2-Year Anniversary For The Church In San Francisco!

Congregation and visiting villages to celebrate 2-year anniversary with San Francisco

     The 2-year church anniversary of San Francisco proved to be quite an exciting event over the couple of days that it was held.  It was well attended by the congregation and neighboring villages but also by people that truly surprised us.

     There are only seven families in San Francisco and five of them make up most of the congregation of the church along with some families or family members from neighboring villages who consider this their spiritual home as well.  Since this is an Assembly of God church we invited the Regional Director and the Regional Secretary to join us in this very important occasion and they graciously agreed to come.  Both pastors shared messages during our time together and performed water baptisms for four new believers, baby dedications and finally, the church dedication.

One of four new Christians being baptized into Christ

     Of the seven families that make up the village of San Francisco only two families are not part of the church since they hold strongly to a different doctrine.  Even though these families are extended members of the other five there is now a very distinct doctrinal difference between them.  Five of the families have chosen to make Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior and two have not.  The distinctions, as observed by the mother of one of the two non-Christian families, was that the five Christian families do not drink, fight or have severe sickness among them.  

     As a result of a drastic life-style change since Jesus became Lord of their lives, the five families have repeatedly invited the other two to join them in the church services, prayer for personal needs or Bible discussions.  They have continued to love and communicate with them as much as possible and one by one the "ice" began to melt until some have also chosen to make Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior.  Unfortunately this was met by some resistance by those who still hold to their doctrinal beliefs.  

     One man in particular, Bartolome, had been very strongly against the Christians and when he heard that some of his extended family had become Christians and now wanted to get water baptized as such he was not in agreement with this.  However, during the last night of anniversary celebration once again some of his Christian extended family members invited him and his sister to join them in one of the church services and this time he accepted!  He came but only stood at the door and would not go in but after some coaxing he finally came in, sat down and listened to the pastor.  At the end of his message Pastor Nicolas gave an invitation for anyone who did not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to come up to pray and Bartolome went up and received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior!!  This is an incredible answer to prayer by the five families that have been reaching out to the other two.  Gloriously God is moving on these hearts and lives, hallelujah!!

Four new believers having been water baptized into Christ Jesus

     The four people that were water baptized had accepted Jesus only a day or two before the anniversary celebration began.  The small man on the far right (blue tee-shirt) named Secundo Mauricio, and his wife (not pictured) had been very opposed to Christianity and followed the typical customs of a non-Christian life style which included regular drinking.  He is part of a neighboring village called New Jerusalem where a second church plant had begun but he chose not to be a part of it.  The Lord touched his heart mainly through visits from the Christians of San Francisco and now he is a brother in Christ! It was incredible for me to see this man at the church services because I've only ever seen him intoxicated in his home.  Now his attitude is completely changed and is experiencing a renewed life.

     The young man standing next to him named Jefferson, is the son of the village school teacher who was very sick during the celebration due to drinking most of his life.  Jefferson's parents were also of a different doctrine and initially when they came to San Francisco in March were quite guarded when they realized this was a Christian church and that Maria and I were missionaries.  Over time however, Jefferson wanted more of his understanding of God than what he knew at that point and made the bold decision to accept Jesus as Lord and be water baptized.

     

Jefferson's father sitting in the boat ready to be transported to a hospital

     In the meantime his father who had by now damaged his liver and kidneys due to excessive drinking had a protruded stomach and could barely walk.  He felt like he was dying.  Although he needed immediate medical attention he was refusing help.  Fortunately, he was visited at different times throughout the second day of the celebration by the two village pastors and Nilton, who is a pastor-in-training to speak to him about the Lord.  Later Nilton asked several of us to pray two times for healing and finally he agreed to pray and ask the Lord to forgive him of his sins followed by asking Him to be Lord of his life.  Even though I had the privilege of praying with him it is hard to tell if his heart was sincere.  That, of course, is up to the Lord to determine.  We had gotten word through Nilton that he was in stable condition and was in the Yurimaguas hospital.  Please pray with me that he will continue in his commitment to Christ.

     The last two of the four that were baptized are a married couple that the father's teenaged son led them to the Lord just days before.  His son Edúco, had been with the Lord but then fell away.  When he came back though it was full measure and has been on fire ever since.  He spoke to his father and step-mother about the Lord and they both accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior as well and wanted to be water baptized.

     This family lives with their extended family members who are not Christians and in fact, Edúco's grandfather is a witchdoctor.

     I am sharing the stories of all these people with you to encourage you in your prayer and intercession for us as we continue in this work but especially for the church of San Francisco whom God is using to reach family after family with His saving grace.  The fight is strong and there is a lot of resistance and temptations to go back to the world but the Lord is bigger than these and can shine brighter than any darkness.  One of the struggles is the lack of ability to read and understand the Biblical concepts and then have regular contact with Christians.  They have to make the effort to travel on the river to meet together and be encouraged and spiritually supported.  Fortunately they do not live far from each other but it is a matter of committing to do it.

     These are our new brothers and sisters and need our continued prayer for stability and growth in the Lord.  Please join with me to pray for their relationship with the Lord.  May the Lord bless you always in all you do and thank you so very much for standing with us.

Sharon Malcolm

Missionary with

Go To Nations since 1998