“Week 2 - Bienvenido a Arequipa”
On Sunday, July 9th we left Lima and flew south to Arequipa, which is the second largest city in Peru with a population of just over 1 million people. Where we are staying in the valley of Arequipa sits at about 6,600 feet above sea level and is surrounded by the Andes Mountains and three volcanoes: the still active Misti, and the extinct Chachani and Pichu Pichu. To say this city is picturesque would be a gross understatement.
Our ministry this week has been greatly varied. On Monday morning we heard from our friends Josh and Nicole, expats and Royal Servants alumni, who live here and work to reform the child welfare and orphanage system at the national level. They were able to share insights into how best to serve the local community and, specifically, the at-risk youth we may get to know. Later that afternoon our missionary friend Armond had us participate in a ministry “game” he calls Secret Christian, where we walked around the city and through the shops looking for an opportunity to sneak Gospel tracts into people’s hands. One group was able to push a tract through the handle opening on a blender box; another snuck one into a grocery bag. Quaid was offered a business card from a local man and he agreed to take it if the man took the Gospel tract. That was a divinely appointed exchange!
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we took a bus out to a region in northwest Arequipa called Ciudad de Dios and worked at a church plant that is only about a year old. We helped build a rock path, clean paint and cement off of windows, organize a garage sale, and we picked up trash in the surrounding areas as we sought to care for the church property. Everyone worked really hard, but Grace in particular may have found her new calling as a bricklaying phenom!
We spent Thursday and Friday mornings at Colegio Ebenezer, where we performed our dances and a Gospel drama for the elementary and high school students. Kennedy did a fantastic job explaining the meaning of our drama and our ultimate need for a Savior and was followed up by Nathan and Keira sharing their personal testimonies. We were warmly welcomed. On Thursday night we participated in a local weekly Bible study called Arequipa English, which is a cool event where anyone is welcome to come study the Bible and practice their english. Some of the regular attenders for years now don’t even consider themselves Christian, but they come faithfully as it is a way to improve their English speaking. We were split up into four groups to participate alongside the locals, and our summer staff like Bergen and Lizzie led really fruitful discussions. We are excited to participate in this event again next Thursday.
Finally, on Friday night, we concluded our second week of ministry with what we called MK/PK Night. There are only a handful of missionaries and pastors in the city of Arequipa and we want to keep them here as they are doing the long-term cultivating sort of ministry that isn’t possible for those of us only here a few short weeks. So we put out the call that we would be hosting a casual hang out event for any Missionary/Pastor Kids. We wanted to care for those in long-term ministry by giving them some time to run errands, or take their spouse on a date, or just to be off-duty for a couple of hours, and we wanted to spend time focused intentionally on their kids. Some spent the evening playing frisbee or playing cards. A couple of the local girls taught Mari how to do a cartwheel; they tried to teach me as well, but it really didn’t go well.
This was a really great week of ministry where we got to love and care for others in a myriad of ways!
