With an average of some 50,000 people joining the Adventist Church each year in Peru, one of the fastest growing areas for the church worldwide, a challenge presents itself: providing worship space for members.
From July 1 to 11, 36 members of the Markham Woods, Florida, Adventist Church volunteer team, working with Maranatha Volunteers International, stayed in Tarapoto and traveled to Lamas to work on a new church for a congregation of about 150 Adventists who were in desperate need of a place to worship.
Markham Woods is one of the first groups working with Maranatha Volunteers International in this country under the recently launched “1,000 Churches in 1,000 Days” initiative. The program aims to construct 1,000 churches in 1,000 business days in areas of the world where the Adventist Church is growing rapidly. Maranatha has committed to construct 100 places of worship in Peru under this program.
This is the third mission trip in four years for the Markham Woods Adventist Church. Led by Steve Yost, the group not only met its construction goals, but it reached out to the community in a number of ways, as well.
While the construction site and the Vacation Bible School drew daily crowds of onlookers and participants, for two local people in particular, their encounters with Maranatha and the Markham Woods volunteers will be life-altering.
Jonathan is a 12-year-old boy who was abandoned by his mother as an infant. He works to help support his family by selling ice cream while also going to school. Jonathan sold ice cream to the group volunteers and made friends with them. On his day off, he came to the construction site and worked odd jobs to help.
“He is an extraordinary 12-year-old kid. Everybody loved Jonathan and he became like our young mascot,” says Don Wildman, a Markham Woods member. “His stepmother had had some previous contact with Adventists ... One of our group members, David Garcia, really interacted with Jonathan and his family and took him under his wing. He asked the father and stepmother if they’d consider sending him to our school if we could cover the tuition. Through our group and a number of folks, they have covered his first two years of school.”
When the group learned of a local man who was in grave pain, they took him to the hospital. Harnan Visser, a volunteer, was especially instrumental in making sure the man was taken care of and, by the time of the group’s departure, he showed signs of improvement.
“The people were so appreciative of everything we did for them,” says volunteer Keith Carr. “They were crying and couldn’t express their appreciation enough. A lot of people here don’t make very much and they work very hard for what they have, and their family values are so strong.”
Despite the meager resources available to the townspeople, the richness of their love for Jesus pours out to those around them and serves as witness of God’s goodness.
“They are very active and alive to evangelize their community,” says Wildman. “They’re already making plans to start another church.”
