Peru Update

Nilton (red polo shirt on the right) teaching a Bible story in San Marcos

Nilton sharing a meal with the men of San Marcos

From the last newsletter I mentioned that I sent three people from the Shishinahua River, Nilton, his brother Richar, and Dolibeth, their niece, to Lima for training in Bible storying (orality) and that my hope was that one or all of them could come to the other river we work on to teach the Shawis there. In the above picture Nilton and his wife Paula (not shown) came with us to San Marcos so that Nilton could minister to them in Shawi with the Bible storying he learned in Lima. It was a tremendous time to see him and his wife interact with the Shawis in San Marcos and to see Nilton teach them the stories that he learned in Lima. That is what it is all about and why we are doing what we are doing. The goal is for the people in the villages be the ones who are evangelists, church planters, pastors, etc. and that goal has well begun to be realized. 

San Marcos is a small Shawi community on the Paranapura River where Maria and I started concentrating our efforts four or five years ago. Since Maria now lives and works in Yurimaguas, she is not free to travel with me as much as before but she does coordinate the trips to San Marcos and her village, which is about a 20 minute walk from San Marcos.

In working with San Marcos they expressed a desire to be a church and so we have been working to train some people to be church leaders. Recently they also wanted to build a church building and so they constructed a typical frame and then we supplied the roof.

Frame of the San Marcos church building

San Marcos church building with roof

Following this event we had our quarterly two-day training with the people from the Paranapura and Shishinahua Rivers where all three of the people that were trained in Lima helped teach the people Bible stories and they did exceptionally well (although I may be a bit biased). For anyone not used to public speaking and then having to memorize the material presented this can be very intimidating no matter how small the group is. But all three, Nilton, his brother Richar, and Dolibeth, did very well and were able to engage their listeners not only while telling the Bible story but also with asking the follow-up questions as well.

Nilton (red polo shirt) teaching Bible storying

Dolibeth (woman standing) teaching the women a Bible story
she selected using the method she learned in Lima

Richar (light blue shirt) teaching a Bible story he learned in the Lima orality conference

Miriam (red shirt and jeans), Go To Nations missionary who now
works with me, guiding the women in how to pray for one another

Antonia, Maria's sister-in-law, praying 

with Antonia from San Marcos.

Sharon teaching the women during the 2-day training

We will be traveling tomorrow (Friday, the 16th) to do a Christmas outreach on the Shishinahua River for three communities. It will involve serving the traditional hot chocolate and panatoni Christmas cakes, an art activity for the adults and children, and ending with the movie, "The Nativity Story" in Spanish. I will also bring a nativity scene to do the Bible storying of the birth of Christ so they will have a visual as well as a verbal explanation and then have them take turns telling the story. Please pray with us that hearts and minds will be open to the gospel and people will receive the gift of salvation this Christmas season.

Other news that will happen next year is, I will be sending Nilton and Richar and possibly others on their first missionary trip in May with an evangelistic ministry that will be coming to Yurimaguas for a city-wide outreach and then continue on to other locations along a major river to do the same. It will be a time of intense training (4 days) and then evangelistic outreaches in several locations. This trip's team is made up of purely indigenous tribes of Peru, instead of people from the States so this is especially beneficial for those that will participate so that they can see how other tribes relate to one another. The ones that I will be sending will have to fly to the starting destination (Iquitos) and then board a large 2-story boat where they will be trained everyday for the four days it will take to get from their starting point to Yurimaguas. Once here, they will do their first outreach and then take the boat back to Iquitos stopping along the way to repeat the outreaches in several locations. I am very excited to be able to do this with the Shawis we have worked with for so long. To see them at this point is truly amazing. They've never been on a plane before so they don't know how to navigate the airports or get from the airport to where they should meet their team so I will be traveling with them one way and the John, Miriam's husband who now works with us, will be accompanying them the other way.

I want to thank each of you for your continued commitment to this work and the people we are trying to reach with the gospel and the ones we are trying to raise up to be church leaders. It is exciting to see the people we have worked with for so long take their stand as mature servants of God reaching their neighboring communities with the gospel and actively starting new churches. This is all possible because we have joined our resources together to effect a lasting change in the lives of the people we are trying to reach. God bless you for standing with us and I pray that you have a wonderful and rich Christmas and New Year.

Together With You in the Harvest,

Sharon Malcolm

Serving with 

Go To Nations since 1998

 

Getting the New Leaders Trained

 Training New Leaders Through An Orality Conference

Some of the leaders from the San Francisco church attended this conference

Since most of the women in the villages where we work do not read and many of the men who do read do not read well, Bible storying has been a strategic way to teach the Word of God. This past August I sponsored three people from our first church plant of San Francisco to attend a Bible storying conference in the capitol city of Lima, to give them the opportunity to meet other national ministers working with this technique so they could see how it works.

L to R: Nilton, Dolibeth (Nilton and Richar's niece), Sharon, Richar (Nilton's brother)

Richar with his certificate

It was their first time going to the capitol (28 hours by bus) and the first time attending a conference like this. It was wonderful to see them interact with the other attendees from different parts of Peru to hear about their ministries and how each are ministering to their people. Each attendee then got a certificate of completion at the end of the conference (Richar is shown above with his).

The most important thing that came out of this conference was the three people I sent got the vision for this ministry to use in their communities. In fact next weekend Nilton, and hopefully Richar and Dolibeth, will be coming to the other river we work on to teach the Shawis there how to use this method since most of the people in this village do not read. This is a huge step towards getting the San Francisco church leaders to see how to reach the Shawi communities with the gospel and how to disciple them so they can grow in their faith. We have done things before to help train the leaders how to minister but this will be the first time they are going outside of their area to minister and so this is an exciting event.

Training My Local Church

Sharon doing a deliverance training workshop

One of the needs in the local church in my area is the need to know how to pray for deliverance in a healthy and biblically balanced way. Due to the high level of demonic involvement through witch doctors and superstitions many people are greatly oppressed (not possessed) by unwanted "intruders." This is especially prevalent in the village communities where going to a witch doctor is the norm even among Christians. Animism (the belief that everything has spirits) is the common world view and so many people open doors to the spirit realm that should never be opened. 

While the non-indigenous have less issues with superstitions many still go to witch doctors whenever they have health problems or anything else they want resolved. Once they come into a relationship with Christ however, they cease going to the witch doctor and go to Jesus for their needs. 

In doing this training with my local church it opened people's eyes to realize the authority that each one of us has in the name of Jesus Christ as believers. The classes dealt with the authority of the believer, forgiveness, and prayer for deliverance in a biblically balanced way. This training became a need when three youth from our church started to manifest during the worship at different times over several months. Added to that, two women in a village where we are planting a church also started to manifest during a simple worship time. Gloriously, all of these people were set free through the power of the blood of Christ and their lives have been significantly changed. Just giving people the understanding of what the enemy does and what they can do about it in Jesus' name brings a huge amount of empowerment. It encourages them to realize that they can take back areas of their lives that was dominated by the enemy due to a lack of knowledge and authority. Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32).

My plan is to also do this for the believers in the San Francisco church to help them realize the power of the cross in their lives and the victory they already have in Jesus' name.

I want to thank you so very much for being such a vital part of this work through your prayers, encouragement, and financial support. It is because we, as the Body of Christ, are able to link arms in reaching the unreached and discipling those who have come into the kingdom that the Lord is able to move in such mighty ways to bring transformation to people's lives. Many blessings to you in every way as you serve the Lord in all the ways He uses you.

Happy 4th Anniversary to the San Francisco Church!

 

 Evening service to celebrate the anniversary of the church

     June 14, 2021 marked the fourth anniversary of the church of San Francisco and an occasion to be celebrated! During this time the church has gone through trials and even persecutions but has remained faithful to the Lord and, of course, He to them in continuing in their faith. They have been threatened with disassociation from their non-Christian extended family members, judged, and slandered on more than one occasion but the conviction of the Holy Spirit in their lives was too strong to succumb to the pressure. Instead they have taken it upon themselves to go out to the neighboring villages to share their faith, win converts, and even start churches. 

Sharon with some of the attendees of the anniversary celebration

Richar, one of the church leaders and Nilton's brother,
sharing the Word on the last day of the anniversary

Nilton,who feels called to evangelize the neighboring villages,
sharing the Word in an evening service

     
     One of the churches we have co-labored with them to start is called New Jerusalem. This also is a small community of seven families, all related to each other but they are a bit more challenged than San Francisco. There is only one person who can read well in the community and although he has accepted Christ is battling with staying committed to Him. This means that sometimes he's really good and can preach the Word and other times he is drinking and not following the Lord. The other families also struggle with temptations of the world and the father of the families was a Shaman making the pull of the enemy quite strong in this community. 

     Another village called New Hope has accepted the Lord several times over the years but when it came time to be discipled the interest quickly waned. This is a tactic of the enemy as well as of the flesh but I believe there is a very clear spiritual component working against these communities from coming into the fullness of Christ. In New Hope there are two Shamans, one stronger than the other, that are still quite active. One of them is actually the father-in-law of Nilton. Fairly recently Paula, Nilton's wife, had a dream from the Lord that she was to go to her family in this village and tell them about the love of Christ  and so she and Nilton started doing that. It resulted in several people desiring to come to the Lord and be water baptized, which we did for them on the Easter outreach in their village. Paula's father, however, has not accepted the Lord yet but seems to be softer about hearing the gospel.

    I am sharing all of this with you because I feel the time has come to unite in prayer for these struggling wanna-be believers to break the powers of darkness over their lives and over their villages. Shamanism is very common in the villages and have been such an integral part of the culture for so long that it is not something that can be eradicated easily. Therefore I have asked the men that are preparing to be church leaders in San Francisco if we could meet next weekend, June 25-27, to pray and fast specifically for the village of New Hope and also for New Jerusalem since there seems to be a strong presence working against all of them. Lastly for the two families that are ardently against Christianity in San Francisco. The father was also a Shaman but I'm not sure if he's still practicing. 

Would you stand with us during this weekend to pray:

1) Against every spiritual force working against these precious people that want to be committed Christians.

2) For discernment and the heart of God as we meet together so that we pray very specifically against all that is hindering the work of the Lord.

3) That everything that each of these people have ever heard, felt from God, or seen as an example in any of our lives will be brought to mind so that the Lord can use it to make them aware of His truth, power and presence among them.

4) Wisdom to share the right words with New Hope and New Jerusalem that will convey clearly the heart of God for them.

Thank you so very much for all that you've done to make this work possible through your prayers, love, and support. I pray God's richest blessings will be upon you in all you do for the Kingdom in every way in every day!

Sharon Malcolm

Missionary with Go To Nations since 1998

A Glorious Easter Season!

     This past Saturday we got back from the Shishinahua River after completing our time in Nueva Esperanza (New Hope) to do an Easter outreach. We had with us a worship leader from one of the local churches in Yurimaguas (where I live) to minister in song and the Word of God. He brought with him his keyboard and amplifier, which was such a blessing because music always draws the people out. He preached at each of the morning and evening services and effectively brought the light of truth to the people. 

Segundo, a worship leader from Yurimaguas, ministering in worship
to the church in San Francisco. Take note of the people engaging in worship 
with dancing and lifted hands. Four years ago that didn't happen.

Segundo ministering in song and later in the Word to the people of New Hope

     During the day I had material for the adults and children to do an art project (none of them get to use glitter, sequence, markers, colored paper, etc.), which gave them a chance to express themselves artistically and they seemed quite satisfied with their masterpieces. We also provided lunch for the whole community (about 50 people) for two days that some women who came from San Francisco prepared for them.

Adults and children doing art project

Women serving lunch to the community

     The whole event was one of celebration and fellowship seasoned with the love of God. I was so impressed with the people of San Francisco (our first church plant) because so many of them came to help in different ways. That is exactly what should happen, men and women from the parent church helping to guide their spiritual children in the ways of the Lord by demonstrating what love looks like. This is "church" in action!

     Gloriously, by the end of our time together we had a baptismal service and 15 people were baptized! This is huge since we've been coming to this village for a few years and no one wanted to commit to the Lord at that level before. Now, they not only wanted to be baptized but they also want to start a church! I had spoken to them about this before and there was some interest but not enough to do anything about it until now.

Nilton teaching boys in New Hope

     Nilton, who is one of the leaders in the San Francisco church, and his wife Paula have been talking to some of the people of New Hope about the Lord because Paula has extended family there and as a result many responded favorably to them to the point where they were ready to make a firmer commitment to the Lord. During their visits to New Hope Nilton brought up again the idea of starting a church in their community and even coordinated with them to construct a building to house them to which they were in full agreement.

     We will be continuing with them by immediately starting discipleship classes and eventually leadership classes to raise up leaders to guide the church in the ways of God while being supervised by San Francisco.

       I want to thank you all so very much for praying with us for this outreach. As a result of our combined efforts people have brought into the Kingdom and are being established in their faith. God bless you in every way for your part in this amazing work! I really mean that, blessings to you and thank you again!

With Much Appreciation,

Sharon Malcolm

Missionary with 

Go To Nations since 1998

Christmas Outreach to the Villages

      I want to thank you so much for standing in prayer with me for this Christmas outreach on the Shishinahua River. We ministered in three villages making hot chocolate and serving panetoni (Spanish Christmas fruitcake), which is very traditional for a Spanish Christmas. Then we did a Christmas art project for children and adults and ended the evening with the movie, The Nativity Story. I was so thrilled to see that most of the adults participated in the adult art project in each of the communities and seemed very happy to do so.

Adult Christmas art project in Tapishica

     

Children's Christmas art project in Tapishica

     The villages that we ministered in were New Hope, Tapishica, and San Francisco (our first church plant). I had hoped to minister in Santa Rosa and Yarina, where both villages that were once very open to us are now less open, as is Santa Rosa or not open at all as is Yarina. Nilton, who is taking the lead in coordinating contacts with the villages, did not recommend going to these communities since they would not receive us well. Instead he urged us to concentrate on New Hope and Tapishica since these two villages are open to us and Tapishica would be a new work since we had not ministered there before.

Manuela mixing the cacao for the hot chocolate in Tapishica

Manuela (left) and Doli (right) making the hot chocolate in Tapishca

     There are only six families in Tapishica, which is an extension of the larger community of San Pablo, and were very happy to participate in all that we were doing with them. After the hot chocolate, panetonis, and Christmas projects I took the opportunity to explain the movie they were about to see of the birth of Jesus since most did not know it or know it well. As I was explaining it I also highlighted why Jesus was born and what that meant for all of us. Afterwards I offered to lead them in a prayer to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior if they were ready and understood that all of us are sinners and need His salvation. Without hesitation they all immediately agreed and wanted to pray! That is nothing short of the results of our combined intercession for this outreach and I can't tell you how grateful I am to those of you who stood with me in prayer. That is why we do what we do. It's all about bringing people to the Kingdom of God and having them experience a life-changing relationship with the King of kings and Lord of lords.

     We are planning to start discipleship classes with these new believers on my next trip, January 11. This is very encouraging and between Nilton, the two young men from the parent Assembly of God church that San Francisco is a part of, and me we will strengthened and train these brothers and sisters as well as in New Hope while continuing to build up the believers in San Francisco and New Jerusalem.

Sharon helping with the adult art project in San Francisco
(Sharon's white mosquito net is in the background)

     Thank you so very much again for all that so many of you do to support this incredible work. God is moving and is bringing more workers in to shoulder the load and it is truly an answer to prayer. God bless each one of you in every way for this New Year and always for participating in what God is doing in this part of the world. Let's charge forward to seize what God has set before us in this New Year to glorify His name!

In Him Always,

Sharon Malcolm

Missionary with

Go To Nations since 1998

 

The Future Church Leaders of San Francisco

Maria and five village men studying to be church leaders of their communities

     These men and Maria, who travels with me, have been studying for the last three years to complete the Bible institute course requirements to be installed as pastor, assistant pastor, and deacons for their communities. They are nearly finished and the men will receive their credentials under the Assembly of God to operate in the roles they are studying for.  Maria will be under another denomination and so will operate under them. The AOG ordination process is quite lengthy but they can operate as a pastor or church leader until they complete the process.

     I am very proud to say that since they have officially become an Assembly of God church four years ago they have grown tremendously in their knowledge and application of the Bible in their lives, sharing the Gospel, and leading their small congregation in church services. Nilton (the man with his thumb up), who is studying to be the pastor, has been very active in reaching out to neighboring communities with the Gospel and many have responded.

     Just last week while we were together Nilton arranged for us to meet with his wife's family in a near-by village called New Hope in order to present the Gospel and it went miraculously well. His wife Paula's father had been practicing shamanism for quite some time (the ability to contact the spirit world through a trance state and divination for healing and other needs) and was strongly opposed to us as Christians coming to his house to talk about God. He even threatened to throw his grandson out if he did not cease to talk to him about the Lord. Now, he was not only agreeable to hear about the Lord but was willing to have his whole family sit and listen to the Gospel message as well. This may be due to his wife battling with the Covid virus and had to be hospitalized that he, apparently, could not heal. For whatever reason he had a change of heart that even Nilton was surprised at. After the message and prayer for healing as we said our good-byes he actually invited us back!

Nilton sharing the Gospel message

     While this is a huge breakthrough in this family we are still planning a 3-day outreach in November with the rest of the village to encourage those who have accepted he Lord but have not committed to live for Him and to those who have yet to enter into a relationship with Him. This village, like so many others, have people that accept Christ but do not commit to live for Him. It's the parable of the sower in action and so must be dealt with on a spiritual level.

Francisco Jr. preaching in a Sunday morning service

     Another great development is that the more timid members of the Bible institute, Fransciso Jr. (pictured above) and his brother Richar have been actively participating in leading and preaching in the church services for their village. They had not done this before due to the intimidation of public speaking but over the last several months they have really come out of their shell and are sharing confidently, especially Francisco Jr. This is very important because they must be able to minister boldly to those around them if they are to fulfill the call of God on their lives and, praise God they are doing it!

     God is truly on the move through this small but mighty body of believers and will continue to bring them into everything He has called them to. I want to thank each of you so very much for praying for our brothers and sisters in San Francisco, to reach their people with the Gospel. It is truly miraculous to see where they've come from and where they are now. Blessings to each one of you for all that you are doing to make this happen!

Together in the Harvest,

Sharon Malcolm

Missionary with

Go To Nations since 1998

Hallelujah, We’re back in the Saddle!!

I am so happy to report that over the course of four weeks between August and September, we were finally able to make two visits to the villages. We found most people in good health although the virus outbreak has hit every village on the river. Fortunately there are not many elderly, high-risk residents so I don't think there were many casualties. There were however, many people suffering from the symptoms of the virus and some had to be taken to the closest health post and even transported to Lima, the capitol, for extensive treatment. Thankfully Maria and I believe we've had the virus according to the symptoms listed on the internet, and so hopefully built up antibodies in our system to combat any further attack. We have traveled twice so far to an infected area and have not shown any symptoms ourselves, praise God.

Sharon teaching on the birth of Christ at a Christmas outreach

On these visits I was happy to hear that although the people in San Francisco, our first church plant, were not meeting regularly for church services they were meeting in their homes and doing some kind of Bible study with their families. By the time Maria and I made our second visit to the villages the church services had resumed and now all of the five men training to be church leaders were involved in conducting the service. This is a change from even before the pandemic shutdown because only two and sometime three of the men were participating. Nilton, the main leader, has grown richly in his understanding and usage of the Word of God and has a passion to reach a neighboring village named Esperanza, where his wife has some extended family members. His desire is to do an outreach for the community involving children, youth, and adult activities over a two-day period. This is hugely exciting because this is and has been the goal of the Bible institute training we have been doing. It is all about mobilizing the participants to do the work of the Kingdom and this is now bearing fruit.

        

Nilton standing with Germán, a non-Christian he is reaching with the Gospel (left).
Richar, Nilton's brother, teaching a portion of a Sunday evening message for the first time (right).

Another praise report is a young man named Edwardo from Esperanza, accepted Christ about 2 years ago and has since led his father and step-mother to the Lord. In trying to witness to his grandfather though he was almost kicked out of the house and was very discouraged and even questioned his own faith. After praying for him the Lord miraculously healed him and now his faith has been renewed and he has just recently led his younger brother to the Lord and now wants to disciple him. God is moving on these communities and it is our goal to equip these carriers of the Gospel to go as far as possible to bring people into the Kingdom. Please continue to pray with us to empower them in every way with every available resource to complete what the Lord has given them to do.

We will be going to San Francisco again on September 29 to October 3 to continue in the Bible institute teachings. Please keep us in prayer for these dates as the river water is quite low and travel can be difficult (it took us 12 hours to get in on the first trip). Pray especially for the evangelistic outreach to Esperanza that we will be coordinating on the trip when we are together to be held in October.

Many blessings to you and thank you so very much for all the ways you support this incredible work of the Lord.

Serving With You For The Kingdom,
Sharon Malcolm