Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Declare his Glory among the Nations (6)
On Sundays, I worshipped at the local presbyterian evangelical church. It is very different to my home church, but I really enjoyed going there and learned a lot. At 8am, there were discussion groups on such diverse topics as the Person of Christ and Cloning. Then at 9am, there would be all-age Sunday school, which signalled the start of that day's broadcasts on local radio and television from the church. The actual service would start at 10am with an hour or singing followed by an hour-long sermon. Even after all this, church might still not be finished. On one of my last Sundays, there were twenty-two baptisms, mainly new adult believers, then the Lord's Supper!
Another Sunday night, we had the Matrimonio Masivo - 12 weddings altogether to allow people who otherwise could not afford it to get married. One couple had lived together as man and wife for fifty years, but it was only once they had become Christians that they realised their need to be properly married in the eyes of God.
Even throughout the week, the congregation continued to be very faithful, meeting twice a week for house groups, with one meeting set aside for prayer and the other for Bible study. (They were going through the Shorter Catechism while I was there.) As over here, we also went to help at the Teens Group and attended the Young Adults group.
After my first week, I helped with a Sunday school for street children in one of the poorest areas of Moyobamba. (The perils of smiling and nodding when you don't really understand led me to agree to teach Sunday school during my time there!) It was great fun - lots of games, stories and songs - but most of all, it was amazing to see how eager these children were to learn about the Lord and to see that many of them have become Christians themselves.
Overall, this was an amazing experience and hopefully a life-changing one. I cannot describe the poverty that some of these families were living in. I have returned realising that, whatever the faults of the National Health Service, we are immensely fortunate to have such healthcare and social security systems.
It has taught me so much more than that though. I was so stressed and so worried before going over to Peru. After all, as I sobbed on my flatmate's shoulder the morning before I left, I was going on my own, I didn't really speak the language, and, worst of all, they have huge spiders in the jungle! It taught me to be completely reliant on the Lord. He knows already what will happen to all of us and, as we follow his will, he will give us that grace and strength to deal with anything as we confess our weakness to him.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
Another Sunday night, we had the Matrimonio Masivo - 12 weddings altogether to allow people who otherwise could not afford it to get married. One couple had lived together as man and wife for fifty years, but it was only once they had become Christians that they realised their need to be properly married in the eyes of God.
Even throughout the week, the congregation continued to be very faithful, meeting twice a week for house groups, with one meeting set aside for prayer and the other for Bible study. (They were going through the Shorter Catechism while I was there.) As over here, we also went to help at the Teens Group and attended the Young Adults group.
After my first week, I helped with a Sunday school for street children in one of the poorest areas of Moyobamba. (The perils of smiling and nodding when you don't really understand led me to agree to teach Sunday school during my time there!) It was great fun - lots of games, stories and songs - but most of all, it was amazing to see how eager these children were to learn about the Lord and to see that many of them have become Christians themselves.
Overall, this was an amazing experience and hopefully a life-changing one. I cannot describe the poverty that some of these families were living in. I have returned realising that, whatever the faults of the National Health Service, we are immensely fortunate to have such healthcare and social security systems.
It has taught me so much more than that though. I was so stressed and so worried before going over to Peru. After all, as I sobbed on my flatmate's shoulder the morning before I left, I was going on my own, I didn't really speak the language, and, worst of all, they have huge spiders in the jungle! It taught me to be completely reliant on the Lord. He knows already what will happen to all of us and, as we follow his will, he will give us that grace and strength to deal with anything as we confess our weakness to him.- Inside the church at a communion service
- The Matrimonio Masivo!
- This monkey was a pet of a neighbour and enjoyed drinking coffee
- Sunday school on my last day
- Fighting a parrot for my camera case!
- The fountain in the main square of Moyobamba
17 Comments:
Keziah,
I respect you for your work in Peru, and with your medical training this allows you to have other opportunities to assist people in non-western countries and present the gospel message.
I was so stressed and so worried before going over to Peru... I didn't really speak the language
Keziah, to be honest I sometimes felt that way when I lived in Manchester.;)
Russ
diverse topics as the Person of Christ and Cloning
I guess this represents two separate topics, but it would be rather cool if it were just the one.
That monkey is so cute!! And I love the massive wedding ceremony... I remember them doing one of those in the "Parque de Amor" (Park of Love) in Lima one Valentine's Day... There were like 100 couples there. :-)
Russ - You lived in Manchester as well as everywhere else? I know the feeling, even over here. There is a strong local dialect where I am so many of my non-Scottish colleagues (or even those from a bit further south) have a really understanding them. I'm sometimes called in as a translator here too!
John - Aargh! Picking up on my bad grammar - and me usually being such a pedant as well! I would change it, but then you'll just look crazy when others come to read your comment...
Ashley - I just needed an excuse to share the monkey picture! I found the wedding an odd experience, but it really serves that community where many of them will have "common-law" marriages.
Hi Keziah,
I have lived in Greater Vancouver and Manchester (2 years). I have visited Scotland a few times to visit relatives, and believe I have stopped at Glasgow Airport a couple of times on the way back to Canada.
Russ:)
Yep, you're brave! :) The massive wedding ceremony...wow! And golly, such long church services--they are very dedicated and on fire--I could learn from them! 22 baptisms?! How exciting!!
I'm sorry, Keziah, I didn't mean to imply anything about your grammar - you listed two topics, and I automatically tried to find a connection between them.
Very fun, interesting posts about your time there! Makes me want to go back. :-)
John - I was just teasing! I hadn't taken it personally! My mother did an English degree while I was at primary school, so punishments were grammar exercises and conjugating French verbs. It was a hard childhood... ;-)
French, now? How many languages do you know?
Emm, a few? I speak English (clearly), Spanish and French but have a smattering of Gaelic and Hungarian too. Neither of these are exactly useful in everyday life!
I can also tell you in German that I am twelve years old (learnt this in primary school) and have two sisters and one brother and introduce myself in Swedish.
Any other languages anyone can share? I'll be needing some Arabic for my trip to Morocco...
Hungarian - is there a Free Church connection there as well? Rabbi Duncan used to be a missionary in Pest. Before it was joined with Buda. :)
If you learn Arabic, then you might as well learn Hebrew, too.
Ich bin neunundzwanzig Jahre alt. But I wish I knew more German - it's starting to become necessary for my studies!
...and I've just looked up Rabbi Duncan on Wikipedia, and discovered he has no entry there. I really ought to do something about that...
There is indeed a Free Church connection there. I travel there a lot as part of my work with a charity. More about that another day maybe? I think you will need to sort out Rabbi Duncan and Wikipedia - I'm surprised he doesn't make it there.
I can't claim to be learning Arabic, but I don't think it's good to go somewhere without at least trying to learn little bits of the language. There's always the image of the British folk just speaking louder and slower - then they'll understand English that way! (?!?)
Why are you reading a lot in German?
There's always the image of the British folk just speaking louder and slower
I'm sure that just applies to English people. The Scots know that no-one is ever going understand them. ;)
There are a couple of articles that look useful to my Honours thesis that are written in German. I guess as one's topic gets more specialised, one needs to branch out in one's reading...
By the way, how do you pronounce your name? KEZiah? KezEEah? KezEYEah?
Apparently (and I say apparently as I have heard numerous people say this about different areas), Scots speak the most English! Not sure really how they decided that.
I am never aware of my accent so thought I didn't have one until I went to London to do a Science residential course while at school. I had barely introduced myself before being told, "Well, you're obviously from Scotland". Bizarrely, if it's pointed out, my accent becomes thicker as I become more conscious of it.
KEZ-ee-ah
I just read through all your posts about your trip. Thanks for the work you put into them. I especially enjoyed this one, as it is very encouraging to hear of the work of the church in Peru. I have also enjoyed these posts because they contain pictures of you! I especially enjoyed the one of you with the baby.
Hannah - I had missed that you had been in Peru. Where were you? Why were you out there? It would be great if you would share some of stories from your time there.
Sherrin - I am so glad you enjoyed these posts. I had so much fun remembering my time there and looking at my photos. Did I look as you imagined? I find that one of the most interesting things about this blogging malarkey - I give people appearances in my head so it is always funny to see what they really look like!
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