Prayer Requests from Bishop Abelino and Paty in Chile

26th January 2009
Chile, PRAY

For reasons of diocesan strategy and progress of the Chilean church we are now living in Santiago.  We thank the Lord we are getting used to live in the city, but we do miss the south.

 

Please pray for:

Our ministry in Santiago.  We are pastoring the ‘Church of the Saviour’ in the community of San Joaquín, which could be an 8-year assignment.  In addition I am required to assist +Tito in his visits here in Santiago as well as in the north and south. The brethren down south were deeply saddened by our departure.  Pastor Joel Millanguir has taken charge as Archdeacon of Araucania, while continuing his role as Area Coordinator for Chol-Chol.  I ask your prayers for this great challenge.  We regret that for various reasons the 9th Region has fewer pastors.  Some have come to Santiago to study at the Centre for Pastoral Studies (CEP), but are unlikely to return.  Please pray for this large and significant change in the life of the church of the 9th Region.

 

For obvious reasons, the Rural Bible Institute is also much weakened.  It does not have enough pastors to undertake the teaching and is also short of money.  Last year we praise God that 6 people graduated and hope that there will be other students graduating this year.  Despite the limitations they willingly continue their studies.  Let’s ask the Lord for more workers for his harvest.

 

The school for deaf children is going through a financial crisis and has had to reduce its staff.  Please pray.

 

William Wilson School at Chol Chol has good plans for the future but is currently weak in the area of Christian education as a consequence of my wife Patricia’s departure.  I ask your prayers for new mature Christian influence.

San Lucas, Santiago, Chile.

20th January 2009
Chile, Latin Partners, PRAY

La Familia Cerón Espinoza

San Lucas, Santiago, Chile.

 

Dear friends,

We are at the beginning of a very special year and are convinced that God has great things prepared for us, in spite of the current crisis! He is real, and will show the world his beauty and faithfulness as we proclaim Jesus in our home countries.

 

There is a lot going on in Chile and we would be very grateful if you would join us in prayer for the things set out below:

 

Our family now has a new member – our daughter, Jacinta Lael, was born three months ago. She is a beautiful, calm baby and has made us very happy. Alejandra is rather tired, so we would ask you to pray for us to get into a healthy routine this year. In the midst of tiredness, we would like to be able to really focus on family life and continue serving God joyfully.

 

This year we will be researching the university world. In 2010 we would like to establish a university church plant in the centre of Santiago and want to find out what God’s plan and strategy is so that we can work with him. It will be a year of walking the streets, doing evangelism, praying and forming training teams. Please pray that God will give us the WISDOM AND COURAGE we need to start out in this mission work, completely new in Chile, and which we would like to do with real passion.

 

This year too will see the Urban Mission Operation, which brings together over 500 young people in Santiago, and has now spread into many different cities. It is an evangelistic mission, which I am leading and which has simply become too big for us, thanks to what God is doing to make it grow. Throughout Chile many young people are making a commitment (and also in Argentina and other Latin American countries). Pray that this passion for evangelism will continue to grow and that these urban mission projects will be led by HIM in the different cities where they are taking place. The goal is that by 2010 we will be able to celebrate a National Urban Mission Operation when all the young people can go out in their own cities during the same week to share the good news of Jesus. Pray too for us, so that the power of God will be manifest in Chile as we preach the gospel of his Son!

 

Thank you for your continued support and wishing you many blessings for the coming year.

 

 (Cristóbal, Alejandra, Belén y Jacinta).

Gerry, Suyai & Tommy in Chile

23rd December 2008
Chile, PRAY

 

Dear SAMS Ireland,

Time runs so fast that I was convinced of having written just a few weeks ago but then I realized that the only way it could be like that… would be if weeks were 30 days each. Not that I have forgotten you but I was running late.

 

Finally I have finished my studies at the CEP and I have reached the end exhausted, carried by the Lord (well, for sure I was carried the whole race), my soul having aged centuries, older (so, grumpier too, hahaha)… but joyful and grateful, free at last! I tell you, I had a great respect for all those who had gone through Bible College, but now that respect has grown. What a war in every field… and it is not that it has ended now. It is strange to be out and I beg the Lord for wisdom, humbleness, tenderness and grace to serve Him… but He is a generous, rich and faithful Lord.

 

I have to pay homage to my beautiful wife for her support and company and love across these years… so I tip my hat to her with my hand on my heart. And my son? Many told me: “oh, wait for a few weeks to see if you keep that smile”… but the smile has been put as a seal on me. He started to walk a month ago and still has that drunken sailor balance. Such a blessing he is, that if there was no God (but there is ONE!) I would have to become a believer anyways in order to thank Him… but there is another Son who is a bigger blessing. There was a day when the Saviour was born among us… and His message of hope and salvation has shone in the world and changed the lives of many.

 

Mostly for sure, we’ll be moving to Antofagasta in February to work at the Church there. It is a city located in the north of Chile (approx. 1300 kms from Santiago, where we currently live), in the driest desert of the world. Vultures instead of doves at the parks. Water is like gold, a treasure not to waste. Majestic mountains. Rain is welcome as a miracle, if it rains at all.

 

There are two loving congregations up there… and as the rector will be in Australia for the next six months, please pray for us: that we will be good servants for these congregations.

 

We love you and miss you. This is just a “wee” greeting for Christmas and I am attaching two pictures (Tommy was in a “mood”, but who could blame him when it’s quite hot and the red hat is put on him!). May God bless you all.

 

So, Merry Christmas from the three of us.

 

Prayer line from SAMS GB

18th December 2008
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, PRAY

We begin by praising God for some news received this morning from Sandra Barrientos in Tarija, Bolivia. Her husband Walter had his second round of treatment for throat cancer last month; it took place in Córdoba, Argentina, and involved a new procedure performed with a laser. The tumour was reduced by 68%, way above expectations. Sandra and Walter thank us warmly for our prayers and encourage us to pray on for Walter’s full recovery.

Last week the new Anglican church for the Pehuenche communities of Alto Bío Bío in southern Chile was dedicated in Cauñicú. Bishop Abelino Apeleo conducted the service, with Terry Barratt and members of other churches present. Praise God for this and pray for the Pehuenche people and their leaders, including Gumercindo Queupil. A group of leaders also took the final exam of the SEAN Level 2 course, with an 80% success rate.

Finally, some arrivals this week:

  • on Thursday (18th) Gwen Carlisle and Mags Southern, Head and Deputy Head of St Andrew’s School in Asunción, Paraguay, arrive in the UK for a short period of leave
  • on Friday (19th) Bishop Henry Scriven and his wife Catherine fly in from the USA in preparation for Henry to take on the role of SAMS Mission Director from 1st January
    and on Saturday (20th) Efraim Vilella, husband of Ruth Hollingdale, arrives from Brazil to join her here for a month.
  • and on Saturday (20th) Efraim Vilella, husband of Ruth Hollingdale, arrives from Brazil to join her here for a month.

Pray for their journeys, adjustment to the British winter and subsequent ministries.

SAMS Prayer line

9th December 2008
Chile, Paraguay, PRAY

The latest SAMS GB prayer line.

SAMS Prayer Line for the week commencing Tuesday 9 December

The next few days see plenty of travel between the UK and Paraguay. The 3½-month visit here by Ed & Marie Brice comes to an end and they fly back to Paraguay tomorrow. As we give thanks for their time here visiting link churches, let’s pray for their journey and resettling into the hot Asunción summer.

Coming from Paraguay are Babs Owen, arriving on Saturday for UK leave and Murray & Penny Metcalfe and their three children whose arrival on Tuesday (16th) completes nearly ten years’ service overseas. Pray for Babs on home ministry during the St Andrew’s School summer vacation, and for the Metcalfe family as they face this major change in their lives. And also on Saturday Linn Tedman jets off from Paraguay to South Africa to visit her sister and family, so please keep them all in your prayers. Her sister is very ill.

On Saturday evening the graduation ceremony for six students from the Centre for Pastoral Studies (CEP) in Santiago, Chile, takes place at San Lucas church. Bishop Frank Lyons from Bolivia will be present and the graduates include Raquel Greco from the Diocese of Paraguay. Let’s give thanks for these students who have completed their studies and ask God’s blessing on them as they put knowledge and gifts into practice in different situations. And please pray too for student Daniel Hueche who is suffering from cancer and has returned to his Mapuche community.

Finally, this weekend a regional conference for indigenous young people in the northern Argentine Chaco is held over two days in the town of Las Lomitas. Please seek God’s blessing on organiser René Pereira and all participants.

Prayerline

22nd October 2008
Chile, Paraguay, Peru, PRAY

Latest prayerline from SAMS GB

Praise God for rain at last in the Paraguayan Chaco! This includes the area of El Estribo where the third year students from FEISA Teacher Training College are going tomorrow and Wednesday as part of their teaching practice commitments. They will give the 9 schools some resources they have made, paint a classroom and do some games. Please pray for this visit to be a blessing as much for the students as for the community.

Then on Friday and Saturday a workshop is held there for primary and Sunday school teachers on the use of the children’s Bible resources recently produced by FEISA in the Enxet language.

On Thursday Terry and Pancha Barratt fly out for the first SEAN graduation in mainland China; the programme is growing and students number in the thousands. Terry and Pancha return on 1st November; pray for them and all involved in this special event.

This coming weekend the Diocese of Peru holds a women’s retreat in Lima, followed by another in Arequipa the following weekend. The theme is ‘Healed to serve’, and Penny Marcés is one of the organisers and speakers. Remember Penny and all the women gathered over these weekends.
Looking ahead to next week, Thanksgiving Services for Bob Drayson and Derek Hawksbee take place on Tuesday (28th) and Wednesday (29th) in Sandhurst and Tunbridge Wells respectively (see website for details). Please remember their families over this period.

SAMS Prayerline

14th October 2008
Bolivia, Chile, PRAY, Spain

The latest SAMS GB prayer line:

It’s been a shock to hear that Walter Barrientos, pastor of the new Anglican church in Tarija, Bolivia, is suffering from cancer of the larynx. Please uphold Walter, Sandra and their three young children as he has just started six months’ chemotherapy. Tarija is the church featured in the SAMS autumn project.

From Thursday (16th) to Sunday a Cursilho evangelistic event for men takes place in João Pessoa, Brazil; Marcus & Tamara Throup ask prayer that many will come to the Lord through this.

In Chile César Guzmán, currently Director of the Centre for Pastoral Studies (CEP), has been named pastor of the new church in Peñalolén, Santiago, planted by members of Alf Cooper’s congregation, La Trinidad in Las Condes. Pray for César and his wife Ana María as they prepare to take up this exciting challenge in 2009.

Sue Woodcock in northeast Spain reports an overwhelming number of immigrants coming to the food bank and so gives thanks for a delivery of over 2000kg from the European Union. Sue asks prayer for the team that runs this ministry, as it’s a demanding task every Monday.

Prayer line

1st October 2008
Chile, Paraguay

The SAMS GB Prayerline:

Please have in your prayers Assistant Bishop Abelino Apeleo and his wife Paty. After a lifetime in southern Chile, they move, officially from tomorrow (1st), to the capital, Santiago, to allow Abelino to support Diocesan Bishop Tito Zavala and to pastor a new church in formation. Pray for them as they leave behind elderly parents, Mapuche churches and William Wilson School where Paty taught for 26 years.

Meantime, in southern Chile an evangelistic campaign takes place from Friday to Sunday in a neighbourhood of Temuco, with the three Anglican congregations of the city involved.

Thank you for prayers last week for Associate Mission Partner Janet Mena in Chile. Praise God that after successful surgery, Janet is on the road to recovery. Another AMP, Kathryn Broughton, needs our prayers. She has had successful surgery in London for total knee replacement on both knees, but has not been well since. Please pray for Kathryn and husband Stuart, who is also in the UK from their ministry among Portuguese-speakers in Sydney, Australia.

This week is half-term at St Andrew’s School and the Annexe School in Asunción, Paraguay. Pray for refreshment for staff and pupils, many of whom will face important exams during October.

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