A letter from Jacob Goad in Peru
August 28, 2008
Our Peruvian partners
Dear Friends,
The best thing about being with the Presbyterian Church in Peru is working with the people who make up our partner organizations.
The churches that we work with have impressed me by their perseverance, commitment, and solidarity with people living in poverty.
Sam Montes runs the Presbyterian Church's radio station in Huanta. Photo by Van Dale.
Samuel Montes was born in Ayacucho. When Samuel was growing up in Ayacucho he spoke Quechua, like most of the people from his region. In the highlands of Peru, he made a living by farming staples crops. He told me that he would still be a farmer today had it not been for his high blood pressure and the Shining Path.
In the 1970s the Maoist ideology was spreading through the rural regions of Ayacucho, offering equality to peasants living in poverty. By 1980 the ideology had prompted the onslaught of an armed revolution that would last 20 years. A professor from the University of Huamanga in Ayacucho named Abimael Guzman was one of the authors of a plan to overthrow the government and bring equality to people living in Peru. The eventual result was a clash between Peruvian military and the Shining Path that left Ayacucho in ruins and more than 70,000 people dead. Samuel lost a sibling during this time, and he and the Presbyterian Church were left to raise the children. Presbyterian missionaries were also forced to flee Ayacucho, leaving the church in the hands of the Peruvian leaders. The church began to grow rapidly in spite of the danger that it faced.
Samuel worked for many years with World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization that worked in the region. He also helped the Presbyterian Church continue their radio station in Huanta called Radio Amauta, a member of the Joining Hands Network. Samuel continues to run the radio station, which reaches the whole state of Ayacucho and parts of Huancavelica. He is also the president of the presbytery of Huanta, which has recently begun a relationship with Sharon Presbyterian Church of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Samuel leads his presbytery in the work with the far-off regions of Ayacucho located at very high altitudes. His determination and passion for the poor is matched by his happy and playful character.
The presbytery of Huanta recently invited Sharon Presbyterian Church of Charlotte, North Carolina, to visit its biblical institute. The Biblical Institute of Huanta trains young leaders to be the caretakers of rural churches in the Andean highlands.
In Huanta, the delegation from Charlotte participated in a wedding, made chairs and pews with local carpenters and church members, investigated local agriculture, and visited a Presbyterian church where the members were martyred by the Peruvian military for assembling to worship in the 1980s. The delegation also visited many of the Presbyterian churches of Huanta and shared messages of Christian unity with their brothers and sisters of Peru. Cesar Carhuachin, of the Presbytery of Charlotte, also led a course on discipleship for the students of the biblical institute.
Samuel's leadership was unprecedented. He brought the delegation into the church family of Huanta, thereby enriching their experience and allowing them to see a different manifestation of the Christian faith. The interaction with Peruvians on this trip was what most impacted participants. When they worked together and played soccer together and celebrated together, they made friends.
Samuel and others like him will be the characters that I will describe in the mission letters for the rest of 2008. I hope you will join me in praying for the Presbytery of Huanta and for all of the partners of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Peru.
Next time I will be writing about the IEP Church in the northeast part of Lima, with which the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has formed a partnership. Over the weekend I will be attending their convention and incorporating some multimedia in my letter so that you can get to know our new partners better.
Peace,
Jacob Goad
The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 275
