March in Arequipa means the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year. For CUDA, that means the beginning of a new year of work with the public schools who are part of our Living Libraries project. This year, we’re working with 4 schools, 30 teachers, and 560 kiddos and their families. Two of the schools are in their third and final year of the program, one school is in its second year, and we have one brand new school.
How much of our lives do we live somewhere else? We think about the weekend, or next month, or our trip in a few months. Or we think about the next job, or when we will finish school, or when we’ll finally be doing that thing we want to do. Dreams aren’t all bad. It’s good to think forward, to make goals, to make plans, and to hope. But if we live only there, we’ve missed it.
I am 7 months into my one-year apprenticeship with Team Arequipa, and time has definitely flown by. This time has been very formative and will continue to be, and I’m continually grateful for the opportunity to be here learning and working with the team. While there are some things I wish I had done differently, I did not know what to expect when deciding to spend a year in Arequipa, Peru. Much of the first half of my time here was spent getting used to the culture, living with 3 of the 4 families, and jumping around to experience and learn about the various aspects of ministry that each of the families is involved with. Here are some highlights from the past 7 months and what I have learned from them.
While on furlough, I was asked to speak on three consecutive Wednesday nights at our supporting church in Bonne Terre, Missouri. I took them through some of the things we have been learning as a church in Arequipa about sharing our faith this past year. We did the “my gospel” exercise and the Bonne Terre church agreed to set the same goal as their brothers and sisters here in Arequipa – to have shared their gospel with at least one person at the end of one year.It’s almost been one year already since we set this goal here in Arequipa.
I like practical advice and so when I read this article on the Verge Network last year I loved how practical it was. We are missionaries. Because we live outside of the US? No. We are missionaries because we are trying to live in a way that glorifies God and brings more people to him. And that can be done anywhere, we just happen to be doing it in Arequipa while y'all are doing it in the US or Europe or Australia or wherever it is that you live. That was another reason I liked this article, because it can be applied no matter where you live.
I wanted to share some of my thoughts after spending just one day with the CUDA team and hope to pass along the excitement I felt working alongside these servant-leaders. I’ve been a member of CUDA’s board for four years and thought I had a good handle on the scope of our mission in Arequipa. However, visiting the city and witnessing first-hand the amazing work of CUDA’s staff and volunteers was an unforgettable experience.
A little over a year ago Justin and I were discouraged as we repeatedly found ourselves standing by helpless, watching our efforts slowly fizzle away. We began praying for God to show us where he was already at work, Peruvian established services we could connect to, where we would become his hands, feet, and voice.
About eight months ago the pastor of an orphanage our church has served in contacted us.
ne thing we try to do here is find things already present in the culture that we can use as a way to make relationships, deepen relationships, and share about Jesus. Believe it or not, Christmas here is pretty focused on Jesus. Even people who the rest of the year may have nothing to do with him will have a nativity set up in their house or business. Jesus is everywhere this time of year, so we decided to take advantage of that.
