Some news letters and prayer letters received into the SAMS office:
Some prayer letters received into the SAMS office:
Ruth Hollingdale Vilella is coming home from Brazil to visit her mother who is ill. Her husband Efraim hopes to join her later. Pray for the Hollingdale family at this time.
Also travelling this week is short term volunteer Esther German who completes her time at Hogar el Alba children’s home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Sunday. Esther seems to have had a very happy and productive time there; as we give thanks for this, let’s pray her home safely, seek God’s guidance for her in the future and pray others may be challenged as she recounts her experience.
Next Sunday La Trinidad Church in Las Condes, Santiago, Chile, celebrates its 25th anniversary. Praise God for the ministry of Alf & Hilary Cooper over those years and ask Him to bless the ongoing work of discipleship and mission.
Part of La Trinidad’s outreach is to children, and immediately prior to the Sunday celebration a two-day Children’s Encounter in the Spirit (ENE) is held there for 9-13 year-olds. Pray God’s greatest blessings on participants and leaders.
Over the same two days the Pastoral Commission of the Indian Church of Northern Argentina meets in Juárez to evaluate and adjust the plan for the church for this year. Pray for God’s wisdom and guidance for Isidro Vilte, Martín Ortiz and the Indian leaders as they gather and discuss.
Long-standing SAMS supporter and former General Council member Peter Tong is in hospital having broken his hip in a fall. Please remember Peter and his wife Kay in your prayers.
Finally, another significant event in the merging of SAMS and CMS takes place on Friday and Saturday when the SAMS General Council meets in Oxford. Pray for Chair of Trustees Patrick Coghlan and all council members and staff gathered.
Catherine and Nick both have vast experience of work among both Latinos and indigenous people after service during four decades in Argentina and Spain. Nick is Suffragan Bishop with special responsibility for the indigenous churches, which make up the majority of the diocese of Northern Argentina.
Read their blog on www.ampey.wordpress.com
The new Bishop of Paraguay, Peter Bartlett, and his wife Sally are currently making their first pastoral visit to the rural Chaco region, in company with Ed & Marie Brice. Pray that their time in the Indian communities will be a mutual blessing. From next Monday (8th) Peter will teach at a week’s Bible School in Río Verde on the key subject of ‘the spirit world’. Pray that God’s Holy Spirit will protect and direct.
From Friday SAMS Latin Partner Ronny Irene, pastor in La Paz, Bolivia, will be guest speaker at a retreat for young people of the San Andrés evening congregation in Asunción, Paraguay. This church saw 27 people confirmed last month. Pray for this event and for Ronny’s ministry.
Another SAMS Latin Partner, Daniel Morrison, from Gómez Carreño, Chile, has had a set back in his recovery from depression and needs to take leave of absence until he gets an appointment with a psychiatrist in Viña del Mar. Remember Daniel in your prayers, in particular that the appointment with the doctor may be pushed forward, as currently the first available date is at the end of July. Pray too for his wife Ary and their 3 children and also for Ary’s father who is in a very critical situation in hospital in Concepción (South of Chile).
Sue Woodcock thanks us for our prayers for the recent synod of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church, which she describes as “the best we have had for
many years, with an excellent atmosphere”. The Diocesan Plan was approved and Sue was re-elected Vice President of the Standing Committee. She now asks prayer for the implementation of the Plan, which is “quite ambitious”.
June 2009 News from Caroline Gilmour-White at the Anglican Diocese of Paraguay.
From yesterday the Diocese of Uruguay has an Assistant Bishop: please pray for Gilberto Porcal who was consecrated in a service last evening in Montevideo.
Last Sunday Anderson Sánchez was ordained priest in Lima, Peru. Anderson is married to Isabel Montoya who runs the Children’s Daycare Centre in the parish of Holy Trinity where her parents, Julio & Norma, are pastors. Pray for Anderson in his new responsibilities and for the whole family in their loving care and outreach into the local communities.
This weekend
the Diocese of Argentina holds its Synod; pray for Bishop Greg Venables and the ordained and lay representatives as they gather over two days to discern God’s leading for the diocese.
a course for leaders of the Toba churches of Northern Argentina takes place; pray for René Pereira and the leaders gathered in the community of Rinconada.
in northeast Spain Bishop Carlos López visits on Sunday the Església de Crist, the church in Sabadell pastored by Sue Woodcock; pray for this special service.
Finally, on the UK front Mary Rollin has begun her new job with CMS as Personal Assistant to Bishop Henry Scriven, Mission Director for South America. And on Monday Jo Hazelton takes up her new post as Regional Personnel Officer for South America. Both are based in the CMS offices in Oxford; please keep them in your prayers
Some more prayer letters received into the SAMS office:
Alf & Hilary Cooper in Chile ask prayer for their organizing of a massive rally of evangelical churches outside the presidential palace in the main square of Santiago. The rally is held on 30 May and “could be a major breakthrough in the cause of revival”.
A number of events deserving our prayers take place this weekend:
the 50th Diocesan Synod of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church (IERE) in Madrid. Pray for the Diocesan Plan to be well received and also for Sue Woodcock, just back from her UK visit, in whatever diocesan role God has for her alongside her work in Sabadell and as an archdeacon.
the annual Paraguay conference of the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). FEISA Teacher Training College will run two workshops for early years teachers on behavioural problems in children and on planning projects to fit in with the Ministry of Education’s new early years curriculum. Pray for these workshops, for Gloria de Álvarez and Ana Demestri leading them, and for all who attend to be blessed, encouraged and challenged to become better teachers.
also in Asunción a Marriage Encounter weekend. Pray for its leaders and the participating couples, for healing, renewal and enrichment of marriages.
a regional training course for indigenous church leaders held in Santa Teresa in the Argentine Chaco. Pray for coordinator René Pereira and all involved.
Finally, please remember Ian Meldrum who arrives for UK leave on Wednesday 27th. His wife Siméa and the family continue their work in Olinda; she and two of their sons will come here in late June. And John Wigfield completes his short lecturing tour in Brazil and Paraguay, setting off home on Sunday.
Brazil
Severe flooding has displaced many tens of thousands of people in northern and north eastern Brazil and killed dozens of others.
Weeks of torrential rain have affected several Brazilian states, especially the ones in the semi-arid region, leading to at least 200,000 people becoming homeless.
Some of the worst affected states were Pará, Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará and Paraíba, which are among the poorest in the country.
Tearfund’s Country Representative for Brazil, João Martinez da Cruz, said, ‘The recent torrential rains were a real surprise to the local people. Temperatures are always high and it normally only rains for a few months during the year.’
Tearfund partner ACEV (Evangelical Action) reports in recent weeks many houses were practically submerged by water in a neighbourhood of Patos, the town where they are based in the state of Paraíba.
Sacha Medcraft from ACEV, said, ‘The rescue services could not cope with the demands and we had to mobilise a large number of volunteers to help out. In three hours, it rained more than in four months.’
ACEV has mobilised local church volunteers and members of the community to help provide basic provisions for those forced from their properties.
Other regions of the country have been severely affected by floods in recent months, especially the states of Santa Catarina in the south, São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro in the south east.