Misión Rescate

Sorry!

2009-05-25T17:21:00.000-07:00

First of all, we are really sorry that we havn´t updated this for so long. Time flies when you are busy! During our second week in Puno we visited a primary school and a secondary school. We took part in the normal church services and also helped out in the nursery school. We spent time with the 2 boys who are left in the home, although they were due to return to their father this month. We took the boys to the park and unfortunately one of them fell and broke his arm! It wasn´t really Simon´s fault! But at least he won´t forget him for at least 6 weeks.
During this month we have been visiting the churches in Ilo, Moquegua and Tacna, doing deputation work for next years team. We have also been able to do a little door to door work and take a few Sunday Schools.
The guys have also been helping out constructing the new church in Ite. Things are progessing well. Pleae do pray for the work in Ite.
We are currently in Mejia for a few days. Alistair Creelman is with us. He is doing some Bible Studies for us on things that will be helpful as we all return to our homes and churches.
This Sunday we will be having a farewell lunch and farewell service in Ite.We will then leave with Alistair to go to Tacna. We fly to Lima first thing on Monday morning. We will will then fly from Lima on Monday night. We arrive home on Wednesday morning (3rd June). Please pray for safety as we travel.

We made it and we weren´t sick!!!!

2009-04-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

We are in a team of girls!!! At the moment we are in Puno which is like home for us because it is a lot colder than the coast, although a few of the team are struggling with the cold. Yesterday evening on of the girls had 5 layers of clothes, while another is enjoying the use of long-johns! But the guys are just as bad.
Last week we worked alongside Pastor Jair in the Alianza Church. We had the opportunity to visit a boy´s home, a girl´s home and an old people´s home. All the programs went really well, so well that they all want us to come back! One old woman even wanted to sing for us! In the evenings there was a gospel mission, where we looked at the real meaning of The Passion of Jesus. We really enjoyed the time and had the chance to share the good news with so many, and the church (which only has 10 members) seemed really encouraged.
This week we are back with Pastor Ramon in the local Baptist Church which received a lot of help from the Creelmans and the Flemings. We will have the opportunity to do some door to door work, teach English in the school, visit a primary school and a secondary school. We will also be helping with the midweek meeting, youth meeting, childrens club and Sunday services.
Please pray for the different programs that we will be involved in this week. Also please pray for the health of the team as it can be difficult in the altitude.
Thank you so much for all your prayers and continued interest. We have appreciated all your support.

Baptism at the swimming pool!

2009-04-05T13:21:00.000-07:00

This week we have been in Tacna with the Manantial de Vida church. Today they are celebrating their 7 year anniversary. We have been visiting houses each day to invite people along to these special services. We also were able to do an open air childrens club. There was a baptismal service yesterday at the swimming pool! 5 people were baptised and then this morning they were welcomed into the church. The anniversary service will take place this evening.
This Thursday, Friday and Saturday there will be a special conference for Easter. It will take place in Ite. People from all the different churches we have visited will be coming along for the conference.
On Sunday we head to Arequipa for a few days on our way to Puno were we will be visiting some schools and a nursing home. We will also be taking part in a 4 day mission. Hopefully we will be able to update you all a little more about Puno once we know more ourselves! Do please pray for us as we travel to Puno. Last time it was a very unpleasant experience for us all. We hope to survive it better this time.

Moquegua

2009-03-12T16:44:00.000-07:00

This week we are in Moquegua with Pastor Edgar and the San Antonio church. We are taking their Holiday Bible club. Things are going well so far. About 50 children have been attending each day. We will also be taking part in the youth meeting on Saturday night and the service on Sunday morning.
Please pray that God would speak to these children and that He would use us forHis glory.

Tacna

2009-03-12T16:36:00.000-07:00

Last week we were in Tacna once again. This time we were working alongside the Palabra de Vida church. We did door to door work in the mornings, open air kids clubs in the afternoons and projected films in the evenings. We took part in an open air for young people on Saturday night, and were responsible for Sunday school and the Sunday morning service.
At the kids club on Friday, Roberta was telling the story of Noah. Just as we finished the club there was a rainbow in the sky. Maybe that was due to all the rain that was falling on the ark (Chris and Ricardo that is!)
All in all it was an excellent week. There were many opportunities to share the gospel.
Please pray for Pastor Quintin and his family.

Family camp!

2009-03-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

Family camp went well. At first we were all a little discouraged because there were so few families there but it turned out to be a good week. A lot of the campers werent Christians and it was great to have opportunites to share the gospel with them. On the last night around the campfire it was great to hear many of them stand in front of everyone and say how much they enjoyed the camp and hoped to return again next year.
Please pray that God would even now be at work in these families.

Just a few photos and vid!

2009-02-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

Hard at work ... or hardly working!

¡Que Increíble!

Wierdest Goliath accent ever!

Busy Times

2009-02-14T09:17:00.000-08:00

HELLO!!!
Thanks so much for your patience. This is the first time we´ve been able to escape from the campsite and get to the internet here in Ilo. Well what have we been up to....

We had the Amazing Journey in Ite, in the middle of the main plaza. There were at least 80 people there who listened to the entire message of the Bible and how Jesus is the centre of it all. This was really encouraging as very few people come to the church. Robeta did the part of the Egyptian Princess and Simon got to be Goliath which was great fun ... but to be honest ... pretty nerve-racking for us!!!

The first camp of the summer was the youth camp. 40 young people came for the week. We had a brilliant time with them. We were divided into pairs and each pair was responsible for a group of 7-8 campers. We got to take the devotionals each morning, take part in the sport, wash dishes, and help the campers prepare for the activities in the evenings. Simon/Simon´s team won!!!!! We had the chance to get to know some of the new missionaries. Alistair was the camp nurse for the week and no one died which was good. We all got to know him and got on really well with him. Andrew Roycroft came for a day too and spoke in the morning with Trevor translating. It was nice to hear a sermon in English!! He spoke really well about how God speaks through creation and through His Word. We hope the camp helped the Christian young people grow closer to God and in their desire to serve Him, and we hope that those who aren´t Christians would have been challenged to think about their position before God.

HOLIDAY BIBLE CLUB! We were able to help Christine, Alicia and David in the HBC in Ite last Monday - Friday. We had up to 46 children. The stories were from Acts, with quizes, songs, memory verses, games and fizzy drinks happening every day. The kids were really enthusiastic and left us pretty tired!!! We got to try new things during the week, learnt more about how to work with children and had the opportuinity to explain the gospel to 46 children. Praise God for this! Please pray that he would use the efforts from last week to save children.

Well, that´s a bit of what we´ve been up to in the last while. And that brings us to today ... the first day of the family camps! Please pray for us this week, and that people would be challenged from God´s Word and encouraged to grow spiritually.

Thankyou for your prayers.

2009-01-24T12:41:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Apologies in advance that it will probably be a while until there is another one! We have been busy these last few weeks getting things ready for the upcoming camps. We have been cleaning tables and chairs. We have been making an obstacle course, a running track and 2 beach volleyball courts. There have also been various groups staying at the centre. During this past week there was a group of special needs children staying. We went to the beach with them on Tuesday. It was good fun.

This week we will be preparing more things for the youth camp which starts on Saturday. No doubt there will be cleaning and some manual work. We are also practising songs for all the meetings. This camp runs for a week, that is followed by a Holiday Bible Club and then there is a family camp after that.

Tomorrow we will be doing an open air in Ite. This will include the Amazing Journey Presentation. The week before last we did some door to door work in the village and invited people to the meetings. Some new people turned up which was great. But it is very difficult to get people in. Also with it being the summer many regular attenders of the ladies meeting and youth meeting have left the village to visit family or take a holiday. Since it is difficult to get people in, we are going out to them!

Please pray for

the open air tomorrow

preparation for camps

the young people and families who will attend camp

the Holiday Bible club

We didn´t really celebrate Christmas but we did celebrate Christmas Eve!!!!

2009-01-09T09:41:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a good Christmas and Happy New Year!!
We had a week off to catch up on some sleep! We celebrated christmas together ... on the 24th!!! which was quite bizarre, but good fun. The Peruvians are just impatient! We had a turkey at night which had been injected with orange juice, and instead of potatoes carrots, peas , brussels, roasties etc. ... we had rice. We watched a stupid video guido and simon made and then had a bonfire at the campsite eating icecream and chatting til 3 in the morning. Christmas day we all went to our different houses although that was a bit more difficult for us so we settled for David and Alicias house which is where we spent a week. We had an Aussie christmas with a barbecue for Christmas dinner and on 26th travelled to tacna for the real Norn-Iron Christmas dinner with all the missionaries which was awesome although they forgot to cook the brussel sprouts (what a pity!)
The rest of the week we spent relaxing at the beach, the pool and the amusements. We are now at the campsite getting ready for the camps which are about to begin as it is the summertime here.
Please praise God for the break
Please pray for us as we prepare and get ready for the camps
And please pray that God would use the camps to impact the lives of those who come

Last week of work!

2008-12-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-12-12T10:18:00.000-08:00

Our closest McDonalds

2008-12-04T14:36:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-24T11:44:00.001-08:00

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!!!)

2008-11-17T12:29:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-10T09:25:00.001-08:00

A smashing time in Ilo!

2008-11-10T09:12:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-05T14:50:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-10-25T15:35:00.001-07:00

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!)

2008-10-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-11T15:14:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-03T14:22:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-04T07:02:00.000-07:00

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.