March Newsletter

The Shishinahua River

Nilton, from the village of San Francisco, driving us to his village to do the next course in the Bible Institute. This will be the 8^th course out of 30 that we’ve completed and Nilton is preparing to be the pastor of the church village.

Houses in the village of Santa Clara on the Shishinahua River where we shared the Word of God. 

This trip to the Shishinahua River to continue with the Bible Institute in San Francisco was especially eventful because we combined our class time with visits to other villages as well. We did the course material in the morning and then visited the communities in the afternoon to share the Word of God.

Our plan was to do a children’s program followed by an adult service with a Christian film about the life of Christ. We did this in the villages of Nueva Esperanza (New Hope) and Santa Rosa and shared from the Word of God in Santa Clara. In each village there were open hearts and several people in Nueva Esperanza and Santa Rosa prayed to ask the Lord into their lives. We will do follow up in these villages as well as continue to visit Santa Clara to encourage and teach the Word of God. My prayer is that those who prayed will truly have a desire to follow the Lord and will experience a permanent life change.

Sharon doing a Bible story with some of the children of Santa Rosa

                       

We will also continue to do 3-day training in the village churches of Progreso and Huancayo on the Nucuray River. This is a new work for us and our goal is to help build up the believers in these communities to reach their neighbors for Christ. We will work with them to set up evangelistic outreaches to their neighboring villages and encourage them through training on how to follow up and disciple the new believers. Some of the unchurched communities on this river seem very open and willing to have a church in their village and so the Lord has already started working on their hearts.

We had planned on going to the Nurcuray River this Friday, March 16 but it was canceled. The pastor of the church village of Progreso, Pastor Bartolome (Bartholomew in English), is in quite a lengthy legal dispute concerning a contract he signed with a wood company which gave the company rights to extract hard wood from his community. The village was in full agreement with this contract because the company promised to give each family a certain sum of money in exchange for the wood. Unfortunately, the community does not have the right to sell the wood to anyone and so Pastor Bartolome, who is also a village leader is the one who signed the contract in behalf of the people and is now personally liable for about $120,000. This case has been going on for about two years now but I just learned about it when the pastor just recently told me that he had to cancel our trip because he had to go to the capital for legal dealings concerning this case. He said that we could come again in a few months and so we set it up to come the first week in June.

Please keep him in prayer to resolve this without him having to go to prison or having to be responsible for the money. Out of the only two churches on this river his church is the stronger of the two but still needs to be built up. This is a terrible interference in his life and ministry and especially to those who are willing and waiting to hear the Gospel. I am praying for divine wisdom for his lawyer and any other help he can get from his mayor or advocacy groups in his district. I can’t imagine the stress he and his family must be under and so I am praying more diligently for a quick and easy resolution that will satisfy everyone.

I am also praying for the village of Nueva Esperanza on the Shishinahua River since several people prayed to accept the Lord. They are in quite a bit of spiritual darkness partly due to their traditional belief system and the strong superstitions that are very typical in indigenous communities. The spiritual bondage of these must be broken over their lives so that they can fully appropriate all that Christ died to give them.

Please join with me in prayer for this as well and may the Lord continue to bless you in all that you do for the Kingdom.

Reaping the Harvest Together,

Sharon Malcolm

19 hours travel on the river

Pastor Bartolome driving us on the Nucuray River to his village of Progreso

After a very long 19-hour trip on two boats we finally reached the Condozi Indian village of Progreso where we held our first 3-day training on how to study the Bible and how to evangelize. The course went very well and I was so pleased to see such eagerness to learn the material and participate in the group activities.

    

Training participants in groups to practice an Inductive style Bible study

Role-play on how to evangelize

                               

This method of Bible study and evangelism is something that everyone can and must do especially in their situation since Progreso is only one of two churches on this river of 11 villages.

During our time together Maria shared her testimony and I showed a Christian film depicting the life of Christ and as a result 16 people rededicated their lives to Christ! This is very exciting because these village churches of Progreso and Huancayo are still in the developing stages and are new to doing evangelism and discipleship. I am praying for a full-blown revival in both of these villages that will ignite the members with an insatiable desire to evangelize and disciple their unsaved neighboring villages.

Our commitment to them is to go back and have 2 and 3-day trainings on a monthly basis until they are equipped enough to minister on their own. It is a wide open door to help these two village churches grow in their understanding of the Word and in their relationship with the Lord. It is also a wide open door for the Gospel to go forth to the other non-churched villages and so we will take every opportunity available to do both of these. Please pray with us that the two churches will learn quickly and that the Lord will pour out His Spirit on them in a powerful way.

Prayer Request

Please pray for us as we travel to the villages on the following dates:

• March 3-8: Shishinahua River to teach the next Bible institute course to the church leaders of the new church in San Francisco and do an evangelistic outreach to two non-Christian villages.
• March 15–22: Nucuray River to do the next 3-day training in Progreso and Huancayo and do an evangelistic outreach to the non-Christian villages on the river.
• March 30–April 5: Shishinahua River to do an Easter evangelistic outreach to the non-Christian villages and teach the next course in the Bible institute.

For these trips,

• Please pray for our safety as we travel. Boating accidents are not uncommon on these waters and so protection as we travel is essential.
• Please pray that the people will understand the material being taught and will be able to apply it to their lives through the power of the Holy Spirit working in them. The goal is a glorious transformation in each person and in the community as a whole.
• Please agree with me in prayer for a full revival in these two village churches on the Nucuray River so that the Lord can use them to draw the rest of the villages on the river to Him.

Thank you so very much for standing with us in prayer for these points and may the Lord bless you in all that you are doing for Him.

Together With You in Reaping the Harvest,

Sharon Malcolm