The Final Chronicles of our trip to the North

Day Eleven, Friday, December 9, 2005

Friday morning, we took a break from our morning Bible study, and did some of the housekeeping chores, such as washing clothes and helping to clean up the house. It has to be a real chore to let five men come into your house and stay. We are grateful to Jaime and Eliana for letting us stay in their house.
Over the course of the next couple of days, Friday and Saturday, I played about fifteen games of chess with Jaime. This was the first time that I dared do so. I did not win a single game. Could it be because Jaime was a national champion in Chess in Chile? One of the things that Jaime does is teach classes in chess to children. During the weekend, he has several children in for chess class. Probably any one of them could tear me up in chess. Henry thought that this was particularly funny, because in Ecuador, two of the girls in the church in Ibarra wanted to play me in chess. They were champions in their particular age category. I was able to beat them in several games. Henry thought that Jaime beating me up in chess was a perfect revenge.
Friday afternoon, we had our last meeting in the prison. Milton taught the class. We were able to lay the groundwork for future classes that Jaime will have with these men. Milton taught on the need for these men to look to their salvation. It led to a good question and answer session. We left the prison in good spirits, since we felt that we had helped Jaime and that we had also built up a good relationship with the prisoners. Another positive factor is that our presence in Iquique also helps out Jaime. It gives him credibility in the sense that it is good for the prison guards to see that Jaime has backing from Santiago. The credibility that Pedro, Milton and I have with the prison system is excellent, since the head chaplain of all prisons in Chile said that we are the only ones that actually preach the Bible in all Chile. It makes you wonder what everybody else does. The chaplain also gave us an open door to any prison in Chile. This is limited to security considerations, of course, but we visit any inmate that asks for a visit. These requests may increase with the TV program.
Friday evening I returned to the question of sin, because the church members still had questions about it. This was especially important because of the one family that was trying to impose their view of sin on everyone else. Now, before I go any further, I have to confess that there is an element of this that has me laughing on the inside, because this family was telling everyone that several different activities, such as watching soccer games at the stadium or on the television, was sinful. What made me laugh is that this condemned all of our ministers. Pedro and Milton are some of the most addicted soccer fans that I know. What is even more humorous about this is that both support two of the most unsuccessful teams in Chile. So in their case, watching soccer probably is sinful.
On a spiritual level, the position that watching soccer games is sinful is troubling because it demonstrates a lack of understanding of the nature of sin. So on Friday evening, I worked with several characteristics of sin. I emphasized the universality of sin, because I thought this family could use a bit more humility. The truth of the matter is that religious life is susceptible to misunderstandings, extremism, and disagreements for many different reasons. One reason is that some people are not very well centered. As an example, some believe that if a little bit of something is good, then a lot of the same is better. This is not always true. I believe that the Christian life is the healthiest life that one can live. After all, if God is our creator, he certainly knows better than anyone else what is the healthiest lifestyle. Yet many take this beautiful Christian life and make it something it was never intended to be. This is why I talked about wisdom previously. Knowing how to live the Christian life is important.
The reason that I talked about the universality of sin is that some people are willing to accuse and condemn others, while forgetting that they have been sinful themselves. The proper response for the Christian is to confess his sinfulness, repent, and ask for forgiveness, which I try to live out. After all, we all do things that we wish we had not done. Remember what the apostle Paul said in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate. (RSV)” That statement should help all of us to be a bit more humble in the face of our shortcomings.
In the end, my read on the tension in the group on this theme is that it is not resolved. Undoubtedly it will re surface. The end result is that the congregation is better prepared to face these difficulties in the future.

Day Twelve, Saturday, December 10, 2005

Saturday was a bit slower than the rest of the week had been. We did not go to the prison, because we had not received permission to go. All of the Chileans had to go to the police station and sign a form explaining that they would be unable to vote on Sunday. As I mentioned, I played chess with Jaime. I have to admit that it was probably a waste of time for him, because there is no way that I am going to offer him any competition. As you can see, I was humiliated. I also helped Jaime install Windows XP on his computer.
In the evening, we held our last series of the conferences. I continued speaking about the nature of sin. I offered some strategies for resisting sin. I reminded the Christians that Jesus is our model that we follow in living the Christian life. While the theme of sin is not the most positive theme, it is a necessary one, because we accommodate sin too much. The conferences ended on a positive note. We shared an once together with the church.

Day Thirteen, Sunday, December 11, 2005

As I waited for church to start, I noticed that the voting station was around the corner from Jaime´s house. In Chile, the police always shut down the street of the voting location. In addition, cars were beginning to occupy all of the parking spots in the street. Since we were planning on leaving after church services, I suggested to Milton that he needed to get his car out on the street or we would get blocked in.
The church service was pretty good. Milton did the class on I Thess. I preached on Ephesians 1 during the worship service. Henry led the congregation in the Lord’s Supper. We had a good meeting.
Afterward, we all ate a quick lunch together of empanadas and soft drinks. Then we spent an inordinate amount of time taking pictures of everybody. I think that digital cameras have created a nightmare. Now that it costs nothing to take photos, everybody has to get their picture taken. We took pictures of every single combination possible: Milton with Jaime and Eliana, Pedro with Jaime and Eliana, Milton with Sebastian, Pedro with Sebastian, and so on. We took group photos and everybody had to take pictures with his own camera (seven or eight cameras). I thought this whole process was endless, especially considering that I wanted to get on the road as soon as possible.
Well, we loaded up and got going fairly quickly. We always take the ocean highway between Iquique and Antofagasta, because it is more scenic than driving the desert route. We drove for hours with the desert on one side and the deep blue ocean on the other. Our original idea was to go to Antofagasta on Sunday, Vicuña on Monday and arrive in Santiago on Tuesday. When we arrived in Antofagasta, the first thing that we noticed is that the beaches were absolutely packed. On voting Sundays, the day is always a holiday. People generally try to vote as early as possible, so that they can enjoy the day. Elizabeth, the sister who cleans my house, had to serve on the voting booths in Santiago, which means she was obligated to be there for the entire day. The people in Antofagasta obviously used this day to go to the beach. We had reservations in a residencial but we cancelled because Milton wanted to continue driving. This was a strong indication that he was ready to get back to his wife. The only problem with continuing the drive was figuring out where we would stay. When you leave Antofagasta, you have to climb up to the Pan American highway and drive through the desert. There is no other road. Between Antofagasta and Chañaral, there is only one gas station. There is a handful of posadas where you can stop and eat. There is about four of them, and two are located at the place where the gas station is. We drove on through the desert. We made one stop at a giant sculpture of a hand in the middle of the desert. Who did it and why, I do not know. We took some pictures. The whole time I was there I had this mental image of an earthquake shaking the hand over and it falling down on top of us and squashing us like a flyswatter swatting a bunch of flies. That sounds like something out of the Far Side comic strip.
We stopped at the posada for supper about ten p.m. The TV was on and the election returns were coming out. This election is interesting for many reasons. One, it is interesting because the political power of the various parties is determined by their showing in the elections. Thus, the elections often demonstrate if there is a major shift in public opinion. Poll indications were that the Chilean public opinion is moving away from the left toward some more conservative stances. Second, the candidate for the leftist socialist coalition is a woman. No woman has ever been elected President of any Latin American country before. Will it happen here? Who knows? I predict that this woman will have a difficult time overcoming the traditional machismo of Latin America. The other factor that makes this more difficult is that she is not too personable. She really struggles to make herself likable, and she comes across sometimes as trying too hard. Third, as it turns out, the results of the election demonstrated that no one won a clear majority, so the elections move to a runoff on Jan. 15. The candidate on the left won less support than was thought likely. The Communists did not do as well as they thought they would do, although they won the vote in Antartica, which is a military vote. Could it be that some military personnel have decided that they have been there long enough? The runoff will be between the lady on the left and the owner of one of the TV stations in Santiago. They are neck and neck. Internationally speaking, this election is important for Latin America, because Latin America is splitting into two camps between those on the hard left such as Chavez, FARC, the president in Brazil, the recently elected president to be in Bolivia, and perhaps others and those who are centrists or slightly oriented towards the left, such as Fox and the current president of Chile, Lagos. The best thing that could happen for the region is if Chile elected a moderate President.
Continuing with the trip, we arrived in Chañaral about midnight. We asked around and found a moderate residencial where we spent the night. It actually worked out better because it was cheaper than the residencial in Antofagasta. Also, we were closer to home.

Day Twelve, Monday, December 12, 2005

We got on the road early Monday morning. We drove directly from Chañaral to Rolando’s house in Vicuña, where his wife served us a delicious lunch. After resting for a little bit, we climbed back into the car and started for Santiago.
As we got into Santiago, we were all ready to get into our homes. After we dropped Pedro and Henry off at their homes, Milton dropped me by my house. I arrived home at 1:30 a.m. It was great to be back home after a 3000 mile/5000 kilometer trip.

More News From The Trip

Day Four, Friday, Dec. 2, 2005

I have to confess that it is more difficult to find time on our trip to do this than I thought. Also, since I am away from my computer in my house, I do not have the program to put pictures on this page.
On day four in the morning, we shared in a Bible study with all the participants of the trip: Henry, Rolando, Pedro, Milton, and myself. David Cisternas and his wife also joined us. David is the preacher for the congregation in Arica. All five of us are staying in his house. In this Bible study, we finished reading Nehemiah and began talking about what we learned from it.
Afterwards, we ate lunch together. Then I prepared for the evening study with the church while everyone else went to the beach.
That evening, we met with the church in the building on Gonzalo Cerda street. I preached from Philippians 2:1-11. It was enjoyable to once again be with Augusto Fuentes and his wife Berta. When I was in Arica in April, Augusto was recovering from a heart attack. He seems in better health, although his age seems to be catching up with him. He is eight-one years old, and Berta is eighty. Both are such sweet people that it is always a pleasure to pass time with them.
Another person that is faithful at church is Emilia Raby. She has never stopped coming to church since the day several years ago when Augusto and I went to visit her. She has also been instrumental in bringing several members of her family to church.
Several members of David’s family also were present. His brother, Luis, felt the need to share his insight with me. He told me, Harry, you are getting old. Thanks for the reminder.
After the lesson, we shared a typical Chilean once together. An once is a sandwich and a cup of hot tea or coffee.

Day Five, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2005

We continued our study in the morning after breakfast. During this study, we discussed the central idea of Nehemiah which is that God gives success to his people when they seek to do the will of God. Also, we looked at how to study the Bible.
After lunch, we visited with some of David’s neighbors whom we invited to the Bible studies at the church.
That night, Pedro preached from 2 Chron. 15. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. He did a good job, as always. Afterwards, Milton and I accused Pedro of stealing our sermons. We were joking of course.

Day Six, Sunday, Dec. 4, 2005

We all met together for worship Sunday morning. Milton taught the Bible class. He spoke on 2 Thessalonians. Milton is an excellent Bible teacher. In the worship service, Henry preached. He spoke on Philippians 2:1-11 again, and he did an excellent job.
After church, Milton, Henry, and Pedro went to the prison to visit several inmates who are members of the church there. Rolando and I went to the hospital with David and Felipe, David’s son. We visited a member of the church who was there for an operation.
That evening, Milton and Henry went over to Tacna, Peru. They met with members of the church there. The rest of us returned to the church building in the evening for our last meeting with the church in Arica. I preached from Ephesians 4:17-24. The theme was the darkened understanding of pagans versus the new life in Christ. After the meeting, we shared once one last time and said our goodbyes to the Christians we would not see again for awhile.

Day Seven, Monday, Dec. 5, 2005

We started the day with breakfast and then a Bible study. We talked more about how to study the Bible. Then we went over to Augusto’s and Berta’s for lunch. For a couple of people in their eighties, they are a pretty lively couple. Augusto was talking about the need to have cataract surgery on his eyes, when Berta mentioned that her grandmother died from cataracts. Of course, then someone had to ask her how that was possible, and Berta replied, She was pushed. That is funny, even in English. (cataract >noun 1 a large waterfall. 2 a medical condition in which the lens of the eye becomes progressively opaque, resulting in blurred vision.)
In the evening, we went to Marta’s house (David’s sister) for once. Several members of David’s family were there. We had a good time together on our last night before leaving Arica.
I should point out that Luis, one of the men who was baptized in the prison in Arica has been faithful in his attendance since he has been released from prison. We also heard word from the brothers in the prison that Milton Flores, one of the prisoners recently released, had returned to Peru, where he has started a church in his hometown outside of Puno. Other prisoners have returned to Bolivia.

Day Eight, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2005

We planned on leaving at nine a.m. from Arica, but after Milton got through puttering around it was more like ten a.m. We were going to Iquique, and since we had to be there in the evening, and it was only four hours away, we took our time in getting there. Several times along the way, we got out and took pictures of the road. Several places along the way, the road clings to the side of the mountain. As I mentioned before, you feel like you could quite easily drive off into the great beyond. When we stopped, we looked into the abyss, and tried to guess how many times a car would bounce before it came to a fiery stop. You fall asleep on this road, and you are a goner. On the trip from Arica to Iquique, we did find one truck whose brakes had gone out. At several places along the way, the road has emergency lanes for trucks to use when their brakes go out. We saw one truck that had been carrying cars stuck on one of the lanes, with several cars scattered about. The truck driver was sitting on the side of the road waiting for the crane to arrive. Undoubtedly, he was thinking about his next job, which probably was not going to be driving trucks to Arica.
We arrived in Iquique about three p.m. We were planning on staying in Jaime and Eliana’s house. Since they are both teachers, we did not expect them to be home until later. When we arrived at their home, we were surprised to find Eliana at home. She had taken the week off to be with us.
We had a Bible study that evening. I had the opportunity to meet several new Christians that I had not met before, as well as renew some old friendships along the way. One of the prisoners, Luis, had been released from the prison and was meeting regularly with the church, as was another ex-prisoner that I had not met, Victor. Both of them demonstrate signs of low self-esteem. I understand that this is common among prisoners. However, if there is a place where they can feel the love, it is in the church. We also had the privilege of visiting with Carlos Segura, and his wife, who both were baptized in the prison in Arica. Both have been instrumental in starting the church in Coihaique.
An old friend that we had the chance to visit with is Marilyn. She was a student of Eliana’s that was converted several years ago. Since then, her boyfriend, Sebastian, was also converted. He is an industrial engineering student. I also met Maritza, a student of Eliana’s who is studying the Bible to become a Christian.
In the Bible study, I spoke on the theme of sin. One of the problems that has surfaced in this congregation is that one of the members has spoken out against things that he considers sinful. Unfortunately for him, he is wrong, and instead of keeping his opinions to himself he has insisted that the other Christians practice his opinions. This has provided for some conflict, so we arrived at an opportune time to deal with this conflict. To give an example, this person has insisted that football (soccer in the USA) is sinful and members of the church are sinful for watching it. While soccer is dreadfully boring, it is not a sin. I taught about some of the characteristics of sin, such as it is destructive, and it entices people while at the same time deceiving people. Hopefully, people will be able to understand more about what sin actually is.
After the Bible study, we shared an once together.

Day Nine, Wednesday, December 7, 2005

We studied the Bible in the morning. We are working on understanding more about how to study the Bible, using Nehemiah as an example.
Eliana fixed us lunch. After lunch, we went to the prison, where we held a class with five prisoners. I spoke on Ephesians 4:17-24 again. This is a sermon of mine that Pedro always asks me to bring out when we talk to new people.
In the evening, I had a Bible study with Maritza, where I talked with her about some scriptures and also about who God is.
We met again with the church. I addressed the theme of sin again, explaining how sin separates one from God. Afterwards, we shared an once together again.

Day Ten, Thursday, December 8, 2005

Thursday was about like Wednesday. We had a Bible study in the morning. Then we ate lunch. Afterwards, we went to the prison again. This time, we had seven men present. Henry gave the presentation. He spoke on the Bible as the authoritative Word of God. Since it is common in our present time that not many people read the Bible, many do not know what role the Bible should have in their life. I am going to say that the larger role the Bible has in a person’s life, the better off he will be. Henry did a good job.
Later on, I waited for Maritza to show up, but she did not.
That evening, we met again with the church. I chose to no longer speak on the theme of sin, preferring to speak on wisdom and the importance of being wise. I spoke on Proverbs 1:1-7, ending with the thought that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God. The turnout was larger, and we had the added blessing of Milton teaching the congregation how to sing various hymns. Remember that each of these congregations are fairly young, and still need to learn how to be a church. Afterwards, we shared once together.

Starting the trip to Arica

Notes from Day One

The road from Santiago to Arica is simple to navigate. All you have to do is get on the Pan American Highway and head north. No other road goes north for the entire length of Chile. It would probably be foolish to have another road go the length of Chile, since the country is only 120 miles wide at the widest.
Generally speaking, I hardly notice the countryside outside of Santiago, when we begin the trip, until we get to the ocean. One time, a visitor to Santiago made the comment that Santiago was in the desert. I never considered it that way until he said it. It helped me understand how North Americans see Chile. It is hard for me to consider Santiago as being in the desert, because I know what the north of Chile is like. That is desert.
The drive from Santiago to Ovalle, our first stop, is a drive of about five hours. In Ovalle, we are going to meet with Angel, a Bible Correspondence student. We are going to meet him for the first time. I have talked to him several times on the telephone. After we visit with him, we will continue on to Vicuña. There we will stay with Rolando Suazo. Tomorrow, Rolando will accompany us to the north.
UPDATE. We went to Angel’s house, but we were later than we expected. He was not there. We will have to call him later, and meet him on the return trip, or at another time.
In the trip, we decided to look at the book of Nehemiah. One of my favorite questions for our ministers is What is the central concept of the book (or passage)? This usually keeps them tied up for hours. We have been reading the book as we go along. Then I ask them to tell me all that they observe from the chapter that we read. The book of Nehemiah has a good message for us on our trip. God will give us success (2:20). It also describes several ways that people impede us as we work to achieve success.
When we arrived at Rolando’s house, he was waiting for us with a nice little supper. The church that eats together, stays together. After we visited for a bit, we all headed for the bed.

Day Two

Notes From Day Two

At Rolando’s house Wednesday morning, we all started to move about six a.m. By eight a.m., we were ready to move out. After we stopped for gas, we were on the road by 8:30 a.m.
On the road, we had to drive back to La Serena before we could continue on to Antofagasta. I decided that we would continue with our study of Nehemiah with the emphasis on how to study the Bible. One conversation that occurred in the course of our journey addressed the Great Commission. Somebody mentioned that the phrase “preach the gospel to the ends of the earth” was a direct reference to Chile. Chile of course is the end of the earth, which is true, especially if you consider Punta Arenas in the south of Chile. I used the opportunity to point out to the men that we were obeying the command to the gospel to the ends of the earth, as well as the command to preach the gospel to all creatures.
We ate lunch at a roadhouse that was on the road on the way into Copiapo. We always look for the restaurants where the truck drivers stop. Most of the restaurants on the road give you a good meal for an inexpensive price. The meal usually consists of a soup, which is usually a cazuela, which is either a beef stew or a chicken stew, and a main course, which is usually fried fish, rice and a salad. All of this for a reasonable price. Most of the time, it is better than eating in a fancy restaurant. Since the road follows the coast a lot of the time, the restaurants serve a lot of fish.
In Copiapo, we visited a person that we had studied with at various times during the last few years. One of the things that is true of Milton, Pedro and me is that we know people all over the place in the North, because we have been all over the North at various opportunities. We visited with this family and shared a few things from the Word of God with them. We then promised to visit in the future.
As we continued on our journey to Antofagasta, we drove for hours. By the time we arrived in Chañaral, we were in the desert. This was apparent when we went to the bathroom in the gas station there. They charged us almost a dollar each for the use of the facilities. I assume that this was for the cost of water in the desert.
Another thing that I find outrageous is that there are toll booths everywhere on the road. Each one costs from seven to ten dollars a piece. On a long trip, we can wind up paying as much for tolls as we pay for gasoline. It makes the trips expensive.
We continued with our reading of Nehemiah on the road. I have the men make all the observations that they can about the chapters we read. We still have a lot of work to do.
We arrived in Antofagasta at midnight. We had called ahead and made arrangements with the hotel to let us stay. As soon as we checked in, we found out that the bathroom in one of the rooms was messed up. We went downstairs to tell the clerk, and she had already left and went home. We had to go to the owner’s house and get him out of bed to come take care of us, if you can believe that. Fortunately, he was able to fix us up, because I was ready to go look for another place. After a long trip, and a bit of discomfort at not being able to go to sleep right away, we finally hit the sack.

Starting the trip to Arica

Day Three

If you are ever in Antofagasta, do not stay at the hotel that we stayed in. When we got ready to leave, we could not find a clerk anywhere. I finally left the keys in the room and we left. They had asked for payment in advance when we arrived, and I can see why. They had no intention of being around.
As we were leaving Antofagasta, Milton started complaining about not having any breakfast. Chileans usually drink a breakfast of coffee and bread. Milton explained that he had to have his café con leche (milk and coffee) or he begins to feel weak. So we drove over to the town of Mejillones, where we searched for a restaurant that would serve us breakfast. I should point out that in Spanish, you do not eat breakfast, you drink it. We finally found a restaurant that would serve us breakfast. The cooks were all nice ladies, and they decided to serve us. They were even nice enough to go and buy some milk, so Milton could have his milk. We wound up joking a lot with them. I promised them that we would come back some time and eat lunch with them, so we would really know how they cook.
As it turns out, Rolando had a daughter in the town (pop. 8200 people) who was the principal of the grade school. We went over to her school and visited with her for a little bit. She was a very nice person.
In Antofagasta, we had left the main road, and we were taking the coastal road to Iquique. This road follows the coast. It is much prettier, but it has a lot more curves and hills than the main road. I took some pictures along the way. At one point, I noticed that the road which was located on the side of a mountain was split. Most likely, a earthquake had caused some of the foundation to begin to fall away. As a result, the road was beginning to break up. This is not an entirely comfortable thought, considering that the road itself is several hundred feet above the ocean. When we return that way, I will let you know if the road is still there. If it is not, I will take a picture, before we start the long journey back around the mountains.
We stopped briefly in Iquique to say hello to the brothers before we continued on to Arica. One brother fixed us some sandwiches in his shop, which is evidently doing pretty well. I will tell you more about the church in Iquique when we return.
We drove on to Arica, passing several memorable places in the desert. One place was where I hit a rock some years ago and knocked a hole in my gas tank. This had the wonderful effect of making me wonder if we were going to be stranded in the desert. Fortunately, at the time, we were not, because I had enough gas to make it in to town. Another place was where my car broke down, and I had to wait a day there for Pedro to go into town and buy a part.
Another memorable aspect of the trip from Iquique to Arica is that there are four cuestas. Cuestas are where the road climbs up through the mountains and then descends again. For the life of me, I can not remember what they are called in English. One cuesta descends for seventeen kilometers, and another climbs for eleven kilometers. The whole time we are climbing and descending, the side of the road falls away for several thousand feet into an abyss, the bottom of which you can not see. For the entire time, the shoulder of the road is only a yard or so wide before it begins to fall away into the abyss. There is no protection placed along a good portion of the road, which means that there is no protection against driving off into eternity. Every now and then, some poor soul falls asleep at the wheel and drives a kilometer or two without the benefit of traction nor wings, only to be awakened in the next life. As you can imagine, I watched Milton who was driving like a hawk. I did not want him to fall asleep or anything. This part of the trip is always tense.
We made it into Arica safe and sound around eleven thirty p.m. We visited with David Cisternas and his wife until about two a.m. before finally making it to bed.

I am on the trip

If you are expecting to read about the trip, do not give up yet. I have been traveling for the last three days. I will sit down and write about some of our stories as soon as I get some time. We are currently in Iquique, and we are here for a break only. We will finish driving to Arica tonight.

On the first day, Tuesday, we left my house at noon. We drove to Ovalle, and then to Vicuña, arriving at 10:00 p.m. Wednesday, we left Vicuña at 8:30 a.m. and arrived in Antofagasta at midnight. This morning we left Antofagasta at 9:00 a.m. and we are in Iquique at 6:00 p.m. We intend to continue on to Arica, arriving around 10:30 p.m. or eleven.

I will share more about our trip tomorrow.

Eating shrimp in Ecuador 

Thanksgiving Day Lunch 

Thanksgiving Day Lunch 

Report for November, 2005

Greetings once again from Chile. I hope that all of you are doing well.
We began November with some welcome news. Steve Ridgell, with the Herald of Truth ministry, Rex Morgan, producer of the television program "Con La Biblia Abierta", Marlene Albarrán, my secretary, and I met with Christian Salamovich V., the executive director of the television station UCVTV- Universidad Católica Valparaiso TV 3:30 p.m. Friday, November 4, 2005. During our meeting we finalized the last details of our television program. In the coming year, we will offer a television program starting on March 1, 2006 through October 28, 2006 at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. I invite you all to pray for the success of this venture. As you all know, we have been preparing for this opportunity for some time now.
In November, I spent two weekends working with two churches in Ecuador, one in Ibarra and one in Guayaquil. I taught a conference in Ibarra to a full house. The congregation is more active now, showing some improvement, specifically in two areas. They are actively considering naming elders. They are also having more success inviting in new people. In addition, they have finished construction on a couple of additional rooms to the church building, which they did themselves. I also gave some presentations at the church in Guayaquil. I found out that this church was on the brink of giving up and going home, when I first arrived there. Now they have a young man from Ibarra, Juan Pablo Rosero, Henry Rosero’s brother, who is working full time there. I spent the entire time in Ibarra and Guayaquil talking about the gospel. I figured that we would spend time on the basics. The result of this is that the two congregations understand more clearly what we believe. The congregation in Ibarra also has new people. Juan Pablo has been studying with two new persons. In addition, two people showed up Sunday morning when I preached from off the street. I suspect that they heard me preach during the week. At any rate, I think there is marked improvement in the churches.
Henry Rosero accompanied me to Chile. Beto Hernandez from Venezuela and Henry gave a series of presentations in Santiago during the last week of November.
On Thanksgiving, I invited the participants from my class on John on Thursday morning to participate with me in a Thanksgiving meal. We gave thanks to God for many things, and then we sat down to turkey and dressing and all the trimmings. Beto and Henry enjoyed this unique American experience tremendously. It was a pleasure for me to share that with all of the Latin Americans present. On Thursday evening, I continued my class on evangelism.
Saturday morning, we held our national men’s meeting that we have twice a year. I left the house with plenty of time that morning, but had the bright idea that I would take one of the brand new highways in town to the church. It was a colossal mistake. I got stuck in a massive traffic jam. It was thirty minutes before I could leave the area, and then I had to drive around until I found another route to the church. I arrived late to find everyone waiting on me, since I was to be the first speaker. I gave a talk on Ephesians 1. The theme was the spiritual improvement of the church. It was a good theme for all of us. Sergio Plaza also spoke and then Beto Hernandez ended it. We also had lunch together. It was good.
Sunday evening and Monday, we had a ministers’ mini-retreat. Twenty men participated. We went down to Casablanca about twenty feet from the Pacific Ocean. We talked about what God expects in men, in relation to manliness. We also ate some delicious fried fish fresh from the ocean. Undoubtedly, we are going to be known as the church that eats together. That is biblical.
Today, I am leaving for a trip to the north. I will be gone two weeks. This trip is to visit various congregations. Pedro Sanchez, Milton Muñoz, Henry Rosero from Ecuador, and Rolando Suazo from Vicuña will accompany me. I am going to write about it on the website, Preaching the Gospel in Chile, www.harry1976.blogspot.com if you want to accompany me on the trip.
God bless you. Thank you for your support.

In Christ,

Harry R. Hamilton

Report for September and October, 2005

Greetings. Spring has arrived here in Santiago. I will confess that I have already made some ice cream (chocolate and peach), but I have not really had any good barbecues yet. Generally I need a good excuse, such as a visit from friends. The secret to being able to have barbecues and make ice cream is to always share it with somebody.
In the congregation at Villa Los Andes del Sur, Pilar and Beto took a turn at being missionaries. The school that Pilar works at sent several teachers to Cuba for some educational conference. Pilar tells me all these teachers are Communists, which explains why they went to Cuba. Pilar and Beto used this trip as an opportunity to visit with some of my Bible Correspondence Course students. They were able to clear up a couple of things with my students. One is that some of the lessons did not arrive, possibly due to censorship. Since some of the people had not heard from me, they thought we were not sending lessons. We were able to clear up the point about our faithfulness in sending them. What we will do in the future is that I will step back and let the Chileans maintain the contacts to avoid censorship difficulties. Pilar and Beto reports that the Cubans they visited with were thrilled at the visit. They all want to know more about the Bible. You can imagine the difficulties. Pilar and Beto were also touched by the poverty of the Cubans. Most can not afford anything. They lack basic necessities such as soap and shampoo and other such items. Pilar and Beto plan to collect some items to send them. The contact is great. It motivated the Chileans and the Cubans. As in all missionary work, you never know what will work out, but we have an opportunity to do some good.
One of the brothers at Población Santiago, Luis Lucero, reports the baptism of his aunt, an elderly woman who lives in the city of Cartagena. This lady was a Jehovah’s Witness for forty years. She is now the only member of the Church of Christ in her city.
Pedro Sanchez went to the USA. While there, he worked with the Spanish speaking congregation in Lexington, Kentucky. This congregation is fairly new with a young preacher. Pedro worked with him, and also gave Bible studies. The congregation was motivated. Pedro also studied with several families and baptized seventeen people.
The program for feeding the children has been going well. Our sister Olga has developed an outstanding ministry in this area. She has also been attending evangelism classes. I am impressed that so many of our people want to do evangelism here in Santiago. Recently, the young adults at Villa Los Andes del Sur began an evangelism class to prepare for the Television program next year.
The Men´s class on Mondays has been going well. Several of the guys are learning to study the Bible and preach. All of us are looking forward to next year.
I have been teaching a class in Independencia on Sunday morning. Currently the theme is “spiritual gifts.” This theme is always difficult, especially here in Chile with the Pentecostal influence. The Chileans find it interesting to see what the Bible actually says about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
May God bless you. Thank you for your support.

In Christ,

Harry R. Hamilton

Television Program

Steve Ridgell, with the Herald of Truth ministry, Rex Morgan, producer of the television program "Con La Biblia Abierta", Marlene Albarrán, my secretary, and I met with Christian Salamovich V., the executive director of the television station UCVTV- Universidad Católica Valparaiso TV 3:30 p.m. Friday. During our meeting we finalized the last details of our television program. In the coming year, we will offer a television program starting on March 1, 2006 through October 28, 2006 at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. I invite you all to pray for the success of this venture.

Got to have that stove. 

Too cute for words. 

Spam

I changed comments back to registered users because someone was sending me spam. No thanks, and stay off my blog, spammers.

Do you seriously think that I would use your service or recommend it to anyone else when you are uninvited?

Interaction among friends is welcome.

Report for July and August, 2005

Report for July and August, 2005

Greetings once again from Santiago, Chile. This weekend was one of those unhealthy weekends. You know the type: Thanksgiving weekend, Fourth of July, Christmas, New Year’s Day, all the holidays where you eat. Specifically, the celebration is the Chilean Independence day on September 18th. One of the traditional foods is the empanada, a meat pastry that has a beef, onion, olive, raisin, and boiled egg filling. It took me a while to get used to this, but now I can handle them pretty well. It seems that part of being a missionary is breaking bread together. My problem is that I give the bread a pretty good workout after I break it. This weekend, in spite of my protestations that I am on a diet, I am trying to lose weight, I am trying to cut back, which is true, I was still obligated to consume my fair share of empanadas. Yesterday, Saul, who is the minister at the congregation in Domeyko, invited me to eat some empanadas there. I enjoyed three of the biggest empanadas I have seen in my life, but I had to fight a cat to get to them. Just as we are sitting down at the table, a cat comes walking in and jumps up on the table. I had to knock the turkey off. Good thing it didn’t affect the flavor of the empanadas.
The class on evangelism is producing several up and coming evangelists. Saul has had several Bible studies, some of which have resulted in baptisms. He asked me to help him with a Pentecostal couple. The husband is considering being baptized, but his wife is not. Saul asked me to work with him and them. We will see how this goes. Another study that Saul has is with one of my Bible correspondence course students. I asked Saul to visit this older man in his home because I thought Saul could use the experience, and also because the congregation in Domeyko consists of mostly older members.
Another student in the evangelism class (Jocelyn) is studying with her sister. She shared with me some of the difficulties that she has in convincing her sister of many different things. One reason that some of our Christians have a difficult time is that they have not come to a good understanding of many topics, and so it is harder to convince people of their need to obey the gospel. This young woman struggles with this problem.
Several of the young people from the congregation in Población Santiago (who have also been attending my evangelism class) held a campaign in Chillan, where we have been working on starting a new congregation. Two people were baptized. They came back to Santiago real excited about their trip.
I have another fellow, Gabriel, who participates in my Monday class, my Tuesday class, and my Saturday class. He has decided that he wants to be an evangelist. In Spanish, when somebody says that, they are not talking about preaching or teaching, they are talking about evangelizing. Gabriel has been doing a good job. He has signed up three of his friends from work for our Bible correspondence course. As you may know, my practice with Bible studies is that I always take someone with me, and I have them do the lessons, if it is possible, from the very beginning. This is to avoid developing a dependency relationship where they do not do anything, but expect the missionary to do it all. The reason this is not a good idea is that it creates bottlenecks. The more people we have evangelizing, the more we will grow as a church. My job is to help our people do the teaching well. Gabriel and I have been studying with one friend of his, Eduardo and his girlfriend, Delia. They are coming along well.
Gabriel told me Saturday that he was on the bus with his girlfriend when he noticed a young lady who was reading the Bible. He was looking for the right opportunity to speak with her, but did not know when that would be. The bus he was on with his girlfriend, who is a member of the Independencia congregation, suddenly stopped. The bus driver started fighting with the bus driver from another bus. This happens sometimes from the competition between bus drivers. Gabriel used this time to talk to the girl. As it turns out, she lives close to the Villa Los Andes del Sur congregation. Gabriel told me that what I had said about memorizing certain passages of the Bible so you could always talk about the Bible really works. He told me that he started talking about II Timothy 3:16-7, explaining it like I wrote it in the study, “¿Porqué estudiamos la Biblia?”. I was amused with him because he was excited.
A good indication that someone is evangelistic is if their family is Christian. In the city of Los Andes, to the north of Santiago, Roberto Matarana and his wife Elizabeth are Christians. Roberto and Elizabeth have worked to bring their entire family to Christ. I recently found out that she is evangelizing eleven persons. Three of the eleven have already been baptized.
Victor tells me that there were five baptisms in Población Santiago.
The church in Villa Los Andes del Sur lost a member this month. Viviana married an American of Chilean descent and moved to California. Jaqueline has been working with the women of the congregation. Milton has been preaching some good sermons.
I have been teaching the Bible class in Independencia, as well as preaching in several places. I currently have classes every day of the week, except Friday.
Congregations continue to meet in several different towns throughout Chile. The tiny church in Vicuña meets regularly, which is not difficult since it has only two members. They are working on their next member though.
People tell me all kinds of wonderful stories. Maybe my age is catching up with me, but I can not remember half of the stories.
We are still planning on the television program next year. Many good things happen all the time that indicate to me that we will be ready for it when it comes. One is that we are going to have a good number of experienced evangelists because a lot of people are evangelizing now. This may be the fruit of having a class on evangelism. If you were to ask me if we were focused on evangelism throughout my time here in Chile, I would reply that we were very much focused on evangelism, but perhaps many of the Christians did not perceive it that way, since many more seem to be evangelizing now than before. The other possibility is that the class on evangelism helped them understand that it was more possible. Another indication that we are ready for the program on evangelism is that more congregations seem to be more healthy spiritually than they were ten years ago. I think this is a benefit of having different activities and good interaction among the congregations.
One of the things that is a concern for next year is the cost of the outreach for next year. I predict that we will have some additional costs next year. How much will depend on the number of contacts.
Finally, the ministry to feed the children continues. This has been a star in the crown of the congregation in Población Santiago, both in their concern for these children, and in their reaching out to them and teaching them the Word. Costs are running ahead of income by about a hundred dollars a month. The sisters are working wonders in taking care of this need.
Thank you for your support. May God bless you.

In Christ,

Harry R. Hamilton

I thought this was funny

I was out exercising and I saw a newspaper with a headline that I will translate from Spanish.
"The Antichrist will be born in 2009. All you losers, this is your chance."

This is a picture of my Monday class. 

Do not ask me how she got up there. 

Cute as a bug in a rug, wait, she is a bug in a rug, or at least a pup in a blanket. 

Here is the new puppy, Abby. 

New Puppy

I have a new puppy now. It is a female, a Boxer, and we have decided to go with the name Abby. That was a choice of convenience. We got on the Internet, looked up names, and Abby was the first one we came to that I liked. She is cute as the pictures will attest. This puppy has managed to get into absolutely everything. She has had me laughing a lot here in the last two days. I actually posted these fotos in the reverse order that I wanted. I should have thought about it more.

Independence Day

I had an excellent 4th of July Independence Day celebration as these pictures will show. I forgot to take a picture of our group eating together. Maybe I was too busy.

The 4th of July. I am sorry but I had no fireworks. 

Several of the ministers help me celebrate the 4th. 

There is never a shortage of people willing to help with the barbecue. The Chileans helped me celebrate the 4th and there is no better way than this. 

Marlene and elizabeth are helping prepare lunch on the 4th of July. 

Report for May and June 2005

Report for May and June, 2005
Greetings from Santiago.
Every time that we have had success starting a new congregation, it has been due to the desire of someone in the congregation taking the lead and taking responsibility for the work in his area. I can point to several individuals such as Augusto Fuentes in Arica, Jaime Correa in Iquique, Daniel and Susana in Puerto Montt, Roberto Maturana in San Esteban, and Juan Huerta in Los Andes. Rolando Suazo appears to be such a person in Vicuña. Last month Pedro Sanchez and I went to visit him for the express purpose of baptizing Hugo, a friend of Rolandós. We had a good visit. We were able to study the Bible with these men, and we had the opportunity to share some nice meals. I found out that Rolando likes to sing, and has been in the past a member of a chorus in Vicuña. With the baptism of Hugo, the congregation consists of two members. This is how we do it. We start with one and go from there.
On the way back from Vicuña, Pedro and I traveled through rain the entire time. This is not the most pleasant experience in Chile, because when you are next to the ocean, as we were for at least three or four hours, fog rolls in with the rain, it is hard to see, and sometimes the rain comes down in sheets. On top of this, when you add the mountains to that mix, it can be stressful. This time, it was even more obnoxious in that the traffic came to a stop at 76 kilometers outside of Santiago. We had to wait for an hour. Later, we found out that there had been a landslide. With all the rain, rocks and mud came tumbling down from the side of a mountain, blocking the road, and evidently causing a wreck.
Jaime, a Christian, has taken responsibility in Chillan. He lives outside of the city of Chillan. He has been meeting in that city with a few other Christians. Somebody said that six people had been baptized there, but I do not think that all of them are meeting together, although Jaime has been working with them. Pedro and I visited him earlier this year. In May, Jaime came to Santiago with his wife, and participated with us in the National Meńs Meeting and in the mini-retreat we had afterward. Sergio Bustamante and the young people from Población Santiago have been visiting regularly and working with Claudio and the new congregation in Chillan.
In May, we had a National Meńs Meeting. The participation was about 80 men. We held the meeting in the building in Independencia. As is our practice, we had three presentations. Helmer Rosero, Pedro Sanchez and I gave them. The theme was spiritual growth. Another practice is that we eat lunch together. The ladies from the congregation in Independencia prepared the meal, and you have to give them credit. They do an excellent job. One of our visitors was Claudio from Puerto Montt. He is a young fellow, in his late twenties, that was baptized a couple of years ago. He was probably the visitor from the farther away.
After the Meńs Meeting, we had a mini-retreat on the Sunday afternoon and Monday following the Saturday of the Meńs meeting. Most of the participants are from the Monday ministeŕs class, but we started having this mini-retreat after the Nationwide Meńs Meeting so that out of towners could participate. These activities really help out. One reason is that the more active people are, the more they work with the church.
In spite of the rainy weather, we had a clear 4th of July. Since all the men come to my house on Mondays, we decided to celebrate the 4th in typical picnic fashion, and the weather cooperated. It was nice, even though it was cool. I put my barbecuing skills to the test. Two Bible Correspondence students were baptized in Punta Arenas.
In Población Santiago, a fellow, Jorge Hidalgo, has been suffering from gangrene. He had both of his legs amputated, unfortunately. This did not keep him from being baptized on the 2nd of July.
As you might have heard from the news, a good sized earthquake did considerable damage to several places in the north of Chile. In Arica, one of the neighborhoods where I had several Correspondence course students was leveled. Everybody in the church there in Arica escaped damages.
I have a printer here that was a gift several years ago from the brothers in Lexington, Kentucky. Since several of them worked for Lexmark or IBM, they sent me a Lexmark printer. I had it worked on last month. I bring this up because the technician remarked that I had about th of a million copies that I had printed. I thought that was a bundle of Correspondence courses. It has been a welcome tool.
One or perhaps more of the childreńs classes at Hidden Valley Church of Christ in Houston took up a collection for the Childreńs Lunch program here in Santiago. They raised 188 dollars which I though was excellent. It also helped us to meet the needs for the month.
We had a visit from two members of the congregation at Southside in Lexington, Kentucky, Steven Spear and Bryan Barrett. Steve worked here in Chile with the church for a year and a half. Bryan is the preacher for Southside. We had a good visit.
We also had a visit from Rex Morgan with the television program "Con La Biblia Abierta" and Steve Ridgell with the "Herald of Truth." We had some good discussions about running the television program and we are looking forward to this next year. I am already getting several things in motion so that we will be ready for this when it shows up. One television station that we are considering was added to the cable this month, so it will have broad exposure in the future. We will also have an increase in expenses next year, such as mailing costs, advertising, travel expenses, if this program brings in new contacts. Remember that ten years ago, we received a thousand contacts. Please pray that we receive even more next year.
We are giving the priority to the television program. This means that other projects such as a university will go on the back burner.
Thank you for your support.
In Christ,
Harry R. Hamilton

The idea here is to give Pedro a bad reputation. You all are going to think that he does nothing but eat. Well, the church that eats together stays together. 

I do the hard work. Here I am saying a few words at Hugo�s baptism. 

Here Pedro and Rolando baptize Hugo. 

Here Pedro and I are putting the baptistry together in order to baptize Hugo. 

Report for March and April 2005

Report from Santiago, Chile for March and April, 2005
Greetings. Old Man Winter walked in the door last weekend. Now what we go through here in Santiago would be mild by most peoplés standards, but to hear people talk in Chile it is the end of the world. Since most people cannot afford to heat their homes, it is pretty hard to stay comfortably warm. However, you get used to being a bit colder than you would be in the States. At any rate, last weekend we had thunderstorms and rain and cold.
I may have mentioned before that the television ministry based in Miami, Con La Biblia Abierta, approached me about running a television program in Chile next year. I am all for that, because television has been our most successful mass media effort here in Chile. Through it, we were able to start up several congregations in Chile. We also baptized such wonderful people as Augusto Fuentes and his wife Berta in Arica and Jaime and Eliana in Iquique. Our success in bringing people to Christ is the reason why they want to start with us. In order to prepare for the program, I started up the class in evangelism. Right off the bat, I was disappointed on two levels. I had made arrangements to videotape the class, but the guy who was supposedly the expert in that did not show up, so we did not get to do that. The other thing that disappointed me is that we have had only about fifty people participating in the class, and I was hoping for twice that.
The classes that I have had so far on evangelism have been really good. The goal of the class is to teach the members how to evangelize, and to give them the knowledge necessary to evaluate their success in evangelizing. In other words, I give them the lessons that they need to evangelize, but I also explain what each lesson tries to accomplish. I also explain that each evangelist and each congregation must develop the spiritual environment necessary for evangelism to take place. For example, in the first lesson, I explained that evangelism is a teaching ministry. In Matt 28:18-20, Jesus gives a model for evangelism. Making disciples of all nations involves baptism and teaching. The two go hand in hand. In a very few words, our model for evangelism is that correct teaching produces correct practice, which is obedience. A person is not evangelized until he understands certain teachings and responds to them. In the Churches of Christ, we have always had difficulty getting people to study long enough to understand the concepts in order to act upon them. Thus, the church and the evangelist have to create an environment where people want to learn. I suggest that two factors help us do that. One is that the church must set the example in learning. If the church is not willing to be taught, then how can we expect others to be excited about it? This also suggests that those who are in charge of teaching classes or evangelizing need to teach interesting classes that actually make people want to learn more, which is the second factor. Our strategy in evangelizing is to ignite the imagination of people where they are thinking about the teachings of God. When they do this, they want to learn more. When I came here in 1991, I assumed that people wanted to know as much about the Bible as I did. So I determined that I needed to teach lessons that were spiritually profound for two reasons. Spiritual growth does not take place if people are not challenged to grow and they will never teach others if they are never challenged to learn themselves. One way that I challenge people to learn is that I ask questions and then I guide people to the answer. I never answer my own questions. Sometimes I have people really sweating as they try to figure out the answer, but then they always do, because I never ask questions that are too difficult. The result is that we have fine people here in Chile who are members of the church, including ministers such as Milton, Pedro, Sergio, and David. We also have lots of people that are eager to learn.
I am happy to inform you that we have begun the new congregation in Independencia. We rented a building on the street Independencia, which is a major thoroughfare in the north part of Santiago. This is really a good location where hundreds of people pass by our building every day. The rent is expensive for us at 300,000 pesos a month or about $530.00 US. I agreed to pay half of the rent from the work fund if the church pays the other half. Your support for this effort is needed. Already one couple has been baptized. About forty people are meeting with us. Most are members that live in the area who had been worshiping at the other congregations. We are going to try and maintain a program of activity in the location every day, which is difficult, considering the lessons and obligations that we have every day. Sunday we had three visitors. All had visited the previous Thursday.
In April, Fred and Esther from Austin Avenue in Brownwood came down for a visit. The Chileans really enjoyed their visit. I am sure that I walked them much more than they were used to. They had a chance to get around and see some of the congregations in action. During the weekend of April 15-18, we went to Arica, where they were able to see the work in Arica. I should point out that we had an earthquake while we were in Arica. This was Fred and Esther’s first. It was not much, but since we were about a half mile from the beach at the time, you cannot help but think about tsunamis. You probably cannot run fast enough to get away from them, so you have to trust in God that he will protect you from them.
I learned in a phone call to Arica prior to the trip that our brother Augusto Fuentes, whom I esteem a lot, suffered a heart attack. When we had a chance to see him, he was weak. It made me sad to see him in that condition. He can surely use our prayers. He will always be a spiritual hero for us for his faithfulness in beginning the work in Arica.
David Cisternas seems to be doing a good job in Arica with the help of the brothers. Augusto will have to slow down a lot, but everyone else seems to be doing a lot of hard work there. David’s brother Luis has married and settled down a lot, proving to be a more stable Christian. I appreciate him more than ever now, because he has gotten up at five a.m. twice now to take us to the airport. While in Arica, I was able to visit with Emilia Rabi who was a Bible Correspondence student who was baptized several years ago. I renewed my acquaintance with her daughter who is now about twelve years old (if I am not mistaken). I also met her niece, whom has been attending church regularly. This niece is also quite young, thirteen or fourteen or so. She rides the bus alone on Sunday mornings and was the first to arrive the Sunday we were there. Several new families have been participating evidently, with at least one married couple having been baptized.
A brother from Iquique, Carlos Segura, was at worship in Arica when I was there. He informed me that the church in Coihaique in the far southern part of Chile is worshiping together, as they should be. We have not been able to visit there for a while due to the cost of the travel. Carlos informed me that two people want to be baptized in Coihaique. Thanks to some additional help that we received with the work fund, Pedro Sanchez is going there tomorrow to work with that congregation.
Jaqueline informs me that a married couple was baptized. This couple has participated in the Marriage Enrichment meetings that Milton and Jaqueline do. Jaqueline also informs me that the lunch program for children is feeding about forty-two children every day. Currently the money that we have that goes to that is about 450.00 dollars a month, although we spend a little bit more than that on the food. You have to admit that feeding one child for a month for ten dollars is a pretty good bargain. What I especially like about this is that the congregation in Población Santiago is taking these kids into their hearts and is working with them. Let’s not forget the children. Even though it is not exciting news to say that forty-two children have been fed this last month, it is important for them. In this, the church is a blessing to the children. This is a necessary ministry, as much so as the Marriage Enrichment ministry or the prison ministry.
I made a few trips. I returned to Vicuña once again to visit with Rolando. We studied the Bible with him and Hugo. Rolando is following in the footsteps of Augusto Fuentes, in that he is being a force for the church in his community. I am working with him when I can. You can find a picture of Rolando and me here:http://harry1976.blogspot.com
On the last Monday that Fred and Esther were present, Rolando rang my doorbell. We shared a good visit. It was also good that he came over on that day, because he was able to visit with several of the ministers and get to know them.
I made a trip to Ecuador to visit with the church in Ibarra and Guayaquil. I held a conference in each city. These churches need a lot of work, but they are hanging in there. I am glad to be able to help. They seem to like my teaching quite a bit. In Ibarra, three people were baptized. I must be used to the mild climate in Chile, because Guayaquil is hot and humid to the extent that you are constantly aware of it. I also found out that the city is in the midst of a malaria and dengue fever epidemic. Since the mosquitoes were eating me alive, I figured I was a goner. This is one of those things where you just trust in God to take care of you.
A while back, in 2004, Helmer was leaving the home of one of the Christians when he met a lady and asked her if she would like to study the Bible. She agreed and studied to a point where Helmer was just about ready to start talking about obeying the gospel. Before he could begin that conversation, she decided that she would stop studying with him. Helmer told her that she was about to begin the most important study of her life. She agreed to continue studying and was baptized, along with two family members. In March, she passed away from cancer. While this is sad, we know that she is with the Lord.
The church that started up in Chillan last year is up to ten people meeting together. Our brother Jaime who lives in the country outside of Chillan is doing a good job, according to one of the brothers, Sergio Bustamente, that went there to visit.
I continue to hear good news about the good work in other places, such as Los Andes and Puerto Montt, to the extent that it is hard to keep up with everybody.
I want to thank all of you for your support. It is necessary since we need your help to continue doing what we do here. May God bless you.
In Christ,
Harry R. Hamilton

Elizabeth had a birthday Monday. Note the size of her candle on her cake. We found out that we did not have any candles so we improvised. 

Baptisms in Ibarra 

I am teaching a class in Ibarra, Ecuador. 

The Church of Christ in Guayaquil, Ecuador 

Here I am with Reinaldo and his wife in Valdivia. 

Pedro does what missionaries do best. 

Report for Dec and Jan

Report from Santiago, Chile for December, 2004 and January 2005
Greetings from Santiago. We are in the middle of the summer here. Just as I thought it was fixing to get hot, a cool spell came through. I hate to brag, but Chile is really a pleasant place to live with regard to the weather. Of course, I will change my tune when winter gets here with its cold and rain.
I recently learned how to post folders of pictures to the Internet. If you would like to see pictures of the work in Chile and other related photos, then send me an email. It so happens that I have to authorize each person that wants to see them. I am trying to avoid bothering people that do not want to be bothered.
Here is a bit of good news. Rex Morgan who is with the television program, "Con La Biblia Abierta" recently contacted me about running the television program again in 2006. If you recall, we ran this program in 1995-6. I credit this program with taking us to the next level here in Chile. We were able to move from being a metropolitan church here in Santiago to having a presence nationwide. In 95 and 96, we received 1000 contacts, 200 from outside Santiago, and 800 inside Santiago. From those contacts, we have been able to baptize at least 100 people per year for eight of the last ten years. Although we are still in the planning stages, I am emphasizing the importance of this opportunity. I think it would be excellent for Chile if we could run this program for twenty years. An advantage that we have is that when we ran the program in 95 and 96, there were only three congregations outside of Santiago. Now the number is higher as twenty congregations exist throughout the length of Chile. We should be even more successful outside of Santiago than we were before. Also, the number of full time ministers is larger than it was at the previous time. I think we will have a good groundwork laid for success.
In 95 and 96, we had more success outside of Santiago than we did in the city. Several factors contributed to this. The churches were smaller. Many of the Christians were not trained to evangelize. Because of the number of contacts, we had to ask the churches to help with contacts in their area. Many did not follow up like they should. Also, people living in the city seem to be more jaded than those living outside of the city. It takes a lot of patience to reach people in Santiago.
With this in mind, I have already announced a class on evangelism. I intend to train people to be evangelists. We are going to spend the year 2005 preparing for 2006. We need a high level of participation from the congregations. I would like to see us come up with 200 prepared evangelists. Wouldn’t that be great? I can afford to be optimistic, because I have already received a good response from people about the classes. Also, it is quite likely that I will be able to film each class. I am still working on the details about that. Another plus is that this is where I spent my energies when I did my doctoral project/thesis at ACU. I learned a lot, and I expect that it will pay off handsomely.
Another area that we will have to work on is preparing the congregations to receive new people. Generally speaking, people will be gone if they cannot plug in within six months. One source says six weeks, but I think people will cut you some slack on this. This is a problem for us, because a lot of people are comfortable with their churches being like they are. Bringing in new people can often upset the cart.
So that this will be successful, we will need your prayers. Spend 2005 praying for the success of this effort. We need lots of workers. We need lots of preparation. We need lots of people to respond. We also need the television stations to allow us to show the program. Just so that you are aware of the situation, we already enjoy a good reputation. Marlene called several of the stations. One lady remembered our program and put us in contact with one station, who has since been after us, purely on the recommendation of this one woman. The opportunity is here.
During December, I gave a seminar to two congregations in Ecuador. The seminar was on Worship. I did not try to instruct on what worship is, since they all were members of the church. Rather I tried to focus on why we worship. In my mind, when we understand the reason why we do things the way we do them, we grow spiritually. For example, all members of the church know that we prefer a capella music, but do they know why? Do they know why God prefers it? Answering those questions helps us spiritually. In the seminar, I tried to stimulate the congregations. I also preached one of my favorite sermons from Eph. 4:17-20, talking about the "entendimiento entenebricido," the darkened understanding. Overall, the seminars went well. Another advantage of the trip is that I was able to work more with Henry Rosero. I hope to continue helping him be a better preacher.
When I returned to Santiago, it was a few days before Christmas. Several of the ladies prepared gifts for the children in Población Santiago, where we feed the children. You can see a picture of Lisa and Marlene preparing gifts for the kids here. http://harry1976.blogspot.com .
In January, Pedro and I went to visit a contact, Reinaldo, in the city of Valdivia. On the trip down, we visited in Chillan with a couple that had been recently baptized. We had some good Bible studies with this couple. I later had them in my house for grilled salmon during Roberto Miranda’s conferences.
After Chillan, Pedro and I drove down to Valdivia for our meeting with Reinaldo. This is the first time that we were able to visit him. It was also my first visit to Valdivia. Our studies went well with Reinaldo, although he later confessed to a certain amount of trepidation, since we were only known to him through the mail. He and his wife relaxed considerably though, after we had our studies. They admitted that they had a lot to learn. We felt like we were off to a good start with this couple, although only time will tell.
It appears that being a missionary is an impediment to losing weight. While we were in Valdivia, we visited the chocolate factory there. I tried some, and it was the best chocolate I have eaten in my life. I bought a box for several people, the secretaries, etc. On the day that we were to return to Santiago, I went to the pier and bought several pounds of salmon. We had grilled salmon for the next two weeks. I should point out that the price at the pier is much cheaper than what salmon costs in Santiago.
Buying the salmon was a good decision, because we used it to entertain several people for the next two weeks. Most of you do not realize this, but I am a chef when it comes to grilling salmon. I had several people beg for an invitation when they heard I was grilling it. Let me explain the circumstances for entertaining people during this time.
Roberto Miranda and two others came down to Santiago to give a seminar in Santiago. During that time, we had Bible studies every morning and every evening. Pictures are at the site I mentioned earlier. I invited the Americans to my house for lunch, where we had grilled salmon. Another day, I invited the Christians from Chillan. I also invited several of the ministers over. Lunch was great, but the seminars were better. The participation was outstanding. Roberto gave some good messages. One boy, Alvaro, who is about ten years old, listened to Roberto speaking about being a servant, and decided he would serve. He wound up serving in a lot of ways.
I am running out of space. God bless you, and thank you for your support.
Harry R. Hamilton

We are having lunch in Viña del Mar, during the visit with Roberto Miranda, who preached a conference in Población Santiago. 

Here Lisa and Marlene prepare some gifts for the children that participate in the Children's program.