Meeting Missionaries

Once again we have had another pretty hectic week, but it's been great!

Sunday week ago we had the opportunity to meet up with Iain and Heather McKelvie and their 2 children, Philip and Debbie. They are SIM missionaries from Mountpottinger Baptist and have been serving here in Arequipa for around 5 years. It was great to have a time of fellowship in their church cafe and then the following evening in their home (the homemade choc-chip pancakes weren't too bad either!!). They were able to tell us a little bit about the childrens ministries they are involved in. For more information check out http://www.themckelvies.co.uk/

Last Sunday we spent the afternoon in the Turner household, once again they provided wonderful hospitality with a roast beef dinner (champ included!) followed with apple crumble and custard (at Simons request!!!) They have a hectic schedule so it was lovely to spend some time with them outside of the regular church activities.

That evening we were hosted by Steve and Rachel Peat along with their kids Amy, Gareth and Joel. They are from York and have been serving in Arequipa with SIM for around 13 years. It was a brilliant opportunity for us to gain insight into the ministries they are involved in. They gave us lots of kids and youth resources in Spanish (it's extremely diffiucult to find good quality scriptural materials), these will definitely come in useful throughout the rest of the year. You can find out more about the Peat family at http://www.peats.org/

One moring when we arrived into language school, the school´s director told Simon that a friend of his Dad´s was in Arequipa. He gave him a mobile number which resulted in Simon meeting Pastor Spencer Cunnah who is the minister in Wycliffe International Church, Sheffield. He is over for a few days visiting. He then put us in touch with the Peats which was great! It´s a small world!!!

Both the McKelvies and Peats are returning home at the beginning of December until February/March. Pray for them as they leave their ministries and pack things up here in Arequipa, adjusting to life back in the UK. Also as they travel around, speaking at various churches services and meetings, that they will have an impact on those they speak to and that others would be a source of encouragement to them in the wonderful work they are doing here.

What is Misión Rescate Anyway?

Hi everyone! This is just a quick video post of the Misión Rescate team from last year, which will hopefully explain what we´ll be up to after Christmas when we head down to Ilo, Ite, Moquegua and Tacna. Hopefully it´ll give you a bit of an insight into what we´ll be doing as a team.

Another week has past!

Sorry that our blog posts haven´t been as frequent as we would have liked. The weeks seem to fly past so quickly at times, without us knowing exactly what we´ll be up to from one day to the next, making it very difficult to let you all know what we´re up to in advance. The weeks are very changeable...but there are some things which always happen!!! -

Language classes-everyday we´re in school and are slowly learning (some more slowly than others!) It´s frustrating at times but has been a huge help to us. Please keep praying that we´ll understand more and more.

Lynne´s teaching - Lynne is helping every Tuesday and Friday in a pre-school run by the church. She´s teaching a group of four and five year olds to play jingle bells on the recorder for a Christmas concert.

Children´s home - On Wednesday afternoons Shirley goes to a children´s home just outside of Arequipa, to help for a few hours. Pray for the children who come from some terrible situations.

Discipleship class - Every Tuesday morning Simon meets up with Nelson from the church to have discipleship classes. Please pray that Nelson will grow more and more.

Shalom - Simon has been heading to a special needs school every Monday to help young people in their 20s. They´ll be finishing their studies next year. Please pray that jobs would become available for them.

Thankyou for all your prayers and thoughts. It is an amazing encouragement when we hear that people are praying for us.

The Day of the Dead

On Monday morning we went on a school trip! It was somewhat strange sitting on a bus with our teachers, with our school bags under the seat, considering that most of the pupils were in their 40s!! It was a bit surreal to be on a school trip again...but very worthwhile.

The teachers chose an unusual destination for our school trip - The Cemetery! When we arrived the place was packed. It was full of people. There were people running about with ladders and water, others carrying flowers, and many others gathered together around a gravestone. Here in Peru the 2nd November is known as the Day of the Dead.

It was sad to see. Juan Carlos (one of our teachers) told us how he was pleased that God had saved him from all this. He explained to us that any gathered around the graves to pray for the souls of their dead family members and that they believe that on this day the souls of their dead return to the earth. The graves were decorated with flowers to guide them back to the appropiate grave.

Real or not: A Priest paid to pray for one of the dead (although many dress up and pretend

to be Preists on this day to earn a bit of extra money!)

We left the cemetery and travelled to another one at the edge of the city. It was a lot poorer and is used by some very poor people from the sierra. Here people laid food across the grave, listened to a brass band playing and ate and drank.

They believe that on this day at midday the souls of the dead return to the earth. The people bring food and drink to share with the souls of the loved ones. Many prepare a favourite dish of the one who has died to encourage the soul to come back to its grave to talk with them. Some families contract music bands to play the music that their loved one liked the most.

It was a very sad and dark insight into part of the culture in this area of Peru. It was a very real reminder of the depravity of the human heart and of the need for God in the lives of so many people. So many are so lost and just need the truth.

Anniversaries, Cake and Football!

Sunday saw the 13th Anniversary of the church here in Arequipa. To mark this event the service was held at the church mission project - a rehabilitation centre in another part of Arequipa. We had an outdoor service with many families. The men from the centre, who do not usually come to the church, attended as well. After the service we enjoyed a church lunch together and remained there for the rest of the afternoon.
On Saturday we were involved in a children´s outreach at the Latin Link International School. There were around 200 primary school children as well as their parents. The theme of the afternoon was how powerful God is.
This week Simon was involved in a 5-a-side football competition with the men from the rehabilitation centre. There was a team entered from the church as well as four from the centre. Simon ended with a red face - not only from the embarassment of coming second but also as she sweated off all his sun cream!

At the weekend Luz Maria came up from Ite to stay for a few days. It was brilliant to see her again and we had a really enjoyable time. It also included celebrating Luz´s birthday a couple of weeks early on saturday night - any excuse for a cake!

Luz shared with us on saturday morning for team devotions from Matthew 9 v36-38:

When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like a sheep without a sheperd. Then He said to His disciples, "the harvest is plentiful, but the labours and few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labours into the harvest"

There is so much work to be done, please continue to pray for the work here in Peru.