Ministry Update for 2020
Since we arrived in Armenia, Colombia in August
2019, we have partnered with Pastor Jorge Orozco and his wife Kristina in the
ministry of Iglesia Nueva Esperanza y Fundación Manos de Esperanza which is
located in Los Quindos, Armenia, Quindio, Colombia. We are so thankful for the
way God has provided over this past year and made it possible for us to serve
with the Orozcos. We are so grateful for those of you who have partnered with
us financially and those who have partnered with us in prayer. Our hearts are
filled with gratitude to God and to you. Our hearts are filled with joy for the
things God has done during 2020, even with a pandemic that brought changes and
uncertainties. We have seen God's hand at work in the midst of this pandemic.
God is so good!!
Here's a little about the ministry we are partnered with here in Armenia,
Colombia:
The Ministry Vision
To bring the hope of Christ to the neighborhood
Los Quindos and surrounding neighborhoods and communities and see lives
transformed as Iglesia Nueva Esperanza (New Hope Church) and Fundacion Manos de
Esperanza (Foundation Hands of Hope) work hand in hand to minister to people’s
spiritual, emotional, and physical needs.
The
Mission of Iglesia Nueva Esperanza and Fundacion Manos de Esperanza
To help the most vulnerable find faith, hope,
love, and a dignified life that has purpose through offering children and youth
programs, offering Bible studies and discipleship courses for all ages and
training up leaders in the church, teaching working and practical skills,
helping form micro-enterprises, and offering a community development center.
Chris and I (Cristi) have joined in this vision and mission working to
establish a growing body of Christ that ministers to the community as the hands
and feet of Jesus transforming lives and the community. Together with our
Colombian brothers and sister in Christ, we minister to the spiritual and
physical needs of the children, youth, women, and men in the Los Quindos
neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods through the church and foundation.
We started 2020 with a
focus on discipleship for the whole church. We planned to work our way through
the discipleship course, Nueva Vida En Cristo (New Life in Christ) throughout
the year. Our desire was to see spiritual growth and a deeper understanding of
the truths of scripture and the Christian faith through weekly discipleship
classes for the men, women, preadolescents, adolescents, and college-age
students. We began these weekly classes in late February with the 6-week
introductory study, ¿Quién Es Jesucristo? (Who is Jesus Christ) to
teach the basics/foundations of the Christian faith. We incorporated leadership
training in the discipleship class with the college students as they did the
study themselves, and in turn, helped to lead small groups in the discipleship
classes for the youth. Chris taught the men’s discipleship course. Cristi
taught the women. Chris and Cristi taught the college students. Chris led the
teaching of the youth. As the men, women, college students, and many of the
teens personally completed their lessons at home and engaged in the class with
what they had learned it was encouraging to see the truth of God planted in
their hearts and minds and their spiritual growth; The joy that many expressed
as their eyes were opened to God’s truths and their desire to walk with God was
a blessing. We concluded the introductory book, and everyone was excited to
continue our discipleship classes with Volume 1, Pasos Básicos de la
Vida Cristiana, (Basic steps of the Christian Life) but then everything was
halted due to the Coronavirus quarantine. Even though we were unable to
continue the discipleship study, God is faithful. He continued to work in the
people’s lives, and we were excited to later hear that some had continued the
next book in the discipleship study on their own because they were excited to
continue their personal spiritual growth. A couple months ago, as the
quarantine restrictions were relaxed here in Armenia, Colombia, Chris was able
to begin discipling two young men in the church. One of these young man had
gotten involved in some bad influences during the quarantine time, but after
talking with Pastor Jorge, the young man decided to start doing the discipleship study and
get right with God. Both these young men are excited for the study and eager to
grow in their walk with Christ. Cristi began one-on-one discipleship with a
lady in the church, who wanted to teach the discipleship course to her own
family members and is now also discipling a friend and bringing her friend to
church services.
Other ways we ministered
in the community where we serve: In early 2020, before coronavirus quarantines
and restrictions shut down all activities, we had a few weeks of various children’s
ministries. Chris and Cristi helped Jorge and Kristina with *Children’s
church on Wednesday afternoons. This is like a Bible club for kids
where they are taught Bible stories and verses, do a craft, and receive a
snack, and are shown the love of Christ. It is a ministry that the kids love
coming to each week, and now ask when we are going to have it again. Our *Soccer
School Ministry for children was able to meet for practices and a few
games at the beginning of 2020. This ministry is important because it gives the
kids something to do to keep them off the streets, helps them learn a skill,
and is a place where they feel loved and valued. The coach also did a
devotional with them at each practice to teach them Godly character. When
schools were closed during the quarantine, so were sports activities. We hope
to be able to start this ministry back up next year. *The Feeding
Ministry, El Comedor, was serving dinner twice a week to the kids from the
community who are part of the church before the quarantine restrictions. Los
Quindos is a poor community, and many of the children do not have much to eat
at home, many have only one meal a day. This is a sad reality that only
got worse under the quarantine. We were not able to continue opening the church
for the dinners, but thanks to the generosity of those who financially
supported our ministry and Foundation Hands of Hope, we were able to distribute
food to the families during these months of quarantine here in Colombia.
Ministering to the
people physically and tangibly has been and continues to be the best way we can show
them God’s love and care throughout all the uncertainties of Covid-19. The
quarantine impacted Los Quindos, an already impoverished community in many
ways. Most people in this community work from day to day to get money to
provide for their families. Some lost their source of income through losing a
job or inability to continue selling food or other items on the streets, some
had businesses that were impacted. We work with Jorge and Kristina to provide
help through La Iglesia Nueva Esperanza. This includes helping church members
with their needs such as taking them groceries, helping to pay for water,
energy and gas services for those still unable to work, and helping those who
need medicines to buy them.
When the Covid pandemic
caused the complete shut-down quarantine in Colombia in March, our church
services and ministries were halted. We had to think of new ways to continue to
minister to the people spiritually. We also had new and different opportunities
to minister to them physically or tangibly. We continued ministering to them
spiritually through a WhatsApp group for the church and a WhatsApp group for
the women’s ministry. These were challenging at times due to limited wifi in
the community we minister in, but most people were able to participate. For
Sunday services Jorge recorded sermons most weeks, Chris recorded a sermon once
a month. These sermons along with a couple of praise and worship songs were
posted on the WhatsApp group until September when churches were given
permission to hold services in person as long as biosafety protocols of
mask-wearing, temperature checks, disinfecting and social distancing are met.
Praise God, we are now having Sunday services with about 20-25 adults attending
each week. (Children are not yet permitted to attend). Chris continues to
preach once a month in these services. Our church building is too small to
accommodate social distancing requirements, but thanks be to God that we were
given approval to use the community building across the street from the church
free of charge. We continue to utilize WhatsApp for devotional prayer times two
mornings a week and a message shared by Pastor Jorge on Friday nights.
Throughout the quarantine, the women have met together via WhatsApp every
Wednesday afternoon to hear a Bible study lesson and discuss the lesson in
comments. Kristina and I (Cristi) alternated teaching this study. Kristina had
surgery in September. While she is recovering, I have been teaching the women
for the past 8 weeks through a study on the “I am” statements of Jesus. It has
been a challenge studying, preparing, writing, translating into Spanish, and then
recording the study each week. But it is a joy to hear the women's comments
after each lesson and see how they are growing in their understanding of who
Jesus is and what He has done in their lives. I am in awe and thankful to God
for His wisdom as I study and for the ability He blesses me with to prepare these studies and teach them in Spanish. Definitely learning more and more to lean on Him. It is all through His power! Praise God!!
As this update has
shown, 2020 was a time of change in how did ministry, how we ministered to the
people. There were challenges, but God guided us every step of the way to
accomplish His plan. God is not surprised or stopped by pandemics or
quarantines. He is faithful and moving to work in and through His church. We
believe the future of this ministry here in Armenia is strong and promising.
Before and during the quarantine, one thing that Jorge, Kristina, Chris, and I
(Cristi) always tried and continue to strive to do for the people in Los
Quindos is show them that we love and care for them and that God loves and
cares for them. The people embrace this love and the knowledge that someone
cares about them. They know that the church is there to minister to them and to
show them the love of Christ. The parents are already asking when we will be
starting the kid’s church again; they have seen the good influence the church
has on their kids and know that it is a safe place for their kids to be. The
parents also like for the kids to be involved in the soccer school as it gives
them something to do and gets them off the streets. As things open up in the
coming year, we expect to see our ministries start again.
Pray for wisdom in
ministering to the youth. This is a challenging age for kids, and sadly many of
the youth in Los Quindos, having so much time on their hands not going to
school and not being able to go to places like church youth group, have lost
interest in things of God and have gotten pulled in by the negative influences
of gangs, drugs, and street life that entice them in Los Quindos. We are
praying for them and that God will draw them back to the church and that they
will not have shame in coming back. One thing they all know is that they are
loved and cared for at the church and foundation.
Financial Needs for 2021
As we entered the
coronavirus quarantine, Fundacion Manos de Esperanza (Hands of Hope foundation)
was in a bit of a crisis. They were short on funds and seeking donors to
provide the funds necessary to continue the work they are doing in Los Quindos,
which was a difficult task as more and more people were facing their own
economic crises due to Covid. But praise God for His faithfulness and for the
generous hearts of faithful believers; God provided for those needs with some
generous donors, and while there were some churches and foundations in Armenia
that had to shut down permanently during the months of quarantine, Manos de
Esperanza not only did not have to shut down, but was able to continue
ministering to the people in Los Quindos in practical ways to help meet their
needs during the quarantine. These funds will be mostly gone by the end of
2020. In order to continue operating, the foundation needs more funding,
consistent funding that will sustain ministries and allow us to accomplish
future goals and visions for reaching the people in Los Quindos and helping
them to be able to improve their quality of life.
Specific funding needs are:
- Fundacion Manos de Esperanza needs $12,000
for the year or $1000 a month
in consistent funding – this is the amount the foundation Manos
de Esperanza needs to continue operating in the year 2021. Can you give to
help sustain the ministries of the foundation in Los Quindos consistently
for the year 2021? Your support helps to feed children and their
families. Your support helps to provide ministries that show Christ’s
love, give kids and youth a safe place to be, and help get kids off the
streets and into the church helping get them away from the negative influences around them, like drugs and gang life. Your support helps people in the community learn working and practical skills to better their life and helps to see lives transformed spiritually through discipleship and weekly
Bible studies, kids church, and youth group.
If you would like to contribute to the Fundacion Manos de Esperanza funding need, you can call South America Mission directly at 803-802-8580 and tell them you want to give to this need. You can also contact us by email if you'd like to contribute to the funding for the foundation and we will get you in touch with the right people at SAM.
- Haylett missionary budget with SAM needs $1500 additional funding/month – this is the amount we need to
raise to consistently fully meet the monthly needs of our missionary
budget through South America Mission. We are grateful to God for His
faithfulness to our ministry and for providing each month for our missions
budget through the generous contributions of those who have donated to our
ministry. Would you like to join our missions team through financial
support? Just follow this link and click the amount you would like to
donate or put in your own amount:
https://southamericamission.org/donate/missionaries/chris-cristi-haylett/ Or you can call South America Mission's home office directly at the number listed above to set up your contribution. 
Stairs are a bit difficult for some, but they are faithful.
Disinfecting all surfaces must be done before every service.
church services
Our church building
We do not meet here because the space is too small for the social distancing protocols that we need to follow, so we meet across the street in a community hall type building.
Food distrubution in the neighborhood
Food distribution on a Sunday evening at church.
Distributing food in the homes.
Soccer School Ministry early 2020 before the pandemic shutdown
The neighborhood the church ministers to
This little girl had to leave at the end of 2019 to live with family in another town because her parents were unable to care for her. She was so sad to be leaving us and cried as she gave Jorge, Kristina, Chris, and me hugs and didn't want to let go.She said she was going to miss us and children's church. We pray for her knowing that the seeds were planted in her heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The children's ministry truly impacts lives and makes a difference.
El Comedor - Ministry to feed children
(This ministry had to be paused due to the pandemic restrictions)
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