Peru Mission Trip 2007

Thursday, 10-11-2007

Well, here I sit getting this page ready so everything will be in place once we 'head south.' Everything is just about ready. All week, our families have been making preparations for the coming week. (I know because I ran into most of them at Wal-Mart at some point this week.) Bags are packed or will be soon and then it's early to bed tomorrow night for an early departure Saturday morning. Please be praying for us and also for our families and loved ones that will be staying behind. The stress of our absence will be worthy of your prayers.

Check back soon for updates. God bless you and thanks for your interest.

Troy

Saturday, 10-13-2007

What a day!  We are now at the guest house having just arrived.  We started yesterday morning 19 hours ago.  The Lord has been with us and things have gone quite smoothly.  The car ride to Dallas was uneventful, with the one exception being Cliff and Grace trying to get the cup holders to work.  In their defense, you would think a Lexus would have a few of those and not need the clip on kind.  Getting checked in and through security was a breeze.  The flight was smooth with a slight bump on landing.  Overall, it was down-right boring.  Jennifer didn't even throw-up.  The lay-over in Atlanta was just long enough.  A snack, a massage courtesy of Brookstone, a few tracts passed out here and there and we were boarding the plane.  The meal was ok....not Ruth's Chris but better than McDonalds.  We finally landed during the third movie.  Grace got a red light through customs, but that only required her bags to be x-rayed.  Previously, this would have meant a complete search of everything.  As it was, it only took about 10 minutes and we were through and out.  After meeting Victor, Isabelle, and Orlando at the airport, it was just a short ride to the guest house.  All-in-all, it couldn't have gone much smoother.  Thanks be to God!

God bless!

Troy

Sunday, 10-14-2007

What a day!  I know that's what I said yesterday, but this time it's for a completely different reason.  As I posted on the message boards, we started our day by waiting.  We are told it is the Peruvian way....everyone is late for everything.  So, our driver / translator Victor was late picking us up and we started the day about an hour later than expected.

We first drove to San Juan de Miraflores, a district of Peru (above).  There, we attended church service in a church started by Victor.  We visited with some other missionaries and the local people for a brief while before and after the service.  The people were nice and it was a good start to the morning.  From there, we drove toward Villa Salvador, another district of Peru known for it's alcoholism, drug abuse, and "lady friends".  On the way, we stopped at "Ronald's" for some roasted chicken and french fries.  Brett....we gotta get that recipe for the 'queso'.  After lunch, we continued on to Villa Salvador where we prayer walked a few of the 'blocks' of houses.

We were asked by a lady if there was going to be a service at the church as their preacher had not shown up for the past few weeks.  We decided how could we not?

So Victor "Papa Noel" rounded up as many as he could (above), mostly children, and we proceeded to 'have church'.  Hymns were sang, like "Jesus Loves Me", and Victor gave a short sermon based on David and Goliath.  I shared about our wrist bands that we are wearing and what the colors mean (below).  Then we gave out similar wrist bands to the children.

We then returned to the guest house, went out to dinner (Chinese), and then returned to the guest house.  And yes, you can get 7 large adults into a Honda Civic with room for one more.  But we walked back to the guest house after dinner instead of trying it again.  It's now about 10:00pm, Brett has gone to bed, and Genni, Jennifer, Grace, and Cliff are visiting in the common / living room.

Thanks to everyone for the messages of encouragement and prayer.  Please continue praying for our families and loved ones during our absence, for strength and unity among us, and for those we minister to during our time here.  Please keep the messages coming on the message boards - they really are encouraging and uplifting!

This place is a different world than what we live in, but the problems are the same.  And the solution is the same.  Lord, let us be a light here and everywhere and may you keep it bright and allow it to shine in the darkness.

Gloria a Dios
(Glory to God)

Troy

Monday, 10-15-07

Today was a great day full of prayer! We started our day by visiting the International Christian School.

We met several of the teachers and even got to meet the 5th grade classroom. After roping Brett back in from playing the drums that had no sign indicating that he was not allowed to do so, and threatening to leave Grace if she wouldn’t stop talking, we moved on to a mountain top that overlooked Peru as well as the ocean.

We spent a lot of time at the top of the mountain praying for and over the people and buildings of Peru. It was at this time that Troy lost all of the contents of his stomach in a violent upchucking incident (no pictures). We quickly transported him back to the guest house where he made one final attempt to empty his stomach completely and Grace gave him enough Dramamine to knock him out for several hours. The rest of the mission team moved on to do a very interesting prayer walk downtown. This is a very busy area with about 1,000,000 people walking about throughout the day.

We weaved our way in and out of the streets praying for the people of this area. This area is one of the more traditional Catholic areas. After walking for several miles and scolding Grace for shopping during our prayer walk we reached our destination. We had a brief debriefing with the missionaries of the area (below, at dinner) to discuss our time on this walk. Our translator was able to lead two people to Christ who were looking on and observing our time of debriefing. Praise the Lord! We finally returned to the guest house, picked up a much better and not so pale Troy, and headed to dinner.

Tomorrow we are headed back to the downtown area to do some street evangelism. Please be praying for the hearts of the individuals who we will be in contact with.

Good night and God Bless,
Jennifer Martinez

Tuesday, 10-16-07

This evening I bring both good news and bad.  The bad news is that there are very few pictures from today.  The good news is that our hands were too busy to take pictures.  We started the morning with a visit to the Baptist office in Lima and then to the Christian book store to acquire tracts.  There we met Quentin and Gina (left), missionaries to the inner city of Lima, and Junior who served as an additional translator.  We then carpooled to a park in downtown Lima where we divided into teams of two to four and witnessed to those who would listen.  The results were mixed, with some being quite fruitful, encountering people who were eager to hear what we had to say and hungry for the truth of God, while others encountered resistance and did not feel the Spirit of the Lord.  After getting nice sunburns despite not seeing the Sun, we broke for lunch at KFC.  We then returned to the park that we visited yesterday in another area of downtown.  The crowd there was different, older and more families, while the first park was visited by more youth and had an atmosphere of activity.  Here, we again divided into teams and went as the Spirit directed.  All groups experienced fruitful witness encounters here.  There seemed to be a hunger in those we spoke with at both parks and our conversations tended to gather others who were interested in what was being said around them.  At one point, there were two translators working up to four conversations simultaneously while other conversations with other teams were going on in other parts of the park.  Needless to say, at times the language barrier was quite frustrating.  All those we encountered were invited to Gina's Bible study tomorrow afternoon and we are all anxious to see how many will attend.  Afterwards, we returned to the guest house, ordered Papa John's Pizza (sorry Randy), and visited with Junior (left) who was gracious enough to stay.  We laughed and talked for several hours until our visitor (Cliff and Grace's previous house-keeper) and Junior had to leave.  Our prayer tonight is for all of those we talked to today as well as those we only gave tracts to.  We pray the Holy Spirit will convict them of the truth as given to us in scripture and that their hearts be soft, open, and receptive to the Gospel of redemption through our Savior Jesus Christ.  Lord, provide rest for our bodies and our spirits tonight so we may continue to do your work in your vineyard for your glory in the days ahead.

Amen.

Wednesday, 10-17-07

Pull up a chair and get a cup of coffee....this one is long.

Today, at first reflection, feels like a down day.  And when compared to the previous day of being very engaged, in some ways it was.  But, when considering what was accomplished, it was actually quite fruitful. We started the day by meeting the AWANA director for all of Peru, Mr. Julio Serrano (below).

We spoke with him, another staff member and a volunteer about the AWANA program in Peru, what additional needs he has, what further assistance we can be, and about some of the challenges that he is facing.  He seemed very encouraged with our interest in the AWANA program here in Peru.  Here are some interesting things we learned from our visit:

• In Spanish, the acronym of the text of 2 Timothy becomes OANSA instead of AWANA.
• Our sponsorship is combined with other church sponsors to financially support a group here.
• There is little to no cooperation among groups here.  This applies to everything, not just the churches.  Because of this, the AWANA (or OANSA) program has to be self sufficient as practically none of the churches here are willing to support or participate in the program.
• The group we sponsor is located in the city of Pucallpa which is located in the state of Ucayali.  Click here for a map.  To travel to Pucallpa from Lima requires a three hour plane ride (one way) over the Andes Mountains.  Pucallpa is in the Peruvian jungle on the banks of the Ucayali River which eventually flows into the Amazon River to the north.

Click here for the Pucallpa OANSA pictures.

After this meeting, we returned to the guest house for a quick lunch and then Cliff and Brett met with Kevin, the IMB strategy coordinator for Lima.  Grace used this time to visit with some old friends and Jennifer, Genni, and I walked around the 'ovalo', as it is called, near the guest house, caught up on some Bible reading, and spent some time in prayer.  Spiritually, the rest was well needed and in hindsight was probably the best thing we could have done with the time.  It amazes me at every turn how God provides exactly what we need, when we need it, as we need it.  From His abundance His blessings flow.  But now I'm getting preachy.

After Cliff and Brett returned from Stabucks (yes, according to Cliff there is no 'r' in that name) and their meeting with Kevin, we made a quick sack lunch of water and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in preparations to strike out on our own to downtown Lima without the guidance of Cliff and Grace who had dinner plans with a couple they have been ministering to.  After quickly packing dinner in the backpack, we proceeded to wait.  And then we waited some more.  Did I mention this is the Peruvian way?  After about an hour and a half or so, our driver finally arrived and took us to downtown Lima where we found Gina and Quentin - they did not know we were coming.  At this time of day (late afternoon / early evening), they were teaching an English class.  We were welcomed guests and the students were very glad to have some test subjects on which to practice their English.  Jennifer and Genni stayed with Gina and the 'beginner students' while Brett and I went with Quentin and the 'advanced' class (of one student). All of the students were saved Christians, so much of the talk centered around Christian themes.  Jennifer shared her testimony as did one of the students. I shared how to use the Rubik's cube with children to share the Gospel and we discussed how the local Peruvians would view the use of card tricks and whether this was a good idea or not.  Carlos, Quentin's student, shared with us his dream of becoming a singer and even gave us a beautiful acapella rendition of "People Need the Lord" in English, of course.  All of the students except one were from the Villa Salvador area we visited on Sunday and to which we will be returning tomorrow.  God's doing something here...this was not coincidence.  Not in a city of 9 - 12 million.

After English class, we stayed for their 6:30 Bible study, which was what we were there for in the first place.  They had two attendees which was a blessing given the previous responses they have received.  Both were saved Christians and neither were from our previous day's witnessing, despite the wonderful conversations we had with multiple people who said they would attend.  Nevertheless, one was working with a local church to reach the street ladies and wanted Gina and Quentin to partner with them in that endeavor.  This was an answered prayer for them and I thought we might have to give Quentin some of Grace's wonderful medications to calm him down.  It was a blessing to be a part of their ministry if only for a short while.  The challenges Quentin and Gina face in this area of Lima are unique and mountainous.  They deserve and desperately need your prayer.

We visited over dinner (in a food court type area above the equivalent of a Wal-Mart) and then returned to the guest house just before getting a cab back would have been near impossible. Cliff and Grace's visit went well and they relayed some of the challenges their friends are now facing and how they continued to minister to them.  We shared with them our experience with Gina and Quentin and then we all went to bed.

Tomorrow is going to be.....well.....God's.  I sit here tonight amazed at the opportunities and possibilities of tomorrow.

Troy

Thursday, 10-18-07

I don't know where or how to begin recounting the events of today.  How do you put the work, power, and presence of the Holy Spirit into words?  All I can do is simply tell you what happened and trust that you will believe that the Holy Spirit was present mightily.

We learned from our meeting with Kevin yesterday that the area in Villa Salvador we visited on Sunday was not precisely the area we needed to visit.  Villa Salvador has multiple communities within it, a few of them being Oasis 1, Oasis 2, and Oasis 3.  We unknowingly visited Oasis 3 on Sunday and it is Oasis 1 and Oasis 2 that Kevin felt we needed to prayer walk, witness, and evangelize if possible.  On Sunday, when we were first there, we had committed to return to this area at 2:00 today.  So in light of this information, we decided to go to Oasis 1 and 2 in the morning and then return to Oasis 3 in the afternoon.  So we started the day, yep, by waiting. We did eventually arrive in Villa Salvador, however, and organized at the community center / church in what we now realize is Oasis 3 (below).

From there, we oriented ourselves as to where Oasis 1 and 2 were located and started walking.  As it turns out, what we thought was only Oasis 3 was actually all three neighborhoods.  So we were able to effectively reach all three areas by walking.  As we walked, the Holy Spirit led us apart and we obediently followed, breaking into two groups.  Brett, Jennifer, Cliff, and myself, along with Raul and Victor, our translators / drivers, went into Oasis 2 (above right - broader streets, newer wood) while Genni and Grace, along with their translator, were called into a house for prayer.  Inside, they visited with a Christian lady who had inoperable uterine cancer.  Her husband was incarcerated and she was struggling in her faith.  They prayed with and for her and ministered to her as best they could.  Meanwhile, Brett's group passed out tracts, invited people to the service that was planned for 2:00, and simply tried to have conversations with them.

Victor had a witness encounter with two gentlemen (above) and it is our prayer that they accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior today.  Just after this, Cliff assisted a quite ill Victor back to his car where he spent the majority of the remainder of the day sleeping (below) while the rest of the group proceeded to skip lunch obediently and walked on to Oasis 1 (notice the trees).

There, we met Martha (above) whom we had originally met on Sunday.  Martha is a Christian who has been abandoned by her husband and is now left to care for the family on her own. She shared her testimony / conversion story and we reminded her of the service that was planned for 2:00.  She asked why we did not have a service there at Oasis 1?  Obediently, we agreed we would do just that at 2:00 tomorrow.  She promised to notify all that she could and we now have plans to go back a third time to Villa Salvador.   We returned to the cars and discussed with the others the calling we felt with what to do with the remaining clothes we had brought (about three large suitcases full).  The others agreed we should give them to Martha and her family so they could start a thrift store micro-business out of their house (below).  So we drove over to her house, presented this opportunity to her, and unloaded the clothes.  Let me just say that God was glorified and praised.  Words cannot describe the tears of joy that were shed for this answered prayer and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

We then returned to the community center / church in Oasis 3 for the 2:00 service.  Brett shared a short but effective Gospel presentation which I brought to a crashing halt with a Rubik's cube.  Despite this wonderfully terrible ending to the service, there were two girls who responded to Jennifer's alter call and they rededicated themselves to Christ.

Brett presented the soccer ball he had used during the Gospel presentation to Juan and then we proceeded to embarrass ourselves on their playing field as he and others gave us a clinic on how to properly play "football".

Brett then put his driving skills to the test and drove Victor's car back to the guest house where we all washed up for dinner at a local "diner" (below).  We were accompanied by another missionary who is just beginning a three year commitment here.

After a round of Sublime chocolate ice-cream bars for desert back at the guest house, it was off to bed for what is going to be a long day tomorrow - a full day of ministry followed by a 12:20am departure from Lima to Atlanta, Georgia.  I don't know if there will be a chance to post another entry tomorrow, so if not, we will see everyone soon.

Love from Lima,

Troy

Saturday, 10-20-07

Just a quick note from the airport in Atlanta. Yesterday, we spent the morning with a walk around the ruins that are being excavated just a few blocks from the guest house and then went to the Incan market to acquire a few items for ourselves, our families, friends, and "the business".  After we crammed down some McDonald's Peruvian Style, we returned to Martha's house in Oasis 1 in Villa Salvador as promised where we "had church".  A few of Martha's girls led us in some worship songs and then Brett again delivered a Gospel message with Jennifer's assistance. While this was going on, Raul and I followed a young man who had walked away.  In front of his house, we witnessed to him and he returned to the service with us. We passed out coloring books to the kids again and after many good-byes, eventually pulled ourselves away.  Grace, Cliff, and Jennifer returned to the guest house with Raul while Brett, Genni, and I traveled with Victor to retrieve some sweaters that were being hand-made  in Pamplona, the area we first visited for church services on Sunday. The ride was worthy of admission and would rival many of our amusement park rides.  After pushing the out-of-gas car across a freeway overpass intersection and refueling, we eventually made it back to the guest house.  Our hostesses prepared a send-off meal and all those we had met came to share the meal, fellowship, and wish us well. We departed for the airport at 8:00pm, cleared immigration and customs, and departed the airport a little after midnight.  It's now a bit after 9:00am and we are waiting for our connecting flight to Dallas which should arrive about noon.  God again provided just as we needed with Brett getting a seat assignment change on the flight from Lima. The new seat was one of four (out of about 350) that reclined and had a foot rest. This blessing, along with the wonder that is Dramamine, allowed our driver to get some rest for the upcoming drive from Dallas to Llano. We are eager to share the past week with everyone and look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

God bless!

Troy