Friday, February 18, 2011

Report December 2010 and January 2011

Report From Santiago, Chile for December 2010 and January 2011




Greetings from Santiago, Chile. I hope that all of you are doing well. I understand that the USA has been suffering from some cold weather. Not so much here. It has been pretty hot this summer.

Our retreat in November has really set the stage for our summer. If you recall, the congregation in the Villa held a retreat in November. It was an excellent retreat. We decided to hold our end of the year church picnic at the same place where we held our retreat. It is a campground owned by an evangelical businessman. We invited our friends and family to participate with us there. We had a good turnout, about 80 people. We never did get an accurate count because some people got lost and arrived late. While we waited for the late people to arrive, I showed a slide presentation that Marlene made of our retreat. Marlene is a good photographer.

Something funny happened at the picnic. The place charged 2000 pesos to get in. I was the first one to arrive, and I explained that we were the Church of Christ and that we had reservations for the day. The fellow asked me who was in charge, and I said I was, so he didn’t charge me the entry fee. So for the rest of the day, everybody said that next time they would make sure that they were the first to arrive so they would not have to pay.

We had a worship service there on the grounds. Our congregation already had an excellent reputation with the workers there. When we had the retreat, we sang all the time. Everybody that was there told us that they had never heard anyone sing like we sang. During the morning of the picnic, we also sang as a part of the worship service. Many of the people that were there came and listened to the songs, and then they listened to the sermon that I preached. I talked about the sacrifice of worship that we offer up to God. Most of the evangelicals have the attitude that the worship service is for the enjoyment of the individual. I explain frequently to our Christians, that we offer up a sacrifice to God when we worship him, and that sacrifice must be to God’s liking. We had several visitors there that day. I am sure that they learned something from the Word.

We brought our lunch. The ladies of the congregation fixed different salads, so we had a little bit of everything. Beto, Felo, Angel, and Alan took charge of the barbecue. It was great. They definitely made it hard to stay on the diet. After lunch, we did the Secret Friend thing where you give a gift to a name you drew. I forget what this is called in English. We passed out our gifts. Then practically everybody headed for the swimming pool. Not me. I sat around talking to the other old timers. Later on, several of the guys started playing soccer. At the end of the afternoon, we headed to Santiago.

This activity, coupled with the retreat has really motivated the congregation. We have several visitors that are visiting us regularly now. This also motivated the Christians. At the beginning of the year, I handed out a calendar to the members of the church with a reading assignment for each day. Each family would read two chapters an evening. I am really surprised at the number of people that are participating on this. It is much better than I thought it would be. I also handed out the calendars to other congregations, such as Rancagua, Los Andes, Domeyko, and la Florida. It is important that people read the Bible. If you find you do not have enough time to read the Bible, I can tell you how to find more time. Turn the TV off.

Paulina impressed me a couple of weeks ago. She was going to the beach with some friends for the week. This is common practice here in Chile. I am probably the only person in Santiago that does not go to the beach at least once in the summertime. Anyway, Liza made Paulina write a list of everything that she was to take with her for the week. She asked Paulina if there was anything she forgot. Paulina replied that there was. She put her Bible on the list. She told her mom, we are reading the Bible, every day, remember? Anyway, when Paulina came back, she asked me if I would give a Bible to one of her friends. This friend saw Paulina reading the Bible and decided that she wanted to read it too. So I gave the friend a Bible and the first Correspondence Course lesson. (By the way, this is one of the ways that the Work Fund helps out, among many).

Every Sunday afternoon, we go to Rancagua. We try to take some of the young people with us. Last weekend, Beto, Pilar and Javiera went with us (Felo, Liza, Romina, Paulina, Sergio, and myself). We had quite a group from Santiago going. We had the regulars there (Eduardo, Ya-Ya, Jonatan, and Yenny. In addition, we had six non-Christians participating with us. It takes a while, but we do grow, when we keep hanging in there.

We had two Christian men pass away this summer. One, Hugo, was a regular at my Monday meeting. He was over eighty years old. His body just gave out. I preached the funeral. Several members of the family came and paid their respects. Hugo reminded us frequently that he was the oldest member of the Church in Santiago in terms of time in the Church. He was not the oldest member, because we have a lady who is a member of the Church who is 96 years old. I keep trying to get my picture taken with her, but I keep forgetting.

The other member of the church that passed away was Roberto Labra. He was the first convert that we had from our jail ministry in San Felipe. Pedro and I would go to the prison every Tuesday morning at San Felipe, which is outside of Santiago about an hour and fifteen minutes. Roberto had recently been released from the prison when we started. He would accompany us to the prison and listen as we taught the Bible. He actually gave me a storythat I use from time to time. We were sitting in a restaurant in Los Andes eating cazuela, when I asked him what the gospel was. He sat there thinking for a bit, and started sweating. He wanted to give me a good answer, but he did not know. Finally, he said, I don’t know. So Pedro and I explained to him what the gospel of Jesus was. I mentioned to him that it was important to know what the gospel was, because how can we obey the gospel if we do not know what it is. Shortly thereafter, he was baptized. Roberto died of a blood hemorrhage in the brain. Some of you that have been here may become concerned that I am talking about the Roberto from Los Andes. I am not. The Roberto from Los Andes is Roberto Maturana, this is Roberto Labra from San Felipe.

Claudio, one of the brothers from Domeyko, has begun a Bible study with some of his family members in the city of Curico. Sergio Plaza is directing the study. We hope to have a congregation start there. Others in the city have been baptized, but they have not been meeting together. Hopefully, we will be able to get something going there. Curico is about three hours to the south of Santiago.

In 2010, there were 65 baptisms at the different congregations here in Chile that work with me, with the exception of Arica, and some of the other congregations that keep to themselves. Since they did not respond, I do not know how many baptisms in all there were in Chile.

Marcelo and Pablo finally got back to New Zealand. They are enrolled and studying in the Bible Institute there. I expect them to dedicate themselves and become fine preachers.

I will post this on the blog that I have, with a picture or two. The blog is Preaching the Gospel in Chile http://harry1976.blogspot.com . I will post this in a bit.

My work fund is low currently. If you feel the desire to help with the work here let me know.

Thank you for your support. May God bless you.

In Christ,

Harry R. Hamilton