Flooding in Peru

          According to Humanity Road, a disaster preparedness and response information organization, "Intense rains have caused severe flooding and landslides in 24 of Peru’s 25 regions and 12 regions have been declared in a state of emergency.  It is the worst flooding in two decades, and more storms are expected.  According to the National Emergency Operations Center, 99,475 Peruvians had lost everything since the beginning of the year, while 626,928 had suffered less serious damage to their homes.

             Highways, bridges, and railways have been damaged hindering the flow of aid and leaving some towns stranded.  Communications are also out in some areas.  Water treatment facilities and sewage pipes have been damaged impacting the water supply.  There is a shortage of drinking water in some areas.  Some hospitals have been damaged by flooding and/or are in need of supplies and water, and there is the possibility of increased disease outbreaks due to mosquitoes."

             According to a news article, "Across Peru more than 90 people have died since the start of the year as unusually heavy rainfall caused landslides and flash floods."

            All of the affected areas are along the coast line of Peru and are bracing for more rain this weekend.  Since I am quite a bit inland in Northern Peru our area is not affected.  I have been trying to contact different organizations for volunteer opportunities to help with clean up, food preparation and distribution or anything else I can do but so far have not made contact.  We have two missionary families from the Assemble of God that have come to Yurimaguas about 1 1/2 years ago and one of them is going this Sunday to work with a church in one of affected areas.  They will let me know how things are and what can be done to help so that I can possibly join them later.  Please pray for the quick restoration of the affected areas and that no more lives will be lost.

5-Day Training 

          

The young woman up front, Sharquira, is telling the Bible story then leading the discussion.

           I want to thank all of you who stood in prayer for our 5-day training.  It went very well and I am so excited to say that not only the men participated in leading a Bible story but also the women.  They all stepped way out of their comfort zone and took the challenge of getting in front of their peers to lead a Bible story and a discussion to draw out the meaning of the story in order to apply it to their daily lives.  The goal was to get the people accustomed to doing this as much as possible so that when they returned to their villages they could continue doing this with those who did attend the training.

Alcidia sharing a Bible story and then leading the discussion

       

    

Men sharing Bible stories and leading the discussions

         

A New Church Plant

          On a village visit just prior to the 5-day training we met with the residents of San Francisco, one of the villages we've included about 1 1/2 years ago, to discuss the option of them becoming an established body of believers with the Assembly of God.  San Francisco has been very responsive to the Gospel and several people have already accepted Christ, been baptized and now, as a community, want to become a church.

          The authorities of the Assembly of God church in Yurimaguas and I coordinated a time to meet with San Francisco and the rest of the people attending our 5-training to discuss what needed to be done in order for them to come under the covering of the AG church.  It was a very profitable meeting and once the paperwork is filled out by the community, reviewed by the AG authorities San Francisco will be a church!

         In a prior meeting, the authorities told me that they had been praying about reaching out to the villages of the Shishinahua through a contact they had and so my coming to them with this request was quite timely.  I had met and worked briefly with two of the three authorities in the past and was quite impressed with their commitment to the vision of reaching the unreached with the Gospel and raising up leaders from within these areas to carry on the work.  I am looking forward to working with the Assemble of God to expand the Kingdom in this area and feel very confident that the Lord will richly bless our efforts together.  

        I want to thank all of you who stand in the gap for this work in so many ways and pray that you will take part in rejoicing in this monumental move of the Holy Spirit.  This community has never had a church in their village before and so by taking this step they are declaring that this is now God's territory!  God bless all of you for all that you have done to help bring this about.

Rejoicing With You,

Sharon Malcolm

          

Victory in Jesus!!

     I want to thank so many of you who stood with us in prayer for this last river trip.  I am happy to report that everything went very well.  We got to the villages easily and were able to invite them to our upcoming 5-day training that will happen from March 11th to the 15th.  

Community meal that we were invited to.  Note the taper skull on the left side,
this is the meat that we were eating from.

     We also had the chance to talk to the villages about the stories that were circulating about us: 

1) that we, and specifically me, were not teaching from the Bible and therefore no one should listen to us, and 2) that I was inviting people to the last conference in February not to learn about Bible storying but rather to receive the mark of the Beast (which would make me or one of the other missionaries helping with the conference the second Beast according to Rev 13).  Fortunately, when we went to one of our villages we had about six people with us who attended the conference in February and so I was able to say to the people there that clearly they do not have the mark of the Beast and therefore the story was false.

     As we continued to the other villages to coordinate for the 5-day training and to talk to them about these stories they all assured us that they do not believe them and would gladly come to the training to learn about the Word of God.  These incidents are exactly why we are having these trainings and village visits.  It is to teach the people what the Bible says so that they can compare that to what they are being told.  Please pray with me that this pastor stop going to all of our villages and sowing discord among them.  I don't believe I've ever met this man and so I don't understand the basis of his stories but because he is a pastor and carries a lot of authority the people believe what he says...or at least they're telling me that they did but not anymore.  Prayerfully they will still continue with us as we try and minister to them.

     Lastly, I would ask if you would join with us in prayer for the 5-day training from March 11 to 15. 1)  That whole families would attend and there be no hindrances to prevent them from coming.

2)  That the attendees will be able to grasp and retain what they are learning and not only be able to use it when they return home but be transformed by it.

3)  Safety for our boat drivers as they travel back and forth to return the people to their villages.

God  bless each of you and thank you again for your faithfulness in keeping us in prayer.

Always For His Glory,

Sharon Malcolm 

    

6-Day Bible Storying Conference

Shawis and missionaries that participated in learning and teaching Bible storying

     After a six week trip to the States to visit supporting churches, donors and family I had the opportunity to involve the Shawi villages that Maria and I work with in a six day Orality Conference.  It was an exciting time to be a part of this conference to help teach the Shawis how to learn the Word of God in a story format of the events that took place in the Bible.  Since most oral cultures use the story-telling method to pass down their traditions and history to the next generation missionaries in the past adapted this same technique to "pass down" the content of the Bible.  It was so encouraging to see how our people were grasping the stories of Creation, The Fall of Satan/Man, Noah and the Rainbow and many other stories come alive for them for the first time.  Even the most timid were participating by repeating the story they just heard in small groups as well as in the general meeting.

     The purpose of the conference was to open doors for the oral based Shawi communities to not only know the Word of God for themselves but to be able to tell it to those who have not yet heard.  For the Shawi villages that we work with we will be having our own 5-day training in March and will repeat this information for the rest that could not attend this conference.

Sharon teaching one of the classes

  

Shawi participants sharing Shawi worship songs in the evening church service

 

Prayer Request

     We will be traveling on the river again this Saturday, February 18 until Wednesday, February 22 to coordinate with our villages to attend our next 5-day training.  Gloriously, a fourth village called San Francisco, has been a vital part of our outreach and training this past year and has even asked us to help them build their own church building.  We will, of course, help them do this within the next few months.

     I would ask your prayers as we travel to minister and coordinate with our villages of Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, Yarina and now San Francisco for our 5-day training.  

     I also have a very special prayer request concerning a family in the village of Yarina.  This family has been very close to us over the last 7 or 8 years but recently a pastor has come to their village at their request to live with them.  He's only been there about 3 months but has succeeded in completely turning this family and some others of the village against us to the point where they do not want us to visit them anymore.  One of the reasons for the trip is to try and talk to this family/families and let them know that this man has done this very same thing in another village that resulted in a church split that is still unreconciled to this day. 

    I would ask your prayers for wisdom, tolerance and love as we talk to this family/families about this man, and if need be, to the man himself.  He has apparently thought it necessary to relate his feelings about us to the other villages that we work with as well according to the families that came to the conference from San Francisco and Santa Rosa who are the ones who told about the situation.

     I know this is an attack from the enemy and it's not the first time that rumors such as these have gone around about us but this time the man that's doing it is living there and has done this before with devastating results.  Please pray with me that the enemy's plan of division will be destroyed and that every word from this man will fall to the ground void of power.  Lastly, that the Lord will remove this man from the river forever.  Thank you for standing with me in prayer for this and if the Lord shows you anything in particular to pray for please let me know.

Yours In the Fight For Righteousness,

Sharon Malcolm

The Ashénika Tribe

The Ashénika village called Santa Rosa

     According to the Joshua Project, which is a data-collecting ministry of all the unreached people groups in the world for the purpose of praying for salvation, the Ashénika tribe has a population of 58,000 people.  Only 2% are reached with the Gospel.  Through a series of contacts I was able to visit one of the Ashénika villages called Santa Rosa and minister the Word of God to them.  The response was very positive and the people showed a great hunger for the Lord by praying to accept Him as their Savior.

     I was able to make a second trip in December to bring Bibles and short Bible studies for the people to continue in their walk with the Lord.  The Church of God has started a work with this community in the past and has been training a man named Juaneco in the village to be able to lead the people in the things of God and has plans to build a church in the community.

Juaneco handing out Bibles to the new Christians in Santa Rosa

People of Santa Rosa with their new Bibles and Bible studies

      I will continue working in this village with Juaneco and the Church of God to help the community with their growth in Christ and visit other Ashénika villages as well.  Our purpose is to train up more people in the villages like Juaneco to reach their communities with the Gospel and disciple new believers.

     

    We also are continuing to train the Shawi Indian villages that we have been working with since 2007 to raise them up to be leaders in their villages to evangelize and disciple their own people as well.  This past November we had a 3-day training on how to study the Bible using 3 simple methods. We then used these methods to study the birth of Christ, His baptism and His resurrection.  After examining the Scriptures in this way the people were able to explain all of these on their own.  Our goal was to teach these methods so that they can continue using them with their people when they return to the their village.

Participants of the 3-day training on how to study the Bible

     I want to thank you all so very much for standing with me in this work through your prayer, encouragement and financial support.  As we combine our resources to reach and train the communities we are seeing more and more fruit for the Kingdom of God.  I pray rich and abundant blessings to each of you for this Christmas and New Year.

Sharon

9 Water Filters Completed in October 8^th

for the Cocamarillo Indians

Cocama-Comacamilla Indians of the village of October 8th

                       The trip to the village of October 8^th was a glorious success in that we finished 9 of the 11 bio-sand water filters we set out to do.  The remaining two will be done by one of the village leaders because the families were not able to wash their sand while we were there.

People washing sand for water filters

Carrying washed sand to their house

          The process of doing a project like this allows us to form lasting relationships with the people in the village and have the opportunity to witness and pray with each family as we install their water filters.  This was the case in this community and the result was that two more families prayed to accept the Lord!

Testing the flow rate of the filter and then praying with this family to accept Christ.

           On my first visit several people of the 16 families that live in this village asked Jesus to come into their hearts and I left them with Bibles and short Bible studies to do together since there is no pastor or church and some were actually doing it. 

            The next visit brought in a few more to the Kingdom and this visit brought still more.  The seeds that are planted with each visit need to be watered and cared for in order for them to take root and grow.  This is what I am praying for with the village leader who is the only strong Christian in this community who’s name is Melchizedek.  This man had a very dramatic conversion and so after only living in the village for two years he not only has a heart for the people but was actually elected by them to be one of their village leaders.  He has proven to be a wonderful example of integrity and commitment to the Lord, his family and his community and so it is my prayer that the Lord will continue to use him to reach these precious people with the Truth and lead them in the things of God.  Please keep Melchizedek in prayer with me so that he can be the spiritual leader as well as the physical leader for this village.

            We will be traveling again next Monday, November 14 to the 18^th to the Shishinahua River to meet with and invite the villages that we have been working with to the 5-day training that will start on the 19^th.  Would you keep us in prayer so that as we travel we will be safe under the  mighty hand of the Lord?  Also, so that everyone will receive all that the Lord wants to give them through this training and that it will be presented very clearly to the people so that they can understand and use what they are learning.

            I want to thank each of you who are standing in the gap with me for this work through your prayers, encouragement and financial giving.  I pray the Lord's blessing on you in every way as together we share in the reward of the Savior's suffering through seeing souls come into the Kingdom.

Your Co-laborer in the Harvest,

Sharon Malcolm

Reaching Out to Other Tribes

            After much prayer and soul searching for these last several months the Lord has opened doors for me to reach out to other Indian tribes here in Peru.  While the need to continue with the Shawi communities we have been working with is desperate the same is true for those tribes who have never heard the Gospel message yet.  Therefore, I am asserting my efforts to reach the less-reached villages as well.

            Since May I have been able to visit and work with three different Indian groups in bringing the Gospel message to them or help train them for evangelism.  In May I joined with another American missionary to help him and his team do a 5-day oral training for the Condozi Indians, in August I went to minister the Word of God to the Cocamillrio Indians (not sure of the spelling), five hours north of where I live.  Last week I met an Ashéninka village and in the New Year I will try and make contact with the Maijuna Indians.  I also had the chance to meet another Shawi village, which I visited on several occasions with Peruvian teams to minister the Word of God.

Ashéninka Village of Santa Rosa, a two-day travel from my
house to this village by plane and car.

Health post of the village where the nurse lives and where I stayed
while in the Ashéninka village of Santa Rosa.

            The most effective way to reach these tribes is through tribal members who have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.  I have seen how much of a quick and forceful impact they can have on their own people when they stand for Christ.  Therefore, my goal is to locate these people, help develop them with any resources I have and help mobilize them to reach their neighboring villages.  There are pastors and missionaries that are working toward this end and so I am trying to connect with them to help in the process.

            This December I will be traveling back to the Ashéninka village that I just visited for the first time last week to help the only Christian man in this community put a roof on a church he wants to build for them (I will do this financially not physically).  I was encouraged to hear that both he and the village leader said that the community wants to hear about the Word of God and wants to have a church to be able to meet in.  With that in mind I took the opportunity to ask the school director if I could share at the grade school about the life of Christ.  I was granted permission and after the talk I ask how many would like to pray and ask Jesus to come into their lives and all of the children prayed with me.  I realize that the Lord will have to solidify this commitment with clarity and understanding but I know that He has planted some very fruitful seeds in their hearts through this encounter.

            Later that night we invited the community to see a movie called “The God Story” which goes from Creation to the White Throne judgment.  While not everyone in the community came out there were about 35 who did and most of them stayed for the whole movie.  When it was finished I shared what Jesus had done for them and how much He loved them then asked how many wanted to receive Him as their Lord and Savior.  Gloriously everyone who was there did, which was about 20 people.  It was clear to me that the Lord was truly moving on their hearts and so I said that I would come back in December to bring some Bibles for each family and also fund the roof for the church that Janeco, the only Christian there, wants to build.

            

      I tell you all this so that you can see that together we are really breaking ground in other tribes and in so doing helping to close the gap of the unreached or less reached people groups in Peru.  According to the Joshua Project, a data collecting organization on unreached people groups in the world, the Ashéninkas have a population of 58,000 and only 2% are reached with the Gospel.  The other tribe I that mentioned, the Maijuna Indians, have not been reached at all yet.  As we join together in prayer, physical resources and human resources we can effectively reach those who still have not heard the Gospel message.  With that in mind would you stand with me in prayer for the following trips so that the power of the Gospel will be shown and people will be brought into the Kingdom?

Nov 2-6:  Cocamillrio Indians to make 11 water filters for some of the families in their community and to present the Gospel.  Their village is called “October 8” (probably named after the date they were officially a legal entity).  Please pray that their hard hearts will be soften by the love of Christ and they will be moved to the point of surrender and acceptance of His incredible love and forgiveness.

Nov 10-14:  Shawi Indians on the Shishinahua River to coordinate our next 5-day training and do some discipleship classes with the three villages that we have been working with, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa and Yarina.

Nov 18-22:  5-day training on how to disciple new believers.  This would be a follow-up session on the last 5-day training we did on how to evangelize.

Dec 1-4:  Ashéninka Indians to bring Bibles, fund a roof for the church, minister the Word of God and visit a new Ashéninka village with a Shapibo Indian pastor.

Dec 6-Jan 22:  Travel to the States visit supporting churches in Florida, Colorado, Virginia and Pennsylvania as well as visit family for the holidays.

I want to thank all of you who stand with me in prayer for this very important task of reaching the lost for the Kingdom.  May the Lord bless you in every way.

Your Friend Always,

Sharon Malcolm

Dear Prayer Warriors,

During the lull of the dry season when the river is too low to visit our Shawi Indian villages I have been visiting two other communities in the meantime to establish relationships.  One community is called Ocho de Octubre (October 8th) and are Cocamarilla Indians (not sure of the spelling) and the other is called Charapilla and they are Shawi Indians.  Both have a need to hear the Gospel and both have already made an initial response to the beckoning of the Lord to come into His Kingdom.

I will be traveling to both of these villages this week to continue the work and this time Pastor Rufino and Maria will be joining me to visit Ocho de Octubre.  Our plan on this trip is to minister in a local church that is about a 15-minute walk from the village as well as minister in the village through discipleship lessons and prayer.

Sharon walking from Charapilla with team

The team ministered in the Word of God and
personal prayer for this small community of
16 families resulting in 7 salvations.  

Our team on this trip L to R:  Rufino, his sister, niece and wife and Maria
(Shawi missionary who has been working with me for 6 years) walking to Charapilla

My trip to Charapilla this time will be to bring in a man from another ministry to evaluate the land in the village in order to determine how he can provide clean drinking water for the community.

I am praying for both villages, October 8th and Charapilla, to be firmly established in the Kingdom of God through His saving grace and that a viable church can be planted in each community since there is not one present at this time to nurture and care for the new believers.  Would you stand in prayer with me for these precious souls?  Several in both of these small communities have prayed to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior but without proper discipleship and leadership continued growth in their faith would be very challenging.  The dates and prayer points are listed below to help guide you in your intercession.

Charapilla:  Wednesday, October 5; 3 of us will be traveling:  Jorge, the man who will dig a well; Josué and I.  We will go and come back the same day.

October 8th:  Saturday, October 8-12;  Rufino, Maria and I will be traveling to minister in a church and in the village for 4 days.

1)  Safety as we travel to both villages.

2)  Wide open hearts in each person as they hear the Word of God so that they can be truly impacted by the Gospel.

3)  Divine wisdom from the Lord as we minister to know how to present the lessons clearly and simply.

4)  Clear weather as we travel, especially as I travel to Charapilla since it requires an hour and 40 minute walk through the jungle.

Thank you so much for joining with us in this wonderful opportunity to reach the lost for the Kingdom.

Your Co-laborer for the Harvest,

Sharon Malcolm