A family in San Eugenio using their wood-burning chimney stove for the first time
A group of eight people representing three churches came from the States to work with me in the Spanish village of San Eugenio to build wood-burning chimney stoves for 12 families. As you can see from the picture above the stoves are very effective in containing the fire in the stove body eliminating burn accidents and dangerous smoke inhalation that the village women are normally subject to when cooking over an open fire.
Team gathering tools and equipment to start the first stove together.
The team divided into groups to work on different houses at the same time in order to finish the stove project.
The Lord´s Provision
We were enormously blessed on this trip as a direct result of the combined prayer for the Lord´s protection and provision. To start with, the mayor over the district of which San Eugenio is a part heard that we were going to one of his villages to do a stove project so he offered his boat and 60 horsepower motor to take us there. This reduced a 10-hour trip an amazing 4-hour trip! Next, when we got to the village we found that not only had each family correctly prepared their platforms upon which the stove would be built but they also had gotten the required amount of sand from the river´s edge so that we could start mixing cement right away to make their stoves. Because of this we were able to move quickly from house to house as we divided into three to four groups allowing us complete all 12 stoves a full day and a half early! This extra time gave us the opportunity to minister the Word of God to the community through children´s programs, adult Bible studies and evening church services.
Team members using an “Evangecube” Children´s afternoon Bible story class followed by an activity
to tell the story of Jesus to village children. to reinforce the lesson.
Sharon leading adult Bible study with Daniel Daniel (striped shirt, far right) leading Bible study himself
Maria and team leading evening worship followed by the Word of God
The results were truly amazing as the Lord poured out His love, compassion and truth through the different ministries to the whole village of San Eugenio. We even had the opportunity to minister to the neighboring village of Baranquita when they came to San Eugenio for a village activity then chose to stay for our evening service. During our time together everyone who attended the services heard the Word of God and had the chance to receive personal prayer.
The people are very open to the Word of God in this village and want very much to learn more. Unfortunately, this community has had not one but three pastors come and go over the last several years due to moral failure or unwillingness to finish the required pastoral training necessary to fulfill this role. Now however, there is a young man in their village named Daniel, pictured above leading a Bible study, that I had the privilege of leading to the Lord just about three years ago. Since he accepted the Lord he has had an insatiable desire for the things of God and so when the opportunity came to him to participate in a correspondence course for pastoral training he immediately accepted it. He is now in his third year and will finish in February of 2014. I have already approached him with the possibility of going to YWAM for three to six months for further training and he is very open to that as well. It is my prayer that the Lord will use him to lead his village into the greater things of the Spirit and help his people establish their faith while learning to apply the Word of God to their personal lives. Please pray with me for Daniel and these very important next steps towards his calling.
Outreach to Cusco
Our time together as a team culminated with a 4-day tour in the “state” of Cusco, the mountainous part of Peru where the famed Machu Picchu ruins are and the Sacred Valley. It was an amazing tour highlighting the history of the Incas and the Spanish. Although I had learned the history of Peru earlier this experience gave me such fresh insight into the roots of this incredible country in order to know how to minister more effectively.
When our tour ended we still had several hours in Cusco before we had to fly back to Lima, the capitol and so we decided to have an evangelistic outreach to minister to the people. We split up into three groups and went in three different directions praying with people and sharing the Gospel with them. As a result at least six people prayed with us to ask Jesus into their hearts! This is very significant because although this is an extremely Catholic country due to the Spanish conquest in the 1500´s, the original Inca beliefs have not completely died. According to the tour guides most of the Cusco population from all classes of society faithfully and with great conviction still make sacrifices to Mother Earth including the tour guides themselves. I was so astounded to learn how deep the mixture of the Inca and Catholic belief systems were that it drove me to pray with urgency and passion all the more for the redemption of the people of this area.
From my experience in Cusco I feel I have gained a much clearer understanding of the people that the Lord has given me to work with and a wiser perspective on how to pray and minister to them. I want to thank my home church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the supporting church in Stafford, Virginia for making this extremely important trip possible for me. It has helped me tremendously and has given me great insight into the minds of the people. God bless you in every way for this invaluable gift!
I also want to thank each person who faithfully stood in the gap for our time on the river. I absolutely believe that so much was accomplished because of the strong intercession and combined faith of committed prayer warriors. I am truly honored and blessed beyond words to be united with you in this great work of the Lord. Together we are seeing the kingdom of this world become the kingdom of our God.
Serving With You in The Great Commission,
Sharon Malcolm
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