I just got back from the river yesterday and I am so excited to share with you that all of our prayers were gloriously answered!

Together we prayed that the Bible Institute course on Divine Healing would penetrate the minds and hearts of the people that attended so that they can move with confidence in their authority to pray for the sick.  The result of our prayers was:

Jilton, one of the men from the Bible Institute, had a headache for days and "tormenting thoughts" but after praying for him he was gloriously set free!  When I asked him how he was the next day he said "calmer".  Thank you Lord!

Next was a woman from a neighboring village who could not move her arm higher than shoulder level due to extreme pain.  After we prayed for her and I asked her how she felt she said, "better" and shot her arm straight up above her head with no pain and no restrictions!  Thank you Lord again!

Lastly, the wife of one of the men in the Bible Institute, had terrible pain in her left leg and restricted movement in her right hand.  After we prayed for her she was able to move her leg with no pain and was able to open and close her hand with almost no restraint!

Besides these healings after the evening church service a woman in the congregation asked for prayer for pain in her stomach and after prayer she also was completely healed, glory to God!  The reason these are so important is not only for the obvious release of the people's discomfort but also for the visible evidence of healings for the Bible Institute students.  They must see that their prayer of faith is forceful when praying for healing.

The next prayer that was answered was the effective presentation of the Gospel to those who have not yet heard and for the understanding of the Bible lessons for those who have heard so they can walk strongly in their commitment to Christ.

This happened as we visited the village of Saint Paul to share the Word of God with an older couple and their three grandchildren, one of which was a 14-year-old mother with a one-year-old girl.  After briefly explaining salvation to all of them they prayed with us to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!  We will be going back to this village to disciple the new believers and also invite other families who have not yet heard the Gospel to join us in studying the Word of God.  This again comes as a result of our combined prayer and intercession for the people of the Shishinahua River.

Antonia, Herman's wife, wearing her traditional Shawi dress. 
All of the necklaces, head and hair dress and skirt are all hand made.

Along with this, a very significant thing happened as we shared the Word of God to the new believers of our second church plant of New Jerusalem.  The village leader named Herman, is a witch doctor, and has heard some teaching on how demonic oppression can result with such involvement, not to mention how offensive it is to the Lord and so he decided to lay down all of his witch doctor practices and accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.  Understandably this is a big commitment and so he has not done so yet.  However, on our visit to this village I had the opportunity to share with the community how dangerous these practices are not only for the one doing it but also for the ones receiving it.  Since it is a common practice for parents to bring their young children and babies to witch doctors for healing as well as going themselves it creates open doors for the enemy to come in and cause problems.

We then offered the opportunity for everyone who has had any kind of involvement with witchcraft to come forward to renounce all such dealings, ask the Lord's forgiveness and fully repent of any further involvement and everyone participated, even Herman.  Ironically Herman's wife Antonia was the first one to respond!  Afterward, I strongly suggested that they go through their house and burn anything that had to do with witch doctor practices, no matter how much it costs, as per the incident in Ephesus in the book of Acts, in order to completely separate themselves from it.  This was a glorious step toward full cleansing and on our next visit in two weeks we will address this again.

I can't thank you enough for your diligent prayers for this work and your faithfulness to stand with us in taking these grounds for the Kingdom of God.  This is faith in action!

The last prayer point was for clear whether as we traveled so that the rain would not hinder us from getting to the villages or the people from attending the meetings.  By the Lord's grace there was only rain when we were in class during the Bible Institute but not while traveling to the villages or conducting the meetings!  Thank you Lord!

The village of Progreso at the mouth of the Shishinahua River.
Under all of the water in the foreground is the land the village sits on.
Until the water recedes the people have to use canoes to go from house to house.

Because of the intensity of rain that we've been having over the past several months there has been a great deal of damage due to flooding and landslides in various places.  Accidents and deaths have occurred because of this but praise God, nothing like this has happened to us!  Although this is our rainy season the rain has been unusually severe causing great soil erosion which results in massive flooding as seen in the picture above.
I was eager to share this update with you so that you know how vital your prayers are for this work and how the Lord is using you through them.  Together we are reaching souls for the Kingdom and changing lives.  May the Lord bless you in every way for your faithfulness to Him.

Together With You in The Harvest,
Sharon Malcolm
Missionary to Peru with Go To Nations