February 2010 Prayer Update

It's Carnaval time here in SC and most of us are hunkered down trying not to get targeted by paint. It is the custom here to throw water, paint and, as people have had a bit too much to drink, less mentionable things. My sister, Aimée is here trying to usher me into the world of technology and communication. This is my first attempt at updating my own blog (designed by her). Emily is also here and will be my secretary and adviser in this venture.

This month our team has sat down several times to nail down the details of our 2010 calendar and budget. Please pray the latter will be sufficient to support the former. One major activity this month is a trip we will make as a team to the area of San José, east of SC. There is a small village called FUA in that area. We are trying to help them finish up their chapel building and perhaps help improve their schoolhouse. Please pray for us as we travel there from the 19th to the 22nd of this month. We'll also be visiting the tiny town of Santiago to see what the felt needs are there in order to decide about future involvement.

I am having a good time with the ladies in Barrio Bolivar squatters' camp. Leoncia, Benial's widow, has been very helpful to me out there and I have been working to encourage her. Please pray God would strengthen her heart and raise her up as a woman of God to serve her people in a new way now that Benial is gone. Aimée has been giving some talks in Barrio Bolivar regarding the use of indigenous worship styles. Please pray these talks will encourage the Ayoré women to use elements from their own culture to worship God.

Andrew and Aimée (who are on a mini-sabbatical until the end of February) will also be helping our team look into this subject more as they give us some workshops on Cultural Anthropology as applied to missions. Please pray that as we meet for these talks on the 17th, 24th and 25th of this month, God would help us to see ways in which we can help encourage the Ayoré church in contextualization and that we can become more culturally sensitive for God's glory.

On the 27th, with the help of SAM Bolivia's Children's Ministry Team, we will be holding a one-day retreat for Ayoré children from a couple of urban camps. Please pray for God's provision for the food and transportation and also for a time when the children will truly feel God's love through us.

Leoncia, Marina (the wife of Humberto Etacore, an Ammi grad) and I will be heading to Brazil at the beginning of March for an Indigenous women's conference sponsored by CONPLEI (National Association of Indigenous Pastors and Leaders). I will let you know how it goes. I am to speak on the effects of alcoholism on unborn children and also give a couple of devotionals. Please pray for traveling mercies, for me as I try to speak publicly in Portuguese after so long and that Leoncia and Marina will be encouraged by seeing and hearing the stories of so many Christian Indigenous women serving the Lord in their own context.

Thank you for praying!

Love,
Toni