Exciting things happen on a mission trip when the majority of the participants are skilled construction workers or experienced mission trip participants. Instead of building one church in Peru, the Washington Conference mission trip team worked on two churches over six days.
In partnership with Maranatha Volunteers International, the mission team led the last currently planned building expedition in Peru.
After finishing the Las Joyas Church in Cuzco ahead of schedule, the team of 12 decided to help the Pisca Cucha church to roof their half-finished adobe structure. The church is located near the train tracks leading to Machu Picchu. The members had been working on building this church without any outside help.
“It would have been very difficult for the locals to get those trusses up by themselves,” said John Freedman, Washington Conference president. “We gave the locals a big boost. It is amazing what our presence does to represent God to the people.”
Once in Peru, the team discovered another pressing need: Bibles and hymnals in Spanish and Quechua.
"The churches have very few Bibles and hymnals," explained Carla Andersen, a mission trip participant. "Many of the church members don't have their own Bibles and it is apparent that they are not rich people."
In response to e-mail and online requests, the team raised $500.
“God really pulled our team together," said Andersen, who kept a daily mission trip journal at http://washingtonconference.org. "We accomplished so much with such a small group of people.”
John Freedman, conference president, greets members after church in Cuzco.
Even with a small team, the Peru mission group accomplished a lot. "If we had additional people," said Nessy Pittau, trip coordinator, "we would have gotten in each other's way."
Church members built a small dam in a nearby river so Omar Grieve and John Freedman, garbed in green rubber hip waders, could perform a baptismal service.
