Travel Update

Change of plans! We´ll be going to Coracora next instead of Cabana. Travel interruptions and complications due to striking workers along certain routes have affected our initial travel plans. We are now safely back in Ayacucho city and we´ll be heading out tomorrow to Ica on our way to Coracora. Since I have access to a great internet connection I am going to take the opportunity to introduce the Coracora team and ask that you lift them up in prayer also in preparation for our arrival.

Rick Byrne, Sarah Beth Davis, Thierry (Terry) Edel
-----------------------------------------------------

Also, since I have a little extra time, I am adding some pics from the last few days with captions. Enjoy!

This is a "combi", which is our main means of transportation to outlying areas. Combis are passenger vans with about 200K to 300K miles on them! Inside there are 20 to 22 passengers fitting in seats (barely padded) designed for about 15 people. After a 4-hour ride like today in one of these, I feel like I´ve married a couple of Peruvians.. or probably should. It´s that cozy! Notice the enormous pile of stuff on top. Ours was worse with our 3 large backpacks on top (sorry Walt!)


Here´s a shot of the typical mountain road.. gravel to the edge and then a drop. I took this pic when we all piled out of our combi so the driver could maneuver around a large tractor trailer on a mountain curve.


Ryan and Mark on a brief hike outside Vilcashuamán. The scenery outside of town was just gorgeous.

Miriam(summer missionary) with Virginia´s kids after a bible study. Virginia is one of the precious few believers in Vilcashuamán.

The Ushnu (castle ceremonial worship) is a stepped truncated pyramid with five platforms. The overlapping the stones used in its construction were cut and assembled with great precision. We were abble to climb all over it for 2 soles. (That´s about 70 cents!)

I´ll update soon..

Greg

Vilcashuamán

Our visit to Vilcashuamán these past few days has been quite an experience... and challenging. We were called into the town early because one of the summer mission students serving here (Gerica Maclin)was sick and the local doctors believed she had the swine flu. We had a 5-hour ride over gravel roads from Ayacucho city to Vilcashuaman on an overcrowded minibus. The views were fantastic, but did not top the ride from Alis to Huancayo a few days ago, in my opinion. We arrived in town just before noon on Sunday to find all three summer missionaries quarantined in the medical center on the edge of town! All three were sitting out in the sunshine bored to death when we arrived (and all three were feeling fine by the way). Mark and Miriam were allowed to leave for short periods of time, but Gerica was not allowed to leave at all. Everybody in Peru is really paranoid about the swine flu. Of course, no one on the team had it and everyone was feeling fine (they just had colds and food sickness), but being gringos did not help their case with the locals.

The "officials" at the medical center here were waiting for test results to return from Lima before Gerica could be released. In the meanwhile, rumors were being spread about the "sick gringos", which meant we all received a cool reception and a lot of stares from many. However, there were many friendly faces and welcoming greetings as well. On our second day here, the staff at the med center decided to announce to the entire town over loudspeakers that three of the gringos were sick and quarantined. Not only was this not true, but it did not help our witness at all. I am afraid there has been some damage done to the work here in the short term, but luckily it is nothing that the mission team can´t recover from. As of this morning (Wednesday) Gerica has been "set free", but no test results yet. It´s hard to figure out the logic of this, but the incubation period for the flu is apparently over for her to spread it to others, if she had it at all.

Now is a good time to reintroduce the team here in Vilcashuamán:


Miriam Horna Gomez, Mark Brown, Gerica Maclin

What a great group of kids! They are all well now, but they have all been through a lot this past week. This team really needs your prayers as they try to get back on track with their ministries and meetings here. We expect another loudspeaker announcement tomorrow morning with the test results (negative of course) to assure all that the gringos are not infected!

Tonight we were able to attend house church with a couple of the very few belivers we know about in this town. The meeting went well and everyone was renewed. I think the team will have little trouble getting back on track.

Vilcashuamán is up in the Andes mountains (about 11,500 feet) where the setting is just beautiful. At night, the stars are so numerous and bright and the Milky Way is incredible to behold from up here. It is a location rich with Incan history, including pagan worship - it was a religious center for the Incans. There are ruins all around the town square and surrounding mountainsides. Unfortunately the beauty of this town and the setting has been tainted for us by a bit of spiritual warefare. In addition to the summer mission team being quarantined because of the swine flu scare (effectively stopping their work), we have experienced tangible forces at work against us here. We have been praying through it all and I must say that I have been personally and spiritually strengthened by the experience. I am clinging to Ephesians 6:10-13 and putting on His armor!

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Ephesians 6:10-13)

Our next stop is Cabana, in Lucanas. We´ll be traveling back to Ayacucho, then to Pucio, then to Cabana. Please pray for the team in Cabana in preparation for our visit. Also pray for our safe trip (and soft seats.. it´ll be a bumpy ride!).

Here are a couple of pics from Vilcashuamán:

In Christ-
Greg

Alis (Eastern Yauyos)

There´s one word that comes to mind to describe Alis and the Eastern Yauyos area. Beautiful. The scenery here is gorgeous as you will see in the pics at the end. We arrived in a town called Alis late Monday night (June 8) after leaving Matucana at about 8am. We took a bus from Matucana to Chosica, a taxi from Chosica to Lima, a bus from Lima to Cañete, and another bus from Cañete to Alis. Travel was no small task since our Barnabas team was still travelling with the soccer team (16 people in all) for the trip to Alis. Ryan Northup - world´s best on-the-fly travel agent - did an awesome job of herding us through every step. The final bus ride lasted about 5 hours at top speed on a gravel road going up the mountain in the dark - at least the driver had no fear! Despite looking out the window straight down about 1000 feet on some of the steep mountain turns, the scenery was gorgeous. Even though it was at night, a bright full moon lit up all the canyons and river rapids below us. It was incredible. We experienced scene after scene like this during our stay in Alis. The mountains here have so much character and the landscape so very diverse, the eye never gets bored.


After arriving in Alis in the middle of the night, we all woke up to the sound of a beautiful mountain river that runs beside the hotel. That river turned out to be a great laundromat - see pic with Janelle (from my Barnabas team) washing her clothes.



The local Summer Mission Team (SMT) in Alis is an impressive and dedicated group of young folks. They have been ministering to the locals in this village and surrounding villages through Bible study/house church and they just started teaching English in one of the schools. I got a chance to go to one of their bible study meetings in a nearby village (2 hour walk..gorgeous). The meeting had a warm and sincere atmosphere of praise as the believers present were clearly being fed spiritually by the story and message shared by the Alis team. It is such a priviledge for me to witness how the Lord uses such simple circumstances to grant such incredible blessings among a group of believers.. that´s a church! Please continue to pray for each member of the Alis mission team as they continue to reflect His glory into the Eastern Yauyos area throughout the summer.


Alis (Eastern Yauyos) Team- (back) Colby Wilkins, Nick Thornton, (front) Melva Rivera Acaro, Kelly Lockhart
Hike to village of Tomas

With the arrival of the REAPsouth soccer team, Alis became a little less peaceful, but a little more blessed. They played the local Alis soccer team (apparently a pretty good team in these parts) and won, 2-1 (go USA). The Alis SMT guys had done a great job of getting the word out about the event, so over half the village turned out! There were well over 100 folks watching the game, eating fresh grilled trout, making pankekes.. it was like a small festival. Afterward the soccer team presented the town with a new soccer ball and shared the story of Nicodemus. The whole event will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the village in the future, but more importantly it will surely open doors to the local mission team to share the gospel and make an eternal impact on many of the souls in Alis. Please pray for the soccer team as they travel extensively this summer all over southern Peru to bring the same goodwill and message of Jesus to other villages.

Our soccer team (red) with the Alis team (green)

Sharing the Word and presentation of the soccer ball.

I was able to whip up a batch of tollhouse cookies for the whole gang.. that´s part of my ministry to the mission teams serving around Peru. A little taste of home and a reminder of the love and prayer support they are getting from the states. In Matucana I was able to use Salvador´s bakery oven, but in Alis I had to improvise with a portable electric oven (see pic) with two temperature settings.. on and off! All turned out pretty tasty and I was able to leave behind a bag of cookies for the Alis team to enjoy.



The night before we left Alis (Thursday night) I got my first ( and hopefully only) bout of sickness (not from the cookies!).. it was a pretty intense but luckily only lasted through the night .. in the morning I was worn out, but felling much better. Yesterday afternoon (Friday) we caught a bus out of Alis and proceeded up (and up and up) into the mountains toward Huancayo. I can´t even describe to you the incredible beauty of this land. No picture can do it justice. I "oo´d and ah´d" for about 3 hours straight, just trying to soak it all in. I know Ryan and Janelle got sick of me saying "look at that!" every 5 seconds, but I could not help it. Seeing what God has created for us on earth in such splendor and witnessing His work among believers to reach the lost is such a priviledge.. I can´t even describe.

We stopped in Huancayo, had a good dinner, and hopped the night bus (8 hours) to Ayacucho city, where I am writing this blog. Ayacucho is a very large, historical city in a beautiful setting (imagine that!) with fast internet access (thank the Lord). Tomorrow we leave for Vicashuamán, a village with another summer mission team serving. I have been told that the scenery is even more beautiful than that seen so far. We will see!

Here are a few landscape shots, but they don't nearly depict the beauty I wish a camera could capture.





Pray for Ryan, Janelle, and me (Greg) as we travel and minister. Also pray for the Vilcashuamán team we will be visiting tomorrow. Thank you all so much for your prayers thus far.. your support is critical to the success of all the different teams serving here this summer.

In Christ-

Greg

Matucana

It is great to be back in Matucana! I have been able to reconnect with many of the folks I left behind a few months ago - it´s like seeing family again. It is a unusual feeling to visit a place that I thought I would probably never see again and to see people that I would always miss. Unfortunately my reunions with old friends is blunted a bit by my atrocious spanish, but smiles and hugs go a long way. I am trying to cram a few of spanish lessons into this trip with a book I got in the states, "Learn Spanish in 24 Hours". I´m on hour 4.

Good work continues in Matucana and surrounding villages. The Summer Mission Team (SMT) here is doing very well. Again, their names are Josh Corrick, Chelsea St. John, and Andy Turner (see pic). I would consider this team to be a model team because of the preparation they had under their sponsoring church, FB New Port Richey, FL. Dennis and Cheryl Brown have done a marvelous job preparing these kids for the summer and I believe Matucana will see even more progress because if it. Please be in prayer for this team as they continue to reach Matucana for Christ. The Spirit is also definitely at work here through the local believers. Gary (the chef) who we met on my first trip (check out the old blogs) is now a new baptized believer and on fire in his witness to others. The SMT team is discipling him almost daily, at his request!


Matucana SMT - Josh Corrick, Chelsea St. John, Andy Turner.

It turns out that the traveling soccer team was also scheduled to be in Matucana this weekend as well, so we all came up from Lima together yesterday.


Soccer Team- (back row) Dwayne Parton, Calvin Morisey, Adam Velez, Elijah Elkins, Emily Pulley, Matt Hanner, Paul Kinman, Dustin Baker, (front row) Sharon Parton, Jana Stanford, Luciano Alleca, Bethany Russell, Josh Johnson.

Their soccer match was today and, in true Peruvian form, many of the local players (actually the entire opposing team) did not show up as promised. Instead, a group of small kids showed up eager to play, so the afternoon was not a loss. The team played all out and the kids did great to keep up with them - some kids were really good! It was a great game to watch and everyone had a good time. After the game, Dwayne Parton spoke to the kids about Christ and Christ-like behavior on and off the field.


There is a huge festival planned tonight in the town (pagan, of course) so pray for rest amongst the teams here.. the loud music in the plaza, fireworks, and general noise will probably keep many awake all night. Tomorrow we´ll be hiking a bit and attending house church at the Almonicid´s. I´ll also be visiting Augusto (Pepe the squirrel story) tomorrow which will be a great time of fellowship. My Barnabas team has a special treat planned for the local SMT team tomorrow night that I will tell you about in the next blog.

We will be leaving Matucana Monday morning and heading to our next stop in Eastern Yauyos, a village called Alís. Continue to pray for the Matucana team and for the Soccer team as they travel all over Peru this summer. Pray for wisdom and discernment in our Barnabas team as we minister to other teams - also for our safe travels.


In Christ-
Greg

Village Assignments!

During the last few days, three teams (called Barnabas teams) have been training here in Lima. The purpose of a Barnabas team is to minister to the many Summer Mission Teams (SMTs) spread all over southern Peru. Ministry here means to support, encourage, and serve the onsite SMT teams, including resolving conflict if necessary. Most of the SMTs are composed of 3 or 4 college-aged folks and a translator when needed.

My Barnabas team is made up of 3 people.. me and two others:
Ryan Northup who is a journeyman missionary with the IMB, and
Janelle Armstrong who just finished her freshman year at Greenville (SC) Bible College.
That makes me the old guy..by far!

Today our team got our village assignments. We were the last team to receive them, but it was worth the wait! We will be visiting 6 villages over the next several weeks, ending up in Nasca (ever heard of the Nasca lines?) at the end of June for a mid-summer break. This schedule will mean a lot of travel, but we'll get to see a lot of Peru. I am posting our list of villages below in the order we are planning to visit, but without dates because travel will be flexible and according to the needs of the teams we are serving. We will be in each village only a few days, then we'll move on to the next. I will update you on each location as we travel. During the following weeks as I introduce each village and the SMT onsite team, please be in prayer for the summer missionaries and the village where they are serving.

Here's the plan:
First stop is Matucana! This is the town I served in back in February and March. I cannot wait to get back and visit and see old friends - we leave for Matucana tomorrow (Friday). The SMT team serving there this summer is Josh Corrick, Chelsea St John, and Andrew Turner. Please be in prayer for all!

Next stop, Alis. Alis is a village in Eastern Yuayos. The SMT team here is Colby Wilkins, Nick Thornton, Melva Rivera Acaro, Kelly Lockhart.

Next stop, Vilcashuaman. (Sorry, I can't help you with the pronunciation) The SMT team there is Miriam Horna Gomez, Mark Brown, Gerica Maclin.

Next stop, Southern Lucanas. I don't know the village name yet, but this is the general location. The SMT team serving is Kim Hiser, Kelly Pajar, David Jacobs, Shane Hess.

Next stop, Chavina. The SMT team is Juan Carrascal, Michelle Adum, Jim Wells, Liza Gonzoles.

Our last village, Coracora. The SMT team is Rick Byrne, Sarah Beth Davis, Thierry (Terry) Edel

Then we go to Nasca for a mid-summer break where all teams will converge for R&R and debriefing on progress in the villages. I'll be posting pics and more info as we go...

In Christ-
Greg

Training days

Since last Monday, the REAPsouth team in Peru has been training 100+ college students from around the US to go out into villages as summer mission teams for sponsored church planting projects all over southern Peru. I am writing this blog on Wednesday night, but there is no internet access here so it will post later.. probably Saturday (we are at the IMB camp in Chosica and will not return to Lima until Saturday).

Much of the training is the same material that I had in January of this year. But a real treat has been learning from Dr. David Sills, who authored the book "The Missionary Call". He has been speaking to us about the "call" and sharing his expertise from the field in South America. This past fall when I was first praying about mission service (to anywhere, really) I picked up this book from the bookstore and it truly became one of those defining moments in my decision to seek out mission opportunities - it is an excellent book. The fact that Dr. Sills is here lecturing sort of blows my mind... but I am coming to expect these 'coincidences' in my life.

What's next? After the training here is over, I am heading back to Lima for more training as a Barnabas team member. The 100+ students are heading out to their towns and villages to serve. There's even a traveling soccer team that will be holding exhibition games in all the villages being served by the college teams.

I have to say a word about these young folks serving this summer. I cannot be more impressed with a group of college (and a few in high school) kids who have offered their summer to the service of the Lord. Their worship style is a bit different than 'my generation' but their genuine heart for the Lord is palpable in worship and dedication. Please pray for these young folks as they travel to the field and begin to share the gospel with southern Peru. I will be posting specific names and requests for prayer throughout my stay (through July 2), but for now just ask God that He bless and protect the REAPsouth summer misson team.

My team is still not assigned to its villages, so I will update you as soon as I find out where we are going!

Greg


-- Post From My iPhone

Peru-bound Again!

A warm hello to all who followed my blog earlier this year and a big welcome to all of you new visitors! I hope you'll find this continuation of my Peru blog a blessing to you.. I know that when you read it (and especially when you comment) it is a blessing to me!

Why am I resuming this blog?.. 'Cause I'm going back to Peru! A few weeks ago I felt the strong urge to look for opportunities to travel back to Lima and work with the REAPsouth program again. I can't adequately explain the change and growth in the Lord that I experienced during my first trip, but I can say that it has attached itself to my heart and won't let go. I'm still unemployed here in the states and looking for a job, but I also started looking at flights and contacted REAPsouth regarding their needs. I committed the details to prayer and everything fell into place perfectly (imagine that) and now I'm on my way back - staying through June and returning July 2.

I'm starting the blog a little early this time to share some of my pre-trip experience with prayer and faith. It's a fact that the closer you get to the Lord and service to Him, the more the evil one attacks - that's "the devil" for all you newcomers ;). Well that's been the case with me these last few days. I've really had to put on the full armor of God that Paul talks about in Ephesians 6:10-18. The flaming arrows have been a-flyin'! It's almost been comical the kind of junk being thrown at me lately, but it makes me even more anxious to get out into the field. I know the Lord is really going to move in great ways among the people of Peru this summer and I am looking forward to witnessing it! Even before I get there, I have already had the priviledge of fighting these few battles at home on my knees.

While that may sound a bit heavy for a first blog entry, I wanted to share it with you because I am really energized now for the trip and the mission - a curious by-product of the flaming arrows and the shield that blocks them!

Finally, in the next verse after Paul talks about armoring up for battle, Ephesian 6:19 says: "Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel"

No need to add to that except to ask that you please make the same prayer for me.

In Christ-
Greg

Pepe the Squirrel

Here are a few thoughts I had to add to this blog before leaving Peru..

"But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds."
Psalms 73:28

Yesterday I left Matucana and returned to Lima to prep for the flight home to the states. Brittne is returning to the states for a short trip as well , so she left Matucana with me and Martin is staying in Matucana for another week. Saying goodbye to the folks in Matucana was not easy - I saw Salvador, Zoila, Maribel, Edgar, and several others who offered warm goodbyes just before leaving town. But the most moving goodbye was at breakfast. Brittne, Martin, and I had breakfast with Augusto and his family before leaving which turned out to be a true blessing to us all.. a conversation that was worth the whole trip! If you remember, we met Augusto just a few days into our stay in Matucana. He is new to Matucana with his job, which is starting up new micro-enterprises for towns in the region centered around make cheeses commercially. Anyway.. at yesterday's goodbye breakfast Augusto, who is a believer, shared with us a long story about angels and the then likened it to us as angels in his life. We all sat there teary-eyed with him as he told us that he had not intended to be active in a church while in Matucana, but his "coincidental" connection with us steered him back to a closer relationship with God. All of us then started to recount the events that led up to our meeting and just marvelled (once agin) at how God puts things together:

Augusto was supposed to get into a rental house when he arrived in Matucana, but something happened and he had to find a hostel for a couple of nights.. the same hostel where we were staying. I remember the first night his family was there. I was returning to my room from the bathroom, getting ready for bed, when I saw a squirrel running under the chairs in the common area and a young boy with his dad (the dad was Augusto). Since I couldn't speak spanish, I just gestured at the squirrel and it became clear that it was their pet. Pepe was his name and I got Brittne and Martin out there to see. I went on to bed and thought nothing more about it. Well, Brittne is the type of person who never sees a stranger and she and Martin stayed up and talked with Augusto for a while. The next morning they told me that Augusto was a Christian and he was interested in coming to our meetings. We saw Pepe the squirrel again that morning and let him crawl all over us and took a bunch of pictures. Shortly after, Augusto's rental house was ready so he and his kids left the hostel. The next time we saw them around town - within a day or so - we asked about Pepe and found out that he had died. Pepe had lived just long enough to connect this family with us. And as Augusto told us a breakfast, put him on a new path walking closer to God. Augusto has attended several of our meetings and wants to be a part of the church in Matucana long-term.

I had the priviledge of discipling Augusto and I'll never forget how intently he listened - we had at least a 3-hour discussion on personal prayer time one evening after the electricity had gone out in Matucana (not an unusual event). He never broke his attention to the subject while the sun finally set and the room darkened to nearly black around us. A candle and cell-phone lit the scriptures.

That experience and the breakfast we had with him was a blessing that will strengthen me for the rest of my life. It's amazing how God always works in all directions when you're trying to do his will. God has blessed all of our lives through this encounter and through your prayers for our team and Augusto.

Thanks to Pepe the squirrel and the sovereign God we serve!


In Christ-
Greg

Prayer Requests

We're reaching the home stretch of my stay here in Matucana. I wanted to get another quick blog in for prayer requests as this current team wraps up our meetings, training, english classes, etc. Others will be following us throughout the summer to continue the services. For example, another team from ASU in Boone, NC will be here for a week after we leave - they are arriving this Saturday. It is my understanding that they are mostly college kids who have dedicated their spring break to missions in Matucana. What an example that is! Please pray for their safe trip to and from Peru and their experience here in Matucana.

In addition, please pray for the following:
1. The Almonacid family and their continuing work to lead house church meetings in their home.
2. Believers (in Matucana, Huaripachi, Puerto Nuevo) who are not currently worshipping in fellowship with other believers. Pray that they will be led to worship at one of the house churches meeting in their community.
3. The Christian family I mentioned last week - Augosto, his son Gabriel and daughter Hephzibeth. Pray that they will continue to be involved in meetings and strengthen the body.
4. The family running the hostel where we are staying.. especially Maribel.
5. Zoila, who is hosting the house meetings in Huaripachi, and Jessica, who is a regular attendee. Zoila would be a great leader for that community, but her Catholic background is preventing her from accepting the true path to salvation. Pray that she can break through that barrier.
6. A great family in Puerto Nuevo that have hosted several house meetings now. Doris, Julie, Nancy, and William.. all adult siblings. Also attending are their mother and Julie's husband Wilmer, along with several kids. Julie is a believer and the rest of the family is eager for more bible stories and discussion.
7. Edgar, Karen, Tracy, and Jared - Brittne will get a chance to share more with this family now that they are back from vacation.
8. Salvador, who is going through some personal trials and needs our prayers. He has been such a great help to us during our stay and I beleive his impact on God's work here is yet to be seen.
9. Freddy, who is Salvador's closest friend and now a literature teacher at the local high school. What an interesting guy .. a writer, a poet, and a thinker. Right away he was curious and asked us about salvation as he too has had a strong Catholic background (5 years in Catholic seminary before dropping out). I believe he is genuine in his search for the Truth. We gave it to him the other night, and look forward to more conversations with him.

Thanks to all who are wading through the details of my requests and lifting them up to the Lord.. please remember that this is the ONLY way that our team and others following us will see progress in these communities.

In Christ-
Greg

Update

It looks like my blog is turning into a weekly update! We are keeping pretty busy, so finding time to blog is getting more and more difficult. In this past week we took a trip to Chosica, visited a hospital (involuntary visit), celebrated Martin´s birthday, made no-bake cookies at Zoila´s house, searched for a baptismal (including testing out a local river), and danced for the locals in the town square (yes.. that´s right.. danced in the town square). We also had several storying meetings: 2 in Puerto Nuevo, 2 at the Almonicids (including celebrating the Lord´s Supper and training), 1 at Zoila´s in Huaripachi and 1 at our hostel. We also had several discipling meetings throughout the week with various believers. Here are the highlights:

While traveling down the mountain to the town of Chosica, Brittne got a severe ear ache due to congestion and rapid altitude change. By the time we got off the bus in Chosica she was miserable and needed attention, so we headed to the hospital where she got treatment. Martin was an expert at cutting through the crowds and confusion of being in a foreign hospital.. I was no help and just tagged along to watch the show! I could blog for days on what we saw, the crowds of people, the lines they had to wait in, and the cost.. but suffice it to say that you get what you pay for! I made a phone call back to the states from my cell phone to check on the medicine (injection) they wanted to give Brittne and that probably cost more than the entire visit!

During this past week Brittne made no-bake cookies for the Huaripachi meeting group at Zoila´s. It was a great time to fellowship with them outside of bible study... and the no-bakes were a hit! I left early to search for baptismal possibilities in the city. We have several believers who have not had the opportunity to be baptized yet and it has been put on my heart to find a suitable place so we can make that happen. I found a gorgeous location in a nearby stream coming down from the mountain (see pic). The stream is rapid, but clear, and there is a small tranquil area that I thought might be suitable for emersion. Well.. I put on some shorts and wading out into the water to test it out and before I could turn around my feet were numb from the cold! Since we want to baptize and not practice cryogenics, I had to look for other options. I think we have a good alternative, but we´re still working out the details. Please pray for us in our efforts to provide an opportunity for the unbaptized believers here to observe this ordinance. Last Sunday we observed the other ordinance, the Lord´s Supper, and also trained the church here on how to administer it themselves.

Martin celebrated his 26th birthday this week and Mike Weaver surprised him with a visit and (more importantly.. sorry Mike!) some of Kathy´s brownies from Lima.. OUTSTANDING! Brittne and I also had Salvador bake one of his cakes (keke) for Martin, complete with candles.

OK.. now about the dancing. The kids that are learning english in our classes have also been learning a traditional dance for an end-of-vacation festival in the main town square. I have to say that these are the sweetest kids.. they are great to teach and it turns out they are good dancers too! Now let me be clear.. we did not teach the dancing! A young fellow named Wilmer was in charge of getting them prepared for the festival. Wilmer has also been instrumental in arranging our english classes and sports outings with the kids. We would often stay and watch them practice at the school where we were teaching, so we got to know them pretty well. The festival was last Thursday and the kids did a great job performing. I was in the back of the crowd taking pictures and movies, when at the end of their performance the kids came up and grabbed Brittne and pulled her out in front to dance with them. Then they got Martin! I thought I was safe (hiding behind the camera), but a couple of the little girls came screaming up to me and grabbed my hand.. how could I resist! It was a hoot.. none of us knew what we were doing, but we all had fun. I have a video of Brittne, but I promised I wouldn´t post it.. for now!

The serious work is also getting done here as well. We are getting more folks into the meetings, although we would still like to see more. We´ve had some great storying sessions, training sessions, and discipling meetings with the locals. Those attending our meetings are hearing the gospel in our stories and discussions. We´re throwing out those seeds everywhere we can! Please continue to pray for those who hear, that they will understand and accept it.

I am being kicked off of the computer again, so I will just ask for continued prayers for the meeting groups here and all we encounter. I´ll post more specific prayer requests later.

In Christ,
Greg

In His Time

The past week has been busy for us and I apologize for not adding an update to this blog site sooner than today. I can´t thank all of you enough who are following the blog and keeping track of what the Lord is doing here in Matucana. Again I want to thank all of you for your comments and especially your prayers for me, Martin, and Brittne as we continue to do follow His will. We are filling up our week with house church meetings, ministries, and discipling meetings, as well as spending time meeting new folks and inviting them to any of the above!

The good news is that our church meetings, where we story the Bible and use discussion to create understanding, and discipling meetings, where we help believers grow in faith and evangelism, are going well. Brittne and I are both meeting regularly with a few believers one-on-one or in small groups.. and poor Martin has to be at them all to translate, although Brittne´s spanish is really getting good. My spanish is not so good.. "bad" would be a better word.(Rosetta Stone here I come!).

In our storying sessions, however, we are experiencing a frustrating lack of attendance.. rain or no rain. We canvassed the town and outlying areas inviting folks to either of two meetings we had yesterday - all giving us enthusiastic responses - and nearly noone showed up! But God works in His time and in great ways. Just as Andrea commented on the last blog, sometimes no-shows are a blessing. One of the meetings yesterday (at Zoila´s house in Hauriqiña) had only two ladies present (Zoila and Jessica), both non-believers, but we are able to story and share the gospel with them in a more personal way since it was just the two of them. Jessica told us that she is feeling a peace in her heart and we think she and Zoila are close to a decision to accept Christ. We scheduled a special meeting with them this Wednesday, so pray for their decisions.

The next meeting of no-shows was at the Almonacids where only that family showed up, so that turned into more of a training session for them. We need lots of prayer to get more folks to attend these meetings so they too can hear the Word in stories and the gospel message. While numbers are not the goal, we do need for more folks to hear the Word, it´s our obligation to share the gospel - God will do the rest in His time and according to His plan. Pray for our wisdom in finding ways to reach more locals with the Truth, and our patience and understanding that He will lead us to them and them to us.

Our English classes are still going well.. many more in the kid´s class than the older class, but we are continuing to story from the Bible and teach vocabulary, songs, etc. The kids here are really great and they enjoy us being here.. as we walk through town we´ll almost always hear of them call our name from down the street just to say hey! They gave Brittne and I a gift (wrapped and everything!) during the last English class - very special!

We are continuing to spend time with Salvador, the bakery owner, and he is sharing more time with us. A few days ago he took us to his fields up in the mountains near Matucana.. his family´s land there is basically the whole side of a mountain! The picture I have added to this blog is of me and Salvador (that´s Matucana way down in the background). Yesterday we were to hike to Antankallo, an area waterfall attraction way up in the mountains, but the weather was threatening, so we decided to go around town and invite more folks to the meetings. Salvador led the way! He helped us meet a number of folks in Huaripachi and a new area to us called Puerto Nuevo. We will be discipling there this afternoon and setting up for storying sometime next week. Salvador is known by just about everyone in the area and he helped to communicate our mission to the folks we met along the way.

There is so much more to tell you about our activities here, but no time now. I need to prep for this afternoon´s discipling session. The topic is prayer.. especially personal prayer time. Most of you know how important personal prayer time has been in my own life this past year, so I´m excited to share this priviledge with other believers. In your own prayer time, please prayer for the following:

1. Elisabeth and Jose Almonacid, their daughter Keyla, daughter-in-law Janadit, and their son, Jose (Jr.) who we met last Sunday and discovered that he is strong in the faith. Unfortunately he works in Lima and is only home for brief periods.
2. The new believers as they are discipled, Ketti, Luiza, Julie, and Isabel.
3. A good Christian man named Augosto and his family, son Gabriel and daughter Hephzibeth, that we met at the hostel. He´ll be working in the area for about a year and is getting involved in our meetings.
4. Hostel managers, Maribel and Emilio.. Maribel has shown great interest in our storying and discussions.. we think the Lord is working in her life toward a decision.
5. Zoila and her husband Luiz.. she was mentioned in the blog above, along with Jessica.
6. The people in the Huariquiña area (where we are making very little progress) and those in Puerto Nuevo, a new promising area.
7. Edgar, Karen, Tracy, and Jared - A really special family that Brittne is feeling a special attachment with and they are very receptive to all of us.

In Christ-

Greg

More from Matucana

I wanted to let you know about our house meetings this week. We made contact with quite a few folks from Matucana and Huaripachi this week and we invited them all to house meetings on Friday. We held two meetings, one in Huaripachi at Zoila and Luiz´s house and the other in Matucana at the Almonacid´s house. We had hoped for large turnouts given the enthusiasm of response we got from all we met, but the weather got nasty. On Friday it rained longer and heavier that it has rained since we´ve been here and it was bitter cold. We made it to both meetings, but the turnout of the locals was disappointing - A total of six attended in Huaripachi and only the Almonacids were at their meeting.. no one else showed up. We hope that it was the weather that kept them all at home. Both meetings went well and we were able to use the meeting at the Almonacid´s as a good training tool to model and explain the structure and purpose of the stories and questions that follow.

Tomorrow we are holding another meeting at the Almonacid´s, so pray for a better turnout. I have a few more folks to pray for by name in addition to those mentioned in the last couple of blogs:

Jose Acosta - Martin and I discipled to him last Thursday and he shared with us a good deal of his life story. Pray for guidance as he struggles to reconnect with God through fellowship at the meetings and reading and studying the Word.

Ketti, Isabel, Julie, and Luisa - all believers, but have yet to show up at the meetings.

Jessica and Maria Luiz - both contacts we made in Huaripachi.

Now for some pics.. I am just going to post a few pics from a short hike we made this morning up one of the mountains around Matucana. The only caption needed is "Beautiful"!

In Christ-

Greg

Coincidences?

Wow.. do I have an interesting story to share on this blog! My pastor (Pastor Keith) reminds me that there´s no such thing as coincidences when it comes to the work of the Lord.. so listen closely. Several blogs earlier I introduced to you a few of the initial contacts made by the stateside sponsoring church in Florida. The Almonacid family (Jose and Elisabeth, Keyla, their daughter and Janadit, their daughter-in-law) are believers and we are holding meetings in their home. We are also discipling this family as they are assuming leadership roles while their house church grows and matures. Hold that thought while I remind you of another contact we´ve made here in Matucana..

The other day I told you that I met a young bakery owner who has a shop just across the street from our hostel and I asked to help out in his bakery. I posted pics of Brittne and I making bread, etc. The bakery owner´s name is Salvador and the three of us (me, Brittne, and Martin) have spent quite a bit of time with him, just hanging out and talking. It turns out that Salvador just returned back home to Matucana just last month after spending several years studying in Lima. His brothers and sisters are all older and have left Matucana, so Salvador has been left with the bakery - a family run business for over 50 years. He talked to us about his Catholic background, and that he was questioning many of the Catholic doctrines, and he mentioned with fondness that his grandfather would always read to him from the Bible when he was a boy. While this all sounded nice.. we did not realize the significance of this connection until last Thursday when we were discipling the Almonacid family.

It turns out that Salvador´s grandfather (the one who read the bible to him) was a Christian and started the first Christian church in Matucana. The Almonacids used to live across the street from the that bakery and Salvador´s grandmother is the one who led Elisabeth Almonacid to the Lord years ago!

While I was listening to all them tell us this story, chills were running up my spine. The Lord sent a baker from the states to meet a baker just returning to Matucana who just happened to be the grandson of a early Christian couple in the community who led to Christ the mother of the very family that was initially contacted by the stateside church last October.

There are more details, but the initial impact of this web events made me think of Pastor Keith´s admonishing that the work of the Lord is no coincidence! Without going into all the details, it is clear that Salvador´s grandparents were pillars of the community here in Matucana and were used by the Lord to spread the gospel. Salvador´s father was not a believer and that is why Catholicism became an influence in Salvador´s life.

Please pray for this series of "coincidences" and for our time with Salvador.. helping to prepare his heart for the Lord like his grandfather!

In Christ-
Greg

Meetings and Ministries

We´re finally getting down to business here in Matucana! Our first house meeting last Friday went well - we were able to get a good idea of the direction of discipleship to strengthen the leaders. Brittne arrived on Saturday - Martin and I took a bus back to Chosica to pick her up. What a breath of fresh air Brittne is! She really a a great gift of warmth and friendliness for the people here - they just love her, especially the little girls! In this pic I am posting you can see a couple of the girls clinging to her as we all walked to an area playground.

Back to business.. Brittne and Martin will be spending time with Keyla and Elisabeth this week for personal discipleship and preparing them for the Friday´s meeting. Martin and I will be spending time discipling with Mr. Acosta and Jose (Elisabeth´s husband) as well. We are inviting as many folks to the Friday night meeting as we can to see what kind of turnout we get. Still working on Huaripachi and Huariquiña.. making contacts, but no meeting scheduled yet in these areas.

On Sunday night we had a long meeting with the family at the hostel.. Maribel, Emilio, and Rosita (Luiz was out of town). They were very receptive to our storying and asked to meet again on Wednesday night.. so we´re excited about that! They are really fine people and have gone out of their way to accommodate us at the hostel.

On Monday we had our first English class for the kids of the community.. about 30 kids turned out. We are teaching basic English grammar and vocabulary from Bible stories. Yesterday we shared the story of Zacchaeus and it was a hit! (I was the sycamore tree and let one of the kids climb up!) Brittne and Martin did such a good job communicating and keeping the kids involved.

Last night I met a local baker and we started talking about ¨"the trade". The owner´s name is Salvador and he is a 3rd generation owner of this bakery in Matucana. He is a young man and is well educated.. speaks some English, but more importantly, he has a heart for the Lord and has agreed to meet with us this Wednesday night at the hostel. Pray for this meeting. This morning Brittne and I went to help out in the bakery while they were preparing an awesome sweetbread. It was really cool.. most of the equipment was decades old and the oven is a huge, flat brick cavern.. like a huge brick pizza oven. Salvador and his two workers (Leo and Ruiello..I think..) were very nice and got a bit tickled at our inability to twist a piece of dough - they made about 20 pieces in the time it took us to make one! Salvador is not in the pics because he was kind enough to take them for us.

Later this morning we played volleyball with some of the kids and took them (actually they took us) to a local playground where we all just acted like kids. (see pics)

We are making more and more contacts as we enter the lives of those in Matucana and surrounding areas. We trust that the Lord will bless this time we are sharing and that it will bear fruit in the coming weeks.

I have to run now, but I want to thank you all again for you continued prayers and comments (Mike and Sylvia, I can´t tell you how useful your comments/verses have been.. Each one has had a real application here in Peru). Please pray for our continued efforts and those mentioned in this blog. Gotta go..

In Christ-

Greg

Matucana

Hello to all from Matucana. Martin and I arrived in Matucana Tuesday evening via bus and got into a hostel only a few munutes before the evening rains came. It is much cooler here than I had expected - I packed shorts and t-shirts in abundance.. limited warm clothes. Lima felt like it was pushing a sunny 90 degrees when we left Tuesday late afternoon and a few hours later in Matucana it was about 50 degrees and foggy. We´re only about 7,800 feet up in a bit of a valley. As you can see in the pics, there are taller peaks all around us. Since it is rainy season here, the mountains are green with vegetation and they provide a gorgeous backdrop for the town.







Yesterday we walked around most of Matucana (dodging the rain) - to see and be seen - and we met many of the contacts made by the stateside sponsoring church just last month when they were here for a short stay. The town is small, but not at all like a remote mountain village. There are many tiny shops, restaurants, street vendors, etc. to accommodate most every need. Our hostel is very nice and we have hot water! I feel a little spoiled since I know the other teams probably won´t have it so good! We are staying at the hostel run by Emilio and Maribel who are just very nice folks (they gave us a great price on very nice rooms) and they are open to our holding meetings at the hostel if needed- we have not yet met their two kids, Rosi and Luis as they are out of town with an uncle.

During our walk around town Martin and I met with the principal of the local elementary school - her name is Flor - and she was very receptive to the idea of us teaching english and bible stories to children in the town. The kids are all on "summer break" from school, so we will be able to use school facilities with no problem. This Friday we will find out what the best schedule will be for the school and starting next week we´ll begin the ministry of teaching english - that I can do!







We also met Elisabeth and Keyla, part of a strong Christian family that is currently holding house church (meetings) regularly on Friday evenings. Tomorrow we will attend and worship with them - I personally can´t wait to attend my first house church in the field! Elisabeth told us that attendance to their meetings had dropped off dramatically since last month´s stateside church visit, so we will be working to invite back folks and invite new folks to their meetings.

This morning we met Jose Acosta, I logistics director in the town government. He speaks english (halleluah) and is a repected man in this town. We have already set up regular meetings with him for discipleship as he is a believer, but he is looking for encouragement and training. What a great opportunity for a strong leader in Sr Acosta!

I have added pics of the town and surrounding sites so you can get an idea of the area. I don´t have any pics yet of the locals we contacted - it´s just not good manners to start snapping photos of everyone we meet. There will be time to share with you the faces of Matucana.. but until then we´ll share with you their hearts!

As always, pray for those mentioned in this blog and all of the situations described. Pray for:

1. Our Friday meeting tomorrow evening at Elisabeth´s and her leadership.
2. Our arrangement with the school for english classes.
3. Sr Acosta´s discipleship and his growth as a leader.
4. The people of Matucana and surrounding areas.
5. Our guidance as we interact with the people in Matucana as we move outward into area villages.
6. Pray for our 3rd team member, Brittne. She had to stay behind in Lima a few extra days for medical reasons, but will be joining us this Saturday!

Since there is internet access here, I hope to post several times a week if I can.

In Christ-
Greg o Gregório

Prayer Retreat and the Field

Last weekend was a great experience as we headed to Chosica - a small town about an hour east of Lima. The IMB has a nice camp/retreat facility near Chosica and it's like a small oasis in a desert land. The pictures you see are different views from within the camp. Outside of the walls is a hot, dry, dusty town.

The folks at the Retreat - IMB folks from Lima, the folks I've been training with for the past couple of weeks, and another small group who just arrived - experienced a great time, culminating with a commissioning prayer and blessing at the end of our time together.



Everyone is scrambling today - Monday - to pack and get their affairs in order before departing to the villages. Several of the groups will not have any ability to communicate from within their remote villages for the two-month stay. My group is fortunate to be staying in a small town where phones and the internet are readily available - we'll also have hot water from what I hear.. Bonus!








The first team left this morning on a 15 hour trip heading south and into the mountians. Please keep all of the teams in your prayers (listed below) for their safe travel - arriving and returning - while on mission. Most will be on our way by tomorrow (Tuesday).

Since I am one of the scrambling packers, I will say goodbye for now. The next blog will be from the town of Matucana - once I find a reliable internet connection. Also, I'll be blogging from my phone, so expect some odd looking posts - I still have not figured out all of the tricks to doing this!

I also want to say how much your comments on the blog mean to me - I love reading them. I know you are praying for all of us here and we all are very grateful for your support.. there's nothing like the knowledge that your prayers are behind us! I am told that some of you at church have tried to send me e-mail, but I have not received anything - check with my Mom to get the correct address. Updates coming soon...

Mission Teams for prayer:
1. Kristen, Mayra, Clay
2. Claudia, Cristen, Ryan G.
3. Martin, Greg, Brittne
4. Solomon, Jess, Tiffany
5. Rob, Chris, Josh
6. Steve, Ryan N.

Greg

Field Facts for Prayer

Tomorrow we will be heading to our prayer retreat, only a couple of hours away. I wanted to share with you the location in Peru where my team will be assigned along with some information and names of those in the town that you can commit to prayer. The town is called Matucana and it is small town a few hours east of Lima. Our team will be the group closest to Lima because one of our members has to fly back to the states on March 1 and I am scheduled to head back March 11. Most of the others are staying in Peru until May, so they are being placed in more remote areas.

Matucana location (Google Maps):

View Larger Map

Earlier this month a state-side sponsoring church out of Florida made a Vision trip into Matucana and surrounding villages where they contacted several believers in the area. With information from their report and following their instructions, we will be continuing their work and over the next month or so using all of the tools we have learned these past two weeks.

In the town of Matucana there is a small family of believers who were holding regular weekly meetings when the Vision team left them a couple of weeks ago. Elizabeth and Jose are hosting the meetings along with their daughter Keyla. Janadit is their daughter-in-law and a new Christian. The state-side church believes that she may have a heart for evangelism in the community. Pray for this family as they mature in their faith and leadership.

We also know about 5 new believers in Matucana - all women - who need help getting started in their Christian walk, including baptism. Our training included baptism and administering the Lord's Supper so we will get the opportunity to teach them these ordinances as well.

In Matucana there are several groups (or neighborhoods), two of which were contacted by the stateside church: Huaripachi (pronounced war-i-potchy) and Huariquina (pronounced war-i-keena). Huaripachi had 18 women to visit one of the study sessions and Zoila and Maria were noted as being possible leaders - no believers, but many interested. There is apparently some resistance from other religious/deviant groups in this area, so pray for these women and their salvation and pray for our team's wisdom and discernment regarding the resisting groups. In the other neighborhood, Huariquina, there is little activity - no Bibles, no believers found. Pray for open hearts in this area and that our storying will spark further interest in the Word. Two names mentioned in this area are Marleny and Rosalina - not believers, but helpful to the stateside church team.

There are about 10 villages surrounding Matucana and it has been suggested that we visit Marachanca first. Hector from Huaripachi has fields up in this village and they are receptive to storying. Pray for their hearts to be prepared for our visit.

As you read this post you may be thinking to yourself that this level of detail and the specific names I mentioned are not really necessary for you to pray about. As long as you pray for "the mission" then it's all covered. Paul says in Colossians 4:2-4 that we are to "devote" ourselves to prayer and be "watchful" in prayer - especially regarding spreading the gospel. Praying for names is praying for souls, praying for detailed needs is a demostration of the devotion and watchfulness that Paul is talking about. The scripture continues with Paul's request "And pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message".

This is my request as the REAPsouth teams in Peru move to the fields. I will try to update this blog as often as possible with specific names and requests that you can lift up to the Lord in prayer - in devotion and watchfulness.

As a post script.. I had mentioned earlier that I am scheduled to return to the states in March. I am exploring the possibility of staying until May so that I can experience more of church planting and spend more time in training up new leaders in these villages. I have committed this decision to prayer and I am working to make it happen logistically, financially, etc. As I am not yet sure of His will regarding my stay, your prayer support for over this decision would mean the world to me! "Wherever he leads, I'll go!"

In Christ-
Greg

Yes, I'm Still Here!

I know.. I know.. why haven't I been blogging the past several days??? Well, truthfully we've been pretty busy practicing the same thing - storying the bible - and learning more about how to accomplish the mission (advancing the gospel and church planting through discipleship) in the field. The scripture we use for this concept is from 2Timothy 2:2 "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others."(NIV)

As I told you before, we have been breaking up into small groups and storying the bible to locals on a nearby street called Mendiburu. Last Sunday we had "house church" at the mission office and invited our contacts on Mendiburu to join us for further storying. We were blessed that two men showed up and were enthusiastic participants. Since the whole session was in Spanish I stayed a bit lost, but two bible stories were told and discussed. It was really a very special experience knowing that God had been working to make that moment happen.

We are hoping that several locals who are either believers or just curious about the stories they've heard from us will begin a house church of their own. As stated in 2 Timothy, believers in this group will be discipled and "reliable men" will become the leaders who are "also qualified to teach others." The road is still long for this neighborhood and the formation of a regular house church. That's why we are so dependent on prayer from home to help make these things happen.

This is the same process we will be going through out in the villages of Peru. Entering the lives of the villagers, storying the bible, encouraging believers and adding to their number by sharing the gospel, encouraging house church meetings and discipling reliable leaders among the believers so that they are qualified to teach others all they have heard.

Our formal training ended today and our storying in the neighborhood will wind down as we go on a final prayer retreat this Thursday through Saturday. Next Monday we fan out into several villages in Peru and begin our mission. Since this blog is getting a little long (and if you've made it this far I appreciate it!), I am going to give you details of my team's village tomorrow along with our initial contacts so that you can begin committing those names and location to prayer. You who are our prayer partners (WBC, family, friends, or anyone following this blog) are as important to our mission through your prayers than those of us who have boots on the ground.

I want to end with an update on one of our contacts from the storying efforts in our neighborhood. His name is Marcial and he is a young security guard on our street, where the mission office is located. He was included on the prayer list in a previous blog. Marcial is such a sweet kid and he has been very interested in the bible stories we've told him - he's also been very patient with us since we have used him for practice on nearly every story! Yesterday Marcial asked us for a list of the stories we've shared with him and the bible references, so we went and bought him a new bible and marked the 8 stories we've shared. Special gifts from members of WBC made this possible. Here's a picture of (left to right) me, Marcial (with baseball cap), and Martin, our translator.

Thanks to all.

Greg

Brief update

Hope everyone is staying warm! I understand there was snow today back home. It's about 80 degrees here and sunshining.. it almost never rains in Lima, so everything has a dry film of dust/smog deposit/you name it! Today we continued our storying practice with the story of Zacchaeus (Zaqueo). My team was able to share the story again at the flower shop to Dina, Cristen, and Sol. They seemed to enjoy it (they were very polite anyway!) and they asked lots of questions so we got some good practice. A couple of us shared today's story early this morning to the security guard across the street - a young Peruvian named Marcial. We will be visiting all of these folks again tomorrow with another story. As the stories string together, the prayer is that these folks will be receptive to hearing the gospel message and make a decision for Christ. Marcial seems especially interested in our stories and what they really mean. Pray for his understanding and acceptance of the gospel message.

I am adding a picture of the street where we are sharing these stories so you can get an idea of how urban it is around this area.. and it is very safe.

I am also adding a couple of pictures from the urban poor village in Villa Salvador (a community ironically named Oasis) where we helped build Cristina's house last week. The guys are (left to right) Steven, Juan (back row) Josh, Chris, Solomon, Rob, Greg(me). I don't know how I got the dirtiest!






My next post might be on Thursday.

Pray for:
1. Cristina and her small family in Oasis.
2. Dina, Cristen, and Sol at the flower shop.
3. Marcial, the young security guard.
4. Martin, Jess and me (storying team) as we develop our story-telling skills.
5. The entire REAPsouth effort.
6. My intestinal fortitude (the revenge is real!)- it's not a matter if IF, but WHEN you'll get sick. I'm thankful it's here in Lima and not out in the mountains!

In Christ-
Greg

Training Begins

I first want to address the folks at my home church, Wrightsboro Baptist, and thank all of you for your prayers so far and especially those that are following this blog and posting comments. I can't tell you how much it means to me! I love you all so much! A special hello to Brett Watts, one of my buddies in the RAs who called me and gave me a very special send-off last Tuesday. I told the guys about Brett at the beginning of our training this morning, so from the REAPsouth folks and volunteers, here's a big "Hello" to Brett! (read the whiteboard!) Thanks buddy! And a big hello to ALL of the guys in the RAs!

Today we started training for the task at hand - reaching native Peruvians in the mountain villages. We learned that the best way to communicate was orally through storytelling, as much of their worldview comes from oral history and what is around them. Literacy will be low in the areas we'll visit. The technique is called "Storying the Bible" and we got an excellent, comprehensive overview today along with a demonstration of storying Ahab and Elijah on Mount Carmel. For practice we were then tasked to fan out in groups of three and share that story with someone in a nearby neighborhood. Our group shared with two Peruvians - a flower shop owner and a street security guard. During the next several days we will return to these two (and maybe more) and continue to share more Bibles stories.

Spanish is the most common language used here in Lima and in the mountain villages. It turns out that most villages speaking Quechuan (native language) also speak Spanish. So how do we tell a Bible story when we don't speak Spanish? We'll have interpreters who are Peruvian - and we try to animate and gesture as we tell the story. It's tricky to do, so that's why we are practicing on locals. I'll keep you updated on training progress.

Thanks again to all those following and posting comments. Donnie and Andrea made a great suggestion for specific prayer requests, so I'll start adding those to the end of each blog. As you might expect, a key learning today is that EVERYTHING we do here is built on a foundation of prayer, and all of these missionaries recognize the power and necessity of prayer from stateside churches. I am very happy that my church is a praying church!

Please pray for :
1. Flowershop owner and her little girl (names to follow) that they hear and understand the messages in our Bible stories and become receptive to the gospel message before we are through.
2. The young security guard (name to follow) we also met that he too will be receptive to the gospel message through our storying.
3. Our small team - Martin (interpreter) and Jess and Greg (me) - as we practice to build the storying skills we'll need in the mountains.
4. The REAPsouth program in general.

In Christ-
Greg

Seeing the two Limas

In the last couple of days I have had the opportunity to see a lot of the modern city of Lima up close as well as one of the many villages in the outlying areas. The part of the city where the mission office is located - Miraflores district - is really just as nice, clean, and busy as any of the larger cities in the states. It borders the ocean, has beaches, nice parks, tall buildings, markets, malls (expensive).. with all the trappings of US culture. You can find most familiar restaurant chains - fast food and otherwise - here from Tony Roma's to McDonalds. Mercifully there are a couple of Dunkin Donuts nearby and the coffee tastes just as good. Friday morning and night I walked for miles around town with Solomon, a Peruvian national serving with the REAPsouth folks, a got to see much of the rich, modern city nearby - that was one side of Lima.

At a welcoming dinner a couple of nights ago I met one of the newer full-time missionaries, John, here in Lima serving the urban poor. He, his wife, and four small children have just recently made the committment to dedicate their lives to serving this population group. John is a great guy and he expressed a need in one of his villages to construct a new home for a lady, Cristina, who has been active in their new church. Cristina has four small children and they live in "hut" about 10x15 with dirt floors, thatch walls and blankets for doors. The volunteers loaded up his van and headed to her place this morning and we had built and put up most of the walls by dusk. The pictures you see will give you some idea of what the vast majority of Lima looks like - the other Lima.





This is Cristina's place - she and her kids are watching over the construction. The walls in-progess are sitting in the front "yard". The barrels in the foreground are the days delivery of water - for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and bathing. You can't see it, but the hills behind in the distance are covered with dense "villages" exactly like this.







I had to add this picture of one of Cristina's beautiful little girls. She was tending to the family's new members.. about 8 puppies!






Watch for more post!

In Christ-
Greg