Puerto Maldonado, Peru -- There we stood, a group of Americans and Peruvians, hot and sweaty after a hike through the middle of the Amazon jungle, coming face to face with a group of men holding machetes.
Our Extreme Peru ministry team was leading a group of 28 short-term volunteers from the U.S. to a community where we planned to conduct children’s outreach activities and hold a JESUS film showing.
Along the way, we reached a spot in the road that was bustling with people, motorcycles and chainsaws. It was an area where gold had been discovered just a few weeks before we arrived. In fact, the trail had not been cut all the way. A new town was beginning to take shape as businesses moved in to support the new industry. A trail was being built to allow more supplies, people and services to inhabit the area and provide a place to support the miners.
Because we'd planned to stop here, we parked the bus and began picking our way along a path riddled with logs, puddles, elephant-sized mosquitoes and mud that threatened to peel our boots off when we stepped into it.
We had hiked for what seemed to be an eternity when we met the men and their machetes.
As they nervously questioned us, it became clear they were suspicious of our presence. They insisted we put away our cameras and refused to let us pass.
They asked for our credentials, of which we had very few to show; just an Extreme Nazarene Ministries name badge worn by one of the volunteers. As they asked our Peruvian pastor, Freddy Zapata, for his credentials, he quickly seized the opportunity. He asked if anyone had a Bible. Someone did. He raised up the Bible and called out, “Here are my credentials!”
With the courage that can only come from God above, he fired off a salvation message that captured the hearts of some of the men standing within the crowd of about 40 people. By the end of Pastor Freddy’s impromptu sermon, the angels in heaven were rejoicing for the nine new believers who made a decision in that clear cut in the middle of the Amazon jungle. What an amazing thing to watch unfold!
This day of ministry was just one of the many adventures experienced by this group of short-term volunteers who came to Peru from Idaho, California, Alaska and Oregon in October to assist Extreme Nazarene Ministries with its development of Nazarene ministry in Puerto Maldonado, one of seven cities in Peru targeted for church planting in the next three years.
The team came to build a missionary house, a church structure, as well as to conduct what we call “impact events,” in which they host activities to minister to the community and make the presence of the Church of the Nazarene known.
The building project is a major part of the job at Puerto Maldonado. This crew worked themselves into the ground trying to get the building to a point where the pairs of long-term volunteer missionaries—who will spend 18 months ministering and planting churches here—would be able to move in on the night of our inauguration, November 3.
The team got it done! The missionary housing was ready on time. Praise God for committed people who were willing to expend immense amounts of physical labor in spite of the sweltering heat and humidity. Thanks go to the Bethel, McMinnville, Lompoc, Oroville, Emmett, and Creswell churches.
During the impact events, we were able to reach numerous kids, parents, prostitutes, concert-goers, athletes and many others. Two of our long-term volunteers, Leanne and Alyssa, held English classes. We had a day of prison ministry at the local women’s prison. During a door-to-door ministry, the testimonies of some of our volunteers were used to reach people in the community. We ministered to a local school by painting their kitchen facilities and running a faith-based art contest and presented a drama at another school. We held a community wide sports tournament and a concert in Puerto Maldonado’s main plaza.
Then, there was the day of fasting and prayer. This was followed by a healing service to which the community was invited. We showed the JESUS film, and hosted activities for kids. To top it all off, we had an inauguration service at the end of everything and invited the whole community. There was no shortage of things to do.
It was so exciting to see was the results. The English classes – some with as many as 30 attendees -- were well received. Each of the two kids’ festivals drew solid crowds of 75-80 people and yielded great results. We had a combined total 55 people make decisions for Christ during these two events, but that was just the beginning.
One evening we sent a small group to a number of the brothel bars. Their goal was just to meet with some of the prostitutes and invite them to a small, safe time of sharing during the next day. They handed out all of our invitations within just a short time. I think most of our group thought it would be a futile effort. I sure did. In fact, we made a backup plan in case none of the ladies showed up to the event. I was wrong. Three ladies and a baby appeared the next day. It was a miracle! The group gave them Bibles and shared God’s love with them. Although I was not present, I heard the stories and was blown away by the results.
We were able to present a hard-hitting skit inside one of the local public schools. We thought the best case scenario would be to perform our skit to a couple of the classes of 30 or so students. It turned out that our audience was the entire student body in one performance. The message was very well received. We collected contact information from over 200 of the interested students so that the long-term Extreme Peru missionaries pairs – each pair a carefully matched team of one Peruvian and one American -- can follow up with a discipleship program and tie these young people and their families into one of our new church plants.
It is exciting to be part of this. The stories are piling up. If you want to be part of some of these stories, come down and join us. We are currently assembling teams for our projects during the next year and a half. If you have any interest in what is taking place down here, and want to join or support a project, whether short or long term, sign up today through our Web site at www.extremenazarene.org.
In His hands,
Scott Englund
-- To read more about the work in Puerto Maldonado, check out the daily reports at www.extremenazarene.org.