Cardona´s on Christmas 2021 (Our prayer letter, December 2021)

Cardona´s on Christmas 2021 (Our prayer letter, December 2021)

Christmas, according to the biblical account (not in keeping with the "spirit of the season"), can only be explained by the intervention of God. As Luke says: "For nothing is impossible for God!" (1:37) It is one of our favorite verses, for Christmas, while we eat “buñuelos” (like salty donuts, or chess balls), “Natilla” (corn pudding) and fill ourselves with lights everywhere, as is customary in our Colombian land. From here we pray that you have a Christian and merry Christmas. 

Our good God is working among us, allow us to tell you :

• A new group of elders (6) were presented to the church for recognition. Not only in the local church in which we serve (El Redil Estadio) from where we are planting new churches, but also in other churches of the Fibec-Redil (the network of Baptist churches that Diego presides over), we are promoting the formation of elders, some of whom in the future will serve as full-time pastors and others as bivocational pastors.

• Several churches such as "El Refugio", where we help our Redil Laureles Church to reach out the community through a girls soccer tournament, are going very well in their church planting efforts . And also Redil de Caldas, which is the new church plant and is  progressing very well.

• A church that needs to be revitalized (Redil of Manrique) after several traumatic situations during covid time is going very well. Above all we thank God since it is a learning context for the elders of the church to grow in their ability to care for and love the church.

• Baptisms: Two precious groups of baptisms, with more than 30 people we have seen testify of their faith in El Redil Estadio, this year. Listening to their testimonies, which they write as part of their preparation course, one cannot help but be amazed at how God attracts, saves and sanctifies his people.

• Especial project: One of the unique opportunities God has given to us during the last year is that Diego's voice was selected for a new audio Bible in Spanish. Now it is available in apps as well as in Amazon. Please pray for this important resource, especially for those with visual impairments such as the elderly and the blind.

• Keep our family in your prayers, please. Tania, our daughter, Daniel and his wife Sara, and our three grandchildren. All of them are doing well, they finished their school a week ago.

• For some of you who have known my dad, "Don Jaime" (who was one of the first believers in Colombia, when the Fellowship sent first missionaries in the sixties), I tell you that he is better after many hospital visits for different health conditions (heart, prostate, kidneys). He is at home on permanent oxygen and a urinary catheter, but in high spirits and trusting in God. His prognosis is reserved due to the heart complications he has, but we are very grateful for the support and prayer we have received in these particularly difficult months.

Finally, with the message of Merry Christmas, we want to thank God for each and every one of you, churches and brothers in Christ who from Canada faithfully make it possible for us to serve in Colombia to promote social and missionary work, start new churches and accompany the formation of new pastors.

Dios los bendiga, (God bless you)  and FELIZ NAVIDAD (Merry Christmas)

Diego and Claudia Cardona

Fellowship Missionaries in Colombia, S.A. 

Here are some pictures you can relate with our prayer letter. Thank you so much for taking this time to think and come along with us living for the King and serving His kingdom. 

New Elders of El Redil Estadio: Sebastián, Adam, Arnubio, Deiby, Jovanny, and Jairo. And their wifes, plus three pastoral couples in our home! 

Girls soccer tournament at El Refugio

Baptisms at El Redil Estadio, 2021

Our family
(Left to right: Tania (our daughter), Emiliano (our oldest grandchild), Lucas (second grandchild), Diego, Daniel (our son), Miguel (youngest grandchild), Sara (our daughter in law), Claudia. Thanks for keeping our family in your prayers!

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Prayer July 2018 Cardonas Colombia

Prayer Letter

Dear supporters and friends,

What a blessing you are to us in our ministry here in Colombia! We praise our Lord for you often, knowing that this is team work for the Kingdom of God. And knowing that God will provide strength, and carry on our ministry in spite of all the challenges and difficulties! (Phil. 1:6; 4:13,19)

We want to ask you to join us in thanking God for:

1. The growth of the new church of El Redil del Sur. Within just three years this church has more than 350 people and is soundly established in the gospel. Thank God, we have almost completely relinquished the leadership of this church to Jairo and Jennifer that we have mentored and trained while planting.  A few months ago we started to concentrate on giving leadership to the “replanting” of another church called El Redil Estadio.

2. The opportunity to train leaders and preachers. We had a retreat with 45 preachers in training. We are happy to see many of them being trained to serve in full-time work.

3. The planting of a new church in the suburb of “El Pacífico”.  After numerous years of  serving in humanitarian labours in this depressed area of the city, the community has now asked us to start a church. Since last year Arnold and Abilene, an extraordinary couple of servants of God, are giving leadership to establish a church there.

We also want you to join us in prayer for a special need… our car.

During the past year our car has needed much repair and maintenance. We need to replace it since the maintenance is very costly.  In consultation with Norman Nielsen, the Fellowship International Associate Director who is visiting us in Colombia, we have agreed that some funds need to be raised for this project. These would be added to what we already have been given. Our goal is to raise $ 5,000 more to replace our car.  Pray to God for this need, please. If the Lord encourages you to make a donation please send it to the Fellowship office (Box 457, Guelph, Ontario. N1H 6K9) designated for “Cardona Car Fund” so they can send you a donation receipt.

Thank you for partnering in ministry with us.

God bless you,​​

Diego and Claudia.

Firefighters Dinner (Canadian Team Experience)

Replanting a Church: El Redil Estadio

Healing Retreat 2014

If you want to pray for us and our ministry

This Christmas please remember us in your prayers.

• 1.       With the departure of the Webbs, we are now the only Fellowship International missionaries in Colombia. Pray that God will give us strength and the resources so that His work will continue, so that the Colombian churches will keep planting more churches and begin to send crosscultural missionaries. Please pray that God will provide for our support. Over the last two years we have carried a deficit of 10%. May God be glorified, as He has been until now, through the provision of abundant resources for the continuing of His work in Colombia.
• 2.       For the English program, “Living English,” now expanded to include inviting Canadian couples who want to come for one or two months to Medellín to make friends through teaching basic English. This new initiative is based on the fact that teaching English (or helping others practice their English) has been shown to be an effective means of preparing the ground before evangelization and planting a new church. Pray too that the Lord will provide the funds to distribute bilingual New Testaments.  
• 3.       Pray for our great challenge of moving the El Redil churches toward missionary work. This year we have begun a bimonthly prayer bulletin and a week of missions training for all our leaders. May our Lord raise up a generation of servants called to carry the Word cross culturally.
• 4.       Pray for the three new church-planting projects: Poblado (Populated), Oriente (East, La Ceja) and Los Colores (The Colours).
• 5.       Thank you for praying for our family. Pray that God will guard us in the midst of the stresses and demands of our busy schedule. Pray that our children will grow closer and closer to Jesus every day so that they will love Him and serve Him with all their hearts.

Many thanks for being our partners in the work of God. 

Cardona´s Christmas Letter 2013

“ and you will call his name, Jesus!” Matthew 1:27

With all of our hearts we send you a loving Christmas greeting full of the confidence that many people in Colombia and Canada will see the manger and call on Jesus as their Saviour and their Lord!

We have spent the last two months visiting churches in Canada. We are sorry that the time wasn’t sufficient to visit all the churches and all the people who support us, but thanks be to God that we were able to visit almost all of those in BC. We reconnected with the believers and with the churches, which has been a great blessing—now we can pray better for you. How much we appreciate having brothers and sisters and churches supporting our ministry. Thank you to everyone who received us with so much love. Our “tank” has been filled with the grace to be able to serve faithfully in the year to come.

We end this year surprised by the blessings of God.

Above all, the blessing of celebrating our first 25 years of marriage and ministry! Where has all this time gone? It seems like it was only yesterday that we began our family and our first church, El Redil. We never get tired of thanking the Lord for His great blessing to us, especially because, in His love, He has surrounded us with faithful and inspiring servants of God.

Our children, now entering adult life, are doing well. Tania is the traveler. She has discovered that she learns from, and really enjoys, traveling. This last year she has spent more than 8 months away from home working as a photographer, learning Portugese, and becoming familiar with various countries in South America. We admire her work ethic and ability to save so that she can make these dreams a reality. Daniel, about to graduate as a Sound Engineer (Acoustic), is growing a lot as a person, more responsible and serious, serving in the church and happy in his relationship with his first girlfriend, Sara. God bless our children. We live, happy for them, and thankful to God for our marriage and our family.

The new church, El Redil South, continues to grow (more than 200 now!), as do the pastores in training, Jairo and Jennifer. Thanks be to God! The El Redil churches (6 in total) are more and more committed to the work of planting churches (three projects) and to missions. In a few days we will send, for the first time, a group of 13 people into the Amazon Rainforest (Brazilian territory)  to serve among the Ticuna Indians. Along with the humanitarian work we look after (the street children in El Pacífico, the centre for pregnant teens), we continue  with our other responsibilities such as teaching in the Seminary, writing and mobilizing our churches in evangelism. This year in particular we give thanks to God for the new home of El Redil South. This is the first time an evangelical Christian church has had a permanent home in a commercial center in Medellín. This gives us new opportunities such as, for example, to continue with the “Living English” (Vive el Inglés) program through which we serve the community and create means to present the Gospel to new friends.

This Christmas please remember us in your prayers.

1.       With the departure of the Webbs, we are now the only Fellowship International missionaries in Colombia. Pray that God will give us strength and the resources so that His work will continue, so that the Colombian churches will keep planting more churches and begin to send crosscultural missionaries. Please pray that God will provide for our support. Over the last two years we have carried a deficit of 10%. May God be glorified, as He has been until now, through the provision of abundant resources for the continuing of His work in Colombia.

2.       For the English program, “Living English,” now expanded to include inviting Canadian couples who want to come for one or two months to Medellín to make friends through teaching basic English. This new initiative is based on the fact that teaching English (or helping others practice their English) has been shown to be an effective means of preparing the ground before evangelization and planting a new church. Pray too that the Lord will provide the funds to distribute bilingual New Testaments.  

3.       Pray for our great challenge of moving the El Redil churches toward missionary work. This year we have begun a bimonthly prayer bulletin and a week of missions training for all our leaders. May our Lord raise up a generation of servants called to carry the Word cross culturally.

4.       Pray for the three new church-planting projects: Poblado (Populated), Oriente (East, La Ceja) and Los Colores (The Colours).

5.       Thank you for praying for our family. Pray that God will guard us in the midst of the stresses and demands of our busy schedule. Pray that our children will grow closer and closer to Jesus every day so that they will love Him and serve Him with all their hearts.

Many thanks for being our partners in the work of God.

God bless you richly this Christmas, Diego and Claudia. 

Our first cross cultural short mission trip to Amazon Jungle, Ticuna Tribe.

Praise the Lord, we got a new building for the last church plant: El Redil del Sur, Sheepfold of South.

Celebrating God's faithfulness! First anniversary of newest church, El Redil del Sur, Sabaneta

Project 2013: You can help the Colombia church to send missionaries

Exploring missionary opportunities in Amazon

Diego and Claudia Cardona, Colombia

Prayer requests for the Colombian Field, 2013

Because “we live by faith, not by sight!”.

1.     By the grace of God, people of Colombia need to understand the gospel as it is presented in the Bible.

2.     Colombian churches need to get involved in sending missionaries and workers abroad.

3.     Four churches in Cartagena need to strengthen a church planting model for future development.

4.     The new work of Sabaneta, El Redil del Sur – 20 minutes from Medellin-, needs a permanent building that could cost 400,000 dollars.

5.     Young couples, like Sneyder and Yuliana, are starting seminary. They need God’s leading for their future ministry and the needed resources to fulfill their calling.

6.     New pastors, like Jairo and Jeniffer/ Phil and Darlina / Bill Enrique and Maria/ Gustavo and Patricia/ Jonathan and Zarina, need protection and encouragement as they start their challenged ministry in areas where we are planting new churches.

7.     Medellin, with its 3.5 million people and around 300 churches, has only one seminary to professionally train pastors and missionaries. That dear institution is struggling for finances and teachers.

8.     Ministries for children and youth are weak in Colombia, our pastors and missionaries need to learn and find new ways to reach out to them in a creative and passionate way.

9.     Writing books and articles is a ministry that has just started in our Colombian churches. God has blessed these first publications. We need encouragement, discipline, more training and resources to see this new avenue of ministry to bring more glory to our Lord through the salvation of many.

10.  There are several locations in Medellin, as well as in all the Colombian territory that are still without Christian witness. We need direction from God to select new areas for which we should start praying and where we should work. We need to select the right couples and individuals to go those places to do missionary work and church planting.

 

I'll say yes, Lord, yes
To your will and to your way
I'll say yes, Lord, yes
I will trust you and obey
When your Spirit speaks to me
With my whole heart I'll agree
And my answer will be yes, Lord, yes

First Semester 2012

We want to...
1. Share with you the joy and blessing of our new born church. Things are going well, lots of people comming, that we do not have enough time to know the people coming. Last sunday we have a special singer and 200+ people showed up!
2. Rejoice with you now that we see Daniel and Tania committed with our Lord helping in music and social ministries. Last sunday we collected money and built awareness for the need of a displayed family we are building a house to (it is going to be the first eco briks house in town, that has called the attention of the media) Claudia did a beatiful flower decoration to show people that we can recicle things and reuse them! (see pictures below) 
3. Ask you to please pray for us: 

• our health, 
• the need to move the base group in to discipling the new comers, 
• for Jairo and Jennifer (the pastoral couple we are training) and 
• the finnances we need.

4. Let you know that If you have a Blackberry, we would love to have your pin so I can chat with you and let you know of our ministry. See bellow my PIN #. 



Blessings upon your dear friends and coworkers in the Kingdom of God, to whon is due all the Glory and Honor.

Cardona’s Christmas Letter

Cardona’s Christmas Letter

Hello Friends:
Here we are again, struggling to tell people that Christmas is not a wish for happiness, or family parties full of gifts. Here we are again, going against the current, trying to explain to this small world of Medellín—religious and stubborn—that Christmas is A FACT THAT HAS ALREADY TAKEN PLACE! That there is only one Christmas and that one date changed human historia and can change the history of the city. (The word “Christmas,” in Spanish, “Navidad” as an abbreviation of “Natividad” [or Jesus´ birth], and oddly very few people know what is celebrated on this important date!)
This time of December and end of year parties should be the best time for evangelism, but it isn’t. The reason? The center of the message of Christmas (that God came to earth to be our Saviour) has been changed to a focus on man-centered entertainment. What a tragedy!
For all of you, who with us love God because He loved us first, (that is to say for all of you who celebrate the most unique and definitive event in history) Merry Christmas!
It happens that during this time, along with preaching the true message of Christmas, we also stop as a family to give thanks to God and ask you to join us please:
1. Thank you , Lord, for your faithfulness expressed through those who from Canada give their time and money to support us so that we can live and preach the Gospel in Medellín, Colombia.
2. Thank you, Lord, for Daniel who completed his 4th year of university, and is growing more and more committed to the church and learning from the Word of God. Thank you as well for Tania, who will graduate this week from college as a photographer! And who is enthusiastically serving together with her mother (Claudia) in social and ecological projects. We are in those last stages before beginning to build the first house made of eco bricks. You can see more about this on Tania’s page (http://menosbasura.org/).
3. Thank you, Lord, for El Redil del Sur, the new church that continues to grow, now ready to begin Sunday services in month.
4. Thank you, Lord, for new ministries begun this year. Diego began as Professor of Homiletics at the Biblical Seminary in Medellín, and wrote his first book! (It was published two weeks ago and already more than 2000 copies have been distributed among non-believers. Glory be to God!
5. Thank you, Lord, because in the middle of so much work we have been able to continue to study theology online (Claudia through Mints and Diego through ACTS).
6. Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of being able to successfully turn over the ministry of the mother church (El Redil de El Poblado) to Carlos and Yaneth, in order to plant the new church of El Redil del Sur.
For all this, THANK YOU, LORD!
Please remember in your prayers the following during the next two months:
1. The setting up the meeting place for the new church, inside a commercial centre in Sabaneta.
2. The strengthening of the new believers, some who are at the point of giving public testimony of their faith through obeying the Lord in baptism.
3. In the middle of January we have visitors from Canada for our third season of “Vive el Ingles” (“Live English”), our program of service and Christian testimony through teaching English.
4. Consolidating all the ministries that make Sunday celebration possible. Especially reinforcing Jairo and Jennifer in their initial period as pastors.
5. Finding the resources to finish our eco brick house for Doña Martha in Barrio Pacífico.
6. That we be faithful and decisive en our presentation of the Gospel of salvation in Christ to all of the people who live in the southern part of Medellín!

We love you and we feel greatly blessed by you.
Diego, Claudia, Daniel and Tania

Sept. 2011 Cardona's Prayer Letter

Cardona’s Prayer Letter
September 2011

Greetings in the name of Jesus to our dear prayer supporters.

During these days we are being blessed through the book of Proverbs. During this semester we are teaching and enjoying the wisdom that God gave Solomon. In 15:8 is the promise that:

“the prayer of the upright pleases him.”

So we are very grateful for the prayer ministry that bring pleasure to the Lord. We here in Colombia, planting El Redil South church, pray for you and we feel privileged to know that you are praying for us.

We continue to pray for the people who have given their lives to Jesus for forgiveness of sins and for a new life in Him. Pray for Eduardo and Maria Eugenia, a couple who came a few months ago as fruit of the service program we call “Live English” (a program through which we teach English and make contacts for evangelism). Also through this means came Juan, Victor and Carlos. Pray for these new brothers in the faith. Carlos and Alejandra are a couple who accepted the Lord a month ago. Now we are taking them through their first steps of discipleship. Pray that God will protect the seed that has been planted and these “babes” in God’s family.

Continue to pray for the flyers from “You and Your House!” our monthly flyer that goes into apartment buildings (more than 100 in each one!). Through this communication strategy we are getting to know, and making, contacts with whom to share the good news of salvation! These are published in English and Spanish, so read them at: http://tuytucasa.net

Thank you for continuing to pray about the search for a place to hold the Sunday services for El Redil South. The first service will be January 22! For now we have five small groups! Pray for these small home groups that God will be glorified by bringing these new believers to maturity!

Up until now we have 35 adults participating in the groups as well as 15 children. We are doing a course for the most committed that teaches the basics and the biblical design for a new church. Thank you for praying for the unity and the health of this core group of the El Redil South church.

Tuesday mornings (7:00 to 8:00 a.m.) we meet to pray for the new members of El Redil South.

On the other site, we continue to support (a little less each time) the mother church (El Redil of Poblado). Thanks be to God we have seen good progress in our departure strategy from the mother church and in the planting of the daughter church, to the extent that all the leaders are encouraged and see the church plant as an important part of their ministry.

Claudia continues directing the social ministry. Diego continues teaching in the Bible Seminary one day a week. Daniel and Tania are doing well, thanks be to God, and growing in their relationships with God. Daniel is doing a discipleship course with the youth! Tania is helping in one of the social justice projects through which a house is being made from eco-friendly bricks made out of plastic bottles. You can see more of this volunteer work on the website: http://menosbasura.org/

Well, dear friends, thank you for continuing to support us and for making us part of your ministry and your life. We loved you very much, and think of you constantly.

Blessings from Medellin, Colombia, with much love.

Diego and Claudia Cardona

Pictures

Cardona`s Prayer Letter, Febr. 2011

Cardona`s Prayer letter (Feb. 2011)
Again, another new year.
It is a joy to greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior. We feel close to you and we feel your prayers every day.
Moving the central church building of El Redil (At El Poblado, Medellín) was an odyssey. We saw the hand of God in this great challenge of changing from a place of 8000 square meters (in Colombia use meters, not feet) to 500 square meters. Thanks be to God.
The visit of ten friends from Canada (Revelstoke Baptist Church, Rick Eby) was a tremendous blessing. We did a VBS for 50 kids, and an intensive week of teaching English (ESL, we call it "Live the English") It was for 250 people (80 percent non believers!) The latter was intended to make contacts and let us know more people in the area where we are planting the new church (Sabaneta). It is very beautiful to see people knowing and meeting the Lord.
We need tons of prayer, for the church plant of Sabaneta, knowing that this area is polluted with witchcraft and idolatry!
Claudia is very busy in the social ministries of el Redil, moving people and recourses into humanitarian work. It is amazing when we took Canadians, last month, to visit one of the projects. I would like you to have these blessings. How the kids impacted our Canadian friends through their social and spiritual transformation. Please pray for the great challenge is to raise funds within the churches for the poor, prisoners, street children and the elderly.
Diego is committed to planting the new church, while he is still helping the Mother church (Poblado) through the changing of location, leadership. Please pray for:

1. Jairo and Jennifer, the couple (a recent graduate of the seminar) that we are mentors to be the future pastors of the new church.
2. Monthly pre evangelistic flyer, called "You and your House." (“Tù y tu Casa”) This is a written message that reaches households each month. Through this, we advertize our small groups and activities, as well as make new contacts.
3. “Rebaños” in Sabaneta, these are the weekly Bible study groups to build and reach the people of this sector.
4. In three weeks we will have two conferences on Parenting. One is to edify the El Redil churches (5) and the other is to reach out people in Sabaneta.


Daniel and Tania are doing well in the University (Sound Engineering, and Photography). They helped us in the last program we did (VBS and "Live the English") we feel very fortunate to be serving the kingdom of God as a family.
For a month we are living with grandpa (Don Darío, Claudia's father) Although an extra dose of work, however it is a privilege to serve and support him. Please, remember him in your prayers, because of his serious health complications.
Well, in the midst of all, we are pleased and grateful to God. Thank you for taking the time to think and pray for us.
God bless you richly,
Diego and Claudia.

Family Info

Interested in knowing our birthdays??

Diego , June 21, 1966

Claudia, June 28, 1967


WEDDING ANNIVERSARY: January 15


Daniel, October 5, 1990

Tania, April 2, 1992

Our Ministry

On their return from Canada they joined the team of missionaries in Colombia and together built the Satellite model for church planting, which has been growing and been blessed by the Lord (El Redil 33 in 1988, El Redil de El Poblado in 1994, El Redil de Oriente in 2001, El Redil de Envigado in 2003, El Redil de la Motal in 2005). Their vision is to be a central church, as a ministry centre capable of reaching the middle and upper class of Medellin, planting satellite congregations. They also serve in other areas such as: • Social work, supporting day cares for street kids. • Assisting and leading the national association of Baptist churches • Training preachers

who we are

Diego and Claudia Cardona are native Colombians who serve in Medellin with FEBlnternational. They have two children, Daniel and Tania. Diego’s family accepted the Lord in the sixties when the Fellowship Baptist went to Medellin. When he was 13 he made the decision for Jesus and started serving in the church. Before he was married, he attended the Seminary in Medellín for five years. Claudia accepted the Lord when she was sixteen. She and her sister were the first in their family to became Christians. Claudia has sorne training in business and selling and also has two years of theological training. Her passion is for discipleship and social work. In the first year of El Redil (the first church they planted in 1989) 21 people from Claudia’s extended family became Christians. In 1988 with the Webbs, the Wrays, and some university students they started a dream of a church and that was EL REDIL (sheepfold). They were part of the ministerial team and at the same time were finishing seminary studies. After ten years of service as pastors in El Redil church, Diego and Claudia carne to Canada in order to obtain a Master degree in Ministry, at ACTS in BC. At the sarne time, the family studied English. Their two years in Canada (1997 to 1999) gave them a significant experience in cross-cultural ministries, renewed their minds, and gaye them new tools for ministry During that time they started a new process in relationship with FEB International as national missionaries.