Joel Thomas Kunkel

It's hard to believe that Joel, our 4th boy is now a highschool graduate and getting ready to move on. In less than a month he will be moving to Kansas City to work and take some classes at the college which Levi just graduated from. Levi and Alanna will still be there for 3-4 years more since Levi is doing a masters degree. So Joel will be close to them but living on his own, working and going to school.

Here are some pictures from his recent graduation party. Thanks to those who came out!

We are grateful for all who have poured into him over the years! We are proud of him and excited for what the Lord has in store.

Here a few ways you can be praying for him:

• For a reliable vehicle
• Permanent place to live once there
• To get settled once there
• Community

Thanks as always for loving and praying for our family!

Jacob Joined the Space Force

A week ago we sent off another son, Jacob Daniel. Over the last year or so we have discussed his options moving forward. He is a very gifted young man. He can learn, do, fix, play about anything he puts his mind to. He enjoys working on computers and has been building and selling desktops for about a year or so. He has learned to play the keys and a little guitar. He wasn't keen on the idea of college full-time at least at this point and he liked the options the air force and space force gave him. He applied to both branches and was accepted into them both. He did very well on his ASVAB (Armed Services Test) which helped him get into the Space Force which is fairly selective. It is a new branch formed in 2019. He was the first recruit from his recruiting office to go to the Space Force.

He left for Basic Training on June 25th. So he is just beginning his second week there. It is held at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. This is the same place Ben went through basic training when he was in the Air Force. This has been a difficult season for us sending off two sons especially for Momma. Please pray for Jennifer and our family. Pray for Jacob as he goes through basic training and then to technical school in Mississippi. He will be working on cyber systems in the Space Force. (He doesn't know more specifics yet on what he will do exactly) He won't be able to visit for about 6 months. Below are some pictures of our last few days with him.

Dinner with him the night before he shipped off.

He is so great with the girls. They miss him a lot!

This was after his swearing in ceremony.

Dad in front of Air Force shield and Jake in front of Space Force shield.

Swearing In. If anyone is interested in watching the video you can see it here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1145648569998318&ref=sharing

We are so proud of Jacob and excited for what God has in store for him. Please join us in praying for him!

Sofia's new school and other fun times with the family..

 In our transition from Guatemala we have experienced many new things. One of which has been new schools at least for the girls and more particulary, Sofia. Jennifer was doing homeschool with Grace and Sofia the last few years, really more of pre-school than school. This last fall, Sofia was enrolled in an online school here in Indiana. Sofia has had some challenges in learning some of which is a result of being exposed in her first few years of life to 3 different cultures and languages. So after attempting to do the online school, we felt it might be better for her (and Jennifer) to go to a brick and mortar school. She started this week and has loved it so far. Thanks for praying for her!

She loves riding the school bus!

We took her the first morning and met her teacher and some classmates. She has loved the first few days!

Here are a few other fun pictures and times spent together. The boys and Ben are still trying to get at least one time out per month together. In January they were able to go to a Pacer's game. Time is getting short on all our boys being in the house as Levi gets married in May and Jake will most likely be leaving sometime this summer for the Air Force.

We have been trying to spend some alone time with Emma on Wednesday nights when we drop the other kids off for youth/kids activities at church. She loves to go to McD and get an ice cream cone.

This was the boys and Alanna at the Pacer's game. Not sure why the crazy face from Caleb ;-)

Re-entry: Moving Back to Your Passport Country

One question we have heard a lot recently is: "How is the transition going?" So here are my thoughts on how it is going. Not really a good answer, but my thoughts on transition and re-entry anyway.

We wrote about here how we have decided that for this season the Lord has us back in the USA leading the church planting efforts in the US with New Life Network. This means us re-entering the culture in which we lived for so many years and yet so much has changed over the last 11 years since we have been in Guatemala.

I (Ben) have been taking a lot of time to ponder, reflect and work through this re-entry process. I am using a transition coach to help me work through some of the challenges related to this. It is a hard process to talk about or express especially to those who have never lived abroad and "re-entered". It is even different for each member of our family and probably has been most challenging for me. 

There are feelings of grief, confusion and excitement all at the same time sometimes. It is a weird feeling for the country you grew up to not feel like home. Indeed, there has not really been a "home" since we moved to Guatemala and not sure there ever will be again, but maybe that is the way we are all to feel as followers of Jesus since we are citizens of heaven. 

One book I was recently reviewing was comparing re-entry of  spacecrafts to that of missionaries re-entering there countries of birth. It is more dangerous for spacecrafts to re-enter then it is "to be orbiting 135 miles above earth at 118,00 miles per hour." This is often the case for missionaries. The entering into mission field and re-entering into passport country is most difficult. This might be a little overstated, but it definetly is challenging.

I write all this so you can be praying as we continue to "re-enter". There are lots of uncertains, decisions to be made, funds to be raised etc. In one sense, we are moving from one field to another as we will continue to minister in a culture that is not our own while living in a culture that is at least somewhat our own. That does not even seem correct as I write it because so much has changed in the last 11 years.

Thanks for praying and supporting us in this time of transition!

Our Calling to Serve back in the USA

 

Calling to Serve through New Life Network in the United States:

It has been quite a year. We came back in December of last year for a year long home assignment, with the full intention of returning to Guatemala at the end of this year. But God is redirecting our steps. (In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9) We were invited by the president of our network to consider taking a role here in the USA of Country Coordinator. This is the same role I had in Guatemala. After much prayer, fasting and counsel, we decided that this was the direction that the Lord was leading us as a family. This was not an easy decision and still there are days in which we struggle with this, but we know that ultimately in this season the USA is where God wants us to serve.

Work in Guatemala:

What does this mean for the work in Guatemala? Last year, I completely transitioned out of Love Guatemala as director and that work has been going amazing under the leadership of Katy Lopez. They are going to have the largest graduating class ever this year and have a goal of 400 students next year. They finished up this year with just under 300 students. Ben is continuing to serve on the Board of Directors and giving ongoing coaching/suppport to Katy.

The work in the network has been led by Carlos Lopez in our absence and he has done a great job in leading and continuing the work and even improving it in our absence. He and the team have planted our first daughter church this year, and are preparing 3 more communities for church plants in the next couple of years. His leadership and development has helped in making the decision to stay here in the U.S. possible. Ben will continue to travel back and forth for a while to Guatemala as we take a year to transition Guatemala to the leadership of Carlos Lopez. Please pray for both Carlos and Katy and their teams and ministries!

Our New Role:

As mentioned above, Ben will continue to serve with New Life Network as a Country Coordinator. What does this mean? He will serve the existing 4 churches that we have in the USA through support and coaching. He will look for new church planters and opportunties to plant churches amongst the Latino Population. There are over 60 million Hispanics in the USA so the opportunities are enormous. The goal is to expand the work to 150 disciples in our discipleship route,  20 leaders/church planters trained, and 10 churches in the network in the USA over the next 3 years.

Ben will also serve as director of global missions for new life network. He will work to mobilize and train those within New Life Network Global. The goal is to mobilize and train 100 missionaries over the next 10 years. We hope to start at least 1 missionary training center in the next 3 years.

Family Transition:

As you can imagine this transition to live here in the USA is a challenging one, after living abroad for over 10 years. We still need to find permanent housing, vehicles, decide on education for kids etc. Please pray for these decisions and for our family as we process this big change.

Support Raising:

The role Ben has in the USA is still a role in which we will need to raise our own financial support. The cost of living in the USA is significanly higher so please pray and consider supporting our family if you can. We need to raise an additional $2500 per month for housing, insurance, vehicles, food and other ongoing monthly needs. You can set up a monthly gift here if you desire: www.rednuevavida.org/ourteam/ben or mail checks to this address: Red Nueva Vida Inc., 7010 East Thompson Rd., Indianapolis, IN 46239 (Attn: Ben Kunkel Support) 

Thank you so much for your ongoing prayers and support for our family! Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions: benjamin@rednuevavida.org

Transition Dinner, Prayer and Celebration

We had a special weekend celebrating Katy and what God has done in her life. We had several guests down to celebrate with us including representatives from our board of directors. It was a special time. 

Amy (LG board president) giving words of encouragement and praying for Katy

Katy's parents giving words and praying for her. 

Ben giving words of encouragement. We all believe in her so much and can't wait to see how God uses her in this new season of Love Guatemala. Please pray with us for Katy!

Time of prayer over Katy officially installing her as the new general director.

Amy encouraging the LG team.

Katy had a special gift for Amy that was a painting of the first school in Magdalena.

Ben got to share some words with the staff and express how proud he was of them all. They had all shared how they arrived at LG and how God was working in their lives. Almost all of them shared how much they had grown in their faith in their time at LG. It was a special time.

They all then circled Ben to pray for him as he transitions out of LG.

Thanks for all your prayers during this time of transition!

Love Guatemala Transition

 

We had a special time this week with all of our staff communicating more with them about the transition of leadership from Carlos and Ben to Katy and her new team. We shared the story of Love Guatemala and how God has been faithful for over 10 years. It is quite a God story!

We challenged Katy and the team in this new season of change and transition to draw closer to the Lord and glorify Him by giving our all to Him through serving at Love Guatemala.

We had a special time of prayer for Katy were we prayed the prayer of David from 1 Chronicles 29:10-19 over her.

Please continue to pray for Katy as she assumes this new role.

 

Please pray for all of our staff during this time of transition!

Kunkel Family Financial Transition to New Organization

Hi everyone! This is an email we sent to all our supporters about our financial support transition for our family. This explains a little more about everything in this phase of our transition. Thanks for your prayers and support for our family! We need to raise an additional 10% to cover extra expenses in this new phase. Would you consider supporting our family? You can give here: https://www.rednuevavida.org/ourteam/ben Thank you! Check out all the details below.

 

Thanks so much for your ongoing prayers and support for our family! We are super grateful for your support over the last several years! We can’t be here serving in Guatemala without you. As you know we are in transition from Love Guatemala to New Life Network. We are excited and grateful for all the ways God is providing for this transition. God is raising up and providing leadership for Love Guatemala. We will still be supporting and helping Katy Lopez (New Director) and the LG team in whatever ways possible. 

One of the parts of our transition is transitioning all of our financial supporters to the new organization we are working with called Red Nueva Vida or New Life Network in English. Check out their website here for more information: https://www.rednuevavida.org/english  As we have shared previously our role will be focused on church planting, training pastors and planters, and providing coaching for these Pastors. You can read more about our role at New Life Network at this link: https://www.rednuevavida.org/ourteam/ben

So we would like to ask you to transition your financial support from Love Guatemala to Red Nueva Vida in this month of March if possible. You can do this in different ways:

• Online: https://www.rednuevavida.org/ourteam/ben

• By Check: Mail Check to Red Nueva Vida Inc., 7010 East Thompson Road, Indianapolis, IN, 46239. **please mark as Ben Kunkel Support**

(Red Nueva Vida, Inc. is a non-profit organization with 501 (c) (3) registration number: 83-0944963 in the United States of America. All donations received are tax deductible, as applicable.)

(If you have regular recurring donations through Love Guatemala you can email Tanya Spanglar at tanyakspangler@gmail.com or call her at 260-444-7943 to cancel these donations)

We have experienced some increased costs in these days as many have (ie. milk and gas over $5 a gallon) so we are trying to raise an additional 10% of support in this transition to cover the support fee we have through New Life Network and also some of our increased cost of living. If you are able to increase your support by 10 or even 5% in this transition we would be very grateful!

Here is a quick 3 minute video with some more information that involves the newest beautiful baby addition and family update on our ever-growing family ;-)

Thanks again so much for your prayers and support! Please let us know if you have any questions.

The Kunkel Family

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” 

Philippians 1:3-5

New Year at Love Guatemala

 We are grateful for another year to serve the Lord through Love Guatemala. As you may know we are in the process to transition out of Love Guatemala to serve full-time in church planting. But we will continue to support in some ways the work of LG. We are excited to see the team God is putting together to lead this organization into the future. As you know Katy Lopez will be the new Director. She is doing a great job and LG will be in great hands with her.

We have started classes this year and we are over 200 students. The Guatemalan government still has some restrictions in place, but we are able to have in-person classes at least half of the time and the other half we will continue virtually. Enrollment nationally seems to be down unfortunately because of the pandemic. It seems that kids got used to not going to school and don't want to return and/or they are tired of virtual learning. It is sad to see the affect this has had.

We have begun a new program that you can read more about here. But basically it is a high school program that people over 18 can take and then go on to college. We are excited about this opportunity!

Most of our classes are happening on Saturday. We have the high school program, we continue with the middle school program and English on Saturdays. We also have the primary program on Saturday and English is also being offered throughout the week. Our high school program is also offered on Fridays.

Please pray with us for these students, our staff and leadership including the Board of Directors. Pray that each of these students (and staff) will take next steps in their spiritual journey. Also pray for the transition of leadership.

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!