Last week of work!

We are currently in Tacna working alongside the Pan de Vida church. We will be responsible for the midweek meetings, cell groups, open air childrens clubs, the youth meeting and the Sunday Services. This is our last week of work before having a well earned break at Christmas!
We will spend Christmas together as a team in Ite. Then the Peruvians will be returning home for about a week. We will be going to stay with David & Alicia Murphy during this time.
Please pray for the parents of Sara (one of the team members). They are not Christians, but they have been attending the church in Ite quite regularly over the last few months. Also pray that we would have a refreshing break over Christmas and that we would all be ready to start working hard again in the new year.

Santa Claus in Puno

Last week we had the amazing opportunity to travel to the area of Puno. We were about 4000m above sea level. During the journey up Simon spent most of the time with his head out the window! Almost all of us suffered from altitude sickness in one form or another the first day in Puno. However, after a good night's sleep we were feeling well again. We visited several different churches and gave out Christmas presents to the Sunday School children which were a gift from children in Ireland. It was amazing to see so many children!
We stayed in the church in Puno where they have a Rescue Home for children. There they provide food, shelter and school for the 10 children currently staying there. While we were there we were able to build a table and make some resources to help with their schooling. We also got to spend some time playing and sharing from God's Word, with the kids. Please pray for the workers because it is a difficult work.
We are now preparing to go to Tacna again from 15th - 22nd December to help out the church - Pan de Vida. This is a very small work. Please pray that people would come into church, especially coming up to Christmas and pray that we would present God's Word faithfully.

Our closest McDonalds

On Tuesday we travelled over the border to Chile. It is quite different to Peru. It was good to visit there. Our closest McDonalds is also located there, although we resisted the temptation to go in! We can now stay in Peru for another 120 days and then we get to go to Chile again!
At 5 o´clock tomorrow morning we are heading to Puno where we will be until next Wednesday. Apparently it has been raining a lot and there are pretty bad thunder storms. Its at an altitude of around 4000m above sea level so please pray that we will all stay healthy. Please pray for Chris (one of the team members) as he is unable to come with us due to health reasons. He is fine but please pray that he wont feel like he is missing out. While we are there we hope to help give out Christmas presents to children. We hope that this will be a great experience for us all.

A kick in the head!

We have now reached the end of our time in Tacna! Heading back to Ite and the cold showers in the next hour or so. These past few days we have been working alongside the church - Luz de Vida. We have mainly been involved in childrens work. In the mornings we were able to visit primary schools and give a 20 minute presentation during their break. We also went door to door giving out invitations to the Church, Sunday School and to the Childrens meetings we ran each afternoon in the parks. Good numbers of children attended these meetings. We also took part in the youth meeting on saturday night. We took the Sunday school (where a 6 year old boy asked "Why can Simon not speak very well?? To which Simon answered with a kick in the head...not really but he wanted to!) and we took part in the Sunday evening service.
When we get back to Ite we will be helping to get things ready for the anniversary service at the campsite this weekend. We will also be preparing for our next visit which will be to Puno on the 4th December. We also have to travel to Chile to get our passports stamped in the next 2 weeks - before we get thrown out of the country!

Simon´s thoughts confirmed - girls really can´t play football (it was Simon´s team though!!!)

Here in Tacna! We are staying at the Seminary and have the luxury of hot showers!!!!! We have been having a good time in Tacna working with one of the churches - Manantial de Vida. We did some door to door work, we had a few clubs for children in the parks, we helped at the youth meeting and took part in the Sunday services. On Friday we had the opportunity to visit a school. We spent an hour with a class of 13-17 year olds. We also had the opportunity to speak on the radio - El Sembrador (but I (Roberta) wouldn´t say anything!) We are having a well earned rest today and tomorrow. It is amazing the opportunities God has provided for us to talk about Jesus. This morning a few of us were sitting in the Plaza when a woman came and asked if we were Christians. We were able to spend 45 minutes or more talking about God and reading parts of the Bible. She told us she had become a Christian when she was younger but hadnt been to a church in years. She has suffered a lot during her life but was open to listen. Please pray that God would work in her life. From Wednesday until Sunday we will be working alongside one of the other churches here in Tacna - Luz de Vida.

Photos

A smashing time in Ilo!

We have had a good week here in Ilo. We have been encouraged by the numbers of children and young people attending their respective meetings. We realize that numbers aren´t everything but we have had the opportunity to share the gospel with many people. We were also doing some manual work. The guys helped make a floor and the girls smashed windows!
We received a warm welcome from the church in Ilo. They were grateful for our help and we were grateful for their kind hospitality.
We are heading back to the campsite this afternoon. Things have calmed down in Tacna. We hope to head there on Wednesday, though we aren´t sure for how long.
Please pray for

• safety as we travel
• continued progress with spanish
• that we would learn from this week and improve for the next time

Still havn´t thought of an interesting title!

We are currently in Ilo. We are staying in the church and have no running water! From now on we might appreciate cold showers a bit more! We have been invovled in door to door work and we have also been cleaning the church. Over the next week we will be helping at the midweek, youth, ladies and childrens meetings as well as the sunday services. We are here until Monday. We were due to go to Tacna next week but there has been some trouble in South Peru over the last few weeks. There have been strikes and a lot of violence. We are all fine but it has meant that the anniversary service has been postponed until the end of the month as people couldnt travel to Ite. Things in Ilo have settled down but Tacna is still particularly bad. Emergency rule has been imposed. We are unsure about whether we will be able to go there next week. Some of the team members are from Tacna and are concerned about their families. Please pray that this situation would be resolved soon.
Simon and Roberta

We will try to think of an interesting title for the next post!

We spent the day shovelling dirt which was awesome - no sarcasm intended! The past two days we have been moving stones and doing some manual labour to get the campsite ready for the anniversary service on Saturday. This somehow developed into a water fight so it was all good!!

Sunday school went well last week. Around 55 children came - a lot of them came for the first time. We gave out invitations around the village so as this worked well we plan to give out invitations in the future for some of the other services that take place in the church.

This will be a busy week for us. This is our last week of classes. We are also taking the church service on Sunday, the midweek, the ladies meeting and the youth meeting. There is also a special service on Saturday to celebrate the 1st anniversary of the camp centre. We will be taking part in this service. However, before that happens we will also have to clean everywhere - even the boys bathroom!!!!

On Monday 3rd November we will be heading to Ilo to help out the church there. We will be involved in visitation, childrens meetings, youth meetings, midweeks and the Sunday services. We will be there for about a week.

We would value your prayers for:-

• all of these plans
• the people we will meet
• for safety as we travel
• the churches in Ilo and Ite
• continued progress with Spanish
• continued unity in the team

Simon and Roberta

Chocolate cake, Lasagne and Trifle! (Brownies for Roberta - but she had to go the womens meeting for that!)

Our classes continued as normal this week and all went well. We have conversation classes with Freddy while the others learn about evangelism. We have also had public speaking classes this week. Simon told the teacher he didn't understand anything! We have lots of homework!!!! Simon preached his first sermon in spanish on Tuesday night. He thinks it went well but he doesn't understand what he was saying! The ladies meeting on Thursday was really good - not just because we had brownies! There were 15 ladies there, several came for the first time. Christine spoke about the importance of the Bible and how important it is for us to study it every day. Tomorrow we are responsible for Sunday School. We are using the theme of the 5 colours from the wordless book. We have made invitations and are inviting as many children in the village as possible. We are also responsible for the church service tomorrow. Please pray for Guido as he preaches. It will be his first time preaching. Things will continue much the same for the next 2 weeks but hopefully there will be a few familiar tastes from home (without rice).
Roberta and Simon

Preparation

This is a quick update while we have the chance. We are based in Ite this month. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays we have classes about Baptist principles, Evangelism and teaching children. It is all in Spanish so we dont catch everything but are getting the general idea! Last night we went to the youth meeting in Ite. A good number of young people were there. They listened really well to Robertas testimony (which was in Spanish!!) Please pray for these young people that they would put their trust in the Lord. We were at David and Alicias for a bbq today. It was good to spend time with them and to have a meal without rice!!! We will be responsible for some of the services in Ite this month. We are responsible for the service tomorrow (12th) and this Tuesday evening as well. pray for us as we prepare and take part part. Continue to pray that we would understand more Spanish and also that God would use us as a team for His glory.

Roberta and Simon

The Wrath of Goliath

Hey hey! Just thought we would give you a bit more of a taster of the Amazing Journey!

OOOPs.... Goliath isn't lying down....you just need to turn YOUR head! The Amazing Journey finished on Tuesday. Everything went really well and we appreciated all your prayers. We left Lima on Thursday morning and have just arrived in Ilo.

For the next while we will be recieving training at the camp site, and doing a bit of manual labour there. Cold showers from now on!!! Hopefully this will be an opportunity to learn more of the Spanish and grow as a team.

Thanks again for all your prayers and support
Roberta and Simon

Back To Ite

This is our last day presenting the Amazing Journey here in Lima. Tomorrow we will have a well earned rest. A day off!!!!! We might squeeze in a little sightseeing as well. We will be travelling back to Ite in the minibus on Thursday and Friday. Pray for safety and for Freddy as he drives.

Photos at last!

This is the team in case you hadn`t guessed!

From left to right: Ricardo, Guido, Luz Maria, Sara, Chris, Liz, Roberta. Freddy is the one at the back.

Luz Maria is the Narrator who takes the crowd

through the Amazing Journey of the Bible
starting right at the beginning with Creation. She then tells them about Adam and Eve and how sin entered the world.

This leads on to the story of Noah - the first Bible character that the crowd meets.

The crowd also meet Joseph and the Egyptian Princess before jumping out of their skin when Goliath shouts "Everyone listen to me!"

Going into the New Testament they meet Mary, the Shepherds, Peter and finally Paul who all share their experiences of Jesus.

To finish everything off Luz Maria gives a summary of the gospel and leaves them with the question "Are you ready for Jesus coming back?"

Hope this gives you a clearer picture of what we have been up to these last few weeks. Please continue to pray for the Amazing Journey which finishes on Tuesday 30th.

Simon and Roberta

We had 5 minutes to spare (just about) so we thought we would take the chance to give you a quick update. Trevor arrived on Friday and we finally got to eat something other than chaufa (peruvian chicken fried rice) for dinner! On Sunday we went to Lima First Baptist Church. We think it was good but we didn´t understand a word! However we appreciated the time with other Christians.
The Amazing Journey is running well. Several school groups have come along and listened well. Another group will be arriving shortly. Gordon Darragh will also be here before heading back home. Hopefully we will have a few photos to show you soon (to make the blog more interesting).
Thanks for all you thoughts and prayers.
Roberta and Simon

Dont worry. We are still alive. Roberta has no clothes and is stinking! But it is all good. We met the team. They are brilliant and willing to sit down and help us to understand the Spanish. Although we are sure it is frustrating for them.
We are currently in Lima running the Amazing Journey at a Bible Exhibition. The Amazing Journey takes the crowd through the entire bible from Genesis to Revelation. On the way, there is a narrator to explian and introduce the characters of Noah, Joseph, The Egyptian Princess, Goliath, Mary, The Shepherds, Peter and Paul. The Amazing Journey runs 4 or 5 times a day depending on how many people are around. There has been a lot of interest, with 25 to 87 at each session. Each person receives a pack with a copy of Johns Gospel at the end.
Please pray that God would speak to those present through what they heard and what they read. Also, please pray for the team as it can be very tiring with such a hectic schedule. We will be in Lima until 30th September. Sorry for the late post, hopefully it wont be as long untill the next one!
Simon and Roberta

Going to Peru!

On Monday 8th September 2008, Simon Curry and Roberta Sherlock will be heading out to Peru for about 9 months to be part of the second Baptist Missions "Misión Rescate Team."

Please pray for safety as we travel. Pray that the team would bond quickly and that we will be used effectively in this work.