Saturday, October 24, 2009

Francisca's baptism











The Baptism of Ivan
















Report for September and October, 2009

You will not find anyone who believes in global warming here in Santiago. As we move into the spring, we have had several cool fronts come in, bringing cool temperatures and rain. Generally, Santiago begins to warm up in October. I am still wearing sweaters and taking my coat with me, just in case. I am ready for some of that warm weather to come along.
Frequently, I see signs that the congregation in Villa Los Andes Del Sur is functioning as it should. One of the families from the congregation, Beto and Pilar and their children, Tomás and Javiera, along with Pilar’s brother, Ivan, her sister, Salomé, and her niece, Daniela, went to Cuba. While there, they had the opportunity to visit with a student from the Bible Correspondence Course, Blanca. Blanca is an elderly lady in her seventies. She is a retired teacher. She had been at one time a member of the Communist Party, which she quit at some point in her life to become an evangelical. When she quit, the Commies rescinded her privileges. Today, she lives in abject poverty. The apartment she lives in is smaller than my bedroom. She lacks the basic necessities. Fortunately, Beto and Pilar were able to carry her some things like toothpaste and other amenities. As you can imagine, she needs our prayers. It has been four or five years since Beto and Pilar had visited her. Blanca told them that she prayed every day that they would be able to return and visit with them again. When Beto and Pilar arrived at her apartment, she was not at home. They inquired with a neighbor, who said she was in a house about a block away. As it turns out, Blanca was teaching the Bible Correspondence lessons that I had sent her to her neighbors. She evidently teaches in different houses every day. The good thing is that I was able to send her a complete package of lessons with Beto and Pilar. Blanca has not been baptized yet, but we are working on that. You can imagine the difficulty that we have when the visits are five years apart.
Pilar has been good about inviting her family and friends. Several of her friends are participating in Bible studies. Last Sunday, her brother, Ivan, was baptized. Photos of the baptism can be found here. http://harry1976.blogspot.com/
Beto and Pilar are not the only ones involved in mission work outside Chile. At the end of October, one of the Chilean ministers, Pedro Sanchez, will begin a preaching trip to Colombia.
Beto and Pilar are not the only ones involved in mission work outside Chile. One of the Chilean ministers, Sergio Plaza, (who is extremely poorly paid) was invited to preach and teach in a small town in Peru. Sergio spent a month preaching and teaching there. He preached to 600 people. Evidently there is a desire to become members of the Church of Christ among the indigenous people of Peru. Unfortunately, their knowledge of the Bible is minimal, which is where Sergio comes in. He is an excellent teacher of the Word. Sergio reported 20 baptisms in the town where he was. I am sorry but I do not know the name of the town. He later spent some time in Lima where he had the opportunity to teach.
Just so you know it, Beto and Pilar are not the only ones who are involved in mission work outside Chile. Nine ladies from three congregations in Santiago attended a ladies conference in Peru. One lady from each congregation gave a presentation. They were: my ex-secretary and Milton’s wife, Jacqueline, from the congregation in Los Nogales; my housekeeper, Liza, from Villa Los Andes del Sur; and my dentist, Maria Inez, from the congregation in Domeyko. From what Liza tells me, it was quite an adventure. Four of the ladies were older and needed some help getting around in their visit to Lima. Liza, the good-hearted woman that she is, helped these ladies, who according to her were as adept at getting into trouble as Lucille Ball or the Three Stooges. She kept me laughing with her stories about the trip. I view the participation in these activities as necessary for two reasons. The understanding of the Bible is not good in many of these areas, and it is necessary that our brothers in Christ receive good teaching. Fortunately, our Chilean brothers and sisters are quite knowledgeable and able to teach. This is a product of insisting on good teaching. Second, participating in these activities helps our Chilean brothers to be concerned about world missions. I strongly support the Chileans participating in these activities.
Our young people from the congregation in Villa Los Andes Del Sur are planning a mission trip of their own. They have been working at saving up money for the trip. Unfortunately, at this moment in time, they do not know where they will go. We are looking at possibilities.
One of my favorite Chileans, Francisca, was baptized. She has been participating with us for some time. Francisca is a social work major at one of the universities here in Santiago. She is a lovely young woman.
Liza and her husband, Felo, have been working to bring their families to Christ. As you know, we go to Rancagua every Sunday afternoon to conduct worship services at the home of Liza’s sister. You may recall that we baptized five members of that family earlier in the year. Through the years, Liza has talked to me about her family and Felo’s family. Since both families were strong Pentecostals, they worried about how to reach them. In both cases, I said that we should pray that God will open their heart. As you can see, God has been answering our prayers. Recently, due to an extremely grave illness of Felo’s brother, several of his family members have begun to study the Bible. So far they have been amazed by what they did not know about the Scriptures. As is true with many people, they did not realize what they did not know. This family also needs your prayers.
As you know, I continue with my studies. The classes have good participation. The Chileans are learning a lot. They would probably surprise you with what they know, much of which you may not know. I always begin my classes by asking for a brief review of what we have said previously. Last Wednesday night, Belén, a high school girl, gave the summary of what we had studied in Mark. She was able to say that the central idea of Mark is “Who is Jesus?” She showed us that in Mark 8, Jesus asks the question “Who do men say that I am?” He then asks the same question to his disciples. Peter responds that Jesus is the Son of the living God. Belén explained to us that in the first part of Mark, before these questions in Mark 8, the question is “Who is Jesus?” After Mark 8, Mark answers the question by showing that Jesus is the one who will die on the cross, be buried, and be raised on the third day. This demonstrates clearly that Mark is a gospel, and definitely belongs in the New Testament. I think it is outstanding that a high school girl has this level of knowledge about the Word.
Pedro Sanchez and I went to Iquique to study with the church there. Since I had a bad cold, I let Pedro do all of the teaching. I started out teaching on the Thursday night, but was hacking so much that I finally gave up. However, Pedro did a good job.
Claudio, a member of Domeyko, reported to me that his daughter was baptized. He mentioned that to me when we were at Domeyko baptizing Ivan. Another lady was also baptized.
The church in Los Nogales is planning to renovate the kitchen where the lunches are being prepared. They are also planning to build a second floor, evidently.
Thanks to the out of control spending the government has been doing, the dollar has been taking a nosedive. It is currently worth about 531 pesos to the dollar. This means we are going to be poor until it gets better. In spite of the economic situation, I am thankful for your support. May God bless you.

In Christ,

Harry R. Hamilton