It's Official!

It's official! On September 23, 2007, University Baptist Church voted to adopt six villages in the Huarochiri province of Peru in partnership with REAP SOUTH of the International Mission Board! UBC has committed to a 3-5 year church planting partnership and will begin work in the two largest villages (Carampoma and San Pedro de Casta) in 2008. It is the church's vision to equip the village residents to evangelize their surrounding communities with the good news of Christ.

Sunday evening was also the occasion for a Vision Casting banquet. Members of the vision trip team shared information that they gleaned from a week-long trip to Huarochiri. The presentation focused on the following elements: strategy and logistics; the people; and needs and teams. The response of church members to the call of missions in Peru was overwhelming - leaving us with the expectation that all of intended trips for 2008 can and will occur! Many people signed up for multiple trips extending through to 2009-2010.

For more information about UBC's mission partnership and promotional materials go to: http://www.ubcsa.org/templates/System/details.asp?id=26975&PID=477794

For more information about Reap South go to: http://www.reapsouth.org/

For more information about the International Mission Board of the SBC go to: http://www.imb.org/

"Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask
or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in
the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." Eph
3:20-21

On behalf of the Peru Vision Team, we would like to say thank you for your prayers over the last few weeks. We have felt your prayers and know for a fact that our feet and hearts have been guided by the Lord. We have finished our portion of the vision trip and have had a debriefing with the IMB missionary personnel - now we just need to compile all our information and begin to work out some recommendations for the church. I foolishly thought the most difficult part of the trip would be traveling to the different villages; but I think the most difficult aspect of our Peru Partnership begins as our church works out through prayer what God's Will for our activity in these villages will be.

To better honor your prayers, we must be honest. After traveling to the villages, we cannot help but feel a bit overwhelmed at the magnitude of needs - both physical and spiritual - that exist. Although we have benefited from the Lord's faithfulness on our trip, our journey has been exhausting. We begin each day very early and walk the city streets looking for friendly faces and striking up conversations. Then we would make our way to the municiple office of each village and request a meeting with whatever village official was available. We would spend time with the major honestly explaining our mission - to share God's love with the people and teach the Bible. In every village except one, the officials expressed gratitude at our arrival and appreciated any help we could give in the area of biblical training. The rest of the day was spent touring schools, meeting with medical personnel. Sometimes city residents would give us tours of the city (museums, cemetaries, local watering holes, crops, etc) and other times officials would present us with the sights. On the days we would research two cities a day we became particularly overwhelmed.

Although we certainly have some insights as to the most effective, we still need prayer. Today, we have arrived in Cusco for a few days to compile our notes and relax. We certainly have gained a heart and vision to see the people of the region of Huarochiri find forgiveness from sin in Christ; but so far we lack the full realization of the vision in determining the best method for evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. We will be spending the next few days in prayer asking the Lord for deeper insights. in response to one of our blog entries, Pastor Randy wrote "Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." Eph 3:20-21 What a beautiful verse to remind us that although the path ahead may seem overwhelming, it is the Creator God Himself who is empowering our journey and employing our gifts for His service. We only need to be the vessels of His glory.

Please continue to pray for your Vision Vessels,

The Peru Vision Team

Girlfriends in San Juan de Iris

Mountain top village of San Pedro de Casta

Climbing the streets of Huanza

Landslide en route to Laraos

The streets of Carampoma

President of San Juan de Iris explains her hat

Passing out the Word of God

Praying in San Pedro de Casta

On a cliff in Huanza

Pastor Holguin in San Pedro de Casta

Vision Team with Government Personnel in San Pedro de Casta

Llama in Carampoma

Village Tour

This morning we finished our village tour and we are so excited to get back to the church with our report. We are back in Lima and preparing for a debriefing with Arnold Austin (our guide and IMB missionary) this afternoon. There is so much to tell and so little space on the blog!

Monday we visited our first village, Carampoma and were completely caught off guard by the beauty of the village. Winding cobblestone-ish streets and welcoming people greeted us as we got out of the truck. The city treasurer's wife opened her home to us and cooked for us three days - it was such a joy to be granted entrance into her home.

Tuesday - Wednesday we visited three other villages: Laraos, Huanza, and San Juan de Iris. Each village welcomed us with open arms. The most exciting aspect of entering the villages was seeing God bring specific people into our path with which we were intended to speak. In Laraos, a man named Carlos saw us from his window and took us on a tour of the city. In Huanza, the city manager saw us ride into the city square and spent all afternoon talking with us and showing us the "sights" of the city. San Juan de Iris was the most welcoming village - the people nearly ran up to our truck when we arrived. The president (the first woman president the village has had) provided us with a small breakfast and also toured the city with us. The people of San Juan de Iris stayed close by our sides as we walked around making sure we visited all the sights. Each city had its specific needs - and perhaps we will have time to make a more detailed blog entry.

Thursday, we had cause to celebrate. As we entered into the village of San Pedro de Casta, the missionary personnel said this particular village was a very difficult city to evangelize. It is home to a tourist attraction and therefore, the locals are accustomed to foreigners invading their city and uninterested in any interaction. and as we walked the city in search of men and women of peace, it seemed this was true. But the Lord had specific plans for us. One of our team members suggested we walk down a different road and as we turned around we saw a missionary alliance church (which is very close doctrinally to Southern Baptists). We found a man working outside the church, stacking food products on his roof to dry. It turned out he was a believer and put us in contact with the pastor of the church. This morning we met with the pastor, an elderly man who desperately desired help in evangelizing his city but has been unable to do so for a variety of reasons. He also wanted to have additional bible training. We prayed together and sang together and it was obvious that the Lord was with us as we stood in his one-room house with a dirt floor. In the same city we also found another believer, a woman who kept a small store in the city center. We made sure the gospel message was presented and prayed with her in her store. San Pedro de Casta turned out to be a gold mine for us. Isn't that how the Lord works? He gives us undeserved gifts in the most unexpected of times.

Friday - The Lord knew we would need this encouragement as we visited our last village, Huachupampa. We met with the secretary of the village and found no point of entry for interaction. She seemed very closed to us and declined our offer of bible teaching in their schools. And as the Lord has designed it, Huachupampa is close to the village San Pedro de Casta. We are hoping that if we strengthen the church in San Pedro, that local Peruvian evangelists might be able to penetrate Huachupampa.

In each city, the Lord provided housing, meals, and friendly faces. We could not have asked for a more successful trip. Hopefully in the next few days we can post more specific information and some photos (we've taken 800 photos!)

Thank you for all your prayers! We have been safe, healthy, and completely amazed by the Lord's activity. (although a hot shower sounds nice!)

Love to all,
the Peru Vision team

Safe /arrival in Lima

Hi all! We safely arrived in Lima last night with no problems! Thank you for your prayers so far. This morning we are headed to our first village - Carampoma - about a four hour drive from Lima. Brother John is driving - so please pray for us...I'm sure some of you have heard rumors about his driving! Just kidding! We had an orientation with the IMB missionary personnel this morning and we are eager to get started. The work before us is large - perhaps larger than we thought, but we know the Lord is good and faithful. Our end goal is simple (to declare the glory of the Lord to the nations in Ps. 96). Please pray for us as we begin our research and our journey...

The Peru vision team!

A Vision for Peru

Welcome to the Vision for Peru blog!

The vision team will be traveling to Peru August 4 - 11. After flying into Lima, we will travel through 5-6 different villages in the Huaruchiri province (east of Lima). We have heard there are interent cafes in many of the villages, although we can't be sure of the sort of connections we will find. In theory, this blog is a wonderful way to keep you updated about our travels.

We hope this blog fulfills three roles:
1. To keep our church body informed while we are on the road in Peru
2. To assist our prayer partners in their daily commitments to pray for us
3. To inspire church members for future service in our Peru partnership

We would also like to express our gratitude to the church for supporting us in a variety of ways. All of the financial support has been an unexpected blessing. Wow! Thank you! As we prepare for our trip, we can already feel the prayers that are being lifted up on our behalf. Thank you again. Please continue to pray for us that we might find worshippers of the King while we are in Peru.

Your Vision Team