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KAREN SPEAKS FROM THE HEART

: Sometimes it takes longer than I expect to process what I’ve experienced: understand what happened, name the feelings, feel them, and move forward into a new normal. I’m still processing my health scare of April 2024, and I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned. A year ago, we shared with you that I was diagnosed with massive blood clots in my right leg and both lungs. My healthcare providers didn’t explain much at the time, but now that the crisis is over, every new doctor looks at me like I’m a ghost, clearly surprised and unsettled to see me alive. Eventually I understood that I had not “almost died”, but I “was dying” then in the ICU. Clearly God reached down, intervened, and gave me my life back.

Of course, I praise Him for that healing and the opportunity to continue to serve Him by teaching leaders about child safety! But there’s more. I was in the ICU for 3 days, waiting until the new meds reached a therapeutic level. Just like John Bunyan found prison a good place to get his writing done, I’ve usually found hospital stays to be a great way to get work done! But I hadn’t planned this to be a long visit, so I didn’t bring any work with me. Many of our family came and kept me company one day, and Gary was there as long as he could be, but there was still a lot of free time.

Apparently, the ICU was slow during my stay, so my nurses had time to hang around more than usual. And each one of them was a Christian. They instantly connected with me and wanted to know about our missionary work, especially my work in child safety. They went out of their way to make me as comfortable as possible on total bed rest and looked for excuses to come in and rejoice in our shared love for our God. It really felt like one long praise and worship service! One nurse even asked me to share how we knew God was calling us into missions, because she was feeling God tugging on her heart to do the same.

At the time, I was just surprised to be surrounded by fellow Christians and enjoyed it. But now that I know the full extent of my health situation, it’s clear that there was a lot more going on. God knew I was dying. He was fixing the problem, but He made sure to be there IN PERSON, in the form of His Body, so I would be well cared for, protected, and loved during such a vulnerable time. God knew ahead of time and went to a lot of trouble to organize staff scheduling and who-knows-what-else to literally be there with me bodily, by surrounding me with His Body, members of His Church. As I look back, His presence with us was so real, it was a sacred time.

But that wasn’t the end of the lesson. By September, I was well enough to travel with my friend Nancy to the Getty Sing! Conference in Nashville. Most of you know that my college training was in Bible and music. I treasure God’s Word, and music is one of the most significant ways I commune with Him. A Getty conference is a lovely blend of both! I treasured the time singing God’s praises with 4000 people, a professional band, and orchestra! But more significantly, if you take a quick survey of the Gettys’ music, you’ll notice that most of their songs address our own death and resurrection. The words are expressions of faith in God’s sovereignty and wisdom, and the hope we have in Him. So for 3 days, just as I was starting to grasp how close to death I’d been, and how suddenly it had happened, I found myself singing song after song filled with words of faith in God’s victory over death: “Sing the vict’ry of the Lamb” , “I know how the story ends, we’ll be with You until the end”, “Now and ever we confess, Christ our hope in life and death”. (If you look at “Christus Victor” on YouTube, it was recorded there with all of us singing in the background. The other two songs I quoted are Shane and Shane’s “You’ve Already Won” and the Gettys’ “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death”.)

But there’s more! Gary wrote a commentary on 1 Corinthians, and lately he’s preached several sermons on chapter 15, the resurrection chapter. Last Sunday, preaching about it in Ocean City, New Jersey, Gary commented that he thinks it’s one of the most important doctrines, and is woefully under-preached. That struck me. My own husband being used of God to continue the lesson He’s teaching me, reinforcing that “everlasting life” means that at Christ’s return, we will all be given our permanent, real body. What joy it will be after death living life in a body with our loved ones in their bodies, enjoying eternity together, wholly body and spirit, in the presence of our God.

God has allowed me to understand what happened to me and taught me to interpret it in the light of the truth of His Gospel. I’m sharing this with you because I suspect you too have experienced very difficult things, and I know God was working behind the scenes during them to sustain you and provide what you needed. I hope you will ask Him to show you how He took care of you, highlight the members of His Body who provided for you, and interpret what happened through the truth of His Word. Then please take some time to praise Him for what He has done for you and worship Him using your own beloved songs, hymns, and spiritual songs.

Blessings! Karen

October 2023 – this is the month we make calculations. Our total support needed is $11,052/month. As of November 1, 2023 we’ll have $10,038 coming in, leaving us with a shortfall of $1014/month. Will 20 individuals pray about supporting us at $50/month?

A Week in the Life of Gary Shogren!

Come away with me on an adventure! This is not an exact 7-day period, but a composite of the things I do in any given week.
 
I Pray. 7pm is my time for prayer, and different days of the week have different themes. Thursday, it’s “Thanksgiving Thursday.” Tuesdays and Wednesdays, close Bible reading and prayer, right now through Ephesians. Along with this: since last year I have a monthly meeting with, not a counselor, but my “spiritual director”. This is an ancient discipline that evangelicals have recently rediscovered.
 
I Read. Quite a lot, actually! I normally read 4-6 books at a time, about half of which are theology books and the other half novels, culture, history.

The Tree of Knowledge sculpture

Among the books I have read, here are my favorites from 2022. My mp3 player reads to me at Planet Fitness. I also run an annual reading club in ancient languages. 2023 it’s (some of the) “Hebrew Poets and Prophets”. We have finished Jeremiah, now we’re in Ezekiel.
 
I Blog. I have two theology blogs, Openeyeourslord.com and Razondelaesperanza.com (“The reason for our hope”). Mondays I open messages and feedback and spend a few hours with them. Questions are almost always in Spanish. They range from, “can you explain the Greek participles in Hebrews 6” (hard one!) to “What do you think of this course about Christian chakras supposedly found in Bible?” (easy to answer!)
 
I Am in Touch with Spain about my New Book! In September, my publisher will come out with a collection of my essays: El Don del Espíritu y su Poder en la Iglesia (The Gift of the Holy Spirit and his Power in the Church). These days I have to answer a few questions from its editor, plus invite a friend to write the Preface. I am also writing the 1 Corinthians section for a new work Spanish, the Culture Study Bible, which will be full of notes on the ancient world. Example: what was the “meat sacrificed to idols”?
 
I Speak at a Conference. It’s 7pm their time, 8pm in Pennsylvania. Leaders of the Bible Society of Argentina had seen a blog post of mine, about the importance of Bible reading in our church meetings. My presentation lasted about an hour. I was pleased that over 300 listened in and we got a good response. I haven’t received the link to that video yet, but here is another, where I speak about 1 Corinthians – start watching at 4:00 minutes.
 

I Assure People I am not Retired. This week I turned 65! And no, we have no plans for retirement. However, one of the reasons we relocated to the US (not retired!): Medicare doesn’t work in Costa Rica but it does work in Pennsylvania.
 
I Teach at ESEPA. This after all is my regular job, my primary “hat”. We just finished off Greek 3 on Wednesday nights. Right now, I’m in my second week of teaching “Exegesis of 1-2 Thessalonians”, in which the students translate both books, analyze their teaching on the End Times, writing a major paper on 3-4 verses of the Greek. This term I am not teaching through Zoom. This not only helps me, but also my students: one is a missionary in West Africa, and our Greek class used to run from midnight to 3am his time.

I translate articles written by Cuban dissidents against the Marxist regime. My main political activism these days is translating articles to English, then uploading them for all the world to read on translatingcuba.com. Here is an older example that I did during the height of COVID. I work under a pseudonym, but I trust you readers not to reveal my secret identity! 🙂
 
Sundays! Half our Sundays we go to our local church; the other Sundays we visit our supporting churches to update them on our work and preach God’s Word. We just saw our old friends at Redeemer Bible Fellowship, north of Philly. When on the road, we listen to a book: right now, it’s Subversive: Christ, Culture, and the Shocking Dorothy L. Sayers by Crystal Downing.
 
Dinner for our anniversary! We just celebrated 43 years. If you can remember when Mount St. Helen’s erupted, that was the weekend we got married.
 
Editing a Bible translation. This is my second major “hat”. You can read here about the SUN version for deaf non-readers. [SUN New Testament will allow millions worldwide to read the Bible – Metro Voice News] I was asked to do the final edit of the entire Old Testament – all 925 chapters – before it is published; working part-time, it took me about two years. I just finished Job. When I finish 2 Chronicles and the OT will be finished! As I work today, Yo-Yo Ma is playing a cello adaptation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

Continue reading →

Update from Karen Shogren and
Levanta La Voz ministry

Hello friend!
 As you know, I am a missionary with WorldVenture and the Bible Fellowship Board of Missions. Several years ago, I founded Levanta La Voz (the Spanish phrase for “Raise Your Voice”, taken from Proverbs 31:8-9), an international ministry dedicated to training faith communities to prevent and respond to sexual harm, both as individuals and as organizations.
 
You are getting this email because you have helped me with this project, expressed interest in staying updated, or I thought you might want to hear more about the work I am doing. I plan to send out regular email newsletters from Levanta La Voz, so if you do not want to continue receiving them, please let me know and I’ll take you off the list.
 
I want you to know about two upcoming trainings so that you can participate and help me spread the word. That is an easy way you can raise your own voice in the fight against sexual harm.

Continue reading →

OUR TRIP TO COSTA RICA! ON VIDEO!

We returned to Costa Rica for the first time since we relocated in November 2021. It was to celebrate ESEPA Seminary’s 40th anniversary. This included Karen speaking twice; and all the former presidents spoke over the course of the week – Gary gave a speech on the theme “The Christian Leader and Lifelong Learning” (click HERE to read it). Then Gary marched with graduation on Friday night. Plus, lots of time with old friends! And very specially – much time with Rosie and of course Sammy. Yes, that’s Sammy in the picture. 15 years old and he is now taller than Gary! They are thriving in western Costa Rica, where Sammy is in high school and also studying art.

Care to see some pictures and videos of our trip? Click HERE and see a collage.

OUR FINANCIAL STATUS
Thanks so much for your regular support and prayer for our work!
Due to inflation, etc., etc., we have about a $1000/month shortfall in our pledged giving. We encourage our friends to be regular backers of our work. You can call WorldVenture at (720) 283-2000 or simply click HERE. Each new regular donor will get one of Gary’s books in the mail, either his book Iceberg Ahead: when God’s workers collide with cold, hard reality as a pdf file, or his 1 Corinthians or 1-2 Thessalonians commentary in hard copy. IF YOU HAVE BECOME A NEW DONOR IN NOVEMBER THROUGH TODAY, CONTACT GARY at gsshogren@gmail.com and your gift will be on the way. Many thanks!

PRAYER

• Gary is working away on the SUN Old Testament. Please pray that he finishes – he is about 75% done and later will move on to a second edition of the New Testament. Learn all about it HERE.
• Pray that our support level comes up to 100%
• Pray for Karen’s program… especially that God would provide enough students so that we can offer it at ESEPA.  If you know of anyone who might be interested in a 9-month training program for church leaders in Spanish, please share this link with them: 
• We will see our friends at Perryville Bible Church, Rhode Island, Sunday Feb 12

Our calendar is flexible for the much of 2023 – we would love to visit our churches, particularly those we haven’t seen in a while. Contact Karen at keshogren@gmail.com
 
Blessings!

Hi friends!

About GARY:

You may remember that this year Gary was given permission by the Seminary to spend half his time on the SUN project of Wycliffe Associates. He is working his way through the entire Old Testament as a final editor, checking for consistency of phraseology. It’s taking up a lot of time, energy and thought. You can imagine that it comes up a lot over meals or drives too! It’s interesting work from an intellectual perspective, but wonderful to know that it is spiritually meaningful.

Videos about SUN that you might find interesting:

SUN Program at a glance – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LPosz4RTUA

What is SUN? – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCCSZsfZ-Xc

About KAREN

Thank you for praying for my new focus on social media! God has put it on my heart for some time now that it would be important to develop a strong social media presence with my new ministry Levanta La Voz. Since my entire focus is to train church leaders how to combat sexual abuse, the information about what we offer has to get in their hands. And we’ve been told many times that social media is the place to communicate with younger generations. Since the ESEPA seminary did not have enough students to run my program this year, it has given me time to work on this new part of the project, and with the help of my coach Nikole Hahn from WorldVenture, it is finally in progress.

I know that many of you use social media, but you may not know that your involvement can make a big difference in our ability to spread the word. If you will get involved on my social media and encourage family members and friends to do the same, my posts will actually be visible to more people in the general public. (I honestly do not understand how it all works, but I know that it’s true.)

These are the specific actions that will help me:

1. Look up my social media sites and click “Like” or “Follow” (whichever appears on the site)
2. Read the posts and respond somehow – give a reaction such as “like” or “love”
3. Leave a comment on posts that you appreciate – it can be a question, an observation, or something else related to what is in the post. I will respond to you, and hopefully we can generate some interesting and helpful conversations
4. Share posts with other people that you think may find them helpful, especially leadership in your church
5. Encourage friends, family members and church leadership to follow our pages. I am writing things that will be helpful to teens too, and they love to find new places to follow! PLEASE encourage the teens in your life to take a look.

Levanta La Voz means “Raise Your Voice” in Spanish and is a quote from Proverbs 31:8-9, where we are told to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. That is what this ministry is all about – speaking up for those who cannot speak up about sexual abuse. It is pervasive in our society today and it seems that most men and women in our world are hurting from some sort of sexual assault in their past. As representatives of Jesus Christ, we should be ready to call sexual harm evil and we should be ready to apply the Gospel to those who are hurting because of it.

I have English and Spanish social media pages with the exact same material.

I also have Facebook and Instagram pages with the exact same material.

These are the exact locations:

• Facebook.com/LevantaLaVozEnglish
• Facebook.com/LevantaLaVozEspanol
• Instagram.com/LevantaLaVozEnglish
• Instagram.com/Levanta_La_Voz_Espanol

I, Karen, will be flying to Manila, Philippines, to co-teach a course for the Child Safety and Protection Network. This is an exciting opportunity to prepare new workers in the field of child safety, as well as collaborate with coworkers.

I am also planning to teach my 8-week course starting in mid-September. This is a free course, meeting by Zoom for a 3-hour lesson each week. It is designed to prepare church workers for how to prevent sexual abuse and respond appropriately if it happens. Why is this important for church workers? Because everything we do reflects what Jesus Christ would do, and that means we must be safe places and safe people. Because we can all use more information about how to make our churches safe locations, how to help our workers be safe people, how to train our parents to protect and help our children, and how to help our children learn safe behavior.

Gary checks off an important box!

This month it’s Gary’s turn to share: This week, Editorial CLIE of Barcelona published my commentary on 1 Corinthians, Spanish edition. To give you an idea of what this means to me: I began the project in 2003. We were still fairly fresh to the mission field. All four kids were still living in Costa Rica. After many rewrites and negotiations, it was picked up by the good people at CLIE. Available on Amazon!



Instead of just writing a few words to describe it, we will go high-tech and show you a video of me talking about it! Click HERE.

To pick up a copy in English, it’s available on Logos Bible Software (click HERE) and, at some future date, it will come out on Amazon.

SPAM Warning – some of you might receive our newsletters in your Spam box. Please check that they are “safe” for your Inbox.

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ESEPA Graduation!
Gary again: On Friday night we had graduation. A number of master’s degree students with whom I have worked for years got their degrees – for example, here I am with Ana Rita, Masters in New Testament Exegesis!



PRAYER:
* Praise! that our support level is healthy despite the pandemic. And many thanks to Calvary Baptist Church, Riverhead NY, for adopting us as their new missionaries!
* Prayer! Karen will be launching her new year-long Certificate program, Saturday Feb 7. Please pray for this vital work!

Blessings this month! Gary and Karen