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

Amazing Time in Brazil!

One of the speakers sharing the Word of God to a large Brazilian church

      I had the opportunity to join a team with a ministry called Global Awakening based on the East Coast that has been ministering in Brazil for several years.  We visited four Brazilian churches for the purpose of building up the local Body and praying for those in need of physical, emotional or spiritual healing.  The team was made up of four speakers, including the founder Randy Clark, and 112 people from the US, Australia, England, South Africa and Germany.  Our part was to pray for healing for whatever was needed after the speakers shared the Word and prayed a general prayer for the people.

       

Left to Right:  Team at church;  Team members praying for congregants;  Church and team in worship

    As a result we saw over 2,000 healings of various kinds among the four churches that we ministered in including 34 blind eyes opened, 36 deaf ears opened, 11 tumors disappeared, 11 lame people walking, and 47 people with some kind of metal in their bodies such as screws, plates or rods receive complete mobility in the area where they had them!  

     It was an incredible time and one that I felt strongly that I needed to experience in order to enhance the work that the Lord has called me to do among the indigenous tribes in Peru.  So many suffer from physical aliments with no relief and so their default is to go to the local witchdoctor for cure but unfortunately that is not all they get.

     Since my trip to Brazil Maria and I have gone to the Shishinahua River once again to continue with the Bible Institute courses and have prayed for four people who have had pain in their bodies for several years due to heavy lifting or stomach disorders.  After prayer I am happy to say that three of the four experience complete healing and one with an improvement.  This is extremely important to me because my prayer for so many years has been that the Gospel would go out with a demonstration of the Spirit's power as per 1 Corinthians 2:4.

     Another praise to the Lord is that one of the four people who needed prayer was a 19-year-old young man named Edward, who recently rededicated himself to the Lord, led his father and step-mother to the Lord and was now witnessing to his witchdoctor grandfather.  Because of his zeal he was being pushed away from his family until finally the grandfather gave him the ultimatum to leave his house or stop talking about the Lord.  Edward told Maria that he was vacillating back and forth as to whether to stay with the Lord or reject Him.  He knew what the Lord had done for him and could not reject him but the pressure from his family was quite strong and so he was unsure what to do.  Gloriously after we prayed for his upper back and he could feel the pain leaving he realized just how powerful God is and that there was no longer any question about what he should do.  His faith was solidified in this one healing experience!  That is the full Gospel in action!

     I am fully aware that salvation is not in any way contingent on physical healings however when there is a clear demonstration of Divine intervention such as this it clearly demonstrates the power and sovereignty of God in the life of the person needing healing.

     I am continually seeking the Lord on how to be a conduit of His love above and beyond all else in order to present the Gospel in a clear and accurate way.  I make no demands on people but am fervent in presenting what Christ did on the cross for them and how that can impact their lives.

     I want to thank each of you for all of your continued support in every way of this work.  The results have been amazing and nothing short of a miracle!  

     I will be going on the river again on Thursday until Tuesday or Wednesday to a different river called the Nucuray.  I wrote in a prior update that on my last trip to this area I was "stuck" at the mouth of the river because the boat that passes to go to Yurimaguas, where I live, did not stop and so I had to wait until the next day for another boat.  During that time the Lord put it on my heart to explore the port where I was and when I did I came upon a whole community who did not know the Lord.  I took the opportunity to share with them the Word of God and show a Christian film on the life of Christ.  As a result many of them came to ask Jesus to be the Lord of their lives!  This was truly a white field waiting to be harvested!  

     I will be going back to this community to do follow up and discipleship training (if they are willing).  Would you please join with me in praying for these prayer points:

1)  That the people will be open and committed to the discipleship lessons.

2)  That the Lord will move mightily upon them so that they will have a hunger for more of Him and will move toward Him through prayer and Bible study on their own when I am not there.

3)  That a leader can be raised up right away that will commit to holding Bible studies so that everyone can grow together.

4)   Safety as Maria and I travel to this river and minister to the other villages as well.

     The week after we get back from this trip we will be going back to the Shishnahua to do the next Bible institute course and visit the villages in this area as well.  That will be on Tuesday, October 29 to November 2.  Please keep us in prayer for this trip also so that the hearts of the people will be open to receive, prepared and solid in the things of God.

    May God richly bless you in all that you do and for all the ways you support this work.

Yours In Christ Forever,

Sharon Malcolm

Missionary with

Go To Nations since 1998 

2-Year Anniversary For The Church In San Francisco!

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

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

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

One of four new Christians being baptized into Christ

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

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

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

Four new believers having been water baptized into Christ Jesus

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

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

     

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sharon Malcolm

Missionary with

Go To Nations since 1998