End-of-year Review of the Water Ministry

I found this a really helpful and encouraging meeting!  Here are the questions I asked and some of our answers:

...and some ideas for next year (more dots means the team thought it should be a priority!)

 I'm studying a Diploma in Christian Leadership and my first Assignment was to be written in the form of a blog post - so here it is!

The Bible…still important for you (and me)?

My short answer to this question is yes.

But let’s look at the words and ideas in the question a bit more closely.

“The Bible…”

I guess if we are asking about the Bible, we need to be clear on what we mean.  What is it? A historic text? A message from God?  A sacred symbol?  Is it reliable? Is it even finished?  Authors^[1] suggest God (and we) are still writing his story. People talk about “the word of God”, varying in meaning between Jesus himself, his words, the written Bible, and revelation received directly from God today.

Do we consider the Bible as one whole, or as lots of separate parts (2 testaments, 66 books, or 31,102 verses)?  Is it valid to say the Bible as a whole is important for you?  Or that some verses are individually important?

Is it all true, and accurate? When I was at university in the 2000s, there was lots of emotionally charged debate over whether the Bible is “inerrant”, and what this meant. Now it seems to be more widely accepted that “inerrant” is perhaps not the best word to use, rather that God was “intimately and creatively” involved in its writing[2].

These are all good questions! But I would say the whole Bible, as published today, is important as the collection of writings brought together by God, about him and his people.

“…still…”

Was the Bible important…

… when written, but not now in today’s world?

… for Jews and early Christians, but not now we have the Holy Spirit?

…  in me becoming a Christian, but not now that I know God?

The Bible itself says:

Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."

Matt 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.“

2 Tim 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

Even when this world is replaced by God’s eternal Kingdom, his words will still be important.  They keep their value even when everything else has fundamentally changed.  Culture, this world, our way of life – these things are temporary, and lose their importance (although this is hard for us to accept). 

Jesus, being in very nature God, and filled with the Spirit, still valued the Scriptures highly, reading from them and teaching.  We can’t let our assurance of God within us devalue his words to us in the Bible.

Timothy shows that as well as God’s word leading me to be saved, it also helps me in the process of growing, living, and teaching.

God’s word stands, important as ever.

”…important…”

What do we mean when we say something (or someone) is important?  That it has great power or influence? Is it something I can use for my purpose, or something that has an effect on me?

Important: “necessary or of great value” / “having great effect or influence”[3]

These are interesting definitions because they talk not just about value but about consequences. Something that is important is also to have a practical effect on our lives.  The Bible does this.

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

This reminds me of my first encounters with a machete in villages in northern Peru.  It was used for clearing a path, opening a papaya, cutting toenails – everything.  It was “necessary”, and did have “great effect”.  And the Bible is even sharper!

“…for…”

There’s a difference between something being objectively important “for” me (like oxygen, exercise, government policies) and being subjectively important “to” me (like family, a view of the sea, freedom to choose what to wear).  I might not even be aware of some of the things that are important “for” me, though they are necessary and deeply affect my life – but their importance doesn’t depend on my point of view. 

The Bible, whether or not it is important “to” us, is definitely important “for” us.

Psalm 119 is full of examples where the author recognises God’s word’s great importance “for” him, but he also shows that is important “to” him.  Perhaps if we recognise our need for the Bible and its fundamental importance in our life, we start to value and love it as David did.

“…you…”

Who are you?  I’ve seen the importance of the Bible in the last few months for the following people I know:

·         Friends looking to heal their relationship

·         People setting up and leading churches

·         Quechua-speaking Christians who are receiving the full Bible in their dialect for the first time

·         Someone struggling to forgive others who hurt her, and move on

·         Teenagers thinking about relationships and decision-making

I asked Oliver (age 9), the title question and he said: “Yes, because if you don’t read the Bible you won’t understand who Jesus is”.

Whoever you are, God’s word in the Bible is vitally important for your life.

“…(and me)…”

I know that the Bible is very important for me.  I can trace its impact through my life. I’ve been taught from it and come to believe, I’ve searched for knowledge, understanding and help, I’ve got to know God more through it.  Therefore it’s also very important to me. 

But reading it is like exercise – I know it is important and has soooo many benefits, but as well as ultimately being enjoyable (both the process and result) it is a lot of work both to start and continue.  Can you see its importance in my life? Yes, usually.

I know God’s word is important for me.  Can you see its importance in my life? Again yes, usually. Hm, a bit of a challenge there for me!

“…?”

I may have asked more questions than I have answered in this blog, but I shall finish with a few more. 

The Bible is still vitally important for you. 

Did you know that?          Is it also important TO you?         What will you do about it?

Some useful books that might help you to answer these questions (full references below in the bibliography):

·         Engaging the Word (Peter M. Phillips) – lots of discussion of what the Bible is, what its purpose is, and how we engage with it.

·         How to read the Bible so that it makes a difference (Michael Parsons) – loads of helpful suggestions of varied and creative ways to engage with the Bible.

 

References & Bibliography

CAMBRIGDE UNIVERSITY PRESS., 2013. “Important”, Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (4^th ed). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

FEE, G.D. & STEWART, D., 2003. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (3^rd ed). Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI.

HARDY, L., 2020. Honey from the Comb. Birch Island Books, St. Paul, MN.

PARSONS, M., 2020. How to read the Bible so that it makes a difference. BRF, Abingdon.

PHILLIPS, M.P., 2017. Engaging the Word. BRF, Abingdon.

WRIGHT, T., 2013. Scripture and the Authority of God (2^nd ed). SPCK, London.

(Bible references use the NIVUK translation)

---

[1] notably Phillips and Parsons, read as part of this study

[2] Parsons, p.15

[3]Cambridge University Press.  

AIDIA Water Team!

We had such a great week training the new AIDIA water team - Noemi, Keila and Judy will work part-time with me this year.

Here's a video we made explaining what we've been doing over the week - and then some more details below.

Getting an idea of what the team already knew - and then how much they learned. 

I understand how water is contaminated, and why that's a problem
I know who is responsible for the water systems in the communities where we work
I can explain how to use a water filter and why it's important
I help more with people's spiritual/physical needs?
I know what the Bile says about water and sanitation
I understand what my new role is in this team
I know how to prevent diseases linked to water
(Green dots - beginning of the week. Red dots - end of the week)

Prayer for the topics we covered

Prioritising different topics for teaching

How do we need to report on our work, and who to?

Learning styles and interactive teaching

 

How well do you wash your hands?

Setting up the water filters

Who are the stakeholders? Housewives, teachers, local water board. churches, children, local council, health centre, regional development council, other AIDIA areas.

Learning how water-based parasites travel to infect people

What is holistic development?

Judy, Noemi and Keila, after their training

New water office, and list of possible workshops to give.

Vaccine!

How amazing that I as a foreigner could receive the Covid vaccine here in Peru! I went the first day it was available in Abancay for those under 30-39.  For such a large age-group I thought the queue would be horrendous, so I went an hour before they opened and it wasn't too bad. The whoel thing took about 4 hours so I still had some Saturday left.

 

Peru uses various vaccines depending on availability, and some are not accepted in the UK.  Of course you are not told which you'll get before you go, as they don't want people to pick and choose.  "The best vaccine is the one that's in your arm."  As I queued I was thinking about travel requirements and my next trip to the UK (whenever that may be) - if I get a vaccine that isn't recognised by the NHS, I potentially could need more quarantining and 2 more vaccine doses when I visit!  But I decided that my reason for being vaccinated is not to make my own life and travel easier - rather it's to reduce the risk for the people that I travel with and stay with in my work.  If there's a downside, ok I accept that as part of the "sacrifice" of being a missionary.

And after all that soul-searching, prayer and self-sacrifice: it was Pfizer! 

I still can't get it registered in the UK yet as it was administered overseas, but the NHS is working out a system for that.  At least it's registered in the Peruvian system and I managed to get them to change my country of origin from British Virgin Islands back to United Kingdom (quite an understandable error when my documents say my nationality is "British"!)

2 days ago I had my second dose. Slightly more pain but a lot less queueing.

Back to Mariscal Gamarra

Back in March last year, I visited this group of villages, and assured them I'd be back within a month.  Little did I know...

After a heavy cold (no, not Covid, according to the test!) last week postponed my much-delayed return, we finally went on Thursday.  My plan: to visit the people who had bought filters last year, as well as to generally catch up and encourage the churches.  Cesilio's plan: to deliver 300 food parcels in the various villages.

There was some drama on the way, including not knowing whether the truck was behind or ahead of us, getting stuck at some roadworks (but eventually let through) and then finding the truck broken down halfway through the new section of road being worked on!  But eventually we arrived to the villages in the valley, and it was wonderful to be greeted warmly by friends there who I've now known, amazingly, for 8 years.

I managed to visit most of my water-filter families.  I had very low expectations, as I know how important follow-up visits are and hadn't managed to do any - in some cases these expectations were justified but in others there was good news!  I fixed some broken filters, retrained people in how to clean them, and sold a few more.

We loaded up some of the food parcels into my car and drove up the mountain - previously I'd only ever walked to this village but there is a new road.  The top part had clearly suffered a recent landslide but it was passable - but I have a new top 3 entry for "scariest driving moment"!

One of the villages I visited 2 years ago had a tiny group of 5 or 6 Christians and we met together outside someone's house.  During the pandemic, the church has grown hugely, and is now around 40 people - it was so exciting to see!

People have been so generous and I came home with 3 sacks of different produce - now to share it round with friends and neighbours.

A brief look through the year.

January: Each year begins with SIM Peru’s Conference in Lima – a great time to spend with the other missionaries who are usually far away in other cities in Peru.  In January I also have a week of classes to improve my Quechua language speaking - I’ve been meeting with the same tutor for 3 years now and have a good relationship with her.

February: I had a wonderful 2-week holiday, visiting friends in Canada - a great adventure and a break.  On my return I started plans and preparation for the next few month of visits and my trip to the UK.

March:  I accompanied a group who were training leaders to distribute the Samaritans Purse Christmas shoeboxes, in the Mariscal Gamarra area where there are many growing churches. I went as the driver, but also led a Bible study and gave people correct information about the new virus, encouraging them to set up soap and water for effective handwashing, and providing water filters for more families as interest had grown since my last visit. National lockdown began on our return to the city.

April: I was concerned about young Christians in the town, who could no longer attend church and many of whom did not have the maturity or motivation to continue their own spiritual growth.  I started producing live videos with sung worship, Bible study and prayer, for young people and students.  These were well received, and I continued 3 times a week through to August.  It was great to see many people engaging with this material.  Churches in the villages continued to encourage one another with individual visits, but were cut off from the city apart from phone calls.

May: The people mostly suffering economically from the lockdown were mostly in the cities, particularly those without family or savings.  As the SIM Peru team works in the rural areas, we didn’t know where to find these people but thanks to a local Christian in the police, we were allowed out to ask local shopkeepers and friends about those in need.  We managed to help Venezuelan and Columbian immigrants and many Peruvians, with fortnightly food supplies.  We’re so thankful for the logistical and financial help we received.

June: I took on the role of SIM Peru Personnel Coordinator, helping the Peru Director in taking care of our team and those enquiring about joining us.  During lockdown and my time in the UK, there has been less work to be done but it will start to occupy me more and become a part-time role over 2021.  I continue to learn how to support the team in this way.

July: Lockdown eased in Peru and I was able to visit some friends in the city.  I also made enquiries about travel for my planned Home Assignment and at the end of the month I was able to travel to the UK.

August: I spent the month visiting my family and making revised plans for the next few months.

September: I had my SIM UK debrief and my medical, and started to visit churches and friends around the UK.  Because of Covid, I stayed longer in each place before moving on, and saw people individually rather than in large groups – this made the pace a lot slower than usual UK visits, which I appreciated.  I was very glad of the summer weather for outdoor meetings.

October: I continued with church visits, some of which were for in-person services - was a treat and an encouragement to see a variety of approaches that churches are taking.  I was also able to have some short holidays with family.

November: I had valuable time with my Mum during lockdown, and had to make my remaining 2 church visits virtual.  It was still wonderful to spend time online with old friends from churches I know well.

December: I had been praying I would be allowed to attend a week-long retreat I had booked in the autumn and, wonderfully, this was allowed to go ahead.  It was a great time of listening to God, thinking about his plans and his ways, and a reminder to trust him and stay attentive to his voice.

(In early January 2021 I was able to return to Peru, where I am writing this.)