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):
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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
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
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
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
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
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
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
Monday, January 19, 2009
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
Saturday, January 17, 2009
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 Lim
a 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
Friday, January 16, 2009
First Day
Made it to the big city of Lima safe and sound with all bags in tow and in one piece. The REAPsouth guys met me at the airport along with three college kids who arrived on a flight a bit later. We got to the mission house around 1:30am - I don't remember much after that!
Thursday morning I woke up to this.. (see pic) Lima rooftops. The volunteer mission folks (that includes me) are staying on the roof of the mission house.. They built a nice space for us before we arrived-no windows or doors yet, but Lima's climate is very comfortable day and night.
We built bunkbeds on Thursday and a did few other projects to improve on the living quarters. Thursday night the Weaver's hosted an IMB welcome for new 2-year mission folks (called Journeymen) and invited us volunteers to come. We met many area missionaries and staff - all very friendly and dedicated folks.
I'll be at this location for about 2 weeks for training which begins on Monday. Then we'll head into the villages. Adiós
-- Post From My iPhone
Thursday morning I woke up to this.. (see pic) Lima rooftops. The volunteer mission folks (that includes me) are staying on the roof of the mission house.. They built a nice space for us before we arrived-no windows or doors yet, but Lima's climate is very comfortable day and night.
We built bunkbeds on Thursday and a did few other projects to improve on the living quarters. Thursday night the Weaver's hosted an IMB welcome for new 2-year mission folks (called Journeymen) and invited us volunteers to come. We met many area missionaries and staff - all very friendly and dedicated folks.
I'll be at this location for about 2 weeks for training which begins on Monday. Then we'll head into the villages. Adiós
-- Post From My iPhone
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Thank you WBC!
I wanted to begin my trip to Peru with this first official blog post and a truly warm and sincere "Thank You" to my church family at Wrightsboro Baptist Church in Wilmington, NC. To WBC, I thank you for your support of my first mission trip and for your prayers for me as I listen for the Lord's call to serve.
In this past year I have been blessed in more ways than I can describe. It has by far been the best year of my life. It's funny though, if I had made that statement over a year ago it would have meant that I had won the lottery or benefitted from some kind of financial windfall. I was definitely all about the dollar - that's where my mind was and my heart eagerly followed.
It took me 43 years and a few whacks over the head by the Good Lord for me to understand that, in my life, money and blessings don't have a thing to do with each other. I needed to look down another path and when I did, it changed my life forever.
The single biggest thing that I did which impacted my life the most this past year was to spend real, quality time getting to know Him - my God and Lord. I went beyond just knowing about Him and I decided to really get to know Him through studying His Word and through fellowship in prayer. And what I discovered was a loving and truly generous God indeed!
But I must say that running a close second on the list of things that impacted me this past year...this best year...this blessed year was spending real, quality time getting to know You - my church family at Wrightsboro Baptist. And it was also through fellowship and prayer that I discovered the loving and generous congregation that is now my church home.
I want to thank you all for your support of this mission trip through your fellowship, generous love offering, and especially through your prayers. Your prayers for me and for the peoples I will encounter in Peru will open doors, change lives, and build up the body of Christ. I already look forward to getting back in March and sharing with you what God has already planned to do through your prayers for the peoples of Peru.
It is my intention to share as much of my trip and experiences with you "as it happens" using this blog site. I do not yet know what communications/internet limitations I will have out in the field, but I will try my very best to keep you up-to-date.
Yours in Christ-Greg Danford
In this past year I have been blessed in more ways than I can describe. It has by far been the best year of my life. It's funny though, if I had made that statement over a year ago it would have meant that I had won the lottery or benefitted from some kind of financial windfall. I was definitely all about the dollar - that's where my mind was and my heart eagerly followed.
It took me 43 years and a few whacks over the head by the Good Lord for me to understand that, in my life, money and blessings don't have a thing to do with each other. I needed to look down another path and when I did, it changed my life forever.
The single biggest thing that I did which impacted my life the most this past year was to spend real, quality time getting to know Him - my God and Lord. I went beyond just knowing about Him and I decided to really get to know Him through studying His Word and through fellowship in prayer. And what I discovered was a loving and truly generous God indeed!
But I must say that running a close second on the list of things that impacted me this past year...this best year...this blessed year was spending real, quality time getting to know You - my church family at Wrightsboro Baptist. And it was also through fellowship and prayer that I discovered the loving and generous congregation that is now my church home.
I want to thank you all for your support of this mission trip through your fellowship, generous love offering, and especially through your prayers. Your prayers for me and for the peoples I will encounter in Peru will open doors, change lives, and build up the body of Christ. I already look forward to getting back in March and sharing with you what God has already planned to do through your prayers for the peoples of Peru.
It is my intention to share as much of my trip and experiences with you "as it happens" using this blog site. I do not yet know what communications/internet limitations I will have out in the field, but I will try my very best to keep you up-to-date.
Yours in Christ-Greg Danford
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