Another wonderful time celebrating our shared faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Food. Singing. The word of the Lord. Two wonderful friends baptized. Praise be to God for a simply wonderful day.
For those of you that may be checking our website for the first time, our Celebration Sundays happen once every two months and are times in which we join together the small groups that are meeting in different parts of the city for a shared time of worship and fellowship. We sing, we pray, we read the word of the Lord, we teach and we encourage one another. Essentially, we share life and remind each other of our hope in the Lord. This celebration time brought a number of people for the first time. Some of these we have known from our work in different areas of town but had yet to participate in our weekly times of worship. So, this Sunday a number of newcomers came and witnessed God at work. Following is a video and some pictures of this really, really good day!
We’ve said from the very beginning, from before our team even existed in its present form, that we wanted to have a kind of ministry that touched every part of people’s lives. By this we meant that we wanted to, of course, care for people spiritually. We did and still do see this as our utmost priority… and that’s why we’re here in Peru, to share God’s love with those that don’t know it, to help those lost in a world of heartache and loss and emptiness to find their way to an abundant and joyful life that only God can provide. Along that journey though, is where the idea of meeting our neighbors needs on every level fits in. We see in Jesus our example. When Jesus came across the sick and week he, in his mercy and compassion, healed the sick and made the lame to walk and the blind to see.
Like I’ve told many of our new Peruvian friends, we just want to follow Jesus example in the ways that we are able. While, as of yet, I haven’t been able to raise the dead or miraculously make the lame to walk, there are many other ways that we can care for people’s physical well being. One of those ways is to invite our brothers and sisters who have been trained medically to provide quality medical care to many that can’t afford it here in Lima.
So, that’s just what we did. In July we had a good sized group of volunteers come down from the United States to help us with our first ever medical campaign. As part of the group we had doctors, dentists and nurses along with tons of great helpers, skilled laborers and all kinds of people willing to take the time and effort to come and show God’s love to their Peruvian neighbors in this ever shrinking world we live in. We focussed our efforts in an area of Lima called Paraiso, which mean Paradise. This campaign was a wild success. Many people received the kind of medical care that they hadn’t been able to get and, more importantly, God’s love was spread through a community that so desperately needs it. The kind of community that I think you likely would have found Jesus walking through 2000 years ago.
For a better glimpse into our first Medical Campaign in “Paradise” take a few minutes and watch our video…
“You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” – Anonymous
Calling ALL friends and family back in the USA! We are desperately in need of your help for a blanket drive! Peru is creeping into winter and it is getting chilly. Our friends in Villa Maria who live on the side of a mountain in homes that are not adequate to keep warm, are in great need of some blankets fast. Team Lima is launching it’s first annual Frazalatera (blanket drive) in order to help the families and especially those kids keep warm during the next few months.
The deadline to raise $1000 is June 15th! We know this is fast but these people are cold, enough said :) If you would like to know where to send your tax-deductible checks, please email us at:
It’s hard to express in writing or, for that matter, on a blog how crucial this is; but, hopefully we will be able to show you in pictures after we deliver the blankets and you are able to see their faces. We will have a short video of Villa Maria going up in the next couple of days to help you picture the conditions in which these people live in but we wanted to go ahead and start our drive today to get your minds, hearts and hopefully your wallets spinning :)
