Home Again
At long last, I’m back home.
For the past 10 months of my life, I’ve lived and worked in Cusco, Peru and visited numerous places throughout the UK.
My team and I returened from Peru in April, and for the following two months, we were sent to our home churches and to other churches who have a connection with BMS (the chairty we worked with), talking about our experiences to churches and schools. It was the most exhausting time of the whole gap year. Yet, I learned a lot from it. It also gave the four of us a chance to get Peru out of our system. It pushed me right to my limits at times, and, as a result, I’ve grown closer to God.
Now, it’s all over, and it was definatly worth doing…but only once!
Right now, I’m attempting to proccess all that I’ve seen and done during the most random, challenging, exciting, tiring time of my life so far. Not an easy thing to do.
Thankfully, I’ve now got a lot of time on my hands in which to attempt it!
Some photos from ‘the most random, challenging, exciting tiring time of my life’:
Machu Picchu
Children’s Holiday Club
A Monkey in the Amazon Rainforest
The ‘A-Team’ About to do an Assembly in Warwick
The People Came In Two-By-Two
Sorry you haven’t heard from me for a while, I’ve been meaning to post this for a long time now.
I just wanted to fill you in on the holiday club as it came to an end recently.
After Christmas, the girls and I were charged with organising and running a holiday club for children and young people that last the for the entire month of February. I’d done week long holiday clubs solely for kids before, but this was something entirely different, made even more difficult by the fact that we were doing this in Peru, where we’re still getting to grips with the culture and the people don’t speak English!
I’ve already mentioned that the month of preparation was a hard one for me, so I won’t elaborate too much more, other than to say that we got so caught up in everything that we didn’t give much thought to God and His plans for this holiday club.
Leading up to the ‘Big Launch’, we were placed in charge of the church youth group that met on Saturday nights, as the usual leader was away. We did this for three weeks, and for three weeks, no-one showed up. This could have been incredibly discouraging, especially as we had to plan the sessions as wells as preparing things for the holiday club. However, it didn’t stop us!
That first morning was the start of a month long journey in which we all learned a huge amount about how futile our own plans are. Kids actually turned up! More than we expected and as February progressed, children brought their friends and some turned up simply because they saw the sign outside the church or because they received a flyer in the street! Even now, after the holiday club has finished, some of these kids are coming to the church services on Sundays and the Friday club that the church puts on for children!
(The antics with the children at the holiday club!)
With the youth, similar things happened. We saw numbers increase as the weeks wore on and one of the greatest privileges was being able to see how a few of the young people progressed from only coming for the English lessons to going deeper in their understanding of God. Some of these teenagers are now attending church on a regular basis and the weekly youth meetings.
One of the highlights was when we took the group out onto the streets of Cusco for a spot of evangelism! The youth that were shy when they first started attending boldly stepped out and began talking with members of the public about Jesus! Another moment that sticks out is the last day of the club, when we took everyone out to an open space above the city, and there we played football and talked about what we had learnt from our times together. We were touched by the journeys that some of the young people had been on. It reminded me that God does things without us realising. It was that night that it occurred to us that we had actually developed relationships with these ‘Jovenes’, the first people with which we had properly done so since arriving in Peru.
(Playing football to an Andean back-drop)
The finale came the following Sunday, when the children put on a spectacular performance of Noah and his Ark (the theme of the entire month) for the church. Organising the children and anxiously waiting for the key characters to arrive made me feel like a Sunday School teacher on the day of the Christmas Nativity!
(The animals about to enter the Ark)
The youth also stood up at the front and talked more about their ‘cardboard testimonies’ that had been put up on walls.
(A youth with her ‘cardboard testimony’)
And throughout it all, God provided us with various interpreters.
So that’s it. Thanks for your prayers!
“With God, all things are possible”.
From the Highest of Hights to the Depths of the Sea
A few weeks ago, we left Cusco and set off on our intrepid adventure to see more of Peru!
All started with Arequipa (another large city in Peru).
Arequipa is very Western. It has malls and cinemas etc. It was nice to spend some days here, as it allowed us to indulge in some things that we missed from the UK.
From here we went to the beach. We left the mountains behind and exchanged them for sea and sand…even though the foothills of the Andes led right up to the coast line! Unfortunatly, I didn´t get to surf :(.
Mollendo Beach
Then, we visited Colca Canyon. On the way, we got our first experience of snow in Peru as we travelled through the mountains.
Colca Canyon itself was quite spectacular and we caught climpeses of the gliding Condors!
Colca Canyon
After this, we moved onto Lake Titicaca. Literally, onto it.
We got a boat to the floating Uros Islands, made entirely out of reeds from the lake, houses and all! From the Uros Islands, we travelled to Amanatani Island. Here we spent the night with a local family, and they took us out for a night of traditonal dancing, dressed in the traditional get -up.
The four of us in out traditonal gear
Lake Titicaca
An Uros Boat
Now we´re back, I feel a lot more refreshed and ready for the holiday club!
Talking of the holiday club, it´s now in it´s 2nd week!
Every day the children´s group has grown in number and the young people have started to bring their friends. God has done some amazing things and answered our prayers in incredible ways! We´re so gratefull for what´s He´s done and for the prayers said on our behalf!
Lastly, I´d like to ask you to prayer for us some more.
Recently, we´ve realised how much the devil is trying to disrupt what God is doing here, by interfering with the lives of the missionaries…inculding us.
However, we get strength from the fact that noe of God´s plans can be thwarted (Job 42:2)!
So please remember us in your prayers, thanking God for His might and asking Him to help us power through whatever satan throws at us, in His strength!
Christmasy Times
Sorry for it being so long between posts.
So, what’s been going on in deepest darkest Peru?
Well, we’ve been painting the church for a start. The church has recently moved into a new building, and we were charged with decorating the kids rooms. So, we doned our painting gear, grabbed a brush and some paint and got to work. It wasn’t as straight forward as you would have thought.
On our second day of painting, Jess and I hoped to get some work done whilst Liz and Amy where in Huambotio, doing an English lesson, only, Liz and Amy didn’t realise, they still had they keys to the church. So, Jess and I got all our stuff ready and were about to head round to the church, when we found that we had no way of getting in. We rang round and we though that we had located another set of keys, we went round to the house of the owner of the keys…but they weren’t home. We waited…and waited…and waited…for about 40 minutes, and still no-one should up. Eventually, the others returned from Huambotio and we were able to get into the church and paint…two hours after Jess and I origanlly set out.
But that’s not all. Later that day, when we were back at the church, painting…we got locked out of one of the rooms. Because kids where in the church at the same time, and we didn’t want them runnning into the rooms we where working in, we started closing the door behind us, if we had to leave, and one time, the door was closed, with the lock pushed in. Consequently, we were locked out. It wasn’t until three hours later, that someone was able to come out and break into the room, which also housed most of our belongings.
However, despite the difficulties, we got the job done, and now, there is a fantastic rainbow in the sunday school room and a beautiful Noah’s Ark incthe creche room.
The Rainbow in the sunday school room.
What else has been happening?
We’ve went to Macchu Picchu!
It was really awesome to get away for a couple of days, and the scenary was incredable!
One day, we went to Huambotio and gave out hot chocolate, bread, clothes and toys (for the kids), all in the spirit of Christmas. They all seemed to really enjoy recieving these gifts, and it felt like we were genuinly blessing this community. It was also fantastic to see most of the church come out and join us in this.
Llamas, Graveyards and Church
So, let me fill you in on what’s been happening these past couple of weeks.
First-off, we went with our new church to the Sacred Valley, one of the most beautiful places on the planet, in my opinion. It was their first weekend away as a church and each morning we woke up to lush green mountains rising up on either side of us. Our main priority was to look after the kids whilst the adults attended sessions to help them in thier relationships with Jesus. We also had some free time, most which was spent playing volleyball, and these games turned out to be a good way of practicing the Spanish I’ve been learning. It was also incredibly hot!
After Halloween, there is a thing called the Day of the Dead. This is when people believe that they can talk to their dead loved ones. So, on the second of November, graveyards around Cusco are filled to bursting with friends and relatives bring food and drink for their deceased. We went along to one graveyard, where bodies are placed in walls instead of the ground, to wittness this part of Peruvian culture.
Also, the church has finally moved into a new building, which suits it’s needs a lot better than the old one. For the past few days, we’ve been publicing the church to the local residents, making ourselves known and trying to get to know the people that live near-by. We’re hoping God will use the church to bring the communtiy together.
Lastly, we’ve come to the end of out orientation, and soon, we’ll be getting involved in leading some of the projects that we’ve, so far, only observed.
Andean Weekly!
This week has been less touristy, we’ve mostly been observing some of the projects that we’ll be getting involved with. For example, Amy and I where taken to Humbotio, a small village just outside of Cusco, where BMS do some schools work. We had our first experience of riding in a combi (bus)! It was over-croweded and we had to stand up for the whole 45 minute trip, but there where no tourists, and it felt like a genuine Peruvian experience
Humbotio is surrounded by beautiful mountains, but the atmosphere was quite heavy. We went to the school and Amy and I assisted a member of BMS staff who was taking an English class. At one stage, this involved us getting on our hands and knees and pretending to be animals. The age group we were teaching was 8-9 year olds. As we were leaving, I noticed a picture of Jesus on the wall, a very sterotypical picture of Jesus. The white Jesus, with a perfect centre parting and two white children on His knee, a blonde, blue eyed girl and a boy, all of them laughing together. What message does this send to the people who aren’t white, blond or blue eyed? Does it show that Jesus came for them too?
I mentioned the atmosphere in Humbotio was heavy, I think this is because there is a lot of darkness there, hidden under the surface…but God is breaking through, with the schools work and a new clinic, which is going to open there soon!
Spanish lessons! We’ve started spanish lessons this week; I took spanish at GCSE, but I’m still finding it hard. It’s been good fun though at times, and it’s been nice to do it as a team. We’re all progressing and we’ve got another two weeks of lessons, so we should be a lot more fluent by the end…I hope!
Prayer points:
– Language learning
– Liz has been feeling ill latley, so prayer for her would be appreciated
Peruvian Adventures
So, after traveling for more than 24 hours, I finally arrived in Cusco, Peru. The journey was…interesting. We stopped over in Madrid for 5 hours and I went a little crazy and started planking on the hand rails of escalators! The 12 hour flight from Madrid to Lima was NOT fun! But we made it!
Thus far, we haven´t done much. Because we need to get used to the alttitude (3000 meters!) and get over jet lag; we´ve taken it easy, seen some of the local sights, had a tour so we know where to go for certain things and visited a llama sanctaury!
We also helped out at a local kids club where kids from all different backgrounds have a chance to be kids! This is really important as kids from as young as nine sometimes have to work on the streets and domestic violence is very high here.
But God is breaking through, we went to our first church service yesturday and the family feel was incredibly strong! God is doing things here, not massive, obvious things, but none the less, an impact is being made!
And it´s so exciting to be a part of it!!!
Warick Weekend
So, a couple of weekends ago, I went to Warwick with my Peru Action Team; we were sent to Castle Hill Baptist church. Castle Hill is our training church, so basically, we were sent to introduce ourselves to the church, eat their food, sleep in their beds and help them occasionally with their children’s group and other things.
The church paid for us to go to Warwick Castle and it was great to spend some time together as a team and not have to do anything! We could actually relax! I acted as tour guide, as the others had never been to the Castle before and I have, on countless school trips :D. I think we bonded really and we got to encourage each other for the year ahead.
Everyone in the church was very welcoming and friendly, they opened up their homes to us, fed us and allowed us to use their homes as our own.
On the Sunday, we had about a 10 minute slot in which to introduce ourselves. We wanted to make ourselves memorable, and with the help of one of the members of the church, we managed to get the minister to dance like a chicken in front of everyone! So hopefully they won’t forget us any time soon!
A Walk With Jesus
Just got back from a walk with Jesus, literally, and I’ve just got tell someone how awesome it was. So lucky you, you’re that someone! 😀
I was walking in the wooded grounds of the IMC training centre, where I’m preparing to go to Peru, and I was completely alone. The idea came to me (I think God placed it there): I should spend this time with God; as any time alone is rare in this place. So I said out loud, to Jesus, “walk with me” (I think Jesus inspired that too). I instantly felt another presence, but not in a scary way, a calming, reassuring way, although, physically, no one was there.
Have people ever asked you “if you could have dinner with anyone from history, who would it be and what would you say to them?”, it was one of those moments, only, I didn’t feel the need to say anything, I was comfortable simply walking with Him, which is never how I imagined a walk with Jesus would feel like. We did talk a bit, I asked some questions, some He answered, some He didn’t. I told Him how thankful I was for how He accepts me just as I am; I got a glimpse of how Jesus sees me and the love of it brought tears to my eyes. Not sad tears or tears of laughter, more like “wow” tears. But for the most part, we just enjoyed each others presence. Jesus enjoying my presence?! How crazy is that?!
He promised He’d never leave me, that I won’t always have moments like the one I was currently having with Him, but He would ALWAYS be there.
He’s there for you too.
5 Days To Go!
After eight months of thinking and, praying and planning, my gap year is about to get under way!
It’s so weird that something that seemed so far off for so long now seems immensely real and immanent.
I’m spending these last few days at home, tying up a few loose ends and saying my good-byes, and even though I feel like I’m just waiting for Monday to arrive, I know God is still using me here.
Scared? Yes! Excited? Yes! And every step of the way I’m going with the One whose idea it was for me to do this in the first place!
See you…on the other side of the world!! 😀
Peru Anyone?
So, I’m going to Peru for my gap year, 1 months training, 6 months abroad and 2 months touring the UK, going to school and churches etc. My training starts in a few weeks, and I just thought I’d let you know what’s going through my mind in the run up.
It’s scary cause it’s such a long time away from home, but I know that it’ll be incredibly amazing. I’ll see God do some insane things, lives will be changed…including myown. Everyone tells me that the experience will change me, which isn’t exactly comforting…who will I become?! What if the whole thing turns out to be too difficult for me? And, I’m really looking forward to doing this, I think my team will be a great, but I’m the only guy… Yet, I know this is where God wants me, He’s brought my team together, He’s already provided for me in some awesome ways and I believe He will continue to look after me.
God want us to get involved with the stuff He’s doing. It’s not always going to be easy and fun, the Devil always tries and interferes with Gods work…but he never succeeds! “God is greater than the one who is in the world” and He never lets us get pushed beyond our limits. He’s faithful and will never abandon us, even in the toughest of situations.
Just thought I’d share this with you 🙂
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DzlA5IDnpGhc&h=ZAQCMivV_
The Game We Play 