Breakfast in San Gabriel

Following the Peruvian Independence day children were on holiday from school so we took advantage to go over to San Gabriel several mornings to work with the families still on the streets and share breakfast. A large game of snakes and ladders kept the children busy until the four teams were 'home' and then we sang songs and had some teaching before prayer and distributing the milk and bread. Rev. David Gonzales was able to come and be with us following his return from Cuba. Everyone was pleased to see him back.
















Last week the local government said they were going to rehouse 20 families, none of the church families were on the list. But after almost a week there has been no further activity and no one has gone anywhere. Please continue in prayer for the 73 families still waiting patiently.

Pat in Perú


Dear All No. 10 July 2006

I decided to write a prayer letter rather than just rely on the blog news (http://www.patinperulatest.blogspot.com) as I know some of you are not able to access that and distribution is difficult.

What a busy few months and with several highlights and low ones also. Probably the lowest was the eviction of the people in San Gabriel. It was a terrible afternoon of sadness and disbelief that their homes that day would be raised to the ground. They still continue on the streets and with little hope that the local or central government will have any kind of mercy in relocating them. They are waiting for the end of this week when Peru celebrates its Independence Day and there is a change of government. If nothing happens then they will abandon the cause and each one go their own way to find another piece of land or rooms to rent, which is a very expensive and insecure option. Continue to pray for them and that I can continue to visit and be a pastoral support to the church families.

One high point has been the Alpha course and this weekend we had the Holy Spirit retreat so I am feeling very uplifted although it was ‘work’! 48 people gathered from 4 Anglican churches for 2 days of teaching and fellowship. It was a lovely time of blessing and seeing God at work in people’s lives. The testimonies were particularly uplifting and on return to Nazareno I encourage one of the participants from our church to share. Praise God! In Jesus El Nazareno we have over 20 who have been coming on a regular basis for the Thursday night course but only 5 participated on the retreat. Pray that we will be able to plan another Alpha course in September and in this way see the church grow and people come to faith or go deeper with God.

Other highs have been the adolescent group which sees these young people coming faithfully each Saturday evening for activities and bible study. Pray for the youth team who lead the sessions. I meet with them each week for planning and training – we still have a long way to go but God is blessing both the youth and the adolescents through this ministry. In May we had an evangelistic youth weekend in the Diocese and 8 adolescents attended from El Nazareno. It is great to see the changes in their lives and several now are in church regularly on Sundays.

Another high is the disabled group. We have had two meetings with Mavis with play therapy and me doing practical things with the mum’s, they have made some very good candles. Pray that some of the women will be able to use this to earn some extra income. I have bought some supplies and am going to give them a small starter kit to get going with.

We are also implementing a therapy room in the home of one of the mothers which is near the special needs school. There is no room in El Nazareno church and it is harder to get to in local transport. We are very grateful to God for answered prayer in Ruth, a Christian therapist, who is going to give two afternoons a week to do therapy with the children. Frania, a young person from the church, has trained as a physiotherapist and will help in this ministry. We have a few more things to do in preparation and then will plan an inauguration ceremony at the beginning of August and get started. Please pray that this will benefit the children greatly and encourage the mothers.

I am also please to say that I finished another assignment for my MA! Again it was
hard going but in the end I really enjoyed it, Holy Spirit in Luke/Acts as compared
with Romans. Although limited with the text books it was good getting into the Bible
and it was also very relevant in the time of Pentecost with sermons to preach and then
the teaching for the Alpha course. I am now back to another hermeneutics module
which is proving to be interesting, so far.

Another high was the possibility to revisit Arequipa after more than a year. I went to accompany Suzanne Potter from SAMS UK and to visit the volunteers there. It was good to catch up with old friends and see the growth and changes in the work there.

The women in AMA (Anglican Women’s Association) had a days retreat in June which was well attended by the different churches. We considered the theme of inner beauty and clothing ourselves with the armour of God. In the afternoon sessions we looked at health and related ‘external’ beauty topics, I gave a talk on style and fashion according to figure etc. Everyone had a good time. We are not meeting as a group at the moment in El Nazareno as most of the women wanted to attend Alpha and were finding it difficult to have two evenings away from family responsibilities. As Alpha comes to an end we will resume the Friday evening women’s meetings and get organised for the next 3 day retreat scheduled for the beginning of September.

Another blessing has been ‘Skype’, sorry for the advertising! This is a communications system from the computer. About a month a go I went inalambric with my laptop and use wireless connection for the internet rather than dial up. What all this means is that I can make cheap phone calls through a head set, less than 2p a minute to the UK or elsewhere. Praise God for this! I have had several calls to my family, longer than usual! Also a few friends have Skype on their computer and the calls computer to computer are free so nothing to pay at all!

Perhaps another low point is to come here in Peru. August sees the departure from Peru of SAMS Mission Partner Mavis Crispin and also USPG Mission Partners Daniel & Pamela Caldwell who have lived below me since they arrived. I think I will find this difficult as we have come to share together and support one another in the various ministries here in the Diocese. It will be hard to loose them all at once. I give thanks for God’s provision that I have regained a friend at this time with Deacon David Gonzales returning to Lima from his studies in Cuba. He is awaiting the Bishop’s return from furlough this week to discuss the next step for his ministry. Please pray for him at this time.


It is hard to imagine that a year ago I was in the UK – how time flies. I am sorry not to be able to go to New Wine again and meet so many friends and contacts and enjoy the fellowship but I know all those attending will have a good time. Look out for the SAMS stall – I have sent some crafts again to be sold. I am due to be on furlough in the UK in January – March next year so I will be in touch with reps and links soon to plan visits.

For once I haven’t run out of space so hope this gets everyone up to date.


With much love and many blessings,
Pat