and down from Puno we came

Above is a picture of Puno, it could be Ireland it it wasn´t for the thousands of houses still waiting on the second floor to be built! It was heard to know what to say for this post, Puno has been a wonderful experience, its a special place and the only place i´ve been to that i gueninely dont know if i could live there! the journey up took about 6 hours while we waited to see who would be the first to puke. Thankfully all arrived without needing the plastic bags and while a few felt the effects of the attitude the first night everyone acclimitised well. what i couldn´t get used to was the fact that everytime i went up the stairs in the church i had to take a rest afterwards, panting like i´d run a marathon, or that singing songs in church left me with a sore head, or that the lack of oxygen made the funky chicken seem like a crazy thing to do! there were benefits to being in the altitude though, sitting on the roof of the church at night, the stars were soo clear and filled the sky! Puno has its own crazy weather system and i could sit at night watching thunder storms and lightning flashing over Lake Titicaca and when it rained in Puno it sounded like the roof was going to fall in with the noise of the biggest halestones i´ve ever seen.

but what about the work....

well our first week was spent with the Alliance church in Puno and we were involved in a lot of street evangelism and open airs.

- Praise God for many opportunities to share the gospel and for those that listened and asked questions and for those in Jayllhuaya who gave their lives to Jesus Christ.

(Evangelism in Puno and in Jayllhuaya (pronounced Hulliaka)

(taking time out after a hard days work for some cake!)

Pastor Juan and his wife Estelle have recently moved to Pastor the church in Puno and would appreciate your prayers as their settle into the work and life in Puno, especially for Estelle, who is from the North of Peru, which has a very different climate, and is having health difficulties as she adjusts to life in Puno.

(the team after the youth night, jam session)

We took a morning to head out the the floating islands of Lake Titicaca, there are hundreds of families living on the various islands across Lake Titicaca between Peru and Bolivia, living in straw houses (you can see them in the photos below). It was great because I wasn´t the only ´tourist´ and for many of the team they were amazed as me and enjoyed the shopping as much as me. Many of the islanders are fishermen and as we were enjoying some local speciality of fish i heard the song, ´There´s Power in the blood´in Spanish of course, i headed off to investigate to discover a packed Adventist church on the Islands. There are in fact two churches on the Islands, one Mormon and one Adventist who also have a school. I dont know if there is any current evangelical witness to the Islands, I cant quite imagine a Baptist church floating on Lake Titicaca but its certainly something to pray for,

- Pray for the many families on the Islands who dont know Christ as their saviour, and for a christian witness in this very unique place

(taking a boat trip between the floating islands, ´Los Uros´)

(Trevor enteraining some of the kids from the Islands)

(From left: Kaiti, Luz, david, Kaiti, Marisol, Vanessa, Jorge and behind Danielle on one of the Island were about 30 people live, 5 families in total)

We then headed to Cristo Salvador Baptist Church were Paster Ramon and his wife Elvira minister. As a testament to God´s timing, i had just agreed to help with a BYE team in Grove Baptist over the summer and arriving at the church read that there is a pre-school held in the church called ´Pequeno Grove´which is supported by Grove Baptist. It was great to see this ministry in action and meet the teachers in the school as they were enrolling children for the year.

- Pray for the school that there would have many enrolled for the academic year and for the teachers as they share the gospel with the children

While in Cristo Salvador we presented the Amazing Journey (the whole story of the Bible presented through story boards and with actors, a resource which also exists in Ireland!) to the children and young people associated with the church. We also got to help hermana Elvira as she feed about thirty kids lunch, who knew i missed peeling spuds. Its a great ministry and she gets to make sure that the kids have a good meal everyday and has the opportunity to encourage and guide the kids as they grow up enjoying her lunches.

- Pray for the kids that come everyday for lunch that they will know Christ and that they will be part of the church family

(some snaps from the Amazing Journey - Viaje Increible)

The weekend was hectic! Saturday started with a fast! Not sure how i managed to agree to a fast, i´m going to have to blame my dodgy spanish because i dont remember agreeing to a fast but praise God for the experience anyway. We headed off in a combi to the campo outside Jayllhuaya to meet and pray with 5 Baptist churches in this area. We sang and Danielle preached, while being translated into Quechua. We spent time praying for the churches, for the sick, and for new leaders for the respective churches. It was a great priviliege to share this day of prayer and to lift up the Pastors and the churches to God. May He grant more churches in this area and more people ready to serve him in Puno and in the surrounding countryside. Life in the country isn´t easy, there isn´t piped water which means no indoor toilets, its cold, people live in mud houses and can live long distances from schools, church and the larger towns. Travel is dangerous at times and some of the roads we were on weren´t much more than mud tracks, as we bounced along in the combi. I´m not sure how the early Baptist missionaries to Peru managed considered in those days there wasn´t even electricity.

- Pray for the 5 churches that we shared with, for Pastor Cesar, Pastor Feliz

- Pray for their assocation with Baptist Missions and the Missionaries that it would be a mutually encouraging relationship and for future partnership

- Pray that the believers we meet would come down to the Church conference in April at the Camp Centre and that this would be a time of encouragement for the believers

(Church in Hosanna - where we met to fast and pray) (with some of the believers before the meeting)

(sharing with the young people over soup lunch)

The fast ended with a soup lunch at 4 pm and then off to a youth meeting in Jayllhuaya with Pastor Cesar in his church in Jayllhuaya. They have a large youth group and it was great to share with them, play some games, sing and be encouraged at the young people God is raising up in the church.

- Pray that the youth group there would continue strong and serve in their area and the other churches

Sunday we headed off the countryside once more saying goodbye to Puno and after a 5:30am start we arrived in time for church at 9:30am, spending time with Pastor Oswaldo who ministers to many churches across puno and the countryside. The church was packed with believers from different churches across this side of Puno and we had a great time being part of a service in Aymara and I shared my testimony; at the end the Pastor asked if everyone understood and one guy said ´yea some of it´! The countryside in Puno is like a different world and the services were filled with a lot of joy and a feeling that the people here really looked after each and sared for eachothers needs. Sharing lunch after the services, enjoying the most amazing fish, you could see the community that surrounds the church.

- Pray that God would protect His church in Puno and the surrounding countryside and give strength to those who minister there

- Praise God for fellowship in the churches and the hospitality

- Praise god for Pastor Oswaldo and his ministry across the churches, pray that God would protect his journeys and continue to give him widsdom as he ministers amongst the churches

(enjoying the Lord´s day and the hospitality of the believers and the food!)

We head to Tacna in the morning to Manantial de Vida to help with their anniversary service

and to work with the kids and young people there. We will be there until Sunday and are then returning to the campsite to do some work in Ite, what we´ll be up to i´m not quite sure yet but will keep you posted!

Prayer points for Tacna

1) For Manantial de Vida that God would bless them with another year of growth in the church

2) For the two kids clubs we have responsibility for

3) For Pastor Abraham and his family as they minister in the church

For the Team

1) Unity for the team and mutual encouragement and support

2) For Guido, the team boss, he has fractured his foot and is hobbling around on crutches for two more weeks, for patience and strong arm muscles

3) That we would honour God in all our preparations, work, actions, words and free time

4) For me, that i would enjoy my last weeks in Peru, that i would finish well and that my leaving wouldn´t spoil the team dynamic

and its off to Puno we go

that right tomorrow morning, 6am en punto we head off to Puno stopping for some breakfast in Moquegua. Its been a while since i had a 5:30 start so looking forward to that! The journey to Puno has got the better of some irish people over the years with a few emergency stops and sick bags so again cant wait. It will be my first time to Puno and for some of the team as well, while Gorge and Vanessa are returning to their home country and seeing family they havn´t seen in a while . We´ll be in Puno for the next 10 days so this is the last blog post for a while, unless i find a sneeky 30 mins to find an internetcafe! Our first days will be with the Alliance church in Puno, working with the youth people and getting to know the believers there. We will be presenting the Amazing Journey (the story of the Bible from Genesis to Christ´s return including presentations by some special people from the Bible), its the first time that the Amazing Journey has travelled to Puno, so its an exciting opportunity. We will then travel to the campo (pretty sure it means more remote country areas) and visit some of the Baptist Churches with Pastor Osvaldo who looks after the Baptist churches across Puno.

Prayer Points for Puno

- For the Amazing Journey, that those that hear it would understand, enjoy it and want to more about the story of the bible

- For me as i prepared my part as the samaritan women, its a lot of spanish to learn and remember

- For the churches we will work with, that we would encourage and help in their work

- That we would enjoy the expereince of working in a very different context, Puno is more traditional and remote and the cold weather makes life tougher, so pray we would learn from the people we met and be faithful in our testimony

- For Pastor Osvaldo as he ministers to the various churches, for safety as he travels and for wisdom and heavenly strength as he ministers to so many church situations and families.

Thanks again for your prayers

Prayers I have never prayed before

28th Feb - 6th March was Moquegua

6th - 14th March - Ite

15th - 25th March - Puno (various churches)

30th - 3rd April - Tacna (Manantial de Vida)

Well what a start to the month of March! There are many reasons to come on mision rescate, one of which is the insight it gives into missionary work and the realities of living and working in another country. This month i have seen earthquakes, tsunamis, and realised that there are many things that our missionaries need prayer for and many prayers i have never prayed for them.

So earthquakes....

Last Friday morning, started like any other friday morning, i got up, washed and the team had their devotional together. We had just finished the bible study and had started to pray when i started to hear noise on the roof. I was thinking, what is the Pastor doing in his apartment that he is making so much noise? Then the noise got louder and the walls began to shake and the floor began to move. The team looked at each other, and as the shaking got worse we all decided to exit the church rapidly. I had never realised how much confience i place in the ground, in the fact that the ground will stay in the one place and not fall away from beneath me. Never before have i prayed that the ground would stop moving, or that the walls around me wouldn´t fall in, or that the town in which i was living wouldn´t be utterly devastated by a tremor, that in 2 minutes time i wouldn´t be looking at a collasped church, or worse be in a collasping church! we have been praying for the people of Japan and continue to pray for the all those in pain, who have lost loved ones, homes, friends and that God would give strength to the believers there.

^{Isaiah 54: 10} Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

So for the first time I have thanked God for his protection from earthquakes here in Peru and continue to praise him for the brilliant week with the church in San Antonio. The photo below is of the kids we had at our holiday bible club, kids from San Antonio, and also Costa Verde (an area that the church ministers to and an area in need of greater christian input). In my second trip to Peru we went to Moquegua and stayed in the Baptist Seminary there, it has since been turned into a Christian school which we had the opportunity to visit and do a short program over lunch. It was strange to see the room which once was your bedroom being used as a classroom but encouraging to see the premises being used to effectively and God being glorified in the education of the children there.

- Pray for the future development of the school, its a new school and numbers are growing, pray for the staff in their witness to the children there.

(Moquegua Holiday Bible Club) (Pupils in the Mitchell and Porter School , some of which were at camps!)

(photos from children´s work in San Antonio)

We got to spend some time with the young people in the church and it was a great time catching up with the young people from camps and developing friendships and many of the team had good conversations with the young people and were able to help them in issues and with problems there were having. There is a large group of young people in Moquegua,

- pray that God would protect them, and guide them and develop strong christians ready for leadership roles in their churches and excited to share Christ with those around them.

(bonfire after the youth meetings) (me with natalia, adriana and their dad, a family from camp)

(team and church young people at the big park place)

We also had some fun in Moquegua, visiting a big park place, and playing on the slides and swings as you know, grown ups do. The park looks over all of Moquegua and it was great to be able to see the thousands of houses and pray for the people of Moqguegua knowing that there are so many who still dont know Christ as their Lord and Saviour! San Antonio is such a welcoming and such hospitality, we didn´t have to buy one meal the whole time we were there and it was lovely to spend lots of time with church families. On the saturday afternoon we travelled to the waterfalls outside of Moquegua with the church folks and while NI might be greener and more beautiful than Peru i have never seen waterfalls like that before. The photo below, where i´m sitting on the rock with guido. when you looked up all you could see was water pouring over the edge of the water, constant and loud and all around you and i was reminded that this is how god loves us, constantly, powerfully. His love constantly pours out to us and with fresh waves when we need more.

(at the waterfalls, and enjoying the mango´s of Peru!)

We have returned to the campsite and this week have had a Young people´s Camp in the church in Ite. We had meetings each night looking at the topic of decisions and while numbers were few we had good conversations with the young people and hopefully the week will have created a bit of excitement with the young people as the youth meetings start back next week.

- Pray for the young people we have met this week, for their interest in the bible and that God would save those who dont yet know Christ.

We weren´t sure what would happen with the final night of meetings in light of the events in Japan and the subsequent tsunami. Much of Peru is coastline and had to be prepared for the possibility of tsunami waves and therefore we have been on alert yesterday and will be today as well, never before have i prayed for Tsunami risk!

So tsunamis......

Getting up for devotionals on Friday morning I was met by Daniel saying that we were going to Luz Maria´s (camp administrator) appartment to watch the news because there had been an earthquake in Japan which had caused an tsnami. I was praying for the situation in Japan but it was only as i was listening to everyone talking around the tv that i realised the team weren´t just worried for Japan but for the tsunami that was sweeping across the pacific and that could hit America and Peru and anxiously waiting to see how big it was going to be. We went over the plan of action in the case of a tsunami and told that the next update was at four and to have a bag ready in case we had to evacuate. ´Evacuate!´ I dont know that i´ve ever been evacuated in my life! the day continued as usual and we prepared for the young people´s meeting in Ete as usual and continued getting things ready for Puno and the Amazing Journey. At four Luz told us that Ilo had been evacuated and Trevor and Andrew (missionary family) were goign to be spending the night in the church in La Pampa (were we were working a couple of weeks ago) which is in the top part of Ilo. We got a bag ready just in case the bottom part of Ite would be evacuated too and headed up the youth meeting as usual. Praise the Lord that we still had plenty of young people come to the last night of the meetings and we had a great time sharing the word of God and that the message of the gospel was clearly expalined and we all enjoyed a lovely dinner! After the meeting we got the final word that while we would still be on alert the tsunami waves weren´t strong enough to cause any serious problems and we were safe enough to return to the campsite.

Never before have i thanked God for his protection from earthquakes and tsunamis. Never before have i realise that the earth is growning and that we will conitinue to face antural disasters and devastation until Christ returns. Our day was overshadowed by worry of what could happen, and greatefulness that when i got up this morning it wasn´t to run up the hill in light of an approaching wave. I have never realised that our missionaries live here in the knowledge that earthquakes and tsunamis are a threat that comes with that decision, and i have never before paryed that God would protect them and their families and the churches and their members from the devastation that they could bring.

I thanks you so much for all your prayers, but ask you to remember the country of Peru as well. There is only 2% evangelical christians here (if i have remembered correctly) and pray for Baptist Missions and the missionary families: The Morrows, the Brews and the Williamsons, as they continue to reach those that are lost.

- Pray that they would continue the remember there purposes here, and find strength in God for every situation

- Pray for safety as they travel between Ilo, Tacna and Moquegua and within the twons they work in

- Pray for wisdom in decisions and in their work with the churches here

- Pray for the future as the Mission continues to seek God´s will for the fututre of the work

- Pray for joy in the work and confidence in his purposes for them

^{Romans 8:22} We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for gGod´s people in accordance with the will of God.

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love hime, who have been called according to his purpose.