Amazing 5-Day Training

We had an incredible five days together during our training. A total of 47 people including children attended and received some excellent instruction on why we should witness, to whom and how to witness effectively. We shared the material from a book called “A Discipleship Re-Revolution” by Steve Smith and took each segment of the process slowly so that every person, whether they could read or not, was able to understand and use what was being taught. We also used some extra material to convey the Gospel message and then broke off into groups to practice what was learned so that as everyone went back to their villages they would be able to share confidently and boldly with those who don’t know Christ.

The whole point of the training was to equip every person, adult and child, on how to share their faith and lead someone to Christ. I am so happy to report that I believe they got it!  I could see in the people that they were grasping the concepts and realizing the vision of evangelism and discipleship according to Matthew 28:19 which says, “Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Amplified Bible).

Since this is a command for all of us and not just for pastors or church leaders every one of us must work towards fulfilling the Great Commission. The easiest and most effective way to do that is to be prepared and knowledgeable about what to share, how and to whom. When this is covered in prayer God begins to open doors and creates opportunities for those that are within our sphere of influence to hear and respond to the Gospel. We presented this to our attendees and told them to make a list of every person they know that does not know Jesus as Saviour and Lord. Then we prayed for the people on the lists at the beginning of each day. Afterwards, with those people on our minds and hearts we then began our daily lessons. For the people that live in the villages it is very unlikely that their unsaved loved ones will hear the Gospel by going to church because, at least for some of the villages, there are no churches. Therefore it is vital that the believers understand how to share with the unsaved about what the Lord has done in their lives and what He wants to do in the lives of their loved ones.

The more we practiced the more confident the people got so that even the most timid were sharing during the practice sessions. We even had three people strongly request to be water baptized as a public declaration that they are committed to live for Christ alone.

 

Orenson from Santa Rosa

   

Romer from Santa Clara

  

Shaquira from San Fransisco

This training was a huge success in my estimation and I am looking forward to hearing about many salvations as a result of it. We will continue to work with these villages that have attended by holding more trainings and visiting them when we can.

In the meantime we will be bringing this same training to other villages on another river quite a distance away next month in two different locations to train a village of Mestizos (Spanish speakers) as well as a village among the Kandozi tribe (a tribe we have not worked with before). Again the purpose is to equip those among their own people group in order to reach their villages for Christ. I will keep you posted on this and will send out a prayer request letter as we get the details more refined.

I want to thank all of you who stood with us in praying, encouraging, loving and financially supporting this work. The training was clearly a success because of what the Lord did through all of us as we each did our part. God bless you all in every way.

Working Together With You,
Sharon Malcolm

Prayer Request For 5-Day Training

I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to please stand with us in prayer for our next 5-day training. We will start this Saturday, March 5 and continue until Wednesday, March 9. We have several new people joining us this time which is perfect since we will be introducing some new material. The purpose of the training has been and will continue to be to train people to lead Bible studies and times of prayer so that they can minister to their people when they go back to their villages. We also train them in the foundations of Christianity so that they can grow in their walk with the Lord and know how to share their faith with those that don’t yet know the God of their salvation. This time however, we will be trying a new approach with more group participation which hopefully will move them faster in the learning process and in being advocates for the Gospel.

Please join with us for the following points during these next several days so that the Holy Spirit will do all that He has planned to do in the lives of these precious brothers and sisters of ours.

1. That everyone traveling from their villages will arrive safely and quickly.
2. Pray especially that all the people from the Shishinahua River that said they would come would actually come. These villages are most important because they do not have the advantage of having churches in their area like the other people that are attending do. Therefore it is very difficult for them to maintain their walk with the Lord since there are no pastors or church leaders to help guide them. The whole reason why the trainings started was to accommodate them specifically by giving them an intense but practical study that they could use when they go back to their villages.
3. Open minds and hearts of every attendee to understand clearly and quickly what is being taught by full participation in all of the exercises.
4. That everyone will leave changed in heart and mind, full and ready to apply what they’ve learned in their communities.

I want to thank you all so very much for praying for us during our river trip. Many lives were touched by the love of God and impacted enough to make a commitment to have Him be Lord of their lives. Thank you also for standing in faith with us for this 5-day training. Please believe for great and permanent things to happen to each person as they attend. God bless you mightily for all that you do for the Kingdom.

Serving Together With You,
Sharon Malcolm

March Newsletter

Shishinahua River where the villages of Santa Clara, Santa Rosa and Yarina meet

Our last trip to the Shishinahua River went very well. The purpose was to invite the villages to the 5-day training that we are having March 5th-9th and also to minister in the Word of God. In the first village of Santa Clara we had the privilege of leading 4 people to the Lord! Two of these people were the husbands of women we had led to the Lord earlier but the men never wanted to to do the same, until now. In the village of Santa Rosa 5 people prayed to make Jesus the Lord of their lives.

Although some of them had done this before this time something seemed to be different. So we explained the significance of water baptism and offered to baptize anyone who would like it. Only one person out of the group responded and it happened to be Sabina, the wife of the main village leader of the community. This is a big step for her because her husband usually does not come to our meetings and shows no interest in the things of the Lord although she has consistently shown interest. We gladly baptized her and invited her and the rest of the people at the meeting to the 5-day training. Please pray with me for our new sister in the Lord that she will be able to maintain her commitment to the Lord and be a strong witness to her husband and other family members in spite of resistance.

Baptizing Sabina from Santa Rosa

The last village of Yarina we were not able to visit because Florentina, who travels with us, stepped on a stingray while she and I were washing a large tarp in the river. The venom of these water creatures does not cause damage to any organs or other parts of the body but it does cause excruciating pain for several hours. In order to relieve Florentina’s agony we took her to a health post 1 ½ hours up river where she and Maria had to stay over night to receive treatment. When we got them the next day Florentina was much better, praise God!