newsletter no. 308 september 2020 - la siesta evangelical church · 2020. 8. 30. · newsletter no....
TRANSCRIPT
Newsletter No. 308
September 2020
Minister
Jeanie Cooper
655790314
E-mail: [email protected]
Hon. Minister
Rev. Alberto Araujo
Minute & Administrative Secretary
Pauline Sanders
Email: [email protected]
Page 1 Newsletter 308
September 2020
Hello everyone How are you all coping with the restrictions that keep changing? Can you keep up with all the changes? Sadly it seems as if it´s the young who are now the more vulnerable to catching the virus although much more mildly than the earlier victims. It’s a little scary not knowing when the problem is going to end. I think we have to be very attentive and continue to be vigilant and keep wearing our masks whenever we are out and about. Since the last magazine letter we have had three church services and by the time you read this we will have held two more. It really is great to see real people at the services instead of just sending out an email copy every week. Everyone is being very good about wearing masks and social distancing. We are hoping that the fourth Sunday in September will be out first communion service. After our elders meeting on Friday 21st we have decided to restart the communion service on Sunday 27th September. the communion initially will be celebrated after the main service but, as with the service, you will need to let your elder know if you want to partake of the communion...but there will be more information about this nearer the time. During the past few weeks we have heard about Jesus walking on the water when the disciples were in the middle of the lake during a storm. We heard about Peter walking on the water, having been encouraged by Jesus to do so and how he sank because he stopped focusing on Jesus. A message for us to keep focusing on Jesus and our faith in order to spread the good news. We heard Jesus asking the disciples who people thought He was. Answers ranged from John the Baptist to Elijah, to another of the prophets. Only Peter seemed to be aware of whom Jesus really was. As a result Jesus promised that Peter would be the rock on which to build the church. Finally the family service highlighted three missionaries whose faith had guided them to roles of spreading the word. They were Albert Schweitzer, who founded a hospital in Lambarene in what is now called Gabon. Gladys Aylward, who went to China and became a ‘foot inspector’ when the new law was passed forbidding the binding of children’s feet. Who, when Japan invaded the region where she was living, led more than 100 orphans to safety over the mountains, despite being wounded herself. She converted many of them to Christianity. Perhaps remembered most from the film ‘The Inn of the Sixth Happiness’ released in 1958. The inn was actually called the Inn of the eighth happiness....finally Eric Liddell, the athlete, who refused to race on a Sunday in the 1924 Paris Olympics because of his faith. However few seem to be aware of his heroic missionary service in China. All these people say they had been given guidance by God to follow their particular paths in life. During the coming month we need to remember all those on our prayer list, those known only to us who are sick and all who have lost family members or friends to the virus. May God pour His healing power onto the sick and give comfort to those who mourn. We thank all those involved in caring for the sick may they continue in their dedication to care, often not an easy task. We must also pray for Tracey and the children in her care as the number of cases of the virus is rising, especially in nearby Maputo. We pray that God keeps her and the children safe and virus free. May you receive God’s blessing throughout the coming weeks. Keep safe and be vigilant. Remember the 11th commandment. Thou shalt not Covid thy neighbour, wear a mask!!! God bless you all
Pastora Jeanie
A quote from Pope Francis that fits in well with one of the recent sermons. Jesus teaches us another way. Go out. Go out and share your testimony. Go out and interact with your brother. Go out and share. Go out and ask. Become the Word in Body as well as spirit.
La Siesta Evangelical Church
Page 2
Please remember in your Prayers
La Siesta Evangelical Church Newsletter 308
September 2020
Alison Ledwith Jo Jennings John Doonan Dennis McCaffrey Michael Thompson May Hurst Linda Perry Jean & Bob Gulch Laura Loft Susanna & Megan Wright’s family Sheila Rayner Gareth Pugh Myrna & Roger Coleman John Collis Jo Simpkiss Christa Hofheinz Stuart Ray Stephen & Nina Treseder Kelly Blackwood
Bernard Cox Malcolm Skevington Sandra Garman Joyce Curtis David Williams Maxine Rudd & Paul Rudd Bryan O’Leary Susan Payne Andrew Jeffrey John Taylor & Family Christine Dunn & family Steve Monk Kathy Walton Brown Robin & Linda Watkins Roxanne Gillespie Jackie & Chas Garratt Hayley Ward Joan Waddington Sherri-lee (Carol Biggs’ daughter)
Angela Wigley Beryl & Bill Jones & Debra Tracey Williams Marion Smith Jimmy (friend of Jackie & Chas) Children of Zimpeto Sybil Crossman & Pete (son) Beth (daughter of Rick) Emily Norman Christine Watkins Aryan Soorijlah Moira Doonan Kevin Munro Alberto & Lilias Araujo
Minister’s Letter
1
Services Prayer List
2
Mozambique 3
New Elders Bible Study
4
Magnets Ten Years Ago
5
David Livingstone
6-8
It’s just a thought
9
Diary Prayer
10
Church Information
11
In this edition
READINGS FOR SEPTEMBER 2020
Sunday 6th September 2020
First reading: Romans chapter 13 verses 8-14
Second reading: Matthew chapter 18 verses 15-20
Sunday 13th September 2020
First reading: Romans chapter 14 verses 1-12
Second reading: Matthew chapter 18 verses 21-35
Sunday 20th September 2020
First reading: Philippians chapter 1 verses 21-30
Second reading: Matthew chapter 20 verses 1-16
Sunday 27th September 2020
First reading: Philippians chapter 2 verses 1-13
Second reading: Matthew chapter 21 verses 23-32
Newsletter 308
September 2020 Page 3
La Siesta Evangelical Church
MOZAMBIQUE
Here is a pictorial presentation of Life at Zimpeto during the month of August.
Please pray for Tracey, her staff and the children in continuing difficult times in
Mozambique
Happy August! All these teens have been part
of my life since their Baby House days! Turning
12, 13 and 14 .. and 15 years in Zimpeto for me.
Going to be a fun month!!
15 years in Moz !! Kenssa got a matching dress ( found one her size !!) and everyone is happy KFC to celebrate!!
These three left our 4 walls for the first time in 4 months!! The
silence in the car was a real reflection on how strange life is for
us all!!
H a p p y 2 n d
Birthday Mr B.
You've been a
fighter since the
day you joined us
- how much joy
you bring us all.
Parabens .
Page 4 Newsletter 308
September 2020 La Siesta Evangelical Church
NEW ELDERS
As many of you are aware, shortly before the pandemic struck four members of the
congregation came forward in response to a plea for new elders to augment the
dangerously small number to which we had shrunk.
They are:
Colin Anderson
Kate Goodger
Peter Goodger
Phyllis Webb
It has not been possible for the four to be ordained due to the constraints placed upon
our form of service and it is not known how long this situation will last but it would
seem likely that it will be for a considerable time.
Accordingly the four new Elders have taken up full duties and responsibilities and have
been allocated members of the congregation for whom they shall be responsible.
Ordination is planned for the first communion service as we return to former reality.
ELDERS’ MEETING
BIBLE STUDY
The August Elders’ Meeting was held at the
home of Rick and José on Friday August 21st.
Among the topics discussed was the
possibility of the resumption of Bible Study. If
you are interested, please email Pauline
Sanders with following preferences:
Location, frequency, day(s) of the week, time.
The Elders will consider the feasibility and you
will be advised in due course.
Watch this space!
Page 5
La Siesta Evangelical Church Newsletter 308
September 2020
MAGNETS
“Magnets” the summer Children’s Club has been held annually in our church building for
the past sixteen years run by Rev. Steve Campbell and his wife Irene-Maria and is indeed
a veritable institution in Torrevieja. This year the dates had been booked, the contents
and syllabus prepared but sadly the event fell victim to COVID-19 and had to be
cancelled due to the restrictions in force.
Steve and Irene Maria went ahead with their annual visit to their holiday home in
Torrevieja and are with us at present. We wish them a restful and peaceful time looking
forward to “Magnets 2021”
TEN YEARS AGO
As many of our readers will know, in normal times Torrevieja hosts the internationally
famous choral choir competition known as the “Habaneras” in which choirs from every
corner of the globe compete in various categories at the beginning of August.
In July 2010 we were contacted by the choir of Yonsei University of Seoul, South Korea
which body was part of the Presbyterian Church in Korea. They told us that they were
travelling to Torrevieja to compete and were hoping to attend a service at which they
would sing for us. The appropriate arrangements were made and the Ayuntimento de
Torrevieja kindly arranged buses to transport the choir.
On July 25th 2010 the choir arrived at our church and the ensuing service led by Rev.
Steve Campbell was a great success. The choir went on to win a 6000€ prize in one of
their categories.
여러분 잘 오셨습니다. Welcome friends!
Page 6 Newsletter 308
September 2020 La Siesta Evangelical Church
DAVID LIVINGSTONE
Missionary, Doctor, Explorer and one of Scotland’s greatest sons.
Vision for Africa Livingstone hoped to go to China as a missionary, but the First Opium War broke out in September 1839 and the LMS suggested the West Indies instead. In 1840, while continuing his medical studies in London, Livingstone met LMS missionary Robert Moffat, on leave from Kuruman, a missionary outpost in South Africa, north of the Orange River. He was excited by Moffat's vision of expanding missionary work northwards, and he was also influenced by abolitionist T.F. Buxton's arguments that the African slave trade might be destroyed through the influence of "legitimate trade" and the spread of Christianity. Livingstone, therefore, focused his ambitions on Southern Africa.
Livingstone was deeply influenced by Moffat's judgement that he was the right person to go to the
vast plains to the north of Bechuanaland, where he had glimpsed "the smoke of a thousand villages,
where no missionary had ever been". During this time, he visited Mabotsa, Botswana (near Zeerust,
North West Province, South Africa) an area where there were many lions terrorizing the villagers.
They stated, "The lion, the lord of the night, kills our cattle and sheep even in the daytime".
Livingstone felt that, if he could kill just one lion, the others would take it as a warning and leave the
villages and their livestock alone. Therefore, he led the villagers on a lion hunt. Seeing a large lion, he
fired his gun, but the animal was not sufficiently injured to prevent it from attacking him while re-
loading, seriously wounding his left arm. The
broken bone, even though inexpertly set by
himself and a missionary's daughter, bonded
strongly, enabling him to shoot and lift heavy
weights, though it remained a source of much
suffering for the rest of his life, and he was not
able to lift the arm higher than his shoulder.:
Exploration of southern and central Africa
Livingstone was obliged to leave his first mission at Mabotsa in Botswana in 1845 after irreconcilable differences emerged between him and his fellow missionary, Rogers Edwards, and because the Bakgatla were proving indifferent to the Gospel. He abandoned Chonuane, his next mission, in 1847 because of drought and the proximity of the Boers and his desire "to move on to the regions beyond. At Kolobeng Mission Livingstone converted Chief Sechele in 1849 after two years of patient persuasion, but only a few months later Sechele lapsed.
Newsletter 308
September 2020 Page 7
La Siesta Evangelical Church
In 1851, when Livingstone finally left Kolobeng, he did not use this failure to explain his departure, although it played an important part in his decision. Just as important had been the three journeys far to the north of Kolobeng which he had undertaken between 1849 and 1851 and which had left him convinced that the best long-term chance for successful evangelising was to explore Africa in advance of European commercial interest and other missionaries by mapping and navigating its rivers which might then become "Highways" into the interior.
Livingstone departed from the village of Linyanti, located roughly in the center of the continent on the Zambezi river. Livingstone had reached this point coming from the south, in Capetown, it was the northern frontier missionary post. Livingstone set out from Linyanti to the north-west, up the Zambezi, believing this would map the best "highway" into Africa. He had the help of 27 African guides and warriors loaned by Sekeletu, chief of the Kololo in Linyanti. They reached the Portuguese city of Luanda on the Atlantic after profound difficulties and the near-death of Livingstone from fever. Livingstone realized the route would be too difficult for future traders, so he retraced the journey back to Linyanti. Then with 114 men, loaned by the same chief, he set off east down the Zambezi. On this leg he became the first European to see the Mosi-o-Tunya ("the smoke that thunders") waterfall, which he named Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria. Eventually he successfully reached Quelimane on the Indian Ocean, having mapped most of the course of the Zambezi river.
In this way Livingstone became the first European to cross south-central Africa which had never been crossed by Europeans at that latitude before. Livingstone's accomplishment made him famous., But it was not without precedent; a few years earlier, in 1853–1854, two Arab traders crossed the continent from Zanzibar to Benguela; and in the first decade of the 1800s, two native traders crossed from Angola to Mozambique; and Portuguese traders had already penetrated to the middle of the continent from both sides. These non-European accomplishments were little known or cared about in Europe and so Livingstone was hailed the explorer who "opened up" Africa.
Livingstone advocated the establishment of trade and religious missions in central Africa, but abolition of the slave trade, as carried out by the Portuguese of Tete and the Arab Swahili of Kilwa, became his primary goal. His motto—now inscribed on his statue at Victoria Falls—was "Christianity, Commerce and Civilization", a combination that he hoped would form an alternative to the slave trade, and impart dignity to the Africans in the eyes of Europeans. He believed that the key to achieving these goals was the navigation of the Zambezi River as a Christian commercial highway into the interior.
He returned to Britain to garner support for his ideas, and to publish a book on his travels which brought him fame as one of the leading explorers of the age.
To be continued
Statue of Livingstone at
Victoria Falls
Newsletter 308
September 2020 Page 8 La Siesta Evangelical Church
THE DAVID LIVINGSTONE CENTRE
We are always keen to read the La Siesta newsletters and the on line weekly service, but were especially interested in the article about David Livingston.
We have just returned from a visit back up to Scotland, stopping off with daughter in Dumfries, and then looking up friends and relations in Hamilton and Bothwell before heading up to Speyside.
Before moving down here to Southsea we stayed in Bothwell, and regularly walked over the bridge to the David Livingston Centre, which is next to the river Clyde on the outskirts of Blantyre.
We thought that it would be good to get some up to date photos of the centre, so that they might be included in the next newsletter. However, we were very disappointed to find that the centre is undergoing extensive refurbishment, covered in scaffolding and completely fenced off.
The plaque in the photo reads:
In 1844 David Livingston and men from the Mabotsa (in present day South Africa) were hunting lions which had killed a woman from the village. Livingston shot one of the lions; it then attacked him but suddenly dropped dead. Livingston was lucky to survive, but his arm was so badly injured he never regained full use of it. " He shook me as a terrier does a rat " said Livingston.
The original statue was designed and modelled in wax by Ray Harryhausen, from which sculptor Gareth Knowles developed the monument in bronze.
.
Laura and David Duncan.
Newsletter 308
September 2020 Page 9 La Siesta Evangelical Church
Page 10
Our Prayer Chain addresses both concerns and joys. The information passed along is strictly
confidential.
All you need to do to be part of our prayer chain is to phone Megan Wright on 96 678 5513 or
Sharon Rippon on 96 678 6503 or [email protected]
PRAYER CHAIN
CHURCH CHOIR
BIBLE STUDY
Presently suspended.
Resumption will be advised
Newsletter 308
September 2020
PRAYER FOR SEPTEMBER
La Siesta Evangelical Church
Resumption of Choir
Practice will be advised
as known
Lord, we thank you for our families, our friends, and all whom we love. We bring
before you now those dear to us who need your help or comfort and for the safe
travels back to us at La Siesta Church.
We pray for all those who are in hospital or are sick at home, those who are in
trouble.
All those who have difficult decisions to make, help us to see what we can do for
them and give us strength and courage to do it,
Through Jesus Christ Our Lord,
Amen.
La Siesta Evangelical Church
Page 11
OUR CHURCH
Newsletter 308
September 2020
La Siesta Evangelical Church is an ecumenical English speaking congregation drawn from
Baptists, Methodists, United Reform, Church of Scotland, Presbyterian Church in Ireland
and several other denominations. We belong to the Iglesia Evangélica Española or Spanish
Evangelical Church, a Presbyterian Church in which we are part of the Presbytery of
Levante.
Our Membership Secretary is Helen Tudor and you should contact her or any other Elder at
any service if you are interested in joining our Church. Helen´s telephone number appears
in the Elders section on this page.
CHURCH ELDERS (Please contact if required)
The next issue of this newsletter will be published on September 27th . Contributions may be sent
to the editor, Howard Cook, in writing, by e-mail to [email protected] or to
[email protected] or by telephone to
966 700 131 or 646 921 256
Colin Anderson 647 274 911 [email protected]
Rick Boyle 658 144 951 [email protected]
Howard Cook 646 921 256 [email protected]
José Cueto 691 859 742 [email protected]
Sandra Garman 965 957 457 [email protected]
Kate Goodger 610 647 935 [email protected]
Peter Goodger 610 647 935 [email protected]
Gordon Newlands 977 718 425 [email protected]
Sharon Rippon 966 786 503 [email protected]
Helen Tudor 663 316 310 [email protected]
Kathy Walton-Brown 965 706 222 [email protected]
Phyllis Webb 656 682 717 [email protected]