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Peru Feb 2, 2007 (from the journal of Todd Fizer)
Things are going well in Lima. The church plant in Amauta that was started when the NCF Lima Team visited in May 2006 is now having regular Sunday services, as well as Sunday School for the children and a weekly women’s Bible study. With help from subsequent teams, they have constructed a large room with interior lighting and a roof to serve the previously mentioned meetings. Also, there was a VBS in Amauta the week of January 15th – 20th. It was a great event and great to see many familiar faces, from our previous trip, of the children who have become friends. It is currently summer in Lima and the children are out of school. There were approximately 85 children on average in attendance per day. With the new building/room and its layout, it was much easier to organize the event into three groups according to age.
The churches in Santa Anita and Huaycan are doing well as they continue working together on evangelism with Evangelism Explosion and growing in God’s grace. In Salamanca, Mark & Lori are working with a core group to begin a new church. This group began meeting on January 10th.
Jeremy and Amanda Ross arrived in Lima on February 1st. They have spent the past several months in language school in Arequipa, Peru which is located in the southern most part of Peru. They will be focusing on working with At Risk Children. In the Lima there are approx. 300,000 “street children”. Some have been abandoned by their parents, others have run away from home as a result of many factors, and still some have homes, but they are living in abusive situations or they are neglected. The focus of Jeremy and Amanda’s ministry will be working with these “street children”.
In Santa Anita, On February 4th, they will be celebrating multiple baptisms and first communions. Including the first communion of Emmett Berry and Anna Berry (Mark & Lori’s two oldest.)
Also, I had the opportunity to visit Pamplona, a community of approx 200,000 people. This is a very poor area. I went with Lupe Yaranga, a friend of mine who works for ACED (Asociación Cristiana Evangélica para el Desarrollo). This NGO (None Government Organization) is supported by several organizations, including Samaritans Purse. We visited five of the seven associations that she works with. Each association has a population of approximately 200 residents. The current project Lupe is working on is building outhouses within these communities. There is much that needs to be done within these communities to promote health and safety. At one of the associations, we met with a boy, Juan Carlos, who was suffering from Tuberculosis. His mother had abandoned him and his father was often gone in pursuit of employment. This boy was about 15 and was afraid. It was a great time of being with him, sharing the gospel, and praying. Lupe is following-up with this boy and recently wrote:
Juan Carlos was in the Emergency Room on Friday just for a day, I was with him on Saturday and accompanied him to another Hospital on Monday. I supposed they specialize in tuberculosis....... but the beaurocracy is terrible!!!!!!!!!!!! The doctor said: this was not his zone, you have to wait in your zone: "María Auxiliadora Hospital (MA)" TBC program in MA will open on Feb. 6th, but thanks to God, the doctor prescribed medicine, we could buy it, and now Juan Carlos has medicine up to date with doctor in MA. Also, I was able to get some vitamins for him.
There is much to say about Pamplona, more specifically about the associations that we visited. There is one building currently being used as a church. At one time approx. 100 people attended regularly, but with changes in church leadership that number is now around ten people per week. Lupe said that people would often ask for someone to teach them about the Bible. It was such an example of what Jesus was saying in Matthew 9:36 - 38
Matt 9:36-38 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (NIV)
This would be one of our prayers for Lima.
Also, Prayer Requests from Lima:
1. For Mark ’s meetings with the core group in Salamanca, each Wednesday night. Pray for this group to grow in size and unity around a healthy Biblical vision of the Church as Mark leads in this training.
2. For the evangelism clinic in Urubamba (mountains, Cuzco area) Feb. 12-16. 15 pastors and leaders are signed up and Mark will be sharing the teaching with another pastor, Fabio Padilla , from the 4 Square Church in Lima . From our churches here in Lima , 4 leaders will be going to serve as trainers: Enrique , Adrián, Fabián and Lucy .
3. For the Cristo Salvador feeding/tutoring program. The children’s names are: Alexandra Quiros , Juan Tinco , Daniel Ramos , Marcos Ramos , Diego Quiros , Joel Quiros and Jasmin Quispe . Guillermo is the pastoral intern responsible for the day to day activities and oversight of the children, and Reyna tends to the special needs that exist with the kids and their families. Becca is our missionary overseeing the kids’ health. Please pray for each one.
4. For Lori as she serves on the Cristo Salvador oversight committee, responsible for evaluating and improving it.
5. For Elizabeth Clemente in Huaycán, who was run over by a truck a few weeks ago and is disabled with 5 kids and a husband who has recently abandoned her. The church is providing food for her and her family, and two of her boys are already in the Cristo Salvador project. Pray for her recovery, spirits, and for justice to be done on her behalf such that the owner of the vehicle, whose neglect caused the accident, would pay for her medical bills, lost work time and damages.
6. For wisdom constantly in all the decisions and pastoral situations the Berry’s face daily and for the protection of the Berry family & marriage from Satan ’s schemes. Also, for physical protection for the Berrys and all God’s people in Lima, a city of many dangers.
7. For the joy of the Lord to be their strength daily.
