Summer Update

In December 2007 Steve and 5 of our church leaders set out on a 10-day trip to the Amazon. These men were hand-picked by Temple Baptist’s leadership, believing they had the greatest potential for impact.

These expectations were met and greatly exceeded as one pastor, three Sunday School teachers, and a military leader all returned with GREAT, entertaining, and moving stories of God’s care and provision throughout their trip.

Although this team was already missions-minded and well-traveled, for the first time they came face to face with missionaries on their own turf. Some of these missionaries are fellow Americans, some are native to South America and others are indigenous (tribal) brothers, but all share the same heart which is reaching the tribes with the gospel of Jesus Christ and equipping and empowering them to carry out the Great Commission.

Our group also attended church in a tribal village, which required a one hour boat ride and walking through about a mile of mud on a Sunday morning! (Apparently, there is an unspoken rule in the Amazon that if there is heavy rain, church is cancelled. Our team was unaware of this though. So after slogging through the mud to reach the village, the villagers took pity on them and joined their visitors at the church! J)

Upon their return, the men relayed how the trip personally impacted them as they shared during their classes and morning services. (You can listen to their accounts from January 6, 2008 at http://temple-baptist.org/. Click on pictures in the slideshow on the right for more detail.) Months later, their experiences continue to trickle down thru classes and sermons as God brings things to their minds. It’s such a joy for us to see how God has used this one trip in the hearts of this amazing group of men!

Many of our group have expressed and a desire to return to Peru after seeing the many needs. There is much that can be done to support and empower the missionaries to focus on their work. One example is construction at the Amazon Focus property. You may recall the property was purchased several years ago to use as a base for missionaries and visitors. When construction is completed, it will also house AF Field Director Irma Espinoza when she is not in the more remote villages. Sadly, construction has been slow since there is no permanent presence there to supervise or coordinate activities. Because of this the property was looted last year by people scaling the surrounding walls, peeling off roofs, and taking away doors and things of that nature. As you may imagine, without doors and roofs there is not much security!

Upon their return, there was a great excitement about partnering with the missionaries in Peru, and a desire to return this summer. Several of the men from the previous trip have been unable to return this time around, but in the interim we have picked up two “newbies”: our senior pastor and a graduate student from Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) who also speaks Spanish. This trip will run August 1-10, and is quickly approaching, so we would ask you to be in prayer—both for the trip, and for Heather and the boys who will be staying at home.

ALTECO 2007 Update

Steve was asked to assist and participate with the ALTECO consortium held in Florida. So at the end of March we packed up the boys and flew down to Orlando.

Steve served where needed for the duration of the conference, while enjoying the opportunities to network and fellowship with delegates from various backgrounds & ministries. Everyone attending had one primary focus--empowering the Amazonian tribes. We wish that we could find a way to convey the sense of unity we witnessed at this conference or how exciting it was for us to be involved in it.

Steve Saint (son of Nate Saint and founder of I-TEC, the Indigenous People’s Technology and Education Center) joined us at ALTECO again this year. (He recently joined the board of ALTECO, which we are really excited about.) This year, he brought his new dental/birthing chair (which is an interesting combo, if you really think about it!) The chair was developed by I-TEC to equip our indigenous brother and sisters to minister in tangible and practical ways to their people and neighboring tribes. (They are also trained to do the dental work.)

Steve Saint also demonstrated another project aimed at indigenous independence: his "grasshopper", which is sort of a combination go-cart/paraglider. This two man flight vehicle is being developed for use in the Amazon as an alternative to planes. The "grasshopper" could be seen several times during the conference week, taking off, soaring, circling and touching down. It was awesome, in the truest sense of the word! (We have uploaded a few of the photos to our photo album, if you want to see for yourself!)

The April 2007 newsletter from I-TEC briefly mentions a little bit about the conference and their take on it. I’d like to encourage you to visit the I-TEC site if you have an interest in the dental/birthing chair or the grasshopper. They have some neat photos and you can even read their April newsletter (look for the Archives link on the Breaking News page).

This year has seen many changes for us as well as Amazon Focus. Although our status with Amazon Focus has changed to “Associates” we have found that there are still plenty of opportunities for us to remain involved with AF.

Steve has been hard at work, organizing a 10-day trip for five of our church’s key leaders. Along with Steve, they will travel to Peru in the beginning of December (Nov. 29- Dec. 9) for a time of exposure to the people and ministry of the Amazon. We are praying that the effects of this trip will spread throughout the congregation, as these key men share all that God is doing in the Amazon.

Peru Pictures Added!

Greetings one and all!

If you are here looking for information or pictures relating to Steve's recent trip to Peru, you came to the right place!! We have been digging through the pictures the team took--there are about 2900 of them, I hear. So far I think I've seen almost a thousand. Trust me, you won't find that many here! :) We have pulled out the ones we thought would be most interesting and help to tell the story of the trip.

I categorized them rather than put them all in chronological order, so if you are only interested in the construction or the village you can just go right to that particular album. All the trip pictures in the album start with "08/06". You can look at them on the right in thumbnail size or click on the album picture and see them in a larger format. Enjoy!! :)

ALTECO Feedback

One of the indigenous leaders from Peru had this to say:

Thank you so very much for giving us the opportunity to get to know other people who also have a great heart for the Amazon.... I speak my own language and also Spanish, but now I’m motivated to learn English too.

Upon returning from Florida, we attended the first-ever Amazon Consultation here in Peru. It was a great blessing. We formed a committee comprised of two indigenous leaders, a national leader and a Swiss missionary, in order to establish a missions network here in Peru, which can be a complement to ALTECO. ALTECO can focus on the broad Amazon region, and our network on the local level here in Peru.

I was able to teach on the truly Autonomous Indigenous Church, and also share about ALTECO with the over 50 delegates that attended from churches, denominations, mission agencies, missiological study centers, and theological institutions. We genuinely felt like one team in the Lord. There were testimonies and challenges, and all were in favor of establishing the Peru Network. All this makes me think that our Lord wants to come back and take His church to heaven soon. There is much interest in missions everywhere now!

New Photos From Peru

Just uploaded a few of the pictures from Steve's recent trip to Peru. Enjoy!! Clicking on the slideshow option will let you select to view the pictures in their fullsize.