Here I am with Reinaldo and his wife in Valdivia.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Monday, February 14, 2005
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
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
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