December 15, 2009
Merry Christmas from Lima, Peru!
It is an exciting time to be here at Cristo Rey Lutheran church.
Candles on the Advent wreath are burning brightly. The Christmas trees are up and decorated. The sun outside is burning brightly too. Summer is finally here! The kids are finishing their last week of school, and preparing for final exams.
We are in full-swing helping the families of Vida Nueva congregation with their homework. In the last newsletter I wrote that we are strengthening our relationships with our brothers and sisters in the poor district of Pamplona Alta, by making the journey up the steep, sandy hills several times a week to be in solidarity with them and help their children with their homework. This is really wonderful, and an answer to prayer. We are thankful to Pastor Pedro for inviting us to serve in this way.
I attached a photo of a boy and his grandmother. She speaks Quechua as her first language, and doesn’t know how to read and write in Spanish (Figure 3). As she entered the church in Pamplona Alta she said to me, “Please help my grandson with his school work. He doesn’t have a father or a mother, and I can’t help him with this math.” It turned out I couldn’t help him with his math either. It was too hard for me. But thankfully Elena, who is in her 70’s, made it up the hill, and is as sharp as a tack, and could tutor him well. A total of nine folks from Cristo Rey have been involved in tutoring.
A team of young missionaries from Brazil and Venezuela came to Peru, travelling around the country for 6 months, sleeping in churches and giving their testimonies. They stayed in Cristo Rey for two weeks in November, and filled our lives with music, dramas, preaching, hip hop and Brazilian dancing! We are so thankful for their spontaneous visit. They have revived our youth group. God is good. They hiked up the hill with us to Pamplona Alta too, with their guitar and tambourine. (Figure 4)
A wish come true is that we now have a big, bronze bell! It is an antique from the 1800’s, and very heavy. The church wants our existing building to “look more like a church” so they decided a steeple was appropriate. (Figures 1 & 2). Tom my husband, and Luis from our church, are an architect and a structural engineer. They have designed a bell tower and taken the plans to the municipality to get permission to begin construction. Rocky and his dad Patricio are bricklayers. They will soon be busy on the roof! It will be an exciting morning when the bell is rung for the first time to call the whole neighborhood to worship.
God bless you. Thank you for your love and your prayers. Happy New Year!
En Cristo,
Pastora Dana
Nelson-Ososki Family (Tom, Dana, Tana, Anthony)
Congregación Evangélica Luterana “Cristo Rey”, Calle Conde de Nieva 237, Urb. La Virreyna, Surco, Lima 33, Peru. Phone number: 51-1-278-0169 (church).
Figure 1 - Bell Tower Figure 2 – Cristo Rey Building
Figure 3 - My grandson has math homework Figure 4 – Tambourine