DAY 1 – FERENANDO AND BRENDA LARZABAL: INDIGENOUS OF COLOMBIA
From missions field to missionary force – that’s the dream of Fernando and Brenda Larzabal for the South American nation of Colombia.
“The Gospel has been in Colombia for more than 150 years,” Fernando says. “Our problem is that the average Colombian Christian has the perception that missions belongs to somebody else. But missions belongs to the local church.”
That’s why the Larzabals are working to mobilize Colombian churches for the sake of evangelizing the country’s indigenous tribes.
Isolated from the Gospel by remote locales, social prejudice and insurgent armies, more than 60 of these tribes have no knowledge of Jesus Christ. Most are animists, spirit-worshippers who live in fear of failing to appease gods they can neither know nor love.
“Without God there is slavery,” Fernando says. “Without Christ there is fear and that’s what they breathe day in and day out.”
Pray that more Colombian churches will grasp their Great Commission calling and respond to the indigenous tribes’ need for the Gospel.
Ask the Lord to give Fernando and Brenda wisdom as they choose where to invest their time and energy.
DAY 2 – RICK AND KELLY MARTINEZ: AYMARA OF PERU
Unlike many of the world’s lost, not having the opportunity to “hear” about Jesus isn’t the problem for Peru’s Aymara people.
“Everybody here has heard about Jesus – everybody,” explains Florida native Rick Martinez, who serves among the Aymara in the high plains of the Andes Mountains with his wife, Kelly, from Tennessee.
When Catholic missionaries first brought the Gospel to Peru hundreds of years ago, the Aymara blended it with their animistic traditions. The result is a folk Catholicism that reveres both God and natural “spirits” – not saving faith in Jesus.
Rick and Kelly separate worship of creation and Creator by presenting an undiluted Gospel message through simple Bible studies coupled with the JESUS film. They’ve launched three new churches so far. It’s a good start, but only a beginning.
“My ultimate vision is to see Aymara going out with a heart for their own people,” Rick says. “Once that starts to happen, I don’t think it will ever stop.”
Ask God to raise up young Aymaran believers who have a passion for sharing the Gospel with their own people. Pray the Holy Spirit will move the Aymara beyond spiritual apathy and churches will be planted in the cities of Huancané and Moho.
DAY 3 – PHIL AND DONYA KESLER: ETHNIC MINISTRIES, BRAZIL
One of the first things Virginians Phil and Donya Kesler noticed when they moved to Rio de Janeiro in 2006 was the international connections the city offered – produce shops managed by Chinese workers and Arabic mosques and churches were all just a short distance from their home.
As an ethnic ministries coordinator, Phil travels throughout the country training Brazilian missionaries in cross-cultural outreach. It’s a perfect fit with Phil’s natural gift for language. He can read, write and speak Portuguese, Arabic, French, Chinese and Spanish.
Phil and Donya teach a specific method for church planting known as “Churches Multiplying Churches.” The idea is to start a new church while simultaneously training local believers to assume leadership roles. Once the church is established, missionaries can move on to begin work in another area.
“Brazil is the next major country, we believe, to send waves of missionaries to help [spread] the Gospel from the unreached places in Brazil to the farthest nations on earth,” Phil says.
“We would like to thank Southern Baptists for your prayers – essential for keeping us in the field – but also for your generous giving that makes it possible for us to recruit, mobilize, train and equip Brazilian missionaries as well as strategic partners,” he says.
DAY 4 – DARRELL AND ROGENE MUSICK: IMBABURA QUICHUA OF ECUADOR
At 12,000 feet in the Ecuadorian Andes, Quichua farmers bring their sheep, pigs and cows to former New Mexico ranchers Darrell and Rogene Musick. But they get a lot more than pesticide, medicine and nutritional advice.
Farmers hear the Gospel message related through some of life’s most basic elements: water, salt and light.
“We say, ‘Let me tell you what God thinks about this,’” Darrell says. “And because they’re people of the land, they really identify with these agricultural concepts.”
Through this gateway, the Musicks and local believers have seen approximately 40 house churches and Bible studies started among the 300,000 Quichua of northern Ecuador. The teams are led by Gabriel Mugmal, a national believer who was once nearly burned to death for sharing his faith.
“He literally took the Great Commission in Matthew 28, that it was his responsibility to go to other communities and just talk to them,” Darrell says. “The money that supports us comes through churches that may not be able to physically go, but they have God’s blessing through their special offerings,” Darrell says. “One hundred percent of that money goes to the field so that everyone will know about Christ.”
DAY 5 – KEITH AND DEBORAH JEFFERSON: QUILOMBOLAS OF BRAZIL
When Ivanilson Costa arrived in Tombo to teach Quilombola children, he was the sole Christian in the Brazilian village. For 10 months, Costa prayed for someone to help him share Christ.
God answered Costa’s prayers in December 2005 when missionaries Keith and Deborah Jefferson of Texas visited.
“Before they arrived, it was almost prohibited to speak words of Christianity,” Ivanilson says, “and now we preach openly.”
Keith estimates more than 2,800 Quilombola villages are spread across 23 of Brazil’s 26 states. The villages, established as safe havens for runaway slaves in the 17th century, are still safely tucked away from civilization in Brazil’s remote interior. But the same isolation that served to protect the Quilombolas from slave owners in the 1600s has also shielded them from hearing the Gospel.
“There will never be enough missionaries to reach the lost people groups of Brazil, so we’re here to encourage, challenge and help the Brazilians to reach the people groups of Brazil,” Keith says.
Ask God to touch Brazilian believers’ hearts for the sake of sharing Jesus with the Quilombola.
Pray also that those who hear the Gospel message will accept Christ’s free gift of salvation.
DAY 6 – LARRY AND NANCY JACKSON: REAP NORTH, PERU
Going into mountain and jungle villages, missionaries Larry and Nancy Jackson endure bumpy, unpaved roads and 10-hour boat rides to plant churches in Peru.
The Jacksons, from North Carolina, hold out hope that a Southern Baptist church will feel led to adopt each people group they research.
Through REAP (Rapid Entry Advance Plan) North, the couple, in the International Mission Board’s Masters Program, helps churches connect with people groups in Peru and Bolivia.
Masters missionaries are those 50 or older who commit to at least two or three years of overseas service.
Today more than 25 churches have promised to invest their efforts in approximately 15 areas with the Jacksons.
Fanning out from the more evangelized city centers, Larry will continue researching and contacting people groups on the edges of darkness to connect Baptists with the lost of South America.
“You can see your money at work when you look at us because that’s how we’re funded,” Larry says.
“When you give money, people’s lives are changed. If you want to come to Peru, I’ll show you.” Larry added.
DAY 7 – CHARLES AND MARY SWANNER: THE DEAF OF URUGUAY
In a country that once forbade its deaf to sign, missionary Mary Swanner from North Carolina
is something of a pioneer. That’s because she’s dedicated more than 20 years of her life to teaching Uruguay’s deaf about Jesus through sign language.
Mary says much of her early ministry was spent simply earning trust. The deaf are often wary of the hearing world. Because much of society considers them to be inferior, teaching them about God’s love is especially challenging.
“The deaf are suspicious of hearing people and their motives for getting close to them,” Mary says. “All this compounds the resistance to the Gospel.”
For several years Swanner’s team didn’t see any fruit from their labor. But in 2002, they began planting deaf churches where entire services were conducted in sign language. Deaf congregations soon began to grow.
Mary and her husband, Charles, plan to retire in about five years. They’re praying God will raise up new leaders to carry on the work among the deaf in Uruguay.
Pray the Lord will raise up bold believers within deaf churches and that they will continue to spread His Word throughout Uruguay.
DAY 8 – ERIC AND RAMONA REESE: URBAN POOR OF BRAZIL
It’s 9:20 p.m. when Eric Reese maneuvers his truck through the dirt roads of a slum in Rio de Janeiro. With frequent shootouts, prostitution and drug trafficking in the streets, the favelas (slums) are a rough place to share the Gospel. He taps on the ceiling light of his Chevy pickup as he drives. It’s a signal to everyone outside the cab that he’s not a threat.
“In these communities, it’s an ugly evil you’ve got to deal with,” Eric says, “but you’ve got to deal with it. We can’t stand here and let these people shoot and kill each other without the Gospel being preached.”
Seeing past the violence and corruption is a challenge for the Reeses.
But the self-destruction that keeps some from receiving Christ is what compels the Georgia natives to share.
“Communicating the Gospel with these folks cannot wait until tomorrow,” Eric says. “You’ve got to share it with them today because you don’t know what their tomorrow holds.”
Ask God to use the difficult conditions in Rio de Janeiro’s slums to show people their need for a Savior. Pray for Eric and Ramona’s personal safety as they work to share the Gospel in this dangerous place.