Big City Baptisms

Lima and Huaraz are like chalk and cheese - Lima is big, modern, and has cinemas and shopping centres; Huaraz is small, rural, and has bulls, chickens and Quechua folk. So when Mark received a text in January telling him how 2 guys from his discipleship group in Lima had made commitments to Christ and decided to get baptised, we thought it'd be rude not to attend... even though one of them did ask what present we we would be bringing! So off to Lima once more.

Another long-distance trip, another chance to try a different bus company. So, courtesy of 'Oltursa', we rolled into the big smoke on Saturday night, staying a couple of days with Margaret Saunderson, Lima's own Duracell bunny. Being in mid-summer here, Lima was hot and sticky, but it was really great to return to our church in La Tablada, the shanty-town on the edge of south-east Lima. A lot has changed: the congregation has grown, their pastor (Jesus) has returned from a trip, and they even have a brand spanking new road instead of the previous path of dust and stones, which has completely transformed the feel of the place. It almost looks 'pituco' (Peru's word for posh). The service was typically long, but it was awesome to see Erick and Pepe being baptised. They were 2 of 6 people making public commitments to faith, a sign of how evangelical Christianity is growing all over Peru. Today's stats put evangelicalism at roughly 15% of the population (not nominal). Afterwards, we took them out to celebrate with chicken, chips and Inca Kola, Peru's favourite fizzy drink which is basically bright yellow bubblegum juice! They were really kind with some of the things they said to us, and I think the 2 boys especially appreciated us coming down from Huaraz. Definitely worth the trip.

Staying with Margaret, she took us along to the Lima Cricket Club on Monday - that's right, Peruvian cricket! It's an ex-pat club founded years ago that's become more Peruvian in character. They even had a hockey pavilion and kids being coached on the grass. The inside of the clubhouse was like any cricket or golf club at home - very bizarre being there. But our real motive was the swimming pool! The novelty of being in an outdoor pool in February is hard to shake, so we spent the afternoon there before returning to a few favourite haunts. Nice being back in civilisation!

By Monday night, we were braving the overnight bus back up to Huaraz, enduring every corner at what felt like break-neck speed at 3am. But we made it back safely... then straight into work! Even though it was a rapid turnaround, it was well worth the short trip to see the guys from La Tablada again; hopefully it was an encouraging time for them too.