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Prayer Letter
HCJB Global: be the Voice and Hands of
Jesus.
May 4, 2008
Hola FBC! Greetings from a still rainy Quito, Ecuador. It appears
that our winter wants to hang in there for a few weeks more. However
this means the snow-capped mountains here in the Andes are more
majestic than ever! Praise God for His incredible creation!!!
My last edition of the Chips was sent the night before leaving for
Ecuador’s coast to serve on a disaster relief team. This was
just one of a total of six teams sent by HCJB Global Hands to serve
and minister to the thousands of Ecuadorians affected by the heavy
rains and flooding. The team on which I served provided medical
care and evangelistic outreach. We saw an average of over 300 patients
daily. But don’t worry, I didn’t do anything medical!
I know, you were wondering what a radio producer was doing helping
with a medical brigade. I basically helped wherever I could with
whatever I could, but gave no medical advice! So don’t worry…
Because the areas affected by the flooding are in the broadcast
coverage area of our Guayaquil radio station, HCJB-2, one of my
co-workers from the station gave reports throughout the day in order
to help our listeners know how to pray for what was going on. There
are a few pictures on the HCJB-2 website -- www.hcjb2.org -- and
we’ll be putting up some more. Just go down the page a bit
and look for the title: “Brigadas Médicas en Guayas,
Los Ríos y Santa Elena”.
The relief teams responded to a request for help by Ecuador’s
Ministry of Health and we worked in conjunction with the local health
authorities in the three provinces impacted by the flooding: Guayas,
Los Ríos y Santa Elena. My heart was broken by what I saw,
but encouraged to know that even in the midst of disaster, God brings
hope. In fact, He is the only true source of hope. Thanks for your
prayers for protection and safety.
Let’s go now to Juan Montalvo, Cayambe, northeast of Quito.
As you know from past Chips, this is where the Ecuador Summer Teams
from Chinese Grace Bible Church (Sacramento, CA) have ministered
since 2001. March and April were months of mixed emotions for the
church. There was rejoicing in the ordination of a full-time pastor
as well as a baptismal service. However, one of the church families
experienced the tragic loss of two family members due to a traffic
accident.
Mario and Elsa Hernández are relatively new Christians, having
trusted Christ as their personal Savior last year. It was their
son, Xavier, who first surrendered his life to Jesus after seeing
what Jesus had done in changing the lives of several of his extended
family members. On Good Friday, Xavier and his grandfather (Mario’s
dad) were involved in an accident. The grandfather died at the scene.
Xavier was taken to the hospital in Cayambe and then immediately
transferred to a hospital here in Quito where he died two days later.
He was 15 years old.
I can’t remember a time when Xavier wasn’t smiling. Christ
made an incredible impact in his young life, and Xavier expressed
that impact with his constant smile. He was indeed an ambassador
for Christ! Please pray for Mario and his wife in this difficult
time with the loss of their son and father/father-in-law. May the
God of all comfort be so real to them now. Praise God for the church
family in Juan Montalvo who has come around the Hernández
family to hold them up.
On April 6, Pastor José Túquerez was ordained as the
full-time pastor of the Iglesia Emanuel in Juan Montalvo. He has
served faithfully as the lay pastor for many years while continuing
to work as a construction foreman in order to support his family.
He has now taken this big step of faith to go into full-time ministry,
trusting in his great God to meet all his needs. The ordination
service included many of the leaders from the national Covenant
Church and was a great testimony to God’s leading in Pastor
José’s life as well as the life of the church. Please
pray for Pastor José and his family as they embark on this
new spiritual journey.
The following Sunday, April 13, six members of the church took the
step of water baptism as they publicly witnessed to God’s Hand
in their lives. One was a young man that I had the privilege of
leading to Christ in July 2007. It was heart-warming to hear Angel’s
testimony of how God has worked and is working in his life. Please
pray that God will continue to mold Angel to be a true man of God
and a bold witness to those around him.
It may be hard to believe, but I’ve actually been in the country
since March 5th, when I returned from our training trip in Brazil.
However, that is changing as of this week. I leave Wednesday for
a 23-day trip that will take me to:
> Cary, North Carolina for the annual meeting of the National
Association of Shortwave Broadcasters…
> La Mesilla, Guatemala for radio training with Christian broadcasters,
hosted by Radio Impacto. I will be accompanied by Jon Hull, Vice
President of Programming for radio station KSBJ in Houston, Texas
and Armando Zerón, producer at Radio HRVC and Stereo Luz,
the Evangelical Voice of Honduras…
> Miami, Florida for the annual Expolit conference where the
latest Spanish Christian music and literature is released…
> Baton Rouge, Louisiana for radio training at a Spanish Christian
station there. John Varela of HCJB’s North Africa/Middle East
Region and Luis Mora, Director of HCJB-2 Guayaquil will be my training
partners…
> Orlando, Florida area for meetings to plan our September radio
training at a large conference of indigenous leaders and pastors
in northern Brazil.
As you can see, I’m making up for my lack of travels in April
with the May schedule. Thanks in advance for your prayers for travel
safety, energy and clarity of teaching. What a great honor to come
alongside other Christian communicators in Spanish-speaking America
so they can be more effective and intentional in their radio ministries.
Muchas, muchas gracias for accompanying me in this journey. By your
prayers and financial support, it is possible for me to minister
in Latin America.
Thank you for reading this edition of the Banana Chips and, most
of all, thanks for praying. Together we serve a great God!
Allen.
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Allen Graham
HCJB Global Voice, Quito, Ecuador; www.hcjbglobal.org
e-mail: agraham@hcjb.org.ec
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