Prayer for the week commencing Tuesday 1 December
Andrew Leake asks us to pray that the Lord will open a way for his wife Maria to get her new passport in time to travel to the UK for home ministry. She applied for it in September but has been told it will not be ready until 14 December, two days after the family are booked to fly.
A weekend youth camp is being held (5-6th) for teenagers and other young people from the urban churches at the Diocese of Paraguay’s retreat centre near Asunción. Please pray for the leaders and speakers in their preparation, for a time of fellowship and spiritual growth, and for the right weather – it’s been excessively hot there recently.
On Saturday the SAMS England General Council meets in London for possibly the last time before the proposed new joint entity takes over all SAMS England and CMS England work from 1st February. Pray for them to know God’s guidance in this day of exacting discussions and decisions.
News and prayer update from Marcus & Tamara Throup in Belfast and Brazil.
Just an update on Throup life! Please continue to pray for Tamara and me, as it is quite hard being apart. You’ll recall that I’m on a post-graduate diploma course in Theological Education in Belfast, whereas Tamara is at her Mum’s in Recife, finishing her post-grad course in Psychology. Studies are going well for both of us, and one good piece of news for me is that the University of Nottingham accepted my PhD proposal in New Testament studies, so I am now officially a (part-time) PhD student!
The pregnancy is going well and via Skype I am able to have some idea of our daughter (Rebekah’s) progress. Tamara is now 22 weeks and so far so good; this Thursday Tamara is due in for another important scan so please pray for her and Rebekah.
Here in Belfast, I’m having a productive time. As well as studying around 10 hours a day on the Theological Education and on the doctorate, I have done a small amount of Greek teaching and may yet do some further teaching in other areas. I’m also learning a little Swahili with Dr Paul Mwangi, my Kenyan roommate! We’re quite an international group, with college lecturers and principals from all over the world. A lot of us (me included!) are feeling the cold now! Term is coming to an end though, and on January 1st, after Christmas with my folks, I’ll be getting on a plane to Brazil!
Both Tamara and I sense that this is a very special and formative time in our lives. The arrival of Rebekah and the start of the PhD bring new challenges and serious commitment, but both of us are sure that the Lord is with us, guiding us through. As of next year, alongside the PhD hours, I’ll be doing various teaching jobs that the bishop has lined up for me. Please pray that both of us will be refreshed and rested over the coming Christmas break, so that we can be at our best for the things God has for us next year.
With every blessing in Christ
Marcus and Tamara
Update from Tim Curtis and the team in the Paraguayan Chaco
The Enxet translation project has been temporarily disrupted owing to a power surge in Rio Verde knocking out the translators’ three Fujitsu AC adaptors in the translation office on 19 November. This means we cannot plug our Fujitsu laptop computers into anything. I am hoping to get the adaptors repaired in Asuncion, but there are no Fujitsu dealers in Paraguay. (The Fujitsu laptops themselves are not damaged.)
We have been lent a Dell laptop by Ed Brice, and we have a HP laptop in reserve. The Paratext 6 programme used by the translators has been installed in these laptops and the translation work successfully transferred.
My own Dell laptop and AC adapter were not affected.
We have had a great number of power cuts in recent months as well as fluctuations in the voltage, so it seems we shall be placing a greater emphasis on solar power again once we have renewed the batteries in the translation office which are charged up by the solar panels. We need to replace the batteries as they have come to the end of their useful lives.
Pray that the translation work would soon get back to normal. Also for United Bible Societies consultant Tito Lahaye’s visit to Rio Verde on December 1st to work with the Enxet translation team for a few days.
With greetings from all of us on the team
Tim, Asuncion, Juan and Martin.
Recent prayer letters and news updates
Some recent prayer letters and news updates received into the SAMS office:
News and Prayer
Walter Barrientos, pastor of the church in Tarija, Bolivia, has been suffering from throat cancer . This Friday is Walter’s 40th birthday; let’s pray with and for him and Sandra, that God will be close at this challenging time.
Give thanks for the recent Women’s Encounter in La Serena, Chile, which, says Pastor Pablo Zavala, surpassed all expectations both in number of participants and in outcome, with several women coming to church as a result of the event. Pablo & Pamela ask prayer for this ongoing ministry and for a way to reach men for the Lord.
On Thursday the school year ends at St Andrew’s and the Annexe schools in Paraguay. Praise God for all achieved and pray for a thoroughly refreshing summer break for all staff and pupils.
Finally, a number of events to pray for this weekend:
Synod of the Diocese of Chile in Temuco (Friday-Sunday)
Marriage Encounter at La Trinidad, Las Condes, in Santiago, Chile (Friday-Sunday)
Service of blessing in Río Verde, in the Paraguayan Chaco, on the new church of San Mateo, which is led by Ed & Marie Brice (Sunday).
Chaco Consecration
Can you possibly imagine an archbishop, four bishops, 8 presbyters and 2 ladies all travelling in a minibus for nearly 400 miles deep into the Argentine Chaco? The ‘craic’ was powerful. We were all heading to Juarez for the Service of Consecration of Nick Drayson as the new Bishop for the indigenous people of Northern Argentina. Beryl and I had the privilege and honour of representing SAMS Ireland and the Diocese of Down and Dromore at this colourful occasion.
After 8 hours of travel through dry, dusty scrubland we finally rolled down the dirt road into Juarez, a real cowboy town. The consecration was to be held in the evening on a floodlit basketball pitch, beautifully set out and decorated. The sound and lighting were excellent. The atmosphere was electric as 500 indigenous people awaited their new bishop elect and his guests. Then from a room nearby out came almost 100 deacons from the Chaco churches, both men and women all in their white clerical ponchos. The women wore colourful scarves on their heads. They walked in procession into the stadium and sat on chairs on either side of the large platform, followed by the presbyters and then the bishops.
The service was spoken in 3 languages; Spanish, Toba and Wichi. Bishop Abelino Apeleo of Chile led the service and brought a greeting in Mapudungo, his language from southern Chile. Bishop Pat Harris, a former SAMS missionary and first bishop to the indigenous people in N. Argentina, preached an emotional sermon in Spanish and Wichi from 2 Timothy. The Wichi Bible was only completed last year. There were some very powerful testimonies of God’s faithfulness over the past 5 years whilst the indigenous churches were without Episcopal oversight. Although they are used to hardship in every area of life they know how to persevere. I spoke to one pastor who has twenty churches under his care and cycles many miles to minister to them regularly.
The whole indigenous Church is sensing a new beginning. Bishop Nick and his wife Catherine have been received with love, excitement and expectation. Please pray for the vibrant indigenous church and its new leaders in the challenges of the days to come.
Rev. Gordon and Beryl Whitehead
News & Prayer
New Suffragan Bishop Nick Drayson and his wife Catherine write: “After the high of the consecration and a brilliant journey round the local communities of Northern Argentina, we have been literally bedeviled by the detail of trying to set up home [in Juárez]. It has seemed like a relentless series of delays, breakdowns and natural disasters!” Please pray, then, for Nick & Catherine, and also for protection as they travel to different communities this month, Wichi language study, and wisdom as situations arise. The church is under attack from some quarters in relation to its stand on deforestation, and some of the communities have been subjected to racially motivated violence.
Across the border in the Paraguayan Chaco nurses Beryl Baker and Wendy Power ask prayer for God to bring Iocals from the darkness of following witchdoctors into the light and freedom of Christ. A 28-year-old man died recently of TB, leaving a widow and several orphaned children, because the witchdoctor instructed him not to take his tablets. Beryl and Wendy also request prayer for a young woman with learning difficulties: to manage the care of her two children effectively, and for a mentor figure to teach and support her as a mother.
Finally, please remember Ruth Hollingdale Vilella who is in temporary accommodation with husband Efraim in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil. Ruth has been ill with flu and a sinus infection which has gone to her ears. Pray too for Ellelein Kirk in Gómez Carreño, Chile, who is having emergency dental treatment.
Recent prayer letters
Some prayer letters received into the SAMS office: