Should we all eat from one plate? Reflections on Community and Culture

We love our community.  Most of the time we love having people around all the time, lives shared, prayer happening every weekday morning, a feeling of an extended family on mission. We love seeing our core team daily and it feels like ages if we don’t see them for a day. Yesterday’s stories are old news, and every day we get to share the latest things God is doing in our lives and the lives of those around us. 

Some of our community eating at Shaun and Amanda's house

People come from around the world and from different churches in Peru too, to spend time with us, to experience what we ‘do’, to see how God is moving, to share our lives.  

But it would be a mistake for us to think that our community should be replicated elsewhere.  Sure there are things that inspire, things that are encouraging, things that are good.  But it is wrong to think that just because God is doing something here, the same formula will ‘work’ elsewhere. 

When we spend time with the Shipibo people in the Amazon jungle town of Pucallpa and further up the river, we see community played out in different ways.  The men and the women often divide up the different tasks (men traditionally hunt, fish and gather food, make shelter, boats etc, and women cook and do the majority of the child and house care.) 

For us there is a temptation to think about how our values and culture can be placed onto them.  How we can teach them to adopt our culture?  But it is not about that. Of course there are values and practical biblical practices (prayer, eating together, generosity etc.) that can be encouraged but how that looks is going to be very different to how it looks for us in Lima. And really it is Mark and my heart for the people we work with that they take ownership of how things look - we might provide some scaffolding, but the end result and how it looks is up to them. 

When I was recently in the jungle the Shipibo women were telling me about how they often eat in community already, but in a very organic way.  (Nothing like our rota-ed, weekly planned and bought military effort!) Each day the women prepare a meal and then they may call a neighbour or family members who live nearby and they will come and bring a pot of food to share.  The food is all divided up into different bowls - one for the men, one for the women and one for the children.  They then sit on the floor around the bowl, in little groups, one sat behind another so there is space for more people to get in, and eat the food from a communal bowl.  

The Shipibo women showing me how they eat their food together traditionally. 

Believe me, when I saw that idea, I wondered if it would work in Lima - it would certainly save a lot of washing up! But organic, waiting for people to turn up with food, would be much more stressful than life-giving for us in Lima, where freedom comes from planning out each day and knowing who’s turn it is to cook.  

Even in Lima, community life does not, nor should it look the same with the different communities that we are involved with.  We have close friends who are starting to disciple others in community, and they look at what we are doing with mainly full-time foreign and Peruvian missionaries - eating every lunchtime, praying together every morning and that is just too much for them and their community where many of them work in salaried jobs.  Many of their friends are involved in the music scene too which is overnight and means they are on a totally different schedule.  They need a much more organic, whoever-is-available-when-they-are-available flexibility, for their form of community, which may include overnight prayer and worship times (using drums, turn-tables and vinyls) once a week rather than a daily routine. 

It is freeing for me to know that once again the real answer is not: how can I transport this community into mine, but rather: what is God saying to me, and how am I going to respond? 

Really is it about us drawing close to God in relationship and asking Him how we can create community where we are at, with those we are walking out life with Jesus together. And I love that, because it would be a disaster if we didn’t need God to work it all out! Because He cares much more about our relationship with Him than he does about how we do all that we do. 

So what is God saying to you about creating community? 
How are you going to respond? 

Kaleb's perspective on our trip to the jungle...

We have just finished a three day conference in Km 13, at a Shipibo church there.  We took (just) Kaleb along whilst the older boys stayed at home.  Kaleb had between 9am and 4.30pm every day to explore within a 200m radius of the church, which he certainly did! Here is the trip from his perspective...

Keep On Keeping On...Anna's Monday...An unusual usual day

I am awake at 5am.  Kaleb is not getting the ‘sleep until 6’ memo.  I decide to use the time to pray.  I fight back sleepy eyes, choosing to trust that God knows and His strength is enough.

6am I spend an hour with the Lord as Mark makes the boys breakfast.  His Word sinks convictingly deep and I drag my guitar case onto my bed to force myself to worship – it is my self-subscribed medicine against that dark cloud at the moment.  I have to worship.  It has to be all about Him.  It just doesn’t work when it begins to be about me. 

8am – It’s Joel’s first day back at nursery and after supervising the feeding of all our animals (a rabbit, a tortoise and three guinea pigs), I pile all the boys into the car.  They are all in good spirits, excited.  I ask them what they are thankful for as we drive and the two who can talk are both thankful for Joel going to nursery.  I am thankful for the provision to pay for it.  In my mind, the negative bank balance threatens me but I push it away, telling it that God has always provided up until now – there is no reason why this month will be any different.

8.40am I join our community prayers (40 minutes late) in the living room. Everyone is sharing their personal discipline challenges.  I feel my life is so disciplined and ordered that I need to be disciplined to allow ‘go with the flow!’… 

By 9am I am sat down with Daniel guiding him through his homeschool curriculum on pollution and valuing earth’s resources, and that verse I read this morning: If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them continues to nag at me all morning. It nags at me as I make lunch for just 5 adults and 3 children today (lasagna – the 5 other regulars are busy today) throw the unnecessary polythene wrapping into the bin whilst thinking how I need to communicate with Mark to try and buy things with less wrapping…

The downstairs is a total mess.  The lady who comes to help clean in the mornings hasn’t arrived and the sink is piled with dishes, the floor covered in mess (having over a dozen people coming and going all day and 25 for lunch yesterday takes its toll, to add to the boys!).  How am I going to homeschool, cook and clean before 11.50am?? The Lord knows – I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.  Rosa offers to wash up and clean the kitchen so I do a quick toy and book blast-clear-up, stuffing toys into boxes, and aligning cushions.  There. Sufficient. Perhaps it will be okay.

The liquidizer gets a double use today – once for the veg for the lasagna (hidden vegetables are the only sort that get eaten by my boys), and once to make paper pulp.  It seems ironic to me that I use up more paper towels cleaning up the water mess than I ‘save’ by making recycled paper, but Daniel loves it and we add dried leaves and oregano into the paper as it dries in the hot, hot sun.

By 11.30am I am wondering if we will get the paper and the lasagna done before 11.50am when I have to go and pick up Joel.  The garden is so dry from lack of watering (we live in a desert so there is no natural rain), that I stick the hose on. I try to remind myself that a) it doesn’t matter if I am slightly late to pick up Joel, and b) God knows what I need to do – he will work it out.  Trying to speak out that faith, but my stress levels are beginning to rise…

I am 10 minutes late to pick up Joel.  At least Kaleb is wearing a pair of shoes that don’t fall off his feet this time.  I apologize to Joel’s teacher and she is not in the least bit bothered.  Peering into the classroom, I can see why – we may be the first ones to pick up.  Well, this is Peru…! Joel is happy and communicative (amazing!) and we drive home trying to get Kaleb to sing the odd words in our songs. Us: Cows in the kitchen… Kaleb: Moo…moo…! Daniel and Joel are in hysterics and I am reminded that they are so carefree and I am meant to be like them, not them like me…anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it…

12.40pm: For some unknown reason I let Kaleb and Joel play with the hose (yes, it is still going) and Kaleb gets soaked whilst Joel constantly asks me if he can play carnavales – basically he wants me to fill up 100 water balloons for him.  (Now is it more of a waste to have them stuck unused on the fridge, or burst and in a landfill?!) There is no way that lunch is going to be ready if I stop for the balloons, but I do have to stop every 2 minutes to tell Joel ‘no’ and re-explain to him why… The postman arrives bringing magazines from G.G. and chocolate.  (2 of the 3 bars are melted, but nothing the fridge won’t sort out… well, those aero bubbles are never coming back, but it still tastes good!) Daniel is now unreachable, lost in the world of his magazine.

12.45pm: Sink is full of washing up from cooking.  Kaleb is totally soaked. New nappy now totally soaked. Strip him down and let him run around for 2 minutes whilst I check on the lasagna. Kaleb comes into the kitchen. ‘poo…poo’.  Uh-oh.  A solid, no-mess poop sits in the doorway.  I quickly grab a wipe and clear it up.  Phew. Easy. 

‘poo…poo’.  I look at Kaleb.  He is pointing to the porch.  A squashed poop sits there laughing at me.  I lift both his feet and give them a wipe.  Another wipe clears up the rest of the mess. I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.   I find another nappy quickly. 

Wash hands. Wash dishes. Check lasagna.  Grab Kaleb before he terrorizes the guinea pigs with his toy cars.  Yell at Daniel and Joel to go and get dressed for lunch. (They are both in their underpants from watering the garden).  Joel hears me, Daniel is engrossed in his magazine. 

1pm Amanda arrives with baby Judah for lunch.  Mark and Shaun are close behind.  We sit down to eat.  Joel finally eats his lasagna when we convince him that it is just spaghetti Bolognese with cheese and flat pasta.  Kaleb takes two bites out of a piece of fried banana and refuses to eat anything else. Daniel finishes up his plate.

By 2.00pm Mark has the boys for an hour and a half so I can rest/catch up on admin.  Today, the only thing that is happening is a nap.  I put on some music (Volume 1: Psalms 1-10 by The Psalms Project) and enter the land of nod. 

3.30pm I am with the boys again.  Kaleb wants milk and tries to fall asleep, but it is too late for a nap if we want him bed before 10pm, so I get up quickly and head for the stoller.  Kaleb is protesting and I am groggy from my sleep, feeling irritated and wanting to run back to my bedroom and lock the door, but I can’t.  Remind myself that a walk will get rid of that grogginess and get the boys ready to go out.  Mark is busy until 7pm. That’s 3.5 hours to kill.  Walking to the cremolada shop and back should kill two hours and then we can come back, eat and make cards and then it should be ready for the bedtime hour. 

By the time all the boys are in bed at 7pm I am tired, irritated and thankful.  I think back on the day, which feels like three days in one.  Thankful for the people God has sent to help with the boys and the mess and to allow my time with Him and to nap.  He truly does enable me to do all the things I need to do. And as for the other things that didn’t get done? There is always tomorrow…or the next day… 

I remind myself that it is all about one step at a time...so thankful that God doesn’t give up on me for my daily messes but that He takes me by the hand and reminds me: I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. 

What does a 'normal' week look like: Tuesday

Day 2 Tuesday

The start of my Tuesday is similar to Monday, trying to be positive as the alarm (depends on the day which of the three boys is the alarm, although Kaleb is the favourite at the moment) goes off and a shower to wash off the tiredness ensues. 

Prayers start at 8.30 on a Tuesday, which is followed by an hour of admin, before my American huddle which has 5 members from a Church called Crossroads in Cincinnati Ohio, 3 staff members and 2 non staff members as well as 2 pastors from other churches in and around Cincinnati. 

In my admin time on this Tuesday I had a short conversation with Greg who is one of the leaders on my huddle and he was asking me about the Order of Mission (TOM) the covenant family of missionary leaders that we are part of. 

In the jungle preparing the leaders for the workshop in April

As with my other huddles it is a real privilege to lead it. It is such an honour to lead a group of leaders who you see grow each week in their love of Jesus as well as their understanding and practice of leadership and especially discipleship.

The process of Learning Communities through 3DM is something that we here in Oikos are trying to develop to help other churches in the jungle, Venezuela, and Brazil become more discipleship orientated. 

Ronald with his girlfriend Nancy

Normally on Tuesday it is Ronald's turn to cook for the 8-15 people that eat each day, (quite often more on Sunday). Therefore when illness strikes as passed today, people need to jump in and cook, as was the case for me today. Cooking for this many people means even rice with chicken and salad (one of our staples) takes a lot longer than cooking for the wife and 3 kids!

Tuesday after lunch is the highlight of the week. (I will now take my tongue out of my cheek). Anna and I have 3 hours of admin, finances and planning time together. 

Sunday Lunch, you get the idea!!!

After being here for 5 years we are finally keeping up-to-date and on top of all of our finances thanks to our Tuesday afternoons! (Rather than previously doing an exhausting stint of receipts and accounting every 3-6 months!) We now know exactly what we are praying in, rather than just praying for God's provision! Matthew 6:11 speaks of the daily bread we need. We always have this but it doesn't stop us regularly needing to enter our overdraft. Sometimes our theology doesn't agree with our experience. We however do not plan to put our experience above our theology.

Following our admin time the kids are ready to burn off some energy, even though Rosa who is looking after them has helped the energy burning process to begin. Therefore a walk around our local neighbourhood is needed. This walk happens to pass the bakery as well as the cake shop. Any visitors here always try the lemon meringue pie.

Following the daily battle of bath time and trying to limit the amount of water outside the bath and on the floor Anna has her mentoring time with Karina. 

Nancy, Jane (the brains behind color de esperanza, and Karina

Karina is part of our leadership team and heads up our ministry 'color de esperanza', in English 'colour of hope'. Life is not easy for Karina in general as a single mum with grown up children, 2 of these bing single mums themselves. However we know she and her children have significant callings to make a difference. We just wait for God's timing.

What does a 'normal' week look like: Monday

I have felt led to do a small series on what a typical day looks like in our ministry. Before starting I wish to make a disclaimer, there is no such thing.

When I say there is no such what I mean is that there are regular activities we do, huddles (explained later on), visiting, leadership meetings, admin times. counselling, prayer, and many other things, but no day looks the same.

So join with me on this journey through the life of the Burgess Family in Peru in a ‘typical’ week.

Day 1 Monday 7^th January 2013.

Sleeping peacefully

Sunday night had been a bad night for Kaleb which means there is a knock on effect for Anna and I. Lack of sleep is no longer an event that needs me to tell myself I am fasting sleep, it is a spirtual activity. I have died to the fact that at times I will be tired and just have to get through the day.

Following the ceremonial dragging myself out of bed and trying to think of happy thoughts, a working hot shower is always a blessing to try and shake out the sleep dust.

The daily event which is breakfast follows and the hour that Anna is having her quiet time is pretty much always a juggling act with juice to make, cereal to be covered with yoghurt, honey to put into juice, porridge to make, Kaleb to help feed, boys to stop from fighting over which colour vitamin they will get etc… 

Following breakfast the 3 boys then play or terrorise our pet rabbit Timmy, or try and find the most boring pet on record, our pet tortoise Shelly. She is normally seen moving about once every 2 weeks for about 20 minutes before returning to her dark home with under Timmy's cage. 

Shelly

8am on Monday morning is our extended prayer time as a team. This week I felt God was talking to me about war and David and Goliath and how we are called to seek first God, but also choose the right armour to advance. I also was looking at how we all have a role in the war in extending the kingdom of God, our role just differs.

To respond to the word we prayed as a group for ourselves, each other, as well as the people who are part of our church, whether that be in Pacifico, Los Cedros, San Genaro 2, or the jungle.

Rosa and Kaleb

Following Monday morning is a day I dedicate to work outside of Lima. At the moment I am preparing for several workshops we are doing this year with 3DM. We plan to do them in the jungle in April, in Venezuela in May, and Brazil in July. 

While I am working on this Anna is homeschooling Joel and Daniel. Rosa looks after Kaleb so Anna can be released to do this. 

Lunch is a community affair, and numbers vary from 6 to 12 on anyone one day, averaging around 10.  

Monday afternoon is a family affair until 5pm as I have a huddle with my Brazilian friends and pastors Rogerio and Estela, based in Sao Paulo. 

This Monday we went to one of our favourite places the local Cremolada shop. Cremoladas are a drink made from pure fruit and sugar, liquidised down and then frozen. We are far too well known in this shop as we are, firstly, Gringos (white people) with cute boys who talk to the staff. Secondly we frequent there far too often. This is mainly due to a lack of options within walking distance with three boys. (And in order to get them out of the house and to do some exercise, we need an incentive at the end!)  Daniel likes to have the Lucuma (a jungle fruit) cremolada, whilst Mark always has Coconut.  Anna often goes for a mix of mango and passionfruit and Joel sticks to Strawberry.  The staff know our 'usuals'! Thanks to Blake Goodfellow who first introduced me to this wonderful place. 

As I mentioned 5pm is time for my huddle with two amazing Brazilians Rogerio and Estela, who are working full time jobs, pastoring a church, overseeing an expanding network and had little or no support before being connected through 3DM. It is such a blessing to spend time with such people and I am really encouraged every week. 

Monday is finished with bath time (usually a time we and the floor all end up wet) and then I get to relax and Anna has her mentoring, accountability time with Nancy. 



PS:  Huddle is a group for leaders where we try to help our disciples grow in their character and competency to be more like Jesus.
PPS: 3DM is a ministry based in the US, UK, Europe and now in South America which is trying to help churches become more discipleship minded. See www.weare3dm.com for more info. 

Outreach in Pacifico

Since making the changes to Sundays and meeting in our house instead of Pacifico, we decided we still wanted to be in Pacifico regularly, and so one of the ways we are doing this (aside from the large small group meeting on a Wednesday) is having a mission Sunday every four to six weeks in Pacifico. 

The first time we did this was mid November when we met in the lower bus stop, prayed together and then split into 3 groups. We visited those people who have not been around church very much in the last few months, as well as seeing which other people God had us to meet.

Joel, Valeria, Karen, Ronald, Rosa, and Arthur

Our teams set off together into three different areas of Pacifico, and I felt that God was telling our group to do the forgotten area, those people up furthest on the hills of Pacifico. (You have to scramble, literally, up rubble to get to their houses so it is hard to 'drop -in' easily on these people).  Our team was made up of some of our young adults, who all found the time really inspiring, fulfilling, as well as seeing God work in many amazing ways.

Lili and Sheyla praying for 2 different women from Pacifico

We were greeted by everyone with open arms, and invited into every house we went to. (This is not the norm here in Lima, where distrust is high, and it is not unusual to have a thirty-minute conversation on the doorstep).

It was a real honour to lead the team that I did, as well as seeing some of the young guys praying for other people for the first time. 

Angela with her daughter Zoe

Four weeks later we did our Christmas outreach in Pacifico. Our plan was to provide the traditional Peruvian hot chocolate and Paneton with a catch.

The Panetone and Chocolate team

The catch was that we were planning to pray for each person before they received their paneton and chocolate. Everything was planned well, we had Steve in charge of the queue to begin the process, Nancy and her team ready to pray, and Rosa and Llilda ready to serve the paneton and the hot chocolate they had risen early to prepare.

Zoe and Daphne

Well His plans are not ours, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. None of the fighting to be served happened, none of the panicking, ‘what do we do with all these people’. Instead we found that people were at first a little suspicious to receive the paneton for free, but generally were very blessed with the prayer.

Daniel makes a friend

The main highlight has to be however our assault evangelism as we stopped every bus passing, asked them if they wanted free paneton and hot chocolate, and then being able to pray for them, and bless them. 

It was a really wonderful time to see people in our church serving others, especially those from Pacifico, serving their own people. Missionaries in their own back yard you could say. 

What is happening in Pacifico at the moment?

What is going on in Pacifico?

Even though we are now not meeting in Pacifico on a Sunday we still have a regular presence there on a weekly basis. In addition to this we are doing a church outreach there every 4-6 weeks on a Sunday morning rather than meeting formally in our house. Our first one was on the 18th November and we will be doing one this week for Christmas. Hopefully, future blog posts will follow about both of these events!

So what are we doing on a weekly basis in Pacifico?

Llilda, Karina and Elisabeth in the Bible Study

We currently have a weekly meeting on a Wednesday that is slowly growing in number. Attendees vary in number from one week to the next; with between 10 to 35 people in attendance, aside from the leaders.

Steve teaching at the interactive Bible Study

Three Wednesdays a month an interactive form of Biblical teaching is done, in this meeting, which is covering Bible stories in a visual, picture-based forn. We are using this form of teaching, because it helps both adults and children engage. In addition most of the people involved in the group have little or no education, and reading and writing is of a very low standard.  Every participant is encouraged to draw the different elements of the story in a symbolic way to aid processing and understanding of the story and to lead them to application. Think non-academic note-taking! 

This has been a real success and we are excited for the future of this study, not just in Pacifico, but also how this style of Bible teaching to groups of people with low education levels can be used in the jungle.

Nancy, Jane, and Karina buying supplies for Color de Esperanza

Once a month Karina leads the Wednesday meeting with her new ministry Color de Esperanza (Colour of Hope). This is an evangelistic and creative ministry connected to Jane Savaas, a wonderful lady who visited in February this year.  Jane brought a creative ministry with her and Karina has been able to carry it on since her return to the UK.  We are in the early stages with this ministry, but there is no reason why Karina cannot use this ministry all over Peru. She has already been to churches in Chiclayo in the north of Peru. The vision Karina has is to help people work through issues they have had through testimony and creative workshops. The workshops she has begun to do have been very powerful and well received. 

Some of the Pre-teens

On a Saturday Ronald leads our most healthy group/ministry, the pre-adolescents or teens group.  Rosa and Gabriel help him in the leadership. Ronald visits the core pre teens during the week and now has ten regular disciples in his group with maybe another ten who come less regularly and less faithfully. These pre teens are not just growing in their faith in Jesus, but also the practical outworking of this. See this link to see Joana’s healing testimony. In addition to this many of these pre teens are prophesying on a regular basis, evangelizing to their friends in Pacifico and at school. It is very exciting to see how God is using them!

As well as helping lead the pre teens Rosa leads the only other small cell group we have, which happens on a Monday, afternoon and is co led by Llilda. It is exciting that Llilda is helping Rosa, as is one of the first leaders from Pacifico. They are currently doing the Alpha course, which is an excellent tool for discipleship rather than evangelistic tool, as it is used in the UK. (Unlike in the UK, people here often make decisions quickly to follow  Jesus (they already believe in God) but the fall out rate is high - in the UK people are often slower to make a decision but more committed when they do.)

Finally, in addition to all this we also do a lot of visiting of people that are involved with the church. Nancy, as head of pastoral care heads this up, with Ronald and Lili doing a large share of the visiting too.  

A Shipibo jungle Wedding

JUNGLE NOVEMBER 2012: PART 3

We were really honoured as a team to have Dennis and Charmian helping us.  They are leaders of church in another part of Lima and it was great to draw on their ministry experience. 

They did a wonderful talk on covenant with your spouse and also covenant with your kids, focusing on their spiritual walk. This was a real needed area in the life of these Shipibo people. I was so blessed to be part of a team helping to lead these guys into a new deeper experience of love for our God and in their marriages and families. 

Traditional Shipibo dancing at the wedding.

We heard testimonies from men and women, lay leaders and church leaders about how their spiritual eyes were being opened.  They talked of scales being removed from their eyes and closed or immature beliefs being changed. Some realised for the first time that it was ok to include your family in your mission and ministry.  A pastor realised that the church was less important than his relationship with his 16 year old son. It was a revelation that the family is more important than the church, but not God and that loving God is not the same as loving the church at the neglect of your family.  

Erling and Maritza in their traditional outfits 

Following the times of confession, many pastors and leaders saw bright futures for their marriages. This is wonderful in a culture where most marriages are functional (often arranged) and made for protection, provision, and child bearing and not always love. This I know will now begin to change.

Mark, his kushma, and Marcial

This was massively highlighted by the wedding of Erling and Maritza on the Friday night. Starting at 7pm sharp, the 10 people present were calling all the attendees by microphone. At 7.20 incredibly there was over 200 people there celebrating the first Shipibo religious wedding in this village. What a honour to be presiding over it.

With the happy couple

We started with the short (very)cultural section and it was wonderful to see both Erling and Maritza, and many other women dressed in traditional costume. I was lent a kushma or traditional male outfit and far too small traditional headwear. Very few people own these outfits due to the cost and so there was only 3 at the whole wedding. Following more singing and the traditional Shipibo dance section I was asked to lead the modern marriage vows. 

Here comes the bride with her Dad.

The whole event was very emotional and a real pioneering step towards seeing a more united God loving church and people. It is so amazing to be involved with the Shipibo church and especially with Oikos Selva.

Starting next year I plan to be there once a month to really start to intensively train our leaders.  We also hope to lead some short term teams there and carry on the learning community conferences we have started. 

Jungle churches near and far

JUNGLE NOVEMBER 2012: PART 2:

Some of the people from Nuevo San Juan

When we started the conference on the Tuesday morning we discovered that we had leaders, pastors, and representatives from 6 churches, 3 of them from our May Learning Community conference, and 3 new ones. These churches varied in size, distance from Pucallpa and number in attendance. Most of the 40-50 people were from the hosting church, Nuevo San Juan, 13km outside of Pucallpa. Our church in Nuevo San Juan has seen their membership grow from 10 people in May, before our last learning community to now having a membership of 72, with their attendance on a Saturday and Sunday being much higher. 
There was also leaders from the church in Calleria that is now unofficially affiliated with us. They would love us to visit them next year, and potentially marry 10 or more couples!  

Dennis, Charmian, Rosa, Miguel and Vilma in the Calleria group

Junin Pablo, Nuevo Loreto, and others

We also had 2 people from Junin Pablo (24 hours away), as well as the leaders from Maritiza’s (the bride in waiting) church, which the leaders there described as much further than Junin Pablo in distance. 



However  Carlos from Santa Rosa de Renewya won the award for traveling the furthest. It took him 3 days to arrive by boat. This however only costs 40 soles, which is 10 pounds or 15 dollars. He and his church wished to join our jungle church network, Oikos Selva, and they had signed an offcial document, ratified by the local lawyer's office stating their attentions to be affiliated with Oikos! We were obviously delighted to accept them and now have to look at how much the plane ticket costs to get there. I really don't think three days on a boat is the most wise use of time. Please pray for this small village church. 

I asked Carlos, the pastor of this newly affiliated church about his wife, and kids. He told me he and his wife Isabel have several children. He told me that they have Esther 20, Priscilla, 18. After 5 minutes he said ‘and Ronaldia he is 4 years old’ He has 9 kids all 2 years apart from Esther down to Ronaldia. This man is a lovely example of a humble jungle pastor who has a love of the Lord,  and a desire to do the best for his people, but no support financially or spiritually.  I have no idea how this works strategically, but we have a great and big God. We need start to pray for an Oikos boat, and an Oikos plane (faith like a mustard seed?). I am starting to understand a little of what Paul the apostle went through to take the gospel to the ends of the Earth.

Doria praying for her husband and leader of Oikos Selva, Marcial.

During the conference we also saw many leaders and pastors blessed by the Holy Spirit, when praying for them after the practical prayer ministry session. This was the most powerful experience of God that I am sure that most of these Shipbo pastors and leaders have experienced. Many of the testimionies after talked of this mighty wind (like Pentecost in Acts 2?) coming and blowing them over. Also there was an overall feeling of love from God manifesting. 

The loving couple of Charmian and Dennis talking on  covenant between spouses

During this session one of the highlights of the conference has to be that a women said she didn’t know how to pray for other people, and didn't feel comfortable doing it.The reason why? She wasn't a Christian yet! Charmian had the honour of leading her to the Lord, a wonderful blessing. 

God's ways are not our ways: Travel Problems

Jungle: November 2012: Part 1 

God has been using me more and more in the jungle, and I think it is fair to say that I feel highly blessed each time I go. This time was certainly challenging, especially in the area of transportation but God used the situation for His glory...

The Church with newly completed roof where the Learning Community happened

Our plan was for the team, Ronald, Nancy and I (with Dennis and Charmian, fellow church leaders and friends) to arrive on Monday morning and then do the learning community conference from Monday afternoon until Thursday afternoon, and on Friday, I (Mark) was to perform the wedding of Erling, a friend and part of our central jungle team to his bride Maritza. However, God had other plans.

Erling and Maritza in their formal outifts

We left our house at 3am Monday and arrived in good time at the airport to  check in.  The plane was full of people going to work on Monday morning, and people with urgent contracts in and around Pucallpa.

As far as we were aware there were no problems, expect our drooping eyes and tired bodies until we reached the departure lounge and the screen said the flight to Pucallpa was delayed. This was not the first time that I have been delayed due to weather so I settled down and started to read my kindle. Ten minutes later the LAN staff member announced the flight had been cancelled due to adverse weather conditions and we would have to find another flight and collect our luggage in the baggage reclaim. As you can imagine this was not widely accepted with joy and was greeted with a lack of understanding (huge understatement) of why the flight was not just delayed until later. 

We were told that we would get flights the next morning, and had to go out to the main check in area to do this. By the time we reached the front of this queue we were offered flights for Tuesday night. I explained that I was leading a conference starting in the afternoon and I needed to be in Pucallpa and not Lima. We reluctantly accepted the tickets for Tuesday night and prayed and thought of other solutions. Meanwhile Anna back at home had cut open her finger from the broken glass of our liquidizer making the morning juice. At this point we felt something was afoot. 

Anna then mysteriously received an email from her sister asking her if everything was ok, because her boyfriend's dad (who we have never met, and he doesn't even know our names!) was woken up by God in the night to pray for us for two hours.  

So we will never know this side of heaven, but God obviously had a reason for allowing that flight to be cancelled! 


It is important to remember that all of this happened before 7am, and so this gave us time to make the decision to get the bus and travel overnight arriving early on Tuesday morning. 

Dennis & Charmian talking about marriage

On previous trips to Pucallpa I had always avoided the bus. Partly because it takes between 16 and 24 hours (compared to a 45minute flight!), and partly due to the immense altitude as the bus crosses the peaks of the Andes.  Mainly, however, I had been discouraged by the 100% negative reactions to the journey by those who had ever made the trip!  But with no flight available within the next 36 hours, we felt that God's leading to get the bus, especially as people from the inner jungle had already arrived in Pucallpa ready for the conference. 

It is times like these when we are acutely reminded that the plans of God are not our plans.  The taxi driver to the bus station needed to talk to me. We were having the usual conversation Peruvian taxi conversation about life, the universe and everything and the driver started to open up to me.  He began to talk about his negative church experience with an established denomination who unfortunately has a tendency to control their people. 

He told us about how he and his wife had been involved with this church, especially his wife, but how over time the demands of the church (which was deemed more important), meant the family no longer spent time together.  
  
This was very interesting as we were going to speak in Pucallpa on covenant and how God is number 1, spouses number 2, kids number 3 and then calling, ministry, and then job if not covered by the other 2. 

Due to all this pressure his wife and he left the church, and have now been separated for a while, and the relationship is very strained. I got the chance and priviledge to listen to him and then to pray for him, a great honour.

This was posed for but you get the idea.

As we arrived at the bus terminal we got the last tickets with an 180 degree seat and left in the afternoon at 1.30pm.  The 16 hour journey arrived in Pucallpa early which was a welcome relief, after sleeping on and off for 13 or so hours, under the influence of a drowsy allergy tablet and 2 anti-sickness tablets. The journey was not as bad as I thought it might have been. I would be willing to do it again if required, although I hope I never have to. 

Three things I remember from this journey: 
1. Waking in the altitudes of the high Andes mountains, in the pitch dark, and struggling to breathe, due to the lack of oxygen at upto 5000 metres, 15,000 feet. 

2. The speed the drivers were driving at on hairpin and roads with sheer drops by our side. The bus had a 90 kph  speed limit (60 mph), and had a speed alarm which sounded at 91kph. The brief times I was awake and conscious I must have heard the alarm 5 or more times in a matter of 10 minutes.   
3. The strange choice of films chosen by the lady in charge of meals and customer care. Let me just say they were not family viewing!

The travel problems did not end upon arrival. On day 3 we were trying to get a refund for our cancelled flight.  Unfortunately, the LAN phone rep. managed to cancel both the outgoing and the returning flight.  Suddenly, the reality of having to make a return bus journey on my birthday was looming. 

Wednesday afternoon we visited the LAN office.  Apparently the flight hadn't been cancelled. 

Friday afternoon, we returned to the LAN office just to check that the flight hadn't been cancelled.  It had. 

Fortunately, the LAN rep in the office that day was very helpful, although she could do nothing about the cancelled flight.  She could get us on a now much more expensive flight though! 

However the Lord is sovereign and He had a plan. Eventually, a LAN rep found us a cheap internet flight home on my birthday - with a rival airline! He even booked it for us!