Monday, October 31, 2016

Reaching Out to Other Tribes

            After much prayer and soul searching for these last several months the Lord has opened doors for me to reach out to other Indian tribes here in Peru.  While the need to continue with the Shawi communities we have been working with is desperate the same is true for those tribes who have never heard the Gospel message yet.  Therefore, I am asserting my efforts to reach the less-reached villages as well.

            Since May I have been able to visit and work with three different Indian groups in bringing the Gospel message to them or help train them for evangelism.  In May I joined with another American missionary to help him and his team do a 5-day oral training for the Condozi Indians, in August I went to minister the Word of God to the Cocamillrio Indians (not sure of the spelling), five hours north of where I live.  Last week I met an Ashéninka village and in the New Year I will try and make contact with the Maijuna Indians.  I also had the chance to meet another Shawi village, which I visited on several occasions with Peruvian teams to minister the Word of God.

Ashéninka Village of Santa Rosa, a two-day travel from my
house to this village by plane and car.


Health post of the village where the nurse lives and where I stayed
while in the Ashéninka village of Santa Rosa.
            The most effective way to reach these tribes is through tribal members who have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.  I have seen how much of a quick and forceful impact they can have on their own people when they stand for Christ.  Therefore, my goal is to locate these people, help develop them with any resources I have and help mobilize them to reach their neighboring villages.  There are pastors and missionaries that are working toward this end and so I am trying to connect with them to help in the process.

            This December I will be traveling back to the Ashéninka village that I just visited for the first time last week to help the only Christian man in this community put a roof on a church he wants to build for them (I will do this financially not physically).  I was encouraged to hear that both he and the village leader said that the community wants to hear about the Word of God and wants to have a church to be able to meet in.  With that in mind I took the opportunity to ask the school director if I could share at the grade school about the life of Christ.  I was granted permission and after the talk I ask how many would like to pray and ask Jesus to come into their lives and all of the children prayed with me.  I realize that the Lord will have to solidify this commitment with clarity and understanding but I know that He has planted some very fruitful seeds in their hearts through this encounter.

            Later that night we invited the community to see a movie called “The God Story” which goes from Creation to the White Throne judgment.  While not everyone in the community came out there were about 35 who did and most of them stayed for the whole movie.  When it was finished I shared what Jesus had done for them and how much He loved them then asked how many wanted to receive Him as their Lord and Savior.  Gloriously everyone who was there did, which was about 20 people.  It was clear to me that the Lord was truly moving on their hearts and so I said that I would come back in December to bring some Bibles for each family and also fund the roof for the church that Janeco, the only Christian there, wants to build.
            
      I tell you all this so that you can see that together we are really breaking ground in other tribes and in so doing helping to close the gap of the unreached or less reached people groups in Peru.  According to the Joshua Project, a data collecting organization on unreached people groups in the world, the Ashéninkas have a population of 58,000 and only 2% are reached with the Gospel.  The other tribe I that mentioned, the Maijuna Indians, have not been reached at all yet.  As we join together in prayer, physical resources and human resources we can effectively reach those who still have not heard the Gospel message.  With that in mind would you stand with me in prayer for the following trips so that the power of the Gospel will be shown and people will be brought into the Kingdom?

Nov 2-6:  Cocamillrio Indians to make 11 water filters for some of the families in their community and to present the Gospel.  Their village is called “October 8” (probably named after the date they were officially a legal entity).  Please pray that their hard hearts will be soften by the love of Christ and they will be moved to the point of surrender and acceptance of His incredible love and forgiveness.

Nov 10-14:  Shawi Indians on the Shishinahua River to coordinate our next 5-day training and do some discipleship classes with the three villages that we have been working with, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa and Yarina.

Nov 18-22:  5-day training on how to disciple new believers.  This would be a follow-up session on the last 5-day training we did on how to evangelize.

Dec 1-4:  Ashéninka Indians to bring Bibles, fund a roof for the church, minister the Word of God and visit a new Ashéninka village with a Shapibo Indian pastor.

Dec 6-Jan 22:  Travel to the States visit supporting churches in Florida, Colorado, Virginia and Pennsylvania as well as visit family for the holidays.

I want to thank all of you who stand with me in prayer for this very important task of reaching the lost for the Kingdom.  May the Lord bless you in every way.

Your Friend Always,
Sharon Malcolm


Monday, October 3, 2016

Dear Prayer Warriors,

During the lull of the dry season when the river is too low to visit our Shawi Indian villages I have been visiting two other communities in the meantime to establish relationships.  One community is called Ocho de Octubre (October 8th) and are Cocamarilla Indians (not sure of the spelling) and the other is called Charapilla and they are Shawi Indians.  Both have a need to hear the Gospel and both have already made an initial response to the beckoning of the Lord to come into His Kingdom.

I will be traveling to both of these villages this week to continue the work and this time Pastor Rufino and Maria will be joining me to visit Ocho de Octubre.  Our plan on this trip is to minister in a local church that is about a 15-minute walk from the village as well as minister in the village through discipleship lessons and prayer.
Sharon walking from Charapilla with team
The team ministered in the Word of God and
personal prayer for this small community of
16 families resulting in 7 salvations.  

Our team on this trip L to R:  Rufino, his sister, niece and wife and Maria
(Shawi missionary who has been working with me for 6 years) walking to Charapilla

My trip to Charapilla this time will be to bring in a man from another ministry to evaluate the land in the village in order to determine how he can provide clean drinking water for the community.

I am praying for both villages, October 8th and Charapilla, to be firmly established in the Kingdom of God through His saving grace and that a viable church can be planted in each community since there is not one present at this time to nurture and care for the new believers.  Would you stand in prayer with me for these precious souls?  Several in both of these small communities have prayed to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior but without proper discipleship and leadership continued growth in their faith would be very challenging.  The dates and prayer points are listed below to help guide you in your intercession.

Charapilla:  Wednesday, October 5; 3 of us will be traveling:  Jorge, the man who will dig a well; Josué and I.  We will go and come back the same day.

October 8th:  Saturday, October 8-12;  Rufino, Maria and I will be traveling to minister in a church and in the village for 4 days.
1)  Safety as we travel to both villages.
2)  Wide open hearts in each person as they hear the Word of God so that they can be truly impacted by the Gospel.
3)  Divine wisdom from the Lord as we minister to know how to present the lessons clearly and simply.
4)  Clear weather as we travel, especially as I travel to Charapilla since it requires an hour and 40 minute walk through the jungle.

Thank you so much for joining with us in this wonderful opportunity to reach the lost for the Kingdom.

Your Co-laborer for the Harvest,
Sharon Malcolm