Prayer Line : Week beginning Tuesday 17 February

19th February 2009
PRAY

Please keep in prayer tomorrow’s hearing of the Supreme Court in Buenos Aires, Argentina, concerning the appalling deforestation in the Province of Salta.

 

On Sunday Carnival starts in Brazil for the four days leading up to Lent.  In Recife this is also the time for an evangelistic outreach to the revelers’ and others, so please pray for Espirito Santo church and its involvement in this spiritual confrontation with the powers of darkness.  Pray many people will find liberty and purpose through an encounter with Jesus Christ.

 

Sunday is also the day when Peter & Sally Bartlett have their valedictory service at St Mark’s, Haydock, in Lancashire.  Peter & Sally plan to travel to Asunción in mid-March for Peter to take up his new role as Bishop of Paraguay.  Pray for this Sunday’s service and also for the legalization of their documents to be completed in time for their proposed departure.

 

Andy Roberts and his Brazilian fiancée Rose are busy visiting churches here in the UK following Andy’s acceptance as a SAMS mission partner to serve in Olinda, Brazil.  Pray for them in this, in preparations for a July wedding in York, and also please remember Jefferson and the team in Olinda working at My Father’s (safe) House for vulnerable boys – where Andy and Rose have been working.

 

Patrick & Rosie Butler and family ask prayer to know the next stage in God’s plan for them after they return from Paraguay in July.  Some doors have closed – pray the Lord opens the right one soon.

 

Finally, Alf & Hilary Cooper will be ministering tomorrow evening (18th) at St John’s, Birkdale, and from 20-25th at All Saints, Woodford Wells, Essex. 

SAMS Prayer Line : Week commencing Tuesday 10 February 2009

11th February 2009
PRAY

Associate Mission Partner Janet Mena has been involved with SAMS since 1964.  She and her grandson Felipe arrive tomorrow from southern Chile to spend a month in the UK.  Pray for their visit to meet family, friends and former missionary colleagues, and remember Janet’s husband Alberto in Temuco.

Next Monday (16th) classes begin at St Andrew’s and the Annexe Schools in Asunción, Paraguay.  Pray for Heads Gwen Carlisle and Víctor Santa Cruz, Deputy Mags Southern and all staff and pupils, especially those starting for the first time.

The following day Ruth Hollingdale Vilella flies back to Brazil to resume her work at the House of Hope project in Recife.  Her husband Efraim returned a month ago.  Pray for Ruth and also for her mother undergoing a course of chemotherapy.

An article and letter about Charles Darwin’s involvement with SAMS has been sent to both church and secular press.  Pray one or both will be published and highlight the success of the Society’s early ministry as well as drawing attention to a little known side of Darwin at the bicentenary of his birth.

Finally, looking ahead to next Wednesday (18th), we ask your prayers for a hearing of the Supreme Court in Buenos Aires, Argentina, concerning deforestation in the Province of Salta.  Pray for the Indian representatives and their lawyers, as well as the Supreme Court judges, and for a just outcome which will allow the Indians to live in peace on their ancestral lands.

Fresh challenges for St Andrew’s School

10th February 2009
Paraguay, PRAY

Gwen Carlisle and Mags Southern, Head and Deputy Head of St Andrew’s School in Asunción, Paraguay, recently visited the UK. They shared a number of developments:

A new generation of independently-minded young people are growing up who never experienced the Stroessner dictatorship which dominated Paraguay for 35 years. This poses fresh challenges for the school in discipline, moving with the times and instilling in the pupils a love for their country.

Three ex-pupils recently stood for important positions in government, one being successful. This is encouraging and helps meet one of the school’s objectives: to see its Christian ethos make an impact on society.

The Chacarita is a poor area of Asunción where St Andrew’s Annexe School is situated. Increased use of drugs and alcohol are turning the Chacarita into a more dangerous place and, on Head Víctor Santa Cruz’ advice, a no-go area for St Andrew’s pupils.

Thanks especially to the ministry of Patrick Butler, ex-pupils of St Andrew’s are leading evening services at San Andrés church.

St Andrew’s hosts daily Bible studies for its pupils, together with monthly services, assemblies and camps. But parents are asking for even more Christian input, as well as higher standards academically and in sport.

There is a desperate need for a Secondary English teacher to prepare pupils for Cambridge exams.

Friday Night Live Reflections 09

9th February 2009
Friday Night Live

It was humbling and also encouraging to watch over 450 people arrive at the South American Mission Societies (SAMS) annual gathering in Craigavon Civic Centre, especially as the snow and freezing temperatures added complications to driving conditions.

 

The SAMS Ireland ‘Friday Night Live’ event aspires to inform, encourage and challenge individuals and churches regarding mission within an overseas context and also here at home. Bishop Ken Good welcomed everyone and from the outset created a prayerful attitude which remained a central theme.

 

Prayer is not so much an act as it is an attitude – an attitude of dependency, dependency upon God.

 

Summer 2008 teams from Armagh, Down & Dromore, Connor and Clogher Dioceses updated people through interviews and multi-media presentations. Two girls from Barcelona sang and performed a traditional Catalonian dance. The Bishop elect of Paraguay and his wife were interviewed, sharing the opportunities, challenges and practical implications which they face as they take on their new roles in March 2009. The keynote speaker this year was Rev. Dr. Maurice Elliott, his stimulating address helped to put mission in the wider context of worship.

 

Various projects were highlighted during the evening and at one point the Red Box Project from Argentina was focussed upon. Images from a power point presentation fused as a pianist from Argentina played the haunting tune ‘Don’t Cry for me Argentina’. Everyone present had the opportunity to pray as three significant images appeared Naomi Francey (Down & Dromore), Megan Johnston (Connor) and Helen King (Down & Dromore) who are all on gap years with the Red Box Project. ‘Friday Night Live’ isn’t a performance; it’s an opportunity for people to meet together and wrestle with what God is doing and wants to do through an Anglican mission agency.  

 

An update on the SAMS fusion programme was another significant part in the evening. The fusion initiative offers placements to people from overseas within a parish setting in Ireland. It also seeks to link local churches in Ireland with short, medium or long-term projects overseas. Participants from Argentina, Chile and Uruguay are presently working in Connor, Down & Dromore and Derry & Raphoe. It was encouraging listening to fusion volunteers how they have benefited from their time here in Ireland and also it was uplifting to hear from local Rectors how they have benefited from having young men and women from South American working within their parishes.

 

The evening ended with a multi-media animation of a modern day parable, and as parables do, they leave you slightly uncomfortable and with something to apply! To all who attended and to all who pray for the work of SAMS we deeply appreciate and value your partnership.

 

Blessings Titch       

Sue Woodcock in Sabadell, Spain

9th February 2009
PRAY, Spain

 
Dear Friends

Christmas has come and gone, and almost before I have been able to draw breath, here we are in February!

First of all, a huge thank you to all those who sent greetings for Christmas and the New Year. I really do enjoy receiving your cards, letters and emails that bring news of yourself, your family and your church, although with my lack of response you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. This year I have decided to enjoy the Christmas cards putting different ones up every week during the first few months of the year!

Read more …

Beryl Baker in Paraguay

9th February 2009
Paraguay, PRAY

After a long time without hearing from Beryl (server failure at her end, probably), we are pleased to report her latest news. At the moment of writing this, her complaint – “we desperately need many heavy falls of rain as the lack of it is causing all the plantations to shrivel and the water that remains is being evaporated with the intense heat. The daily temperatures remain well above 40” – might not attract the sympathy that it ought. Nevertheless we must always be aware of this difficulty.

Read more …

Mission Paraguay 2009

9th February 2009
Mission Paraguay, Paraguay

Plans are currently underway for the visits of volunteers from Churches in England and Ireland to work for 3 weeks on a variety of projects organised through the Anglican Church in Paraguay and in association with the South American Mission Society (SAMS).

July Group
This group will be based on the outskirts of Asunción, the capital, and visit a number of different communities in the area. It is planned that the activities will include:

• involvement with the sewing and knitting workshops;
• assisting with a new building project to provide facilities for work with children and young people and for outreach into the local community;
• assisting with basic home improvements in some of the poorest areas of Asunción;
• working with children and young people in a number of communities.

It is anticipated that this group will spend a few days in the Chaco to visit some of the Indian communities where Mission Paraguay has previously worked.

August Group
Some members of the August group will be based in Concepción and it is planned that they will:

• work with Claire Holmes and her team amongst the children and young people in Concepción and the surrounding area;
• undertake some small scale building work and painting;
• visit Yvapovo which is about 2 hours drive from Concepción where Mission Paraguay is funding the construction of a small church for a growing congregation.

Other members of the August group will work in the Chaco. Their activities will include:

• assisting in the completion of the building of a church begun in 2008 at Rio Verde;
• involvement in a variety of home improvements such as the construction of new corrugated metal roofs on Indian homes to replace those made of logs and plastic sheets;
• assisting with a water storage project. In 2009 we hope to be able to fund the building of at least one aljibe (£1,500) which is an underground storage tank for rainwater collection.

As in previous years the July and Chaco groups will have the opportunity to work with FEISA the Anglican Early Years Teacher Training College which operates a mobile toy library and undertakes groundbreaking training and development work in some of the indigenous schools in the Chaco.

All planned projects are dependent upon the available funding at the time of the visits. The cost of the work and activities undertaken are all met from donations from the UK and Ireland. All donations are channelled to Paraguay through the South American Mission Society (SAMS), or Burscough Outreach Trust (Charity No: 1089034).

If you would like further information about how you may support the work of Mission Paraguay or if you wish to take part in a short-term mission trip to Paraguay in 2009, please contact the Co-ordinator, David Orritt via samsirelandhouse@btinternet.com

Please pray that God will direct the plans and arrangements currently underway for the Mission Paraguay programme for 2009. Please also pray for the ongoing work of the Anglican Church in the Chaco, Concepción and Asunción and particularly for Rev. Peter Bartlett who will be instituted as Bishop of Paraguay in March 2009.

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