News and Notes

Bob Bernardo, PIC Board Member: A Powerful Life of Humble Service

Bob Bernardo sat at the small table in a weathered wooden hut in Pucallpa, Peru. He listened intently as Samuel Ramirez, director of the Integral Native Mission of Peru (MINAP), shared his vision of reaching tribal people in the Peruvian Amazon.

“What do you need to get the job done?” Bob asked.

Suddenly tears welled up in Samuel’s eyes. “You are the first white man to ask us Indians what we need to do the job,” he said. “Everyone else tells us what to do. You want to know our vision for our people.”

With Bob’s generous help, Samuel’s vision is going forward. MINAP was able to build a new ministry centre to replace the dilapidated old shack where that first meeting took place. Samuel is now able to communicate more effectively with staff and coordinate their efforts across many hundreds of miles of rainforest.

On December 21, 2010, Partners International joined family and friends to grieve the loss of Bob Bernardo. He was not only a board member and supporter, but he was a true friend of our ministry and to countless Christian leaders around the world. We are grateful for Bob’s enormous contribution to Partners International and continue to be inspired by his quiet, persistent and selfless commitment to empowering leaders to effectively live out the message of Jesus in our world. We feel blessed that Bob was an integral part of our lives.

BOMAR donates to help Haitian orphans

On April 8, 2011, Dean Martin and his son Reese travelled to Haiti with a large quantity of donated clothes. The Martin family and the BOMAR Bargain Barn in Campbellville, Ontario, helped organize a clothes drive in their community. The donated clothes were delivered to Les Enfants De Jesus, an orphanage supported by Partners International on the island of La Gonave in Haiti. The home provides care for 58 children whose parents died in the earthquake or whose families have no way of supporting them.

The children were excited to receive new clothes and are thankful for their friends in Canada who have remembered them.

Released from bondage in Brazil

In the early morning hours of December 29, 2010, Custodio Dias de Almeida — a worker with the Evangelical Mission for the Assistance to Fishermen — arrived by boat at Furo dos Pagãos, a small Brazilian community on the Amazon River. At dawn, he made his way into the village where he met a man who was deeply distraught. The man explained that his drinking had driven away his wife and family, he had lost his job and he felt powerless to change.

Custodio prayed with the man and asked God to do a miracle in his life and release him from his alcohol addiction. Shortly after, Custodio left the village and returned home to Afuá.

In March, Custodio was waiting for a meeting at the town hall in Afuá when a smiling man approached him and asked, “Aren’t you a pastor?”

Custodio didn’t recognize the man but said, “Yes, I am.”

“I am the man from Furo dos Pagãos,” said the stranger. Then he went on to tell Custodio that God had changed his life. He had given up drinking, his wife and children had returned home and he was now working as a pilot of a small boat transporting children to school.

Thank you for praying and supporting the work of local leaders like Custodio who are helping to change lives in Brazil.

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