Thursday, June 17, 2010

Gamaliel Church - Peru - Update

Periodically we receive updates from Gamaliel church.  Below is a letter from Sergio, the Pastor.  It was translated by Erin from Frontline Peru.  Sergio talks about the school, the feeding program, the new sink that they were able to purchase and the church property that they are trying to get deeds for.  There are also pictures of a new sink that our funds from the feeding program were able to assist in purchasing. 







Pachacutec, May 10, 2010
Pastor Ron,

Please receive my greetings to you, your wife, your family, the other who serve with you, and all those in your congregation. I wish many blessings for all of you.

Despite the distance, we have all of you in our hearts, and this is something that only comes from the Lord. We appreciate you and think very highly of you. Above all, we are joyful in the Lord as it was the Lord who began a great work in you to perfect you in the image of Jesus Christ. It is my great joy that you have heard and understood the message of the Great Commision. Keep being faithful and working in the Lord’s vineyards.

We remember you and recall that your visits to Pachacutec were a great blessing to us. For that reason we thank the Lord in our prayers, fasting, and vigils.

Pastor Ron, you have been an effective instrument of the Lord and you have allowed Gamaliel’s ministry to continue to carry out the purposes for which it was designed. I want to tell you that the dining hall is a blessing, and the children are very happy. Seeing them eat in the dining hall and read books in the library is exciting! We thank the Lord again that he moved all of you to give the offering for the dining hall, which continues to serve 20 children from Monday through Friday. Thank you for that!

The Gamaliel school is fulfulling its academic activities, and it continues to be a way to plant the word of God in the hearts of children and their parents. We currently have 36 students. Saturday, May 7 we had our first civic activity, celebrating Mother’s Day. It was a huge blessing to see the children acting, and to see the attention the mothers gave their children and the children gave their mothers. I hope that your wife and the other mothers in your congregation had a good Mother’s Day; please send them my greetings and my congratulations.

In the month of April, we did some evangelism activities for Easter week. We went out into the markets with music and choreographe dances, and we shared the word of God. We had a music festival with the youth in the church, as well as prayer and fasting. Yesterday, on May 9, we celebrated Mother’s Day. It was a time of great blessing, and we all had a great time.

The youth at church are doing very well, growing spiritually and growing in number. It is comforting to see how the Lord is working and doing his great work in the lives of the youth. Neftali is always with them, along with Renzo, another young man.

I also want to tell you what a blessing it is to have a sink – both for the dining hall and for the children at the school. Thank you for everything.

With respect to our property, we have spoken with the previous owner of a lot of 220 square meters. We have reconciled and we are approaching stages of settlement. We are praying to the Lord that this would all conclude in a satisfactory manner, and that it would soon become a formal part of the Gamaliel Project.

Brother Jose Acat has told me about the decisions you made. We are praying for all of that. Pastor Ron, please send our greetings to all of the missionary brothers and sisters at your church and to Pastor John.

Many blessings, your servant,

Sergio 




Before you see the pictures of the laundry sink for the dining hall here is the cost breakdown as reported by Pastor Sergio







Sink Construction Report

Brother Jose Acat,

I am sending you the expenses for the construction of the sink.

Description:
·     Two sinks were constructed together; one for the dining hall and the other for the school children
·     The sink was constructed of brick and cement with a tile finish

EXPENSES                                                                            BALANCE
·     Bill Nº 000247                                                                  231.75
·     Bill Nº 000290                                                                  53.70
·     Two faucets                                                                      32.00
·     Labor                                                                                 200.00

TOTAL                                                                                   517.45

The Gamaliel school is assuming a cost of 117.45 soles, and we thank the Lord for the generosity of Pastor Ron’s church!

Sergio



Here are members of the church who work with the feeding program.  






The sign thanking our church for the donation to help make the sink a reality.  





A better view of the sinks.  








A picture of the church congregation celebrating mother's day together.  

This is a great picture of Sergio's daughter.  


Here is the front of the sanctuary set up to celebrate mother's day.  


These pictures will be on the bulletin board below the framed picture in Calvin CRC's fellowship hall this week as well.  


Below is a listing of the ingredients the kitchen is using to feed the children in the feeding program.  They wanted us to know what they were paying for.  










Dining Hall Update






Month: April *prices are in soles






Vegetables





1 kg broccoli 1.3





10 kg onions 10





4 kg tomatoes 4.8





4 bunches of beets 6





10 kg carrots 15





2 kg beans 4.5





3 kg peas 8.4





5 kg habas (broad beans) 6






2 kg green beans 2.8






2 kg limes 2.6





1 bunch of basil  3.8





1 bunch of spinach 4.5





2 bunches of celery 15





2 bunches of leeks 6





5 turnips 1.5





10 cucumbers 3.5





0.5 kg peeled garlic 3.8





4 kg pumpkin 4.4





40 kg potatoes 46





1.5 kg gelatin 7.2





4 avocados 7.2





1 cauliflower 3.5





1 cabbage 2





8 kg yellow potatoes 14.4





2 kg yucca 2.6





6 kg olluco (a tuber) 15





yellow aji pepper 2





pepper and cumin 5





salt 4





aji no moto seasoning 3





cinnamon and cloves 3.8





219.6






Meats





3 kg liver 27





7.5 kg fish 45





3 kg beef 30





4 kg stewing beef 48





2.5 kg beef for roast 33.5





1 kg steak 32





5 chickens 67.25





6 kg chicken neck/spine 15





1 kg chicken breast 8





305.75






Packaged Goods





1 kg egg 4.6





0.5 kg semolina 36.8





0.5 kg quinoa





0.5 kg cream of peas





0.5 kg wheat





3 kg beans





1.5 kg lentils





1.5 kg butter beans





5 kg rice 10





36 kg rice 68





10 kg sugar 92.42




5 L oil





4 cans of milk





10 kg pasta noodles





8 kg soup noodles





1 large can of milk 2.5





1 small can of milk 1.3





215.62






Fruits and Refreshments






6 kg apple water (juice) 6





12 kg apples 28





6 kg mandarin oranges 10.8





100 bananas 18





4 pineapples 6





2.5 kg plums 5





1 box of grapes 22





3 kg peaches 7.5





2 starfruits 2





3 kg purple corn (for juice) 5.4





110.7






Below here is a listing of the foods they served each day.  Just so you get an idea.  


Monday   broccoli and chicken stir fry chicken soup grapes     apple fried fish with butter beans beet salad beef soup mandarin   apple juice olluco with chicken chicken soup starfruit apple   beef and cauliflower stir fry chicken soup grapes apple

Tuesday   beef roast with beans minestrone grapes     starfruit beef and vegetable stir fry soup chicha (purple corn juice)     pineapple beef with mashed potatoes soup starfruit banana   pasta with chicken and red sauce huancaíana sauce apple and grapes starfruit


Wednesday   tripe chicken/avocado salad grapes chicha (purple corn juice)   aji chicken with rice chicken soup bananas apple juice     pesto pasta with liver beef soup mandarin apple     beef with mashed potatoes soup bananas apple juice



Thursday   chicken and green rice semolina beef soup banana apple   pesto pasta with steak chicken soup with peas jell-o gelatin starfruit     chicken and green bean stir fry chicken soup chicha (purple corn juice) pineapple     fried fish with lentils cooked vegetable salad chicken soup starfruit sweet wheat cereal dessert



Friday   liver with vegetable salad quinoa apple starfruit   beans and liver chicken soup chicha (purple corn juice) peaches     fried fish vegetable salad with avocado chicken soup chicha (purple corn juice) plum   aji chicken with rice chicken soup with peas jell-o gelatin apple juice


So, there you have some more information from Gamaliel church.  As we receive correspondence back and forth, I'll share it with you.

Blessings.  



1 comment:

Jeannine Westra said...

Wow, this is fantastic! Thank you Ron for posting this. It's great to see and hear about what is going on in Gamaliel while we are all the way here in Canada. It's a blessing to me, and I'm sure to others of our congregation, so see how God is blessing them. He is helping them provide and continue the Great Commission in their part of the world. :D