 40 years, the last 38 in Mexico. They are currently Regional Director of the Americas with New International and Directors of Development with IMPACTO Latino.
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PRAYfor this ministry and the new church planters that are raised up for kingdom work in Latin America.
Our ministry depends on partnership with churches and individuals in the United States and around the world. We regularly ask for prayer and send prayer updates to hundreds of committed prayer partners. |
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