Old Cafe, new cafe, busy pastor

Thought I would use this post to tell you about the two churches in Arequipa.  Pastor Efrain is the pastor serving these TWO (count them! bodies of believers) in Arequipa.  Currently he is overseeing the church in Arequipa and the outreach church up on El Mirador.  The church in Arequipa is in a house we all worked on that has been converted to a cafe and church.  It is now in a less crowded section of the city and I understand it is not generating quite as much income yet for the workers there as their previous location.  Pastor Efrain has asked for prayers for them.

Here are some photos of the new cafe/coffee shop/church building/missionary dwellings :)

Here is the way it looked when we were there :)

 

The church up on El Mirador is currently meeting in a woman's home.  They were without bibles, paper, basic supplies for the children when we were there.  We left them with some funding for such supplies, and here you see a child coloring :)

The space for the church on El Mirador is very small.  The dusty pictures you see in previous posts are of the church building they are working on.  God willing, they will have a location to provide many different services to the residents of El Mirador.  Should God allow it, this is where I will visit again.  As beautiful as the city of Arequipa was and as fancy and otherwordly as Lima was, my heart is truly with the folks in El Mirador.  I pray each day for their safety and their knowing Jesus Christ as Savior.

Pastor Efrain is kept very busy serving the Lord in this capacity.  That is him in the brown shirt.  Here is the space for the new church in El Mirador, God willing.  It was a heartbreaking time for us on that hill.  I know God will continue to use the visions and the heart He has given me while I was working there in days to come.  My prayers for this building and the "social work" as Pastor Efrain calls it to the children and adults of this community.

Here is a picture of the plans for the space.  Can you believe he estimated the total cost to be somewhere around $12,000?  Seems so small compared to what we spend here in America!

His heart was eager to invite all of us back to come and stay at the new cafe apartment.  There is plenty of room he promises! 
Here is a photo of him with the adult leaders of our team at his home where we were served breakfast by he and his wife Dorcas.  Their younger daughter Naydie was sick that morning.  Come to find out she had Hepatitis A and is now recovering from that.  They also have an older daughter Stephanie (nice name, huh?)

Here is a photo of some girls from our team folding bulletins in the apartment you could stay in should you want to serve as a missionary in Arequipa~it's a possiblity!  Pray about it!

Who's going?  :)

Evangelism

From Greg Laurie's devotional Monday...
"My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them."
— Romans 9:2–3

The apostle Paul had something essential for effective evangelism: a God-given burden for those who did not know Jesus Christ. In his case, the burden was for his own people, the Jews. He cared. It burned inside him.

General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, once said that his desire, had it been possible, would be to dangle his evangelism trainees over hell for 24 hours. That way, they could see the reality that awaits those who do not know Jesus Christ.

That wouldn't have been necessary for Paul, who spoke of his love and burning passion for unbelievers. I think it is there for us in Scripture so that we don't become so obsessed with our own struggles and spiritual growth that we forget about people who need to know Christ.

I think Paul makes an amazing statement in Romans 9 when he says, in essence, "If it were possible, I would give up my hope of eternal life so that others who do not know could come to faith." That's a pretty dramatic statement.
As believers, you and I have a responsibility to those outside the church—those outside the faith. If God's love is really working in our lives, it should motivate us to do something for Him.

Do you have a God-given burden for those who do not know Jesus Christ? If you don't, do you want one?

If you pray that God will give you this burden, then be careful. The results could be life-changing. You just may be surprised at how quickly He answers you.

- Wow! That statement from Romans 9 has left me speechless today in light of the burden for Arequipa God has put on my heart.