SAMS prayer line 22nd May 2008

As you may have learned through the media, Rosimeiri Boxall, the adopted 19-year-old Brazilian daughter of ex-SAMS mission partners Simon & Rachel Boxall, died in suspicious circumstances after falling from a window at a house in London on Saturday. Please uphold Simon, Rachel and their sons in their shock and grief.

Two other deaths have made this a sad week. Wichi Bible translator Juan Toribio passed on in northern Argentina after a short illness, and the grandfather of SAMS Latin Volunteer Bárbara Pino has also died in Chile. Pray for Juan’s widow, Carmen, and their family; and for Bárbara, now feeling very far from home in her Blackpool placement, and her family in Chile.

In Bárbara’s home parish in Santiago, Alf & Hilary Cooper have asked us to pray with them about larger premises for their church of La Trinidad, and especially the possibility of renting a large gym in the nearby German School. Please pray for this urgent need for a growing church.
Looking ahead to next Wednesday (28th) the clergy of the Diocese of Peru begin a 3-day retreat, and the leaders of FEISA, the Early Years Teacher Training College in Asunción, Paraguay, spend the first of two days together on a strategic plan for FEISA’s future, notably in regard to funding its expanding ministry. Pray for these two events, that God would be the director and would develop his work accordingly.

New resources

SAMS inside out leafletSAMS inside out leafletSAMS Ireland recently published a new Inside Out booklet explaining more about the work and direction of its mission focus.

We also published a new bookmark which you can download as a PDF or order from the SAMS office.

If you would like more of these resources for your church please contact the office.

Another resource that arrived today is a leaflet for the Esperanza foster home in Asuncion, Paraguay. This is a printable resources available for download.

SAMS Prayer line

SAMS GB Chairman Patrick Coghlan returns tomorrow from the consultations in Buenos Aires with the bishops of the Southern Cone. In his absence his wife Gill has suffered a broken pelvis in a fall and his father is suffering from laboured breathing. Both are in hospital. Please remember them in your prayers, and Patrick as he returns.

Also unwell is Pancha Barratt, wife of Terry, who has had chest and arm pains during and after a visit to the Pehuenche churches of southern Chile. No heart problem has been diagnosed, but please keep Pancha in prayer.

John Sutton of SAMS GB has been at the meetings in Buenos Aires and tomorrow (15th) he moves to Salta in Northern Argentina to meet with mission and Latin partners. Pray for these days to be rewarding for them and for John prior to his return to the UK next week.

John arrives next Wednesday (21st) and goes straight to a meeting of the SAMS Trustees at which the issue of a possible merger with CMS will be discussed in the light of responses from UK supporters and folk working in South America. Please pray for this very important meeting.

On Friday (16th) Chris Somervell returns to Asunción to be reunited with her children and begin preparations for the family’s final return to the UK in July. Tony joins them next month. Pray for Chris’s travel, and for them all as they face huge change after nearly 20 years in Paraguay.

Elaine prepares to return

Elaine HutchinsonI can hardly believe I’m sitting down to write what will be my last prayer letter. This year has flow by, and God has taught me so much during the year.

A sad piece of news to begin with. Many will remember Romina from my last prayer letter. Indeed a lot of people will have been among those who raised the money for her operations and subsequent treatment. Romina received her second operation during holy week. She had recovered well, and had returned home. Unfortunately she took ill about a week after the operation. She was brought straight to hospital but despite the best efforts of her medical team she was unable to pull through. Romina was a very special little girl and anyone who met her immediately sensed her fighting spirit.

We can only thank God for the opportunity of getting to know her that little bit during her lifetime, and for the chance to show God’s love to her.

St. Andrew's SchoolIn school the term has been action packed. The staff all started back with a service on the first day, to get us all ready for a new year. The kids came back about 10 days later and there was a joint assembly with primary and secondary together. It is very uplifting to be in a school where God is given the first focus of new year, and seeing the kids really respond to that.
So far each year in secondary has already taken a camp. Some were survival camps and others were more practical community based projects. The first set of school exams began last week, and continue until the end of May. This is a difficult time for the students. Since they are only permitted by the education authorities to have one exam per day, the exams stretch for a long time. Please pray for strength and perseverance on their behalf, so they do the best they can.

IguazuAt Easter time I had a visit from my parents, and was able to take a few days back at the Iguazú waterfalls in Brazil. It was a good break from school, and a good time was spent catching up from things at home. Their visit also served to start to prepare me mentally for the return home. I have to say this is not a journey I’m particularly looking forward to! I very much enjoy Paraguay and feel very at home here. The people are friendly and returning home will not be terribly easy, as there are at least some people who it is unlikely I’ll ever see again, for various reasons. Please pray that over the next few weeks God would begin to prepare me spiritually and mentally for the challenges I will face once I return home. Pray for strength and that he would give me a peace that comes from knowing that his will is being done, even if mine isn’t!

The most exciting times for me at the minute are ever fortnight on Saturday mornings. This is when the church has its kids club for children from the “Chacarita”. This is the name given to the shanty town area not far from where we live. The kids are so happy with so very little. We start the day by giving them a shower, which they badly need! They leave their clothes which get washed before the next time for them. At the start of the year they were all given new clothes. Nothing flash, but they were so happy to get them! My parents go photos of the kids while they were here, so I had those printed for them. I made a poster of all the photos, cutting them out to form a heart shape. When I looked the kids were picking the photos off the poster. It turns out they’d never had their photos taken, least of all had the chance to take a photo of themselves home to keep, so they were all picking off their photos to take home! It was so humbling to think something so normal like a photograph could mean so much to someone.

Over the next two months school will resume normality after exams. I plan to take a final visit to Concepción in June to visit Clare Holmes. The majority of the time will however be inevitably spent getting ready to leave.

Please pray for that, and all the goodbyes, and I’ll see most of you quite soon!

Request for Prayer for Pat Blanchard

Pat Blanchard“Winter has arrived in Peru which means the weather is getting colder and Lima is often covered in a wet mist. Clothes don’t dry and people often suffer ailments during this time. Pat Blanchard is one such person. Winter does not appear to suit her metabolism and she is “down” with a heavy cold and is generally very run down. Please pray that God gives her physical strength firstly to get better, and secondly to enable her to fulfill all her commitments at Jesus el Nazareno and in the local community.”

Read more in Pat’s Blog

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