Whole Church retreat, June 2012

  

Last weekend was our first whole church retreat. Regular attendees from Pacifico and Los Cedros came and we had over 30 adults and as many children.  We went to a lovely retreat house in the foothills north east of Lima, where there was loads of space for the children to run around safely and lots of green grass and trees to lay under!

Exploring the grounds

Quiz in groups

Keeping the toddlers entertained!

Mark gave two talks during the day – one on the Father’s heart and the second on the importance of forgiveness.  Both talks led on to ministry times where many gave testimony afterwards to God speaking to them and forgiving others – some taking the opportunity to ask forgiveness from others present in the room – a uniting and humbling time.  Many people began the forgiveness process for the first time – including forgiving their spouses and children for offenses caused.

Jesus said we should forgive 70 x 7 

Meanwhile the children learned about how much the Father loves them and the importance of forgiveness too. 

We also had some games – including the much loved bubble making and racing contest! (I think this game may turn into an Oikos tradition!!)  Each team had a list of ingredients and had to make up a bubble mix and then make bubbles with shoelaces tied together.  The teams had 30 minutes to get as many bubbles as possible across the line (which was about 15m away).  It is actually much more challenging than you would think and the winning team got 8 bubbles across in 30 minutes.   The spectators enjoyed seeing the different ways the teams worked together to try and move the bubble – contorting their bodies to get under them to blow them upwards, and flapping hats furiously to move them along! The losing team was at a situational disadvantage as the wind kept taking their bubbles off course!

In all it was a very encouraging and relaxing time.  It felt like a good mix of spiritual focus and family time together and for many who never get out of their shanty town aside for work reasons, it will be the highlight of the year for many!

We are hoping to do another full church retreat in February….

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Bushmead Team Week 1 Part 1

Well we had 3 amazing weeks with the 5 young guys from Christchurch, Bushmead, Luton. Dale (the leader), Peck, Colin, Stuart and Vicky were all amazing, and have really left an impact here in Peru. In addition to this we had the incredible Dan and Jude who helped us so much and massively impacted our lives here in Peru.The team arrived on Friday 18^th June and left us on the 12^th July to go on holiday. Dan and Jude arrived the 11^th May and left us on the 9^th July. Please come back soon!!!Dan and Jude watching the England USA game

The team outside the Presidential Palace

The first day (Saturday) was a light day acclimatising and getting to know our neighbourhood and a brief talk on what we were doing, and what was expected of them. Sunday we introduced them to the Oikos Sunday service and also went for lunch at Pardo’s chicken, the most exclusive rotisserie chicken restaurant near us, which was a definite highlight to the junk food loving guys from Luton.

Jaime and Belen with the team, outside their shanty town house.

We finished the day by having a small service in the evening in English, after the team visiting Pacifico de Villa for the first time, and meeting the wonderful family of Belen and Jaime.

The kids lining up to sing to us in Ventanilla.

Monday was a hard day in Ventanilla where Alfredo asked us if we could move the sand that is falling down and damaging the border fence behind the school. We spent a good few hours doing this and must have moved over 30 tonnes according to Peck our resident builder.

The highlight of Tuesday must have been the visit to the chickens in the market (Peck having a strong adverse reaction to them, although he was fine with the pig’s head!) and our weekly mums and tots group, which was our last session before the retreat on the Saturday.Not quite KFC!

Mothering Sunday and Oikos

Life is great here in Chorrillos, Lima. We are really busy, as well as being really happy, at what is going on in our lives as a family and also our ministry. The family are healthy as well as the extended family. Anna commented to me that she has cooked for at least 10 people every day this week. Our church is called Oikos, which is a Greek word from the Bible which means family, house, household or extended family, and I suppose you could stretch this to meaning community as well. Our house certainly feels like community and extended family at the moment. It is a real blessing to be able to share life with so many people that pass through our house, are working with us, or just pop in to our house, whether it is for discipleship (formal or informal), or any other query, at any point of the day. We certainly seem to have a full table at lunch time most days. Good we bought a big table!

The photo frames the mums have made in the mums and tots group

As part of Oikos we have a small service on a Sunday, started on Easter Day. We are slowly growing, and on Mother's Day (Peruvian Mother's Day that is) we had 20 adults and more than 14 kids. (It is always harder to count how many kids there are due to them constantly moving about!).

Walter cooking the cake to celebrate Mother's Day

This was a really special day, as many of the mums had received little or nothing from their children, and it was great to able to encourage them, and we also have a few males starting to come along, as well as young adults, which is our current prayer. Everyone stayed for cake, the majority for lunch, and we finally had a 'quiet' house at 4.30pm!! We then went out as a family (Daddy, Mummy, adopted aunt Lili, and sons Daniel and Joel) to Larco Mar a place we sometimes go on special occasions and had a afternoon snack and juice.

Daniel however got a temperature, and wasn't very happy, hence the massive smile!
It was a great day, and has been a great month.
2010 is looking and feeling great.