Do You Have Sisters?

That may seem like a simple question, but it’s one that has occupied my thoughts over the past few years. I do, in fact, have a sister that was part of my family before I was born. We grew up together, had bedrooms side by side and occasionally drove each other crazy with musical tastes that weren’t shared.

Later in my life, my brothers got married and brought wonderful sisters-in-law into our family. Then when I got married, I acquired yet another sister.

Over the past three years, I’ve had the pleasure of participating on mission trips to Huanta, Peru with other adults from my church, Sharon Presbyterian in Charlotte, NC. These trips have presented amazing opportunities to build relationships with my sisters in Christ in this Andean community that was at the center of Shining Path activities in the 1980’s. These women have seen extraordinary violence and many lost friends and loved ones during the time of terror. They continue to struggle daily with extreme poverty and extraordinarily difficult lives. However, they amaze me with their strength, faith and dedication to Christ.

On our first trip to Huanta in 2008, we started building relationships with our hosts. On the day of our arrival, several church members met us outside our hotel to walk us to a wedding that had been delayed so that we could attend as guests of honor. One of the women, Modesta, immediately smiled and took my hand. She held onto me for the entire walk and made a point of looking out for me during our stay in Huanta. As we got to know many other women in the Christo Rey church, they asked for our help organizing a Presbyterian Women’s group. They already met together regularly, nurtured the sick and visited prisons, but they lacked materials for focused Bible study.

When we returned to Huanta in 2009, we were very pleased to take gifts of Spanish language versions of the very Bible study used in our PC(USA) circles at home. The women in Huanta were thrilled as they were now able to study Joshua, as we did in the US! This book provided some needed structure as well as guidance for their study. This material was so successful in strengthening their group that there is now an effort to organize a retreat for the women of four Synods to be held at Christo Rey Church.

Modesta and my other sisters in Huanta are in my prayers daily and I know that I am in theirs. On the surface, we may appear to have nothing in common. However, through the love, ministry and grace of Jesus Christ, we are truly sisters and I will be forever grateful!

Connie Dale

Greetings From Samuel

Estimados hermanos y hermanas.

Reciban mi saludo y de mi esposa Julia, mis hijos Yesenia y Denil, asimismo deseamos que se encuentren bien de salud y en unidad familiar; hermanos para decirles que nos encontramos bien de salud, en familia en Huanta. Yo mis vacaciones de 12 días termina el día domingo 9 de enero, gracias a Dios hemos disfrutado en familia con también con algunas iglesias, la navidad pasamos con sus padres de Julia, en su iglesia a una hora de Huanta. El año nuevo estuvimos con mis hermanos en Ayacucho, fue un día muy alegre porque con mis 7 hermanos (de diez que somos) nos vemos al año solo una vez. Por otro lado, estoy haciendo visitas a otras iglesias vecinas. Hoy día estuve en el techado de la Iglesia de Quinrapa, está muy cerca a Huanta …

Mañana me toca celebra un matrimonio en la Iglesia de Cristo Rey, el domingo en la noche me toca predicar.

Hermanos míos, estoy muy agradecido para la iglesia de Sharon, a la familia de mis hermanos: Randy y Van (por su puesto bajo el acompañamiento de mis hermanos Sara y Rusty), por mostrarme el amor sincero del Señor, no tengo palabras para agradecerles por todo lo que hicieron por mi persona y familia; la experiencia de haber llegado a Sharon, hoy me está sirviendo mucho para ilustrarnos y salir de muchas malas informaciones que durante muchos años vivimos, ahora puede decir con autoridad tal cual sobre la realidad entre vuestro país y mi país; puedo decir que nuestra cultura puede parecer diferente humanamente pero en Cristo tenemos una misma fe, esperanza, amor y una misión emprendida.

Nunca pensé llegar a Sharon, pero gracias a la voluntad del Señor ha sido muy grande para mí, una lección aprendida que cuando uno confía en él, él hace posible todo; la casa mi hermano Van y Conny está presente en mi mente, su cocina, su jardín, el gato y los perros; la bandera de Perú y EE.UU en su puerta, realmente es maravilloso. Mi dormitorio en la casa mi hermano Randy, su esposa y Sarita, su casa, la sala, el jardín, el almacén, sus lindos perros, y los peces colorados. Me acuerdo yo oraba, quién soy yo Señor para tener esta bendición tan grande?. Los días de salida al mercado, a la ciudad, al aeropuerto, las compras que se hizo, me sentí como si fuera un hijo más querido de una padre y una madre; por ello digo, como no seguir trabajando para el Señor, seguir llevando su palabra a las comunidades, a las familias necesitadas, hablar a favor de ellos, ayudarles en lo que me sea posible, por gratitud a mi Señor.

Estoy mucho mejor de mi salud, el azúcar de mi sangre este normal y me estoy midiendo inter diario, está en 95 a 105. Subí de paso 3 kilos nuevamente. Por otro lado no pude escribirles, porque estuve muy ocupado con mis responsabilidades en mi trabajo, gracias a Dios estamos por superar las dificultades de la institución; agradezco por vuestras oraciones queridos hermanos, porque oraron por un trabajo cuando perdí mi trabajo, ahora me acompañan con sus oraciones. Igualmente estamos orando y deseamos hermanos que a cada uno Dios les siga bendiciendo en sus trabajos diarios, la vida familiar como eclesial en Sharón; por la gracias de Dios, espero que mi hermana Conny ya esté laborando.

El presbiterio, está bien siguiendo los pasos que iniciamos aunque con cierta dificultades, pero es una alegría verlos aprender la gestión de un proceso, se logró hacer el presupuesto para los trabajos del mes de Agosto, y estamos seguros que lo lograremos implementar a las iglesias y grupos con estantes y atriles (púlpito).

Esperamos que el Señor nos siga bendiciendo, me despido con muchos abrazos de cada uno.

Samuel

Dear brothers and sisters,

Please accept my greetings from me, my wife Julia and my children Yesenia and Denil. The whole family is in good health here in Huanta. We have been in Huanta during the Christmas holidays and have enjoyed being with Julia's parents. I was also able to spend the New Year with my brothers who were in Ayacucho. It was a very special time to visit with 7 of my 10 brothers because we are only able to get together once a year. My vacation of 12 days ended Sunday, January 9.

I have been making visits to other neighboring churches and today I was on the roof of the Church of Quinrapa which is is very close to Huanta. Tomorrow I get to celebrate a marriage in the Church of Christ the King and on Sunday night I have to preach.

I am very grateful for the Church of Sharon, the families of my brothers, Randy and Van (of course under the support of my siblings Sara and Rusty) and for showing sincere love of the Lord. I have no words to thank you for everything you did for me and my family. The experience of arriving in Sharon is now serving me to enlighten everyone and remove a lot of bad information we have heard for many years. We can now say with authority about the differences between your country and my country. I can say that our culture may seem different but in Christ's humanity we have the same faith, hope, love and mission.

I never thought that I would be able to visit Sharon. All has been great for me, thanks to the Lord's will. A lesson has been learned that when you trust him, he makes everything happen. The house of my brother and sister (Connie & Van) is on my mind. Your kitchen, your garden, the cat, the dogs, and the flags of Peru and the USA at your door. It really was wonderful. My bedroom in the house of my brother Randy's family, his wife Sherry, daughter Sarita, the living room, the garden, their beautiful dogs, and the red fish. I remember I prayed, Lord, who am I to have this blessing so great? I felt like a beloved son. So, I must work for the Lord and continue to carry His word to communities and families in need. I must speak for them and help as I can out of gratitude to my Lord.

I'm much better about my health, my blood sugar is normal and I'm measuring daily readings from 95 to 105. I have been walking 3 kilometers again. I have not been able to write because I have been too busy with my responsibilities at my new job. Thank God we are able to overcome difficulties. Thank you for your prayers dear friends for a new job when I lost my previous one. We are also praying for each of our brothers at Sharon for God to continue to bless them in their daily work, family, life and church. I pray that by the grace of God, my sister Connie continues to work.

The chancel is continuing to follow the steps we started, but with some difficulty. It has been a joy to see them learn to manage a process and therefore able to budget for the work for August. We are confident we will succeed to supply the churches and groups with cabinets and lecterns (pulpits).

We hope that God continue to bless us, I say goodbye with lots of hugs to everyone.

Samuel