Thanks so much to those of you who responded to the question about “the call” in the last newsletter. I wasn’t going to comment more on that but I was particularly inspired by one of your responses to respond. So I’ll share my thoughts on that below.

Baptisms

In April we celebrated 6 baptisms in the church Esperanza de Vida, which meets in our house. The church made a celebration out of it. Although there was a protest that was blocking fuel supplies and  hardly any gas stations that had gas, they still packed up and drove an hour one way to some springs on the outside of Arequipa and had the baptisms in a public parklike place. 

From my background, baptism was practiced pretty much with only believers in attendance, keeping a “holy” atmosphere. Here the church did it in a public swimming area, using the occasion as a witness to those that were there. They took food along and had a meal and fellowship afterwards. Here is a video of the occasion.

Easter

The youth at both churches put on plays for Easter. Esperanza de Vida did one depicting the contemporary pull between right and wrong and how a relationship with Jesus helps us win the temptations sex, alcohol, drugs and suicide which are very real for our youth today. The church at Jose Olaya did a shadow performance of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. You can watch it here. Both were very good.

Marriage classes at JO

We were asked to do the marriage seminar at Jose Olaya so we started it the last week of April. We plan to have 6-7 sessions ending sometime in June. 

In Peruvian culture the matriarch is the backbone of the family and the father is not valued nearly as much. This is reflected in their celebration of mother’s day (more about that next month). This also is reflected in the promiscuity of the men and the “machismo” mentality that says popularity status is determined by who can have the most physical relationships with other women. At the same time women are not well protected in society and need the support and income of the man, especially in their later years. This makes for a very dysfunctional relationship.

Workshop ministry

Class participation has really dropped for the carpentry shop since school is now in session again. However, it is a blessing to see one of my students pursuing a vocation in carpentry at an official school! For the bake shop however, it is different. It has turned out to be more popular than the carpentry workshop. Ruth is trying to figure out how to take the relationships that have been formed and drive them deeper. She has found someone to help temporarily, but she may need to scale the baking classes back to focus more time on discipleship.

Ruth also has been experiencing a lot of back pain which has really slowed her down- even laying her up for several weeks. For me, I’m welcoming the break in teaching carpentry so I can focus on making things easier for her. One thing we must do is move the kitchen to the second level of our house. Right now, it’s on the first level while the dining and living quarters are on the second. Moving it to the second level will not only make it more handy for her, but also cut down on her climbing the stairs so much, something that has become difficult for her.

Prayer Request

Pray for healing for Ruth.

Pray for the marriage classes at the church at Jose Olaya.

Pray for the new believers who were recently baptized.

Blessings, 

Stan & Ruth

P.S The “call “, is simply that –  a call, a voice, an invitation to God himself. He is the destination we are looking for. And in our journey to the heart of God, we get to join Him in His work. Therefore, what we often refer to as our “ministry calling” perhaps should be thought of as simply part of our journey, and not much more.