Mission Paraguay 2009

9th February 2009
Mission Paraguay, Paraguay

Plans are currently underway for the visits of volunteers from Churches in England and Ireland to work for 3 weeks on a variety of projects organised through the Anglican Church in Paraguay and in association with the South American Mission Society (SAMS).

July Group
This group will be based on the outskirts of Asunción, the capital, and visit a number of different communities in the area. It is planned that the activities will include:

• involvement with the sewing and knitting workshops;
• assisting with a new building project to provide facilities for work with children and young people and for outreach into the local community;
• assisting with basic home improvements in some of the poorest areas of Asunción;
• working with children and young people in a number of communities.

It is anticipated that this group will spend a few days in the Chaco to visit some of the Indian communities where Mission Paraguay has previously worked.

August Group
Some members of the August group will be based in Concepción and it is planned that they will:

• work with Claire Holmes and her team amongst the children and young people in Concepción and the surrounding area;
• undertake some small scale building work and painting;
• visit Yvapovo which is about 2 hours drive from Concepción where Mission Paraguay is funding the construction of a small church for a growing congregation.

Other members of the August group will work in the Chaco. Their activities will include:

• assisting in the completion of the building of a church begun in 2008 at Rio Verde;
• involvement in a variety of home improvements such as the construction of new corrugated metal roofs on Indian homes to replace those made of logs and plastic sheets;
• assisting with a water storage project. In 2009 we hope to be able to fund the building of at least one aljibe (£1,500) which is an underground storage tank for rainwater collection.

As in previous years the July and Chaco groups will have the opportunity to work with FEISA the Anglican Early Years Teacher Training College which operates a mobile toy library and undertakes groundbreaking training and development work in some of the indigenous schools in the Chaco.

All planned projects are dependent upon the available funding at the time of the visits. The cost of the work and activities undertaken are all met from donations from the UK and Ireland. All donations are channelled to Paraguay through the South American Mission Society (SAMS), or Burscough Outreach Trust (Charity No: 1089034).

If you would like further information about how you may support the work of Mission Paraguay or if you wish to take part in a short-term mission trip to Paraguay in 2009, please contact the Co-ordinator, David Orritt via samsirelandhouse@btinternet.com

Please pray that God will direct the plans and arrangements currently underway for the Mission Paraguay programme for 2009. Please also pray for the ongoing work of the Anglican Church in the Chaco, Concepción and Asunción and particularly for Rev. Peter Bartlett who will be instituted as Bishop of Paraguay in March 2009.

Mission Paraguay Report 2008

3rd February 2009
Mission Paraguay, Paraguay, Projects

Our Mission

Mission Paraguay works through the Anglican Church in Paraguay to provide funds and a volunteer work force to assist with practical projects, usually buildings, which the local church would find difficult, if not impossible to provide themselves. Through the Church we also fund activities with children and young people and a range of community based work to relieve need and hardship.
Each year groups of committed Christians of all ages travel to Paraguay to live and work in the community so gaining a unique opportunity to experience another culture; to see how the local church is working and growing; to share fellowship, laughing and sometimes crying together; to receive and show the love of God. People return home feeling that they have gained far more than they give. Many find that the experience deepens their Christian faith and for some it gives a new direction for their life as they review their priorities.

Read more ….

Paul and Sarah Tester in Peru

2nd February 2009
Peru, PRAY

Dear Praying Friends,

Thanks for praying over the last couple of months. Much has happened and we feel we have been blessed in lots of our work. Please keep praying – it makes a big difference! Read more ….

SAMS Prayer Line for week commencing Tuesday 27 January

28th January 2009
PRAY

 

Pat Blanchard has returned to Peru following a visit here to her sick mother.  Pray for Pat as she resumes work in El Nazareno parish in Lima, and for her mother as she continues her recuperation.

 

Ruth Hollingdale Vilella, currently on UK leave, also asks prayer for her mother, who begins a course of chemotherapy this week.  Ruth’s husband, Efraim, is back in Brazil and Ruth is due to rejoin him on 17 February.  Please uphold the family at this difficult time.

 

Tomorrow +Greg & Sylvia Venables arrive from Buenos Aires for a visit to the UK, together with Greg’s participation in next month’s Primates’ Meeting in Egypt.  Pray for rest from their busy schedules during this period.

 

Last week 99% of CMS members present at their meeting voted for a link-up with SAMS GB.  Therefore, on Saturday 1 February Canon Tim Dakin, General Secretary of CMS (Britain), takes over as General Secretary of SAMS GB.  Pray for Tim assuming the extra responsibility, and also for Mission Director for South America, +Henry Scriven, and his wife Catherine.  They especially ask prayer for their housing situation in the Oxford area as they are experiencing obstacles in mortgage application.

 

Also on the UK front, next Tuesday (3rd) the SAMS GB Board of Trustees meets; please uphold them in their deliberations.  Three CMS Trustees are now part of the board (with three SAMS Trustees on the CMS board).

 

And finally, also on Tuesday the teaching staff of St Andrew’s School in Asunción, Paraguay, go back to work after the summer vacation.  Pray for them as a new academic year is set in motion.

Prayer Requests from Charles and Lynn Barr Johnston in Northern Argentina.

26th January 2009
Argentina, PRAY

Prayer Requests from Charles and Lynn Barr Johnston in Northern Argentina.

Thank you again very much for praying for us. Thank you also very much for sending us Christmas cards and letters or emails. We are very grateful for them all, and thank the Lord for you all, even though we have not been able to answer many of them.

Please continue to pray for our son Nick and his wife Nicky, with their children Sadie and Cally. They visited the UK and Nicky’s parents Ken and Gail over Christmas and the New Year. Pray for Nick and his work in Japan, at what must be a very difficult time for all who work in banks. Pray also for our daughter Susan and her husband Emmanuel. They went to Liberia for Christmas and the New Year to visit Emmanuel’s mother, who he had not seen for many years. Emmanuel gave up his job to be able to stay with his mother into February. Pray that he may be able to get another job when he comes back to Switzerland. Susan returned early in January, to continue teaching Biology in her school.

On the last Monday of 2008 at about 9pm while walking fast I tripped over a bike rack I did not see, and was thrown into the street landing on my left hip. As I could not stand, a passerby took me in his truck to the hospital near our house. 3 X-rays showed that no bones were broken. I was there until Tuesday after lunch when, with Ester’s help, I was able to leave the hospital with crutches which Alec hired for me. I managed to get up the stairs to our flat, where I stayed till last Friday (16th January). I have a huge bruise around my hip, with a thick line going down the leg, but now it is much smaller and purple rather than black. Now I am able to walk slowly without crutches, but Lynn walks much faster and further than I can. Please pray for healing for us both.

Pray also for the 2 families who have been looking after us, who we also try to help pastorally from the Bible. One of them is our home help Ester. She usually comes 3 afternoons a week, but when I could not get about, she came far more often. We were in her house for their Christmas Eve celebrations. The other family is that of Blas, Liliana the Bishop’s secretary, and their teenage son Facu. A car ran into Blas’s taxi at high speed at a road junction. They are now blaming Blas. Pray that justice may be done. Blas, Liliana and Facu came to our house for their New Year Celebration.

Please pray for 2 young people’s camps which will soon start in January and for their follow up. One is in Yema. It is led by Vicar Tuqui, and Ricardo with Saturnino helping. The other is in La Caldera near to Salta. It is led by Deacon Miguel from the Principe de Paz church and Rene Pereira from Juarez. Saturnino had an accident in his farming work a few months ago. He has just recovered enough to be made a watchman for the property of the farm. Please pray for him and his wife Elisa and their 3 young children. He seemed a very promising active new believer and leader. Suddenly in the accident he got a physical disability which has laid him off work for several months.

It seems that finally a vehicle will soon be bought for the ministry of Vicar Tuqui with the project money of 2004. Please pray for guidance that the right vehicle may be bought.

Please also pray for Vicar Narciso, who is teaching and discipling 30 young believers using the SEAN Abundant Life Course.

Prayer Requests from Bishop Abelino and Paty in Chile

26th January 2009
Chile, PRAY

For reasons of diocesan strategy and progress of the Chilean church we are now living in Santiago.  We thank the Lord we are getting used to live in the city, but we do miss the south.

 

Please pray for:

Our ministry in Santiago.  We are pastoring the ‘Church of the Saviour’ in the community of San Joaquín, which could be an 8-year assignment.  In addition I am required to assist +Tito in his visits here in Santiago as well as in the north and south. The brethren down south were deeply saddened by our departure.  Pastor Joel Millanguir has taken charge as Archdeacon of Araucania, while continuing his role as Area Coordinator for Chol-Chol.  I ask your prayers for this great challenge.  We regret that for various reasons the 9th Region has fewer pastors.  Some have come to Santiago to study at the Centre for Pastoral Studies (CEP), but are unlikely to return.  Please pray for this large and significant change in the life of the church of the 9th Region.

 

For obvious reasons, the Rural Bible Institute is also much weakened.  It does not have enough pastors to undertake the teaching and is also short of money.  Last year we praise God that 6 people graduated and hope that there will be other students graduating this year.  Despite the limitations they willingly continue their studies.  Let’s ask the Lord for more workers for his harvest.

 

The school for deaf children is going through a financial crisis and has had to reduce its staff.  Please pray.

 

William Wilson School at Chol Chol has good plans for the future but is currently weak in the area of Christian education as a consequence of my wife Patricia’s departure.  I ask your prayers for new mature Christian influence.

1 … 90 91 92 93 94 … 110