Re-Cap of the Peru Project

There are three main components to Extreme Peru:

1. 40/40s

2. Short-term volunteers

3. Long-term volunteers

40/40 Component:

Method: seeking, training, and deploying 40 non-Peruvian and 40 Peruvian missionaries. These 80 young people are sent to share the good news of Jesus Christ through planting community-centric churches using evangelism, compassion projects and systematic, personalized discipleship. The 40 non-Peruvians first go through intense language training for 3 months. Following, they meet up with their partners - they are paired off (1 foreigner, 1 Peruvian) – and go through an intense 6 months of job training to prepare them biblically, culturally, and spiritually for the work ahead of them.

Goal: To plant 120 self-supporting churches in southern Peru within 3 years.

Each missionary is carefully selected as they are the backbone of Extreme Peru. Each pair will be entering very secluded Amazon River villages, small mountain towns, or dense urban areas of Peru armed with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The ultimate purpose of 40/40 is to carry the light of Christ into the dark places of Peru so that God can transform individuals, communities, and entire cultures.

Update: The first of three cohorts has 8 missionaries – 4 from the USA, 4 from Peru. They are finishing their job training in the city of Iquitos TODAY and will be moving to their service city, Puerto Maldonado, in just a few short days.

Short-Term Component:

Method: seeking and deploying short-term volunteers for up to 2 weeks for preparation for and support of the 40/40s. These volunteers participate in many outreaches in the communities – all places where future 40/40s will be working – and also construction projects to build facilities for the 40/40s and their support families to live.

This part of the Peru Project is quite dynamic. There have been 3 projects completed already and the 4^th one is currently underway. Each project takes from 20 to 400 people. People of all ages come. Impact projects consist of women prison’s outreach, plaza evangelism, puppet shows, Magdalena films, Jesus films, Men’s drug rehab center outreach, children’s hospital volunteer work to spending time sharing Christ’s Love with the elderly living in assisted living facilities.

Update: The 4^th and current project is in Puerto Maldonado, where approximately 30 volunteers are sweating a lot in the jungle! Several of them have participated in outreach activities each day, resulting in several decisions for Christ. The rest of them are wrapping up the work on the building which will house the first 40/40 Cohort and their support family, the Smiths, who all move in in a few days! This is a huge moment in the Peru Project as the backbone of why we’re all here is finally beginning. The 40/40s will begin the work for which they were called to Peru and, God willing, 12 community-centric churches will be planted in the town and surrounding area of Puerto Maldonado.

But don’t forget! The short-term volunteers have already had a giant impact on their respective communities. Here are the Decisions for Christ from the first 3 projects:

Arequipa 0: 175

Arequipa 1: 316

Puerto Maldonado 1: 40 Praise the Lord!!

Long-Term Component

As you might be able to tell from above, this type of work takes LOTS of planning and support.

· There are at least 14 people on the ground in the U.S. – most of which work full-time mobilizing and recruiting short-term, long-term, and 40/40 volunteer missionaries for the work in Peru.

· There are now 32 40/40s on the ground with the last 48 being deployed in February 2010.

· There are about 30 other long-term volunteers on the ground, each with a very specific position.

The last bullet is where Mike and Sydney fall. Mike is the Logistics Head. He has a lot of responsibilities directly related to the short-term volunteers. He takes care of their housing, meals, transportation, and much much more. And, believe us, this can sometimes be crazy to manage in a foreign country and foreign language! Sydney is the Accounting Coordinator. She is deeply involved in the finances – writing policies, setting up systems both in the US and on the field, and also maintaining the daily bookkeeping. To see all the other positions that are 100% necessary to keep this giant project afloat, click here.

One could definitely say that this is not a traditional missions organization; however, each and every position is so important to support the 40/40s in their work.

Other Notes:

· Contrary to common understanding, this method is quite different than the Work&Witness model. We are not W&W missionaries nor organization. W&W has had great effect in the world, but we are trying something different!

· Extreme is an incredibly quickly-growing organization and sometimes it is impossible to capture all news/events/updates that go on all over the world. Please also regularly click on the link to the right to view updates on the Extreme website.

We have had a few inquiries as to the statistics of our work here in Peru. Hopefully this helps explain what is going on. We will certainly continue keeping you updated as the 40/40s begin to plant churches.

We can’t say enough how much we appreciate all your thoughts and prayers. For those of you who are supporting us financially, we could not be doing this without you. Already 500 people have come to know Christ because of all your support and prayers. We serve an awesome God!!

Anniversary #1!

They say the first year’s the hardest, so the rest should be easy, right? J

Anyway, we spent our first anniversary in Cusco, Peru. We spent the weekend being tourists and just getting away from the house and office for a few days.

We did all the typical “Cusco tourist” things: visited Machu Picchu, the Museum of Natural History (which, by the way, probably isn’t very “typical”), and the 12-angled stone. We hung out quite a bit in the Plaza de Armas, and, of course, had to have blizzards from McDonald’s. J We saw lots of other Inca ruins, played games at Cusco’s version of “Church in the Country” with the Peruvian Nazarenes there, and took a long horseback tour around the countryside. We people-watched, took tons of pictures, and did LOTS of walking.

We had the best first anniversary weekend ever!

2 albums of pictures (Just click on the links!):

Museum of Natural History

Anniversary #1

Update From the Jungle

I recently had the chance to travel to Iquitos and Pucallpa. The purpose was to set the table for the projects that are coming to those cities in January and February, respectively.

Everything went great and I had a good time. For those of you that have never been to the Amazon rainforest near the equator, all I can say is that is hot. The heat and humidity were unbelievable.

I had the chance to spend a little time with the first group of 40/40’s that are in Iquitos for training and will be moving to Puerto Maldonado (their destination city) in two weeks. It was great to see them. I was very impressed how they have adapted to somewhat difficult living conditions and excelled in their Spanish. Most of the conversations on their compound are in Spanish, even between Americans. I had numerous conversations in Spanish with Americans. That was weird.

All else is good. We are looking forward to the Puerto Maldonado II project in a week and then a little break before we head up the project teams in Iquitos and Pucallpa.

Want to Come?

After reading about a few of our projects, some of you might be wondering how these people are signing up! If you are interested in one of our short-term projects, you can check them out here. If you don't want to explore the website and would prefer a personal phone call, please email us with your number and what you'd like more info on! There's something for everyone from infant to 112 years, so please check it out! You'd even get the distinct pleasure of seeing us! :)

Puerto Maldonado Update #2

We just wanted to share a little more of what's been happening in Puerto...The construction team has worked very hard on the base camp for the 40/40s. Once finished, the 40/40s will move from Iquitos (where they have been in more Bible training) to their new home for the next 18 months. This is also the location for the Hope House - to provide shelter and vocational training for the many prostitutes that fulfill one of the most prominent businesses in this jungle town. God has big plans for this little city and these short-term missionaries are greatly assisting in the completion of a great tool for the work of Christ.

Click HERE for a short video update.