IFESi 2010 Peru Last updated: 25-07-2010 Team members: Rachel Logan, Jonathan Douglas, Shane Casey, Carla Cassidy, Heinz Engela, Lisa Fulton, Stephanie Kingston, Chloe McGovern and Emma Sly Report 4 : 24/07/2010 Hi All!
We are all so sad that the end is drawing near, we have finished work and are now on our 3 day holiday. We are very excited about going to the Sacred Valley and then onward to Machu Pichu in the next two days. It is Shanes 21st birthday so we are celebrating that today! We had a small party last night with the Peruvians, and we will be celbrating it as a team today with his favourite food Pizza!
We had a fantastic week working in the universities. God was so faithful and we could really see him at work in the lives of the students on the campus. Our prayers were so well answered, it was so encouraging for the whole team. Over 100 students came on the first day to our Bible study that we did. There was such an interest and some lecturers arrived to discuss our topic for the study of, Is there life after death? The students had many deep and complex questions about faith but God really gave us the right words and verses to share with them. Some of the students asked to become Christians, and it was great being able to give them information about AGEUP (the Peruvian equivalient of IFES) so that they have people to follow up with and be supported by. Some of the students came to our party last night aswell.
We also attended Elaina's (the lady who runs the house where we stay) baby shower. It was really fun, and the highlight was probably Heinz and Carla attempting to dress a babydoll blindfolded with one hand each. We had a great time of sharing with Eli and Elaina last night, gifts and words were exchanged and we prayed for one another.
Please pray for the team holiday and that the journey home will be hastle free. Praise God for such a great week working on the campuses too!
Love the Ifes team!!
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Report 3: 17/07/2010 Hi All!
We have had such a great week again. It was very tiring though. We spent the weekend at different churches in Cusco, and preparing for Ushphabama. It was such an adverture staying over in Ushphabama, we had to pack so much clothes, food and bring all of our sleeping stuff. It was a tight squeeze in the bus on the way there and even funnier on the way back as we piled ten mattresses on top of the bus!
On Monday there was a lot of confusion. A village meeting was called to discuss what work we would do in Ushphabama, and it was in Quechua which meant we were completely in the dark about what was being discussed, but the body language was rather hostile. We were able to talk to the village leader afterwards and smooth out any tension, while agreeing to fix the broken floorboards in the library, build a slide and two see-saws.
We were so encouraged on Tuesday morning when over twenty of the local women and men turned up to help us with the work. The women even cooked us food, bringing an entire lamb over to make us soup. It was great fun working alongside the people, they were very funny and had a great time laughing at the girls doing some of the hard physical labour. The slide was such a bigger project than any of us had anticipated. Half of our team, Chloe, Carla, Heinz and Jonathan where sent right up to the top of the mountains in an open truck where we dug out rocks and literally rolled them down the mountains. It was rough work lifting all of the rocks into the truck and unloading them the other side. The slide was made entirely out of rocks and cement. There was also time at the end to build a pathway of steps from the playground up to the library as this had been a very steep hill.
Our team was able to bond closer during our stay in Ushphabama, it was incredible staying out late at night looking at a sky just completely covered in stars. Emma and Stef even got up to look at the sunrise over the mountains. It was sad to say goodbye to the peole of Ushphabama, we prayed for them and they told us that they had really enjoyed having us there.
Since then we have been at a Mission Conference. Heinz presented at powerpoint presentation to the congregation about what mission is like in Ireland as a whole, and within our universities. The Peruvians were very interested and asked us many questions about what the church looks like and how people in Ireland respond to God in Ireland. We also led some worship during the conference. Jonathan, Emma and Shane led a devotion on the second day of the conference. Unfortunately not many people attended the conference.
Shane was sick last weekend and unfortunately missed staying over in Ushphabama, praise God that he has recovered and that the rest of the team is in full health.
PRAYER POINTS:
Please pray for next week. We are going to be doing evangelism in the university campuses. Pray for us as we prepare. Also pray that students hearts will be open to recieve Christ. Pray that there will be no trouble with entry to the universities and for effective communication.
Pray for Stef, as she will have a lot of translating to do and is quite tired after a huge amount of translating at the conferences.
Praise God that everyone is in good health and that we would continue to stay healthy. Praise God that team relationships are strenghtening and that we are being challenged and growing from one another.
Pray for relationships between the team and the family where we live, as there has been some confusion about plans in the past week. Pray for patience and peace between us, so that we can live together in love.
Lots of love,
The Ifes team,
Shane, Chloe, Jonathan, Carla, Heinz, Emma, Rachel, Lisa, Stef!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Report 2: 12/07/2010 Wow! It's been such an incredible week here in Cusco for the Ifes team. We have been busy at work in Ushphabamba all during the week. Ushphabama is such an amazing small village nestled way up in the Andes. We have to get two buses there and the journey is over an hour, but the scenery is absolutely breathtaking as we weave out way up the mountains. Over the week we have sanded and painted the library. We have transformed the room by giving it bright cheery yellow walls. Next week we hope to fix the floorboards in the building. The library caters for 46 children who go there after school to do activities, learn and do their homework. We also painted the playground during the week. Next week we will be installing a slide and a see-saw and fixing the monkey bars. We are trying to get to know the community of Ushphabamba, so we have been helping them out on their farms during the week. It is tough work digging and planting but it has been a very humbeling experience. We are hoping to deepen our relationships with the lcoals next week as we will stay over night in their community. We will be sharing our testimony's and hopefully engaging with them through drama and worship. We have been actively involved in many church services during the week. We performed the scene of Jesus calming the storm from Mark 4 and led a worship song at evangelican churches last weekend. We also had the priveledge of going to a youth service on Tuesday night. Eli, the man who runs the AGEUP house where we live was preaching about temptation, so we did a drama that related to this for the congregation. We have been growing so much closer together as a team during the week. We have had a chance to share some of our testimonies with one another. Our team have decided to study the book of Galatians over our four weeks, and Jonathan led us through our first section of this during the week. Unfortunately Lisa was quite sick during the week. Praise God that she is feeling better. PRAY POINTS:
* Please pray for the team as we stay over night in Ushphamamba next week. Pray for safety and good health as hygiene conditions are poor and it will be extremely cold at night.
* Pray for the people of Ushphabama, that their hearts will be open and that they will be impacted by our presence and outreach. Pray that we may be able to form relationships with them and that conversation may happen.
* Pray for the church services we will be involved in this Saturday and Sunday.
* Please pray for Stephanie as she continues to be our team translator.
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Hola! The ifes team has now settled well into our house in Cusco. The flight from Ireland to Peru went as smooth as it could, with all of the flights running on time. We spent our first night in Lima city, where Simon from Latin Link gave us an orientation on the work that we would be doing and the culture of Peru. The following day we spent exploring Lima. Two students brought us to their Christian Union where we got to hang out and watch videos with them. They were very hospitable, making us hot dogs and coco! It was great to be able to chat to them and see what a Peruvian Christian Union is like.
We barely had time for our heads to hit our pillows as we were up and on the go at 3 a.m to catch our flight from Lima to Cusco. Lisa, Shane and Stef were on a later flight but we all met up with no problems in the house in Cusco. We rested on our first day so that the effects of alititude sickness would be minamalised. Thankfully none of us had any major side effects with only the odd headache or two which have since subsided.
We have all been struck by the beauty of Cusco. It is surrounded by majestic mountains and has such character which its small stone cobbled streets. We have explored a small bit, getting our bearings on the city. We have met the two Latin Link families that are also based in Cusco. It was really interesting and encouraging to hear about the projects they are involved in and to chat to them about Peruvian culture.
Yesterday we went with Roderigo and Alder, two college students to the university campuses to get a feel for where we will be doing evangalism in a weeks time. The Universitiy is bigger than any in Ireland, it even had a small zoo in it for the zoology faculty and has over 36,000 students.
Today we have been busy traslating testimonies, practicing worship and preparing a drama for the church services we are going to tonight and Sunday morning. Next week we will be commuting to Ushpabama where we will begin to work on restoring the playground, painting the library and building toilets facilities. Stef and Rachel took a trip up there today, and met some of the locals.
Some prayer points for the team:
• Praise God we made it safely here and that no one suffered from altitude sickness.
• Pray for the church services that we will be going to over the following few weeks, that we can have a positive influence.
• The children and work in Ushpabama that we will encounter. Pray that we will be able to have good conversations with the local people.
• The family in the house where we live. Pray for Eli, the father who is sick at the moment and his wife who is heavily pregnant. Pray also for a positive relationship between our team and the family.
• Stef, our team translator. Please pray for energy and effective communication. Love from,
Carla, Chloe, Stef, Shane, Rachel, Jonathan, Heinz, Lisa and Emma!
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All the team have now made their way to Cusco, and arrived there safely on 30th. They are settling in well so far.
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The team arrived safely in Lima on 28th June, and they are glad to report that their luggage did too! They plan to travel to Cusco on 30th and more information will become available once they have settled in there. Please pray for them as they adjust to their new surroundings and bond together as a team. |
