Friday, October 28, 2011

A Funny Thing Happend On The Way To La Paz

Really I am not the one to tell this, but no hands shot up when I asked for volunteers.  I will try to be concise but this thing was some of a miracle.....

We headed out from Illave towards La Paz.  Our bus had been late and our group was pretty tired.  Our stop in Copacabana had to be very brief-we had hoped to sit down to lunch.  But we made the switch to a new bus and off we went.  Less than an hour into the journey we were halted by a town full of people sitting in the road.  We could go no where-though we felt like we are already there-the middle of nowhere(albeit beautiful).  Large rocks, a community picnic, and the lack of side streets made stopping seem like a good idea.

People eventually got off the bus.  Some of our group and people from other busses cautiously wandered down to the blockade.  Unsure of the volatility I did the smart thing.  I let Ken and Bill go.  When Bill returned 45 minutes later he told a interesting story.

The protest was about the improper arrest of a 67 yr old pastor...a Friends pastor-one of our folks.  He had been accused of abusing a 15 yr old girl.  The long list of mis-steps by the Peruvian police (we were in Bolivia??), the lack of an actual accusation(the girl was in school at the time of the alleged attack), and the fact that the whole town seemed to consider this a falsehood became clear as the town tried to gain a voice on this mans behalf.   He had apparently been beaten by police until he signed a confession.  Of course we only heard these things second hand and I never want to disregard victims-especially those who are underage.  So determining guilt or innocence is not our place-but wow it was the whole town-with the catholic mayor leading the charge.

They could not get the local authorities to come do an investigation, no one had been interviewed including the alleged victim, no one would listen.  The group wanted  to get the attention of local authorities on this mans behalf.  So instead of making threats or whining a peaceful protest was formed.

As people from the busses came towards the protest the protestors offered them lunch.  It was interesting to watch frustrated travelers fume and spout while the protestors offered bread.  While Ken Comfort was chatting he began to realize that some of these folks knew his parents from the days when they lived nearby.  Ken was a child.  He became an honored guest and while we don't know for sure, we think these relationships helped sway the protestors to let us through(thanks Gene and Betty!!).  His knowing some Aymara certainly didn't hurt.

So in the end the protestors did what all reasonable people do.....they had a business meeting....in the middle of the road.  The town leaders began by reading the charges against the man, and followed it with their own demands for the situation-mostly a fair and thorough investigation.  They allowed any who wanted to speak to do so-this included bus drivers, townspeople, and Ken.  It was orderly and open.  It seemed that good listening occurred, people were patient, respectful and everyone got their turn.

There were pleas to let people go through-especially since there were no facilities or food.  Several folks were suffering with the altitude, using canes, or had asthma.  Some said they should have warned the folks on both ends prior to the protest.  The conversations swayed back and forth.  It looked hopeful then didn't-back and forth.  At first just our bus and one other was going to be allowed through.  I was praying- we were not sure when this would end up.

In the end several of the women sitting there got up and spoke quietly to the mayor, in that instant everything seemed to change.  They huddled and declared that there would by a 5 minute window for vehicles to pass then it would close again indefinitely and that people should not expect it to open until they were satisfied.  No excuses would prompt them to allow people through.  People raced for their vehicles, a few of our folks stopped to thank the city leadership.

This was really incredible.  I was reminded of just how important relationships are.  I was excited to watch good peaceful, well organized demonstrating happening.  Several of us felt badly for dislodging the protest even for 5 minutes.  We wanted to join in standing shoulder to shoulder with these brothers and sisters.  Had we not had commitments and some folks not feeling well we just might have.  It was sure a buzz in our group for a couple of days.








Others may choose to comment and clarify if I got it wrong or add their perspective.
Shawn

     

Monday, October 24, 2011

The 50th finale

Sunday was the final day of the celebration.  We gathered with Peruvian Friends for some worship singing and instructions for the parade.  You heard it!  A parade.  Every quarterly meeting (region) gathered to  be one section of the parade.  They dressed in matching shirts or some sort of clothing that matched.  Each was provided a large banner.  The YM leaders went first.  The foreign guests went next.  In case we were difficult to notice, we had a small brass and percussion section.  They blared "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" and a couple of other songs that I can now hum in my sleep.   I think they played for new fewer than 3 hours.  Those are some chops to be sure. We walked and waved for quite awhile.  Thankfully we had been in the altitude for a bit, still a couple of our members headed directly to the city square by taxi.
   Each community large or small has a city square.  They often have fountains, park benches, a catholic cathedral, and lots of activity. The flags of the country and city are flown, officials do official things here. In small communities the weekly market centers around the square as folks from the countryside come into town to buy and sell.  It becomes a bustling place and there is lots to see and many many more people. (we happened to have to cross the border during market day the following Friday-Yikes hang on to your hat-people everywhere.  They were not particularly mindful of the slow tourists, they had business to do.
   Guess what day is market day in Illave?  Yep, Sunday! It started to come together in my mind.  We are parading so that all these folks know about the Friends Church.   I have not perfected the parade wave, nor did I have candy to throw, but we didn't have a hard time capturing the attention of people along the streets. I broke ranks several times to photograph and video tape the excitement.
   As it turns out we were not the only parade in town that day.  AND in addition the local and regional authorities were in town to raise the flag in the square, the military had their own band and several schools were parading (one, a group of very young students with handmade banners touting healthy eating).  So the parade took on a different feel in the square.
     For about two hours there was no parading as the dignitaries gathered and the military cleared the inner square.  It was a lot of hot sun with no where to sit.  Needless to say we lost a couple of folks who retired to their  rooms to get out of the sun.  The combination of sitting in the sun on Saturday and the parade on Sunday left some sunburned skin.






  Since Dan Cammack had professional flag raising experience from the prior day, he joined Jesus Huarachi (the Peru YM Supt.) in the invitation to help raise the flag in the city center.  It was an honor and significant opportunity to have the the Friends church represented and honored in the ceremony.  When that was done we waited some more and then paraded by the dignitaries while the military band played.  Sort of a surreal experience.  After wandering back to the meeting place the celebration came to an end with more music and recognitions.  Robyn Mohr (FWCC) shared with the whole gathering-she did a nice job.  I have really grown to appreciate what she brings to the FWCC Section of the Americas.  She is and will be a great leader.  After lunch we said our good byes and lingered with lots of embracing.
   We spent the rest of the afternoon packing, resting and a friend of Ken's named Martin took us out for a nice chicken dinner.  Martin is a fish farmer and he told us his story. We spent some time praying for him and his son who is struggling with some serious eye problems.
   A great end to a wonderful celebration.    

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Saturday

The next day of the celebration was very good.  We started by traveling about 30 minutes out to Thiri, the actually starting point of the Friends work there.  The first place we traveled were to some rock outcroppings that were near that first church.  It felt a bit out of the way but we began to understand a bit more with some explanation.  At one point these rocks were thought to be an evil or satanic site.  The presence of the church changed that and the it seemed fitting that this area would be the perfect place to remember the presence of God in that small community.   So a great plaque was installed there and a brief ceremony.  Dwaine Williams was asked to offer a prayer of blessing.

We then went to a big field near the road and close to the Thiri Friends church.  A huge tent was set up there.  This tent was like the tents that missionaries used and are now used by the Peru YM to reach out to a new community.  It provided some shade for a few folks but most of our group sat on benches provided out in the sun.  Needless to say hats and sunscreen were vital.  Regardless those hours in the sun managed to get a few of the group and sunburns appeared.  The rest of the morning included, the raising of the Peruvian flag, singing, preaching(Ken Comfort), and lots of presentations.  There was also a childrens gathering for part of the time. All of the regions of the YM were recognized and all the leadership from those areas were also given certificates commemorating the 50th.  Often our past missionaries (Dan, Ken, Dwaine, and Alice Maurer or Robin Mohr from FWCC were asked to make presentations).

NWYM, FWCC and Bolivia YM also presented gifts to commemorate the 50th.  NWYM offered a large plaque, and maybe most importantly old pictures of the early days in Peru when only missionaries had cameras.  Former missionaries, Duane Comfort, Quentin Nordyke, and several others worked hard to get a powerpoint presentation of pictures of all the past missionaries, pictures of Peruvian leaders, and sights and scenes of many churches and ministry activity.  This was shown later in the evening to the whole group but every region got their own copy to show to churches in their areas.

The Friends Women from NWYM also gave a small financial gift to the Friends Women of Peru to use for women's ministry and leadership development for women.  Terri Bowen and Alice Maurer represented the Friends Women of NWYM in making the presentation.

The whole group gathered to eat a Peruvian style potluck lunch.  Unfortunately my camera ran out of space for the potluck, so I will try to find some others pics.  The long pieces of cloth were spread out on the ground and all the food, potatoes, chunos, bread, puffed corn, some meat and other types of potatoes were spread out and everyone dug in.  After lunch we went back to rest up for the evening session.









Shawn  

The 50th Anniversary






Friends,  I am sorry about the spottiness of the blog lately.  My computer has been sort of weird and not wanting to work right but it is working this morning so alas while the sun shines we will make hay. 

Our group joined hundreds of folks from all over Peru and a Bolivian delgation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Peru Yearly Meeting.(I think that it would not be a stretch to say that there were probably 1000 or more different folks who attended at some point during the weekend).  The events were centered in Illave.  While not the exact place, this small town is near the center of where the Friends work began in 1961.  Things started on Friday night with worship singing.  They decided to have the festivities outside which meant it was very cold.  As we sang songs in Spanish and Amayra we tried to stay warm.  

The theme for the celebration was on God's Love.  So the different folks who preached throughout the weekend took on an aspect of God's love for us.  While my spanish is pretty limited I could get the gist and we had our spanish speakers spread out some to quietly interpret.

Dan Cammack preached and we heard testimonies from several folks.  By chance, Ken Comfort, myself and Robyn Mohr from FWCC got to help be a part of the cake parade walking the 50(almost) cakes they had to the special booth that displayed them until they got served that night after fireworks.   We did not know it was a parade we just were trying to help them carry all the cakes. 

Since we had not know that the services would be outside, we were not as prepared as we might have been other wise. The kind folks hosting us brought us blankets and hot cups of coffee.  That warmed our hands and legs but it was pretty cold anyway.  A group of us went back to the hotel because fireworks were not to be until after mid-night and the next day would be very early and full.  I think everyone got cold and they actually had fireworks and cake before midnight and the rest of our group was back by about 12:30.

The Spirit was very evident as we gathered.  What a witness to the grace of God and to the health and vitality of PERU YM.  There seemed to me, to be very little competition between the various sections of the country and mostly a genuine thankfulness to God.  
Shawn

Here are some pictures and a word from Alfreda Brown.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

A Whirlwind Weekend-but first......

First let me say that I am enjoying the group so much.  We are now in La Paz, Bolivia-we got here yesterday (monday) after some excitement but that will be for later.  I will try to keep some things in chronological order and hopefully some others will write about the experiences of the past 4-5 days.

 I am going to post a few things that people wrote prior to the celebration weekend in Illave, Peru.  I had hoped to post these during the weekend, but the lack of internet access and very full schedule slowed me down.
Shawn


A couple of things have stood out to me in these days in Arequipa.  First, on Sunday, after the morning service at El Cede and a gracious meal served us by the brethren of the church (held in the building NWYM helped purchase and remodel in the ‘80s for classes and mission residence), we headed up a hillside in Arequipa to a newer municipality in the city called Socabayos.  There is a new church there called Horacio Zeballos which didn’t exist when our missionaries left Peru(bottom two pics).  Right now they are meeting in rented facilities, but with the vision of Jesus, President of the INELA, they acquired a 1,000 square meters of land, a parcel set aside by the municipality of Socabayos for a church, and Friends were the only church in the area.  The church just has to pay the various fees.  They have started their building, doing all the work themselves, and hope to have it ready for occupancy in about a year.  How encouraging it is to see the church reaching out!  We ended the day with the church service for the main church – Centro Cristiano Fe y Esperanza.  Another special time of sharing.


            Then Monday afternoon, after a morning of sightseeing, we had a question and answer session at Fe y Esparanza.  The highlight of that gathering was when Jesus gathered us into small groups – 1 to 3 of us with each family present – so that we would pray for them(top picture).  They have a real concern for families, and felt the need for real intercession.  It was such a precious time of them sharing their concerns, and our praying for them…a time of tears and hugs.  I made a commitment to pray faithfully for “my family” in the coming years.  Alice Maurer (former missionary)

Thursday, October 13, 2011

A day on the Oros Islands

The Oros are floating islands that are made from the reeds and reed root systems that are in Lake Titicaca.  There are lots of interesting things about this unique part of Peruvian culture.   Much of what we saw is also heavily tourist oriented, but people do live out in the lake on these islands.  Many of us went out for the morning and heard lots of interesting history, saw how the islands are made, got to see what the houses etc look like and of course buy some things.  I have included some pictures you might find interesting.
Shawn

We went to the new church here in Puno.  They opened on June 19, 2011 and last nght was the first service in their new church.  It was to be a bedroom for Noah and his wife but they felt led to make it into a church.  Noah is the Pastor.  We started at 5:30 and got through at 9:00. I was scheduled to give a short message but did not realize until I got there that I would be their main speaker.  So not only did I give the message, I was the first one to preach in the new church. Wow!!!!.  They were so musical, practically everyone either played and instrument or sang.  Then they fed us chicken soup before we came home. (see the picture of the group)

We leave today for Illave where we will celebrate  50 years.  Will meet our friends from Arequipa and our new ones from Puno.

This hotel is really, really nice.  Great rooms and wonderful breakfasts.

~ Don Brown




P.S.  WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE INTERNET ACCESS WILL BE LIKE FOR THE NEXT 4-5 DAYS SO WE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO POST.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Some Comments from the Team




Friday night we went to a young people’s meeting.  They asked everyone to share what we had been thinking just before we went to sleep the night before.  Several of us shared that we had dreamed for many years about visiting Peru.  I noticed that every time one of us mentioned that, some of the older ladies just beamed.  I have been very impressed with the wonderful hospitality shown to us by the Peruvian believers.  I really enjoyed the three services we attended on Sunday.-----Esther Mae Hinshaw-pictured above.

Sorry for the Delay.

Friends I hope to have some more pictures and posts up tonight.  We have been very busy and are headed to catch a bus at 7:00am.
Shawn

Saturday, October 8, 2011

A tour around Arequipa





We spent most of our day seeing some sites with our Friends from Arequipa. Out to the campo to enjoy the green fields.  The Incan and Pre-Incan terraces were pretty amazing.  A wonderful lunch with shared by the nearly 30 Friends.  One of our group ordered Cuy-Guinea Pig for lunch(I will let you decide who-any guesses?).  I have to admit it was pretty good.  My daughter may never forgive me since she had two as pets once.  They taste like chicken honey-honest.  See picture.

We ended the day at a youth gathering at one of the local churches.  It was a pleasure to interact and share about our lives.  I think many in the group were taken with how glad the Peruvians were to have us here.

4 Friends representing FWCC, including Robin Mohr FWCC Section of the Americas Executive Secretary, joined us today.  It is really fun to have them along and since we are sort of an old bunch, the two young adult women who are along add a great deal-looking forward to getting to know them better.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Arrived Safe and Sound





We made some 29 hours later.  Trying to get used to the altitude here in Arequipa--oh and the sunshine and 75 degree weather.   Some folks from the Friends church met us and took us to our Hostel-which is very cool-made of old stone with wonderful courtyards.  Here are a few pics of folks on the team.  Mt.  Misti Volcano behind the plane we just arrived on.  AT about 8,000 feet we are taking it slow and resting before we get a late lunch together.
Shawn for the group.