Report from Manuel Salazar Cortez

Ministry

We’ve got to say that time flys by! Four months have gone by since we were in the city of Chiclayo, having a vacation and renewing our strength in the Lord so that we can get back into the work that the Lord has called us to. This break seems like yesterday.

We are amazed how the time goes by so fast and we are getting older. But this doesn’t scare us, no, the other way around, knowing that our lives are in the hands of the Lord and it is He who sustains us and says to us “don’t be afraid I am with you, I will not leave you or forsake you." This is a truth that we experience every day of every year. 

Visit to the Chembo Ashaninca ethnic community

Half way through the month of March, together with my fellow missionaries, we took a short trip to the Ashaninca community in Chembo with the aim of taking some school materials to the local school there. The trip was approximately 2 hours long and during the trip there was a huge rain deluge that made it impossible to advance towards our destination. We arrived very wet but when we arrived the parents were there waiting with their children for the school materials that we had offered them. The day was very cold and wet but approximately 250 school age children turned up, kids from primary and secondary schools.

After sharing a short Bible message with them we distributed the school materials grade by grade and at the end the parents, authorities and the Chembo community showed their appreciation for this unsolicited gesture. Finally, the community authorities, some teachers and some others were given a Bible.

Working with adolescents in Maucayapi

We worked among the Maucayapi adolescents, holding a Bible study on Sundays, teaching “Firm Foundations” using the inductive method. This method will lead us to study the Word of God in a methodical, chronological way, the events that have to do with salvation, from Genesis to the arrival of the Saviour. This will take us approximately the rest of the year, Sunday by Sunday. (Photo shows the young people setting up the seats for the Bible study)

Construction of classrooms in the Maucayapi community

Regarding the construction of the Sunday school classrooms, small advances have been made and we hope that with the Lord’s help and the help of other believers who can collaborate with us, we can complete the construction of the classrooms. This would help us to have a better environment for the children and adolescents to do their work in a more beneficial way. 

Visit to the Ashaninca community in Aoti

From the 12th - 14th of July I was invited to the community in Aoti to talk about the Christian family. Believers from El Milagro, Chamirari and other communities also participated. One lady who attended the event said that up until then she had been ignoring and not looking after her husband but when she listened to the teaching on how a wife should treat her husband, the Lord opened her heart to how she should act. On the same day the woman previously mentioned put in to practice what she had learnt, paying attention to her husband more than ever.

I am grateful to God for these days that I spent in Aoti with the people there. During the meetings five people were baptised and there were four weddings. Together with two of my fellow missionaries, Antonia Yalta and Cristiana Salas, we witnessed the weddings in the church in Aoti. What was interesting was that we put on the local dress as the locals did (Manuel on left and Antonia on right in photo). I had the opportunity to share some of my life experiences with the four couples who were going to celebrate their marriages. When I was sharing an example about whenever my wife has made lunch or tea, I say to her “that was lovely, what a great job”, and that there should be mutual acknowledgement when the wife or the husband does something toward the other partner, a woman who was listening started to cry and said that her husband never acknowledges her at all. One of my colleagues consoled her. It was lovely to be able to share in this way and support these brothers and sisters. I am grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to be of help and blessing to many families in Aoti.

Visit to Cheni 

From 17th -18th July we visited, along with Peter Hocking, one of our fellow missionaries, Augusto Díaz, in his Cheni community. We were able to see firsthand the reality of life for our colleague. His precarious home, the church, does not have good electric lighting and the battery that he has isn’t capable of giving enough electric flow to lighten up the meeting place. 

It is mainly women and children who attend the meetings, there are very few men who attend and they are short of Sunday school material. The meetings are conducted in Ashaninca, Augusto’s mother tongue.

The believers there were very appreciative of our visit.

Personal 

In spite of going through difficult times with our health and other issues over these past few months, our God has always been there to sustain us. At the beginning it was not easy to apply the knowledge of the Word of God to love and forgive those that do us wrong but as the days went by I learnt that He has control of all things and that sometimes things happen to us as we start to let our prayer life slip, or when we are unwilling to obey and accept what God reveals to us. I am leaning to have patience, love those who do wrong to us, pray for those that hurt us and to look at each situation with spiritual maturity. Even though each situation might be very difficult I can see the lesson for growth in my spiritual life. 

Family

As well as trials in our lives there are times of joy, as God’s Word says in the book of Ecclesiastes, there is a time for everything. Our first granddaughter was born to our youngest daughter which has brought a lot of happiness to our family. 

My wife has started a course of treatment for her bone decalcification disorder (osteopenia) and the pain in her hands and feet which is possibly an arthritis problem.  

I still have the radiculopathy in my left leg and broken scoliosis and I have to continually do rehabilitation therapies to be able to get better and to recuperate. I hope I don’t have to have an operation. 

My mother’s health is not as good as it should be for an 87-year-old. She has an abdominal hernia and cannot get operated on because of her health. 

My mother-in-law has problems with her sight but cannot be operated on because there is no cure. She can only have prescribed eye drops to control the problem.

With everything I have said to date, I can say assuredly that nothing nor anyone can separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Prayer and Praise Points

1) For the spiritual lives of the adults, adolescents and children in the Ashaninca community of Maucayapi. That the Word of God that has been imparted to them during the week will bring about changes in their lives.
2) That this year God would help us in the training and formation of leaders in the church who would take up the responsibilities of leading the small congregation at Maucayapi.
3) That God would continue to provide economically for the construction of the Sunday school rooms at Maucayapi and that the construction could be completed this year and then the library room can be started.
4) That God would provide new opportunities to initiate a missionary work in other communities surrounding Atalaya in order to establish the Lord’s church.
5) Pray that God would give us much wisdom when we are teaching His Word and that He would continue to use us as He wills.
6) Pray for my family, that God would strengthen us each day in our personal discovery of Him and that we would apply what He teaches us to our lives.
7) Pray for the health of my wife, and my health too. 
8) Pray that God would provide economically for us so that we can buy medicines for my wife. Her treatment is for 1 year and some of the pills are expensive, especially the Ibandronic Acid and the Collagen. 

Comments

I am grateful to God and to you, fellow believers, for supporting us as we seek to accomplish the missionary work in this land, reaching many people that are yet to know the Lord as well as strengthening the spiritual lives of our fellow believers where God has put us. 

Your prayers are and will be important for the advancement of the work of the Lord in the different communities where He permits us to reach for His glory. Your offerings, that help to supply our needs and the projects that we are working on in the various places in the Amazon jungle, are very much appreciated. May God bless you.

In the advancement of the Kingdom of God,

Manuel, Lucy, Stephanie and Sue Abigail Salazar