Barbara and Dwight serve in Chile with the Convention of Baptist Churches-Chilean Mission in ministries of economic and leadership development. Their primary focus is with Mapuche churches in southern Chile. The Mapuche are the indigenous people of Chile and Argentina. Most of them live on small farms in isolated rural communities called "reductions." They struggle with severe poverty, lack of sustainable livelihoods, and the debilitating, culture-eroding effects of centuries of domination. Their vision is to see Mapuche churches that are strong in their identity, not ashamed of their culture, much less of the gospel, and so better equipped to do Christ-like ministry in the Mapuche way. They will shortly be returning to Chile having spent a year on U.S./Puerto Rico assignment.

 

They write: Today six pastors and three laypeople from southern Chile churches brought flour, rice, pasta, water, coffee, tea, sugar and toiletry items to Concepcion, Los Angeles, Laja, and Cerro Verde for distribution by the churches.

Lord Merino, a pastor in Temuco and Director of the Southern District, writes about what he saw. "The hardest thing to see, apart from so much destruction, was the people’s hunger.   To rise up as a country the first thing we need to do is eat, and the people are so hungry that it seems difficult for them even to rise up.  I gave away the money you sent to women and children of Cerro Verde that were so hungry.  In the end nothing was sufficient.  There are so many stories.  It was complicated even to take a photo without feeling morbid and being afraid of offending them, that they might think we were just tourists.  As the curfew was about to fall, we were giving away even the crumbs of bread we had in our pockets.  To have a little clean water was a privilege.”
 
People are walking along the coastline, dazed, without anywhere to go, with a lost look in their eyes.  We did not see many children in the streets because it is not safe for them.  The curfew only allows six hours in the daytime to walk around and they use it to look for water coming from springs higher up the hills, trickling over the sides of the highway, or to look for food wherever they can.
 
Help from the government still has not gotten there.  Distribution of food and water is a chaos.  The women need clean clothes and intimate wear.  They don’t have blankets, bedding, bed clothes.  They are living in unstable, makeshift shelters for six days now.  They can’t bathe.  They sleep by day and guard their things through the night.  We just hope it doesn’t rain because that would be the end.”

• Pray for the people of Chile and for those whom God is raising up to meet their need.
• Pray for the witness of believers as they minister to the needs of the people.
• Pray for Barbara and Dwight as they minister in the name of Jesus and for their children Jack (10) and Will (5)