NORTH & SOUTH AMERICAS NEWS
TRANSFORMERS:
Hope North America Camp 2009
Our theme was TRANSFORMERS. Pastor Simon Eng was our keynote speaker. Dinah and I also spoke along with a host of local pastors.
[View Camp photo website]
Pastor Simon taught on the signs of spiritual dryness and the attitudes that cause renewal. He preached on Transformed by Jesus and Spiritual Transformation. He was a big blessing with his fatherly heart and pastoral preaching. He exhorted us to be transformed in God’s presence.
The back drop of this year’s camp was the global economic crisis, the swine flu pandemic and the re-beginning of our movement. Despite the economy and the pandemic, close to 140 persons gathered this year July 2-5 in Auburn, just outside of Seattle. This was the first time we had people from Ohio and Pennsylvania. We even had a Brazilian brother.
It was so good to see everyone from various cities converging in one place. We had missed the people since our last camp in Malibu. I was glad to meet Pae at camp. He gave his life to Christ at Malibu last year. Since then, we have also seen a team landing in Montreal, a new care group started in the Silicon Valley and a new church started in New York City.
Our host this camp was Hope Seattle Church. They worked tirelessly and joyfully to put together an excellent camp. We loved the theme TRANSFORMERS. The opening item with transformer robots was just awesome. The spiritual atmosphere was amazing. The “Killer” game will be talked about for some time to come. In the end, the Team Prime triumphed over Team Optimus.
We rejoiced with two pre-believers gave their lives to Christ. We also witnessed two new believers who got baptised in Spirit just before they were baptised in water.
On the night of the 4th July I ended my message with the dream of having a church in every county in North America. This translates to 300 churches in Canada and 3,200 churches in the US. In line with this, we prayed for William and Sarah who will be leading our team in the Silicon Valley.
Then I shared about the life of Francis Asbury as a model for us. In 1771 he arrived in the American colonies at the age of 26. At that time there were 300 Methodists with 4 pastors. By the time of his death in 1816, there were 200,000 Methodists with 2,000 pastors.
Following this we had a time of response. This was followed by the song “God Bless America” led by Joan Collison. We then walked out and enjoyed the fireworks display organised by the campsite.
Many fed back that they enjoyed this year’s camp format with its practical orientation and the relaxed pace. The soccer, volleyball and outdoor components brought much fun too and much needed workout too.
As we thank God for this camp, we look forward to camp in LA next year. We closed this year’s camp by committing ourselves to be continually transformed by Christ and allowing Him to transform society through us. We prayed, “Lord, I am Yours.”
Pastor Ben & Pastor Dinah
Hope Americas
www.HopeNA.org
South America: Hope Quito, Ecuador Testimony 
I was born in a Catholic home. While studying in a Catholic school, the nuns taught Jesus to us. Once I finished high school, I started walking further away from God. Since I was not a very religious, I didn’t go to church frequently. I didn’t believe much in what the Catholic priests said. I was just living as a “good person”.
I was thankful that the company I was working for sent me for English lessons with a language institute. By God’s grace, Joshua Yeo from Hope Singapore became my English teacher. We started with a normal teacher-student relationship. However, little by little, we became friends and Joshua started sharing about God.
At that time I didn’t know he was a pastor so didn’t feel any rejection towards him as I usually did. He invited me to something called a “Discovery Group”. I went because I wanted to practice speaking English. So I joined and met him, his wife Hannah and two teammates every Saturday to talk about life, God, and other topics.
After some time, I came to know they were pioneers and the objective for that Discovery Group was to plant a church here in Quito. It was very difficult for me to assimilate that truth, but I really liked all of them as good friends. They helped me to overcome many of my personal problems and taught me many things about God.I told Joshua I didn’t want to become Christian. He understood it, and let me attend the church as a Catholic for around 4 years.
[Betty Avellan's water baptism (photo)]
My heart was always in conflict because I wanted to improve myself and have my life changed. Christianity seemed the option. I didn’t want to be in sin or betray Catholicism by becoming a Christian. Additionally I was living in a very frivolous world, because of my work environment and there was a battle in my mind. On one hand I wanted to be a better person, and in the other hand I just wanted to be popular, successful; and to grow professionally.
Finally on June 15th 2008 I decided to take the step of faith to really receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior and get water baptised. The reason was because my youngest sister had been attending our church for a few months and she had decided to be baptised. But I had been attending the church for some years and yet I wasn’t baptised. Though this wasn’t the best reason to start with, the result has changed my life.
[Father Day Celebration (Photos)]
As I decided to be water baptised and surrender my life to God, many things changed. I left the company with which I had been working with for 10 years. I travelled abroad and lived alone in a completely new environment without family and friends, nor a job. In the past I would have been worried with a life full of uncertainties. Thanks to God, I was able to take the time to analyse my past and learn lessons God wanted to teach me. I learned to accept myself and understand my personality. Instead of making decisions on my own, I learnt to let Him guide me and lead me to the best path. I learnt to be more tolerant of people too, something that would have been impossible in the past. As I was living overseas, I also experienced the importance of being in a community of believers. A place where I could grow and serve; and most importantly I learnt to see how God’s love is above everything: cultures, geographic location, languages, races; and social standing.
Today, I feel more confident about myself, less worried about the future; and have a closer and firmer relationship with Him. I am sure God is in control of my life all the time. Without Him I could had never managed all the things happened to me in a good way. I could have been desperate, frustrated; and embittered. But now, I know I have a friend who loves me and will never abandon me. I am thankful to Him, because He wants the best for me and helps me to improve my character. And when I face any problem now, I can pray this verse that encourages me greatly: “I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me, that is, I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency” Philippians 4:13 (Amp).
Betty Avellan
www.hopesouthamerica.org
