When skin is so dirty it looks like you have a suntan

Alfredo, one of the ex-pastors in one of the churches we worked with previously in La Tablada, invited us to spend today with him and his family. He said they were part of a new church plant and would like us to come as he was preaching. We assumed it was nearby where he lived, which is about 40mins from us.

2 hours later we were in Ventanilla. A new shanty town on the north coast of Lima, with reed-mat and thin-wooden shacks built on the sand (or rather the dirt -we got filthy!!). 2 years ago only 2 or 3 houses were scattered on the hill overlooking the sea, now...

Alfredo chose this place to plant a church because it is now highly populated, there is great need and there are no churches there. Along with the church, Alfredo hopes to also set up a school, not only to teach the children, but also to give care to many of the little ones who are left at home alone during the day whilst their parents work long hours in low-paid domestic jobs in the nicer parts of Lima.

Alfredo gave a brief evangelistic message and many responded. Mark and I spent some of our time talking to and interpreting for a group of Southern Baptist Americans who have been helping to support the new church. Even though we are taking things slowly in Peru and not committing to anything at the moment, no matter how hard we try, we always end up getting involved with something - so great is the need. Today we ended up interpreting for the American street evangelists; Thursday evening Mark ended up preaching off the cuff at a meeting he was invited to 2 hours before it started (which nearly ended up being outside without lighting!); and Wednesday I was asked to do a Bible Study and share with a leader from La Tablada church when she came for lunch which turned into an inner-healing session! And all we think we have been agreeing to is spending time with friends!

Mark starts language study tomorrow to help perfect his Spanish, but thankfully he is doing really well with it and even seems to have improved since we were last here.