Ancobamba village meeting

After months of discouragement in Ancobamba (in which I have been trying to find the positive), I got invited by the water board and the local government representative to help them plan their budget for 2017, and to help train the whole village about pathogens in water so that they would agree to the necessary expenditure!

We worked out what I think was a fairly conclusive budget, and presented it to the village.

I did an activity about how we decide whether water is clean, then took a giant drop of water (ok, newspaper sheets stuck together) and some giant parasites (measuring tape, buttons and lentils) to show the kinds of pathogens that can live in it but are too small to see, and talked about how we can get rid of them.

The village agreed to pay about 60% of the planned budget - which is a lot better than I thought it might be!

Meanwhile, the engineers of the future...

Beautiful feet!

Isaiah 52:7 - How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!

I've really enjoyed helping this group to form and meet together - they are young professionals from the church who didn't really receive any targeted teaching and often can't attend on Sundays because of work.  We've been meeting for about a year now, and it's been wonderful to see them grow.

One of the group suggested we do a Christmas event - with traditional presents, hot chocolate and paneton - it was a big job and none of them had ever done it before, but several meetings and a lot of fundraising later, we were off!

The journey begins... we chartered a bus to take us 3 hours to Marjuni, picking up people from the church in Lambrama on the way.  Some bits of the road were so sandy we had to get out and dig / push / walk.

 

Haf of the group stayed at Marjuni to do an event there - the rest of us walked up the valley to Pallancca - we had asked them to send horses but none arrived, so we carried:

20 tins of milk

3kg of sugar

800g of chocolate

a speaker

a sack of panetones

a guitar

a bag of presents

So we prayed together and then set off.

 

I was so glad to have recovered sufficiently from tendonitis so be able to walk here.  When my legs were aching, I realised "it's ok - this is the reason I have legs - to take the good news to those who haven't heard!"

2 hours later we saw the first house... it was quite a relief! 

In Pallancca, the people gathered round - first children, then women, then men.  They helped us prepare the hot chocolate and listened while Bernabé taught from God's word.  The church in Lambrama has been planning to visit Pallancca for a long time - this is the first time many people had heard the gospel.

I also taught about the two ways to live and taught some simple songs.

 

Then it was time to serve the hot chocolate and paneton...

... and give out presents.

Back in Marjuni we were reunited with the rest of the team... all very encouraged.  For some this was the first time they had explaned the gospel, and they came home keen to do more!