Sunday School teachers

Sunday night I was invited by Pastor Daniel Leon Cuenca, one of our future volunteer trainers here in Peru, to come speak to a group of Sunday School teachers from his area. It was amazing. He had advertised on his one-hour daily Christian radio program and 50 teachers came!

I get these requests all the time and truthfully, i say no. I say no for so many reasons, but mainly because i want to empower Peruvians to do it. Because he is a future trainer of EGM-Peru, i wanted him to see me do it. I also wanted to give another Board member the chance to share about the ministry. So we went!

It was an incredible evening. The teachers were great and received the information very well. We announced EGM-Peru's big conference in March and they cheered. The begged and invited me to come to their individual churches to help them and I was once again reminded of the need that far too few people are addressing. There are thousands of teachers who want and need help. It was an encouragement to why we are here in Peru.

These are Pastor Daniel's kids. He has dedicated himself to ministering to children. He teaches values education in schools as an outreach and focuses his church ministry on children. He has a service of adults on Sunday nights and leads the ministry to children on Sunday morning. His church building is a small storefront that seats 6 people across. He lives with his wife and children in the one room above the church. It is humbling and a blessing to see his heart for children.

There are so many people who are dedicated to children, and they do so making huge personal sacrifices, with or without any support, encouragement, training or materials. It is these kind of people who are an inspiration to us and to our team at EGM. Our hearts beat to support them, help them and cheer for them! Making their ministry to children more effective, more long-lasting, more life-transformational - so that more and more children will know Jesus and live His New LIFE.

Toilet Paper

One of my most difficult jobs is trying to explain to all of you what i do. So here is another try:

Have you ever gone into a public bathroom and after you completed your business, found that there was no toilet paper? (That happens here all the time and here in Peru we have to carry our own.) What happens when you REALLY NEED something and its' just NOT there?

That is a question we get every day. (Not people needing toilet paper,) but needing desperately something that they don't have.

Imagine standing in a room with 30 children with only a Bible in your hand. My mom would say, "easy, no problem." But most of the rest of the world would be lost. Most people would be desperate for help, (remember that desperate feeling I mentioned above?)

Many children's workers take for granted things we consider basic: materials that the church hands us to lead a Sunday School lesson, or the internet that we can go to and find help and resources for teaching Sunday School, other people around who have experience and confidence in children's ministry...

Did you know that some crazy number like 85% of the worlds materials for Sunday School teacher are for the Western World (US and Europe).

Children's workers all over South America are sitting alone in their bedroom on a Saturday night with a bible and a pencil in their hands, wondering what to do on Sunday morning, how to reach the children's hearts for Jesus. Alone and without resources or training, they have that desperate feeling.

it doesn't have to be that way.

Robi and Elita - why we are here

Robi and Elita are our best Peruvian friends. We spend Christmas and new years with them, we helped them through one of their sons having a tumor in his nose, two of their teenage kids have been john's language-helper. We love them. They are dear to our hearts.

I am going to talk about them more and more, not only because we love them and are grateful for them, but because they ARE the perfect example of why we are here in Peru.

They are a family, Elita (mom), Robi (dad), Jimmy (20 year old son), Tito (17 year old son) and Elsa (16 year old daughter) who LOVE kids. They love leading meetings for kids, loving on kids and investing in the lives of kids. They have started a club on Saturdays in a poor neighborhood on the outside of Lima, because they love kids. Robi has built a church in the area to primarily do ministry kids, because they love kids. This poor town is OVERFLOWING with kids. Parents leave for sometimes 14 hours to work for the day, leaving kids to fend for themselves. One 10 year old girl was in charge of her twin 3 year old siblings, because dad was at work and mom had abandoned them.

Robi and Elita have a heart for these kids in this area, BUT THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO! They have no materials and little effective tools to minister. The entire family is coming to a private training in our home on Mondays for four weeks. They want an effective way to share the hope, joy and love of Jesus with these children. THEY are why I am living in Peru. Thousands upon thousands of people in Peru want help. They love kids and want to share Jesus with them, but don't know what to do. Every pastor or teacher I meet with wants more.

THAT is why I live here! questions? ASK!

Back in the Swing of things

We are Back in Peru and back in the swing of things.

Josiah turned 4 years old!

Josiah posing with his new Conductor Dress up from Mimi and papa!

Spent the day bundled up at the zoo.

Climbed our first tree (it is pretty hard to find a tree to climb in Lima).

Got to see a Parade with traditional peruvian dancers.

Had some great visitors! Cameron and his two girls - Grace (6) and Christiana (4).
Talk about an adventurous dad!

We have also had some great ministry meetings and are working toward some great ministry events.