Our experience working in Estela Maris has been an interesting one. We have had the amazing chance to get to know and disciple many different people and watch them grow in their walks with Christ. The area of Estela Maris did not start out with a defined boundary. Estela Maris is actually a plaza, and so our area was “around the plaza”. For this reason we found it tough in the beginning of work to not get too spread out and to focus on one area. We also discovered that only about 10 blocks in one direction from the plaza was an already established Nazarene church. Therefore we tried focusing on working in the other direction, since our job was to start a new church.
Throughout our 9 months of working in Estela Maris we made many contacts through evangelizing door to door and showing the Jesus Film in different areas. More than a few times we were discouraged after beginning to disciple a person and then having them no longer be interested in continuing. Over time this ended up happening with over 75% of our contacts, for one reason or another. We tried to stay positive and continue with those who were interested. Praise God we have had a few strong individuals who we have seen grow in leaps in bounds. One contact in particular, Clarita, is a completely different person than when we met her. She now attends services at the Central Church with her four children (ages less than a year to six years old). A few months ago she made the decision to be baptized, and it was pure joy to watch her make that important step in her Christian walk. At one point she offered to hold church services in her house. The problem was that she lived in a very small house too far away from any of our other contacts, and we just didn’t feel God leading us to hold services there. We are grateful for her story and the few others who are like her in Estela Maris.
In the rainy months of March through May many areas of the city flood as the Amazon River rises. This included part of our area in Estela Maris, and the area where Clarita lived. In this year the rains were especially hard and the city flooded much more than usual. Many families all over the city were forced from their homes for a few months and had to live in government-designated buildings. My partner Dalila and I felt called to try to relieve some of the suffering that these families were going through. Clarita and 150 of her neighbors lived completely crammed together for 3 months in a building about the size of 2 basketball courts. I emailed my church in San Diego and was able to raise funds to be able to do some compassionate ministries for these families. Over those 3 months we went periodically to provide food staples for each family, as well as a hot cooked breakfast one day. On Easter we did a Sunday School for the kids and once again provided breakfast for all. Through this experience we were able to share God’s love through showing some compassion on these Peruvians. They were very grateful and it was a wonderful experience to be a part of. We also managed to make a few contacts and continue to visit them once they moved back to their homes.
Dalila and I repeatedly asked different contacts about holding services in their houses, but unfortunately, besides Clarita, we were never able to find a house to start holding church services. A little over 2 months ago Dalila made a decision to go home to help her father who had been in failing health for many months. When that happened I began to work with a new partner. My new partner Miluska is actually a member of the church that is so close to Estela Maris. With that we made the decision to begin to invite our contacts to that church, in relative walking distance for almost all of them. It was a tough decision to make, because it meant that we were no longer actually planting a new church. However many of our contacts have since then faithfully been attending this Nazarene church. And to us the most important thing is that they find their family in Christ and continue to grow. They have Miluska to continue to watch out for them and help them on this journey. We praise God for the work that He has done in the area of Estela Maris. It may not have turned out exactly how we envisioned it, but it was all in God’s perfect plan, and that is truly what is more important.
