luv1another
October 2nd 2006, 03:29 AM
hi there sc_q_jayce can you tell me a bit about your mission trip? we will start with... what organization was your trip organized through?
Our trip was organized through our church, and personal correspondence with the missionaries in Lima, Peru. It was easier being that we were all from the Christian and Missionary Alliance. In the end, I suppose we were organized through the C&MA, though there really was no interaction outside of the two groups (us and them). I went with my Church, East Bay Alliance Church with approximately thirteen others and an additional five others from the San Francisco Chinese Alliance Church.
where did you go?
We travelled to Lima, Peru.
what was your role?
Our role was nothing special in particular. Let me explain a little bit of the background, which will help you understand the role that we as the Short Term Missions group had. By this time of the year, the missionary activity of the C&MA had nearly ceased in Lima, Peru, due to the success of their missions. I believe there are about thirteen ACyM (this is the Spanish version of our group, Alianza Cristiana y Misionera), though I no longer have the pamphlet that showed the number. Regardless, they were our sister churches, themselves sending out missionaries throughout the world, and doing all they could to spread the gospel.
So by this point, the Lima missionaries had long pulled out and the C&MA had been investing their resources elsewhere. If you're curious about what the C&MA do, please click here. (http://www.cmalliance.org/im/imworld/imworld.jsp)
So why are we back in Lima, then? It has to do with a certain portion of the immigrants who have moved to Lima since the early 1900's. These people are the Chinese. As of now, there are about 400,000 Chinese immigrants who live in Lima (the total population is about 8 Million), and they continuously immigrate here, incorrectly thinking that Lima would make an easier stepping stone for their ultimate goal, immigration to the US or Canada.
Let me give you some information about the Chinese immigrants there:
*They lead very tedious lives, spending almost all of their time working to gain money. One man once said if there were eight days in a week, he would work eight days.
*They tend to live extremely introverted lives; it is rare instance to see a Chinese walking down the street at any time.
*Though they came to try to get into the United States, it is just as difficult to emigrate out of Peru; as a result, they're generally stuck here and partially regret it.
*Their lives spiral into a cycle of work and their living life becomes dead and inactive. As a result, even a simple Chinese conversation is an incredible thing to them and they will embrace any conversation with great spirits.
*They are very receptive to spiritual matters as well as anything else talked about! They would love to go visit Church and love to go on activities, but this proves very difficult for those who work their long hours. As a result, often times they must remain within their store/restaurant to work even though they long to go to Church that the teams have invited them to go.
*The Chinese are only seen outside very early in the morning near Chinatown - mainly to gather supplies. Even among other Chinese people, they tend not to bring conversation to anything more than just business.
*In the two areas where the New Chinese Alliance Churches lie there exists an entirely different demographic of Chinese. In San Borja we have the more well-established and long-term Chinese, while in Los Olivos is the home of the more recent immigrants to Lima.
*The easiest Chinese to find are in the Chifa's (Chinese Restaurants), but a majority of them are not found in them. These "invisible" Chinese are difficult to find; we are forced to network to them through the people we meet in the Chifa's. As a result, conversing with them not just exposes them to the gospel, but also provides us a network of finding the rest of the Chinese in a place where life has become analogous to the living dead.
---
So our role? Well, the ministry started only about three years ago. To note, there was a Chinese church established in 1978, but it has reached extremely few people even now. We hope that the desire to spread the Gospel will increase. As of now, maybe only about 0.1% of the people know Christ. Our role is to continue to help the permanent Missionaries get established. There is so much work to do, but there are only three missionary couples over there trying to lead everything, including running two different churches, run a Gospel center in Chinatown, and continuing to make visitations to Chinese families. Their hands are constantly full, so different Alliance Churches volunteer to send a STM team down in cycles to provide the hands necessary to keep them going. All the Chinese believers in Lima are so new, they are not yet capable of teaching others, though we hope that this will soon change.
Specifically, we did four things: (1) We led Sunday service. (2) We held VBS and Youth Camp. (3) We had a Free Physical Therapy Session (one of our members of the team has been a Physical Therapist for thirty plus years). (4) We had a English Camp.
why did you decide to go on a missions trip?
This is a very interesting thing. I hate hearing sob stories about how people suffer and how people are in danger of blah blah blah. When I hear this kind of spiel from a missionary, I turn myself off to the call and I just find myself not caring. It always seemed to me that the call to be a missionary was not a call of an emotional appeal, so I always waited for something more.
Then, one December, a member from the SFCAC (see above) came down to visit our church and gave a presentation on their mission trip to Lima from the year before. They only talked about the Gospel, and when I saw it, I knew I was going to go. So when I found out EBAC was forming a team, I immediately jumped in.
what were some of the things you did while there?
Aside from the four things listed, we travelled a lot. Most transportation was by Taxi. We went shopping here and there; I brought back a hat which I adore.
As far as the things we did pertaining to our Mission:
1. The Sunday Service. We led two Sunday services, one in the Morning, at Los Olivos Alliance Church, and one in the evening, at San Borja church. The morning service was very small, not big enough to even fill a small classroom. I got to play music for them at one occasion. Our pastor got to speak as well. I also played with the kids in Sunday School. There was a little kid called Ricardo. Very cute! Later during the trip, his mother came to accept Christ.
2. VBS - This was extremely fun. Since all the kids spoke Spanish (even though they're Chinese!), we needed a translator. I led the team in drama, while Eric led in games, and Thomas in music. We did a lot of different events, including learning Bible Verses and playing lots of fun games. At one point, we were playing jump rope, and it turned out that none of the kids wanted to play. So some of us started jumping in. Then suddenly we noticed a large group of the mothers of the children lining up. They wanted to jump rope! So we let them jump rope. It was amazing. I could not imagine the last time they've been able to have so much fun like that. Their lives are so tough and so difficult.
Also, the VBS served as a means to get the parents of the children together to talk upstairs. They held seminars on good marriages and on the gospel. Each day of VBS, at least one of the parents came to know Christ.
3. Youth Camp - I'm not sure what happened; there were 18 people designated as "youth" who went with another missionary couple and several of our members on a camp. While there, all but one accepted Christ! It was rather amazing.
4. English Camp - This was done spur of the moment, because we didn't originally plan to do this. It was set up rather hastily, and I didn't really participate in it since I was helping out mainly with the Physical Therapy (and I also had traveller's diarrhea). We taught the kids English, played with them, and had fun. The kids really missed us.
5. Physical Therapy - I acted as the secretary, speaking to the Chinese people in Cantonese, asking them about their health, their name, their age, etc. What hurt, and so on. Our P.T., Gordon, would take care of them. They were all surprised that I could speak Cantonese and that I tried so fervently to speak it with them. It was a very interesting time, needless to say.
6. Advertising. It was interesting to come out on Saturday morning to try to advertise the VBS / Physical Therapy to the Chinese. Finding them in Chinatown was near impossible, even during the peak of their "coming out of the shadows!" Sometimes the Peruvians and Chinese elderly look very alike, so it boiled down to just asking them in Chinese if they would like to talk to us. Things ended up working very well, though.
how was the culture and enviroment diffrent to your own?
Chinese-wise, I would say that Chinese culture is very much the same. I didn't notice much of a culture shock except for the higher crime rates, and the fact that all the Chinese children spoke Spanish. It was one thing to toss a kid in the air to have him say "Do it again!" It's another thing entirely to throw a kid in the air only to hear her say "Otra vez!"
how was it the same?
Yeah, I felt right at home. If there was a difference in culture, I didn't really notice so much. As said before, the Chinese never really integrated themselves with Peruvian culture so much, and I was very familiar with Chinese culture, so I was able to interact with the Chinese people quite well.
how do you feel the people responded to your group?
People responded very positively to us. It was amazing watching the children not wanting to leave, or even forcing themselves to come to our events even when they were sick with some sort of cold. They never have fun, and they hardly let adults play with them. Parents are too busy working, too busy trying to get their kids to America. In fact, the clash could be easily seen. The parents want their kids to learn English, for example, while the kids want to have nothing to do with English because their friends spoke Spanish! The parents want them to appreciate and learn (US)American culture, but the kids just don't care. The kids and parents end up getting into divisions over these things, particularly the youth. I know some kids expressed this and even some parents experience frustration. So it was good to see them all come together to just have some fun for a change.
what were some highlights?
I will only state one highlight. There was a little girl I got to know very well, called Yi Lei. She and her older sister, Yi Yen (I think) have a Christian Mother. But the father is not Christian. They are a very rich family in Peru. He owns several hotels internationally, and essentially has all the money to do whatever he wants. However, he gives none of the money to his wife or Children (though the Children do attend international school). He verbally abuses his wife/children, even in front of guests (us). It was a very harrowing experience for all of us. I won't go into the details, but the mother said something that stuck with us. "I would give away everything I owned, all of my riches if I could have a Christian Marriage."
did being on a mission trip meet your expectations?
I had no expectations.
how was it diffrent to your expectations? both good and bad
Again, I had no expectations.
what was the high point of the trip for you?
I'm not sure. It may have been when I was playing with one of the kids, and just watching how much they enjoyed us being there, playing with them, trying to teach them. Watching their parents come to know Christ. Seeing how much they wanted that kind of love, and then getting it. I remember it vividly.
what was the low point?
It really wasn't much of a low point as it was a reminder. I was sick for the second(last) week I was there, with high fever and diarrhea. I was bedridden for almost the whole week. But it was a very strong reminder that I was not needed for Christ's work to continue. Rather, my being there was a privilege for me to experience. It was not me doing God a favor; it was God doing me a favor and showing me something cool through it all, with me, rather than without me.
A final comment I wrote a long time ago during this trip:
A personal comment from me: One thing I would like to tell you is that the people of Lima are ordinary. It may be daunting to consider breaking the culture barrier, the language barrier, whatever barriers you can think of, but I want to tell you personally, that as you continue to work in here, you will come to realize these barriers do not exist.
People come and go, made by the same hands that made believes and unbelievers. Whether in America or in Peru or even in China, people seek the same thing, they hunt for the same things, they fight for the same ideals. Sure, they may do so in different ways, but they fight for life either way. You can see it when a child plants his face on your car window, his hands pressed firmly against the wall. He and I are not that much different. He and the rich man in America are not much different. Americans, being in the top of the world in many ways, do not have an excuse from a third-worlder's point of view to lack anything in life. Yet, we all recognize that everyone here is thirsting for life. They want to find their niche, they want to find their passion, they want to find something that fufills the emptiness inside their hearts. It's kind of funny that when you come here in Peru you realize that fighting for life is not so much different from the Peruvians' fight to live.
After all, when we fight for life, we want to find fufillment in some way that we are incapable of doing on our own, yes? This is interesting in the sense that Peruvians who fight to live (as opposed to for life) are living only because they have a dream, they have a hope that someday there is something better than this, that there really is life that can be found just an ocean away, just a year away, just whatever away. Yet when you look away, they are just on different steps of the same staircase to nowhere. They all need the hand of God to reach them out of the M.C. Escher'esque neverending stairway and instead be gripped into the Father's hand.
They all need comfort, peace, joy. And in that, the common Human Condition brings us to the fact that the world is filled with Ordinary people with ordinary wants and needs, requiring extraordinary means to fufill them. We have only one extraordinary source of life. And we know that in our fight for life, we really have not lived at all, and that deep down, we too are like the people here, fighting to live when in fact we are already dead bodies without Christ.
Our trip was organized through our church, and personal correspondence with the missionaries in Lima, Peru. It was easier being that we were all from the Christian and Missionary Alliance. In the end, I suppose we were organized through the C&MA, though there really was no interaction outside of the two groups (us and them). I went with my Church, East Bay Alliance Church with approximately thirteen others and an additional five others from the San Francisco Chinese Alliance Church.
where did you go?
We travelled to Lima, Peru.
what was your role?
Our role was nothing special in particular. Let me explain a little bit of the background, which will help you understand the role that we as the Short Term Missions group had. By this time of the year, the missionary activity of the C&MA had nearly ceased in Lima, Peru, due to the success of their missions. I believe there are about thirteen ACyM (this is the Spanish version of our group, Alianza Cristiana y Misionera), though I no longer have the pamphlet that showed the number. Regardless, they were our sister churches, themselves sending out missionaries throughout the world, and doing all they could to spread the gospel.
So by this point, the Lima missionaries had long pulled out and the C&MA had been investing their resources elsewhere. If you're curious about what the C&MA do, please click here. (http://www.cmalliance.org/im/imworld/imworld.jsp)
So why are we back in Lima, then? It has to do with a certain portion of the immigrants who have moved to Lima since the early 1900's. These people are the Chinese. As of now, there are about 400,000 Chinese immigrants who live in Lima (the total population is about 8 Million), and they continuously immigrate here, incorrectly thinking that Lima would make an easier stepping stone for their ultimate goal, immigration to the US or Canada.
Let me give you some information about the Chinese immigrants there:
*They lead very tedious lives, spending almost all of their time working to gain money. One man once said if there were eight days in a week, he would work eight days.
*They tend to live extremely introverted lives; it is rare instance to see a Chinese walking down the street at any time.
*Though they came to try to get into the United States, it is just as difficult to emigrate out of Peru; as a result, they're generally stuck here and partially regret it.
*Their lives spiral into a cycle of work and their living life becomes dead and inactive. As a result, even a simple Chinese conversation is an incredible thing to them and they will embrace any conversation with great spirits.
*They are very receptive to spiritual matters as well as anything else talked about! They would love to go visit Church and love to go on activities, but this proves very difficult for those who work their long hours. As a result, often times they must remain within their store/restaurant to work even though they long to go to Church that the teams have invited them to go.
*The Chinese are only seen outside very early in the morning near Chinatown - mainly to gather supplies. Even among other Chinese people, they tend not to bring conversation to anything more than just business.
*In the two areas where the New Chinese Alliance Churches lie there exists an entirely different demographic of Chinese. In San Borja we have the more well-established and long-term Chinese, while in Los Olivos is the home of the more recent immigrants to Lima.
*The easiest Chinese to find are in the Chifa's (Chinese Restaurants), but a majority of them are not found in them. These "invisible" Chinese are difficult to find; we are forced to network to them through the people we meet in the Chifa's. As a result, conversing with them not just exposes them to the gospel, but also provides us a network of finding the rest of the Chinese in a place where life has become analogous to the living dead.
---
So our role? Well, the ministry started only about three years ago. To note, there was a Chinese church established in 1978, but it has reached extremely few people even now. We hope that the desire to spread the Gospel will increase. As of now, maybe only about 0.1% of the people know Christ. Our role is to continue to help the permanent Missionaries get established. There is so much work to do, but there are only three missionary couples over there trying to lead everything, including running two different churches, run a Gospel center in Chinatown, and continuing to make visitations to Chinese families. Their hands are constantly full, so different Alliance Churches volunteer to send a STM team down in cycles to provide the hands necessary to keep them going. All the Chinese believers in Lima are so new, they are not yet capable of teaching others, though we hope that this will soon change.
Specifically, we did four things: (1) We led Sunday service. (2) We held VBS and Youth Camp. (3) We had a Free Physical Therapy Session (one of our members of the team has been a Physical Therapist for thirty plus years). (4) We had a English Camp.
why did you decide to go on a missions trip?
This is a very interesting thing. I hate hearing sob stories about how people suffer and how people are in danger of blah blah blah. When I hear this kind of spiel from a missionary, I turn myself off to the call and I just find myself not caring. It always seemed to me that the call to be a missionary was not a call of an emotional appeal, so I always waited for something more.
Then, one December, a member from the SFCAC (see above) came down to visit our church and gave a presentation on their mission trip to Lima from the year before. They only talked about the Gospel, and when I saw it, I knew I was going to go. So when I found out EBAC was forming a team, I immediately jumped in.
what were some of the things you did while there?
Aside from the four things listed, we travelled a lot. Most transportation was by Taxi. We went shopping here and there; I brought back a hat which I adore.
As far as the things we did pertaining to our Mission:
1. The Sunday Service. We led two Sunday services, one in the Morning, at Los Olivos Alliance Church, and one in the evening, at San Borja church. The morning service was very small, not big enough to even fill a small classroom. I got to play music for them at one occasion. Our pastor got to speak as well. I also played with the kids in Sunday School. There was a little kid called Ricardo. Very cute! Later during the trip, his mother came to accept Christ.
2. VBS - This was extremely fun. Since all the kids spoke Spanish (even though they're Chinese!), we needed a translator. I led the team in drama, while Eric led in games, and Thomas in music. We did a lot of different events, including learning Bible Verses and playing lots of fun games. At one point, we were playing jump rope, and it turned out that none of the kids wanted to play. So some of us started jumping in. Then suddenly we noticed a large group of the mothers of the children lining up. They wanted to jump rope! So we let them jump rope. It was amazing. I could not imagine the last time they've been able to have so much fun like that. Their lives are so tough and so difficult.
Also, the VBS served as a means to get the parents of the children together to talk upstairs. They held seminars on good marriages and on the gospel. Each day of VBS, at least one of the parents came to know Christ.
3. Youth Camp - I'm not sure what happened; there were 18 people designated as "youth" who went with another missionary couple and several of our members on a camp. While there, all but one accepted Christ! It was rather amazing.
4. English Camp - This was done spur of the moment, because we didn't originally plan to do this. It was set up rather hastily, and I didn't really participate in it since I was helping out mainly with the Physical Therapy (and I also had traveller's diarrhea). We taught the kids English, played with them, and had fun. The kids really missed us.
5. Physical Therapy - I acted as the secretary, speaking to the Chinese people in Cantonese, asking them about their health, their name, their age, etc. What hurt, and so on. Our P.T., Gordon, would take care of them. They were all surprised that I could speak Cantonese and that I tried so fervently to speak it with them. It was a very interesting time, needless to say.
6. Advertising. It was interesting to come out on Saturday morning to try to advertise the VBS / Physical Therapy to the Chinese. Finding them in Chinatown was near impossible, even during the peak of their "coming out of the shadows!" Sometimes the Peruvians and Chinese elderly look very alike, so it boiled down to just asking them in Chinese if they would like to talk to us. Things ended up working very well, though.
how was the culture and enviroment diffrent to your own?
Chinese-wise, I would say that Chinese culture is very much the same. I didn't notice much of a culture shock except for the higher crime rates, and the fact that all the Chinese children spoke Spanish. It was one thing to toss a kid in the air to have him say "Do it again!" It's another thing entirely to throw a kid in the air only to hear her say "Otra vez!"
how was it the same?
Yeah, I felt right at home. If there was a difference in culture, I didn't really notice so much. As said before, the Chinese never really integrated themselves with Peruvian culture so much, and I was very familiar with Chinese culture, so I was able to interact with the Chinese people quite well.
how do you feel the people responded to your group?
People responded very positively to us. It was amazing watching the children not wanting to leave, or even forcing themselves to come to our events even when they were sick with some sort of cold. They never have fun, and they hardly let adults play with them. Parents are too busy working, too busy trying to get their kids to America. In fact, the clash could be easily seen. The parents want their kids to learn English, for example, while the kids want to have nothing to do with English because their friends spoke Spanish! The parents want them to appreciate and learn (US)American culture, but the kids just don't care. The kids and parents end up getting into divisions over these things, particularly the youth. I know some kids expressed this and even some parents experience frustration. So it was good to see them all come together to just have some fun for a change.
what were some highlights?
I will only state one highlight. There was a little girl I got to know very well, called Yi Lei. She and her older sister, Yi Yen (I think) have a Christian Mother. But the father is not Christian. They are a very rich family in Peru. He owns several hotels internationally, and essentially has all the money to do whatever he wants. However, he gives none of the money to his wife or Children (though the Children do attend international school). He verbally abuses his wife/children, even in front of guests (us). It was a very harrowing experience for all of us. I won't go into the details, but the mother said something that stuck with us. "I would give away everything I owned, all of my riches if I could have a Christian Marriage."
did being on a mission trip meet your expectations?
I had no expectations.
how was it diffrent to your expectations? both good and bad
Again, I had no expectations.
what was the high point of the trip for you?
I'm not sure. It may have been when I was playing with one of the kids, and just watching how much they enjoyed us being there, playing with them, trying to teach them. Watching their parents come to know Christ. Seeing how much they wanted that kind of love, and then getting it. I remember it vividly.
what was the low point?
It really wasn't much of a low point as it was a reminder. I was sick for the second(last) week I was there, with high fever and diarrhea. I was bedridden for almost the whole week. But it was a very strong reminder that I was not needed for Christ's work to continue. Rather, my being there was a privilege for me to experience. It was not me doing God a favor; it was God doing me a favor and showing me something cool through it all, with me, rather than without me.
A final comment I wrote a long time ago during this trip:
A personal comment from me: One thing I would like to tell you is that the people of Lima are ordinary. It may be daunting to consider breaking the culture barrier, the language barrier, whatever barriers you can think of, but I want to tell you personally, that as you continue to work in here, you will come to realize these barriers do not exist.
People come and go, made by the same hands that made believes and unbelievers. Whether in America or in Peru or even in China, people seek the same thing, they hunt for the same things, they fight for the same ideals. Sure, they may do so in different ways, but they fight for life either way. You can see it when a child plants his face on your car window, his hands pressed firmly against the wall. He and I are not that much different. He and the rich man in America are not much different. Americans, being in the top of the world in many ways, do not have an excuse from a third-worlder's point of view to lack anything in life. Yet, we all recognize that everyone here is thirsting for life. They want to find their niche, they want to find their passion, they want to find something that fufills the emptiness inside their hearts. It's kind of funny that when you come here in Peru you realize that fighting for life is not so much different from the Peruvians' fight to live.
After all, when we fight for life, we want to find fufillment in some way that we are incapable of doing on our own, yes? This is interesting in the sense that Peruvians who fight to live (as opposed to for life) are living only because they have a dream, they have a hope that someday there is something better than this, that there really is life that can be found just an ocean away, just a year away, just whatever away. Yet when you look away, they are just on different steps of the same staircase to nowhere. They all need the hand of God to reach them out of the M.C. Escher'esque neverending stairway and instead be gripped into the Father's hand.
They all need comfort, peace, joy. And in that, the common Human Condition brings us to the fact that the world is filled with Ordinary people with ordinary wants and needs, requiring extraordinary means to fufill them. We have only one extraordinary source of life. And we know that in our fight for life, we really have not lived at all, and that deep down, we too are like the people here, fighting to live when in fact we are already dead bodies without Christ.