This photo shows one of the points where fires have been burning during the weekend and now. This particular one is behind the rural Mapuche community where Bishop Abelino was born and raised. Fortunately, in this case, the fire has gone away from homes. But as we write, they are evacuating people from where Marita’s family lives and there the fires have reached to their nearest neighbor’s property. On Saturday night, Pedro spent most of the night helping protect the school where his father works and right now he and Joyanne have gone out to Marita’s family home to offer their help. In Malalche, houses have been burned, two people have died, and Pastor Antonio is worried. In Dollinco, they have no electricity, so they have no water, and that makes it difficult for Pastor José’s family, as their daughter, Adriana, is terminally ill with cancer. In our own church in Labranza, Sonia, one of the members, was worried yesterday that their wheat crop will be burned if they can’t get it harvested.
The sky is gray and smoky today in Temuco and a nearby hill is on fire.Please pray for us and especially our brothers and sisters in the rural churches whose livelihood depends on their crops, animals and wooded land.
Thank you for your prayers. We will keep you posted.
by Gus Calvo, SAMS Short-term team leader to Chile “Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. Plant your seed in the morning and...
Hi! This is my very first blog post from Chile, where I am serving as a SAMS Bridger for just over 2 months. This is the start of my third week here, and I figured I should probably post something to share about my experience so far! My name is Juliet Millard and I am 21 years old. I’m going to be a senior at Grove City College this fall where I’ll be finishing my final year as a PreK-4 Elementary Education major and Spanish minor.
What am I doing here?
I applied to be a SAMS Bridger almost a year ago and had know idea where I would be placed or what I would be doing. All I knew is that I would prefer somewhere Spanish-speaking. Well, many months later, and here I am in Chile!! I am living with a very sweet host family in Temuco and commuting daily to the town, Chol Chol where I am helping at an Anglican school here. My days consist of time spent helping with the English classes and Religion Classes. I’m also teaching my own English class/workshop for 45 mins after school 3x a week!
What is God doing?
That’s a big question. But, God is doing a lot. There are some incredibly faithful people here that are doing amazing things for God’s kingdom. It´s encouraging to see how intentional many of the people I’ve met here are with their walks with God. I think the greatest way I’ve felt God’s presence so far though, has been through other people. I’m a very people-oriented person! I love spending time with other people and making new friends. However, my transition here in Chile has been pretty difficult for me. I was super nervous to travel down and I’m having a much harder time than I thought I would communicating (Chilean Spanish is quite the challenge!!), which has made it very difficult to make new friends and be a “people person.” But, God has been placing people along my path to help me every step of the way.
On my very first flight from Pittsburgh to Toronto, I ended up sitting next to a girl who was myage, from mycity, and getting on the sameconnecting flight as I was in Toronto to Santiago! We ended up talking the whole flight and navigating our following connection together. I don’t know if I could have done it without her! (Shout out to Haley if you ever happen to see this!)
Then, when I landed in Santiago (where I was crazy nervous about figuring out my connection), out of nowhere this man saw me and helped me every. single. step. of the way through the airport. He helped me check in, go through security, and find my gate! It turns out we were headed to the same flight anyway, which made it easier for him to help me, but I didn’t know him, didn’t ask for his help, but he just saw me and knew I needed it. He wasn’t sketchy, had no malicious intent, and didn’t want anything from me. He simply wanted to help. Just because.
Here in Chile, I am very grateful for the people God has placed in my path too. I have a wonderful host family (who let me come home to them and cry after long confusing days where I feel like I only understand two percent of what people say to me) and mentor family (thank you Smith Family for always driving me everywhere and asking how I’m doing)! But, I’m especially grateful for the English teacher here, whom I’ve connected with. She’s only a few years older than me and so kind and helpful. Without her, this whole experience would be a million times harder. We speak in Spanish but she graciously lets me make a million mistakes, ask a million questions, and never gets mad or frustrated. She has shown me everything I need to know in terms of navigating the school here, and she too, has let me cry when I was overwhelmed with emotion and all that comes with being in a new place! (Thank you Fabiola for being so wonderful!!)
How can you pray?
First and foremost, please be praying for all of the teachers and students that I’m spending most of my time with here. Pray that the Lord will give the teachers all the patience and strength that they need each day, and that the students would have the desire and willingness to listen and learn.
Second, please just be praying for me as I continue to navigate this new experience – especially Chilean Spanish!! I have discovered I´m really not that great at Spanish… ha-ha! It makes everything a little harder when I have a really hard time understanding everything everyone says!
Thank you to everyone for all your support and I promise I’ll post more pictures once I figure out how!!
Twenty-nine years ago, I met a young woman named Carla at the beginning of the new school term. Carla happened to be our son Joshua’s new kindergarten teacher. We were living in Villa Alemana, Chile, where my husband Russ was serving as pastor of San Esteban, the Anglican parish there. I would often see Carla at school and it wasn’t long before I discovered that she was a ‘disillusioned Mormon.’
As Carla related some of her story to me it was clear she was struggling. She had left the Mormonism of her childhood because of the inconsistencies she had witnessed – people saying one thing but doing another. She clung to the idea that if you could be perfect, or at least look perfect, you would be ok. Appearances were everything to her.
Carla with Kindergarten Class in Villa Alemana
One day I invited her to our ladies’ group and she seemed to really enjoy it, especially when we talked about God, about answer to prayer, and about the difference Jesus could make in your life. Later on, Carla had told me that our ladies’ group had reminded her of her Pentecostal grandmother whose robust faith she had seen firsthand when living with her during college. Her grandmother had impressed upon her how real her faith was to her. Her grandmother had never stopped praying that one day God would bring Carla out of Mormonism and bring her to Christ.
Soon afterward Carla asked to meet with me to talk one-on-one. When we met, I had the chance to share the Gospel with her. “But,” Carla objected, “God can’t accept me because I am not perfect.” “None of us is,” I told her, and she insisted that I was. I explained to her that that was definitely not the case!
I told her, “The only perfect one is Jesus, and He died to take the punishment we deserve for our sins. His death makes it possible for us to be forgiven and to come into a relationship with God through Him…. would you like to receive Jesus into your life?” She said, “Yes, I would.” As she began to pray, she acknowledged her sin and asked Jesus to come into her life. She told Him that she renounced anything she had been taught in the Mormon church that did not agree with God’s truth. That was the beginning for Carla.
She started coming to church and doing Bible study and growing in her faith. The church family received her with open arms as a single mom. A few years later, God blessed Carla with a husband, a Christian musician named Pablo who loved her and her little son, married her, and received 3-year old Andres as his son. Soon after, little Daniela came along.
A few years later, we moved from Villa Alemana to a city 500 miles to the south. Carla, Pablo, and their kids moved 1000 miles to the north when Pablo found work in the mining industry. Carla was able to find an even better teaching position there. Now we were separated by 1500 miles, and other than seeing each other’s news on Facebook, we didn’t have much contact for more than a decade.
Ironically, it was the COVID pandemic that brought us together again. Chile was very locked down. Gatherings of any kind were prohibited including church services for over a year and a half. Zoom meetings became the way to connect, and we reached out to people we had known over the years who we thought might be interested in joining us for an online prayer, worship and, study.
Carla joined the nightly women’s prayer meetings and once again we were involved in each other’s lives. It was an amazing time, but not without difficulties. Carla went through what she later described as “a huge storm in my life.” She told me that she would not have made it had it not been for the support of our nightly prayer group. By God’s grace she did persevere, and a new chapter in her life had begun.
As the pandemic ended the Prayer Group began meeting weekly. The relationships forged during those months were too strong to just let go. Last October, at one of our weekly prayer times, I announced to the group that Russ and I would be traveling to the U.S. for our bi-annual time of visiting supporting churches.
Out of the blue, Carla piped up, “I want to go with you.” “Right,” I replied jokingly, “Just hop in my suitcase and you can come.” But Carla wasn’t joking. She not only wanted to come, she believed that God wanted her to come. As the days went by, I realized she was serious. I spoke to Russ about it because in all of our 37 years in Chile, we had never had someone from Chile join us on our home assignment. To my amazement, Russ thought it was an interesting idea.
I told Carla that our home assignment was not a vacation and there wouldn’t be much time for tourism. She had never even left Chile, much less visited the U.S. I asked her why she wanted to come. She said, “I want to go with you to visit the churches that support you. I want to see what you do.” I asked if she would be willing to share her story to which she responded with an enthusiastic “YES!”
Heidi and Carla at O’Hare Airport
Everything came together, as it does when God is in it, and on a record-breaking frigid night of -22 degrees in Chicago, Carla arrived at O’Hare airport. Twelve hours later, she was by our side, sharing her story in the church we were visiting that morning. She got choked up as she read it. (She had it written down to be sure she got the English right.) I put my arm around her and got teary too. And then I noticed that people in the congregation were tearing up. Afterwards, people came up to her and told her how her story had touched them.
Besides talking about how she had met us 29 years ago, Carla included the following in the story she shared with 10 groups of people over the next 17 days she was with us:
Russ and Heidi gave me a beautiful testimony of Jesus. They taught me about a loving God. I didn’t have to be perfect for God. And that was amazing for me!! I learned that God loved me just as I am and that Jesus had died for me. They invited me to meet this God of love and hope. They shared their light and joy with me.
And so, one day when I met with Heidi, I asked Jesus to come into my life. I came to understand that God has a purpose for my life, and I told myself with great conviction in my heart: Surrender! Stop fighting! Surrender to Jesus! And so, I did. On that day I took the step, the step of faith. I started to live just one day at a time. I felt His hope renew me daily. Recently I have had to go through a great storm in my life and definitely… I am not the same. I started having a plan, a little plan, making every day count. Having a daily purpose, just a small purpose, and little by little I have begun to advance because I’m not alone. Finally, I understand I can’t go back and change the beginning, but I can start from where I am and change the ending because God is with me. Over the years, I have shared my faith with others. I too have invited people to meet Jesus.
I thank God that one day Russ and Heidi decided to begin this walk as missionaries, and that that decision was a life-long one, because their testimony changed my life forever. I love them with all my heart.
Carla with Heidi and Russ sharing her testimony to the congregation
It seems there were words of truth and encouragement in her story for many people to hear. God brought her with us as the “good fruit” of our ministry in Chile all of these years, as well as to be an ambassador for Him. It’s a testimony of how He can bring light out of darkness. And about when we go through “a great storm,” God does not abandon us. Our Way Maker is making a way for us to encounter Him and others. “Even when we can’t see it, He’s working. Even when we can’t feel it, He’s working,” and as the words of that song say. “He never stops, never stops working.”
“Grant O Lord, that we may be instrumental in commencing this great and blessed work; but should Thou see fit in Thy providence to hedge up our way, and that we should even languish and die here, I beseech Thee to raise up others and to send forth labourers into this harvest. Let it be seen, for the manifestation of Thy Glory and Grace that nothing is too hard for Thee…” (prayer excerpt from Gardiner’s recovered journal, 1851)
The Anglican Calendar on September 6th commemorates Captain Allen Francis Gardiner, founder and missionary of SAMS, the South American Missionary Society. Gardiner’s story is little known today, but well worth telling, both for his unparalleled tenacity and the difficulties he faced, as well as the role he played in helping chart the course of Anglican cross-cultural mission engagement. His story set the stage for the ongoing endeavors that continue around the world today through missionary societies such as SAMS.
Anglican Missions Accelerate in the 19th Century
The 19th century in Britain marked a period of spiritual awakening and an increasing awareness of the world beyond Britain’s shores. Revival within the Church of England spread beyond the church. Conscious of the need for reform, duty, and new opportunities opening up all over the world, the British people, and Christians in particular, began gathering to contribute the best they had to give, energized to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to people beyond Britain.
In conjunction with this sense of endeavor, the growth of the British Navy gave grander perspective of the world and its peoples. Men like David Livingstone were able to gain worldwide acclaim combining geographical exploration, service to country, and missionary work among people groups hitherto unknown. Global exploration and map-making became a worldwide interest, and if missionaries like Livingstone were not blazing the trail, they were not far behind. Early exploration and mapping expeditions were conducted for hydrographic surveys along the Patagonian coasts and the Magellan Strait. The best-known of these expeditions was that of Captain Fitzroy’s HMS Beagle, made famous by the writings of one scientist aboard, a young Charles Darwin. Darwin later popularized these expeditions through a series of published journals that were immensely popular, and along with other published reports captured the imaginations of many in Britain.
One of the people groups encountered by this group of English explorers were the Yaghan, whom Darwin described as the least civilized people on earth (and possibly even “the missing link”). It was to the Yaghan that Allen Gardiner was ultimately called.
Gardiner’s British naval service
Allen Gardiner was born into a Christian family in Berkshire in 1794. Like many British boys during this time, he yearned for adventure. Discovered asleep on the floor by his mother as a young boy, upon awaking told her of his intention to travel the world, and so, wished to accustom himself to hardship. He entered the Royal Naval College in Portsmouth in 1808. At age sixteen he volunteered to join the HMS Fortunee. During the War of 1812, he served as a midshipman aboard the Phoebe and received recognition for heroism in the capture of the American frigate Essex in the Pacific (the inspiration for several books and the 2003 film Master and Commander—though in that adaptation the French were substituted for the Americans as the enemy).
His return to England two years later meant a commission to lieutenant and subsequent service around the world. Eventually, he was promoted to Captain, but with the Royal Navy being downsized in peacetime, there were no ships for him to command. Despite his service, and love of the sea, the naval experience was a godless life in which the truths of the Bible and what he had learned as a boy were mocked. But his mother’s prayers remained with him.
A Significant Turn
While on leave in Portsmouth, he ventured into town one day to a shop that sold Bibles. One of his biographers described him as being ‘so ashamed to go into the shop to buy it, he spent time walking up and down to make sure no one saw him do so.’ He then experienced in succession a number of deaths including that of his Godly mother, and later, his wife, which drove him to become a man of prayer. These experiences had a great effect on him and shortly thereafter he wrote from Cape Town:
“The last time I visited, I was walking the broad way, and hastening by rapid strides to the brink of eternal ruin. Blessed be His name, who loved us, and gave Himself for us, a great change has been wrought in my heart, and I am now enabled to derive pleasure and satisfaction in hearing and reading the Word of Life, and attending the means of Grace.”
God Calls
On a voyage returning from China, Gardiner spent some time in Tahiti, where one Sunday he was personally struck by the quiet contentment and peace in the transformed lives of Tahitian Christians. He returned to London in 1834 offering himself for missionary service to the London Missionary Society, whose work in Tahiti had so blessed him. He earnestly felt that the Lord wanted him in South America, but neither the London Missionary Society, the Church Missionary Society (CMS), nor the Baptist Missionary Society had any work on that continent, nor were they willing to start anything new there. Eventually, he accepted a position with CMS in South Africa, working among the Zulus on the Tongaat River, but left after four years, when tribal warfare made it impossible to continue his work. Today he is remembered in the city of Durban as one of its founders.
With no society to sponsor him, Gardiner began exploring opportunities to work in South America on his own. He arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1838 and worked his way around the coast to Chile, distributing Bibles in Portuguese and Spanish, noting several openings for missionary work, but his heart remained with the native peoples. Leaving his family in Concepcion, Chile, he crossed the Andes to try to work among the Huilliche-Mapuche people. Suspicion among the natives and opposition from Catholic clergy thwarted his efforts there.
The Beginning of SAMS
Back in England, Gardiner began writing letters and pamphlets to call attention to the need for taking the Gospel to South America. He wrote in his letters that ‘all the world was his parish,’ and he was content to seek out people alone to reach those who were without hope and without God. Friends in England received letters of appeal from him for help with funding to support the mission. He appealed to the established mission societies but was turned down. In 1844, he finally organized a society for the work in South America. Initially called the Patagonian Missionary Society, as that seemed the most likely spot to make inroads at the time, it was renamed the South American Missionary Society in 1851, in honor of Gardiner and his desire to expand the original mission from Patagonia into all of South America. Gardiner made successive missions with companions to South America, including Bolivia, but ultimately set his sights on Tierra del Fuego.
The Final Journey
Gardiner learned more with each mission he attempted. He had decided they needed their own 120-ton schooner as a base of operations in the islands at the southern tip of the world. When the cost for such a ship became too expensive, he had two 26-foot launches built, named Speedwell and Pioneer. Gardiner left England from Liverpool aboard the Ocean Queen on September 7, 1850. Aboard the ship were the two launches and six companions – Joseph Erwin, Dr. Richard Williams, John Maidment (a catechist), and three Cornish fishermen, John Badcock, John Bryant, and John Pearce. They landed on Picton Island in December with six months of provisions. They had difficulty engaging with the Yahgans who eluded them, and when they did engage, met resistance and attack. But the more pressing issue was the limited food on hand. The men had their rifles, but somehow had departed the Ocean Queen without unloading their gunpowder, which severely limited their ability to hunt, making them dependent upon what little seafood they could find along the coast.
By the end of six months with no sign of further supplies, sickness, hunger, and exposure to one of the worst climates on the globe began taking their toll. In June, Badcock, was the first to die, followed by Williams. Then, in August, it was the turn of Erwin and Bryan; then Pearce; then, on September 4th, Maidment. The last entry in Gardiner’s journal was dated Friday, September 5th, 1851:
“If a wish was given to me for the good of my neighbor it would be that the Mission in Tierra Del Fuego be pursued with vigor. Butt the Lord will direct and do everything because time and reason are His, your hearts are in His hands… great and marvelous are the loving kindnesses of my gracious God unto me.”
When the Admiralty supply ship, the John Davison, finally arrived in late October, Gardiner had been dead for six weeks. Lying beside him, they found his journal.
News of Gardiner’s Death
The news of Gardiner’s death was reported in The Times with an editorial deploring the foolish waste of the lives of a cultured Englishman and his companions and of the money spent on hordes of savages. There arose a nationwide protest against this view, as Englishmen contrasted their lifestyle with Gardiner’s self-denying vocation. Gardiner and his companions were like the
kernel of wheat Jesus talked about which, unless it falls into the ground and dies, “remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” The Lord honored Gardiner’s prayers, sending forth laborers into His harvest in South America, many of whom also became fallen kernels of wheat.
One such kernel that bore fruit was in a young English Missionary named Thomas Bridges. George Pakenham Despard, who assumed leadership of the Society in Gardiner’s absence, had found baby Thomas on a bridge and adopted him. When Despard felt called upon to continue Gardiner’s work with the Yaghans, he took the 13-year-old Thomas along with him to Keppel Island in the Falklands. The new strategy was to bring a few Yaghans over at a time to learn their language and teach them the faith, then resettle them among their tribespeople. Bridge’s young mind quickly absorbed the Yaghan language and he became a fluent speaker and interpreter. After another attempt by missionaries in 1859 to establish a base in Yaghan territory resulted in their massacre by the natives, Bridges visited the Yaghan settlements in complete weakness and vulnerability. Unthreatened by Bridges, and moved by the forgiveness he brought, the Yaghans at last received the Good News. Those who were baptized included several who had killed Bridge’s friends. Later a ship sank offshore, but the Yaghans who in the past would have killed the sailors, risked their lives to save them. Their transformation in Christ was so dramatic that even Charles Darwin became a committed giver to SAMS.
Gardiner’s Seed Bears Fruit
Today through SAMS-USA The seed of Gardiner and his companion’s efforts continued to call many into mission in South America after his death. Those efforts continued spreading to South America and other countries where Societies were founded to join in the vision to reach the continents with the Gospel. It wasn’t until 1976, however, that the U.S. branch of SAMS was founded by a group of mission- minded Episcopalians concerned about missional drift and dilution.
Today the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders (1) is a sending organization which works alongside the Anglican Church in the sending out what today equates to 117 total missionaries serving 29 countries around the world. SAMS’ purpose, like Gardiner’s, is to serve the church throughout the world in obedience to Jesus’ Great Commission. Our Society partners with Anglican churches and dioceses overseas, and therefore, works to place missionaries where they can take full advantage of well-established relationships in a given cultural context in order make disciples who make disciples of Jesus Christ.
SAMS emphasizes the crucial role of the Sender as much as the Missionary, and seeks to mobilize the church to pray, encourage, communicate with, and financially support a missionary’s cross- cultural ministry. The Society also comes alongside those who feel called to serve long-term or short-term, to mutually discern their call, and once confirmed, provides the necessary language and cultural coaching and training in raising financial support.
If you meet a SAMS Missionary and get to know them and their own stories, one trait will surely emerge. Not unlike the Apostle Paul, Allen Gardiner, or Thomas Bridges, they’ll exhibit that mysterious Grace to derive energy from opposition, tenacity from hardship, and courage from rejection. As the tribal adage goes, ‘God has created lands with lakes and rivers for man to live, and the desert so that he may find his soul.’
Author: Brendan Kimbrough; Contributors: Dana Priest and Stewart Wicker
(1) SAMS maintained the acronym, but changed its name in 2009, from the South American Missionary Society to the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders. The change better reflected the emphasis on the combined role that both Missionaries and Senders play in any cross-cultural work as well its alignment with global Anglicanism, further reflecting the global nature of its missionary placements.
