Exciting 3-Day Training!

Participants of the 3-day training

     We had a very full and exciting 3-day training this time in that we had a double wedding and 8 baptisms included in the training sessions!  Since the inauguration of the new church in San Francisco there needed to be concentrated training on what the church is and how each member is to participate.  Along with these trainings two couples of the congregation wanted to solidify their union in the eyes of the Lord and in the eyes of the State by getting married.  In the Shawi culture couples do not have marriage ceremonies as we do and so when they become Christian they have a desire to be formally married in this way and so, of course we honored their request.

        

     This was very exciting because both couples have a strong desire to follow the Lord with all their heart.  The couple on the top left are Sabina (purple dress) and Jitler.  Jilter just rededicated his life to Christ and was strongly with the Lord years ago in the beginning when I was evangelizing the villages of Shishinahua but later fell away.  The second couple, top right, are Nilton and Paula (in the blue dress) and Nilton and his father accepted Christ about two years ago and have shown tremendous change in their lives.  Since then Paula and their children also accepted Christ and have all been water baptized.  Nilton wants to be the leader/pastor of the San Francisco church and so will start training as soon as possible to assume this role.  Please keep him in prayer because he is a bit intimidated by the responsibility.  He is already a village leader and so to take on another role can be challenging.

     Along with these mile-stone events we also had eight people that wanted to be water baptized, four of which were Sabina, Jilter and their two older children.  Along with them were the two children of Nilton and Paula, Nilton's brother and a young man from a neighboring community that Nilton invited.

Pastor Isiel from my local church baptizing Sabina and Jilter

Eight people who got baptized except Sharon (pink tee),
Nilton (far back), Maria (with guitar) and Pastor (yellow shirt)

      It was a tremendous time and a great deal was accomplished.  We closed our sessions together with a teaching on the Lord's Supper, taking communion for the first time as a "church" and then praying over each one for the Lord's blessings to be richly manifested in their lives.

     I want to thank all of you that are standing with us in prayer for this work and all that the Lord wants to do with each person that has come into the Kingdom.  I know He has great plans for San Francisco and for all the other villages that will be reached by them.  May the Lord richly bless you for your faithfulness in all you do for Him.

Forever Held Firm in Him,

Sharon Malcolm 

Faith Becomes Sight With

San Francisco's New Church!

     After years of praying and plowing the ground I had the privilege of seeing faith become sight as the final detail of the first church in the village of San Francisco was completed!  This was truly history in the making and the people of the community were very excited about it.  We also had the privilege of having two of the Assembly of God authorities from our area with us to officially dedicate the church building and congregation to the service of the Lord as an Assembly of God church.

Left to right:  Pastor Roger, Pastor Edwardo (Assembly authorities in our area), American missionary
who brought construction team, and Pastor Rodrigo, Assembly Superintendent of his area.

     For our first church service Nilton, one of the village authorities and now church leader, invited people from Santa Rosa to attend the church dedication, which we were very pleased to see preset with us.  This is exactly what we are praying for.  That people from San Francisco will invite people from their neighboring communities to join with them in hearing the Word of God and seeing their lives transformed.  Nilton is a man who has this same vision.  Would you stand in prayer with me for this new Body of Believers that they would become strong in their faith and commitment to Christ and be senders and goers for the Gospel?

     In addition would you please keep me in prayer for protection and a successful trip as I travel to another part of the country to meet with a pastor who is working with the Ashenika Indians?  I have met with him on two prior occasions and am very interested in working with him to reach the lost among this Indian group.  As we combine our resources I believe we can accomplish a great deal in establishing the Kingdom of God in this area.

     God bless each of you for standing with me in prayer and support for this tremendous work of God and seeing the fruit of our labor together.  May you be blessed in every way!

Yours in Harvest of Souls,

Sharon Malcolm

Sun setting over the village of San Francisco

     Our last trip to San Francisco in April was to bring the Assembly of God pastors who will be overseeing their new church to meet the rest of the village and minister in the Word of God.  It was a very special and blessed time because the residents and the pastors got to know each other better and bond more deeply.  We will be traveling again to San Francisco this Saturday, June 10, with an Assembly of God team from the States to build the first church in their village.  While the men on the team are doing the construction the rest of the team, Maria and I will be traveling to the other villages of Santa Clara, Santa Rosa and Yarina to minister in children's and adult Bible studies.  By the end of the trip we will have had baptisms, a wedding, a church dedication and a commissioning of the village leader named Nilton, who has chosen to be the church leader and pastor of his community.  He will be going through a Bible institute which, upon completion, the Assembly of God will ordain him as the pastor of San Francisco.  In the meantime he will be the acting authority in the church leading Bible studies and Bible storying for the congregation.  Would you join with us in praying for this trip from Saturday, June 10 to Thursday, June 15?  We will traveling with a total of 26 people including the boat drivers in three boats full of equipment and people and so safety as we travel is a must.  Also that the Holy Spirit will touch hearts and souls for the Kingdom as we minister.

     ______________________________________________________________________________________

Bio-Sand Water Filters in San Marco

     I had the privilege of having a team from a supporting church in Nazareth, Pennsylvania join me at the end of May to make 12 bio-sand water filters in the village of San Marco.  This is a village made up of Maria's extended family and it was such a joy to meet and work with them in completing this project.  We did have a few challenges though.  Fortunately it rained quite a bit so the water in the river was high enough to travel to the village without having to push the boat over a sandy bottom.  Unfortunately though, because it was so high it completely covered the much needed sandy beaches we needed to make our water filters.  The only option was to dive into the water with a bucket and scoop out the sand from the bottom of the river in order to have enough to properly wash and use to install the filters.  The team, along with the villagers bravely did this until there was enough sand to complete 12 of the 16 filters we set out to do.  Four of the families choose to wait until the water receded before collecting their sand and they will wash and install at a later date.

         

     The team also ministered to the community in beautiful hymns song acappella, skits based on Bible stories, testimonies and preaching the Word of God.  They also had the opportunity to minister in my home church in Yurimaguas when we got back in the same way.  I was so very blessed to have this team and be ministered by them and minister along side of them.

During our stay in San Marcos we witnessed one of the many rainbows in the jungle.

A very rich blessings on all of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Disaster Relief Efforts in The Coastal States of Peru

Government-issued tents for displaced flood victims

        I had the opportunity to work with a pastor in one of the affected areas in Northern Peru and saw first-hand how extensive the devastation caused by the flooding was.  Whole towns looked like war zones and people everywhere were desperately trying to get their lives back in order. 

     Fortunately by the time I got there the rains had stopped and the water was finally starting to recede but not without leaving huge deposits of mud and debris in every part of the affected areas.  Everyone was trying to salvage whatever they could from the wreckage of their houses but the losses for most families were enormous.  Many, many people lost their homes and farms and are still not able to return to their neighborhood because of standing water or because they were moved to tent communities far from their homes issued by the government to help with relief efforts.

Houses and businesses affected by flooding.  Notice the dark water line running across all the buildings.

Mud being cleaned out of a house but furniture, appliances, clothing and other household items were destroyed.     

    In contacting several disaster relief organizations I learned that many churches have responded greatly to the needs of the people even though they themselves suffered huge losses.  The pastor that I worked with, Pastor Walter, was diligent to reach out to as many communities as he could with bags of food, clothing and medical clinics.  He told me that in the beginning of the disaster he had about 200 people living in his church/school for refuge while the people in his church were taking shifts to cook 3 meals a day for all of them.  When these precious ladies were not cooking at the church they were in their houses trying to clean out the mud that engulfed their property.

Sharon with Pastor Walter presenting the food bags she helped put together
for the pastor of this community.

  

The Pastor of the town (red top in the doorway) handing out food bags to her community 

  

Women filling their buckets with water for their families since the city's water
supply system was damaged.

   

     The tragedy of this magnitude can be so overwhelming because of the quantity of needs that never seems to be met but praise God many churches, ministries and secular organizations across the country of Peru have been contributing to the relief efforts.  It will take a long time for people to recover but prayerfully this will be an opportunity for the Church as a whole to seize the moment and respond with the love of Christ to help as much as possible.  I want to thank all of you that have stood with me in prayer for this very desperate situation.  As time allows I would like to return to this area in the summer to help with reconstruction efforts in any way possible.

Two-Week Trip to the Shishinahua River

     Maria and I will be going to the Shishinahua River to bring our 5-day training to the villages of those who were not able to attend when we had it in Yurimaguas.  On this trip the leadership of the Assembly of God denomination in Yurimaguas will also be joining us to meet with the village of San Francisco to get to know them and be known by them to further the process of bringing them in as an established church under their leadership.  This is truly a momentous event and the community is very excited about this since they have never had a church in their village before.  In June a team from the States will be coming to construct a church building for them led by an American missionary in Yurimaguas who was also instrumental in getting the initial steps under way for them to become a church.  Would you keep us all in prayer as we travel?  

Our dates of travel are:

April 20 - 23 pastors and American missionary will travel with us to San Francisco

April 20 - May 1 Maria and I will be visiting the other communities to bring the 5-day training.

Please pray for:

safety as we travel

open hearts and minds to the Word of God

God bless each of you who pray for this work in every way.  Thank you so very much for all you do for the Kingdom.

In Him Always,

Sharon Malcolm

 

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