Celebrating Well

Two weeks ago I was at the Peruvian Baptist Assembly in Trujillo, 7hrs bus ride to the south. As usual the assembly occupies about three whole days spread over four and this year it took place in Shirán, about an hour out of Trujillo where the Regional Baptist Association has a very pleasant leafy conference/retreat centre. There was a buzz in the air this year, as the Peruvian Baptist Convention was celebrating its 75th anniversary and we had speakers arriving from Ecuador, Chile and Argentina, including the President of the Baptist World Alliance. The talks were the best sort of challenging which made the long sessions hearing the reports of the different departments more bearable than usual. There was an impassioned plea by delegates from the Andean regions for more support in the form of theological training and sadly no delegate made it from the Amazonian region of Loreto. Perú continues to be a country marked by strong socio-economic and cultural distinctions between Lima on the coast and 'The Provinces', which is basically everyone else. The Convention has three Baptist Seminaries afiliated with it, and all three are in coastal cities, Lima, Trujillo and recently, Piura, which are practically impossible to attend by Peruvians from the Andean and Amazonian regions due to the distances and/or costs involved. The Convention has been involved with theological training models fit for The Provinces over the years, including the Integral Mission Training Centre in Nauta and most recently, theological training for indigenous Awajun church leaders in the northern High Amazon, both which have been/are being supported by BMS and wouldn't have been possible without it. My prayer is that the Convention would be able to administer and mobilise its resources wisely to continue to find the best ways to respond to these areas of diverse needs.

As this was my last Peruvian Assembly, there were innumerable Hellos and Goodbyes as I won't see many people again now before I leave at the end of April. In special celebration of the 75th annversary we enjoyed a Gala Night on the Thursday, during which we were treated to a poetry recital and a choir and I was also greatly touched to be presented with a personalized commemorative plate. In January 2012, my first experience of Baptist life in Perú was attending the Assembly with the rest of the BMS mission workers here at that time. Much has changed in the intervening years, but much hasn't changed as well - there's always positive and negative in that!

After the Assembly I stayed an extra night in Trujillo to make the most of the opportunity to spend time with a friend from there, Rosa, and we were tourists for a day travelling to curious little beach town of Salaverry, surrounded by a cliff of sand and a massive port for international cruise ships. From there I travelled north by bus to Chiclayo, about half-way to Piura, where I was able to spend some more time with friends from there, Abi and Zully, at a very windy but sunny beach town called Pimentel. I arrived home to Piura about midday on Monday and the holidays were over as I was back out taking the team to Nuevo Eleuterio-km980 for the church literacy project by 3pm.

I think I've mentioned in previous letters that even while we were still finishing up the eco stove project at Nuevo Eleuterio-km980, Liliana, the pastor's wife and church leader of the parent church in Piura, suggested that our next project could be an adult literacy project. Once again, the response of the brothers and sisters at the church was immediately enthusiastic and Liliana asked me whether I would be willing to help out. Of course I was and we started talking with two primary school teachers from the Piura church, Nancy (see photo above) and Janet, who agreed to head up the project for 12 weeks during the summer holidays - January to March. On their request, I wrote up a simple project plan which they submitted to the Women's Baptist Union of Perú, as something of a novel pilot project and in hope of receiving a small grant to help with the purchase of materials - which I believe we did. The project started unofficially on January 10th with the 15 mature students taking a diagnostic test so that they could be divided amongst the teachers according to their literacy level, and officially, a week later when we were visited by members of the Women's Union committee. From now until the end of the project my main roles will be 'team mobiliser' (i.e. I drive the team out of Nuevo Eleuterio-km980 most Mondays) and 'teaching assistant' as and when necessary. Please pray for our mature students. Our main desire is that they would learn and improve in their literacy skills so that they would be able to read and better understand their Bibles. Humanly, we don't know how far we'll get in (approx.) 12 weeks but we ask the Holy Spirit to help our brothers and sisters advance far beyond what we can teach them for 2 hours, once a week.

In January I also had the privilege of being 'madrina del vestido' ('godmother of the dress') for a young lady, Flor, turning 15 in one of the eco stove project churches in Chapaira. The church leader, Hilda, explained that this was the first time for both the church and the young lady's family to celebrate a 'quinceañera', which is a traditional coming-of-age celebration for girls on their 15th birthday. Hilda was keen for Flor's extended family and the whole community to see that it was possible to celebrate in a healthy way i.e. without alcohol, but which was still fun i.e. with music, dancing and food. The church members (see photo above) worked hard to find patrons for the different aspects of the celebration, as well as physically transforming Flor's home with decorations. They contracted a local Christian MC and singer/musician who led proceedings, including the singing of many upbeat choruses of praise which we all sang and danced to whilst the non-Christians mainly looked on with bemusement. As a madrina, I was invited to pray publically over Flor and the padrino (the godfather), a local pastor, shared a brief message from the Scriptures. Please pray for Hilda, Flor and her family and all the members at the church, Piedra Edificadora, in Chapaira. Hilda has worked hard to use the eco stove project to strengthen the presence of the church in the community and to reconnect with former members who are starting to return. Pray for God's provision for Hilda and her husband, Cristino, as they lead the church but also tackle the challenges of everyday life with few material resources.

Finally, most of you will already know that I will be coming back to the UK for Home Assignment in May-July and my schedule is nice and full so I look forward to seeing many of you! In the meantime, thank you for your on-going support and prayers for me and for our Peruvian brothers and sisters.

Que Dios les bendiga!

Laura x