In order to start a church in the countless Quechua communities in the Andes, it is necessary to have a Quechua contact that knows the people and language. Like the jungle, it is necessary to meet with the president of the community to explain our purpose of entering their community and to get permission to do any kind of work. We have not had this person up until now. God brought us a man named Emilio to our church about 5 months ago. His job was to be a representative of the Quechua communities, which entailed interceding between the government and finding supplies for the communities. He has countless contacts throughout the Quechua communities and the people love him. We told him the idea of starting a church in one of these communities where there is no church. He liked the idea so we jumped in my truck early one morning and visited a few of these remote communities. God opened the door for us in a big way. One community has no church of any kind except for an abandoned Catholic "church." After convincing them that we were not miners, who take advantage and destroy their communities, they were happy. After talking for a long time, we are now invited back to the community. The whole church will go to the this little pueblo called Okra on Christmas and spend the day with them, cooking food, eating paneton (Peruvian bread that is similar to a fruit cake), and hot chocolate. We will get Christmas presents for the kids and bring some clothes and blankets. This first day will be to build relationships, preach the gospel, and seek out a family or families that would be interested in studying the Bible. If things go well, we will travel there once a week. It takes several hours to drive to Okra from Cusco and most of it is on a dirt road. This will increase our already overloaded schedule, which is why we need more missionaries. Please come! The video is our first trip to Okra.
