COLOMBIA REPORT
January 2014 newsletter of Mark and Barbara Stringer, missionaries to Colombia, South America
Dear Prayer Partners,
I, Mark, thrilled this January first as I remembered that God has given me 14 more years than I asked for when in 1986 a doctor in Joplin told me that I had about two more years to live. I asked God to let me see the year 2000 on this earth, and he doubled that, making 2014 my 28th year since that sad prediction. The best thing is that I’ve been favored with good health and a continuing ministry.
With God’s blessing Barbara has successfully survived two cataract surgeries, a broken femur and a total knee replacement. She is rapidly gaining strength and life is returning to normal. It’s so good to see her living without taking pain medication. The Lord is our protector and your prayers are our lifeline.
Medellín provides musical training for children
Marilyn, pastor Gamaliel’s wife, did a great job this year leading the Christmas program at church. You’ll remember that we helped her get her music degree at the local Adventist university. But we were also thrilled by the great number of children participating with different musical instruments they are learning.
The city of Medellín has organized schools of music throughout the city, paying teachers to teach interested children to play an instrument at almost no cost to the parents. All three of our son Andrew’s children are taking advantage of this opportunity, and Victoria, the oldest, is getting very good on the violin. Since I play the violin, this is very special to me. By the way, the city also encourages children’s participation in sports, and Victoria is becoming a very good swimmer. The city is doing these things to give all the children who want it an alternative to drugs and gangs. Before this was just reserved for those who had lots of money.
If you ask, in another newsletter I’ll tell you about some other good things our city is doing and that the church is getting behind.
Our matriarchal society
The people who live in and around Medellín call themselves “PAISAS”. They are generally a hard working, creative people who have made Medellín Colombia’s industrial capital. Just down the street from us on 43rd avenue is the “MILLA DE ORO”, (translated “golden mile”). It is lined with the home offices of many huge companies. However, the men’s philandering ways have forced many women to take over the task of keeping the home running, and has elevated their position in the home. There is even a saying, “anyone can be your father, but you only have one mother”. One of our church couples has now made three unsuccessful efforts to get all their papers together so they can get legally married. When this third attempt failed due to a technicality about the wife’s birth certificate, the husband, Arturo, was visibly shaken, and he blamed it on the fact that his mother had cursed his relationship with his partner around 40 years ago.
The assassins at the service of drug lords that once raised Medellín to the terrible position of being the second most dangerous place on earth to live, came almost exclusively from homes without a father. With the explosive growth of the evangelical churches and the conversion of multitudes, many men like Arturo are understanding God’s will for human sexuality, and are now being faithful to their wives and leaders in their homes. Barbara and I are glad to be part of this change, and emphasize it by example. Our 52nd anniversary is coming up January 17 due to the power of the gospel in our lives.
This and that
We praise God for people who have sent in special offerings to help out on medical expenses and for year end gifts to our mission work. We also thank Harold, Barbara’s brother, for opening his home to us during her recent knee replacement operation and recovery, and Elmer and Fern Falk for providing wheels for us while we were in the U.S. We think that by February Medicare will have spoken and we will be able to give a more complete assessment of our financial situation.
We continue in prayer about the last year and a half of monthly payments the church in Bucaramanga owes on their house of worship. The church is giving enough to pay either the pastor’s salary or the payments on the house of worship, but not both. As of the first of January the church in the U.S. that was helping them cannot continue. The payments are about $700.00 monthly, which doesn’t seem like so much to us, but to a people whose minimum salary is about $300.00, it is the mountain that Jesus taught about moving in Mark 11:23.
We are happy to report that Huberney, the avocado salesman, has given his heart to Jesus and been baptized. I can tell it is the real thing as I see the hunger for the Word in his eyes. He wants me to teach him twice a week now.
Mark & Barbara