by Peru Mission missionary Albert den Oudsten

Often I start the week without knowing what I exactly will be doing that week. Every week is different working as a missionary here in Trujillo. At the last moment meetings are scheduled or cancelled and more activities are always coming up. Today I want to take you on a journey through a random week of my life to give you some insights into what I am doing here.

Sunday

Sunday morning I usually attend the Cristo Rey downtown church and play in the music group. However, today Maresa and I decided to visit the church in Manuel Arévalo because a friend of ours, Bob Relyea (missionary from Australia), is preaching there and we want to greet him and hear his sermon. We always enjoy visiting this church to meet our friends and brothers and sisters in Christ.

Every Sunday evening we meet in our cell group. We recently changed our meeting place to be closer to our cell group members. Therefore today we meet for the first time in our house. We spend a good time in studying the Bible and praying for each other’s needs. Please pray that we can reach out more to our new neighborhood.

Monday

Today I am working on preparing a sermon to preach Tuesday evening in a church. Every Monday afternoon I meet with Ps. Allen Smith, Emanuel and Esdras to study together materials about leadership development. This is part of the apprenticeship program in which I am participating. This time we all have read a chapter of a book about leadership and share our thoughts and discuss some questions to understand it and apply it to our ministries.

Tuesday

Tuesday morning I have to wake up early to meet with the other pastors for our weekly prayer meeting. We spend time studying a passage of Galatians before we all share our prayer points together and pray for each other. This meeting helps us to know what is going on in the other churches so that we can help each other and pray for the specific needs. This morning we also have our monthly team meeting with Peru Mission in which we talk about all the things which are going on in our ministries and in the organization. Today we spend more time in sharing about our ministries so that we all know what each one of us is doing and how we can help each other.

In the evening we are going to a small town on the countryside, called Carmelo. I have been invited to preach in a small church which was planted by my father-in-law. Emanuel, Esdras and Ps. Allen, who are all participating in the apprenticeship program, are going with us to lead the worship and service. We had a wonderful time of worship and sharing God´s word. After the service they invited us for a dinner, which is the usual way in Peru to give thanks for a visit.

Wednesday

Because of my background as a civil engineer I am also involved in the construction projects at Peru Mission. Therefore this Wednesday morning I have to go to the Manuel Arévalo neighborhood to meet about the plan to build a school beside the church. The plans are almost ready and now we are mainly waiting for the short-term teams to come to help us build the school. This morning we are planning with the builder the work for the short-term teams. Next week we will meet again with the education committee of the church to continue to plan for this project. We have to talk about plans, budgets, materials, teachers and many other things. It is great to do this together with the local people from the church. Because of their involvement at the early stage of this project I believe it has a bigger change to be self-sustainable in the future. The church will be the owner of this project and because of their involvement in it from the early stage they will experience it as their own project, instead of a project done by Peru Mission for them.

Thursday

Every Thursday in the morning we meet with Ps. Scott, Emanuel and Esdras to study theology together. We watch a video with a class and after that Ps. Scott explains more details about the subject and we have a time to discuss the topic. At the moment we are studying the Apostles' Creed, and this week the topic is Jesus. We learn about the importance of His incarnation and His sacrifice. This is part of the apprenticeship program in which theological education has an important place to prepare us for pastoral work and also teaching/preaching in the future.

In the evening we met with the ´event team´ from the church to plan activities for the church in this month. This time we organize the breakfast we have planned for next Sunday. We decided that every cell group will contribute with bringing sandwiches and drinks. We also start planning a day away for the church next month. It will be great to go away for a day to the countryside to have a time of fellowship together to unite the church more.

Friday

At the moment we, as part of the apprenticeship program, are also busy reading the whole Bible in a few months to get an overall picture of the Bible and the big themes in the different Bible books. I thought I knew the Bible well, but by reading it complete and fast I am learning many new things about God. Every time it surprises me more to see how God works through the whole Old Testament with His nation Israel! Every Friday morning we discuss our biblical readings with Emanuel and Esdras, with Ps. Scott leading and teaching us the different themes in the Bible. Today we talk about David as king as written down in 1 and 2 Samuel.

In the afternoon I spend some time with the kids from the orphanage ´Hogar de esperanza´. Maresa is working there and I am also involved as volunteer with different projects. This afternoon we all meet in Norky's, a chicken restaurant, to celebrate Mother's Day with all the mothers who work in the orphanage.

In the evening we play football together with the boys of the church. We do this every week on Friday or Saturday evening. I love playing football and we use this opportunity to invite friends to play with us and to make new friends to invite to the church in the future.

Saturday

On Saturday morning I went to the house of Emanuel to prepare the worship for the Sunday morning service, since a few weeks I am playing the bass guitar in the church instead of the piano I played before. We practice some of the songs for the Sunday service and enjoy making music together.

As you may have noticed, life and work as a missionary in Peru is not boring! My work is very diverse and I enjoy it a lot. I thank God that I have the opportunity to serve Him here in Trujillo in different ways!

Learn more about Albert and his family's ministry in Trujillo, Peru.

This year it has been a real challenge to create a new system to work with the carpenters. We started with some strategies that are going to help us to seek the Lord’s will for Las Ponas. As a part of Parish’s team, I was praying that the Lord would provide from his wisdom and also talking by internet with our brother Stuart Mills, who is in the United States with his family, raising support. We agreed that there are at least three important aspects to further the work of Parish. The first one is a Spiritual Discipling--that helps us how we can reach people through the Gospel. And sometimes we use encouraging videos as a tool to share the Gospel. The second one is Development Work Technique. An example of this would be managing the resources from the company in an appropriate way so that we are able to know where we are as a company and what we need to do when contingencies occur. The last one is Administration, which is important for all the companies to achieve goals, but our principal goal is being not only businessmen, but also to learn how to be Christian businessmen. For those reasons we are working beside them, using our skills to glorify God, spreading his kingdom through his Gospel. 

By Hermes Tomás, Peru Mission missionary serving with Parish

With two years of seminary under his belt, he still has two to go. But without money to pay for even one meal a day and basic clothing, Eduardo and his classmate Elmer have had to leave seminary and come home. 

To many, this would indicate the end of a journey. But thanks to the faithful generosity of their home church in Wichanzao and of members of the Peru Mission Community, that has not been the case for Eduardo and Elmer. Through a $2,500 donation made directly from funds received through the Community program, Eduardo and Elmer are able to cover their basic expenses, including meals and transportation, as they continue to serve the local church. With this gift, the two men are able to put in practice what they have learned in seminary so far by serving as pastoral interns at Wichanzao Presbyterian Church. They preach several mornings each week at Bethesda Clinic in Wichanzao, lead children’s and youth outreach programs, and assist in leading multiple services each week at a nearby mission.

The Peru Mission Community exists for just this purpose, to aid those people and projects most in need throughout our core ministries. With your help, Eduardo and Elmer have been able to continue to devote themselves to the Lord’s service and to gaining greater experience in the ministry of the Word. We are deeply grateful for the generosity of our friends that has allowed this to happen.

(Clarification: Eduardo and Elmer left seminary after completing two full years of seminary. During those years, the congregation at Wichanzao Presbyterian Church covered virtually all of their expenses. The students' return to seminary for a third year was made possible by the gifts of our Community members.)

There are countless other needs like these, and we need your help to meet them. Click here to learn more about how you can become a part of our Community.

(Click here to read more about Eduardo’s story.)

I never thought that the day I visited my friend Allen in his house after not talking for a long time would be the beginning of a new and marvelous stage of life for my family and ministry. At that point I had been reflecting for a while upon many things I really had not thought about before concerning God and His sovereignty. So, I went to see Allen, and after our conversation he proposed that I join the Apprenticeship Program. I should be honest. At the beginning I did not have much interest in the program, but as the days passed God moved and gave me conviction, which He then confirmed by placing the same conviction and peace in the heart of Saray, my wife. And that was how I came to accept this great, two-year challenge.

I cannot lie; we have a very well organized plan for the reading of the Bible and the systematic study of theology, as well as how to apply these things within the church. But it is very difficult for me to divide my time among these responsibilities along with my wife, my children and my work in the recording studio at home. It is nearly 100% sure that I am going to end each day exhausted and without strength but happy to be doing the will of God for our lives. And this is not by merit of my own strength but rather of mutual cooperation in the home. My wife is always encouraging me.

It is amazing that I have to read the whole Bible in three months. Reading every day in two-hour sessions is the minimum that I can invest to achieve this goal. And this is apart from reading and understanding Berkhof’s book of systematic theology, without forgetting that each week we have to read a chapter of a book on preaching by John Stott, watch videos and take quizzes alongside the excellent Biblical discussions with Pastor Scott and the other guys that participate with me in the Apprenticeship Program. In my case, after these fortifying conversations and experiences I also must learn that when I arrive home my two young children (the eldest, Shalom, is nearly four years old, and Daniel will soon turn two) don’t expect this technical language we usually use in the program. Rather, I must return to the reality of my life with my family, where playing, jumping, laughing, telling stories, crying and other things are the language that brings us together and that surrounds us. I must learn to listen so that I can counsel in simple and practical terms, the challenge being to “show what I have learned”, the same challenge the Holy Spirit gives me every day.

by Emanuel Romero, Apprenticeship Program participant

This month Peru Mission was incredibly blessed by Lydia Walker and Jesse Abbott from Silent Images, a non-profit organization that “provides photography and videography services to other nonprofit organizations seeking to tell stories of hope in the midst of persecution, poverty, or oppression.” For one very full week, Lydia and Jesse filmed and took photographs in both Trujillo and Cajamarca. On a very sunny and warm Sunday morning, they visited a total of four churches! They climbed buildings, hiked through sand and gravel, and shared in our labors by capturing what the Lord is accomplishing in northern Peru through their lenses.

This month’s eBulletin will feature several photos by Jesse, and please keep on the lookout for a series of short videos by Lydia on Peru Mission ministries, due out in the not-too-distant future! We are so thankful for their service and are excited to hear where the Lord will use them next. ¡Hasta la próxima, hermanos!

Selecting our name as a starting point, it would be helpful to say that Stewardship Sinergia is all about being stewards or administrators using synergy (the help of many) to achieve a common goal; this is a group task.

This institution came about as a means of helping the very poor families of the Wichanzao Sector in La Esperanza, people who at the time did not qualify as credit-worthy. And that is why we started this project of offering loans to women of low resources who desired to start a business or improve the business they already had.

We only offered the loans as group loans, to solidarity groups. This means that the women who wanted to receive a loan from our institution first had to form groups of five adult women who wanted to build their business and, by doing that, improve their life conditions. In these solidarity groups each woman pledged to return her part of the loan, and if one of the members of the group failed to do so, the other members assumed the debt.

We currently continue with this method, but we have also incorporated new products, such as offering consumer credit to people who have a job or who need capital to implement their business or company. This is important because there are many loan offers in the market now and we need to have more clients and maintain capital in movement.

The requirements for obtaining a loan with Stewardship Sinergia are only that the client demonstrates a desire to overcome their difficulties and the ability to show that we can rely on them to pay back their loans. Of course the risk of losing capital is always high. We work by faith, because we do not aspire to make a profit, but rather to help, and we want to grow and become a small bank. That is our dream. But to do that requires more capital and more, qualified personnel.

We are in an environment that is totally saturated by credit offers from many financial entities, and this makes our work progressively high risk, because there is no good culture of lending, and we believe that the loans should serve to help people improve their lives and not become more impoverished.
The work we do is based on a Biblical principle, manifested by our very Lord Jesus Christ, and can be found in the Gospel of Luke 4:18, 19:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

We want Stewardship Sinergia to be a means and not an end. We want credit to be a way to help people come out of poverty, and we want to use education to train people to be better administrators of their businesses and, fundamentally, to hear that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that He died for our sins and rose again to save us and give us eternal life. We want them to know that without Christ, we can do nothing.

Jaime Avellaneda is a pastor of Cristo Rey Presbyterian Church in downtown Trujillo, and is also the vice president of the board of directors of Stewardship Sinergia in La Esperanza.

We began to study Spanish more seriously the year before we came to Peru.  We took a vocational Spanish class one night a week from a community college near us.  We met a wonderful Christian lady from Columbia who helped us learn lots of Spanish words and structure.  My parents also bought us Rosetta Stone which helped us learn more.  But we were not prepared for living in Peru.

We did all the things missionaries have to do: raising support, getting rid of our things in the States, saying goodbyes to family and friends.  We got on a plane with only the things we could get into our suitcases and went to the mission field leaving behind all we knew.  Little did we know we were leaving behind our competency as well.  The man that rented us an apartment while in language school picked us up at the airport.  He made jokes about being married or being tired of marriage (a play on words in Spanish: casada is married; cansada is tired).  We didn’t even laugh.  We thought we knew some Spanish but he ended up having to talk to us in broken English to communicate with us.  Later on this family would get their college-age daughter to translate for us when something really important needed to be discussed (like raising our rent).

So we were in our new two-room apartment ready to go to language school.  We didn’t have a car and would have to take the bus for the daily 30 minute ride to language school.  We couldn’t even communicate with the driver to tell him where we wanted off.  So our dueña (the person we rented from) had to write us a note to give to the driver to tell him where we needed to get off.  So began our term of humiliating incompetence.  Many times the Peruvians would take our hands to help us to know when it was safe to cross the streets.  We talked baby-talk Spanish.  We were like little children.  We were living what Jesus had said in Matthew 18:3–4:

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Many in the church have the idea of missionaries being super Christians, but many times we are only like little children. We left the land of our competence and ability.  We came to our incompetence and humiliation.  Do you know what it is like to be corrected regularly in what you are trying to say…by a child?  To have to ask someone to make a phone call for you and explain what you need to the person on the other end of the line?  To get someone to go with you to the barber and tell him how to cut your hair?

In the States we would hop into our vehicle and go do whatever errand we needed, when we needed.  We knew what to do and how to accomplish it.  In Peru we don’t have a car and don’t know how to do many things that were second nature back home.  Even going to the store:  Dianne has to go to the street market, which is an experience in itself, to buy all the basics: fruits, vegetables, eggs, and meats.  Very few things are ready-made here.  Dianne has to make “from scratch” (try explaining that idiom in another language) most everything here.  So everything takes longer. We walk most everywhere in town.  Of course we can take taxis or ride buses when necessary.  But who can complain about walking?  It’s good exercise.

Well, I can’t say we are not still incompetent after almost three years.  But we are getting more competent all along. Before, someone had to drive me to a church and translate while I preached in English.  Now I can drive myself (in a borrowed car) to the church and preach in Spanish.  PtL!  I have a young man who goes over the translations of my sermons and makes them more understandable before I preach.  I can tell the people are getting it when they laugh in the right places.  When they laugh at the wrong time then you have to wonder, “What did I say?”  Dianne is beginning to teach in Spanish as well.  We are both far from fluent, but we praise God that He has enabled us to take these baby steps so that by His grace we are becoming competent in Peru.

I like to tell people that becoming missionaries is the best, hardest thing I ever did.  Who likes to be humiliated? Not I. Do I need it?  Absolutely.  I suspect that if you’re like me you need it too.  God has to break us before He can fully use us.

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. (Psalm 119:67)

As a horse that has to be broken from doing its own will to do the will of the cowboy, so God has to break us ‘competent’ people into incompetence so we will look to Him for His grace for every day.  Besides, I think competence is way overrated anyway.

When Jesus came to Peter to wash his feet Peter was humiliated: a) that his feet needed washing and b) that His Lord would stoop so low and do the task that none of the others were willing to do.

Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” (John 13:8)

Humility is against our nature but Christ came to change our natures, to wash us and to cleanse us.  Whether it is on the mission field, in the operating room, in a broken family, losing a job, or whatever situation in which you may find yourself, God works through our humiliation to make us into useful disciples to advance the Kingdom of our dear Savior.  Humility also gives us a family resemblance to His son, Jesus.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. (Philippians 2:5–9)

By Steve Hill, Peru Mission missionary

And that is exactly what camp is. For some of the kids it is more special than their birthdays, more special than Christmas. “They wait for it all year,” someone explains. “And they do everything they can to be here on time.”

It all started five years ago, when just before New Year’s a team from Twin Lakes Camp (Jackson, MS) boarded a plane with field hockey sticks, soccer balls, and bows and arrows, and made their way to the northern desert of Peru. Within the space of a single week, the team introduced the magic of summer camp, complete with wholesome fun and solid Biblical teaching, to a crowd of astonished children.

Camp is still the same fun, valuable experience, but since that first year some things have changed. Now two camps send teams to Peru each year; Point Pleasant Day Camp (Savannah, GA) joined Twin Lakes last year for the first time. And everyone agrees that one of the most welcomed changes has been the Peruvian community’s growing ownership in camp. Andrew Vincent is Summer Camp Director at Twin Lakes. “The first year we had a lot to explain, a lot of vision casting to do,” he remembers. “There was a lot at risk, just whether this was going to work.” But Vincent says that he has seen the Peruvians gradually adopt the vision. “God blessed that and we’ve definitely seen that the Peruvians love this program. They’ve seen the ministry opportunities that are here and they’ve stepped up to become leaders at camp, which was always the vision. That’s exciting.”

Veronica Ramos of Trujillo is someone who has grown to view herself as an integral part of the camp team. This year was her third year participating, both as a counselor and a member of the music team. Ramos describes camp this way: “It is a moment where you can instill something beautiful in them, because maybe in their home they do not have it. It is a moment where they can see another point of view on life.”

Ramos says that many of the campers come from less than ideal home situations, and several have definite behavioral problems. But, she says, camp gives them a place to “start from zero,” a place where they can experience, if for only a few days, a different reality.

While a lot can happen in those few days, the children need the continuous loving care of the Church all year round. This is why it is so vitally important that the local Church be involved in camp. The campers are all in some way associated with local congregations of the Presbyterian churches with which Peru Mission partners (with the exception of children from a local orphanage). These are the churches that minister to these children and their families the 361 days outside of camp, so their involvement with camp can help to solidify relationships between the children and the ministers and other members of their neighborhood churches.

For example, this was the first year that a Peruvian pastor led the evangelism tent. Pastor Ricardo Hernández of Cristo Restaurador Presbyterian Church spent time every day of camp with each group of children teaching lessons from the Book of Jonah. “From the beginning we had an American that would lead the evangelism tent and we had a translator,” says Vincent. “It worked, but of course having a Peruvian leader to teach is what we’re aiming for. With [Ricardo] being a pastor, it’s so important for the kids to see him consistently, out of the church and here at camp teaching as well.”

This change did not appear out of the blue. Alleen McLain Tomás has been involved with camp in Peru since the beginning, first as a team member, later as a coordinator here on the field. She says that although the participation and ownership of the local church in camp has gradually increased all along, this year it grew by leaps and bounds. “This was the first year that we had a new process for selecting counselors,” she explains. “Each counselor met with the session of their church for an interview. The pastors then reported to a planning committee (composed of the pastors, my husband Hermes Tomás and myself) on who should be selected. The local pastors here then conducted four to five training sessions over the course of the two months leading up to camp.” Alleen contrasts this process to the past practice of holding only one day of orientation the day before camp began. The result? “This more thoughtful and purposeful process for selecting and training counselors made a big impact,” she says. “The Peruvian counselors were much better prepared and did a phenomenal job of caring for the kids, and sharing the gospel through Bible lessons, their actions and their words.”

The Peruvians’ greater commitment was noticeable not only in their interaction with the children, but also in their teamwork with the American counselors. One of the more remarkable things about this camp is the number of different groups and individuals who must pull together and work as a team. Add to that the linguistic challenge: half of the resulting group speaks English and the other Spanish. Making camp a success, then, requires that everyone overcome cultural and linguistic differences with love, and serve not only the children but each other with humility and grace.

Frankie Daniell, who directs Point Pleasant, was thankful to see just such fruits among the many people involved in conducting camp this year. “The complete staff picture was improved,” he says. “I’m not speaking of the quality of the individuals involved, but more in terms of shared vision, abilities to cooperate and work with each other, and fellowship or unity in Christ (which is a part of the gospel witness to the campers). These things cannot be manufactured or coerced, but grow naturally as the various groups work together.”

By serving together as a team, these volunteers can create a different sort of space from what the children are used to, a space where exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit is rewarded, where every activity, from swimming to face painting, is viewed through the lens of Holy Scripture, and where children can hear the gospel faithfully preached. “Dramatic stories of radical change are extremely rare, but the seeds of the Gospel come to fruition,” explains Daniell. “Children need the influence of older Christians who love them and care enough to point them to Christ. For the covenant child the camp is one of many ways within the Church that this takes place. For the unchurched child the camp may be the first (and sometimes the only) place where he or she hears the gospel. Over time the change wrought in a child’s life is radical, but the importance of constant and consistent gospel ministry of the camp type can’t be overstated. We are changed by the Holy Spirit’s use of the Word of God applied to us. Camp is a great situation in which this can happen.”

Click here to see photos of this year’s camp.

For several years the facility was dormant and vacant, having only the foundations and first floor columns along with brick walls and a partial roof. Many of the residents in the neighborhood were frustrated, complaining of the long delay. But God confirmed for us the vision to combine medical ministry and church planting, and the funds have come in, sufficient to complete the first floor and begin operating. At this point we have finished the roof, run the electrical wiring, placed all the plumbing lines, and finished all the ceiling and walls. As I write the windows and doors are being made and installed, and soon we will be putting porcelain tile on the floors and soon after painting the walls. We are getting our quotes for more equipment and furniture, which will go in in the next few months. We are also considering how we will publicize our grand opening, maybe offering special prices for lab tests or free exams . . . needless to say our board of directors is very excited about this.

Again I am praising God for helping us define our vision, and for the eagerness of the Arévalo church staff to be an integral part of the healing ministry. I am continuing to trust in God for direction and funding, since we still have a long way to go to complete the second and third floors. We know He will not fail.

Put not your trust in princes,

in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.

When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;

on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the Lord his God,

who made heaven and earth,

the sea, and all that is in them. (Psalm 146)

by Dale Ellison, Peru Mission missionary

One essential ingredient for successful Christian missions is hope.  What I mean by that is a clear vision of what God’s plans are for the future and a firm conviction that He will bring those plans to fruition using the Church as His chief instrument.  One of the ways that God stirs up within us this missional hope is by helping us to understand the broad sweep of redemptive history through the Old Testament, into the New Testament, and beyond in the history of the Church.  This is especially the case when we come to appreciate key themes and literary images as they unfold in beautifully artistic ways throughout Scripture.  Let me give an example.

One of the more striking images from the Prophecy of Ezekiel comes from his vision in chapters 40-48 of the new temple that would be built after God brings His people back from exile.  In chapter 47 this glorious, new covenant temple turns out to be the source of refreshing, life-giving water.  The water trickles out from below the threshold of the Holy of Holies, south of the altar (v. 1).  This is the place where the Bronze Sea had been in Solomon’s Temple.  The water trickles out the south side of the front door toward the east (i.e., toward the Jordan River) then proceeds south toward the Dead Sea (vv. 2, 8).

Several things about this vision are particularly interesting.  First, the trickle of water keeps getting bigger and bigger until it become a river (vv. 3-5).  Water in the Bible is frequently a symbol of life or even of the Holy Spirit as the source of life.  In Solomon’s Temple God’s grace is pictured as being restricted and limited in the Sea of Bronze.  Ezekiel shows us, however, that in the Kingdom of God His divine life will not be restricted to a bronze basin in Jerusalem, rather it will begin to flow freely, giving life to all that it touches.  Second, the banks of the river are lined with trees which bear fruit in their season, twelve times per year.  They bear fresh fruit each month because “the water for them flows from the sanctuary.” Their leaves also do not wither but are used for healing (vv. 7, 12). And third, when the water reaches the Dead Sea, which was the saltiest and most lifeless place that Ezekiel knew of, its waters are healed and the sea springs to life: “everything will live where the river goes” (v. 9).

There are numerous fascinating echoes here of earlier Biblical passages.  Fruit bearing trees watered by a river flowing from a sanctuary should make us think of the Garden of Eden.  This is exactly how Revelation 22 interprets it.  John calls this “the river of the water of life” flowing from the “throne of God and of the Lamb,” and calls the trees that are along the banks of the river the “Tree of Life” (v. 2).  He also explains that the healing leaves are for the “healing of the nations” (v. 2).

When we read about the trees that “bear fruit in their season” and whose “leaf does not wither” we should think of the righteous man in Psalm 1.  Jesus is the Righteous Man par excellence, but the emphasis here seems to fall on the people of God as the trees who bear fruit because they are watered from the stream which flows from the throne.

It seems that John also has Ezekiel’s vision in mind at several points in his Gospel.  In chapter two when Jesus casts the money changers out of the temple, He declares that though the temple would be destroyed He would raise it up again in three days (v. 19).  Jesus was referring, John says, to the temple of His body (v. 21).  In other words, Jesus claims that He is the true Temple where God’s presence is most truly and fully known.  Then in chapter 4, when He meets the Samaritan woman at the well, and she wishes to debate with Him over who has the true temple, Jesus claims that neither Jews nor Samaritans will have such exclusive rights.  The presence of God is most fully manifest in Him, and He will be “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” for whoever is willing to drink (v.14).  Then finally, in chapter 7, Jesus claims that this living water will not only give life to those who believe, but will also flow out of the hearts of believers (v. 38), making each of them a channel through which Jesus’ life and healing will flow to others.

This colorful mixture of metaphors and literary images from Genesis, Psalms, Ezekiel, John, and Revelation becomes a beautiful portrait of the mission of the Church.  The water flowing from the throne is the Holy Spirit who flows from the body of the Resurrected Jesus to this world (1 Cor 15.45).  The Spirit gives life to the believer, making him a vibrant tree whose leaves do not wither but rather serve as medicine for healing the nations.  He bears fruit in season because he receives water from the Jesus, the True Temple. He becomes a channel of God’s grace to a dry and thirsty world.

Seeing what God has done for us in Christ, seeing what His plans are for the world, and seeing how He plans to use us to achieve His purposes should give us great hope.  May we all drink deeply from that flowing stream, bearing fruit each month, and may our leaves be for the healing of the nations!

by Wesley Baker, Peru Mission missionary

As we approached the community with the Good News through these ministries, it happened that a young member of the Alfa Group invited a classmate from his school called Roberto who had a problem with his palate. Roberto was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate, and because of a lack of economic resources, only his lip was reconstructed.

Roberto visited us at the end of 2008 at the age of 17 years and was only in his second year of secondary school. Although the problem with his palate didn't allow him to communicate well, he quickly felt accepted. Roberto had many prejudices and was very hard on himself. (Although his limitation allowed him to take advantage of his friends: he was really good at asking them to lend him money).

Roberto visited us throughout two consecutive years, during which he only participated in the Bible studies of the Alfa Group. Roberto said that his parents didn't allow him to participate in the Sunday services, and when he told them that he wanted to be baptized, they forbade him. In spite of everything Roberto persevered.

The last week of 2012, on the eve of the new year, Roberto visited me. Although he still had his physical limitation, something new radiated from this young friend. “I come to wish you a happy New Year,” he said, and he told me of his joy at having truly been drawn to Christ. He was baptized and was communing. He blessed me and thanked me for all of the time that I spent with him.

God has his own ways of calling his children and making them participants in the teaching of his disciples. Finally, as a pastor I say that there is no greater satisfaction that to see a man reconciled with God.

by Juan Marquina, Pastor of Wichanzao Presbyterian Church

“Studying in greater depth has allowed me to know Biblical doctrine better,” says Esdras Vásquez, a deacon at Cristo Rey Presbyterian Church in downtown Trujillo. “As a deacon, and being in charge of a cell group,” he emphasizes, “I need to teach what is correct, not just what I like, to show them God through His Word.”

As we pursue our goal of planting missional churches throughout northern Peru, training leaders like Esdras is key. For this reason, we have always included Biblical and reformed theological training as a fundamental part of our work.

Our efforts in theological education have been varied, depending on resources and manpower, and have included traditional classroom formats, as well as modules, seminars and mentoring. Through these methods we have seen how the Lord has strengthened and prepared church leaders in their faith and knowledge of the Scriptures, better equipping them for ministry.

This year we have great cause for thanksgiving: our seminary efforts were more robust than what we have been able to provide in recent years. In addition to our mentoring and discipleship efforts, we were able to offer a strong line-up of formal courses both on the coast and elsewhere.

For Pastors Alonzo Ramírez and Steve Hill, teaching these courses often took them far away from their home base of Cajamarca in the central Andes deep into the country’s interior to the jungle region of Amazonas. This year, they taught half-a-dozen courses ranging from Apologetics to Pneumatology. Pastor Alonzo and Pastor Steve had a core group of 11 students, and several others came and went throughout the year. Wanting to reach as many as possible with the Word, Pastor Alonzo and Pastor Steve set no age requirement to attend. “Some children who also attended classes asked thoughtful questions during Q&A time,” explains Pastor Alonzo, “which means that they are paying attention and understanding our classes.”

In Trujillo, nearly all pastors associated with the mission taught, and a small but faithful group of students from our affiliated churches attended the classes. Pastor Scott Davenport, who directs the ministry in Trujillo, has been encouraged by the interest throughout our church communities. "There are signs of eagerness,” he says, “to come out at night, to take several classes, to seek very self-consciously to grow in their understanding, their faith.”

Presbyterians are not the only ones who have taken advantage of the opportunity to learn. Pastor Sergio de la Rosa, a Baptist minister and friend of the mission, has allowed us to use his Biblical studies center in Trujillo for classes. The Lord has used this connection to bring several Baptist and Pentecostal brethren to attend such courses as Systematic Theology, Biblical Psychology, and Christian Marriage.

Pastor Scott is not surprised by the attention the classes received from brethren outside of the reformed community. “[They] have been attracted by a well-developed theology and just some solid, Biblical teaching,” he says. Pastor Wes Baker, who taught five different courses this year, suspects from this broader interest that there might be an opportunity for greater unity in the Church in Peru through reformed doctrine. “I sense that there is a growing identification with the heritage of the Reformation among evangelicals from a variety of different backgrounds,” says Pastor Wes. "People who never even thought about the Reformation before [are thinking], 'These reformed people are actually my ancestors.'"

Pastor Wes will be on home assignment in 2013, leaving the ministry in Trujillo without its primary professor. Therefore, maintaining a full schedule of seminary courses will not be feasible in the coming year. However, Pastor Scott, Pastor Allen Smith and the Peruvian ministers plan to direct our work of theological education to more of a mentoring and directed study format, with a special focus on training future church planters. These efforts will combine the work of the seminary and of a pastoral apprenticeship program which will, Lord willing, get off the ground early next year.

In order for the work of theological education to flourish, the greatest need is for qualified and gifted Peruvian professors. We ask that you pray the Lord would provide for us in this way as our affiliated churches continue to pursue this vital ministry.

On a mid-semester morning in Trujillo, the campus of Antenor Orrego Private University is bustling. Outside its gates, buses, vans and taxis deposit students and carry others away. Crowds of young people talk and laugh.

Oscar Briones, who has served as pastor of SUSA (Peru Mission’s university ministry) since April of this year, sees great potential amid the chaos. “In the students we have the future professionals, the future authorities, those who will rule the destiny of the country,” he says. “I believe that the students are the best ground where the Church can work.”

The stakes are high. Peru consistently struggles to produce ethical leadership in both private and public spheres. The result? Chronic corruption and injustice, and an institutionalized divorce between a professed faith in God and actual obedience to His commands. By reaching tomorrow’s leaders with the gospel today, the potential for positive change throughout Peruvian society is difficult to overestimate.

“Come unto me”

When Luis Murga, a fourth-year student in finance at Antenor Orrego, first participated in a SUSA small-group meeting, he was a confessing Roman Catholic. But Luis had never really considered who God was and what Christ had done for him.

Now, Luis has committed his life to Christ, is a member of Cristo Rey Presbyterian Church, and is deeply involved in the ministry of SUSA on his campus. “I believe that reading the Bible has clarified my mind,” he says. “I know what to ask of Him, and I know what I should do every day.”

Luis’s story is not unusual. Peruvians are overwhelmingly Roman Catholic (80%, according to the Peruvian government), but their faith is generally only ankle deep. “People call themselves Catholic, but many of them are nominal Catholics, by nothing more than tradition,” argues Pastor Oscar. “They have not had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.” This shallow faith leaves many hearts and minds vulnerable to the secularism and humanism which have steadily been making inroads into Peru’s universities throughout the last century.

Secularism, of course, offers no lasting hope to students who are suffering from the effects of abandonment, abuse and loneliness. Maresa Vásquez, a college graduate and current SUSA leader, says that a lot of her former classmates suffered deeply from the emotional trauma of growing up in bad family situations. “Destroyed homes, broken families, or maybe it was separated parents,” she remembers. “Others did not even know their father.”

Armed with the gospel of Jesus Christ, Pastor Oscar has sought to offer true help to these students. “We want to do work [that is] a little more personalized with the students,” explains Pastor Oscar, “where there is the opportunity to present the gospel clearly to every student, and [where] we can disciple them in a personal way, too.”

During most of its history, SUSA has focused primarily on drawing students from their university communities each week to a non-campus location for fellowship and teaching as a large group. But while these large-group meetings serve an important purpose, they are no substitute for the smaller settings more conducive to discipleship.

SUSA’s earliest leaders (including former Peru Mission missionaries John Ferguson and Josh Eby) recognized the importance of small groups and used this format in their ministry. But being without a SUSA minister for the last few years has kept us from getting on the campuses and doing anything more than occasional large-group meetings. Now we are charging back into the fray. With our first full-time Peruvian university pastor, we can truly invest in discipling believers in these settings. Every week, students are meeting on their campuses for Bible study and evangelism training with a small group of other believers, including those who have recently come to Christ. Seven such groups currently meet in Trujillo.

These small groups are just as much about looking outward as they are about looking inward, and no group is meant to remain static. “We want them to multiply,” explains Pastor Oscar, and this means making disciples who make other disciples, a pattern being followed elsewhere in the ministry of the local Church throughout Trujillo and Cajamarca. “The idea is that Pastor Oscar starts with a group of five people,” explains Maresa, “and each person is going to disciple other people afterwards. It is like a pattern: after I have been discipled, I have to disciple others.” Maresa says she thinks this is a good challenge. “And it is Biblical,” she adds.

Of course the students need a great deal of training, encouragement, and knowledge in order to meet this challenge. To equip them, Pastor Oscar has been crafting a manual for use in the small-group meetings. When they meet each week, the students go through a section of the manual and discuss how to implement the materials in their conversations with unbelieving classmates.

Belonging to the Body

Being a part of SUSA is by no means the ultimate goal for these students. Instead, bringing people to Christ means bringing them into His Church. That this is important to Pastor Oscar is apparent in many ways. The second lesson in his training manual, for example, discusses the indispensable role of the Church in the life of the Christian. He and his leaders are constantly bringing their classmates to church with them, and at least two of these students have recently become members in local Presbyterian congregations.

Another way that Pastor Oscar is able to emphasize the role of the Church is through his own affiliation with the local Church, and also that of his leadership team. Pastor Oscar serves on the session of Cristo Rey Presbyterian Church in downtown Trujillo, and SUSA’s other leaders are dedicated members of their home congregations. Rather than an independent entity, SUSA is a servant of the Church and a crucial part of her ministry to the city.

Maresa believes all of these developments bring greater dynamism and growth to the ministry. “I believe that the work that Pastor Oscar is doing with each small-group leader is very good,” she says, “because it is bringing more people.”

The results truly are astonishing. Students have come to Christ and been welcomed into His Church. Believers who before found it difficult to share their faith have received systematic training in evangelism and have begun to share their faith openly with their classmates.

Luis, a newly committed believer himself, has been doing just this. “I invited a friend,” he recalls. “I thought she would only be there for one session, but I found out later that she wanted to receive Christ. I was surprised. I did not expect it.” He says others have come to Christ through the ministry, too, and that the growth, while slow, is consistent and encouraging.

A glorious purpose

Pastor Oscar understands that in order to change society, we have to change society’s leaders. “SUSA exists to bring students to Christ,” he explains, “and to equip those students to serve in society as Christian professionals.” In a rented room at the back of a culinary institute where SUSA holds its monthly large-group meetings, the thirty-plus students gathered could be those servant-leaders. Pastor Oscar is hopeful, but he realizes that the most important thing in their lives right now (more important than grades, accolades, careers, or even involvement in SUSA) is their faith in Christ. “We want them to know Christ for real,” he says. And that, after all, is the knowledge most worth having in the world.

Pastor Allen believes that particularization was vitally important for the growth and well-being of the church plant. “It was a formal process where the church leadership was formally organized as a visible institution,” he explains. “Before, we were more of an informal federation of brothers who served as a mission. We were not officially a church that was united to our history going back to Christ.”

Pastor Jaime Avellaneda, member of Cristo Rey’s newly installed session (along with pastors Wes Baker, Oscar Briones, and Allen Smith), observes that particularization was also a crucial step in the church’s journey towards sustainability. “It is important so that growth can take place,” he explains, “because if we stay dependent on the mission, I do not believe we are going to grow. I believe we will always be like children. The idea is that at some point we will be an institution that is self-supporting and can walk alone.”

A church needs godly leaders to reach these goals, and Cristo Rey can praise God for providing just such leaders during this stage of her life. In addition to the new session, the church has three active deacons and a women’s group called the “Order of Dorcas.” This group is similar to the PCA’s “Women in the Church” ministry—its members minister to other women in the church and also support the deacons’ ministry.

As the church grows and matures, one need has risen above the rest: in order to grow any further, the church needs a more permanent and more usable space for worship and daily ministry. The church’s temporary arrangements are already taking their toll on the congregation. There is no place for Sunday School classes, the immediate area surrounding the conference room where the congregation worships is unsafe for children, and the church does not have access to the space during the week. While the congregation prays for a better situation, they concede that a lack of space is a good problem to have. More important than that, they recognize that God has always been and will always be a faithful provider.

Sturdy walls and a roof, still somewhat of a luxury in the desert community of Primavera, are a welcomed change for Cristabel Nuñez and her family. It was not long ago that the Nuñezes lived in the tiny shack that still stands in their backyard. Thanks in part to a loan from Stewardship Sinergia for Nuñez’s small business, that experience is now a memory.

But security is fragile throughout La Esperanza, one of Peru’s largest and most populated districts, and poverty is never farther than one crisis away. For the Nuñez family, that crisis was an act of violence: Nuñez’s son was shot eight times while at a family party. Now, with thousands of dollars in medical bills, the frightening possibility arises that they might one day find themselves right back where they started.

The Nuñezes are facing a kind of poverty that is new to them, one that makes it harder and harder for families like theirs to weather their stormy lives. Banks, loan agencies, and credit card companies recently established in the area are peddling loans that are as impossible to refuse as they are to repay, leading to what can only be described as an epidemic of debt.

Judith Baltodano, director of Stewardship Sinergia, blames these businesses for preying on people who know little or nothing about managing money. Perhaps most alarming is the ease with which locals can obtain credit cards, which Judith says many think of as “free money.” These cards come with abusive interest rates as high as 100%. “They do not know that they are paying a lot for this money they are taking out,” Judith explains with frustration.

A microfinance institution seems an unlikely source of help for people who find themselves buried in debt. “The sector is very indebted,” stresses Judith. “To keep exploiting this sector would be to keep putting these people deeper in debt, and that is not (our) purpose.” Judith says that there are important ways that Stewardship Sinergia can help these victims. She describes how Stewardship Sinergia encourages people who have taken on too much debt to “take a rest,” and to focus on paying off their debts and putting aside savings, rather than giving in to the temptation to take on new debts to pay off old ones.

But the work does not stop there. There are still many small business owners in need of capital to help their businesses become stable and profitable. The goal is to reach these entrepreneurs before the vultures start to circle, offering Biblical stewardship education and help when needed.

For Stewardship Sinergia, this means expansion, and the team is now reaching into areas far beyond their immediate surroundings. Thanks to a generous donation, the ministry now has a motorcycle, which makes reaching these more widely dispersed clients easier.

Of course, in addition to seeking out new clients, Stewardship Sinergia continues to serve the nearly 200 clients already on the books.

One of these clients is Luz Margán, an immigrant from the mountains who works through the night to bake her locally famous bread in time to get it to market in the morning. Thanks in part to a loan from Stewardship Sinergia, she now has a gleaming gasoline-powered oven that allows her to bake at a fraction of the time and cost of the wood-burning oven she started with. Her success shows that microloans, given in wisdom and compassion, can truly make a difference for the better.

Margán is thankful for the help she has received from Stewardship Sinergia that has allowed her business to flourish. “We work peaceably with them,” she says, adding that she always feels free to talk with the Stewardship Sinergia team face-to-face about any problem she has. In the end, this is what Stewardship Sinergia is all about: peace in relationships between people, and between people and God. Only by proclaiming God’s shalom to the community can these enemies to peace be defeated.

Another benefit we receive from all foreign visitors who come to assist us in Peru is the reminder that Christ’s kingdom is global, international, and yet one. The kingdom is not only for every place it is also for all the different people, and furthermore, we become one family. But even though we receive a new identity and new primary allegiance in Christ, we do not completely lose our national identity. On the contrary, as Revelation 21 says, we will bring into Christ’s kingdom “the glory and the honor of the nations” (21:26). We not only look forward to a future day when this will be true, but even today we enjoy the benefits of the mixing of Christians from all lands and cultures.

With the visit of Dr. Wright, who is a native-born Scotsman, we received the blessing of a further reminder of the international glory of Christ’s church. I won’t try to say whether that glory consists of the unmistakable Scottish accent or concern for piety, the gentlemanly refinements, the characteristically British dry wit, or any other particular facets. Nonetheless, the very person of our brother was a fresh reminder of the diverse glory of Christ’s kingdom.

During his visit Dr. Wright led us through a week-long study of the history of God’s international family during the medieval period, otherwise known as Medieval Church History. It will come as no surprise that we learned of Roman emperors and Holy Roman emperors, of councils and controversies, of popes, bishops, monks, feuding feudal lords and crusading knights. All of which took us from Rome to Jerusalem and back again to Rome, through modern day Turkey, down to Africa, and up to northern Europe, even landing us in Scotland on occasion! Though we heard of many facets of the medieval church that were troubling, beneath it all is the unmistakable reality that the reign of Christ was expanding in the earth, covering more territory and bringing more peoples into His kingdom.

Thank you, Dr. Wright, for reminding us, in your person yet all the more in your teaching, that we are part of a glorious work of God in Christ in all times, and among all peoples and lands.

by Scott Davenport, Peru Mission missionary

This is why after I got involved with the ministry, in the month of May of this year, we had a training session with a group of 13 students (the majority of them currently students, the others already graduated) and we established what would become the philosophy of the ministry:

Bring students to Christ through personal evangelism, group evangelism and university conferences.
Disciple students who have accepted Christ both one-on-one and in groups.
Help the new believers become involved with a local church.
Train the new believers so that they also disciple others.

In the month of May we started to evangelize classmates of SUSA group members in four universities. We are now ending the second cycle of the year, and I believe that God has been very generous in allowing us to bring to Christ more than 35 students. Other students to whom we presented the gospel have not shown interest in the things of the Lord or have identified themselves as agnostics.

SUSA students have accompanied me in doing the work of presenting the gospel, with the purpose of them learning also to share the gospel. We started the work of discipleship in the same way. As new students have gotten involved, I have discipled them in the company of a SUSA student, with the purpose that the SUSA students also do the same with other new students.

Right now there are some 25 students who are in the process of being discipled, and although my desire was to have a greater harvest, the students of the base group of SUSA are gradually making this their own vision. It gives me much hope that there will be a team of people with this vision working in the different universities next year.

We are in the process of putting together a Plan of Work for 2013, and with the help of the Lord we would like to see 100 new students receive Jesus Christ as their savior, and be discipled and incorporated into the Church.

Pastor Oscar Briones, SUSA

To his joy (and the joy of many, many others), it turns out there was no mistake. Independent Presbyterian Church of Savannah, GA, faithful, generous supporters of Peru Mission for several years, had, indeed, donated $100,000 to the Arévalo Missional Hospital project.

A legacy of love

Frankie Daniell chairs the Church Extension Committee at IPC Savannah and is a familiar figure here on the field, having visited Peru Mission in Trujillo many times as a short-term team leader. Daniell says the money came from a gift that Bill Glasgow, a long-time member of IPC, left to the church when he passed away. “The session saw fit that this money not be used for the operating budget of the church,” explains Daniell, “but rather to special projects that might further the kingdom outside our own walls.”

Daniell, along with two other committee members who had accompanied him on trips to Peru, came to the conclusion that Peru Mission was the right fit for the gift. “Peru Mission is committed to planting and growing reformed and Presbyterian churches,” explains Daniell, “[and also] to mercy ministry as a means of spreading the gospel.” He adds that during their visits to Peru his church has observed the way our medical ministries work alongside our parish churches. Daniell emphasizes IPC’s desire that the Lord would use medical ministry to grow His Kingdom. “We hope and pray that through the medical mercy work in Trujillo the proclamation of the gospel will be clear and the Lord’s Church will be built up.”

When completed, the hospital will operate as a ministry of Cristo Restaurador Presbyterian Church in Manuel Arévalo, a community in the sprawling La Esperanza district outside of Trujillo. Combined with previous giving and current commitments, we hope and expect that the gift will allow us to complete Phase 1 of the project: a fully functioning primary care clinic providing general, pediatric, OB/GYN, and dental care, along with other health services, to Manuel Arévalo and surrounding communities. The gift will go a very long way, paying for (among other things) finishing construction on the first floor, lighting and plumbing fixtures, paint, furniture, equipment, and perhaps even some initial staff expenses to get the clinic up and running.

Hope deferred

Starting work again on this sizable project earlier this year was an act of faith. Dale Ellison, who has led the fundraising efforts for the hospital, says that from the very beginning he knew it would have to be 100% God’s provision. “My initial reaction was extreme joy and praise to God,” he says. “I have often told myself that God will provide, because I have no ability to raise this kind of money. If God wants this to be a reality, He will move. And He has.”

Ricardo Hernández, pastor of Cristo Restaurador, says that, even with the certain knowledge that God always provides, often in ways beyond our ability to foresee, trusting in His provision for a project of this scope was not always easy. “At the beginning of this year we set ourselves as a church to pray diligently for the construction of the hospital,” he says, “and that is what we did almost every Wednesday night.” God’s response was both surprising and not so surprising. For Pastor Ricardo, the Lord’s incredible provision brought confirmation to him of “His attention for His Church and the mission of the same.”

And He keeps on giving

“We did not ask for a clinic just to have one,” Pastor Ricardo emphasizes. “We asked for it because we believe that we can serve better and so give testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who healed the sick.”

Pastor Ricardo adds that he hopes the new hospital will bring physical healing to his community, but also much more. “I hope to see the gospel and the Kingdom of the Lord advance, healing and giving relief to the sick not only physically, but above all spiritually.” He says that this type of ministry reaches more than just the patient. “In my pastoral experience I have noticed that around a sick person, not only the sick person suffers but everyone who is near him; mainly his family. So the hospital will not only bring relief to the sick but also to their families and therefore to all of our community, and surely other neighborhoods as well.”

The past few weeks have been overwhelmingly encouraging for medical ministry at Peru Mission. News of IPC’s gift came on the heels of a long-awaited approval by the Peruvian government for tax-exempt status, which lifts a tremendous financial burden from the ministry. Thanks to the Lord’s provision, largely through the abundant generosity of our brethren at IPC, the work in merciful medical ministry under the guidance of the local church may continue to grow in Trujillo, extending the mercy of the Lord to many more people in need. 

Pastor Ricardo summarizes our thankfulness this way: "I am profoundly grateful to the Lord for my brothers from Savannah. I also thank them for their dedication, for their generosity, for expending themselves, for being examples of the generosity of the Lord and also being co-laborers and participants in the advancement of the Kingdom of God here. Brothers of Savannah, blessings are on your side: the Lord Jesus Christ said 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

“The Son of Man came eating and drinking...”  Luke 7:34

Why do we love Thanksgiving so much? Is it the turkey? Is it the time spent with loved ones? Is it watching football games? These things are all good, but I believe that embedded in our image there is a deeper impulse that points us to something much more.

Have you ever noticed that every significant event in the Bible happened at a meal or on a mountaintop? These are the two venues where God works in special ways. Think of when God makes a covenant – every single ceremony includes a meal. Think of what God made Israel do right before they had to run for their lives and escape their slavery in Egypt – they ate the Passover Meal. Think of what Jesus said before celebrating the Last Supper: “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I have to suffer” (Luke 22:15).

Meals Embody Family

A profound truth is communicated at a meal: we belong to a family. It is not a coincidence that the word “companion” comes from the Latin cum (together) and panis (bread). Companions are your true family that you eat with. Can you imagine a healthy family that does not eat together? “A meal is not the only way to build community (i.e. service, trips, and outreach), but it is the number one on the list” (Tim Chester, Meals with Jesus).

Food is not merely fuel; food is a bond between brothers. Have you noticed how difficult it is to eat in silence? Meals create space for unhurried conversation, for talking and being heard. They help us drop our defenses so that we can be who we really are with others. Meals prove that we are truly part of a family.

Meals Embody Mission

Meals are also the most natural context for mission. I completely relate to Tim Chester’s observation: “If I pull down books on missions and church planting from my shelves, I can read about contextualization, evangelism matrices, postmodern apologetics, and cultural hermeneutics. I can look at a diagram that tells me how people can be converted or discover the steps required to plant a church. It all sounds impressive, cutting edge, and sophisticated. But this is how Luke describes Jesus’ mission strategy: ‘The Son of Man came eating and drinking’” (Meals with Jesus, pp. 14-15).

This type of evangelism is not complicated. It might be messy and up our grocery budget, but it’s a lob ball. Meals bring mission into the ordinary. If we love Jesus, love non-Christians, and love food, then all it takes is having them over to eat. We’ll eventually talk about Jesus. It’s as simple as that. We might not get through an entire evangelistic outline in one setting – that’s why we need to have them over again! Hospitality and eating meals are the lost art of evangelism.

Eating together has been one of our main ways we have attempted to do evangelism through our missional cell groups. The healthiest cell groups among us are the ones that eat most frequently together. We look for any reason to eat together. Birthdays and holidays have been our top reasons. At our last meal we celebrated Wes’s birthday. As I looked around the room and noticed a very diverse group, I thought, “Only the gospel could have united this unlikely family.”

It sounds really simple. And you know what? It kind of is. God is throwing us a lob-ball, so let’s hit it out of the park!

Allen Smith, Peru Mission missionary, Leadership Development

“Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” 1 Tim. 4:12

These words of the Apostle Paul to the young minister Timothy come to mind when I see the work that the Lord is doing in and through Jefferson Alayo. Sometimes our tendency is to think that young people, by the mere fact of being young, are not able to show maturity or be mature. Our brother Jefferson is a clear example of how the Lord changes lives, edifies His Church and transforms the world.

Approximately two years ago Jefferson arrived at Cristo Restaurador Church in Manuel Arévalo. He was a young man not very interested in spiritual things. One day a young man invited him on a Sunday and he decided to come. Afterward he was invited to the youth group on Saturdays and that is how he began to know the Gospel. What Jefferson began to see and hear here was something different—what they were studying was not very popular, but at the same time it touched his being. His concepts and ideas about how the world is were based in humanism, pragmatism, etc., things very accepted by the majority of people in the world, but now hearing the Word of God was shaking him. He did not think of himself as an unbeliever, but he had to recognize that he was living as an unbeliever. For this reason the more he listened to the Word of God the more he also noticed his own weaknesses and needs—need for Christ, for His Spirit, for His Word, His Church; but also of the needs of the Church and of the world around him. And so Jefferson started to get involved in the Church, helping in the diverse ministries and activities. Many brothers saw in him a young man touched by the Lord because his commitment was extensive, sacrificial and silent. He was received as a member last February and he continued giving himself to the work of the Lord.

This year he had to experience a great test in seeing how God uses bad things for our good. Jefferson had a very bad health problem and since his family was in economic difficulties, the church decided to help with his operation. Our church as well as other churches came together to help him. This allowed him to see the unity and solidarity of the Church, but not only this; upon seeing this, Jefferson’s family decided to come. This way Jefferson also saw the hand of God in his favor through his brothers in Christ.

This upcoming Sunday Jefferson will be ordained as a deacon. He has been called by the congregation based on their recognition of his gifts, service and commitment to the Church. He is strengthening himself in applying the Word of God and the counsel of the pastors in his life. Proof of this is that he continues serving in the church in the different activities that we have: he helps with the youth group, participates in the worship group, is faithful in attending church (not only on Sundays; he also comes on Fridays for prayer). He also helps in the university ministry (SUSA).

One more proof of the change in his live as a young man is the more careful management of his feelings. He is courting a young Christian woman of the church with the permission and consent of her parents. I believe that this not only impacts a church influenced by the world but the world itself. At the same time he is studying civil engineering in UPAO University and is volunteering with an educational project in our church. He is a good influence in his family: his brother Alexis comes to church thanks to him. His mother and younger sister started to come and his father and older sister see the church in a good light. His friends outside of church recognize that there is a new Jefferson that has changed his life and that this is a product of the Church; also they recognize that Jefferson lives a more moderate life than they do.

We give thanks to God for the live and testimony of this brother. We pray that the Lord would continue to use, keep and bless him!

Ricardo Hernández, Pastor of Cristo Restaurador Presbyterian Church, Manuel Arévalo

This little girl is Felicia. She is four years old and came into the clinic with her mother a few weeks ago with bleeding when she went to the bathroom. She had no apparent pain and it had been a week since it had started. The doctor ordered an abdominal ultrasound and stool studies. Thankfully we have both an ultrasound machine and a small lab that can do basic studies. The little girl got both tests done for cheaper than most places around and we found out she had parasites in her intestines and also pyelonephritis (an infection in her kidneys). She came to us for five days of antibiotic shots and also got her medicine for the parasites from our pharmacy. Now she is happy, the bleeding has stopped, and we got to share the love of Christ through medicine.

Elizabeth Johnson, medical missionary

Saturday night the congregation of Wichanzao Presbyterian Church gathered for a prayer vigil following a presbytery meeting the day before. There was gospel preaching by Pastor Juan Marquina, jubilant singing, and kingdom prayer. One particular motive for praise this weekend was the ordination of José Barriga as an elder in the church. Please join us in praising our God for His provision of godly leaders for this church, and for their passion for laboring for His kingdom. Click here to see photos from the event.

You would have needed a lot of imagination to see a hospital in it. With the window and door openings bricked in, and strands of re-bar rising haphazardly skyward where the roof ought to have been, the unfinished structure hardly seemed a place of hope and healing.

The difference today is stunning. Thanks to the generosity of our friends, the first floor of the building is gradually becoming what it was meant to be. The roof is up, and workers are starting on the walls and floors. With the Lord’s continued provision, we hope to open the doors of the first floor of the Arévalo Missional Hospital to the community as a primary-care medical and dental clinic sometime next year.

The clinic will include a pharmacy, emergency room, exam rooms, and many other areas of care (see a map), and it will be the third facility in the Bethesda Presbyterian Association, Peru Mission’s healthcare network, to offer compassionate healthcare to the people in our parish communities in La Esperanza.

Clinics like these, laboring side-by-side with parish churches, are a vital component of holistic ministry to the poor. They provide quality healthcare to people who might otherwise not have access to it, and they also offer something else: love and compassion.

We are thrilled to see the progress on the hospital, but know that we can only go so far with the resources we have. We are still short of what we will need to complete the first floor, and we need your help. Please pray for the Arévalo Missional Hospital project, that the Lord would provide the funds necessary so that we can open our doors to those in need of compassionate care in Manuel Arévalo.

Click here to see photos of the roof construction on the Arévalo Missional Hospital.

Last week we had the pleasure of welcoming back our dear friends from Independent Presbyterian Church of Savannah, GA. Part of the team partnered with the Bethesda Clinic in Wichanzao to provide dental care and pharmacy (the clinic provided a physician and nurses), and another group worked in Christ the Restorer Church in Manuel Arévalo doing some remodeling and helping with construction on the Missional Hospital. We are so thankful for IPC Savannah's faithful commitment to Peru Mission, and for their friendship, too. You can see pictures from the week here. 

Last Friday night the St. Augustine University Society held its monthly large-group meeting. This is an opportunity for students from many universities to gather together for fellowship, singing, and learning. This month, Pastor Allen Smith taught on a Biblical perspective on dating and courtship. Biblical teaching on this subject is rare in Peru, and the 30+ students present responded very positively to Pastor Allen's message. See photos from the evening.

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases. (Song of Solomon 8:4)

Moving some of the hundreds of rocks that were moved during the week.

What happens when you bring 12 Americans who speak no Spanish to Peru and have them work on a construction project with 3 Peruvian workers who speak no English? Well, first you make sure there is at least one translator on site at all times, but even then, there can be some confusion. Maybe that pile of dirt got moved more than once--oops! To an outsider, and maybe even to the team at times, it may have seemed like futile efforts when Second Presbyterian Church from Greenville, SC came to Trujillo. But I encourage you to take a closer look. Do you know what you will see? Christian men walking with other Christian men. . .laying a foundation (literally) for future generations to worship the same one and true Lord. This team worked tirelessly for a week moving dirt, mixing concrete (who knew how heavy dirt and rock were?), clearing out rock, after rock, after rock, after rock, from the land to prepare it for the new floor. It was tireless and thankless work, but they did it and without a single complaint! What an example for us all to remember that our work for the Lord is not in vain. We should never grow weary of doing good. Thanks to this team's endless energy, almost half of the concrete floor in the sanctuary was poured and we were able to clean up part of the back lot where our neighbor had been concerned that our piles of dirt were going to cause her wall to fall in. Our witness is to the neighborhood and community that the Church is there for them and for all. What a great example to show our neighbors we care even about them.

Preparing the land for a new concrete floor

Wow . . . look at that in just a week--well done!

Pastor Robert Spears led this team down to Peru and as always, was able to assist in the seminary by teaching a class each morning.  As the team gathered for personal devotions and a hearty breakfast before the workday began, Pastor Spears was teaching a class on Eschatology at the Arevalo church. It was well attended and a blessing to several of the pastors in town as well as future seminary students and church members.

The team enjoys a visit to the Huaca de Sol y Luna

Thanks to Second Presbyterian Church for your tireless efforts. We pray the Lord will continue to bless you and your church as you labor for His kingdom.

Elder Steve Lovelady and Pastor Steve Johnston extending the right hand of fellowship.

One of the definitions Merriam Webster has for service is "useful labor that does not produce a tangible commodity." How perfect does that sum up the service on a short-term trip? It often does not produce something tangible that a team can touch or feel, but it has lasting impact. One particularly striking story with this team is a patient they saw on the last day of medical campaigns. A woman came into our "clinic" and asked that we go see her sister.  She was bedridden and could not come to the clinic. We agreed to make the house call. As the doctor, woman and I walked to her home through the dirt streets, she explained what had happened. Her sister was here visiting when she had a horrible stroke that left her with no use of her right side and speechless. We promised to do what we could knowing it was not much medically we could offer in this environment. After several blocks we came to the cement home with dirt floors. There was our patient, bedridden, but being cared for as well as possible. The sisters went through what happened, had the MRIs, and a list of her medications and what she took when. Dr. Lovelady was able to confirm where the stroke occurred in the brain and offer some real hope for the family and encouragement. He explained the need for taking her medicine as directed and that he could provide them some of the medicines she was taking (we left several months worth). He was also able to show them some physical therapy exercises to try and regain some of the use of her right side and possibly even talk again. The patient was awake, but could not speak, but you could see in her eyes that she understood it all. She was despondent and depressed--who wouldn't be? And so while there we gave her the best medicine we could--the truth about Jesus Christ. That He loved her and came here to save her. That He is the great physician and He can heal her--physically and spiritually. We prayed for her and encouraged her. It was a dear moment with this family who so desperately was looking for hope for their loved one. Dr. Lovelady may not have felt like that service was much help -- there was no tangible product, but what a difference it made! Our personnel from the medical clinic returned to follow up and continued to do so for several weeks. At last report, the patient was sitting up in bed and hopes to be able to return to her own home soon. 

Dr. Lovelady treating a patient in Arevalo with the help of his translator, Ana Ramirez

Each day, the physicians saw several patients, but maybe only one or two that were seriously ill or in need, but those persons that really needed them, really needed them. What a difference their service for a week made to so many! This team held medical campaigns in Arevalo, Los Pinos, Magdelena and el Milagro. In addition to the stroke patient, they diagnosed a young lady with rheumatoid arthritis, removed foreign objects from an ear, and aided many patients with their service and encouragement.

The team with Dale Ellison, Elizabeth Johnson and Ana Ramirez in front of the Arevalo church.

Thanks to Trinity Presbyterian for their faithful service and encouragement to their Peruvian brothers and sisters! You may not see the tangible results, but we do and we know there are more to be seen and had in heaven!

This week we've enjoyed the presence of our friends from Second Presbyterian Church of Greenville, SC. The team spent the week at Christ the Redeemer Presbyterian Mission in Parque Industrial working on the new sanctuary. The team was able to accomplish a great deal working alongside the Peruvian work crew, including laying the concrete floor. We are so thankful for Second Presbyterian's friendship over the years, and for their willingness to work hard to bless the congregation at Christ the Redeemer. Click here to see photos of the team.

Last night Christ the Restorer Presbyterian Mission officially became a church. This service was made even more special by the ordination of Peru Mission missionary Dale Ellison as an elder in the church. Ellison joined pastors Ricardo Hernández and Percy Padilla on the session of the growing congregation in the Manuel Arévalo neighborhood. We give thanks for the ministry of these men in this neighborhood (and also in the nearby neighborhood of Parque Industrial). Please join us in praising God for this congregation and praying for their growth in number and grace in the years to come. Click here to see photos of the event.