Claire Holmes in Paraguay
Claire Holmes in Paraguay news and prayer letter recently received into the SAMS office:
BEWARE OF SCAM
Dear SAMS supporters,
I have been made aware of two mission agencies in the UK that have had their records hacked into by scammers, in order to obtain personal details of supporters, such as telephone numbers and email addresses. Scammers are then using this information to contact supporters, posing as a representative of the mission agency and have in some cases asked for money to be sent to them. Although this scam has existed by email for some time, it is increasingly likely to be tried by telephone.
If you receive a call like this, put your phone down, wait one hour (in some cases, the caller will hold your line open for some time) and then contact SAMS on a number you know (not one the caller gives you), or one you can find from the SAMS website or from SAMS literature. Please remember that SAMS will never telephone you asking for money.
SAMS follows strict guidelines to keep personal information of supporters confidential. We ensure that our antivirus software is kept up to date and information is never passed on to a third party without permission. We at SAMS have not been affected by this scam, but I wish to inform you about it to make you aware of what can happen and ask for your vigilance.
As always thank you for your support.
Bishop Ken Clarke
SAMS Mission Director
Tim Curtis in Paraguay
Tim Curtis in Paraguay news and prayer letter recently received into the SAMS office:
God’s Missional Agenda
When it comes to our spiritual lives, it’s more or less a universal tendency to compartmentalize. We recognize there’s both a personal and a communal aspect to the Christian life, that there’s a vertical and a horizontal dimension, that there are the things to be done within the walls of the church and things to do beyond those walls.
But so often we view these as competing priorities, failing to see all the ways in which they’re mutually reinforcing disciplines and practices for followers of Christ seeking an integrated way of life.
Prayer and action… can never be seen as contradictory or mutually exclusive. Prayer without action grows into powerless pietism, and action without prayer degenerates into questionable manipulation. If prayer leads us into a deeper unity with the compassionate Christ, it will always give rise to concrete acts of service. And if concrete acts of service do indeed lead us to a deeper solidarity with the poor, the hungry, the sick, the dying, and the oppressed, they will always give rise to prayer. In prayer we meet Christ, and in him all human suffering. In service we meet people, and in them the suffering Christ.
If we really understood this, we’d be on the whole a lot less frazzled, a lot less weighed down, a lot less distracted with endless “busywork” for God. And we’d be able to set aside more or less fruitless debates about the prioritization of evangelism vs. social action, or prayer vs. service, or community vs. mission, and get on with participating in Gods missional agenda.
Gwen & Mags Prayer & News October 2013
Gwen & Mags Prayer News recently received into the SAMS office:
Dear Friends,
Spring is finally here and the sun is out after quite a few cold days lately. At the moment we are enjoying a week off school for our Spring break. Not many schools take this week off but we always find it useful in the middle of a very busy year.
We will be back in school on Monday and the year 11’s start their IGCSE exams almost immediately, The year seems to race by after that. Last week was a very busy week as we tried to fit in all the extra activities before our break. The secondary spent most of last week celebrating one thing or another! On Tuesday they had sports day up at our sports ground. They were back there on Thursday for a day retreat with Pastor Ronnie and Pastor Donald. They had a good time out and the weather was great on both days. On Friday they celebrated Youth day in school with a service followed by competitions and entertainment by their teachers. They went home at midday and so started their break. Many of the families have travelled this week. I’m pleased to report that the lower secondary boys have calmed down in the last few weeks. Thanks to all of you who prayed.
Last week the primary 5th grade class went out on a 2 day trip and had a great time. At the same time two of their English teachers were ill and one was on a course. A third English teacher was on the trip and yet another was at the sports ground with secondary. We had three classes to cover in the afternoon and not one of their usual teachers in school…we managed as Gwen took a class and so did the head of English and a helper took the third one. By the next day everyone was back in school. There has been a lot of illness recently especially with flu and a tummy bug. I’m pleased to say that we have managed to avoid them all so far and are fit and well.
The infant classes also had their Sports Day and went out on a trip to see a school for children with special physical needs. It wasn’t the most successful trip as none of the children there turned up that day!! Meanwhile we have been busy interviewing children for our nursery class next year. We have just about managed to see all those who have brothers and sisters already in school and are about to start on children of ex pupils.
The Secondary also had a visit from DENIDE which is a group working with kids with special needs and preparing them for work. They sang and danced and it was great when one of the older boys got up with one of the lads who was a really good dancer and danced with him. We have invited a special football team to come and play with us at the Sports ground after the holiday.
Our school’s march didn’t happen as there was so little enthusiasm. It was as if we’d already celebrated and this was too late. Anyway, the Annexe school was able to use the same date to hold their Folklore day which went really well. We had visitors from Ireland and were able to take them to the Annexe school for the event. It was great to see our SAMS Ireland boss once more.
We’d planned to hold our staff retreat the first Monday back i.e. next week but we decided we couldn’t miss any more days of classes after having an extra week ‘s holiday in July. So, we had our retreat this last Saturday. It was to have taken place at our sports ground but the forecast was so bad that we changed venue to the cathedral and lunch in school. We had a lovely sunny day in the end and a good time together on Saturday. The storm broke later that night wreaking havoc in various parts of the country.
We haven’t taken any services in church this month but we have two lined up for October so we will be able to prepare them whilst we are off school. We offered to do two together as they are two halves on the same theme and , therefore easier to follow on with.
We realize how many parents often ask for help with their children and so we decided to try and get someone in to give talks. We chose a Christian organization to come in and give a series of talks. We had about 100 parents at the first meeting and they were thrilled with it. By midday someone had posted their notes of the meeting on the internet. It was great to see their enthusiasm. We had the second meeting this last week with about 60 parents there ( many families had travelled!) and, again, it was well received. We aim to have 2 more and then hope parents will sign up with the organization to do a full course.
October should be a month of normal classes as they children do their final push towards the end of year and get ready for their final exams. It will certainly be a busy month. This week we had good news about Munchie, our dog who is ill. She had analyses done and she is in better shape than two years ago as her liver has recovered. She still has some sort of skin cancer but it is under control and she’s really perked up again now. The rest of our menagerie are also well.
Many thanks for your continued support and prayers,
God Bless and love from,
Gwen and Mags
Tester Family in Peru September 2013
Tester Family in Peru news and prayer letter recently received into the SAMS office:
Andrew & Maria Leake Update
Andrew & Maria Leake Update recently received.
FEISA News September 2013
Most recent FEISA Praise & Prayer news and prayer letter received into the SAMS office:
Rene Pereira Update
Rene Pereira Update recently recently received into the SAMS office
Paraguay Prayer Calendar Sept October 2013
Dear friends,
Thank you for your faithful praying. My apologies for the delay in getting the Calendar sent out. To say that life has been hectic would be an understatement. This last couple of weeks have seen me very busy with several complex pastoral situations including the health and practical issues that retired missionary Sharon has been going through following a stroke. Please could I ask you to pray for her continued improvement and the preparations for her travelling back to the States in an air ambulance, hopefully later this week. In order to deal with the all practical matters I have involved as many other people as I can as so often two heads are better than one! Although sometimes its would have been quicker to have done things myself I am confident that working in group usually leads to much better solutions. It has been great to see how the Lord has opened doors and met so many needs. Amongst the properties that Sharon owns here in Paraguay she has a house where we have been having to deal with a difficult situation involving a member of one of our local congregations. Protection, wisdom and patience are required!
Blessings, Sally