Peru

2008 Team 3

Peru Team #3 2008

POST TRIP NOTES

Team Members:

Erik Shamblin - Team Leader

Mark Weaver

Cindy Bogstad

Debbie Polk

Ayana Hill

Charity Pippen

Our goals were to:

1) Engage the known believers in each town in our REAP area and encourage their continued meeting together and growing in the faith.

2) Establish person in each town to be an email contact as set up by our Missions Coordinator.

PULLO:

We spent the first two nights in Pullo, where we stayed at Ignacia and Pedro's place, right beside the playground. We went with expectation that the couple might be interested in a wedding, since they have been living together for years and perhaps even be baptized. After a sit down conversation with both, they agreed they were not ready at that time. The church did meet together the two nights there. Prior to our meeting the first night, we engaged with the children of Pullo on the playground with jumpropes and soccer balls. We then shared a bible story with them and gave bubble gum for kids that had the right answers. They were then invited back at 6 PM for our service time. There were about 8-10 at both meeting times. The group is very solid in their meeting as they come together 3 times per week. The main leader of the group is an elderly lady named Ada. She and Rosie led the believers and are very kind and active in the town. They live across the field from Pedro's place. In their meeting they are used to praying together, singing together, and reading God's word together. While there, one night, I read through and taught from Chapter 6 of "To Follow and Fish": The chapter teaching from 1 Corinthians 12 and the Body of Christ. They were very receptive and answered the questions well and with confidence. Following the service, Ada asked that we go the following morning to pray with a man who had been sick. The man's wife and son, Diego, come to the church meetings, however, he professes to be a Catholic and does not come. The following morning, after our team devotion time, we felt a need for the family and felt they could use some food, since the father has been sick for a while and not been able to work. It was a gesture of love from the Body of Christ to a needy person. He was very gracious of the food given and the time we laid hands upon him to pray for his healing.

Following the prayer time, our team divided up: Mark Weaver drove one of the trucks and took half the team to Chusi, an annex found by team 3. There were many prayers of salvation there, and they requested that we spend some time establishing some contact there. I took the other half and spent time in Pullo setting up the email connection with NESTER (Ignacia's Son). With help of Anna (one of our translators), we successfully taught Nester how to connect and get to the already established email box for the church at Pullo. I then met with the Mayor of Pullo, Ceasar, who agreed to meet with me later that morning. I had a desire to share the Gospel with him. I felt led to share my testimony as well as truths from God's word, mainly from the Romans' Road. He was very receptive and answered most questions well. However, he considers himself a Catholic and prays not only to Jesus, but to St. Anthony and others for help. He seemed to be open to learning more and I invited him to be a part of the church. I offered a suggestion to the Church at Pullo to go by his office each week and offer to pray for him and ask if there is anything they can do for him and his leadership there. I pray that they will reach out to him through simple acts of kindness and offering service.

The team that went to Chusi, had a hard time finding their way and once they did find the annex, found it to be practically deserted from farmers working. They did meet someone on the way home that lived in another annex that was receptive to our message of hope. However, upon returning to Pullo, found themselves greeted with a dinner prepared for them by the church there and enjoyed fellowship that night as well as a time of service together, where they let Ada and the church lead. My team drove to Incuyo for the night.

INCUYO:

We had heard that the church in Incuyo had been undergoing persecution that was threatening their meeting time and support. We went first to Ilda's restaurant to meet her and let her know we were in town for the night and part of the next day and would like to meet. She was eager to get the word out. We hoped to find rooms at her place to stay, but she was full. We found rooms across the street and down a bit in a former lodging place of our past teams. Rooms were nice, bathrooms were not so nice. However, note, there are new Public Bathrooms, directly across from Ilda's restaurant that only cost 50 centimos each time. The ladies of my group agree it is WELL WORTH IT. We were able to connect with Ronald (Ronald_75_5@hotmail.com) as he left school that day. After having our tire repaired, we took him home to a nearby annex, Collahuacho (as coming into Incuyo, take the first left and it leads up a very bumpy road about 5 kilometers). We met his family and took him back with us for dinner and our service time. Upon arriving back in town, Ronald connected with Ronnie Gonzales (Ronnyelcaballero_B6@hotmail.com) . We had dinner together, which was nice to share a meal with them. At dinner, Ilda shared some pictures that some children had drawn and colored from a Jesus story book they had. This is their only resource of teaching, besides the Bible and the Follow and Fish guides. They requested that we help them in providing more for the children, such as coloring pages with familiar Bible stories on them. As we met together, we had about 8 - 10 come, only 1 adult, the two high school guys, and several kids. The main organizer, Cindy, was not there that night. There normal meeting night is Sunday, this was Monday night. They also requested a need for some music books, to help them share music, especially when our teams come. After our meeting time, in which I shared about the Body of Christ, in a more childrens' form, we took Ronald home. We also delivered the baby clothes that were give by our Rosie to Ronald's niece. They were very grateful. Again, being the body of Christ to them.

The next morning, we took opportunity to go into the upper school in town and further encouraged Ronnie (as Ronald was not there). We shared verses from 2 Timothy, as we heard them share the night before how hard it is living a Christian life and the pressures. Ronnie said he would pass along the message to Ronald. We were also able to share our email set up with Ronald. He was more than willing to take part, however, there is no longer a public internet connection in Pullo, the only one there is at the Municipal building. However, Ronald travels to Cora Cora at least every few weeks and can check there. Another issue is that he and his family will be moving at the end of August, 2008 so he said he would pass that over to Ronnie when he leaves. The other half of the team arrived in Incuyo around 10:30 as planned. We took a little more time to share with people there, passing out tracts, and giving bibles and discipleship materials to Ilda. We took a few minutes to walk over to the Medical Clinic, hoping to run into Dr. Juan, who has been a help with our team in the past. He was there and very kind for our visit. He was hopeful for a future visit from our medical teams as he shared there are many annexes to Incuyo with people who cannot afford medical help and he would love to work with our teams. We shared about our Eye Glass clinic coming up and he said he would wait to hear news. He corresponds with Rosie a good bit and has access to the Municipal Building's internet. Before we left, we ran into a young man who had a physical problem, uncontrollable shaking of the hands. He asked for food. We sat down with him and bought him lunch as I shared the gospel message and a bible story with him. We gave him a bible and prayed for his healing. We encouraged him to meet with the church. I do not recall his name, however, had a contagious smile and was living with his brother and sister-in-law just outside of Incuyo as his parents were both killed as he was a kid. We then hit the road for Chumpi and our final two nights.

CHUMPI:

We had heard that Chumpi was the town with the least amount of resemblance as a church. This saddened me as I have been there the most in the three previous trips I had made. However, we found that to be true. As we checked in to Iris' hostel, off the square, we hit the streets to engage our known believers, invite the kids to a 4 PM play time in the square, and a 6 PM worship time in the gazebo.

After our walking, we finally found David and Griselda's home, which was changed from the time I knew them, and made connection with Magoli, Riggo's wife, who I had known before. These were the only two connections we made that afternoon. We did meet with the kids, about 20 - 30 showed up for games and a story. Cindy Bogstad shared the story with help from Anna, one of our translators. Our team hung around in the plaza for our worship time, playing volleyball with some local teenagers. It was fun. Upon getting dark our team waited until 6:40, with no one showing up. We circled on our knees in the gazebo and prayed for Chumpi and the families we knew who professed Christ. We asked God to give us divine appointments in the AM.

The next morning, following our team devotion time, we split up and prayer walked the streets. Our two teams found ourselves at David and Griselda's place. We knocked to see if we could meet with them, feeling they may like to take more of a leadership role there, and were invited in to help them Shell beans. We spent the next 1.5 hours in their little yard stomping on and shelling beans for their family. It was great time to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a practical way. While there, we found out that one of their sons had been sick for several days and they were hoping to take him to the doctor. We invited his whole family for lunch, since we had plenty of soup to eat. They were thrilled to be invited down. David, Griselda, and the three younger kids ate with us as we talked about the future of the church at Chumpi and hoping that they would try to re-establish meeting regularly. They were hopeful. Cindy went with them to the Doctor and was able to pay for their visit (a whopping 18 soles...about $6...which included two boys being seen, both receiving two shots for illness...and some meds to take home). They were very grateful. While they were at the doctor, Anna went to meet the other three kids at their house from school and brought them to our place for lunch. They are such a great family. I do believe that they will be the foundation of the church in Chumpi. Their names are listed on our directory sheets. Although neither family could meet that night with us, due to working and sick families, we did establish David as the email coordinator for the church.

We rolled out early the next morning to head to Nazca and the hot showers awaiting us. All of our team wore the same clothes every day while in country. We had a great trip. Without any draw for the people, other than the gringo's trying to play football and jumprope, we did engage the people and were able to be the Body of Christ to them. Our team members were fantastic. The Lord blessed our travel...no one was sick....we were frugal with our funds, and really got along very well. It was great having a mix of veterans as well as newbies on the team. At first we were disappointed that the NAZCA boys were not able to go with us. However, we felt like perhaps we use them as a crutch sometimes. Without their presence, it forced us to share the bible stories. It forced us to preach the word and sing the songs. It forced us to do more than perhaps we find ourselves doing with them there. Our last night in Nazca, we did go by Maranatha Baptist Church, and saw Elias. He remembered us and we had a chance to share with him and pray with and for him. He said that his church was planning a trip to the towns soon. We shared these notes with him, in hopes that our join efforts to this region will continue to be fruitful.

NOTES FOR TEAM 4:

Check everything with Arnold and REAP Team. They are very organized, but there was some mistakes: 1) only one truck was reserved, so we had to wait until later to leave Lima. 2) Our translators thought WE were providing sleeping bags for them. That had never been before, but somehow, they thought that. We did have ONE extra bag in the closet at the REAP OFFICE. It worked out fine, with getting extra blankets for them at the hostels. 3) Though one of our translators was new, she did fine. Not proactive as I would necessarily like, but was fine. Make sure at least ONE of them are experienced, it will help with being ahead and not reactive sometimes. Also, don't forget to witness to them as well. Some of them, may not totally be Christ-followers yet. They know the stories and agree with them, however, one of ours is still a little confused on what she really believes. 4) Our return to Lima was a little confusing and frustrating. Make sure to ask them for a DEBRIEFING TIME and agenda for your return. It seemed as if we got back earlier than they expected and we waited for 45 minutes on the sidewalk as we waited for our trucks to be cleaned, luggage stored, and return of the rental trucks (which are all things they said they had arranged for us). Everything worked out well, but never hurts to just ask and make sure.

I know that your primary objective is the Eye Glass Clinic. I would also ask Team 4 to seek to engage the people we have mentioned and listed as well as follow up with the email contacts we have made. I have given the email codes and format to Matt Rushing so he can solidify those connections.

It worked out great to have our ride at the airport to pick us up and take us to the Hotel Santa Cruz (they have public email there and your cell phone may work there, as it did for me in Lima and Nazca). It was also very nice to have the ride take us back to the airport following our dinner and shopping. We arrived at the airport to check in at about 8:45. We were hustle bustle through the check in line, paying our taxes, immigration, and customs. Our flight left at 11:30 and we had about an hour to wait. So it took a good 1.5 hours to do all that. I am sure the later you arrive, the tighter it gets.

This report will be submitted with a Directory of Names from each town with some minor directions for family homes. In talking with Matt Rushing, Team 4 leader, I believe he is getting together maps of the towns to be added to our team leader notebook.

Seeking to Glorify the King,

Erik Shamblin on behalf of Team 4.