Missionary Report May 2017

Ministry

Thanks to God in the last six months of ministry in the Maucayapi community we are seeing a lot of interest from the believers to learn more of the Scriptures. In the same way the children are coming faithfully to the Sunday school. The attendance has risen on Sundays and now we have approximately 25 adults, 25 children and five young people. In our meetings a young couple are coming with four children who had been away from the Lord. We are seeing within the group a great harmony and unity between them, in the different activities they hold and in the church or in the community. 

Other attitudes we see in the Christians in this community are that they are generous, are workers and they share with us the little they can harvest from their fields. 

We continue teaching the Word of God using the chronological method of the Bible, Firm Foundations.

Despite the discomforts that the children have to experience in their classes, as they don’t have seats or desks, they continue to come to the Sunday school. 

We pray that the Lord will give us wisdom to be able to teach clearly and simply the Word so that they can capture and understand the message. For this we are using scripture memory and also using objects that they can see, touch and also work with materials from the area (leaves, sand, flowers, stones etc).  It is our desire that the Word of God will fall on good ground and that in His time we will see a lot of fruit for the glory of our God. Really it gives us a lot of joy to see how God is blessing our children now that we have received a donation of some illustrated Bibles which are adequate for the children’s different age groups. May God bless those Christians who made it possible for them to have these beautiful Bibles.

One of the difficulties that we have seen in the children from our Sunday school is that some cannot write correctly. Because of this we have seen the necessity to help them in two areas of learning that are very important in life, comprehensive communication and maths. We have spoken with their parents encouraging them to send their children so that we can help them in these areas and in response to this the children are coming punctually every Monday and Wednesday. 

Personal

After spending a great time with the family in Chiclayo, I returned to Lima to start the return to our place of work in the city of Atalaya. This was imposible during March and April due to the heavy rains and flooding in nearly all of the costal área and part of the central jungle where we have to travel to get to Atalaya. Many cities were isolated so we stayed for 1½ months in Lima during this time.

The waiting was very difficult for us as we had planned to arrive in Atalaya the first week of March. I was a little impatient on one hand but on the other hand it was a blessing in my life to learn how God works and He allows things to happen as He has planned.  God made me remember the passage from Isaiah 55:8, that says ‘for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways’. This passage brought peace and tranquility to me, understanding that I should take the circumstances with calmness and continue hoping and having confidence in the Lord that the current situation that was happening in our country would get better and this happened.  After 1½ months the rains stopped and the roads were reopened and the roads that were so badly affected were actually mostly in good condition after the rains. 

All of this experience taught me that I need to learn to have confidence in the Lord, also to know how to wait and move how God wants me to move.

God has been faithful to us, His care, protection and blessings have never failed.  We know that He will never fail us, this is what sustains and strengthens us every day. 

After all of this the trip took 22 hours (much longer than usual) from Lima to Atalaya on the roads that had been affected by the rains, especially the section from Satipo – Atalaya.

Family

My mother had an emergency operation for appendicitis and although we had some difficult moments our God brought peace to my heart and for my brothers and sisters, that God would be with mum according to His will and it was just like that.  Thanks to God it went well and my mum is recuperating well. 

My father-in-law had a hip operation for the second time and his situation got worse due to scarring in his right ankle which made it imposible to walk and rehabilitate quickly.  The problem is his diabetes which complicates his health but thanks to God after several months in bed he is now using a walker and wheelchair.  This has given a lot of relief to my wife in that every day her dad is getting better. 

For my wife the orthopedic surgeon has found she has bad tendinitis and gave her treatment for 10 days.  After three days she started to feel a strong pain in the opening of her stomach, the fourth day she started to bleed internally which was debilitating and we took her to the hospital so that the doctor could examine her and determine what the problem was.  The result was that a lesion from one of the pills she was taking had caused the bleeding. For three days she had to take medication to counteract the lesion that had originated from the pills.  We give thanks to God that she is now better but she continues to have pain in her arm due to the tendinitis.  At present she is receiving physio two times a week and we are seeing it get a little better.  She needs to take vitamins due to the operation she had about 18 months ago (hysterectomy) and now she is going through menopause. 

Stephanie: She is in the last course of her universary studies in Computers and IT.  With God’s help at the end of this year she will complete her studies and we are expecting to be at her graduation. We give thanks to God for giving us the blessing of seeing Stephanie involved in service for Him by teaching the bible to children in the Sunday school and helping with the youth group in the church where we meet in Chiclayo.

Sue Abigail: Continues her studies thanks to the abilities God has given her.

In the church we are studying some Bible courses and are seeing an advance in the Christian development of the people. We hope that with God’s help Abigail will continue growing in the knowledge of the Word of God and in her service in the church. 

Prayer and Praise Points

1) For spiritual strength and the recuperation of our health, both Manuel and Lucy.

2) That God will help by giving us wisdom, clarity, skills, abilities and creativity to teach the children and adults the Word of God in the Maucayapi community.

3) For the spiritual life of my daughters, Stephanie and Sue Abigail, that they will continue knowing and loving God every day.

4) For the economic support to cover the rent of the house we are living in in Atalaya which costs $120 a month. 

5) That the Word of God stays in the minds and hearts of every child and adult who receives Bible teaching and in His time we will see fruit.

We are thankful to God for you dear friends, for your prayers and the support you give us to enable us to complete the missionary work we are commended to for the Lord. All that we reach with God’s help is possible thanks to you who have united efforts with us to take the message of the kingdom of God to the unreached people and less evangelised in our Amazon. 

May God continue to greatly use your lives and ministry so that the name of the Lord is known in all the earth.

For the advancement of the kingdom of God

Manuel, Lucy, Stephanie & Sue Abigail Salazar