Thank-You!

Happy Christmas to all who visit the SAMS Ireland web site. Your partnership in mission is valued.

Northern Argentina

Hugo Vergara has had many varied journeys of late. “My last and very complicated trip was to a church 120 kilometers from Juárez, deep in the Chaco, in the community of El Quemado. It took 3 hours on a very dusty road and at three o’clock in the afternoon it was 45°C. We arrived at 7am when the sun was already burning in a very blue sky. It is a town of roughly 300 people where no one knows about a global crisis. The service started two hours later and the small room was crowded with about 30 people; we sang for about half an hour and Pastor Juan from Juárez introduced me, saying Hugo is ready to preach and share about the Bible – just when I was about to faint through the terrible temperature inside the room! Pray for us this Christmas in Northern Argentina as we travel and resource the Church in various places.

Teaching Opportunities

Teachers needed in Paraguay

Head Teacher Gwen Carlisle writes from St Andrew’s School in Asunción, Paraguay:“We are going to be desperate for teachers by February [the start of the 2009 academic year], especially secondary English teachers and a secondary maths teacher wouldn’t come amiss either!”
Is God calling you or someone you know to serve in this Anglican school with its firm Christian ethos? Please make a special effort to share this request. SAMS Ireland can send you a DVD of the school which gives a good overview. Why not chat to one of several teachers from Ireland who have worked in the school over this past decade. 

Gerry, Suyai & Tommy in Chile

 

Dear SAMS Ireland,

Time runs so fast that I was convinced of having written just a few weeks ago but then I realized that the only way it could be like that… would be if weeks were 30 days each. Not that I have forgotten you but I was running late.

 

Finally I have finished my studies at the CEP and I have reached the end exhausted, carried by the Lord (well, for sure I was carried the whole race), my soul having aged centuries, older (so, grumpier too, hahaha)… but joyful and grateful, free at last! I tell you, I had a great respect for all those who had gone through Bible College, but now that respect has grown. What a war in every field… and it is not that it has ended now. It is strange to be out and I beg the Lord for wisdom, humbleness, tenderness and grace to serve Him… but He is a generous, rich and faithful Lord.

 

I have to pay homage to my beautiful wife for her support and company and love across these years… so I tip my hat to her with my hand on my heart. And my son? Many told me: “oh, wait for a few weeks to see if you keep that smile”… but the smile has been put as a seal on me. He started to walk a month ago and still has that drunken sailor balance. Such a blessing he is, that if there was no God (but there is ONE!) I would have to become a believer anyways in order to thank Him… but there is another Son who is a bigger blessing. There was a day when the Saviour was born among us… and His message of hope and salvation has shone in the world and changed the lives of many.

 

Mostly for sure, we’ll be moving to Antofagasta in February to work at the Church there. It is a city located in the north of Chile (approx. 1300 kms from Santiago, where we currently live), in the driest desert of the world. Vultures instead of doves at the parks. Water is like gold, a treasure not to waste. Majestic mountains. Rain is welcome as a miracle, if it rains at all.

 

There are two loving congregations up there… and as the rector will be in Australia for the next six months, please pray for us: that we will be good servants for these congregations.

 

We love you and miss you. This is just a “wee” greeting for Christmas and I am attaching two pictures (Tommy was in a “mood”, but who could blame him when it’s quite hot and the red hat is put on him!). May God bless you all.

 

So, Merry Christmas from the three of us.

 

Maybe there is more to Christmas …

Christmas Reflections

Andy Roberts, a SAMS volunteer in Olinda, Brazil, reflects on a very different kind of Christmas. In Brazil 25 million children live in extremely deprived conditions. 8 million of these live on the streets, forming gangs to survive, and many will be killed before they reach the age of 18. ‘My Father’s House’ is a project linked to the Anglican Church of Living Waters which seeks to help and reach out to these boys. Living Waters Church is situated on a favela (shanty town) at the side of the city’s open air rubbish dump and together we reach out to over 250 children a day through a school at the church and ‘My Father’s House’, a safe house for boys in high risk: their lives are in danger. Statistics show, just from our own favela where we work, that on average 4 young people are killed each week due to gang violence.

 

Many of the boys in My Father’s House have run away from home due to

physical/sexual abuse from their families or because their parents are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Our youngest boy came to the project at the age of 4; he was found abandoned on the rubbish dump and covered in marks from where his mother had been biting him. Two of our boys have witnessed one of their parents being murdered: one boy’s mother held his father down whilst her boyfriend stabbed him and the other boy has to live with the fact that his own dad murdered his mum.

 

Christmas is a time to be with family and loved ones. Unfortunately, as you’ve just read, many of our boys don’t have any family or have no family suitable to take care of them. Parental love is something many of our boys have never felt. We work closely with whatever family the boy has to try to restore them both and this Christmas we hope that most of our boys will be able to pass a few days with some sort of family – their own or a substitute family. On the favela many of the children work on the rubbish dump picking through the rubbish to find recyclables, the majority of them supporting entire families from the little money they manage to earn.

 

For many children Christmas Day will be spent just like any other day, up on the dump picking through the rubbish, and Christmas lunch will be whatever they find there.Christmas is also when we remember the birth of Jesus Christ, who said in John’s Gospel that he came to give us life – and life to the full. It’s only through Jesus Christ and the new life that he brings that these boys and these children will change their lives.

 

So during this busy Christmas time please give a thought to these children who won’t be spending Christmas with loving families but rather on the streets and rubbish dump of Olinda. And we’ll be praying for all of you that this Christmas you might remember that Jesus Christ came to save and give life… and not just to street kids.

 

 

 

Brazil and the UN

Brazil should have a greater role in international affairs and a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, says French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

On a visit to Rio de Janeiro Mr Sarkozy said Brazil and the EU would adopt a common position on the global financial crisis at the next G20 meeting. The French leader was speaking at a summit between the two sides. During his trip Mr Sarkozy is expected to sign a deal to help Brazil build its first nuclear-powered submarine.

Defence deals

It is one of a number of defence agreements Mr Sarkozy is due to sign during talks with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Among them is a deal in which France is expected to allow for the transfer of technology, enabling Brazil to build four conventional submarines. It is reported the agreement will also include the purchase of 50 French Cougar helicopters that will be built in Brazil.

Mr Sarkozy is being accompanied by several ministers and French industrialists. The French leader’s visit is his final act as EU president. From January the six-month rotating position goes to the Czech Republic. At the EU-Brazil summit Mr Sarkozy said the Latin American country had an important role to play in global decision-making. From January the six-month rotating position goes to the Czech Republic. At the EU-Brazil summit Mr Sarkozy said the Latin American country had an important role to play in global decision-making. “I’m being honest when I say we need Brazil in world governance,” he said. “I think we need Brazil as a permanent member of the Security Council,” he added.

New financial order

Presidents Sarkozy and Lula ata news conference in Rio de Janeiro.
Mr Sarkozy says Brazil has a role to play in world governance

Brazil is also pressing for a greater role to be given to developing countries in controlling the world’s financial systems, following the global economic crisis and here too Mr Sarkozy was supportive.

He suggested that Brazil and France would jointly bring proposals to the next meeting of the broader G20 group in London next April aimed at supporting business people, not speculators.

“We decided with President Lula that things must change and change profoundly,” the French leader declared.

“We decided to narrow our positions and arrive in London with a common vision, on the future role of the IMF, the system of management of financial institutions,” he said. “We cannot allow a single financial institution to be uncontrolled or unsupervised,” he added. The BBC’s Gary Duffy in Brazil says Latin America’s biggest economy and diplomatic power has had a long ambition to have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and the support given by President Sarkozy will undoubtedly be welcome.

Prayer line from SAMS GB

We begin by praising God for some news received this morning from Sandra Barrientos in Tarija, Bolivia. Her husband Walter had his second round of treatment for throat cancer last month; it took place in Córdoba, Argentina, and involved a new procedure performed with a laser. The tumour was reduced by 68%, way above expectations. Sandra and Walter thank us warmly for our prayers and encourage us to pray on for Walter’s full recovery.

Last week the new Anglican church for the Pehuenche communities of Alto Bío Bío in southern Chile was dedicated in Cauñicú. Bishop Abelino Apeleo conducted the service, with Terry Barratt and members of other churches present. Praise God for this and pray for the Pehuenche people and their leaders, including Gumercindo Queupil. A group of leaders also took the final exam of the SEAN Level 2 course, with an 80% success rate.

Finally, some arrivals this week:

  • on Thursday (18th) Gwen Carlisle and Mags Southern, Head and Deputy Head of St Andrew’s School in Asunción, Paraguay, arrive in the UK for a short period of leave
  • on Friday (19th) Bishop Henry Scriven and his wife Catherine fly in from the USA in preparation for Henry to take on the role of SAMS Mission Director from 1st January
    and on Saturday (20th) Efraim Vilella, husband of Ruth Hollingdale, arrives from Brazil to join her here for a month.
  • and on Saturday (20th) Efraim Vilella, husband of Ruth Hollingdale, arrives from Brazil to join her here for a month.

Pray for their journeys, adjustment to the British winter and subsequent ministries.

The Chaco Project

We’re launching a new project to support the work of Beryl Baker in the Paraguayan Chaco. Berly is a nurse and has provided primary health care for indigenous communities in the Chaco for around 30 years.

To read more click on the image below to download the brochure.
Chaco Project

1 92 93 94 95 96 110