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Mission Peru: A History

compiled by Alice Armstrong, 2013

The faces of the Peruvian children attending Bible School at the Presbyterian Church of Santa Clara lit up when they received the Spanish Bible storybooks donated to them by the Women of Westminster Presbyterian Church. The WPC 2013 Peru Mission Team brought duffle bags filled with forty Bible storybooks padded with a generous amount of donated clothing.  This year’s team consisted of WPC pastor Dr. Paul Petersen, trip leader Jim Brady, Alice Armstrong, JoAnn Bristow, Cheryl and Darryl Smith, and Elise Mercer. The Westminster Women of the Church raised the money for the books through the sale of church cookbooks.  Their desire is for the Bible storybooks to be an evangelistic tool as they are distributed to other children throughout the village, in addition to the children attending the church located a short distance up the hill from the Amazon riverbank in the region of Loreto, Peru. In the past, WPC has donated Spanish Bibles to be used by the members of the Santa Clara church. This year the Women of Westminster had a vision of a wider outreach to the non-church member families living nearby and in outlying village areas surrounding the church, as well as the member families of the church.  It is their hope and prayer that God will work to touch the lives of many villagers through the Spanish Bible storybooks. Their vision is that as the parents read the Old and New Testament Bible stories to their young children, the entire family will learn of God’s plan of salvation for them and that they will come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

The Spanish name of the Presbyterian Church of Santa Clara de Ojeal, First Zone is Jesús Manatial de Vida, translated Jesus, River of Living Water. Pastor Germán Ríos and his wife Enith have pastored the church for 11 years. Their primary residence is in the nearby large city of Iquitos, but because the couple spends much time in ministry at the church in the village of Santa Clara, approximately a 25-minute fast boat ride on the Amazon River from Iquitos, they also live part of the week in the pastor’s residence there. In 2003, Westminster began a “Buy a Brick” campaign to raise the money to buy materials to build the home.  In 2004, WPC team members built the home with brick walls that were mudded over and then painted. Pastor Germán is a dynamic preacher who faithfully teaches from the Scriptures, communicating the Gospel message to the congregation. He stays in touch with the WPC pastoral staff through e-mails, and along with Dr. Petersen, helps to guide the planning process for upcoming missions. Enith cares for the needs of the women of the church and also manifests her gift for children’s ministry. She lovingly demonstrates God’s love to the children through her weekly Sunday School lessons. She also plans and teaches the Bible School lessons during the week of WPC’s annual mission trip outreach.

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Mission Peru Outreach

One of the responsibilities of the WPC mission teams each year is to supply and conduct the follow-up craft activities for the Bible School. The children enthusiastically look forward to making something each day to show what they have learned! Another important outreach each year is providing Adult Bible Education. Scripture classes are taught by the Westminster pastor, aided by a mission team member serving as interpreter. Other projects of the different teams through the years have been construction and restoration of structures (the church, pastor’s home, and Sunday School building), painting of the buildings and benches, providing a doctor for medical clinics, implementing a temporary hairdressing and nail salon, and delivering water purification systems. The Downtown Spartanburg Rotary Club gave the initial donation for the water filters and buckets, in addition to providing funds to build a rice peeler mill in the village. WPC then contributed supplemental money for the project, brought the buckets to Santa Clara, assembled them and delivered them. The Rotarians annually purchase new ceramic water filters to replace the worn-out ones. In July the WPC mission team members carefully pack them in their luggage and bring them to Santa Clara.

One of the current mission goals is to not only reach out to the church families but also to tangibly demonstrate Christ’s love to villagers who are not church members.  Therefore, two new projects were begun in July 2013. The men did much-needed repair work on the home of one of the village women who, as yet, does not attend church. She was very pleased with the sturdy new walls that will keep out the rain and give her more privacy. The men were also pleased with a job well done! The women assisted the ladies of the church and other interested village ladies who participated in sewing workshops. Everyone enjoyed socializing while cutting patterns and learning to sew on the two new electric sewing machines (powered by a generator) bought with funds provided by Westminster. There were a total of 16 participants during the four days of workshops. After the final workshop, the mothers and daughters proudly modeled their garments -- lovely blouses and bags for the ladies and dresses for the young girls! With the successful outcome of these two projects, the goal is to continue to expand them in the years to come.

In addition to commissioning and sending a mission team each July, the congregation of Westminster supports the Peru mission in other ways. One of the most important is prayer support. Also, each autumn the members collect items and assemble Christmas gift bags to send to the children. Examples of donated items for this project include necessities, such as toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, shampoo, washcloths, talcum powder, etc. Hard candy is put into the bags, as well.

The bags are delivered by Dr. Petersen during his planning trip to Peru in November. (At that time the pastors of the Amazon churches meet together with pastors and representatives from the supporting U.S. sister churches. Needs are assessed and plans are made for the outreach for the upcoming mission trips.) During Vacation Bible School and/or Fall Festival, the children of WPC also collect school supplies to send to the Peruvian children.

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15th Anniversary of the WPC Peru Mission

The year 2013 is a milestone year for Westminster’s mission involvement in the Amazon River Basin of Peru. It has been 15 years since the mission was begun by then WPC pastor Charlie Horne and associate pastor John White in 1998. In that year the first WPC mission team helped with the construction of the original wooden church. The church building was completed by the second WPC mission team in 1999. Due to extensive termite damage through the years, repairs had to be made to flooring, and the entire front entrance was replaced in 2005. Ultimately, the original church building was torn down, and a new church building (the "templo") was constructed near the same location in 2007. Fortunately, the original wooden doors and window shutters were salvaged and are now part of the new building.

Initially, before beginning its mission efforts, Westminster entered into a process of prayer and discernment. After this period of seeking the Lord’s direction, church leaders made the decision to commit to long-term mission involvement with one church in one location. Thus, WPC established a deep covenant relationship with the church in Peru. This commitment means so much more than planning and implementing projects. It means establishing loving relationships as the Body of Christ. It means worshipping together, growing in faith together, working together, sharing meals together, praying together, laughing and crying while sharing one another’s joys and sorrows—these are the blessings that have grown out of the Lord’s answer to the prayers of His people over 15 years ago. Indeed, of the approximately 150 people who have been privileged to go on the WPC Peru mission trip, most will likely say that being a part of the mission team has been a true gift from God and an unforgettable time of blessing in their lives.

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Amazon Mission Fellowship

In 2002, Pam McAbee McCraw, a member of Westminster, began leading the Peru trips. She says that she knew without a doubt that God was calling her to live in Iquitos and serve His people in that area. She describes it as “a seven-year process” of discerning God’s plan for her there. Through the year 2005, Pam was the leader of the week-long WPC mission groups. In the years 2006-2008, she began spending her summers in Iquitos, and she was elected President of AMF (Amazon Mission Fellowship) in 2007, the same year that the organization was formally organized. Westminster Presbyterian Church is the founder, along with two other churches, of AMF. In 2009, WPC commissioned Pam to become a full-time missionary with a three-year commitment in Peru. As AMF president and missionary, she began visiting and strengthening relationships with the eight Amazon Presbyterian churches. She lived in el Jardín (the Garden), the missionary residence in Iquitos. Medical Missions built el Jardín along with medical clinics and churches. Although Medical Missions of Iquitos continues to oversee the property of el Jardín (which, in addition to the house, now includes a dormitory where the mission groups stay), the actual ministry now is administered by AMF. Medical Missions continues to provide support for the infrastructure.  2019 UPDATE - AMF is no longer an organization but WPC maintains trip affiliation and support through Medical Missions.

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