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