SAM in Lima Grows

A few years ago there were no SAM missionaries living in the capital city of Peru. Lima is home to 1/3 of the population of Peru and yet there were no active SAM ministries here. In the past 2 years 5 SAM families have moved here and now call it home. Last weekend we hosted all the families over to our place as our executive director Kirk Ogden and our field director Dave Simmons was in town. We had a great visit and what a joy it is to see how the Lima field is growing!

We took a group shot too, but before 2 national team members arrived (Alex and Elke Chiang). You can see them above  at the table on the left.

Iglesia de la Ciudad (City Church)

One aspect of the Lima Initiative is church planting, and the church plant we are currently involved in is called Iglesia de la Cuidad. Right now we are meeting in a home every Sunday evening, and we hope early in 2017 to begin a second home church, still a part of the same church movement, but a different cell group.

There's an average of 30-40 people each Sunday night as we worship together, hear from the word, and share a meal.

Here are a few pictures from our Sundays together.

This was a worship service at the end of August when we met in a hotel conference room.

This is the home we typically meet in on Sunday nights.

The TOM (Taller de Orientacion del Ministerio......Ministry Evaluation Workshop)

Last week we packed some bags to leave for a conference/retreat/workshop thing that we didn't know much about going into it. Leading up to these days away from home, we toiled over what to do with the kids. In the end we decided to leave them here with a sweet friend of ours, Maria, who also works at the SAM Guest House on the other side of Lima. The kids love her, she loves them, and though it was hard to be away from them, now in retrospect and seeing what those days were like, it was the best choice. 

This was a workshop/evaluation put on by City-to-City out of Tim Keller's church Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC. There have been several of these in Mexico, but this was the first one in Latin America outside of Mexico. There were 10 couples in all being evaluated, 7 from the Lima area, 2 from Pucallpa, and 1 from Ayacucho. The group of evaluators consisted of several MTW missionaries, and other Latino pastors and missionaries associated with City-to-City. 

We all arrived without a clue as to what those days would bring. There had been an extensive application including 2 psychological tests (in Spanish) and there was an anxious curiosity amongst all of us of whether we would be told we were apt or not for church planting ministry. 

Those days were comprised of less of lectures and mostly of group activities and interviews while being observed by the evaluators. 

We enjoyed getting to know the people who attended as well as some of the other SAM missionaries that were attending. In the end the observations shared with us we were already aware of (strengths and weaknesses) but we were encouraged by the affirmation that we were given. 

Here are some pictures from the week:

Group shot of evaluators and attendees

Farewell (A M A Z I N G) lunch

SAM Missionaries with SAM executive director Kirk Ogden and City-to-City representatives Andres and Ruth from Mexico.

PS.....the kids did very well without us...this mama probably missed them more than they missed me! :-)