May News & Prayer Letter

Oral Bible Story Training for Condozi Indians

 

US missionary Steve Ford and Argentina missionary Maria Canilla with 

Oral Bible graduating class of Condozi Indians

 

Steve leading communion for the Condozis

 

Maria (left) with Condozi women

This past week I had the privilege of joining with this Assembly of God team to help train 125 Condozi Indians on how to learn the Bible through stories for those who cannot read or read well. This 6-day training started after two days of travel from Yurimaguas, where I live, to Ullpayacu community where the church that hosted us is located. The stories began with Creation and ended with Moses and The Golden Calf. Each class was designed to teach the Condozis Bible stories so that they can not only learn Word of God for themselves but also share it with those who do not know.

Steve Ford and his wife Terry are Assembly of God American missionaries who have been ministering in different parts of Northern Peru for 25 years. Maria Canilla, from Argentina, also an Assembly of God missionary, has been working with several Indian tribes in the area as well.

Steve has put together this incredible training to teach the Condozi Indians the Word of God through Bible stories and the results were absolutely phenomenal. For instance, when hearing about Noah’s ark and the rainbow one woman said that she never knew anything good about rainbows (they believe that if you looked at one you will break out in sores or some other type of skin disease). Now through learning what the Word says about them, she said, “I’m going to announce to everyone that the rainbow represents God’s love and promises.” On another story when the group heard about the 10 commandments this same woman said, “I can see that we are not following them.” Others said that they never knew them before and could see that the enemy was keeping them from knowing how to follow God.

On the last session, Moses and the Golden Calf the one I did, we had a very lively discussion about idols and different false beliefs. The result was that many of their long-held beliefs were challenged when held up to the Word of God.

Sharon sharing the Word of God through stories

This was very enlightening to me to see how this method of evangelism and discipleship could be used. Although we have done Bible storytelling in our 5-day trainings with our Shawi Indians we did not employ this method but we will surely do so in the future.

Prayer Request

In light of that I want to share with you that we will be traveling to the Shishinahua River this Saturday, May 21 to Wednesday, May 25. The purpose of our trip is to build our first church in one of the communities that we have been working in for the last 8 years named Yarina. One of the men has had it in his heart to do this for some time and so we have agreed to help him. Hallelujah! Our official breakthrough!

Maria’s brothers will be helping this man named Ignacio build the simple palm-leafed, wooden structure to house meetings that he will initiate. It should only take a few days to build and while the men are working Maria and I will go to the neighboring village of San Francisco to minister in the Word of God and coordinate a water filter project with them. During our time together we will be trying out this new method of Bible storytelling to teach the people the Word of God. Would you therefore, stand with us in prayer for this trip?

• Safety and ease of travel
• That the church will be completed by the time we leave
• That the people of San Francisco will be wide open to the Word through Bible storytelling
• Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit in knowing what to share and how.

Thank you so much for your intercession for this trip. Let us believe together for great things to happen in each heart resulting in a total community transformation. God bless you all.

Sharon Malcolm

Updated prayer letter

Dear Prayer Warriors,

I want to thank you so very much for keeping us in prayer for this last river trip. We were able to get in and out of the villages with no problems. Our meetings went well with the villagers and we were able to teach from some of the material that we had during our 5-day training in March. It was very encouraging to see how they responded and to realize that now they will be sharing the Gospel with their neighbors, family and friends.

What was also encouraging was that some would like to be further trained in order to minister to their people more effectively and so we will be starting a Bible institute with them from my mission very shortly. One teenager, Orenson, and his father from Santa Rosa, one of our villages, came to visit me while they were in Yurimaguas. Orenson said that he wanted to be a pastor and would like to be trained as well and he's only in 7^th grade! This is nothing other than the Holy Spirit working deeply in his heart and in the hearts of all the other people we are reaching for the Gospel.

One last blessing was that one of the men in the village of Yarina said in the past that he wanted to build a church so that when we came to his village we would have a place to have the meetings. Now however, he wants to build the church because there are extended family members in the villages on either side of him that he and his family have ministered to and now they want to go to church. Since there aren't any churches in their villages they would come to the one he builds in his village. This is amazing because it will be the first evangelical church on this river! Glory to God for His faithfulness.

Thank you so much again for standing with us in this tremendous work. Together we are truly making a difference for the Kingdom of God and it is my honor to be working with you in this.

Many and Rich Blessings to You,
Sharon Malcolm

April prayer letter

Dear Prayer Warriors,

We are making another trip to the Shishinahua River to encourage the believers and continue our training to equip everyone to evangelize and disciple their own people in the village. This will be a follow up visit to our 5-day training that we did in March to see how well the people that attended were able to use the material but also we want to teach those who could not attend. Our goal is to continue to work with the people in the villages so that they are confident enough to go out and reach the lost in their area themselves.

Would you stand with us for this trip while we travel Sunday, April 17 to Friday, April 22? Please pray with us for the following:

• Safety as we travel. The rivers are very high right now, which makes travel much easier but at the same time it makes the currents much stronger. So pray with us that the boat drivers will be able to navigate their way through the river debris of fallen trees and branches that are in the waters and that they be able to see what is there quickly enough to avoid it.
• That everyone in the villages will attend the meetings that we have in order that the Holy Spirit can minister to each person effectively.
• That there will be a passion and deep conviction in the hearts of every believer as they hear the training to realize the necessity and urgency of evangelizing their villages now. They need to understand that they, and not us, are the instruments that God wants to use to reach the lost in their area.
• Wisdom from the Holy Spirit as we re-teach the material from the 5-day training for those who could not attend the training in March so that it is very clear and applicable to every listener.

I want to thank all of you in advance for your prayer support for this trip. I can't tell you how many times the Lord has saved us from accidents and loss because of your combined prayers. Not to mention, of course, the powerful way the Holy Spirit has moved on the hearts of all who hear the Gospel. This doesn't come by accident or coincidence my brothers and sisters. It comes because we are praying together. So let us continue in this amazing work to complete the Great Commission together and take every village for the Kingdom of God!

Blessings To You in Every Way,
Sharon Malcolm

Ministry opportunity translating to Spanish

If you are fluent in Spanish and have some extra time for ministry I could really use your help.
My mission, Go To Nations, has an excellent Bible institute that has been used in various countries where our missionaries serve and the results have been amazing!

I would like to do the course here in Peru with the Shawi Indians that I am working with since several have asked about further training. However the curriculum has only partly been translated into Spanish and there is still quite a bit more that needs to be done. Therefore, I am asking for several people that are fluent in Spanish to proof-read the computer generated translation that I will do and make any corrections to grammar and punctuation that needs to be done.

I can email you the Spanish and the English version, so that you can see what it is supposed to say, and then make corrections as needed.

As the Lord moves on your heart about this for yourself or someone you know please email me at reaper4him@yahoo.com as soon as possible.

Thank you for your help with this need and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

~Sharon Malcolm

Amazing 5-Day Training

We had an incredible five days together during our training. A total of 47 people including children attended and received some excellent instruction on why we should witness, to whom and how to witness effectively. We shared the material from a book called “A Discipleship Re-Revolution” by Steve Smith and took each segment of the process slowly so that every person, whether they could read or not, was able to understand and use what was being taught. We also used some extra material to convey the Gospel message and then broke off into groups to practice what was learned so that as everyone went back to their villages they would be able to share confidently and boldly with those who don’t know Christ.

The whole point of the training was to equip every person, adult and child, on how to share their faith and lead someone to Christ. I am so happy to report that I believe they got it!  I could see in the people that they were grasping the concepts and realizing the vision of evangelism and discipleship according to Matthew 28:19 which says, “Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Amplified Bible).

Since this is a command for all of us and not just for pastors or church leaders every one of us must work towards fulfilling the Great Commission. The easiest and most effective way to do that is to be prepared and knowledgeable about what to share, how and to whom. When this is covered in prayer God begins to open doors and creates opportunities for those that are within our sphere of influence to hear and respond to the Gospel. We presented this to our attendees and told them to make a list of every person they know that does not know Jesus as Saviour and Lord. Then we prayed for the people on the lists at the beginning of each day. Afterwards, with those people on our minds and hearts we then began our daily lessons. For the people that live in the villages it is very unlikely that their unsaved loved ones will hear the Gospel by going to church because, at least for some of the villages, there are no churches. Therefore it is vital that the believers understand how to share with the unsaved about what the Lord has done in their lives and what He wants to do in the lives of their loved ones.

The more we practiced the more confident the people got so that even the most timid were sharing during the practice sessions. We even had three people strongly request to be water baptized as a public declaration that they are committed to live for Christ alone.

 

Orenson from Santa Rosa

   

Romer from Santa Clara

  

Shaquira from San Fransisco

This training was a huge success in my estimation and I am looking forward to hearing about many salvations as a result of it. We will continue to work with these villages that have attended by holding more trainings and visiting them when we can.

In the meantime we will be bringing this same training to other villages on another river quite a distance away next month in two different locations to train a village of Mestizos (Spanish speakers) as well as a village among the Kandozi tribe (a tribe we have not worked with before). Again the purpose is to equip those among their own people group in order to reach their villages for Christ. I will keep you posted on this and will send out a prayer request letter as we get the details more refined.

I want to thank all of you who stood with us in praying, encouraging, loving and financially supporting this work. The training was clearly a success because of what the Lord did through all of us as we each did our part. God bless you all in every way.

Working Together With You,
Sharon Malcolm

Prayer Request For 5-Day Training

I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to please stand with us in prayer for our next 5-day training. We will start this Saturday, March 5 and continue until Wednesday, March 9. We have several new people joining us this time which is perfect since we will be introducing some new material. The purpose of the training has been and will continue to be to train people to lead Bible studies and times of prayer so that they can minister to their people when they go back to their villages. We also train them in the foundations of Christianity so that they can grow in their walk with the Lord and know how to share their faith with those that don’t yet know the God of their salvation. This time however, we will be trying a new approach with more group participation which hopefully will move them faster in the learning process and in being advocates for the Gospel.

Please join with us for the following points during these next several days so that the Holy Spirit will do all that He has planned to do in the lives of these precious brothers and sisters of ours.

1. That everyone traveling from their villages will arrive safely and quickly.
2. Pray especially that all the people from the Shishinahua River that said they would come would actually come. These villages are most important because they do not have the advantage of having churches in their area like the other people that are attending do. Therefore it is very difficult for them to maintain their walk with the Lord since there are no pastors or church leaders to help guide them. The whole reason why the trainings started was to accommodate them specifically by giving them an intense but practical study that they could use when they go back to their villages.
3. Open minds and hearts of every attendee to understand clearly and quickly what is being taught by full participation in all of the exercises.
4. That everyone will leave changed in heart and mind, full and ready to apply what they’ve learned in their communities.

I want to thank you all so very much for praying for us during our river trip. Many lives were touched by the love of God and impacted enough to make a commitment to have Him be Lord of their lives. Thank you also for standing in faith with us for this 5-day training. Please believe for great and permanent things to happen to each person as they attend. God bless you mightily for all that you do for the Kingdom.

Serving Together With You,
Sharon Malcolm

March Newsletter

Shishinahua River where the villages of Santa Clara, Santa Rosa and Yarina meet

Our last trip to the Shishinahua River went very well. The purpose was to invite the villages to the 5-day training that we are having March 5th-9th and also to minister in the Word of God. In the first village of Santa Clara we had the privilege of leading 4 people to the Lord! Two of these people were the husbands of women we had led to the Lord earlier but the men never wanted to to do the same, until now. In the village of Santa Rosa 5 people prayed to make Jesus the Lord of their lives.

Although some of them had done this before this time something seemed to be different. So we explained the significance of water baptism and offered to baptize anyone who would like it. Only one person out of the group responded and it happened to be Sabina, the wife of the main village leader of the community. This is a big step for her because her husband usually does not come to our meetings and shows no interest in the things of the Lord although she has consistently shown interest. We gladly baptized her and invited her and the rest of the people at the meeting to the 5-day training. Please pray with me for our new sister in the Lord that she will be able to maintain her commitment to the Lord and be a strong witness to her husband and other family members in spite of resistance.

Baptizing Sabina from Santa Rosa

The last village of Yarina we were not able to visit because Florentina, who travels with us, stepped on a stingray while she and I were washing a large tarp in the river. The venom of these water creatures does not cause damage to any organs or other parts of the body but it does cause excruciating pain for several hours. In order to relieve Florentina’s agony we took her to a health post 1 ½ hours up river where she and Maria had to stay over night to receive treatment. When we got them the next day Florentina was much better, praise God!