Friday, August 14, 2009

Report from Chile

Greetings from Chile. I hope that all of you are doing well.
I have been busy with the various activities. On Sunday mornings, I am teaching Galatians in the Bible class. The congregation has understood the book better, because we talked last year about the promises that God made to Abraham in Genesis 12 and 17. I explained that one understands the Bible through ideas. The four promises that God makes to Abraham flow throughout the entire Bible, giving structure to the Bible. These four promises are the Promised Land, the great nation, the covenant, and blessings and curses. In Galatians, Paul helps us understand how God blesses the nations through the Gospel. God’s promises are fulfilled in Christ.
Last Sunday morning in Bible class, Viviana raised her hand to make a comment. Viviana has been participating in our activities, with her two children. All are studying the Bible. She is a widow who lost her husband about four years ago. Her husband was a politician and an agnostic. Viviana said that she and her children stayed up until three am on Saturday talking about faith. She said that they all realized that their late father was wrong about faith. One could actually learn about God and come to faith. Her words were an inspiration to all of us. Her daughter, Nina, is a young lady who has been caught up in some kind of Buddhist teaching through yoga, or who knows what. She came to me and asked about Christianity, and how she could know whether it was the true religion. I talked to her about Buddhism and explained why Buddhism could not be a true religion. Then I explained to her why Christianity is the true religion that comes from God. Since then, she has been studying the Bible with renewed enthusiasm. Viviana’s comments show us the growth that her entire family has.
While I have been teaching the adults, Sergio Plaza has been working with the young people, along with Liza and Felo. Most of these kids are either in their later teens or their early twenties. Génesis is the youngest of the group at fifteen. Paulina has invited her friend Fernanda, who is a sweet young lady. I let both of them, along with Romina, come over and eat lunch at my house whenever they want. Rodrigo and Francisca (his girlfriend) come over quite frequently, and we study the Bible together. Francisca is also a sweet young lady. Daniel and Elsa (his girlfriend) also participate in the young people’s class. Elsa has a difficult home life because of problems between her parents. She has been faithful in coming to church since the first time she has come. The participants in the class are Paulina, Daniel, Rodrigo, Francisca, Romina, Elsa, Nina, Juan, Luis, Belén, Génesis, Israel, Nicolás, Tomás, and Javiera. The young people who are not Christians (7) are studying the Bible to be saved. Here in Chile, when we teach the Bible, we work hard on teaching conviction and conversion. We want them to be committed Christians. I am proud of the way that our young people are growing spiritually. The teaching for commitment pays off. Liza told me that she overheard Rodrigo talking to his cousin about our church. The cousin asked if we used instrumental music. Rodrigo assured him that we most definitely do not. The cousin, who plays the guitar in church, asked Rodrigo why not. Rodrigo asked him, “When you play, do you like the attention that your playing gets you?” The cousin admitted that he liked it. Rodrigo told him, “That is where the problem is, because we look for what God likes, not what we like. The worship service should be oriented toward God, not ourselves.” The cousin admitted that Rodrigo was right.
The young people decided that they wanted to do a mission trip next summer. So, for all of this year, they have been working to save up money for the trip. We hope to go to Iquique where there are a number of young people. If that does not work out, we will go to another location.
On Sunday evenings, I go to Rancagua. This congregation is getting started. So far, we have baptized five people here, all family members of Liza. Liza’s nephews, Franco and Jonathan, have been participating with our young people, along with Jenny. They are really wonderful young people.
We have had some difficulty with Liza’s family. Liza’s father denounced her, claiming that she was a religious fanatic. She shed some tears over this. I am a bit surprised that he did not denounce me, since I am obviously the one that is the religious fanatic. Now consider this gentleman’s family. His daughter Elizabeth and her husband Felo are members of the church, as are their three children. His daughter Fabiola and her husband Roberto are members of the church, as are their four children: his granddaughter Marlene and her husband Alan, his grandson Roberto and his wife Catalina (his two great-grandchildren attend church) and two grandsons more, Eric and Daniel. His daughter Ya-ya and her husband Eduardo are members of the church, as are his two grandsons, Jonathan and Franco, and Franco’s future wife, Jenny. Another son and his wife along with their children attend the service. It is easier to count the people in this family who are not Christians or attending church: one son and his family in Rancagua, and another daughter and her family in Spain.
The great thing about this little church is that they work. They invite people and they talk about the Bible to people. A couple of Sundays ago, they came to Santiago for a lunch with the congregation in Villa Los Andes Del Sur. Jenny and Ya-ya really worked with the ladies of the congregation in preparing lunch. It was great.
I changed my minister’s meetings on Monday to the early afternoon. This is motivated mainly by the need to exercise and go on a diet. Since I am trying to lose weight, I decided I needed to be more disciplined in getting my exercise and also in cutting back on eating. Another thing is that the supermarket that I go to has a discount day on Mondays and I needed to get over there to take advantage of that. So I moved the class to the afternoon. Currently, we are studying Acts.
I also made a change on Monday nights. I had taught everything that I could to the men of the congregation about preaching, at least for the time being. Beto asked me if I would consider teaching a class in his home. I told him I would, so I changed the Monday class to Beto’s home. His wife, Pilar, invited several neighbors over, so we have been studying basic themes with them.
On Tuesdays, I have been going to Los Andes. We are studying Mark. The participation has been smaller since they moved out to the country, so we are working with that.
On Wednesdays, I teach a class on Mark at Angel and Doris’s house. In spite of the cold winter nights, the participation has been good. Their living room has been filled with about twenty-five people participating.
On Thursdays, I teach 1 John in my home. I have about twenty people who participate in that.
On Fridays, I have been alternating between having a meeting with the ladies in my home, and having the young people over. Last week, I had the young people over for homemade pizza. It was great. (Goodbye diet). Tonight, the ladies of the congregation will be here, perhaps for more pizza. (It is tough being a missionary.)
On Saturdays, we have several different activities, usually special activities, depending on the weekend.
Twelve people were baptized in Maipú. These are people that Pedro Sánchez met in Valparaiso. The Lord has blessed us as always. Thank you for your support.
Harry Hamilton