2-Year Anniversary For The Church In San Francisco!

Congregation and visiting villages to celebrate 2-year anniversary with San Francisco

     The 2-year church anniversary of San Francisco proved to be quite an exciting event over the couple of days that it was held.  It was well attended by the congregation and neighboring villages but also by people that truly surprised us.

     There are only seven families in San Francisco and five of them make up most of the congregation of the church along with some families or family members from neighboring villages who consider this their spiritual home as well.  Since this is an Assembly of God church we invited the Regional Director and the Regional Secretary to join us in this very important occasion and they graciously agreed to come.  Both pastors shared messages during our time together and performed water baptisms for four new believers, baby dedications and finally, the church dedication.

One of four new Christians being baptized into Christ

     Of the seven families that make up the village of San Francisco only two families are not part of the church since they hold strongly to a different doctrine.  Even though these families are extended members of the other five there is now a very distinct doctrinal difference between them.  Five of the families have chosen to make Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior and two have not.  The distinctions, as observed by the mother of one of the two non-Christian families, was that the five Christian families do not drink, fight or have severe sickness among them.  

     As a result of a drastic life-style change since Jesus became Lord of their lives, the five families have repeatedly invited the other two to join them in the church services, prayer for personal needs or Bible discussions.  They have continued to love and communicate with them as much as possible and one by one the "ice" began to melt until some have also chosen to make Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior.  Unfortunately this was met by some resistance by those who still hold to their doctrinal beliefs.  

     One man in particular, Bartolome, had been very strongly against the Christians and when he heard that some of his extended family had become Christians and now wanted to get water baptized as such he was not in agreement with this.  However, during the last night of anniversary celebration once again some of his Christian extended family members invited him and his sister to join them in one of the church services and this time he accepted!  He came but only stood at the door and would not go in but after some coaxing he finally came in, sat down and listened to the pastor.  At the end of his message Pastor Nicolas gave an invitation for anyone who did not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to come up to pray and Bartolome went up and received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior!!  This is an incredible answer to prayer by the five families that have been reaching out to the other two.  Gloriously God is moving on these hearts and lives, hallelujah!!

Four new believers having been water baptized into Christ Jesus

     The four people that were water baptized had accepted Jesus only a day or two before the anniversary celebration began.  The small man on the far right (blue tee-shirt) named Secundo Mauricio, and his wife (not pictured) had been very opposed to Christianity and followed the typical customs of a non-Christian life style which included regular drinking.  He is part of a neighboring village called New Jerusalem where a second church plant had begun but he chose not to be a part of it.  The Lord touched his heart mainly through visits from the Christians of San Francisco and now he is a brother in Christ! It was incredible for me to see this man at the church services because I've only ever seen him intoxicated in his home.  Now his attitude is completely changed and is experiencing a renewed life.

     The young man standing next to him named Jefferson, is the son of the village school teacher who was very sick during the celebration due to drinking most of his life.  Jefferson's parents were also of a different doctrine and initially when they came to San Francisco in March were quite guarded when they realized this was a Christian church and that Maria and I were missionaries.  Over time however, Jefferson wanted more of his understanding of God than what he knew at that point and made the bold decision to accept Jesus as Lord and be water baptized.

     

Jefferson's father sitting in the boat ready to be transported to a hospital

     In the meantime his father who had by now damaged his liver and kidneys due to excessive drinking had a protruded stomach and could barely walk.  He felt like he was dying.  Although he needed immediate medical attention he was refusing help.  Fortunately, he was visited at different times throughout the second day of the celebration by the two village pastors and Nilton, who is a pastor-in-training to speak to him about the Lord.  Later Nilton asked several of us to pray two times for healing and finally he agreed to pray and ask the Lord to forgive him of his sins followed by asking Him to be Lord of his life.  Even though I had the privilege of praying with him it is hard to tell if his heart was sincere.  That, of course, is up to the Lord to determine.  We had gotten word through Nilton that he was in stable condition and was in the Yurimaguas hospital.  Please pray with me that he will continue in his commitment to Christ.

     The last two of the four that were baptized are a married couple that the father's teenaged son led them to the Lord just days before.  His son Edúco, had been with the Lord but then fell away.  When he came back though it was full measure and has been on fire ever since.  He spoke to his father and step-mother about the Lord and they both accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior as well and wanted to be water baptized.

     This family lives with their extended family members who are not Christians and in fact, Edúco's grandfather is a witchdoctor.

     I am sharing the stories of all these people with you to encourage you in your prayer and intercession for us as we continue in this work but especially for the church of San Francisco whom God is using to reach family after family with His saving grace.  The fight is strong and there is a lot of resistance and temptations to go back to the world but the Lord is bigger than these and can shine brighter than any darkness.  One of the struggles is the lack of ability to read and understand the Biblical concepts and then have regular contact with Christians.  They have to make the effort to travel on the river to meet together and be encouraged and spiritually supported.  Fortunately they do not live far from each other but it is a matter of committing to do it.

     These are our new brothers and sisters and need our continued prayer for stability and growth in the Lord.  Please join with me to pray for their relationship with the Lord.  May the Lord bless you always in all you do and thank you so very much for standing with us.

Sharon Malcolm

Missionary with

Go To Nations since 1998

Major Earthquake Shakes Peru

     At about 2:30 am on Sunday morning an 8.0 magnitude earthquake hit north-central Peru.  Yurimaguas, a population of about 62,000 people and the town that I live in, had considerable damage to several buildings and homes.  The quake struck 68 miles below the earth's surface according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) which thankfully, prevented more damage, injuries and deaths even though it was a major quake.

Severe damage done to several large buildings in Yurimaguas

     Fortunately, my house nor my dog Angelina, were not affected by the quake (although the house-sitter said she ran under the bed when it happened).  Maria and I were in a village community when it hit and were sleeping under mosquito nets in a house made of tree logs and a thatched roof.  Typically these village houses are not held together with nails but rather with twine taken from tree bark and usually do not have walls.  So when the quake hit everything shook and shook strongly for about 2 minutes.  Miraculously there was no major damage to most of these houses or to anyone in the houses except for one house that collapsed leaving no injuries.

     Our plan for this river trip was to visit four villages on the Nucuray River, which is about 16 hours by boat from Yurimaguas.  We wanted to encourage the believers in the only two churches on this river as well as present the Gospel to the non-believers in some of the other villages.  The quake gave us a wonderful opportunity to make the point that anything could happen at any time and that we all must be ready to meet our Lord at a moment's notice.  We were able to pray with several people to accept the Lord and several more to rededicate their lives to Him afresh.  It was a very encouraging trip and we were able to see the Lord move on many people to bring new life to their souls.

     While seeing the responses of the people was a huge blessing and an honor I feel I need to explain the struggles that many of these village churches experience.  For instance, the church in the village of Progreso, which is one of the only two churches on the Nucuray River, was said to be the stronger of the two.  However, over time one by one of the congregants fell away from the faith until finally Bartilome, the pastor, also fell away.  When this happened the few believers that were left felt betrayed and abandoned including one of elders of the church named Emerson, and so he also fell away.  Maria and I visited this village with the pastor of the other church to encourage both Bartilome and Emerson individually.

     We learned from Bartilome that there were so many rumors being spread about his conduct that were not true that he became overwhelmed and frustrated because he could not clear his name and therefore felt that he no longer wanted to be part of the church or in service to God.  Unfortunately, when he separated himself from the church he started drinking to cope with these struggles.

     By the time we met with him he had already received two visits from the senior pastor over him who encouraged him and set him on a path of recovery and accountability.  He shared with us that he could never leave his relationship with the Lord, just the relationship with His people.

The church in Progreso with Sharon sharing a message

     After sharing and encouraging both Bartilome and Emerson we had a church service in Bartilome's church and gloriously many people came out for it.  Even Bartilome himself!  The temporary pastor who was taking Bartilome's place, shared openly with the congregation how he too fell away from the faith but after prayer, repentance and encourgement was restored and was now asking the congregation for forgiveness.  It was done so humbly and sincerely that you couldn't help but just want to hug this young man for his vulnerability.  It set the tone for the message which led to a salvation call and an opportunity to rededicate one's life to the Lord.  Several people responded including Bartilome!  This was a huge step for him to demonstrate his own vulnerability to his congregation and I pray that they will fully receive him back with open arms.

     I share this with you to encourage you to please keep these village pastors and leaders in prayer for strength and wisdom so that when trials like this come they will use the resources available, namely other pastors or church leaders, to walk through it without falling.

     Malicious gossip is rampant in the villages and can destroy someone's character in an instant.  We just had a case like this in our first church plant of San Francisco where Nilton, the pastor-in-training was accused of sleeping with a 12-year-old girl.  The story soon lost its validity when the truth became known but not before causing much discussion among several neighboring villages.  Fortunately, Nilton held his ground and his faith and allowed the Lord to reveal the truth, which He did and was quickly resolved.

     I want to thank all of you so very much for standing with us in prayer for this work and for our protection at every level.  By God's grace we will finish the task He has given us to do and see His glory as a result of it.  I pray the Lord's blessing on each of you as you read this and encourage you in the faith to keep striving for the greater things of the Lord.  There are so many lives that still need to be reached for the Gospel let us seek the Lord together on how to do this in the most effective way.

Standing With You in Faith,

Sharon Malcolm

Missionary with 

Go To Nations since 1998