God is Faithful!

Well, I am still here working with the different groups and work teams that come to support the boys' home here in the Sacred Valley of Cusco. I am really enjoying my time with the teams as well as my time to get to know they kids, the workers, and the house family here in Cusco. I arrived last year for just over a week to translate with some of the work teams, but other than that short time, I am just now having the opportunity to deepen relationships and get to know everyone out here.

Last year when I arrived at the Girasoles home here in Cusco, there was a whole lot going on all at once. This is Scripture Union Peru's newest home for abandoned kids. It was opened near the end of March 2008. Hector and Maritza are the house parents for Girasoles Cusco, and at the time that the home opened in March, Maritza was 6 months pregnant. Just a few weeks after the opening of the home in Cusco, she had some major complications with her pregnancy, and she gave birth to baby Marcelo almost a full 3 months premature. Life all of the sudden became very difficult for Hector and his family. In the midst of trying to open a new boys' home, the family was now trying to take care of a new premature baby in a hospital about an hour and a half away from the home.

I know very little about medicine, but ask my sister Mandy. She knows her stuff, and I am sure the she can confirm these facts. Some of the very last organs to develop inside the mother's womb are the lungs, so when a baby is born premature, getting him enough oxygen is a very high priority. This issue was compounded by the fact that the city of Cusco is one of the highest altitude cities of its size in the world, and because the air is thinner, oxygen is even more scarce (elevation of nearly 12,000 feet). I am told that none of the doctors in the hospital expected the baby to live for any long period of time, but they did everything that they could and kept the baby in an enriched oxygen environment for a number of weeks.

Hector's worries did not end with the opening of the new boys' home and with the health of his newborn son. During childbirth, his wife Maritza slipped into a coma due to the problems that surrounded her pregnancy. At one point, the doctors did not know if she was going to live either. For more than a month, Hector and his 3 year old son, Adam, were continually driving back and forth between the boys' home in the Sacred Valley and the hospital in Cusco to visit Maritza and Marcelo.

As I have gotten to know Hector better during this year, I have learned even more about the struggles that the family faced during this time. It was a very dark and difficult period for the family, but Hector has told me how much this situation has taught him to fully rely on God. There was really nothing else that he could do but to trust that God knew what he was doing, and put Maritza and baby Marcelo into God's hands. Thankfully the story ends well. During the time of difficulty friends from all over Scripture Union showed their support. Other house parents and volunteers from some of our other boys' homes stepped up, traveled to Cusco, and helped out taking care of the boys and running the home. A work party that happened to be visiting the home bought the family a small, poratble oxygen tank that made transport to and from the hospital in Cusco much less risky for Marcelo.

THANKS TO GOD, after 15 days in a coma Maritza woke up and quickly came back to good health. Also, Marcelo pulled through after many long, trying nights at the hospital. When I left the home in August, there were 17 boys living at the home. Today that number has more than doubled, reaching the cap of 42 boys at the home here. What a testament to the great work that God has accomplished here in Peru. Hector and his family found themselves trying to begin a new ministry, and they were being attacked in full force by the flaming arrows of the evil one. God is stronger, and he will ALWAYS triumph! Hector remained faithful, and during the times of weakness the body of Christ was there to lift him up in prayer and in providing for his needs.

Healthy baby Marcelo (about 1 year and 3 months old)

God has a purpose, and even in the midst of great trials He is able to work everything for the good of those who love him. The story isn't always one that ends as happily as this one did, but we can rest in the fact that God IS faithful, and He has a purpose and a plan that is more far reaching than we could ever imagine!

The Creator God

As promised, I have another blog entry for you today. This isn't so much an update on my life here as it is an interesting story that I wanted to pass on to all of you. It actually goes way back to the time if the Incan empire before the time of the Spanish conquistadores came to colonize Peru.

To give you a little bit of background about the Inca culture in Peru, it had a very strict organization. The Inka--the emperor--was the only completely free being in the entire civilization. They expanded their civilizations rapidly, annexing smaller indian tribes into the Incan empire. They also imposed their language, Quechua, as the universal language for all of their subjects. The Inka's government regulated almost every aspect of the peoples' lives. There was no personal property, but people were given liscences to use the land. Occupations were predetermined based on the family line and the region where the person lived. No one was allowed to move without the permission of the government, and the government even regulated who one could or could not marry. It is said that the government was so well organized, and the land was so fruitful that it was one of the only ancient civilizations where starvation and poverty was virtually nonexistant. They also are one of the few civilizations that did not employ the use of slave labor.

According to the Incan religion, there are many different gods--all associated with nature. They worshiped the rainbows, the moon, the stars, the mountains, mother earth (Pachamama), and the sun (Inti). Of all of these deities, the sun god Inti was said to be the most powerful of them all. They believed that the Inka emperor was a direct descendant of the god Inti. One day one of the most powerful emperors at the hight of the Incan empire, Pachacutec, decided that he wanted to better become acquainted with his father, the sun. He had his subjects take him down to Lake Titicaca, a huge lake in the high mountains between present day Bolivia and Peru. He spent a number of days alone on one of the lake's many islands, and just observed the sun.

Upon his return to the capital city, Cusco, he decreed to the people that the sun god is not the all powerful being that they had believed. He said that the most powerful God must be free to do as he wants and all powerful, just as on earth the Inka emperor was the only free, all powerful being. But, he said, Inti does not seem to be free. All day he travels the same path in the sky, coming up in the same spot and setting in the same spot. The sun makes no original moves of his own. Pachacutec also stated that the sun does not appear to be all powerful either. Even a mere cloud is able to block its rays from arriving at the earth.

After stating these observations, Pachacutec decreed that there must be some unseen creator God in control of the sun and everything else. In the main temple of Cusco, he had a bunch of gold melted down, and it came out as a formless blob. The Inka decreed that from now on the civilization would also worship this unseen creator God.

What a paralell to Paul's journey to Athens where he found the altar to the unknown God. This story makes me wish that the colonizers might have taken time to learn about the Incas and explain to them who this unknown God really is. They could have told about the real Son, rather than the sun that was presently being worshiped. Unfortunately the thirst for gold and treasure was greater than the desire to spread the true Gospel, and rather than being redeemed, the culture was, for the most part, destroyed. Thankfully, the story here in Peru is not over. God is more powerful than any destructive acts of human beings. Please continue to pray for God's active work of redemption to continue here and around the world!

I'm Back!

Hey everyone...I know that it has been more than one month since my last post, and the goal is not to let that happen again. Being one full month since my last post, I have quite a bit that I can write about. Rather than putting everything all into one long post, I think that I will write a number of short posts over the next week or two. Also, make sure to check out my new pictures from May and June.

I have now switched gears--from working in the schools in Lima to working with American and Scottish short term missions teams who come to support the street boys' ministry that we have here. I have enjoyed the switch and the change of pace, but it is quite busy here. I traveled with my first two teams to one of our boys' homes called Kusi. In the Quechua language that is indigenous to Peru's sierra, the word Kusi is used for three separate English words: (1) Contentment, (2) Happiness, and (3) Joy. The word Kusi also fits very well with the name of our street children program--"Girasoles" or "Sunflowers" in English. In Peruvian culture to label a boy with a name like sunflower has no girly connotation as it would back in the States. The reason the boys here and all over Peru are called Girasoles, we hope that they will turn from the darkness towards the Light, the Son of God just as a sunflower turns to follow the light of the sun as it moves across the sky throughout the day. Only when the kids turn towards the Son can they find true Kusi.

Over the past couple of years that I have had the chance to become familiar with the site of Kusi, and for me personally it has certaintly lived up to its name. I have been blessed with a great friendship of the house parents in Kusi, Angel and Rosa, the scenery is beautiful (at the base of the tallest mountain in Peru), and it is always a joy to work with the kids at the home as well as share the ministery with the different short term groups.

At the base of the mountain near Kusi

After my few weeks in Kusi, I headed straight down to Cusco where we have our newest Girasoles home. It opened just over a year ago in March 2008, and there are already 42 children living here. My job from now through August is to work as the site coordinator here in Cusco. It is up to me to host, translate, and figure out all of the logistics of transportation, lodging, food, and ministry for all of the short term teams. I will talk more about Cusco and the ministry here in later posts. I will leave you with this short video (sorry for the poor quality) of one of the new seven wonders of the world--Machu Picchu! While most of the work teams that come here to Cusco spend a tour day at Machu Picchu, I rarely accompany them. In the case of my first team in June, my friend Polly had planned on going with the group, but then decided that she wanted to meet up with a friend who lives in the city of Cusco during the groups Machu Picchu day. I was happy to take the ticket off of her hands, and enjoyed having a tour day with the work team!

Also, I wanted to leave you with a few prayer requests. As I have talked and emailed with many of you, I have been reminded over and over again that so many people are praying for me and the ministry here. Thanks so much. I continue to covet your prayers.

--Pray me as I adjust to the pace of hosting work teams. The job extends far beyond the regular 8 hours a day, 5 days a week time period. When there is a group here in Cusco, I am almost always on the clock. Pray that God would give me strength to be able to encourage the short-term teams in their ministry. I will be in Cusco full time until August 8, then I have a few week break when my mom, dad, brother, and sister are coming down to visit. And after they leave I have a pretty full schedule with work teams through the middle of October.

--Another difficulty that I have during work team season is that life is very much like a roller coaster. Just as I start to become accustomed to one group of people, they leave, and I start over again. I am very thankful for the other Scripture Union staff that live here in Cusco. They have become good friends quite quickly, and they are a welcomed constant here where life has so many changes.

--Pray for all of the work teams this summer. We are know into the middle of the season, and there are traveling within the country a whole lot. Pray for their health and safety. Pray for God to work in their lives--that they would not go home the same as when they arrived here. Pray also for their ministry be it medical, construction, or with the boys--that their hearts would be overflowing with God's love and that God would use their efforts to further His Kingdom!

Additions to My Blog

Well this week instead of writing a new post, I have dedicated my spare time to writing a new newsletter, and posting pictures online. This post will be short; I just wanted to make you all aware of a few new additions to my blog.

1. I have now posted most of my pictures online. You can click here to view them, or you can use the link at the top of the page. Feel free to download any of the pictures and make comments!

2. I have also added links to download all of my past newsletters on the side bar below my blog post archives. You can click here to download my May 2009 newsletter. You will need some version of Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to properly view the files. Also, I send out these newsletters by email. If you are not on the list, and you would like to be, then just comment on this post with your email, or shoot me an email at bgreenman@latinamericamission.org.

3. You can now subscribe to this blog, and receive an email update whenever I make a new post. Just type your email address in the side bar and click on the subscribe button. You will receive instructions on how to complete the subscription process from there.

I hope these additions will make it even easier for me to communicate with all of you back home. Enjoy the warmer weather!

Twice in One Week!

Well, I have to start this blog entry off with a pat on my back. It is the first time since I have been here in Peru that I have even come close to getting two blog entries posted in one week! This has been a busy week--probably the busiest since I have been in Peru--so there is plenty to write about!

On Monday, I had a chance to take a visitor from England to Kawai. For those of you who don't know what Kawai is, it is one of Scripture Union's camp sites/boys' homes located about 90 kilometers south of the city of Lima right on the Pacific Ocean. I really enjoy every opportunity that I have to get down to Kawai because I have so many good memories at that place. When I traveled to Peru with my church youth group, we would always spend a week in Kawai helping with construction, spending time ministering to the street kids (we would throw a big birthday party for them each year that we came), and doing some work in the local schools. One of the highlights of visiting Kawai was definitely having a chance to visit with the kids and the house parents. I first visited Kawai in 2001. That means that some of the kids that I met at the age of 9 or 10 are now 17 or 18 years old. It is awesome to continue to build on old friendships and to see how God continues to show his redemption through some of these boys' lives!

Juan Carlos 2001

Juan Carlos 2009

For those of you who have been to Kawai, practically everyone there sends their greetings to you. I sat down and looked through photo albums that Raul and Rosa, the house parents, have from past work teams. Know that they continue to pray for the teams who have come through Kawai, and if anyone has a chance, they would love to see you come again!

I spent Monday and Tuesday in Kawai, then I headed back to Lima to continue working in the schools. Wednesday was my busiest day in the schools yet. I had the chance to enter seven different classrooms in three different schools with a volunteer from Scripture Union named Manuel. It was really neat again to just spend time with the kids letting them know that they are loved and that they matter to God. They had all different kinds of questions for me. Here are a few examples:

"Does your family have the swine flu?"

"Why are you so white?"

"Is your house made out of wood?"

"Do you like Pisco Sour?" (A Peruvian Liquor)

"Have you been in any movies?"

These were all real questions that were asked all on the same day. As I already said, it was so great to spend time with them. Sometimes the innocence in their questions for me are refreshing as well :-)

After a full day in the schools on Wednesday, I had a chance to go visit some friends from Indiana Wesleyan that had just arrived in Peru the day before to do some work with a local church in Lima. I was really thankful that they invited me over for that night. It was great to connect with a couple friends from a familiar place. We spent a couple hours hanging out at a friend's house singing karaoke (don't worry; I didn't sing!). We then all headed over the the movie theatre together to see the very first showing of the new X-Men/Wolverine movie. It was a good time, but I have to say that I was slightly dissappointed with the movie. It wasn't bad, but the other X-Men movies are better. As I said goodbye to my friends from IWU, they left me with a few presents from home--Snickers bars and peanut butter! Both treats were welcomed.

Even after a late night on Wednesday, I had to make sure to make it to the office early on Thursday morning for breakfast--mainly because the breakfast was being held for me and another couple from England who just arrived to begin working with Scripture Union in the jungle near Iquitos. It was our official welcoming to Peru! But breakfast was just the beginning of the day. As I mentioned in my last post, this past Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we hosted a camp/retreat for high school juniors from a local Christian school. It was the first camp that I have ever been directly involved with in Peru, and I was glad to come along and observe. The theme for the weekend was "Making Good Decisions." I have to say, this retreat took me right back to my days in senior high at Ward Church. We had crazy games, VERY late nights, pranks were pulled, and we had some good times for discussion and encouragement. While all of the kids came from a Christian school, many of them do not profess Christianity. As we had a fun weekend together, my prayer for them is that they would see beyond all of the religiosity and come to a place where they really meet Christ--his love and his power to change and bring healing that many of them need. I hope to have a chance to be involved in different activities with the same students and the same school in the future. Here are some pictures from the retreat:

Devotions

Breakfast (Early Morning After a Late Night)

Crazy Games (They are a House)

The Guys from My Cabin--Juan Carlos, Johnny, and Christian

I came back from the camp yesterday, but work still wasn't quite over. I got to spend a day in Lima with my first American work team of the year. They were just coming back from the jungle on their way back to the United States. It is amazing how small of a world it is. One of the people who was on this particular team is dating an acquaintance of mine from back home! It was a short time together--just lunch, shopping time in the market, dinner, then off to the airport--but it reminds me how close we are to being at the beginning of work team season. It is coming very fast!

I am incredibly thankful that today I had a chance to take a break from work and rest. I literally had 5 or 6 straight days with less than 5 hours of sleep (some days much less). With that said, I really am loving the ministry down here. Right now I only have the ability to see the short term picture, but I put all of the work that we have done over the past week into God's hands, and I trust that he sees the long term picture. I am confident that God is at work in the lives of the boys in Kawai, the kids in the schools, and the youth who were at the camp this weekend.

Now for some prayer requests:

--That God would continue to work in the lives of all of the kids that we have had a chance to work with over the last week.

--Praise God that my mom, dad, brother, and sister officially have flights booked to come to Peru in August. I look forward to their visit and getting to show them all around!

--That God would protect and bless the group that is down here from Indiana Wesleyan. I am not 100 percent sure what their ministry is, but I know that they are in Lima working with a local church and also in some very impoverished communities until Tuesday. Then they are flying to the jungle to work there for about a week before returning home.

--For all of the work teams that are coming to work with Scripture Union this year. There are a whole lot of small details involved with the organization of each work team. Pray that God would help us to figure out all of these logistics.

Lastly, I just wanted to leave you with a video from my church here in Lima. It is basically just a summary of the week of Servolution that I mentioned a couple of posts ago, and I thought it was really neat to see how God can use the church when we step out into the world with the sole objective of serving and shining his love! Take care everyone. Thanks for reading, and thanks for all of your prayers!

SERVOLUCION from servolucioncdv on Vimeo.