Friday, 19 March 2010

From 11th-14th March we were in the Palabra de Vida Church in Tacna. We managed to pack in a whole host of activities including- two door to door visits (inviting locals to the various events), two open air kids clubs, one primary school visit, one secondary school visit, one youth night, one Sunday school and two church services. We seemed to be on the go non stop, but it was brilliant working along with the church. Taking part in the school assemblies was a new opening for the church being able to share the gospel and to have contact with the Catholic school. Over the next two weeks we are back home in the Camp centre. This weekend sees the missions ‘National Workers Conference’ which will be followed by a ‘Churches Congress’. This is open to anyone from the various Baptist Mission Churches (the ones we have been working along with). It will be great to meet up with many of our friends from the churches! We will also be leading the ladies (well the girls will be taking part) meeting and the youth night in the Ite church.

Points for Praise
-the Pastors and their families
-Contact with the Catholic school
- Gods constant provision for the team

Points for Prayer
-The Palabra de Vida Church
-The workers conference and churches congress
- Ladies and Youth Meetings

Tuesday, 9 March 2010

From Tacna to Tacna....

Last Thursday we headed back to Tacna to work alongside the Pan de Vida church. We only went for a long weekend, however it was packed with a variety of activites. The first day was spent doing door to door, inviting kids to the 2 open air clubs and the sunday school. On the Friday and Saturday it was really encouraging to see around 30 kids attending each day. On Saturday evening we were responsible for leadning the youth night, which turned out to be an age range of about 12-80, but as the saying goes 'age is only a number'! It was great to see so many people coming along. Sunday morning was to be a 2 hour Sunday school programme followed by a church service, which was changed at the last moment (nothing unusual for Peru) so that it was cut short.

It was great to see the enthusiasm of the church which has suffered much over the past few years. Being able to meet young enthusiastic christians, people who wanted to learn more and a church with a desire to move forward was very encouraging.

This Thursday we are heading back to Tacna...again! This time to work along with the Palabra de Vida church. The plans are not yet concrete, but hopefully we will be able to enter a secondary and primary school, do a kids club, youth night, sunday school and 2 church services.

Points for Prayer

-Pastor and members of the Pan de Vida Church

-Jonny, one of the young people from Pan de Vida who became a Christian 3 weeks ago

-Preparations for Palabra de Vida

-Team unity

Friday, 26 February 2010

This past two weeks we have been non stop with more EBDV’s (Escuela Bíblica de Vacaciones….Holiday Bible School). The first week we were in the Luz de Vida church in Tacna. They have a team of enthusiastic young people who regularly work with kids in the local area, so we were assisting them throughout the week. Each morning was spent doing door to door giving out invitations for the EBDV which was held each afternoon. Every day we had an average of around 60 kids, (although it was difficult to count as the meetings were held in the local plaza, many kids and parents dropped by at some point during the week). Once again, throughout the course of the week we looked at the theme ‘Dios es Todopoderoso’ (God is all powerful). On the Saturday morning we did a big clean up in the church, which turned into one giant water fight, well, at least we now know that the floors will all be sparkling clean with the amount of water that ended up being brushed out of the building!!! Saturday evening was an opportunity to lead the youth night, there were around 20 people, it was a great chance to get to know some of the youth from the church. The week finished off on Sunday morning with a special service where the kids were presented with prizes for learning memory verses etc.

We literally stopped by the campsite to do washing and get a few hours sleep before setting off for Moquegua. We were welcomed into the church (which was filled with balloons and great illustrations for the EBDV) and got stuck in right away. Each day we had an average of around 45 kids coming along. We again followed the theme of ‘Dios es Todopoderoso’ but changed the stories and verses for some variety. We were only supposed to be here until Friday but the church has asked that we stay on, so, this weekend we will be taking an open air kids club in the surrounding area, followed by a youth night on Saturday evening. On Sunday we will take part in the morning and evening services, squeezing in the final session of Kids Club in the afternoon. The hospitality has been amazing; it has been great working in both churches, meeting up again with many of the people who attended the summer camps in January.

We head back to Tacna- Pan de Vida Church from 4th-7th March where we will be taking part in 2 open air kids clubs, door to door work, youth night and the Sunday services.

Points for Praise
-Enthusiasm/commitment of members of the churches
-Number of kids attending various meetings
- Gods constant provision

Points for Prayer
- Continued motivation
-Next week in the Pan de Vida church
-preparations for Tacna

Saturday, 13 February 2010

¡¡¡Es Increeeeeíble!!!

Yesterday we finished an "Incredible" Holiday Bible Club in the church in Ite. The theme was "Jesus is all powerful," and each day the children were taught a different story about one of the miracles of Jesus. We had on average 35 children each day with 60 different children attending at some point throughout the whole week. The club lasted 2 hours with the usual mix of games, songs, memory verses, lessons, quizzes and worksheets. In total, at the end of the week 7 children could say all 5 memory verses word perfect. Spanish was definitely put to the test as each of us had to take part part each day from the front.



Tomorrow is a family service where we are responsible for the whole program. All the parents have been invited to a special service which will show them what the children have been doing throughout the week, the children will also receive prizes for memory verses and attendance. It is an opportunity for us to evangelise to the parents. It was great see some kids coming along that have not had any connection with the church or sunday school before.

On Tuesday we head to Tacna to "Luz de Vida" to help with their holiday bible club.



Please pray for us with;Holiday Bible Club (In the plaza)

The youth meeting on Saturday night

The special parents day service on Sunday