Hello Everybody,
Here is our February, 2021 update;
It has been a very differnt year here, as it is for most of you. We are in lock-down again, and have been most of February. We have a curfew of 9:00 pm, and no one should be out on the streets on Sundays. And no social gatherings, so we had to close our church again.
We are waiting to hear what will happen next. News changes weekly, so we are not sure how this year will be yet.
The good news, is that schools opened for matriculation this week, and there are rumors that we might have "in class" teachings again this year. But that is not confirmed yet. Please pray that the children can go back to class soon. Many are falling behind for many reasons. Some don't have intelligent cell phones, in order to get the class assignments via "whatsapp". Some don't have televisons to see the teachings, And others don't have parents who are apt or have the time to help them with the work, or don't really care if they attend or not.
We are having our Sunday morning & Wednesday night, (mid-week) service over Zoom. And have just recently figured out how to attach Zoom to facebook. So now more of our people who don't have minutes on their cell phones, can still attend. Since Whatapp, messenger, facebook and others are free, even if you don't have phone minutes.
Many people here don't have a monthly plan, but put minutes on their cell phones as they need to, or as money comes in to be able to recharge their phone with minutes.
Gaby is gathering with the Youth Group, since many live close to her house. They are using the house that the church bought for the restaurant a few years ago, that we tried to make work. Samuel was living there, but he & his family moved to Ica, where they have family, to look for work. He is currently working in a gold mine, a few hours from Ica, so he works a few days and comes home for a few days.
Sadly we don't have Children's Church at this time. Since there are many children, the only place we can use is the church. And since the church had to close, we will not have Children's Church for now.
Please pray that the cases of the virus goes down, and that we can open the church and get back to some sort of normal again. Although things may not get back to normal for some time, (if ever). But we know that God is in control, and He will use all this for His glory. So we are not stressed but continue on. Knowing that we are not on vacation from the spiritual life, but this is our oportunity to press closer to the Lord and seek Him more. That will give us the strengh to confront comes what comes.
We visited the church in Panguana (Calvary Panguana) in January. All of the church leaders & many of the Youth prepared a program and had a nice time in Panguana. We went early on a Monday, had time to visit homes and to invite them to the program. We even had time to visit the local watering hole and have a nice swim, to cool off. We spent the night there and came back to Iquitos the next day.
 Raul, Javier, David in a worship song |
"Calvary Chapel Iquitos" (There are more pictures there than I can send in an update)
Sponsors
Several of our youth have graduated high school and now wondering what they will do. The common thing is for the boys to move to Lima, to find work there. We lose most of our youth this way as there are not many companies that provide jobs here in Iquitos. We would like to provide some training for these young people, even if it is just basic PC skills.
If you would like to contribute to any of the following ministries\expenses:
Harvest Alliance International P.O. Box 4550 Oceanside, CA 92052 Memo: "62414 - XXX"
(62414 is our ministry number) (Where XXX = General Fund, Children's Ministry, etc...)
*Note: The dollar is currently at 3.62 or 362 soles for every $100 (U.S.).
Thank you all for your prayers and financial support.
and God Bless you
Albert Smith
Calvary Chapel Murrieta
24225 Monroe Avenue
Murrieta, CA 92562
Memo = Peru, Albert Smith
Or for Jose
Memo - Peru, Jose Garate
Pastor Javier & Pastor Raul's offerings go through Harvest Alliance International (above).