Paraguay Prayer Calendar Feb 2008
The latest Prayer Calendar for February is just in.
In addition we have been asked specifically to pray for the election of a new Bishop of Paraguay and for new teachers in St. Andrew’s School.
Dengue fever alert in Paraguay
Paraguay has again been put on a Dengue Fever alert. There have been 150 suspected cases of the mosquito-born disease this year. In 2007 an epidemic of Dengue caused 27,000 cases and 17 deaths. A number of SAMS Mission Partners caught the disease last year. Anyone who has had Dengue before is more at risk of the more dangerous form of dengue haemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome. Please pray for our mission partners health at this time.
The full story is on the BBC website.
Prayer items
Friday Night Live Pray for all those travelling to Friday Night Live on the 1st February. It’s one of the biggest nights and most overseas visitors we have ever had. There will be a lot of preparations over the next week.
Health Please remember in prayer Bishop Bill & Judith Godfrey of Peru who came to the UK just before Christmas for Bill to convalesce after a series of operations. Bill is far from well and was expecting to go back into hospital here for an extended period. Judith is very tired, so please hold them and their family up to the Lord.
Camps In Peru itself the first of three diocesan youth camps begins tomorrow (Thursday) in Lima, finishing on Monday. Paul Tester has been helping organise these camps. Pray that God would reach out to many young people through them. The others are held next month.
Chaplaincy Also tomorrow interviews are held in Warwick for a chaplain to replace Peter Jordan in Barcelona after he retires on 31 March. Pray for a person of vision and team leadership qualities to be found for the post.
Threats to churches In the same part of the world Sue Woodcock has been shocked to learn that ”several Protestant churches in Catalunya are under threat of closure by local authorities for what would seem to be trumped-up reasons. This is a very worrying trend”, writes Sue, “and it’s astonishing that it should happen under democracy!” She asks us to pray for this situation and for our brothers and sisters there.
SAMS Ireland Way Ahead
The SAMS Ireland General Council met in Dublin on Monday 21st January for prayer and discussion on the future direction of SAMS. Titch put together a discussion document looking at the core values of SAMS, it was used to spark creative thinking and ideas on sharpening focus and prioritising. The council will pray over the ideas and discussions and meet again on Monday 10th March to draft a new SAMS Ireland vision and plan for the next three years.
Message from Alf Cooper
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.
January Prayer news from Paraguay
This month’s prayer calendar from the diocese of Paraguay, in pdf format.
Pray for Bishop Andrés Rodríguez
Bishop Andrés Rodríguez who, following Bishop John Ellison’s retirement, has oversight of the Diocese of Paraguay until the appointment of a new diocesan bishop. Bishop Andrés is extremely busy with all the extra responsibilities and this is the hottest part of the year. Pray for him and his wife Estela, and also for the procedures to appoint a successor to Bishop John. A vote could be taken at a diocesan synod in March.
Salta youth camp, Jan 2008
La Caldera is the location of the BTN trip in July 2008. This report shows how the diocese is already at work there.
Dani Lescano and René Pereira are the two men coordinating the diocesan youth camp planned for January 21-27 of 2008. They are expecting some 65 youngsters from urban parishes all over the diocese. The aim is to mix training in evangelism with some practical maintenance work on the conference centre itself. The programme promises to be action-packed. Amongst other things such as sports and Bible study, there will be a number of workshops on different types of outreach (puppets, theatre, music, mime, etc.) and the idea is to apply the lessons learnt on the last day in the La Caldera village. Knowledge of the gospel message will be key. In the streets and on the plaza the young people will present the evangelistic effort they’ve been working on.
Ed Brice on the end of an era
There was a tearfull goodbye in the airport for Bishop John and Judy Ellison after ninteen years
faithful service in Paraguay. His firm and determinded leadership has seen the Anglican Church of
Paraguay into the twenty first century more united than ever.
Read more in the Brices’ prayer letter.
Growth in Punta Arenas
Colin and Barbara Bazley are SAMS GB Mission Partners in Chile. They write,
Punta Arenas, on the Straits of Magellan, is cut off from the rest of Chile by uninhabitable icy mountains, glaciers, fiords and islands. We expected that the church here, having been a year without a minister, would have felt more isolated than ever and we feared to find it in a somewhat depressed state. To our surprise and great joy this was far from the case. Housegroups, Sunday Club, youth group, music as well as the Sunday services were all flourishing and enjoying the challenge. New people had joined and there are a good number of confirmation candidates for the Confirmation this coming Sunday.