Christmas in Peru

We started our Christmas season with a fun night of Christmas carols and Christmas cookies with the Peru Mission Team at the Smiths' house. Mollie and William even gave a mini-concert of Christmas carols on their violins.

Then, we took a much-needed vacation the week before Christmas - and had a marvelous time! Allen’s brother, Wesley, came for the holidays, and we headed to the beach (since it is summertime here in the Southern hemisphere!) in Mancora, Peru for a week – a major surfing hotspot for Europeans and Brazilians. The kids had a great time on the beach and even got to help a fisherman remove oysters from their shells.

On the way back to Trujillo, we stopped for a night in Chiclayo so we could visit the Lord of Sipán Museum – really interesting and very well done. The Lord of Sipán, an important governor in Peru's Mochica Culture some 1700 years ago, was buried in pyramids in this area and wasn’t uncovered until the late 1980’s. His tomb was filled with gold, silver, copper and turquoise, fashioned into intricate and beautiful pieces of jewelry and art.

Peruvians have many interesting traditions, especially in relation to holidays. The typical birthday party begins at midnight (that is when the birthday begins anyway), which applies to Jesus’ birthday as well. The entire Peruvian family gathers at midnight on Christmas Eve (“Noche Buena”) to place baby Jesus in the Nativity scene and begin the feasting and revelry that lasts into the morning.

We celebrated by feasting on Christmas Eve with our church family at the Arevalo Presbyterian Church – worshipping, eating a congregational lunch, singing, etc. But, we finished well before midnight! And on Christmas Day we feasted again with the Peru Mission Team at the Fergusons’ house – complete with a feisty round of gift-giving ala “White Elephant.”

Merry Christmas!

Arevalo Manse Purchase Needs Prayer

Parish Ministry necessitates that a pastor live among his flock, be with his people, be part of the living presence of Christ in a neighborhood. We have seen first-hand the benefits of this in Larco, and recently in Wichanzao, where seminary students and pastoral interns have been living and ministering to the people in the neighborhoods. The churches are steadily growing.

However, we have also seen first-hand the disadvantage of not having a pastor present in the neighborhood in Arévalo. Because we have no manse in the neighborhood, the student pastor has to live in another area of Trujillo, taking a bus or taxi a few days a week to visit. The church has grown very slowly and, although we have a small, faithful, involved group, the church still is not known as a strong presence in the neighborhood. We have been actively pursuing the purchase of a manse in the neighborhood, but to no avail. There have been continuous problems with paperwork, indecisive home-owners and funding.

Pastoral House Possibilities

Please join us in prayer for this very important acquisition. Pray that the Lord would open doors and provide a house for the pastor of His flock in Arévalo soon. Pray that house owners will be willing and eager to sell. Pray that the paperwork will move quickly and smoothly. Pray that funding will be sufficient to purchase the right house or houses. Thank you!

e-letter December 06

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