OBJECTIVE:
Purchase a suitable office and training facility for AFM-SAM.
LONG-RANGE GOALS:
— Support the ongoing growth of recruitment of missionaries by AFM-SAM.
— Provide an ongoing revenue source from rental facilities to cover office maintenance costs.
AFM-South America (SAM) has been operational since 2015. During that time, the AFM-SAM was initially based on the UNASP/EC campus, an SDA college in Sao Paolo state. During this stay at the UNASP/EC campus, AFM-SAM was able to access the internet services, backup systems, and regular office support infrastructure for all college departments.
During the pandemic, AFM-SAM had to move out of the UNASP/EC campus, and has been renting at private locations close to UNASP/EC, causing significant operational challenges with ensuring sufficient office space, internet and data storage requirements, and facilities for staff and missionary training. Rental rates are rising due to the surging local economic development, and it is becoming very challenging to find suitable office and training facilities for AFM-SAM.
AFM-SAM has now recruited and launched more than 60 short-term missionaries to serve on AFM Inc. projects worldwide, and there are 5 Career Missionary families now in the field. AFM-SAM needs a suitable long-term office facility to support the ongoing growth of AFM-SAM, enabling greater numbers of committed Seventh-day Adventists from across Latin America to launch and proclaim the Gospel among the unreached people groups of the 10/40 mission window.
AFM-SAM has been searching for a suitable facility since 2022. A suitable facility has now been identified. It includes 10 rooms, within which are 3 self-contained bedrooms needed for staff who come for training events, and for visiting missionaries while on furlough. It is close to the UNASP/EC campus to allow ongoing close access to the student body for recruitment purposes. The building was constructed in 2018, and has ground-level shop-fronts which are leased to private businesses, thus providing a regular revenue income to to cover ongoing maintenance costs.
