The Chapmans in Peru

EGM's Impact in Punta Piedra

Puente Piedra is a “pueblo joven” (young town) on the outskirts of Lima whose residents live at a very low socio-economic level. Parents work in the city long days and children are often left without supervision or provision. In this town, one of EGM-Peru’s volunteers leads a children’s ministry of a local church. Lisset is an energetic woman who is passionate about serving among the poor, who (in her words) live “another reality.”

Every Saturday, Lisset and her team of volunteers minister to children who would otherwise have nowhere to go. Following EGM’s ministry model, they build a strong relational foundation with each child, having real conversations with them and group discussions. They teach the Word of God in an experiential way and always provide an opportunity for the children to respond to God.

Last Saturday we were visiting Lisset’s church to continue her volunteer training by observing and supporting her. An eleven year old boy in her class arrived late. When Lisset sat to ask him about it, he humbly confessed to her that he was late because he couldn’t pry himself away from the internet café. He cried as he explained that he feels horrible about what he’s seeing and he thinks he has an addiction. Eleven years old.

As an EGM “Model Teacher,” Lisset didn’t skip a beat as she and another boy prayed with him, talked and wept. It is because of the relational ministry that Lisset practices that this boy had someone to turn to. Rather than living in guilt, fear and addiction, he can find in Jesus a Life of forgiveness, restoration and true joy. That day Lisset’s lesson was on 1 John 1:1-4 “...concerning the Word of Life.” She taught about our “joy being complete” through fellowship with the Lord and each other.

EGM’s national ministry teams are equipping children’s workers to have ministry with children that, like Lisset’s, is biblical, relational, experiential and results in lives transformed by Christ. This little boy and many others are finding Jesus and beginning to live the New Life that He offers.

How was Project Two born?

At the start of 2010 we felt ourselves at one of the inevitable lows of missionary life. We were unsure, unsettled and feeling the losses that previously had been cushioned by the many joys of our ministry here. We spent some months just putting those feelings on a shelf, looking to the Lord for direction, and trying to be more objective about our next steps in ministry. It was working and we had a fantastic season of ministry, culminating in the completion of Project One.

Then suddenly we encountered a series of personal losses. John’s grandmother died. We suffered a miscarriage. Heather’s aunt died. John’s uncle died. And we realized with surprise that there was no emotional reserve to cover it all. We had been depleted like a quietly leaking tank and were left tired, empty, without vision and without the energy to pursue one. While we didn’t regret anything about our three years in Peru, we weren’t seeing or feeling any renewed calling to continue here. It seemed that our time in Peru might be coming to an end.

Then, in the same quiet and gradual way, we found ourselves healing and rejuvenating. During our visit in California, there were ministry conversations that affected our hearts like the prickling heat after your leg falls asleep. There were quiet moments before the Lord that felt like a heating pad on sore muscles. And little by little and with much surprise, we found ourselves dreaming again about South America.

EGM confirmed those dreams and dreamt with us of what we could do with another three years in Peru – the intimacy we could bring to our ministry partnerships, the careful guidance and training we could offer to the national teams, the new teams that could be formed with our coordination – so that more and more children could live a new life with Jesus. The Jesus who was, at that moment, healing, filling and inspiring us, giving us hope and joy in Him.

So Project Two was born.

OUR BIGGEST NEWS OF THE YEAR!

We’re so excited to tell you that our ministry is expanding!

After three years in Peru, we’ve completed Project One. It entailed first language learning and then facilitating the start-up of a Peruvian organization that partners with EGM: led, envisioned and funded by Peruvian Christian leaders who shared our passion for children. WE DID IT! We’ve found the right people, trained them and walked beside them as they discovered God’s vision for EGM-Peru. EGM-Peru is now established and working to see Peruvian children be transformed in Christ through His Church. The volunteer team is already providing leadership development events that cast vision, train and initiate a long-term relationship with children’s ministry leaders who also long to see children’s lives touched by Jesus. So we have to take a moment with you to stop, remember and celebrate what God has done!

And now God is expanding our vision to all of South America.

Project Two will entail:

· Encouraging ministry growth of EGM-Peru

· Supporting EGM’s established ministry team in Chile

· Taking the next steps of ministry team start-up in Argentina

· Facilitating ministry expansion into new South American countries

Our great desire has always been to see EGM’s ministry reach more and more countries so that more and more children will be transformed in Christ as a result of effective children’s ministry. We want to be a resource, a support, a spark for the flame that God will fan! Now, after seeing the start-up of EGM-Peru and the many children who are already being impacted by this baby ministry, just imagine the thousands of children who will be touched by Project Two – not only in Peru but in Chile, Argentina and beyond!

To do what God is calling us to do, we need additional financial resources.

Project Two is going to require $3,000 per month in addition to the monthly and annual gifts of our current supporters to fuel our new ministry and sustain our family.

We are completely aware of the fact that $3000 more every month is an outrageous amount of money, when there have already been so many who are giving sacrificially and consistently to fuel Project One. We would be happy to share with you the details of why this project is going to require such increase in funding. For this space, we’ll simply say -

There is no way we can ignore or deny the fact that God is calling us to be here, to stay here and to embark on this new journey. So without being able to see the road, we step out into the fog, holding our Jesus’ hand, believing that the bricks will materialize beneath our feet.

We’re thanking the Lord for giving us this new project and asking Him to call others to join us in prayer and finances.

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!