Christmas Around the Corner

I can't believe how fast this year has flown by! It seems like just yesterday that I was helping out with our January summer camps on the beach. This year I have been busier than ever, and I am so blessed to be a part of Scripture Union's ministry here in Peru. Apart from the camps at the beginning of the year, I have also continued to support the work at our boys' homes across the country (two of which are brand new this year)! I have taken some sign language classes and participated in our ministry for the deaf. I have traveled with Pastor Emilio to help in the distribution of Scripture Union's daily devotional guides. I have hosted numerous short-term missions teams that have helped with construction and maintenance of our homes, medical outreach ministries, vacation Bible schools, and so much more! If you want to learn more about my work here in Peru, I encourage you to visit my new LAM missionary profile by clicking here. You will find more general information about me as well as a link to my most recent pictures.

Now we are approaching the Thanksgiving season. Most of us will take a moment to stop, reflect, and thank God for the blessings that he has given to each of us. We serve a great God who is worthy of all our thanksgiving! He freely gives us his love even though we are all undeserving of it. God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to those around us.

This year we are once again raising funds to provide a nice Christmas dinner and gifts for the children in each of our homes. While many people enjoy family time this season, many of our boys are reminded of the family that they never had, or worse--the family that didn't want them. While the boys are in our care we take our calling very seriously. We are their family, and we want to show the children that they do have value. We want to be reflections of the Father's love in their lives.

If you are interested in supporting our efforts, then please click here for our full letter with further information on how to partner with us. If you have any questions, always feel free to email me (bgreenman@latinamericamission.org).

Girasoles Christmas in Ica

In addition to financial support, we would greatly appreciate your prayers. Below are a few prayer requests:

- Construction is underway at our Cusco home that washed away. Pray for the project to run smoothly so that our boys can move into their new permanant home as soon as possible.
- Scripture Union will have a new general director at the beginning of the new year. Pray for the transition process, and pray for wisdom for our new leader.
- Pray for our schools ministry. This work is expanding, and we are hoping to start schools work in new regions of Peru's jungle and mountains.
- My parents are coming to visit Peru for Thanksgiving this year. Pray for a safe and healthy trip. Pray for quality time with my family this coming week.

Yems

Yesterday morning I found myself sitting in a small office as I was anxiously waiting to meet Yems, one of the children who I have been sponsoring through Compassion International for a few years. What will the day be like? What are we going to do? I hope he enjoys the day. I have been living in Lima for two and half years already, and I figured that I needed to take advantage of the fact that Yems and I are living in the same city. I contacted Compassion in the States, and they were more than happy to set everything up for me.

Yems and his mom walked through the door, and they were presented to me by some of the staff workers here in Peru. It was a surprise to them that I was able to speak Spanish. They were worried that it would not be very easy to communicate through a translator. We had a really nice day. I was able to take them out to the "Parque de las Leyendas," a very large zoo / archeological attraction here in Lima. After our very full morning at the zoo, we went out to lunch. As we walked around I had the opportunity to learn more about his family and his dreams. Yems wants to study to be a translator. He wants to learn English and Italian. He also really enjoys art. Time flew by, and before we knew it, it was time to say our goodbyes.

Throughout my travels in Peru I have noticed a similar quality in many people here who are living in poverty--they often don't believe in themselves or think very highly of themselves. In a way they begin to accept their place in society. They begin to accept that they are sub-par human beings. One of my greatest joys in life is to help people recognize those lies and to tell them about the hope that they have in Christ. In Christ we are heirs to the throne (Gal. 4:6, 7), we are free from condemnation (Rom. 8:1), and we are more than conquerors (Rom. 8:37). I was greatly blessed by the opportunity to spend time with Yems and his mother yesterday. It was a perfect opportunity to affirm them and build them up, to encourage Yems in his studies, and to remind them that they are loved.

Yems, his mother, and I

A Life Transformed!

Wow, this summer (or winter here in Peru) has flown by. So much has happened. Since the end of May I have hosted 10 different work teams from the United States and Scotland. I have been all over the country to our various boys' homes, and I even made it to Quito, Ecuador for a few days to translate a wedding for my good friend Katie. I have been busy hosting teams, translating church services, helping out with some construction projects, coordinating VBS programs, translating for medical doctors, and sharing the work of Scripture Union with all of the visitors that have come. It has been such a great blessing to be a part of, but last night something extraordinary happened that will stand out for me as a highlight of my summer and of my entire time here in Peru thus far.

I actually want to backtrack a little bit before I get to everything that happened yesterday evening. At the beginning of June I was visiting Kusi with a work team. As is customary here in Kusi, we have a bonfire with the group and all of the boys near the end of the group's time in Peru. It is a great moment of fellowship with each other. We sing praises in English and in Spanish, and anyone from the group or any of the boys that live here are free to stand up and share a testimony of what God is doing or what he has already done in their lives. I was sitting at the dinner table with Miguel, one of the boys who lives here at Kusi. I asked him if he had anything that he wanted to share with the group. He thought for a minute, and he said to me, "Not tonight, but when the last group comes in August I will share my testimony."

I left it at that, wondering if he really meant that he wanted to say something in August or if it was just his indirect way of saying that he didn't want to share anything in front of the entire group, hoping that it would be forgotten before August came around. I would just have to wait and see.

"I am going to give my testimony to the group tonight at the bonfire. You are going to translate for me, right?" Miguel said me yesterday morning. I had been wondering whether or not he was going to say anything for the last two months. It turns out that he did have something that he wanted to share, and I was excited to see what he had to say to the group. But come dinner time Miguel approached me again. He said, "Billy, I don't think I can share tonight, but I promise I will the next time a work group comes, and we have another bonfire." I told him that no one is pressuring him, and that we are happy to hear what he had to say when he was ready to say it.

We finished with dinner, and put on all of our warm clothes on to head out to the fire. On my way out, Miguel approached me one more time. He told me that Angel, the house father here at Kusi, had also approached him and asked if he wanted to share anything. Once again, he changed his mind and decided to share. We sang a few songs, and a few other people shared testimonies of God's work in their lives first, and then it was Miguel's turn. I have known Miguel for a number of years, and I know that he has passed through some very difficult moments in the streets, but I had no idea what he was going to share. He stood up beside me so that I could translate, and he began to speak to the group of 20 Americans and his 40 other brothers here in Kusi:

"My story starts when I was six years old. I lived in the town of Tingua, and my older brother abandoned me on the streets. I spent my time on the streets. I went wherever I wanted to go, and I did whatever I wanted to do. Two years later when I was eight, I came to the town of Yungay. I found my brother here, but he abandoned me again. I continued to live on the streets until one day I met a lady named Liz. She approached me, and asked me where my family was. I told her that my mom, my dad, and my brother had abandoned me, and I didn't have any family. She was the one who told me about Kusi, and eventually I came here.

I lived here for a couple of years, but it was really hard for me to get used to life here with all of the rules. They were hard to follow, and after a year or two I began to think about leaving and going back to the streets. I convinced myself that the freedom I had on the streets was something that was good for me, so I left. I went back down to Yungay, and I began to rob to make a living for myself. I also worked on a transport route going from Yungay to the town of Yanama on the other side of Huascaran. Sometime I worked all day and all night. I rented a room for myself in Yungay, but after the first month I left without paying the landlord. I found other friends in the streets, and we continued to steal. One day my old landlord found me, and confronted me with what I owed him. I told him that I would pay him when I had the money, but I wasn't really planning to ever pay him.

Then the day came when I stole something, and I was caught. I was taken to the police station. I told them that it wasn't me, even though I knew that it was. I was there for awhile, and then eventually they got in touch with papa Angel. They called him and asked him to come down. They wanted to send me back to Kusi. Angel came, but I really did not want to come back here. They left me to think about it for five minutes, and I began to reflect on my life. I thought about where my life would end up if I didn't come back. I agreed to go.

I have been back for one year now, and I am thankful for my family here in Kusi. I ask you all to continue to pray for me because tonight I want to make the decision to give my life to Jesus."

Miguel broke down in tears along with many of us who were listening. We prayed with him, and celebrated by breaking out the marshmallows to roast over the bonfire. What a beautiful story of God's redemption and the seed planted years ago that has finally come to bear fruit in Miguel's life, and what courage Miguel had to share the Holy Spirit's work in his life to such a large group of people! The truth is that Miguel just chipped into the tip of the iceberg as he told us of the pain and suffering that he has experienced. He has passed through some situations that would be hard for most of us to even fathom. But that is now all in his past. In Christ he is a new creation. The old is gone; the new has come!

Please join me in rejoicing in the work that God has done in Miguel's life, and the work that he continues to do in the lives of the boys in all of our programs throughout Peru. Pray that Miguel would grow in his new faith and that God would place people in his path to encourage him and help him to move forward.

We closed the evening by singing these words last night. I think it is an appropriate ending to this blog entry as well:

"Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye Heavenly Host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen."

Scripture Union Peru Videos

It is hard to believe that April has already come and gone. Time here in Peru is flying by. April was a great month for me. I enjoyed celebrating my birthday with friends in Lima, I have enjoyed my continuing sign language classes, and I have really enjoyed having a little bit more time to get involved in my local church here in Peru. I have made some new friends, joined in on a service project to paint a school for children with special needs, participated in the recording of my church's live worship CD/DVD, and I have begun translating some of the Sunday morning services from Spanish to English. No, I don't translate in front of everyone, but each week we have a few English speaking visitors that would like to know what is happening during the service. They are given headphones, and I speak into a microphone in the back of the room that transmits to their headphones. It is a little bit more challenging than translating up front because there are no pauses for me to jump in and translate. I have to do it simultaneously. It is great practice, though, and it is a joy to be able to serve my local congregation. You are welcome to look at my pictures from the last few months. Just click here or look for them on Facebook.

Painting the School

I have also kept busy with Scripture Union. Last week our international relations team had an opportunity to meet with our board of directors. It was a good chance to talk about different ideas and visions that we have as well as a good opportunity to become better acquainted with the board. The week prior to the meeting was full of preparations for our presentation to the board, and I think that our work and preparation paid off.

In many ways the month of May is kind of the quiet before the storm. Our first work team arrives on May 22, and we will hit the ground running. I will be with teams almost nonstop between then and mid August in different parts of the country. Right now it is all logistics. Booking hotels, buses, and figuring out budgets. Thankfully my friend and colleague, Rachel, is in charge of most of these logistical details. She does a great job, and I am around this month to give her an extra hand where need be. Please pray for us as we make preparations this month. Also pray for all of the teams who are preparing to come and partner with us. Pray for the volunteers who will be coming to help host the teams and all of the full time SU staff who will be involved with the short term teams.

If you are interested in getting to know a little bit more about SU Peru, then I encourage you to look at these two videos below. The first explains our general work and the different options for work teams that come down. The second shows a little bit of our medical ministry on the Amazon River. If you are interested in work teams or medical missions, give me an email (bgreenman@latinamericamission.org), and I will get you more information.

Work Teams

 

Amazon Hope

"Abandoned" and How You Can Help

Lev Mergian is a friend of mine back from my days at Ward Church's youth group. He and I traveled together on a number of short term trips with church, and they were trips that opened our eyes and changed both or our lives. For me, God used the short term trips to solidify my long term calling to Peru. For Lev, the trips inspired him to film a documentary about the street children here in Peru to open the world's eyes to such an important social issue.

He has already done the filming, and is now in the process of raising money to cover the costs of producing the documentary. I encourage you to take a look at his page on kickstarter.com and consider being a part of this documentary. The funds raised will be used to hire translators, transcribers, colorists, editors, sound designers, licensing, multi-media formatting, and composers. It will also fund the submission fees to enter this picture into as many film festivals as possible. Below is the trailer for "Abandoned."

You can learn more about the documentary and donate to this project by clicking here.