Brownes’ Newsletter from Argentina
Brownes’ Newsletter from Argentina recently received into the SAMS office:
Summer Camps in Peru
Dear Praying Friends,
We hope you all are well and send our greetings!
We are safely back in Peru and we are now into camp season!
Could we please ask for your prayers for the forthcoming camps?:
Teenagers in Lima: 30th Jan – 2nd February
Arequipa: 7th – 9th Feb
Students / Young Adults in Lima: 21st -23rd February
Please pray for the young people attending, for God’s will to be done in their lives and for the team of leaders and speakers preparing for the camps. Please also pray for safety and good working together. Do also please pray for us as we travel and attend the camps and speak, help, pray and guide.
We’ll look forward to sending more details soon after the camps in a full update.
Many thanks
Paul, Sarah and Sophia
Art Auction Fundraiser
I am auctioning this piece of art for my dad’s work with SAMS (South American Mission Society). Feel free to bid on this original acrylic of Bendy Amsterdam
Bidding starts at £50. Auction closes midday 31st January let me know if you want to bid!
Tanya Mai Johnston
Tanya x
Spanish Worship Night Update!
If you have a heart for Latin-American and/or Spain and like speaking the language, don’t miss this opportunity of worshipping our Lord and sharing between each other in Spanish.
Save the date: Tuesday 4th of February, 7:30pm for tea & coffee (starting at 8pm) at The Hub (22 Elmwood Avenue, Belfast, BT9 6AY).
See you there! Blessings!
Penelope
A life lived for the glory of God
Funeral Reflections
We hope the following reflections from the funeral of Dorothea Wedgwood Clarke, founder of San Andres in Asuncion helps you catch a glimpse of a life lived to the glory of God.
Dear friends,
We thought you’d be interested to receive an account of Thea’s wonderful funeral, at St. Paul’s Church, Ryde on the !sle of Wight, last Friday.
The service, all arranged by Thea in 2009, was beautifully led by Rev. Peter Pimentel, with the hymns “Great Is Thy faithfulness”, “Psalm 23” (to Crimond) and “Beauty For Brokenness” and the reading from Revelation 21: 1-7, chosen by Glenys Williams.
Christopher Wedgwood, Thea’s brother, who had put in a great deal of work to make the occasion so special, read out various appreciative messages he had received from different people who had known and loved Thea. There were comments on Thea’s enthusiasm and many practical gifts; her generosity; her creativity; her many adventures worldwide, after she left Paraguay and travelled as an itinerant missionary; her positive outlook on life and lack of complaining even in her final sufferings in her Care Home; and above all her passionate love for and commitment to Jesus. Eileen gave a tribute on her contribution to Paraguayan education, and Molly read some quotations from C S Lewis’s “The Last Battle” with her final suffering in mind.
Rev. Peter Pimentel based his short address on Zephaniah 3: 17, stressing God’s love and delight in those who love him, as Thea so deeply did.
“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you in his love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
We were quite nervous about having to participate in the service, but from the beginning, when Rev. Peter Pimentel said that we were present to celebrate a very remarkable life, there was such a note of joy and appreciation of Thea’s love for Jesus and her zest for life in all its fullness, that it was a privilege to take part. There were about 50 people present, including family and people with past links to the South American Missionary Society – Philip and Rosemary Tadman, Nicky Harmer, Mandy Lines, and Helen Sohns. There were also many friends from different places and people from the Priory and the Care Home, where Thea had spent her later years.
The service was followed by the cremation, and as we entered the chapel, a recording of the St. Andrew’s School hymn sung in 2003 by the children was played. This was a song very much loved by Thea, and in her final months, Christopher and she sang it together often. After a solemn Commendation of Thea to the Lord, in Hebrew and English, the curtains round the coffin closed to a wonderful rendering of the whole of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.” It was such a fitting ending and new beginning of a very remarkable life!
Love,
Molly & Eileen
Tim Curtis in the Chaco
Tim Curtis in the Chaco update recently received into the SAMS office:
My Father’s House Update
My Father’s House Update recently received into the SAMS office:
Cerón News from Chile
Cerón News from Chile.pdf News and prayer letter recently received into the SAMS office:
SNAP
ARGENTINA: Please pray for president Cristina Kirchner and her government. Pray for SAMS Red Box Project coordinator Cecilia Valdiviezo and her time in Northern Ireland this month. Pray for Cecilia as she shares with supporting churches – in the midst of a busy programme pray that Cecilia will be refreshed as she catches up with friends.
PARAGUAY: Esperanza Foster Home: Give thanks for the past year, the children who have stayed in the home and the growth they felt through their stay there. Pray for the future of the home, for Inocencia, who is currently the main foster mum, and pray too for the children who will stay at the home over the next year. That it will be a place full of love and hope for them.
CHILE: SAMS are happy to let you know that from this month, we will be supporting a new project with Santiago Apóstol Church in Chile. The goal of this project is to support a full time worker to share the message of Jesus amongst the many students there. Santiago is home to at least 50% of the students in the country, but there is not a single local evangelical church in downtown Santiago that works throughout the week, full-time, to serve the thousands of students there. Pray for Rev. Cristóbal Cerón of Santiago Apóstol Church and the project leader Max Díaz.
GENERAL COUNCIL: Pray for the SAMS General Council meeting on 16th January and for all the council members. Pray that God will lead and guide them and that they will be open to hearing God’s voice as they plan for future developments.
TRANSIT: Give thanks for the Christmas visit of Jonny and Lynn Lockhart to Claire in Concepcion, pray for safety in travel as they return to the UK on 14th January. Pray for Chris and Alison Hawksbee as they return to Paraguay on 21st January. Give thanks for the encouraging time Chris and Alison had with Annaghmore Parish. Pray for Gwen and Mags as they return to Asuncion on 28th January.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE: Pray for Friday Night Live (FNL) preparations. FNL will be held in Craigavon Civic Centre on Friday 7th February at 7.30pm. FNL be an evening to be informed challenged and encouraged on missional developments in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru. There are exciting stories of God at work, so pray with us and for us. Refreshments afterwards will create an opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones!
“To know the Word of God, to live the Word of God, to preach the Word, to teach the Word, is the sum of all wisdom, the heart of all Christian service.”
Esperanza Foster Home
Greetings! At the beginning of 2014 we want to thank you for your involvement in the Esperanza Foster Home project in Paraguay – and of course wishing you every blessing for the year ahead.
The beginning of 2013 was difficult for the Esperanza Project as Juana, the main foster mum, had decided to move on and it was no easy task finding her replacement. However, with a strong recommendation from one of the
Anglican school mums, Inocencia was taken on in the middle of the year. She has had a number of helpers as, with the economy picking up and there being more job opportunities than there used to be, and working with young children being seen as a low status sort of job, filling posts with suitable staff is not easy. Prayers for this would be much appreciated.
There has recently been a change of government in Paraguay with a different political party in power. This meant that many of the key contacts in the State Adoption Centre were replaced and Esperanza needed to sign a new agreement with them. This was achieved in June after much frustration, and 2 year old twin girls, F and F, arrived soon afterwards. They were very serious initially but are now much more happy and confident. We are awaiting news of a hearing with their birth mother which will dictate whether they can return to her care or may be adopted.
In October, 4 year old M arrived with severely delayed development and malnutrition. Through the contacts of one of the Esperanza leadership team, free medical insurance for all the Esperanza children has been offered and this was a real blessing for M who saw a top neurologist. He was amazed at the difference in M after just a month in the Esperanza home. Initially he was not making eye contact, responding to his name or able to say any words. But with loving care and stimulation he is now a different child, laughing and enjoying physical contact. Those who saw the change in him described it as miraculous and his case epitomises what the Esperanza project is all about. M’s paperwork has now come through and he has gone to live with future adoptive parents, a nurse and a teacher/youth worker who would seem pretty ideal! Meanwhile, the ladies have just welcomed 2 new siblings of 3 and 1 into the home.
We are delighted that Esperanza is still able to help Paraguayan children in this way. A recent article in the press stated that there are currently 1600 children known to be in institutions awaiting judicial decisions about their future. Social Services are convinced that a family fostering model is by far the best option for these children but there are very few families or homes like Esperanza where they can place them.
So THANK YOU for all the support you have given. If you would like to make a further donation to Esperanza, or set up or change a standing order, then please do contact us as this is easily done through our friends in SAMS UK and Ireland.
Murray and Penny Metcalfe