Update from Tim Curtis and the team in the Paraguayan Chaco

1st December 2009
Paraguay, PRAY

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.

News and Prayer

24th November 2009
PRAY

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

20th November 2009
Argentina, PRAY

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

17th November 2009
PRAY

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.

News & Prayer

10th November 2009
PRAY

After a short delay Ruth & Efraim Hollingdale Vilella have completed their move from Recife to Porto Alegre in the south of Brazil.  Please pray for them as they settle into their new home, for Efraim in his work with Wal-Mart, and for Ruth as she eagerly seeks a project in which her medical, social and pastoral skills can be used.

 

Bishop Henry Scriven was much blessed by his visits to partners in South America, including Jill Ball in Ecuador.  Jill is encouraged by developments in, and provision of resources for, the planned home for abused women in Santo Domingo.  Please pray with Jill for God to call a suitable couple to administer it.

 

Francisco Pérez, coordinator of the indigenous communities association Lhaka Honhat, has been in Washington to plead the cause of the Wichi people who live in two sizeable areas of land in the Argentine Chaco.  Francisco appeared before the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights on 3 November to represent their land claims and call for a just resolution to the issue by the provincial government of Salta with fair distribution of the land.  Please keep this matter in your prayers.

 

On Saturday a Women’s Encounter takes place at the Church of the Redeemer in La Serena, Chile.  This is the first to be held there: pray that God will bless all participants and that the Encounter will give real impetus to the women’s ministry in the church and greatly encourage Pastor Pablo & Pamela Zavala.

 

Also on Saturday former missionaries in Chile John & Ann Jacklin will be in London for a special launch of John’s autobiography, ¡Gloria a Dios!  Pray for John & Ann and for the impact of this event.

News & Prayer

3rd November 2009
PRAY

This month students at St Andrew’s School in Asunción, Paraguay, are sitting their International GCSEs, and this week pupils in the primary department are starting their exams.  Please pray for them all, and for the teachers in marking and report writing.

 

The Church of the Resurrection in Gómez Carreño, Chile, had a great ‘Fiesta of Light’ as an alternative to Halloween.  Ellelein Kirk says that among the children who participated were 26 who didn’t know the Lord, some with their parents, and all had the opportunity to hear the Good News as well as enjoy the activities.  “It is our prayer”, she adds, “that they give their lives to Christ and that the Lord transform them and their families”.  Let’s pray with Ellelein and Daniel for that.

 

Sue Woodcock pays a brief visit this weekend from Spain, principally to attend a consultation and prayer on Friday and Saturday for mission in Europe, held at St Aldate’s, Oxford.  She invites anyone in the area to join the prayer on Saturday.  Please pray for Sue’s time here and for events at the Church of Christ in Sabadell while she’s away.

 

Please continue to pray for Tony Barratt, ex-SAMS missionary and a founder of SEAN, whose heart is very weak.  Son Terry says that things are “difficult but peaceful and there’s no shortage of blessings to encourage us on our way”.

Finally, alongside our regular remembrances at this time of year, let’s recall the 150th anniversary this Friday of the massacre in Tierra del Fuego of the SAMS catechist and crew of the schooner Allen Gardiner, and give thanks to God that his work in South America (and later in Spain) did not falter but has prospered for his glory.

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