Peru Update

Nilton (red polo shirt on the right) teaching a Bible story in San Marcos

Nilton sharing a meal with the men of San Marcos

From the last newsletter I mentioned that I sent three people from the Shishinahua River, Nilton, his brother Richar, and Dolibeth, their niece, to Lima for training in Bible storying (orality) and that my hope was that one or all of them could come to the other river we work on to teach the Shawis there. In the above picture Nilton and his wife Paula (not shown) came with us to San Marcos so that Nilton could minister to them in Shawi with the Bible storying he learned in Lima. It was a tremendous time to see him and his wife interact with the Shawis in San Marcos and to see Nilton teach them the stories that he learned in Lima. That is what it is all about and why we are doing what we are doing. The goal is for the people in the villages be the ones who are evangelists, church planters, pastors, etc. and that goal has well begun to be realized. 

San Marcos is a small Shawi community on the Paranapura River where Maria and I started concentrating our efforts four or five years ago. Since Maria now lives and works in Yurimaguas, she is not free to travel with me as much as before but she does coordinate the trips to San Marcos and her village, which is about a 20 minute walk from San Marcos.

In working with San Marcos they expressed a desire to be a church and so we have been working to train some people to be church leaders. Recently they also wanted to build a church building and so they constructed a typical frame and then we supplied the roof.

Frame of the San Marcos church building

San Marcos church building with roof

Following this event we had our quarterly two-day training with the people from the Paranapura and Shishinahua Rivers where all three of the people that were trained in Lima helped teach the people Bible stories and they did exceptionally well (although I may be a bit biased). For anyone not used to public speaking and then having to memorize the material presented this can be very intimidating no matter how small the group is. But all three, Nilton, his brother Richar, and Dolibeth, did very well and were able to engage their listeners not only while telling the Bible story but also with asking the follow-up questions as well.

Nilton (red polo shirt) teaching Bible storying

Dolibeth (woman standing) teaching the women a Bible story
she selected using the method she learned in Lima

Richar (light blue shirt) teaching a Bible story he learned in the Lima orality conference

Miriam (red shirt and jeans), Go To Nations missionary who now
works with me, guiding the women in how to pray for one another

Antonia, Maria's sister-in-law, praying 

with Antonia from San Marcos.

Sharon teaching the women during the 2-day training

We will be traveling tomorrow (Friday, the 16th) to do a Christmas outreach on the Shishinahua River for three communities. It will involve serving the traditional hot chocolate and panatoni Christmas cakes, an art activity for the adults and children, and ending with the movie, "The Nativity Story" in Spanish. I will also bring a nativity scene to do the Bible storying of the birth of Christ so they will have a visual as well as a verbal explanation and then have them take turns telling the story. Please pray with us that hearts and minds will be open to the gospel and people will receive the gift of salvation this Christmas season.

Other news that will happen next year is, I will be sending Nilton and Richar and possibly others on their first missionary trip in May with an evangelistic ministry that will be coming to Yurimaguas for a city-wide outreach and then continue on to other locations along a major river to do the same. It will be a time of intense training (4 days) and then evangelistic outreaches in several locations. This trip's team is made up of purely indigenous tribes of Peru, instead of people from the States so this is especially beneficial for those that will participate so that they can see how other tribes relate to one another. The ones that I will be sending will have to fly to the starting destination (Iquitos) and then board a large 2-story boat where they will be trained everyday for the four days it will take to get from their starting point to Yurimaguas. Once here, they will do their first outreach and then take the boat back to Iquitos stopping along the way to repeat the outreaches in several locations. I am very excited to be able to do this with the Shawis we have worked with for so long. To see them at this point is truly amazing. They've never been on a plane before so they don't know how to navigate the airports or get from the airport to where they should meet their team so I will be traveling with them one way and the John, Miriam's husband who now works with us, will be accompanying them the other way.

I want to thank each of you for your continued commitment to this work and the people we are trying to reach with the gospel and the ones we are trying to raise up to be church leaders. It is exciting to see the people we have worked with for so long take their stand as mature servants of God reaching their neighboring communities with the gospel and actively starting new churches. This is all possible because we have joined our resources together to effect a lasting change in the lives of the people we are trying to reach. God bless you for standing with us and I pray that you have a wonderful and rich Christmas and New Year.

Together With You in the Harvest,

Sharon Malcolm

Serving with 

Go To Nations since 1998

 

Getting the New Leaders Trained

 Training New Leaders Through An Orality Conference

Some of the leaders from the San Francisco church attended this conference

Since most of the women in the villages where we work do not read and many of the men who do read do not read well, Bible storying has been a strategic way to teach the Word of God. This past August I sponsored three people from our first church plant of San Francisco to attend a Bible storying conference in the capitol city of Lima, to give them the opportunity to meet other national ministers working with this technique so they could see how it works.

L to R: Nilton, Dolibeth (Nilton and Richar's niece), Sharon, Richar (Nilton's brother)

Richar with his certificate

It was their first time going to the capitol (28 hours by bus) and the first time attending a conference like this. It was wonderful to see them interact with the other attendees from different parts of Peru to hear about their ministries and how each are ministering to their people. Each attendee then got a certificate of completion at the end of the conference (Richar is shown above with his).

The most important thing that came out of this conference was the three people I sent got the vision for this ministry to use in their communities. In fact next weekend Nilton, and hopefully Richar and Dolibeth, will be coming to the other river we work on to teach the Shawis there how to use this method since most of the people in this village do not read. This is a huge step towards getting the San Francisco church leaders to see how to reach the Shawi communities with the gospel and how to disciple them so they can grow in their faith. We have done things before to help train the leaders how to minister but this will be the first time they are going outside of their area to minister and so this is an exciting event.

Training My Local Church

Sharon doing a deliverance training workshop

One of the needs in the local church in my area is the need to know how to pray for deliverance in a healthy and biblically balanced way. Due to the high level of demonic involvement through witch doctors and superstitions many people are greatly oppressed (not possessed) by unwanted "intruders." This is especially prevalent in the village communities where going to a witch doctor is the norm even among Christians. Animism (the belief that everything has spirits) is the common world view and so many people open doors to the spirit realm that should never be opened. 

While the non-indigenous have less issues with superstitions many still go to witch doctors whenever they have health problems or anything else they want resolved. Once they come into a relationship with Christ however, they cease going to the witch doctor and go to Jesus for their needs. 

In doing this training with my local church it opened people's eyes to realize the authority that each one of us has in the name of Jesus Christ as believers. The classes dealt with the authority of the believer, forgiveness, and prayer for deliverance in a biblically balanced way. This training became a need when three youth from our church started to manifest during the worship at different times over several months. Added to that, two women in a village where we are planting a church also started to manifest during a simple worship time. Gloriously, all of these people were set free through the power of the blood of Christ and their lives have been significantly changed. Just giving people the understanding of what the enemy does and what they can do about it in Jesus' name brings a huge amount of empowerment. It encourages them to realize that they can take back areas of their lives that was dominated by the enemy due to a lack of knowledge and authority. Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32).

My plan is to also do this for the believers in the San Francisco church to help them realize the power of the cross in their lives and the victory they already have in Jesus' name.

I want to thank you so very much for being such a vital part of this work through your prayers, encouragement, and financial support. It is because we, as the Body of Christ, are able to link arms in reaching the unreached and discipling those who have come into the kingdom that the Lord is able to move in such mighty ways to bring transformation to people's lives. Many blessings to you in every way as you serve the Lord in all the ways He uses you.

Happy 4th Anniversary to the San Francisco Church!

 

 Evening service to celebrate the anniversary of the church

     June 14, 2021 marked the fourth anniversary of the church of San Francisco and an occasion to be celebrated! During this time the church has gone through trials and even persecutions but has remained faithful to the Lord and, of course, He to them in continuing in their faith. They have been threatened with disassociation from their non-Christian extended family members, judged, and slandered on more than one occasion but the conviction of the Holy Spirit in their lives was too strong to succumb to the pressure. Instead they have taken it upon themselves to go out to the neighboring villages to share their faith, win converts, and even start churches. 

Sharon with some of the attendees of the anniversary celebration

Richar, one of the church leaders and Nilton's brother,
sharing the Word on the last day of the anniversary

Nilton,who feels called to evangelize the neighboring villages,
sharing the Word in an evening service

     
     One of the churches we have co-labored with them to start is called New Jerusalem. This also is a small community of seven families, all related to each other but they are a bit more challenged than San Francisco. There is only one person who can read well in the community and although he has accepted Christ is battling with staying committed to Him. This means that sometimes he's really good and can preach the Word and other times he is drinking and not following the Lord. The other families also struggle with temptations of the world and the father of the families was a Shaman making the pull of the enemy quite strong in this community. 

     Another village called New Hope has accepted the Lord several times over the years but when it came time to be discipled the interest quickly waned. This is a tactic of the enemy as well as of the flesh but I believe there is a very clear spiritual component working against these communities from coming into the fullness of Christ. In New Hope there are two Shamans, one stronger than the other, that are still quite active. One of them is actually the father-in-law of Nilton. Fairly recently Paula, Nilton's wife, had a dream from the Lord that she was to go to her family in this village and tell them about the love of Christ  and so she and Nilton started doing that. It resulted in several people desiring to come to the Lord and be water baptized, which we did for them on the Easter outreach in their village. Paula's father, however, has not accepted the Lord yet but seems to be softer about hearing the gospel.

    I am sharing all of this with you because I feel the time has come to unite in prayer for these struggling wanna-be believers to break the powers of darkness over their lives and over their villages. Shamanism is very common in the villages and have been such an integral part of the culture for so long that it is not something that can be eradicated easily. Therefore I have asked the men that are preparing to be church leaders in San Francisco if we could meet next weekend, June 25-27, to pray and fast specifically for the village of New Hope and also for New Jerusalem since there seems to be a strong presence working against all of them. Lastly for the two families that are ardently against Christianity in San Francisco. The father was also a Shaman but I'm not sure if he's still practicing. 

Would you stand with us during this weekend to pray:

1) Against every spiritual force working against these precious people that want to be committed Christians.

2) For discernment and the heart of God as we meet together so that we pray very specifically against all that is hindering the work of the Lord.

3) That everything that each of these people have ever heard, felt from God, or seen as an example in any of our lives will be brought to mind so that the Lord can use it to make them aware of His truth, power and presence among them.

4) Wisdom to share the right words with New Hope and New Jerusalem that will convey clearly the heart of God for them.

Thank you so very much for all that you've done to make this work possible through your prayers, love, and support. I pray God's richest blessings will be upon you in all you do for the Kingdom in every way in every day!

Sharon Malcolm

Missionary with Go To Nations since 1998

A Glorious Easter Season!

     This past Saturday we got back from the Shishinahua River after completing our time in Nueva Esperanza (New Hope) to do an Easter outreach. We had with us a worship leader from one of the local churches in Yurimaguas (where I live) to minister in song and the Word of God. He brought with him his keyboard and amplifier, which was such a blessing because music always draws the people out. He preached at each of the morning and evening services and effectively brought the light of truth to the people. 

Segundo, a worship leader from Yurimaguas, ministering in worship
to the church in San Francisco. Take note of the people engaging in worship 
with dancing and lifted hands. Four years ago that didn't happen.

Segundo ministering in song and later in the Word to the people of New Hope

     During the day I had material for the adults and children to do an art project (none of them get to use glitter, sequence, markers, colored paper, etc.), which gave them a chance to express themselves artistically and they seemed quite satisfied with their masterpieces. We also provided lunch for the whole community (about 50 people) for two days that some women who came from San Francisco prepared for them.

Adults and children doing art project

Women serving lunch to the community

     The whole event was one of celebration and fellowship seasoned with the love of God. I was so impressed with the people of San Francisco (our first church plant) because so many of them came to help in different ways. That is exactly what should happen, men and women from the parent church helping to guide their spiritual children in the ways of the Lord by demonstrating what love looks like. This is "church" in action!

     Gloriously, by the end of our time together we had a baptismal service and 15 people were baptized! This is huge since we've been coming to this village for a few years and no one wanted to commit to the Lord at that level before. Now, they not only wanted to be baptized but they also want to start a church! I had spoken to them about this before and there was some interest but not enough to do anything about it until now.

Nilton teaching boys in New Hope

     Nilton, who is one of the leaders in the San Francisco church, and his wife Paula have been talking to some of the people of New Hope about the Lord because Paula has extended family there and as a result many responded favorably to them to the point where they were ready to make a firmer commitment to the Lord. During their visits to New Hope Nilton brought up again the idea of starting a church in their community and even coordinated with them to construct a building to house them to which they were in full agreement.

     We will be continuing with them by immediately starting discipleship classes and eventually leadership classes to raise up leaders to guide the church in the ways of God while being supervised by San Francisco.

       I want to thank you all so very much for praying with us for this outreach. As a result of our combined efforts people have brought into the Kingdom and are being established in their faith. God bless you in every way for your part in this amazing work! I really mean that, blessings to you and thank you again!

With Much Appreciation,

Sharon Malcolm

Missionary with 

Go To Nations since 1998

Christmas Outreach to the Villages

      I want to thank you so much for standing in prayer with me for this Christmas outreach on the Shishinahua River. We ministered in three villages making hot chocolate and serving panetoni (Spanish Christmas fruitcake), which is very traditional for a Spanish Christmas. Then we did a Christmas art project for children and adults and ended the evening with the movie, The Nativity Story. I was so thrilled to see that most of the adults participated in the adult art project in each of the communities and seemed very happy to do so.

Adult Christmas art project in Tapishica

     

Children's Christmas art project in Tapishica

     The villages that we ministered in were New Hope, Tapishica, and San Francisco (our first church plant). I had hoped to minister in Santa Rosa and Yarina, where both villages that were once very open to us are now less open, as is Santa Rosa or not open at all as is Yarina. Nilton, who is taking the lead in coordinating contacts with the villages, did not recommend going to these communities since they would not receive us well. Instead he urged us to concentrate on New Hope and Tapishica since these two villages are open to us and Tapishica would be a new work since we had not ministered there before.

Manuela mixing the cacao for the hot chocolate in Tapishica

Manuela (left) and Doli (right) making the hot chocolate in Tapishca

     There are only six families in Tapishica, which is an extension of the larger community of San Pablo, and were very happy to participate in all that we were doing with them. After the hot chocolate, panetonis, and Christmas projects I took the opportunity to explain the movie they were about to see of the birth of Jesus since most did not know it or know it well. As I was explaining it I also highlighted why Jesus was born and what that meant for all of us. Afterwards I offered to lead them in a prayer to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior if they were ready and understood that all of us are sinners and need His salvation. Without hesitation they all immediately agreed and wanted to pray! That is nothing short of the results of our combined intercession for this outreach and I can't tell you how grateful I am to those of you who stood with me in prayer. That is why we do what we do. It's all about bringing people to the Kingdom of God and having them experience a life-changing relationship with the King of kings and Lord of lords.

     We are planning to start discipleship classes with these new believers on my next trip, January 11. This is very encouraging and between Nilton, the two young men from the parent Assembly of God church that San Francisco is a part of, and me we will strengthened and train these brothers and sisters as well as in New Hope while continuing to build up the believers in San Francisco and New Jerusalem.

Sharon helping with the adult art project in San Francisco
(Sharon's white mosquito net is in the background)

     Thank you so very much again for all that so many of you do to support this incredible work. God is moving and is bringing more workers in to shoulder the load and it is truly an answer to prayer. God bless each one of you in every way for this New Year and always for participating in what God is doing in this part of the world. Let's charge forward to seize what God has set before us in this New Year to glorify His name!

In Him Always,

Sharon Malcolm

Missionary with

Go To Nations since 1998

 

The Future Church Leaders of San Francisco

Maria and five village men studying to be church leaders of their communities

     These men and Maria, who travels with me, have been studying for the last three years to complete the Bible institute course requirements to be installed as pastor, assistant pastor, and deacons for their communities. They are nearly finished and the men will receive their credentials under the Assembly of God to operate in the roles they are studying for.  Maria will be under another denomination and so will operate under them. The AOG ordination process is quite lengthy but they can operate as a pastor or church leader until they complete the process.

     I am very proud to say that since they have officially become an Assembly of God church four years ago they have grown tremendously in their knowledge and application of the Bible in their lives, sharing the Gospel, and leading their small congregation in church services. Nilton (the man with his thumb up), who is studying to be the pastor, has been very active in reaching out to neighboring communities with the Gospel and many have responded.

     Just last week while we were together Nilton arranged for us to meet with his wife's family in a near-by village called New Hope in order to present the Gospel and it went miraculously well. His wife Paula's father had been practicing shamanism for quite some time (the ability to contact the spirit world through a trance state and divination for healing and other needs) and was strongly opposed to us as Christians coming to his house to talk about God. He even threatened to throw his grandson out if he did not cease to talk to him about the Lord. Now, he was not only agreeable to hear about the Lord but was willing to have his whole family sit and listen to the Gospel message as well. This may be due to his wife battling with the Covid virus and had to be hospitalized that he, apparently, could not heal. For whatever reason he had a change of heart that even Nilton was surprised at. After the message and prayer for healing as we said our good-byes he actually invited us back!

Nilton sharing the Gospel message

     While this is a huge breakthrough in this family we are still planning a 3-day outreach in November with the rest of the village to encourage those who have accepted he Lord but have not committed to live for Him and to those who have yet to enter into a relationship with Him. This village, like so many others, have people that accept Christ but do not commit to live for Him. It's the parable of the sower in action and so must be dealt with on a spiritual level.

Francisco Jr. preaching in a Sunday morning service

     Another great development is that the more timid members of the Bible institute, Fransciso Jr. (pictured above) and his brother Richar have been actively participating in leading and preaching in the church services for their village. They had not done this before due to the intimidation of public speaking but over the last several months they have really come out of their shell and are sharing confidently, especially Francisco Jr. This is very important because they must be able to minister boldly to those around them if they are to fulfill the call of God on their lives and, praise God they are doing it!

     God is truly on the move through this small but mighty body of believers and will continue to bring them into everything He has called them to. I want to thank each of you so very much for praying for our brothers and sisters in San Francisco, to reach their people with the Gospel. It is truly miraculous to see where they've come from and where they are now. Blessings to each one of you for all that you are doing to make this happen!

Together in the Harvest,

Sharon Malcolm

Missionary with

Go To Nations since 1998

Hallelujah, We’re back in the Saddle!!

I am so happy to report that over the course of four weeks between August and September, we were finally able to make two visits to the villages. We found most people in good health although the virus outbreak has hit every village on the river. Fortunately there are not many elderly, high-risk residents so I don't think there were many casualties. There were however, many people suffering from the symptoms of the virus and some had to be taken to the closest health post and even transported to Lima, the capitol, for extensive treatment. Thankfully Maria and I believe we've had the virus according to the symptoms listed on the internet, and so hopefully built up antibodies in our system to combat any further attack. We have traveled twice so far to an infected area and have not shown any symptoms ourselves, praise God.

Sharon teaching on the birth of Christ at a Christmas outreach

On these visits I was happy to hear that although the people in San Francisco, our first church plant, were not meeting regularly for church services they were meeting in their homes and doing some kind of Bible study with their families. By the time Maria and I made our second visit to the villages the church services had resumed and now all of the five men training to be church leaders were involved in conducting the service. This is a change from even before the pandemic shutdown because only two and sometime three of the men were participating. Nilton, the main leader, has grown richly in his understanding and usage of the Word of God and has a passion to reach a neighboring village named Esperanza, where his wife has some extended family members. His desire is to do an outreach for the community involving children, youth, and adult activities over a two-day period. This is hugely exciting because this is and has been the goal of the Bible institute training we have been doing. It is all about mobilizing the participants to do the work of the Kingdom and this is now bearing fruit.

        

Nilton standing with Germán, a non-Christian he is reaching with the Gospel (left).
Richar, Nilton's brother, teaching a portion of a Sunday evening message for the first time (right).

Another praise report is a young man named Edwardo from Esperanza, accepted Christ about 2 years ago and has since led his father and step-mother to the Lord. In trying to witness to his grandfather though he was almost kicked out of the house and was very discouraged and even questioned his own faith. After praying for him the Lord miraculously healed him and now his faith has been renewed and he has just recently led his younger brother to the Lord and now wants to disciple him. God is moving on these communities and it is our goal to equip these carriers of the Gospel to go as far as possible to bring people into the Kingdom. Please continue to pray with us to empower them in every way with every available resource to complete what the Lord has given them to do.

We will be going to San Francisco again on September 29 to October 3 to continue in the Bible institute teachings. Please keep us in prayer for these dates as the river water is quite low and travel can be difficult (it took us 12 hours to get in on the first trip). Pray especially for the evangelistic outreach to Esperanza that we will be coordinating on the trip when we are together to be held in October.

Many blessings to you and thank you so very much for all the ways you support this incredible work of the Lord.

Serving With You For The Kingdom,
Sharon Malcolm

 

Ministry in the Community 6July

The ministry in the village of July 6 on the Nucuray River is progressing very well. Between Maria and I and another ministry we visit the community twice a month bringing the Word of God in the form of teaching and preaching. It just so happened that one of the times that Maria and I were there a pastor and his friend were also visiting July 6 because they were invited by a friend and then felt led by the Holy Spirit to minister to them. I was very happy to meet them and to learn that they are connected with the parent church of the local church that I attend in Yurimaguas. This is hugely comforting to me because we are of the same doctrine and passion to reach the lost for Christ. While we were together, we coordinated to alternate our visits so that the village would receive two visits a month between us about two weeks apart. On the weeks that we are not there they would be responsible for having meetings themselves, which they have been doing. We have arranged it so that the pastor and his co-worker preach during their visit and Maria and I teach during our visit. In this way they are hearing the Word of God and learning how to apply it to their daily lives. It’s a perfect set up! 

     

Sharon doing children’s ministry in the village of July 6 with songs and Bible lesson 

In the meantime, we are continuing to visit the villages on the Shishinahua River twice a month as much as possible. We will be going to them again this Sunday, March 8 and returning Thursday, March 12 to do the next Bible institute course with the village of San Francisco and visit the neighboring villages to bring the Word of God.

Would you stand in agreement with us for this trip because we are again attempting to establish regular visits for the purpose of discipleship in three villages. While we’ve gone to all of them before several times to present the Gospel and some have accepted Christ it has been hard to get consistency in discipleship. There is quite a lot of spiritual resistance in one form or another and so intercessory prayer is strongly needed. The Lord has been so gracious as we have prayed for open doors to go to them as well as open hearts to receive His love and forgiveness. The break down is that the people don’t want to commit to discipleship, which is vital to walking out their faith.

We will be trying once more on this trip to present the Gospel again and offer disciple classes on a regular basis to help them grow in their faith.

Therefore, would you pray with us for the following points?

1. That they would be open to receive us and commit to what the Lord wants to do in and for them.
2. Wisdom from the Lord on how to reach them and how to pray to break the spiritual resistance.
3. That the Lord would demonstrate His love for them through prayer for healing, blessing and anything else they desire from the Lord.
4. Safety as we travel and anything else that the Lord puts on your heart.

I want to thank you so very much for standing with us and seeing what the Lord is doing in these communities on these two rivers. There is so much more to do and together we can accomplish all that the Lord has for these people. God bless you each of you in every way and thank you again.

Reaping The Harvest Together,
Sharon Malcolm

Peru update 28June

Blessings to Everyone as you read this,

I am writing to give you an update on the status of Yurimaguas, the town that I live in, and the ministry to reach the communities for Christ.  I am writing this on June 28 and on June 30 Yurimaguas is scheduled to be open.  The stay-at-home order has been lifted in degrees since my last newsletter in May to where we are now allowed to leave the house at will as long as we wear a mask.  Needless to say this is a huge relief as I’m sure each of you have felt as the restrictions were relaxed in your areas.  I have not heard yet what “being open” will mean as far as river travel or any other travel outside of Yurimaguas since the main city just 2 ½ hours from us is now a hot spot and many of our products in Yurimaguas come from this city. 

I have not heard either if public gatherings in Yurimaguas will be allowed but businesses will be able to function more than before.  We still have the police and military patrolling the area especially around the town square and what was the open-air market.  This has now been delegated to individual stalls that people can rent inside a building instead of having tables set up in the middle of the street as before that attacked huge amounts of people in very close contact with each other.

Peru has a population of 33 million people and since the start of the virus there have been over 279,000 cases and over 9,000 deaths, at least that were reported.  The economy has suffered greatly in that 40% of the country’s economy has dropped since the shut down order was in place.  I can see the affects of this strain even where I live in that many businesses have closed or have reduced their trade to its minimum.  The citizens are receiving support checks from the government much like our stimulus checks that were distributed to help with nation’s livelihood.

I have taken full advantage of the stay-at-home order in that I am taking some online courses to better prepare myself for the work, developing a church planting program through a discipleship method that I learned and am still learning where disciples make disciples (as per the Great Commission), and a radio program to broadcast Bible studies that will reach the rural communities.  All of this is very time consuming but I feel strongly that it must be done in order to reach the lost in the most efficient, most effective way.

The goal is to see the New Testament Church realized in the communities where I work and beyond using the premise of the Great Commission where Jesus said to “go and make disciples”, not converts, who will go and make disciples and those will then go and make disciples, etc.  Where this method has been done it has been very successful and so it is my heart to implement this in the communities of the Shishinahua River.  When we are able to travel safely again this will be first on our agenda.  In the meantime I am hoping to get the radio program up and running as soon as possible.  Between another missionary and I we already have half of the twelve Bible studies recorded and I am working to complete the rest in between the course studies and the preparation for the discipleship program.

I want to thank all of you so very much for joining with me in this effort to spread the Kingdom of God to those who have yet to hear and to those who have yet to commit.  Please continue to stand in faith with me for these new endeavors as the Holy Spirit prepares the hearts and minds of those whom He has appointed for the Kingdom at this time.  Many blessings on you in every way as you serve the Lord in all that you are doing.

Forever in Christ,
Sharon Malcolm

Peru update 25May

Greetings to Everyone,

I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on the status of the COVID-19 situation here in Peru. When I wrote last in April Peru had 10,303 cases with 193 deaths now there are over 120K confirmed cases and about 3,500 deaths.  It is difficult to assume that these numbers are completely accurate because of how many people are not reporting if they are symptomatic. This is due to the fact that there is not enough equipment in the hospitals to keep them alive and so they do not want to be admitted.

I was talking to a missionary who lives in the capitol city of the state that I live in, Loreto, and he said that there were about 800 deaths in his area and countless cases of the virus.  Some of those who died did so due to the lack of oxygen, which even took the lives of some of their doctors.

The government has just given us notice that the country will be shut down until June 30 maintaining the same restrictions of curfews.  This may be extended as the date gets closer depending on the rise or fall of the number of cases by then.

In Yurimaguas, the town that I live in, the local authorities have continued to enforce the restrictions of only being allowed out of the house 3 days a week with a 4 pm curfew.  Because of this travel is prohibited outside of the area and so I have not been able to travel to the villages yet.  Thankfully, I have heard from one of our village leaders of San Francisco, our first church plant, that everyone is well and healthy in their area as the virus has not reached them, praise God.  A short time later I was also able to talk to the village leader of the community named July 6 and was very glad to hear that some of them were meeting regularly to study the Word of God in spite of the shut down.  These communities do not have the "stay at home" restriction and so they can meet publicly, they just can't travel outside of their area.

Another missionary here in Yurimaguas and I are starting a radio program to reach the people with the Word of God while they are confined in their homes.  We already have three recordings and are looking to get a total of 12 to complete one-month's worth of programming.  I have found that this is an excellent way to reach a broad range of people in a very short amount of time.  As the Lord shows you please pray that it will be used in the most effective way to present the Gospel and bring people to a saving knowledge of Christ.  In the meantime I pray the Lord's richest blessing on each of you to meet every need you have. 

Stay safe, stay healthy and stay at peace in our Savior!

Walking Through This Together,
Sharon Malcolm

Peru newsletter 14April

Hello Everyone,

I trust you are holding up during this unprecedented time of uncertainty, containment and waiting.  It has been quite a stretch for all of us but clearly the Lord is using every day of it to make Himself known and to examine our hearts.  Many people are using this time to press into the Lord like never before and many are accepting Christ.  For example, in the church that my brother attends online in Colorado he said that salvations have tripled during the virus shut down.  In spite of the terrible consequences of this sickness God is still moving and people are being reached for the Kingdom.

Where I am the shut down has prevented any travel to the villages or even across the street!  In the town of Yurimaguas where I live women are only allowed out of their houses on certain days and men on the alternate days and no one is allowed out on Sunday.  Like the States all non-essential businesses are closed and people are starting to really feel the loss of income.  We have the military and the police patrolling the streets and businesses to make sure everyone is following protocol.  We have just recently learned that there are four cases in our town.  As of April 14 Peru has a total 10,303 cases of COVID-19, 193 deaths and 1,739 have recovered.  The authorities are enforcing a fine to anyone who would break the rules of isolation and so outside movement is very restricted.

While I have not been able to leave my house very much I have had the opportunity to talk to Maria, who ministers to the villages with me, on the phone and learned that she is able to visit some villages where she lives.  This is a huge blessing because she has gone to some extended family members of her niece and together they have led them to the Lord.  They also went to another family of a young girl who used to travel with us nd is now married and has a family and they also have accepted the Lord.  All of these new believers need repeat visits to be discipled and so Maria and those who went with her are going again to do follow up.  Fortunately, they are not restricted from travel as we are here in Yurimaguas and so can take full advantage of the extra time they have to minister.

 Just today I also spoke with one of our new leaders in the village of July 6, a new church plant, and he said that although there is no river travel where he is his people are still meeting together in the name of the Lord.  This is so very important for their growth and development and so very encouraging to hear.

 I want to thank all of you who are standing with us in this work in spite of all that is happening around the world.  God is and ever will be faithful to His people and supply all of our needs as we trust in Him.  Please join with me to continue to pray for the villages to come to the Lord and for those who have received Him to continue to walk faithfully in Him.  I pray the blessing of the Lord upon you in surprising ways during this time so that you may know Him more.

With Love and Appreciation,

Sharon Malcolm

Outreach in the Villages

 

Village of San Francisco holding Christmas outreach

 

We took full advantage of the holiday season in the communities this year by inviting neighboring villages to join with us in a Christmas celebration with two Assembly of God pastors who came from Yurimaguas with Maria and I to the Shishinahua River to minister. It went very well and several people joined us from the surrounding villages to hear the Word of God preached.

We had meetings in the morning, afternoon and evening to work with adults and children and all were very responsive. Visual aids were used to explain the events around the birth of Christ since many had never understood this before.

 

Sharon using nativity figures to explain the events leading up to the birth of Christ.

Christmas outreach to the village of July 6 on the Nucuray River

 

We went to the mouth of the Nucuray River to the village of July 6 to do a Christmas outreach with them as well. Since they were a little more versed in the Christmas story it was easy to present the Gospel in this way and both children and adults were very responsive to the Word of God.

 

I also brought some reading glasses to distribute to those that needed them and many were very blessed to receive this free gift to be able to read the Bible and/or do close up work.

 

Maria working with the people to try reading with their new glasses

 

On our most recent trip to the village of San Francisco where we are conducting our Bible institute for those who are preparing to be church leaders our course of study this time was how to do children’s ministry. Afterward we practiced it with the children and adults of San Francisco in the form of a Bible memory verse, visual aid and a drama on the Good Samaritan. Each of the five people taking the course participated in some part of the lesson (one man who is not shown below drew the visual aid for the lesson) and had a very good time preparing it and then teaching it to the people. That is exactly what we want to see, people learning how to do the work and then doing it for those that need it. This also went very well, especially the drama because they made it real but funny.

 

      

Left to Right:  Nilton, Maria, Richar and Jilton each taking a turn to explain the visual aid for the lesson.

 

As we embark on this New Year I want to encourage you to please continue to pray for us as we bring the message of the Gospel to those who have yet to hear and to those who are being discipled.

 

Although these events that I have shared were very positive and the people responded well to what we were bringing them this is not the case each time. On our last visit to the mouth of the Nucuray River in late December as we were ministering in the village of July 6 one of the authorities came up to me to inform me that I was forbidden to enter any of the villages that reside on the Nucuray River and if I or any other “Gringo” did there would be severe bodily harm. This news came through a message from a village authority that we had worked with several times over the past two years sent by word of mouth to the village authority of July 6 in order to tell me. Needless to say it was very disconcerting to hear this and shut the door for further evangelism to the communities on this river.

 

As it turned out there had been a news report of a horrific murder where body organs were surgically removed from someone killed in a community not far from their river and the crime was attributed to some “Gringos”. Unfortunately, this story is not the first time it had been circulated. Gringos stealing vital organs from Peruvians had been passed around for more than the 14 years since I’ve been in Peru and this incident just gave it more credibility. It’s anyone’s guess how much of the story is actually true but nonetheless the people absolutely believe it and so are protecting their own from any potential danger. I know this will eventually calm down and the way will be opened again but for now I am not entering the river at all and even informed the other missionaries who work in this area what was said to me in case a similar threat would be directed at them as well.

 

Other incidents that have hindered the work are rumors of moral failures among one of our leaders preparing to be the pastor of San Francisco. If any of the rumors are true it could have a devastating effect on the work on the Shishinahua River. These and other stories are nothing but an attack from the enemy to hinder the work of the Lord but God is so much bigger than the words and actions of men. His Kingdom will come and will be established as He makes the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdom of our God. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers and standing with us in this fight. May the Lord bless you in every way in this New Year.

 

Yours For The Kingdom,

Sharon Malcolm

 

A New Day For The Village of July 6

A New Day For the Village of July 6

Mouth of the Nucuray River at dawn

              In my last newsletter I shared that I was able to make contact with a village named July 6 (villages often use dates as the name of their village) after being stuck at the mouth of the Nucuray River.  This was because the only boat going to Yurimaguas, where I live, did not stop to pick up more passengers as it passed on the other side of the river and so I was stuck there until the next morning. 

            Since I had all day long I decided to explore the rest of the river port and walked all the way down to the end and found a whole community of 58 families with no church or practicing Christians.  After talking with the village leaders I was given permission to do a children’s Bible lesson in the afternoon and show a movie on the life of Christ in the evening.

Children coloring a Bible picture after the lesson

             Both events worked out really well and the result was that many prayed to ask Jesus into their lives, including the children!  In the evening when I was showing the movie my Bluetooth speaker did not connect well to my projector and so we had a movie with almost no sound.  Fortunately, this did not bother the people because all of them stayed to the end and then prayed to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior!  Afterwards a couple of people asked if they could have a church in their village to which I strongly affirmed and said I would work closely with them to bring this about.

             I am so happy to report that on this last trip we did just that.  I brought enough Bibles to give one to each of the 18 families that participated in our meetings.  Then we did a lesson on how to use the Bible namely, the table of contents to be able to find the books, the Old and New Testaments and what they mean and the Bible helps in the back of the Bible.  From there we did our first Bible study by looking at the first three verses of Genesis 1 to tell what happened, who was named in the verses and what they learned about God from these verses.  We then continued using the same method for the next three verses in Genesis 1 followed by John 1:1-3 and finally ended with Matthew1:18-20.  This went very well considering not many of them have ever had a Bible let alone studied it.  

Sharon teaching how to study the Bible

Some of the families of July 6 listening to how to use the Bible

            Before leaving we coordinated a day and a time when they would meet together to continue with the Bible study until our next trip, which will be in December since I am coming to the States in November.  I was very happy to see the response of everyone that came and was encouraged to see such interest in meeting together.  Now it's just a matter of them actually doing it while I'm away.  

            Please pray with me for our new brothers and sisters in July 6 so that they will meet together on a regular basis to grow in their faith and in their relationship with the Lord.  This area does not have any churches and so for new believers it is very difficult if they don't join with each other to study the Word and pray.

             Maria and I will be going to visit the villages on the Shishinahua River from Tuesday to Friday to do the next Bible institute course and to disciple the young believers in the villages there.  Would you pray for us so that our travel will be safe and our time with the people will be very effective?  

              I want to thank you so very much for blessing this work with your prayers, encouragement and support in so many ways.  May the Lord richly bless you for blessing us and may He keep and protect you in all your ways as you follow Him.

Serving Our King Together,

Sharon Malcolm

Missionary with

Go To Nations since 1998