Following the successful mission trip by young people from Down and Dromore Diocese to Northern Argentina SAMS Ireland is launching a new project - La Caldera 2010. The project aims to help the Anglican church in Northern Argentina to develop following several difficult years.

La Caldera is a retreat centre 30 minutes from the regional capital Salta. It is a key centre for the ministry of the diocese as it is the focus for outreach and ministry training. The original building is 100 years old and badly in need of repair. In July 2008 the team of young people started to help rebuild the retreat centre. Following this trip Bishop Harold Millar has asked that the young people of Down and Dromore and DDYC will help with an on-going project called la Caldera 2010.

Another key part of this project will be to sponsor the training of ordinands in the Anglican church in Argentina. Key ministry students will be identified and brought to Ireland to meet interested churches. The students will spend some time getting to know the congregation who will then follow their progress through theological college in South America and pray for them as they begin ordained ministry. The first students to be chosen are Dani and Flavia Lescano, they are just starting their 2nd year in theological training in Buenos Aires.

Gonzalo and Leticia are ministers in the Anglican church in Uruguay. Read more about them in this profile.

Pamela Gomez is a Latin Partner working in Annaghmore Parish for the last six months. Here are a few of her impressions of her time so far.

What have you been doing in the Parish?
I have been working especially with children in the Parish, helping with the Sunday School and youth activities during the week. Recently I joined the worship team and for Pentecost Sunday sang for them in Spanish. I’ve also been giving Spanish lessons for those going out on BTN teams this coming year.

What has been the best thing of the last six months?
The best thing has been working for God over the last six months. Working with the people in the Parish has been very special and I have grown as a Christian as a result. I have learnt that I can spend a lot of time working, even in Christian work, but my priority has to be my relationship with God. Spending time reading the Bible and praying has really helped me.

What do you think of us Northern Irish?
The people are lovely. They are always asking me if everything is ok. The people of Annaghmore are really my big family. I have so many friends there, and Dorothy, the Rector, is a real support and absolutely lovely.

It’s very important to me that SAMS is working in my home town in Argentina, it is a real honour that people here want to help the church grow in Salta. I really appreciate that.

Pamela is here until 13th of July, please pray for her as she prepares to return to Argentina.

Dear brothers and sisters,

With these lines I want to send you some news regarding the work of the Anglican Church in Northern Argentina…
 
This year we have had a lot of rain in this region and unfortunately, as has happened in the past, it caused the rivers Pilcomayo and Bermejo to flood. As a result of this, various communities suffered from flooding, some even having to leave their homes so as to move to other places. The communities that were flooded in the Province of Formosa are: el Quebracho, Pescado Negro, Las Lagunitas, Pocitos and Pozo Yacaré (in the Bermejo region); our brethren in El Churcal are isolated, they can only be reached by canoe (this is in the Pilcomayo area). While in the Province of Salta the affected communities were Bajo Grande, Las Vertientes, Las Juntas, Pozo Mulato, Alto de la Sierra and Pozo las Chivas (in the Pilcomayo area).

In these last months the rains have not stopped; even last night it rained all night and it’s still raining this morning; this has made the situation even worse as those who left their villages are living very precariously and the roads have become unusable so that it’s almost impossible to reach them. We ask for your prayers for these brethren who are in great need; thanks be to God that the government has been helping them (by air) with food and some shelter. But as has happened previously, I think that when the waters recede and the people establish themselves in their new places they are most likely going to need a new church and they will certainly ask for help from the Diocese for this.

Because of all I’ve mentioned above, we had to cancel the youth meeting which was due to take place during Holy Week in Juarez, as it was impossible for many to travel out from their villages. We also had to postpone a zonal conference in Sauzalito (Chaco Province) for the same reason; this was due to take place on April 5th and 6th but has been postponed till August.
 
As regards ministry in the criollo (“white”) church, in February we had a Young People’s camp in La Caldera (Salta), with about 70 young people taking part, including 35 from Juarez, Laguna Yema and Chiriguanos [towns in the Chaco]. There we had workshops to learn about theatre, music, puppets, clowns and plastic arts, in order to offer the young folk tools to use in evangelism. The young people returned home from the camp both challenged and encouraged, to such a point that in Juarez we organised an open-air event in the little town square where they put into practice what they had learned. This happened on Good Friday: there was a massive crowd, whole families came to the place, lots of children along with their parents; it was a really great opportunity to present the Gospel; as a result of this the numbers coming to the church meetings have grown, especially in the Youth Group and the Sunday School. We ask for your prayers for the central criollo church in Juarez and especially for the two young pastors who lead it: one is Narciso Sanchez (unmarried) and the other is Juan Maldonado (married with 7 children).

In July the youth of the Criollo church in Juarez want to organise their First Youth Camp; after taking part in the Camp at La Caldera they came home with that expectation. It will be a great blessing for them to be able to carry it out; there would be participants from the nearby towns and including some from the capital city of Salta. We don’t have the infrastructure required to do this, but in faith we believe it’s possible. Please pray
for this too.

Also in July, as is our custom we shall have our Youth Camp in Misión Chaqueña which will embrace all the youth from the rural ministry; usually there are about 100-120 young people from different congregations in the region. We are counting on your prayers for this.
 
As for family news, we give thanks to God for Marina’s recovery although it is not yet complete; she is still physically quite poorly, she has to take care not to get a cold or flu, and she still has to continue the treatment to improve her natural immunity. She is still very susceptible to anything which concerns the respiratory system or the lungs. Many thanks for your prayers; we are sure that you are still supporting us in prayer for Marina. On the other hand, Marcos and Sarai have begun their school year really well. Sarai who is 13 is in the 3rd year of secondary while Marcos (only 11) is doing 7th grade (last year of primary school). They are both very healthy and growing taller than their parents, I think very soon they will be looking down on us!
  
Well, that’s all the news that I have to tell you for now, hoping and praying that our Almighty God will continue to bless you richly, both physically as well as spiritually.

Your brother in Christ,

Rene Pereira.

Cecilia sent us this email about the economic problems developing in Argentina.

The intention of this email is to share with you the present situation here in Argentina. I’m convinced that together united in prayer, our Lord will deliver us and guide the government to find a solution to the current crisis.

I came back from Ireland almost four weeks ago; I had left a country which was trying hard to improve its economical and social problems. Since 2001, because of the crisis, the whole population has had to learn to live differently to what we were used to, it took some time but after a while the changes became more manageable.

For the last two months the government has faced some difficult situations with the farmers, the government wants to increase some taxes and the farmers are refusing to pay the new amount. After some attempts to solve the dilemma and without any positive response, the farmers decided to start a strike and as part of their strategy they blocked the motorways and many of the main roads. Because of this the people who deliver goods all around the country couldn’t do their job and for almost three weeks they were living in their lorries waiting for a solution.

As a result the whole country suffered a sad consequence; little by little we started running out of food. Every time you went to the supermarket you were allow to take only a certain amount of things, in the hope that by introducing rationing there would be enough food for everyone and to make this unfortunate situation worse many business´ took advantage of the crisis by pushing the prices up on almost all of their merchandise .
Meanwhile the government chose not to reconsider the situation so the people who were affected most by the strike started supporting the farmers and asking the government to do something about it. After some meetings they decided to stop the strike for 40 days and after which they will meet the President again to see if a definite solution can be agreed upon.

The meeting will take place this week, if they don’t come to an agreement the problems of a few weeks ago will recommence, and once again we are going to suffer the cost.
On the other hand, the banks don’t trust the new government (It has been said they are afraid that there will be another crisis like the one in 2001) so they have changed some of their policies, instead of working with the people they are working against them. For example the maximum amount that can be withdrawn per transaction is equal to about 45 pounds sterling and as each transaction costs 1 pound this quickly adds up.

As you can imagine, this change also affects the church because everything we planned to spend this year for the new building as well as the soup kitchen has to be reconsidered due price increases.

In less than two months the entire economy has changed dramatically and returning home has been a real shock for me. There are some families in the church who are struggling with this reality as they are in great economical need. It breaks my heart to see them working so hard and not even being able to get a house of their own, to see them crying out for help because they feel completely lost and tired, very tired. But something that has astonished me is their way of praying, always thanking God for what they have (one family couldn’t even put food on their table for a week).

So this is the present situation in my lovely Argentina, we are all waiting to see what the government decide to do with this.

My prayer to God is that He will give wisdom to our President so she can help her people who trust her.

My friends, I just want to thank you for reading this and for praying for my people and also for me. May God be with us.

Love, Cecilia

SAMS GB has published the Spring Share magazine. This edition includes news from Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Argentina. Also included are interviews with retired Bishop John Ellison and volunteers going to South America in the summer.

Four hundred and forty people squeezed into the main hall in the Jethro Centre for Friday Night Live; it was standing room only by 7:30pm. Highlights of the evening included a reunion between Edmeia Williams from Brazil and Archbishop Robin Eames. In 1998 Lord Eames visited Edmeia in the Dona Marta favela of Rio de Janerio.

Retired Bishop of Paraguay, John Ellison and his wife Judy, shared about their 30 years of work in South America. Dr Dickie Barr reported on a successful Love for Life trip, and the Trews emotionally shared how the family moved from Paraguay back to Northern Ireland.

The dynamic evangelist and church leader from Chile, Alf Cooper, gave the keynote address on the need to share the gospel, and training all members of the church to be a witness for Christ. He also introduced Samuel Lago who is spending a year in All Saints Parish in Belfast.

Titch and Cecilia reported on the excellent work carried out by SAMS volunteers in Salta and welcomed Pamela who is spending a year in Annaghmore Parish.

Bishop Ken Clarke finished the evening by praying for all those who will be going on mission over the next year, including the nationals from South America working in Northern Ireland.

It was another exciting night, encouraging to see so much interest in the work of mission in South America, Spain and Portugal. Thank you to all who helped out, and for everyone who came on such a wintry night.

We’d love to hear your thoughts, leave a comment at the form at the bottom of this page.

Alf Cooper, the keynote speaker at Friday Night Live writes:

“As we look over our calendar”, write Alf and Hilary Cooper from La Trinidad church in Santiago, “we see wonderful evangelistic opportunities before us and many new people have been arriving at church.

With the arrival of new people we follow up with a Foundations Course called ‘Building on the Rock’ and this has enabled many to grow and stick with us becoming part of us. Children and young people are welcomed into our Youth and Children’s Encounters. ??We also see a new opportunity - television. We’ve signed a contract to go on air, as we figure that Wesley would have used this powerful tool. We want to host a chat show called “Hazte Cargo” (roughly “Stand up for what you believe”) where we invite national figures to talk about their beliefs, whatever they are, and to stand up for them. We will stand up for biblical Christianity. Pray!” Talking of media, Alf is writing another book.

Pray for Alf and Hilary and we look forward to their contribution at Friday Night Live.

God’s work in Paraguay

“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit-just as you were called to one hope when you were called-one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
Ephesians 4:3-6

Last September, I went to Paraguay to visit my friends and sisters, Claire and Raquel. It’s amazing the way God works things out. As most of you know, one of my deepest desires was to spend some time with Claire working with children, sharing our passion and love for Jesus and learning from one another. This time I was traveling with a friend from my church, who also is interested in mission, she is called Vanina.

I went there full of expectations, wishing to be used for the glory of God. I was hungry of his wisdom and hoping He could keep giving me the Passion I needed to keep doing this. He provided me with everything I needed; he looked after me as a Father can do. I didn’t need to worry about the time, money, a place to stay or even the company since I was not traveling on my own.

After many hours of traveling (32 approximately) we arrived at Concepción. There, my friend and sister in the Lord was waiting for us. Claire looked sleepy, well I think all of us, after all it was almost 4.30 a.m. when we arrived.

After resting almost the whole morning Claire came to see us and introduced to the rest of the people of the church. We could feel the welcome, the people were absolutely friendly. I just wanted to start working with Claire; I didn’t want to waste time. But she had some others things in mind, she wanted me to rest and do things little by little. I respected that, because I knew there was going to be a good result from all of this. She wanted me to have a time for myself, something that I hadn’t be able to have at home, may be because of everything I had lived with my mum’s illness or just because I never stop. I listened to her carefully because she had lived exactly the same thing as I was living, I knew in a way she could understand my pain. God gave me the opportunity to share with her my suffering, my concern about my family, about our future as a family… in few words I was able to let her know myself. “Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

We did many activities, working in the open areas, teaching the gospel to the children, sharing our time with teenagers in their classes, taking part in the prayer meeting and visiting and preaching the indigenous. We had ten wonderful days sharing the Grace of the Lord, it was a time to give and receive, a time to listen to our God and try to do what He commanded us to do, to preach and let his word be taught. I saw so many faces with the need of God in their lives, so many children who know that at least once a week they will be feed with the food of the spirit and also I saw so many adults who need the presence of our Lord in their lives because they know He is “the hope” for their lives.

As I mentioned before, God had prepared everything for us, this was the perfect time for us to travel, because as soon as we arrived we were told about the centenary of the Anglican Church. We were going to be part of that celebration; I was more than thankful to God because without knowing we lived that especial moment of the Church, the Christian Church. It was so nice to see so many people proud of the work of the Lord through so many years. I heard testimonies of people who trusted the Lord as their God and now they keep serving him and working for Him and teaching their family and friends, they have the same passion for the Lord as young kids full of life.

My time there flew, without noticing the ten days had gone and now it was time to visit my friend Raquel in Asuncion. It was a little bit sad to leave Concepción because the people had given us so much love, but we needed to keep going. Asuncion was different, (not the weather though) but life is faster than in Concepción. I spent some time with Raquel who was always running from one place to the other. It was good to see her again and be with her lovely family who opened their home for us. That was our social time, most of the days we went for a walk, visiting different places and meeting our partners from SAMS G.B.

That is how I spent my time in Paraguay, I promised the Bishop I will come back next year but may be for two weeks and with three of my kids. I pray the Lord will give us the material resources to do this, I know he will…after all we have a rich Father, don’t we?

My dear brothers thank you once again for this opportunity I had to visit the Church in Paraguay. May God keep blessing his work there, and may He keep encouraging people to have the desire of serving Him.