Are You Called to Extreme Peru?

Click the picture to watch the video:

We are currently looking for more 40/40s. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or Mike.

Our Phone Number

Oh, and just to let all of you know, our home phone number (based out of Eugene, Oregon) is officially set up. For those of you who don’t have it and would like to have it, please email me. I’d rather not post it on the internet, but yea! We are happily becoming settled in our new home.

La Iglesia del Nazareno

Almost every Sunday so far we’ve meant to bring our camera to church, and every Sunday so far we have forgotten it. But not today! We can finally give you a glimpse of what our weekly church activities look like:

Sunday School officially starts at 10:00; however, it is South America….After showing up at 10 the first few weeks and waiting for anyone else to show up for 15 more minutes, we now begin our trip to church at 10. :)

Here is me (Sydney) in front of the church:

Here’s our Sunday School class. There is one class for adults, one for teens, and one for kids.
On the right are the 2 bathroom stalls, completely open to the world. They are on the roof of the building, and girls and boys share. It’s only a little awkward…

On the roof, on the other side, are some classrooms:

Stairs up to the roof:

There are a couple other Nazarene churches in town, so not all of us on the Extreme Team go to this church. Scott & Teri Englund with their 2 daughters, Kayle & Emma; Brad & Michelle Hunt with their son, Tyler; Andrew Kendall; and Mike & I all go to this church.

I don’t know about the others, but for Mike and me, this is honestly a difficult part of our week. We love going to church and fellowshipping with other Nazarenes, but the actual sermon part is quite difficult for us. Local Peruvians say that this pastor is harder to understand (oh great), and then adding a microphone in front of his mouth makes it even more difficult. Every Sunday we get a little more out of the sermon, but not much. We are certainly improving weekly in our language studies, but for some reason, it’s just more difficult at church. So, please remember us in your prayers as we continue to understand and grow as a part of our new church. We have also started to listen to Pastor Les’s sermon back home in Eugene every week. We are so thankful that his sermons are now posted on the website!

Here’s during worship time. Can you find Mike? …
This happened to be our first Sunday when the pastor was out of town. We understand that he was at a Nazarene seminary (either student or teacher) in Chile. We didn’t really catch all of it…So anyway, I don’t have a picture of him or his wife, but I’m sure I will in the future.

Here is a picture of me and 2 ladies. The middle girl is the pastor’s daughter and also the music leader.

The First Four 40/40s

Here's an update on the Extreme Peru Project, written by Mike!

The first of the 40/40 missionaries arrived in Arequipa recently. (From left to right, they are Wendy Sheets, Callie Pugel, Andrew Kendall, and Olivia Meyer.)The 40/40s are the backbone of the Extreme Peru project. Everybody that is involved in Extreme Peru, from leadership to administration to short term event at tender to financial supporter, is ultimately contributing in support of the 40/40s.

Each of these four new 40/40s will spend the next 3 months in Arequipa at the language school. From Arequipa they will then spend 3 months in Pucallpa, Peru for missionary training. After Pucallpa they will move to their final destination, Puerto Maldonado, Peru. There they will be assigned to church planting activities and ministering to the large population of prostitutes in the area.

Upon arrival in Puerto Maldonado each of the four 40/40s will be partnered with a native Peruvian counterpart. Each pair (1 foreigner and 1 Peruvian) will work as a team to more effectively reach the people they minister to.

The 40/40 concept is going to be replicated over the next 2 years with 40 pairs distributed throughout Peru. Each pair will continue to be comprised of a native Peruvian and a traditional foreign missionary. The pairs will be deployed in groups - similar to the current group of 4. The 40 pairs will be distributed over 7 cities in Peru.

The Smith family (Tyson, Tracy, and Kai) also recently arrived in Arequipa. They will follow the same path as the current group of 40/40s; however, they will serve as “Cluster Support” in Puerto Maldonado alongside the 40/40s. They will basically be in charge of supporting the 40/40s personally so that they can concentrate on the ministry better.

Please pray for the current group of 40/40s and the Smith family. They will face many challenges as they learn the language and eventually adjust to life in deep in the Amazon basin.