Mission – Ministry – Life
Anticipating a quiet month was clearly a mistake. It’s true that we have been focused on just getting on with various aspects of the work, but things are never straightforward in the jungle. So what does a normal week look like? A significant part of Neil’s week is devoted to developing the training course. As... Continue Reading →
I (Lori) woke expecting a productive day today. I got up and even did some exercise before breakfast. But the local government in Nauta had other ideas and declared a 3 day strike. So instead of the fruitful day envisioned, it has looked more like this: Unlike last week’s strike when life continued as normal,... Continue Reading →
Tripe soup for breakfast? Welcome to the Peruvian Baptist Assembly; a gathering of people from the 160 churches that make up the Convencíon Evangélica Bautista del Perú. For those readers used to English Baptist life the format is a mix of the UK Baptist Assembly and BUGB Council. We arrived Tuesday afternoon and left Friday... Continue Reading →
It’s been a busy start to the New Year. As soon as we arrived back we had the first training week of the year; the first of our new course. ‘New course’ suggests we are further into course redesign and development than we are. In reality we are still making it up as we go... Continue Reading →
Over the last few months I’ve begun to understand the scale of the challenge to develop a new training course for pastors and church leaders. Every learner brings things with them. We all have experiences of life & learning; we all have motivations for learning and all of us are affected by the cultures we... Continue Reading →
Concluding the Christmas celebrations and launching into the New Year is a time to look forward. I’m not making resolutions, and with all our life changes I’m not making any predictions either, but here are some hopes for the year ahead: Language: It’s unlikely I’ll become fluent but I hope my recall of grammar and... Continue Reading →
Smiling faces on social media, upbeat prayer news and encouraging reports of God’s provision…..Our first three months in Peru have been a positive experience but have also shown us that ‘missionary’ life is harder than it looks: Things take longer. I read a blog a couple of months ago entitled “today I made a copy... Continue Reading →
Being woken by petrol driven power tools at dawn seems normal after a while. Whether that’s our neighbour cutting wood with a chainsaw or Pedro, the maintenance guy at the centre cutting the grass with a strimmer at 5:30am. Nauta has its own charms and is starting to feel like home. We’ve also started to... Continue Reading →
It’s been a fascinating few days (for Neil). When a pastor seeks accreditation by the Baptist Convention one of the final steps is an interview by the other pastors. So, one afternoon, I found myself on a 40 minute moto (motor bike taxi) from Iquitos to a small community where, along with a number of... Continue Reading →
Lori writes: We’re back in Nauta. Back in the relative familiarity of the jungle and, until a month ago, the only part of Perú that we were acquainted with. What was it that made Arequipa feel so odd during our first few weeks there? Why did we feel so much like fish out of water?... Continue Reading →
Distinct Reflections 