Fundraising Efforts in 2023 - Updated 4/18/2023

 

One of our goals this year is to raise some additional monthly support for our family. We realize that to sustain our family and work long-term and for the transitions we are going through we need to raise $2,000 in additional monthly support. This will cover costs such as rent and utilities that we were not previously paying, fees that are incurred through our new sponsoring organization that we did not have with Love Guatemala, cost of living increases, savings for future etc.

If you are able to support us monthly or increase your monthly support we would be very grateful! Also if you know of someone who might be interested that we could share with please help us make the connection. 

Giving can be set up through this link: www.rednuevavida.org/ourteam/ben or by mailing check or online bill pay through your bank to Red Nueva Vida Inc., 7010 E. Thompson Rd, Indpls, IN 46239

 

We are currently at about 75% of our monthly goal. Please feel to reach out with any questions or if you have someone you think would like to hear more about our work. benjamin@rednuevavida.org or 317-222-0267.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support!

Kunkel Family Photos

 Levi visited us this last week and we were able to do some family pics while he was here. This is no easy feat with 10 people ;-) We got some good ones though. Check them out below.

Grace was the most challenging but she is smiling good here! Emma was not thrilled ;-)

Still hard to believe God has blessed us with 8 kids!

Here is the whole crew.

The beautiful ladies of the Kunkel family!

The handsome men!

Some fun was had too.

I can't believe how grown up this young man is!

Our young men do a good job taking care of their sisters!

Dedication of Emma Jane

 "And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord. And he worshiped the Lord there." 1 Samuel 1:26-28

We are so grateful for the children God has blessed us with! Many call us crazy (definitely some truth there ;-) for having so many kids, but they are all gifts form the Lord (Psalm 127). And although life can be hectic, crazy, and challenging, it is a joy too. We are trying to raise our kids to love, know, and follow Jesus. We want them to be focused on one thing: The Glory of God being made known among all nations. "For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the Lord." Habakkuk 2:14.

We know that our kids belong to God and has loaned them to us to love, raise, and send into the world to make a difference for Him and His name. So we always early on publicly dedicate our children to God. I love the story of Hannah who prayed for years and years before God gave her a child and she then dedicated him back to the Lord. Although different in our case, we want all people to know that we are committed to raising our kids to love Jesus and be his disciples and then make disciples of all nations. (Matthew 28:18-20) This brings other around us in our community to pray and help us in this endeavor. As someone once said...it takes a village to raise a kid.

It was special that we were able to do this dedication with another couple that we have discipled. They/we prayed for over 8 years for them to have a baby. The Lord gave them a baby boy just 11 days before Emma was born. His name is Selvin.

Please pray with us for sweet baby Selvin. Also we are grateful after many prayers for a baby girl we now have 3 baby girls! Pray for Jennifer and our family in this challenging and joyful time of infancy. May God be glorified in and through our family so that all may know of His Name and Glory!

We are also grateful Ben's Mom could be here for this special day!

Transition Update for the Kunkel Family

 

It seems as if our family is always in some sort of transitions, such is life huh? But these days are bringing some pretty big changes to us as a family. My goal is to share major changes we are in the midst of or going to be entering soon so that you can pray for us more specifically. Thanks for partnering with us in prayer in this season!

Here are some of the big changes happening for us:

• New Baby - Yes we are having another baby girl. Jennifer is due September 23rd. Please pray for safe rest of pregnancy, healthy baby, safe delivery. Pray for strength and wisdom as we guide our older kids and take care of 3 younger ones at the same time.

• Transition from Love Guatemala to New Life Network - I hope you have already seen one of our communications here or a video here about this. But if not we announced about a month ago that we are transitioning out of Love Guatemala to focus more on developing a network of churches here in Guatemala. We are not leaving Guatemala just switching focus. We will still support Katy as she takes over the leadership but from the background to give way for her to lead. Please pray for all the details in this transition. Pray for Ben, Carlos and Katy. We are very excited about this but there are still a lot of details to be worked out for this transition.

• Transition to a new home - Another transition that we will be making later this year or early next year is to move out of the Love Guatemala facilities where we have been living for almost 7 years. Please pray that we can find just the right place for our family at the right price. Also pray for additional funds that need to be raised for this move.

• Transition of New Life Church to Carlos - We have come to an exciting place in our first church plant to transition our church to be led by Carlos Lopez. On September 5th we are installing and commissioning Carlos as Pastor who along with his wife Thelma and the leadership team we have formed will be leading our first church in the New Life Network, Guatemala. Pray for Carlos, Telma and the team in this transition.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support for our family!

Jennifer's Birthday

 This past weekend we celebrated Jennifer's birthday. We are grateful for her life and ministry. She is a big blessing to many. Please pray for her in her last few months of her pregnancy that she would have strength. We are excited about all the Lord has in store for our growing family. 

Happy Birthday Jennifer!!

Easter and Sofia's Birthday

 

We had a great Easter as I hope all of you did. We had our own family good Friday service with Jake and Joel leading us in worship. (Sorry about the bad picture)

We had a great time celebrating on Sunday with our church here and also took a few family pics that you can see below.

We also celebrated Sofia's 4th birthday on April 1st. 

Birthdays and Anniversaries and more Kunkel Family Updates

 

Jennifer celebrated a birthday in late July. We had lots of chocolate cake (her favorite) and spoiled her a bit. She is an amazing mom, wife, lady, friend etc to so many. We are super grateful for her!

We had some fun and got her a cane for her birthday that she is holding here but hard to see. Luke escaped this pic as usual. 

We also got to go our for our 22nd anniversary. This was a special treat after 4 plus months of not being able to go out. I am grateful for this lady and our marriage. 

We also got to take the kids to Mcd for the first time in a long time.

Jake does a great job taking care of the girls. They love to go outside and swing!

This was a family worship time together with our friend Yeison.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support!

Jake's Birthday!

Yesterday we celebrate Jake's 14th Birthday! It is hard to believe he is 14. It is true what everyone says about how time flies. Seems like we blinked and he went from baby to 14. We are so grateful for Jake who is a kind and caring young man. He is sweet and helpful around the house and with his new baby sister.

This year Jake has learned to play the keyboard and is helping almost every week with our times of singing and worship at our church.

Chocolate cake!

Apparently one of his brothers tipped him off to one of his gifts but he tried to act surprised ;-)

More video games...

A little bowling to celebrate!

Grace, baptisms, teams and more

It has been a busy summer so far. Here are a few of the happenings with us, our family and ministry.

Grace turned 7 months last week! Here are a few pics:

We had some baptisms recently at New Life Church. We are so proud of Katie, Walter and Julio.

We also had a couples event at our church to strengthen the marriages. Here are a few pics from this event:

Also here are a few pics from some of the teams we have had this summer and some of the fun stuff we could do with the kids:

Thanks for your prayers and support to help us continue to bring change and hope in Guatemala through the gospel and vocational training!