San Genaro Dos: The Beginning

We are happy to report that the very first Bible study has started in San Genaro Dos.  On the 13th of February, Lili and I made our way to “The Burrito Bar,” owned by an expat in another district.  A woman named Doilith works there, and she also happens to be a resident of San Genaro Dos.  She has become our person of peace (Luke 10:5-6).

For the past couple of weeks, every Friday, Lili and I have been praying through, and pouring through resources to begin developing how we can best outreach to the people.  From a teaching perspective it has been extremely enjoyable to work with Lili because she has such a bright and fresh outlook on teaching the basics about God.  I am always encouraged and refreshed when we have our planning times.

We have made it a point to go in and get to know Doilith and her family.  Just like Pacifico, we have made it a point to love without purpose.  Why?  Because they will know us, who we are, by our love.  

 I wanted Lili to give a little testimony of what happened the first day.  So here it is: 

When Shaun approached me about leading our newest cell group in San Genaro Dos, I was nervous, but very excited.  I was nervous because this has been a very busy year, and I wanted to make sure I had time.  I was excited because I like new things, new challenges, and this would definitely be one. 

 After making the decision and planning with Shaun, I went to Doilith’s house with our intern, Anna.   The plan was to learn about Doilith and her family.  When we arrived, Doilith and her husband Miguel were waiting for us.  We had such a good time with them!  They are very welcoming and direct, so there wasn’t any awkward pauses.  

Doilith was very open.  She doesn’t know anything about God, but she is hungry.  From the beginning she was ready to learn.  Miguel was very different.  He is very open to learn and grow, but it is because he wants to come back to his relationship with God.  He became a Christian when he was 16, but after his teenage years he walked away to do other things.  Now Miguel wants God to change the way he lives.

A lot of times because I am very busy, I can get tired.  But, when I get there or when I pray for them, I get so excited.  They are so desperate to know God, and they can not wait to learn!  I can’t wait to see what God will do in their lives, and in the lives of their three children Marlon, Fransisco, and Brenton.

San Genaro Dos Results

The Prep When we originally planned this event with the people in Pacifico, we knew it was going to take a pretty large sum of work and finances to make it happen.  In a matter of a couple of weeks, so many people from the US and UK donated that we were able to go above and beyond any of our expectations.   To prep the event we were able to get a t-shirt, candy, cereal, toys, hot chocolate, and panetone for every single child that came to the event.  The final number was over 730 children.  On top of the presents, we were able to purchase 50 various gifts for moms and dads.  These gifts ranged from diapers to food boxes to a huge gift basket as the grand prize.

The Arrival When we arrived to the site, we were so surprised by a number of things.  First, the dirt "soccer field" we were supposed to have the stage on was being used for an all day soccer tournament.  "Where were we going to do the event now?"Miscommunication... Right before we arrived, a car full of wealthy people showed up and started passing out random gifts to people.  This caused complete disorder, and definitely had me concerned because of the amount of begging and "mob" attitude that began to take place.  Scary... Then I looked over to a downed concrete post and I did a little jig on the inside.  The post was lined with people from the Pacifico community, waiting for us, ON TIME, ready to help out.  People that I did not expect.  People that had never done any sort of outreach before.  These were people that had become Christians within the past year or so, and they were highly motivated.  Exhilarating...

The Event After having several moments to plan things out with the group, and put on our Christmas hats we were ready to go.  The show started and we began organizing the communities that we were going to reach out to.  As we called the people for each community, it was breathtaking to see leadership qualities begin to come out of these people in Pacifico.  We have always said that they have so much potential, but it has been hidden under generations of being shown and told that they are "less than" their neighbor. At points, because it started to get a little warm, some people in the crowd started to get a bit cranky.  It happens.  However, right when those moments would begin to occur, God's grace would shine through, and a skit would start, or we would do one of the giveaways. As each community was grouped together, we walked around and gave all the mom's and dad's blue tickets which would enter them into the "Blessing Raffle."  As per usual, some people decided to be a bit sneaky, and they were able to get several tickets.  If we chose to focus on it, that could have been a game ruiner.  Yet again, God's grace lit up the day! When we did the drawing for diapers, guess who got the prize?  A mom with a newborn baby.  (The diapers were for a new born).  To fast forward to the grand prize of the day... it was a 45 lb. basket full of food, drinks, etc.  The kind of stuffthat most of these people would have to save several weeks worth of income in order to buy.  We called out the number, we looked around, and one of the ladies from Pacifico started jumping up and down screaming "we won, we won!!!!"  In ourheads we are thinking, "Ok... remember guys, this raffle isn't for you."   Then she moved out of the way and began holding the hand of an elderly woman.  She was by far the oldest lady in the entire crowd.  (The picture you see here was the second oldest Señora in the crowd.) When the crowd saw who won, they started screaming for joy.  All these people that had "lost" began clapping and screaming words of joy for this elderly woman that so clearly needed this basket.  I can't express to you the feeling of knowing what God had just done in that moment.

The Moment Before we began to handout the hot chocolate, panetone, and gifts, Lili stepped up on the stage which was provided for us, for free, by the district mayor.  She picked up the mic hooked up to the sound equipment, also free.  She had drawn up huge posters, with the following symbols: She went through each symbol explaining God's love for us, our sin, Christ coming (the reason for Christmas), His death on the cross, the tomb that could not hold Him because He was resurrected, and the question that each person might have in their hearts and minds. As we have expressed many times before, we are not interested in saying a prayer, patting someone on the back, and saying have a nice life.  So we all stood inanticipation over what God might do in that moment.  This moment, for many of the leaders, would show us exactly what God might have for San Genaro Dos in 2012. There is no other words to describe the moment of prayer, other than to say God's presence fell.  That expression has become quite common, even cliche, in the Church, but for us it was real.  Mark actually stepped a couple of steps back.  God was doing something.  People were loudly crying out to God, unashamed, ready to give their lives to Jesus. Of course there were several people that were more interested in the soccer game or the gift they had just won.  And if you looked at those faces, a moment of doubt or a "why" could creep into our minds.  But then again, all we had to do was look at those innocent little faces of the children, the moms, and the dads that were praying with voices high, asking God to reveal Himself to them as they made the decision to follow Him.

The Giving After each child received their gifts, we were able to give the extras to those that were not a part of the community lists that we had received.  We then packed up everything, and started heading home.  Then a little girl came up to me.  I want to sum up the day with our short conversation. As I waited for Mark to come back to pick me up, I began to watch the heated soccer game taking place.  It had been a good day.  A day that would require a ton of reflection.  As I stared off into the clouds, I noticed a little girl standing in front of me.  She had long hair, light brown skin, a white Peru shirt on, and some gifts in her hands. I smiled at her because she was already wearing the shirt we gave her, which matched her cute little white glasses. She turned her head a little bit and then she said to me, "you know, this year I have double the presents of any Christmas I have had before?" "Really?" I said to her, as I continued to smile. Her head straightened, and her little brown eyes looked straight into my eyes. They were full of thankfulness.  "I just want to thank Jesus for you guys because you came and did this for us." I was so dumbfounded, I had to make sure my mouth wasn't wide open sucking in flies.  I didn't know what to say, for the first time in my life.  My eyes couldn't even tear up because I was so shocked with her words. "How old are you?"  Good.  I got something out of my mouth. "I am eight." Yup, my words were stuck in my throat. "Well, I am about to go now.  I just want to bless you." Then she walked up to me.  She kissed me on the cheek, and began to walk home.

As we sit back and look at "reports" like this, we always feel overwhelmed with the fact that we get to do this. We can not overlook that people like you are such a huge part of the investment that we are making here.  Because of your investment, whether it be through prayer, finances, words of encouragement, or even opening this email, we are able to do what we do.  That is truly not just a Christmas blessing, it is a blessing we cherish year round.

Update on the 2011 Christmas Outreach

This morning was the follow up meeting with the president of 18 little districts in San Genaro Dos.  (If you don’t know what I am talking about “click here.”)  We arrived, and parked our car on a dirt soccer field in which the right side of the field drops off on a steep decline.  We then called the president of the area and said “Hey!  We are here!!!”

“I’m so sorry! I got called into an emergency meeting with the mayor.  We are talking about getting running water!!!  I’m sorry.  But don’t worry, my wife knows everything, she can give all the details.”

So we walked to his house and discovered his wife was not there, so we walked up the rest of the 380 stairs and began to look around.  


Mark, Ronald, Angela and I talked, thought, planned, and then we prayed.  As we prayed, asking the Lord to give us vision, direction, provision, and hope, we saw three beautiful butterflies flying around.  Then, as I typed “butterfly” into my online Bible, knowing there was no such reference, the following verse came up.  It was the only verse that came up.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” -2 Corinthians 5:17

Wow, what encouragement!  This is exactly what we felt God was putting on our hearts for San Genaro Dos.  

So we went down the mountain and began speaking with the president’s daughter, his wife, and their assistant.  They began explaining to us about the area and the needs.  They wanted to know our intentions, and our heart behind our words.  (They had been burnt in the past by people that wanted to come and “help.”)

We started out slow, and explained our hearts and intentions.  We understood their reservations.  It was so good that Angela was there because they saw we aren’t three crazy guys.  (Angela is such a lover of people, you could literally see them forming bonds in a couple of minutes.  To the point of Angela referring to a lady by a nickname that is common in Peru which means “belly.”)

These lovely ladies just opened right up.

Since God was showing us that they really were people of peace, we continued our conversation because there is a ton of planning involved.  To bless 800 children we were going to need to do a ton of work to make the event happen.  We have been asking for miracles over all of this because to Westerners, this is last minute preparation for something that is huge.

Well, today we saw God work.

Today, three woman who didn’t know us at all, are so comfortable with us that they are asking to be involved.

They want to team up with the people from Pacifico and make the hot chocolate.  They want to help pass it out.  They want to make sure the kids are in order.  They want people to know about God.  They want to show us their little work spaces that we might be able to hold celebration services in the future.  

I can’t explain to you how different this experience is, in comparison to anything I have done in a non-Christian context here in Peru.  Very often, when you give something that people want, they want it all.  They are not interested in helping or giving, they are interested in receiving.  And honestly, based off of what we have seen here in Peru the past two years, it’s not a surprise.  “Get what you can get, while you can get it.”  

Not today.

After this meeting it appears we now have a place to hold the outreach, a place to cook the hot chocolate, people to cook the hot chocolate, leaders to help organize the children, a sound system, clean up crew, and fencing to keep the area secure.  Amazing right?

What do we still need?

Your support.

How can you support us?

Through prayer, and if you feel led, financial partnership.

At a minimum, it will cost approximately 9,000 soles ($3,400) to get 800 children a gift, hot chocolate, and bread.  They will hear the gospel this day, and they will laugh, and have their stomachs full of holiday food.  We know that.  God keeps showing us His plan.

What we are asking you, is if you feel like you can help be a part of that!!!  Can you help make an investment with the people of Pacifico, and Oikos Church?

If you are interesting in donating, click here, and then follow the links.  (Type in “Christmas” under the reference form.)  We know it takes a little bit of time, but it will be so completely worth it.

Thank you!