by Logan Gates | Sep 1, 2026 | Chile, Church Planting, SAMS Missionaries, South America
This is the first in a four-part series of articles covering the various stages of the cycle of missionary life. We will hear directly from SAMS Missionaries themselves about their experiences. In this pre-field stage, we hear from Logan and Samantha Gates, who with their young son Lewis, are currently SAMS Missionary Candidates interning at Christ Church Vienna, Virginia, in preparation to serve in Santiago, Chile, later this year.
“God has a way of making his calling clear…”
Samantha never thought she would be a missionary. Growing up in a Christian family, she had always thought she would support missionaries, not be one herself. But God has ways of making His calling clear! For both Samantha and me, that calling initially came from an Anglican Bishop in Chile who asked us to consider serving in a church plant there. It was later confirmed through the discernment of our church community and SAMS. Finally, the Lord affirmed it through the peace we have felt as a couple all along the way, and we are happy to share about what it’s looked like for us to prepare for the mission fi eld in 2026.
Things we didn’t expect
Becoming missionaries has been more challenging than we anticipated. We were aware that missionaries needed to raise support for things like housing and international health insurance, but seeing the full amount we needed to raise gave us some “sticker shock”! We also didn’t realize how long it would take to find the individuals, families, and churches whom the Lord was calling to be a part of the work we’d be doing. Balancing this alongside work, parenting, training, and immigration paperwork has been more than we expected.
Nevertheless, there have been as many blessings in this season as there have been trials. We initially thought our greatest “need” would be for financial provision. Looking back, we see how God has used that practical need to help us see what we were most in need of: a team of believers committed to encouraging us, laboring with us in prayer, as well as giving sacrificially to send us to the field.
We have been humbled by how the local church has come alongside us as well. We have not only had churches pray over and commission us, but also have had a church arrange for me to do a pastoral internship to get ministry experience in areas I would need to use in Chile, such as church planting and Spanish-language ministry. Another unexpected blessing has been the gift of moving in with family during this season of support raising. While we valued being on our own in the first seven years of our marriage, we have treasured this time of deeper relationship and dependence, and we know the Lord is preparing us to have to depend on others in a new culture and language when we arrive on the mission field.
Firstfruits of sorrow and joy
In our cross-cultural training, we learned that mission work contains a paradox of sorrows and joys. We have been tasting some of these sorrows and joys even now, before we arrive in Chile. Preparing for the field has felt like a “long goodbye” to our family and friends. In some ways, we’re grateful for how long it has taken us to get to the field, but in other ways, we are regularly reminded that the time we have together is temporary. We’ve come to see that this season not only involves sorrow for us, but also for the family and friends who are releasing us to the mission field. There is also sadness in the good things that we are leaving behind. Both of us recently completed several years of education and are leaving behind career paths that, in many ways, are more secure and “successful.” It is hard
to see our peers settling down and buying homes, while we attempt to winnow down our belongings to a few checked bags!
But we are also beginning to taste the joys that lie ahead. We feel joy in being in the center of God’s will, and in being able to make sacrifices for Christ. There has been joy in seeing His provision financially and through a team He has gathered around us. There has also been joy in having to grow in prayer and dependence on the Lord throughout this season of support raising. Looking ahead, we are excited to learn a new culture, discover a new city, and gain a new family in Christ. We look forward to the spiritual growth that comes from depending more deeply on the Lord, and to watching Lewis experience the richness of two cultures. We are eager to serve among secular, post-Christian people in one of the largest cities in South America. Most of all, we are excited to present Christ and see Him draw people to Himself as He is lifted up (John 12:32).
Amidst uncertainty, finding peace in God’s calling
The uncertainties that lie ahead of us are many. We know there will be trials being so far away from home. We know there will be trials adjusting to a new culture – we are both introverts who like early bedtimes, while Chileans stay up late, spending time together! There will be challenges integrating into an existing church plant, building trust by taking the posture of serving and learning. We don’t yet know where we’ll be living, or who our community will be. But amidst all these uncertainties, we have found peace in God’s calling. If He is calling us to Chile, we know that what he asks of us is simply obedience.
Our trust is in God’s words in Isaiah 46:11:
“I have spoken, and I will
bring it to pass; I have
purposed, and I will do it.”
Logan grew up in Vienna, Virginia, and has spent the last ten years in Toronto, Canada, working in the area of Christian apologetics and pursuing a PhD at the University of Toronto. He has a heart for people to encounter God for themselves by exploring tough questions about the Christian faith. In Toronto, Logan met his wife Samantha. Their son, Lewis, was born in 2025. Samantha just earned her certification as a CPA. She holds a BA in Modern Languages (French, Spanish, and German) and an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University, before working in accounting. She is half Latina and lived in Latin America for a time as a child. They both felt the Lord placing missions on their heart and that He was opening doors for them to serve in an Anglican church in Chile to plant a church there, through an invitation from the Bishop of Santiago. They are interning at Christ Church, Vienna ministering to Spanish-speaking believers there in preparation for a move to Chile in late 2026. You can learn more about them here.
by Roger and Joanne Griffin | Aug 22, 2026 | Church Planting, Latin America, Mexico, SAMS Missionaries
If you scroll in and search a Google map of San Miguel de Allende, you’ll see a, “Capilla Sin Nombre” which is to say, “Chapel with No Name.” And I think if you were in a small town in Mexico, looking for a traditional Anglican priest, it would be a similar task. Who really knows we’re here? But about a year ago someone did look for an Anglican priest who could come and minister to a group of expats in a beautiful tourist town in Guanajuato, Mexico. They didn’t know where to start, so they contacted GAFCON offices in Africa, where their request was forwarded to ACNA offices in the U.S. and, after a series of hand-offs and holy serendipity, a business card was placed into our care. Matt and Rosy found us!
Considering we came to Mexico with a desire to minister to Mexicans, it was with some admitted reluctance on our part that we agreed, over the course of a Zoom call, to “come and see” what God might be doing with some expats in a little town four hours away. In the mean time, Rosy found the owner of the No-Name Chapel, Don Pablo, and talked him into renting his family’s historic chapel to the group for a Wednesday evening service.
A curious group of about twenty persons attended that first service in English. Among them, Don Pablo came with his sister and her husband. They were deeply moved to be worshiping in their family chapel, to the point that Don Pablo asked us to also offer a service in Spanish for his many employees. Oh yes! What joy!
Two weeks later we had an English service with about twelve, and a Spanish service with almost thirty! Every month since May, we have returned to celebrate the Eucharist and bring the Gospel to both beautiful groups.
But is it a “church” yet? It takes a lot of commitment from everyone to start a church. We knew we needed to have weekly Sunday services, but even the once-a-month rent for the chapel was more than the group could support. And where would we have Bible Study, or children’s church? San Miguel is expensive! How will God do this? Nonetheless, we saw that God had given Roger favor among both groups, and we love the community they are forming. But where, how, could things go forward? Was there no room at the Inns of San Miguel?
“God, what are you doing?” was our daily prayer while we continued the supply and support work, now working in three different states in Mexico every month.
By November we were perplexed and tired. We stepped back from all other services, thinking to get quiet. Instead, we decided to seek that quiet in San Miguel for a couple of weeks– long enough to really know the people involved. We needed clarity. We were exploring ways to overcome the practical hurdles and expenses of a full-time church, knowing it would change our lives radically to uproot from Aguascalientes, to serve in one place after seven years of circuit-riding.
While there, Roger arranged a meeting with Don Pablo, ready to negotiate the possibility of weekly rental of the chapel. That was the first hurdle for the group. But Don Pablo surprised him with the generous suggestion that the group should consider his family chapel their home. For free. Any days or times. Extra garden space for the kids. Whatever. Free.
We were stunned into a quiet ride back to our AirBnB, our hearts full of wonder. The next day we procured a rental contract on a little casa for us in San Miguel starting in January. The adventure begins!
We’re home now, downsizing for the move while staring at the higher cost of living, the cost of the interstate move, the unknowns, and—none of it matters! We see that God was already providing for what is obviously a church being born, by His will, in the fullness of time. We are merely His little donkey carrying the Light.
Like some anxious midwife, I immediately bought liturgical fabrics for the altar. Others had already stepped up and donated candlesticks, a podium, and a small sound system. My keyboard will now fill the little chapel with praise. Someone always brings flowers. Everyone brings something for the coffee/snack time between services so that expats and locals have time to meet each other. It’s beautiful to watch, and really, we had little to do with it except a plodding obedience. I think we got our answer: Yes. It’s a church!
by Roger and Joanne Griffin | Feb 5, 2026 | Church Planting, Mexico, SAMS Missionaries
Back in May we wrote about being hooked up with an expat group in a little town called, San Miguel de Allende. Here’s what has happened since:
A curious group of about twenty persons attended that first service in English. Among them, the owner of the chapel, Don Pablo, came with his sister and her husband. They were deeply moved to be worshiping in their family chapel, to the point that Don Pablo asked us to also offer a service in Spanish for his many employees. Oh yes! What joy! 
Two weeks later we had an English service with about twelve, and a Spanish service with almost thirty! Every month since May, we have returned to celebrate the Eucharist and bring the Gospel to both beautiful groups.
But is it a “church” yet?
It takes a lot of commitment from everyone to start a church. We knew we needed to have weekly Sunday services, but even the once-a-month rent for the chapel was more than the group could support. And where would we have Bible Study, or children’s church? San Miguel is expensive! How will God do this? Nonetheless, we saw that God had given Roger favor among both groups, and we love the community they are forming. But where, how, could things go forward? Was there no room at the Inns of San Miguel?
“God, what are you doing?” was our daily prayer while we continued to work in supply and support ministry, now working in three different states in Mexico every month.
By November we were perplexed and tired. We stepped back from all other services, thinking to get quiet. Instead, we decided to seek that quiet in San Miguel for a couple of weeks– long enough to really know the people involved. We needed clarity. We were exploring ways to overcome the practical hurdles and expenses of a full-time church, knowing it would change our lives radically to uproot from Aguascalientes, to serve in one place after seven years of circuit-riding.
While we were in San Miguel for Thanksgiving, Roger arranged a meeting with Don Pablo, ready to negotiate the possibility of weekly rental of the chapel. That was the first hurdle for the group. But Don Pablo surprised him with the generous suggestion that the group should consider his family chapel their home. For free. Any days or times. Extra garden space for the kids. Whatever. Free.
We were stunned into a quiet ride back to our AirBnB, our hearts full of wonder. The next day we procured a rental contract on a little casa for us in San Miguel starting in January. The adventure begins!
But first, we flew home for Christmas. We’d downsized and packed for the move while staring at the higher cost of living, the cost of the interstate move, the unknowns, and—none of it mattered! We see that God was already providing for what is obviously a church being born, by His will, in the fullness of time. We are merely His little donkey carrying the Light.
Like some anxious midwife, I immediately bought liturgical fabrics for the altar. Others had already stepped up and donated candlesticks, a podium, and a small sound system. My keyboard will now fill the little chapel with praise. Someone always brings flowers. Everyone brings something for the coffee/snack time between services so that expats and locals have time to meet each other. It’s beautiful to watch, and really, we had little to do with it except a plodding obedience. I think we got our answer: Yes. It’s a church!
We moved to San Miguel de Allende on January 14th. On the 28th, Bishop Steven Tighe and his diocesan staff joined us for a consecration of the Chapel of St. Mary and Joseph and confirmed Roger as the rector. On February 1st, we had our first official Sunday service.
