Got to have that stove.
Friday, September 23, 2005
Thursday, September 22, 2005
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.
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
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
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