Praying For Perú

Resource:  Andean Journey

By Sarah Henken

Today in the PC(USA) Mission Yearbook we lift up our partners in Perú. The story introduces some of the work of the church in the altiplano of southern Perú (only a few hours from Bolivia). Please pray for the IEPRP and IEP churches, the AETE Theological School, Joining Hands Peru, our mission workers in Peru (Sara and Rusty, and Jed and his wife Jenny), and those who partner with them from the U.S. I also ask your prayers for the upcoming assembly of the IEPRP, which I will be attending next month.

From the blog archive: Joining Hands, Perú

Read more...

Mission Team Returns Home

Jarrett Callaway, Sydney Walker, Bligh Jones, Shawn Walker, Mary Herndon Nordman & Frank Dimmock

An adult mission group from Government Street Presbyterian Church in Mobile, Alabama has recently returned from a visit with Nancy & Frank Dimmock and Ministry of Hope in Lesotho, South Africa.  Prayers have been answered for safe travels.

Please check Shawn's blog Africa Adventures for pictures and journal entries of the group's wonderful trip.  We have added links to Africa Adventures and Government Street Presbyterian Church in the Links section below too!

We at Sharon Presbyterian Church thank you for sharing the news of your trip.  We also celebrate with each of you as you complete another step in your spiritual journey.

Thank you.

Lima: The Thirsty City

LIMA: The Thirsty City from ACULLICU FILMS on Vimeo.

From Sara Armstrong;

Friends, Diego and Alvaro Sarmiento, our neighbors, developed the above film on water use and projects to reuse treated water in Lima last year. It is subtitled. If you also enjoy it , please pass it on to your LWW networks.

Related link: www.acullicufilms.com

World In Prayer

From Sara Armstrong

"When I needed a neighbor, were you there?" ~ Sydney Carter

"Ubuntu is very difficult to render into a Western language it is to say.  'My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in what is yours'. A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed." (1) Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu 

"Someday after mastering winds, waves, tides and gravity, we shall harness the energies of love. And then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will discover fire." ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: 

So many images, Lord, are flooding through my mind from the news this week.

• People burned out of their homes and communities for the second time within a few days in Victoria, Australia.
• Others flooded in Queensland, Australia.
• Thousands of Syrian refugees in UNHCR refugee camps in Jordan with thousands more waiting to flee the carnage in Syria.
• A young newly married man in England, unexpectedly made redundant when his retail chain employer went into receivership, found dead in woods.
• People protesting in their thousands in India over the abuse and sexual assaults so prevalent on women.
• Homeless people sleeping in cardboard boxes in so many of our towns and cities across the world.
• Young children abandoned in so many countries in Africa and South America and elsewhere trying to survive on the streets without education, love and protection except from each other.
• In Libya and Mali hostages and ordinary people attacked by fundamentalist militants with hate in their hearts.
• The pictures crowd each other out forming a shocking and at times overwhelmingly depressing mosaic of suffering, pain and hopelessness.

Lord, on the road to Calvary and on the Cross you took on the weight of evil and hatred with implacable Love. Teach us anew daily of the annealing and transforming power of love in the face of the most abject horror and evil. You who are Love, help us to love even the unlovely and help us know the reality that none of us and nothing is ever beyond the transforming power of love.

Other images come into focus:

• Thousands gathering for the second inauguration of President Barack Obama calling for all Americans to come together for the common good, but are we willing to listen and hear those who think and feel differently from us?
• A young, slight girl in Somalia, carrying her skeletally thin younger brother to a feeding station.
• So many disparate people across the globe uniting via their computers to stand together to take on issues of justice and harmful practices for so many who individually do not have access themselves to power and influence.  Together they are achieving changes in policy and action of even governments and multinational corporations.
• So many community groups working together to care and provide opportunities for those on the edges of our societies. Love in action rather than doctrinaire words being spouted or tweeted.
• The lady in front of me who spent so much time explaining with gentleness and humor the intricacies of releasing a shopping cart to a confused elderly gentleman at the local grocery store reminding me how unimportant my egotistic notions of being busy and time pressured are in the real scale of things. Later when I speak to her in the store and thank her for reminding me by her actions of what it is to be caring and human, I discover that on this bitterly cold day she is out buying groceries for an elderly neighbor.

Lord God, may the heat and transforming power of such loving actions fill our hearts and minds as we make often small choices in the course of our day so that as drops of hatred spread out ripples far and wide, the even more powerful ripples of loving actions and attitudes will cascade out giving life to giver and receiver and changing our communities, locally, nationally and internationally.

Heavenly Father, creator of each one of us, be close to those who suffer, are alone, frightened, in danger, without hope. As I kneel before you, let my brothers and sisters in need be with me receiving the touch of life, love and light in whatever darkness we find ourselves. Bind us as one in you.  Apart we are so ulnerable and weak. Together we are united and share our strengths and joys as well as our pain and sorrows.

Lord make us one, in You, in Love.

AMEN

(1) No Future Without Forgiveness: A Personal Overview of South Africa's Truth

and Reconciliation Commission , Desmond Tutu, C 2000.

World in Prayer is a ministry of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist

Lodi, California, USA, and is written by a team of writers representing different denominations throughout the U.S., Canada and Great Britain.

Write to us at worldinprayer@aol.com

Peruvian Siblings Have U.S. Home

Scott and Lauren Sterling already had two kids, Logan, 19, and Laney, 3, when they took in five orphans from Peru: Yhonson, 17, Gerson, 15, Betsi, 12, Joel, 11, and Sibila, 9.

Resource:  Fox News

By Garrett Tenney

At first, the Sterlings didn't believe the email that reached their Missouri home: Five Peruvian siblings were orphans and needed a mommy and daddy.

It might’ve been scam. But the five hopeful children whose pictures were in the email weren't asking for money, just making a plaintive plea that worked its way into the hearts of Scott and Lauren Sterling. When the couple checked into it, they learned the children's parents indeed had both died of tuberculosis.

And although they were already busy with two kids -- Scott's 17-year-old daughter from a previous marriage and their 15-month-old girl -- one night. Lauren couldn’t fight the nagging feelings anymore.

“Somebody’s got to do it, and why can’t it be us?” Lauren, 30, said to her husband.

It was pretty much decided then that they were going to adopt the kids, who had struggled to stay together after their parents died some seven years ago. Now they desperately needed some grownup help.The kids had learned of the adoption ministry at the Sterlings' church from a congregant who had met them in South America.

Just last month, the Peruvian branch of the Sterling family arrived in the United States - and their new home in Blue Springs, Mo. The kids are now at four different schools because of their ages, and transitioning to school in America has been a struggle. But their English is improving by the day, Lauren Sterling said, and the boys are looking forward to playing soccer for their schools next fall.

Read more...

Thank you to Laurie Sahlie for passing on this article to us.

Lesotho Visit

Great News!

We have been in contact with Rev. Kathryn Threadgill of Government Street Presbyterian Church in Mobile, Alabama.  A mission team from GSPC has recently returned from a wonderful trip visiting Nancy and Frank Dimmock in Lesotho, South Africa.

We look forward to hearing more from them and also sharing the good news of their spiritual and rewarding journey.

Torch Of Faith & Ministry Of Hope

We have just received our first newsletter from Torch Of Faith!

For ten years, Torch of Faith has bolstered other nonprofits who serve the poor. Our preference is for ministries that offer a "hand up," not a "hand out." You will see this in the Self Development of People projects through Puentes de Cristo, the "clean and sober" case management of Healthy Choices, and the Room in the Inn emphasis at Alice Volunteer Services. Please find it in your heart to support one of our partners. You can read the latest about their ministries and needs in the articles below. Visit us at TorchofFaith.com. Thank you in advance!

Director Krin Van Tatenhove will travel to Lesotho in March to explore a partnership with Ministry of Hope. The mission of MOH is, "To glorify God by reaching out to the orphans, widows, disabled and the destitute with the gospel of Jesus Christ as we minster to their basic needs, providing hope..." Lesotho is hard hit by the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. MOH provides communnity-based resources for children orphaned by this epidemic.

God bless all of you, and carry the torch for your generation!

El Tren Macho

Are We Praying Correctly?

Resource:  Got Questions

Question: "How can I be sure I am praying according to the will of God?"

Answer: Man's highest aim should be to bring glory to God (1 Corinthians 10:31), and this includes praying according to His will. First, we must ask for wisdom. “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). In asking for wisdom, we must also trust that God is gracious and willing to answer our prayers: “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt” (James 1:6; see also Mark 11:24). So, praying according to the will of God includes asking for wisdom (to know the will of God) and asking in faith (to trust the will of God).

Read more...

Is Corporate Prayer Important?

Resource:  Got Questions

Question: "Is corporate prayer important? Is corporate prayer more powerful than an individual praying alone?"

Answer: Corporate prayer is an important part of the life of the church, along with worship, sound doctrine, communion, and fellowship. The early church met regularly to learn the doctrine of the apostles, break bread, and pray together (Acts 2:42). When we pray together with other believers, the effects can be very positive. Corporate prayer edifies and unifies us as we share our common faith. The same Holy Spirit who dwells within each believer causes our hearts to rejoice as we hear praises to our Lord and Savior, knitting us together in a unique bond of fellowship found nowhere else in life.

To those who may be alone and struggling with life’s burdens, hearing others lift them up to the throne of grace can be a great encouragement. It also builds in us love and concern for others as we intercede for them. At the same time, corporate prayer will only be a reflection of the hearts of the individuals who participate. We are to come to God in humility (James 4:10), truth (Psalm 145:18), obedience (1 John 3:21-22), with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6) and confidence (Hebrews 4:16). Sadly, corporate prayer can also become a platform for those whose words are directed not to God, but to their hearers. Jesus warned against such behavior in Matthew 6:5-8 where he exhorts us not to be showy, long-winded, or hypocritical in our prayers, but to pray secretly in our own rooms in order to avoid the temptation of using prayer hypocritically.

Read more...

Greetings From Perú

Brenda & Sarah-Kate Magee

Below is a letter sent to our mission friends on behalf of Brenda Paredes. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with her as she wins her fight against tuberculosis. She knows that God hears all prayers, and with continued treatment and resulting better health, she will soon be able to return to the U.S.

Brenda is more than a translator for our teams. Brenda is a result of what is good about mission travels. Brenda has become a part of us...

Good morning from Peru,

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas celebration, and wish you the best for the coming year.

I would love to thank everyone so much for your prayers and your support. Thank you for believing in me and helping me with school during this difficult time.

My family and I have had some tough days; we had ups and downs since we knew I had this disease. At the beginning of the disease, I thought I was not going to make it and felt too weak and fragile to fight. But then, I realized that I couldn't give up so easily because I have God, a wonderful family and great friends. And those friends are YOU. People that I love and want to see again soon.

I have no words to describe God’s hands in my life. I’m very thankful to the Lord for letting me travel to the U.S., for letting me go to Winthrop University, and for giving me two angels that I miss so much, Van and Connie. God is listening to your prayers for healing.

I have learned a lot from this experience. I’m now much healthier but I am still in treatment. But I’m confident that God is with us all the way through.

I apologize for not getting in touch with you all very much, but believe me when I say, I have you all in my heart. I can’t wait to see you all at Sharon.

Me and my Peruvian family send all our love to you.

With love,

Brenda

New Tuberculosis Drug

Resource:  CBS News

A new tuberculosis drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration on Monday, making it the newest medicine to fight the deadly infection in more than 40 years.

The FDA on Monday approved a Johnson & Johnson tuberculosis pill called Sirturo for use with older drugs to fight a hard-to-treat strain of tuberculosis that has not responded to other medications.

Treatment-resistant tuberculosis is a concern of international health officials. A World Health Organization report in October found high prevalence of drug-resistant TB cases in India and China despite a falling global prevalence of TB.

However, the agency cautioned that the drug carries risks of potentially deadly heart problems and should be prescribed carefully by doctors.

Roughly one-third of the world's population is estimated to be infected with the bacteria causing tuberculosis. The disease is rare in the U.S., but kills about 1.4 million people a year worldwide. Of those, about 150,000 succumb to the increasingly common drug-resistant forms of the disease. About 60 percent of all cases are concentrated in Russia and Eastern Europe in addition to China and India.

Read more...