Pepe's Visit from Living Missions Peru, Fred Lacroix's Fundraising Concert, and Pepe's talk on Missions

From December 1 - 6, we here at Calvin had the privilege of hosting Pepe from Living Missions Peru.  

Pepe and his wife Erin are the two that run this very small organization, and whom we have been partnering with for the past 10 years and 6 visits to Peru.  

Several years ago we had Pastor Sergio from Gamaliel church come to visit (see posts in April 2011) us in Canada, and we thought it would be nice to have Pepe come and visit and share the evolving vision for missions in Peru, and pretty much anywhere else you want to apply it.  

So, preparations were made over the past while and eventually Dec 1 arrived.  And so did Pepe. : )

I was waiting for him at the the international doors ready to snap my picture of him coming through....

I waited, and I waited, and I waited and then he came out of another door for immigration and scared me half to death. 

Here's a bad selfie just after Pepe scared me.  

The first order of business. 
Tim Horton's Coffee.  

Three bags of sugar Pepe!
Really!

There, a true Canadian now.  : ) 
(For those of you who prefer starbucks or other coffee, 
se la ve) 

We got Pepe to our house where Joycegina was busy making dinner. 

All smiles. 

Time for Nassi (or was it Balmy) and potatoes and veggies. 
Pepe loves pretty much any kind of food. 

Then after dinner it was time for a meeting with our International Partnership Committee, and then home for some relaxation and catch up time.  

And gifts from Erin and Pepe.  

A Scarf

And warm winter hats.  I wear mine all the time now.  

After a good night's sleep it was time for a bacon and eggs breakfast. Yummy.  Nice hat Pepe.  He's still getting used to Canada.  : ) 

After breakfast we were off to Redeemer Christian High School to attend the World Issues class.  We are waiting here for class to start.  

Pepe took some time to share his evolving missions strategy that we have been working with him on over our past 10 years.  

You'll hear more about that in a bit, but it has to do with moving from a vertical way of doing missions to a horizontal relational way. The class listened intently and had good questions and even began to see how their support an orphanage every year in Uganda could be done differently using this model.   

For lunch Pepe and I attended a newly formed weekly Bible study group.  Mostly Girls, but today some boys were allowed to attend as well.  : ) 

A great time of fellowship with them. 

After Redeemer, we went downtown to the Byward Market. 
Walked around a bit.  
Pepe in his mummy outfit.  : ) 

We had to stop for Beaver Tails.  Another Canadian thing that had to be done while Pepe was here. 
Here's the menu.  
We got the chocolate hazelnut. 
What a sugar rush.  

Pepe even paid.  Whoot  : )

Before we consume Pepe's first every BeaverTail. !!  :) 

Opps, Pepe left the icing on.  : )

We walked around some more and then found another.....wait for it....Tim Horton's.  : ) 

Only two sugars this time. 

We drove to Parliament hill and parked and took a trip to the hill.  

The eternal flame. 

Someone kindly took a picture of us.  

And Pepe returned the favour. 

Another bad selfie.  : ) 

We had just enough time to take a tour of the inside of the parliament buildings. 

I've never been in them during the Christmas season. 
They trim the place up nice.  

Our guide was nice.  

Do not Enter, and we entered anyway.  

More pictures of the atrium.  

Hallways decorated with lots of trees. 

Library doors. 

Library Roof. 

In the library. 

Pano. 

Pepe did take his own pictures too. : )
For the record. 

The fire

Shhhhh. 
It's a working library. 

The Queen's portrait. 

The Senate.  

Tour done, we headed for home.  

This reminds me of our bus rides to and from Lima to Pachacutec. :) 

After a quick dinner at home it was off to Calvin to get ready for our fundraising event that Fred would be part of, but so would Pepe.  
His talk. 

Katrina and Elizabeth getting the donation envelops ready. 

Christine and Rosy getting furniture from the basement. 

Strong.  

Phil too.  

And Daniel. 

Kitchen crew getting the desserts and coffee ready. 

Hmmmm, Rosy...so much for strong.  

Time to get the fellowship hall in order. 

What a cute cake.  : ) 

Things coming together. 

hmmmm,  Peter and Leanne need to get to work.  : )

The end result for the stage area

Hey, even Pepe helped out. 
Thanks Pepe. 

Time to organize the desserts.  
A lot of people for that  :) 

The fellowship hall is finished.  

Desserts are ready and so is the coffee and tea. 

As we waited for people to arrive (yes we were done early) Phil and Leanne updated the Mission's bulletin board. 
Why not.  : ) 

Our First guests.  

Time to welcome everyone with smiles.  

More guests arrive. 

Pepe meeting up again with Margaret and Nick. 

Daniel seems to be falling asleep at his job.  hmmmm

We had a slightly smaller crowd this year. 
Need to remember to not host on a Friday again, as the sing along Messiah was also happening.  

Time to sample the coffee and desserts. 

And catch up with friends. 

Or get your good seat for the concert. 

Megan and Brooke came to get some music culture in their lives. 

The all women's table.  : )

Harold wanting Peter's coffee plunger coffee.  
Seemed strong to me.  : ) 

Phil and Leanne helping out. 

And eventually Fred arrived.  Whew. 
Time to get warmed up.  

While the rest of the crowd continued to socialize. 

We began at 7:15 p.m. 
I'm always soooo thankful for Fred's willingness to take time out of his very busy schedule to do this concert for us/Calvin. 
So greatly appreciated. 

The crowd always appreciates his expression in music. 
What a great gift God has blessed him with. 

Seems the youth didn't appreciate it as much.  : ) 

Relaxing before the intermission time. 

And before we knew it it was intermission time. 

Rosy preparing tea. 

Fred socializing. 

After the break Pepe gave his talk. 
I've included a couple of short clips of his talk to give you a taste.  The last one is my favourite. 

Short Clip #1
The problem with vertical relationships between churches of different cultures. 

Short Clip #2
The reason we need to work horizontally 

Short Clip #3
The benefits of a horizontal relationship

Short Clip #4
The problem of poverty

Short Clip #5
Some dangerous motivations with the vertical model

Short Clip #6
There is a better model/way - Love and Relationship

  
His full edited talk can be found by clicking this link to YouTube.  Well worth the listen.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SJrrGdTu7w&feature=em-upload_owner


I've also included his diagram of the vertical vs. horizontal way of doing missions that has evolved over the years. 
A very nice way of explaining that the vertical creates dependency and the horizontal is a better way of trying not to do that.  

And this model can not only be applied in mission, but with your church, with your friends, with those in your city, etc. 

It's a fairly new idea that comes out of making mistakes as we have gone to Peru, and learning from them.  It's one that I hold to now, but it's not one that everyone does. Hopefully as people come to see that we can often do more harm than good, even with the best of intentions, this trend will change and we will see that Learning Opportunities (Horizontal) are far better than Mission Trips (Vertical).  We will just keep putting the message out there. 

I just received a letter from Pastor Sergio which I'll share below as well.  It just testifies to the wonderful relationship we have been trying to foster and will D.V. continue to foster in the future. It also lets us know that Pastor Sergio's church is also living out this horizontal model with churches in his own country in the jungle.  Neat to see a long term relationship happening for them too.  

Dear Pastor Ron,

I give God thanks continuously because I remember you in my prayers, and I remember the experiences I had with you when you were here. Your service to the Lord brings blessings to my life.

Remembering all these past years among brothers, sisters and churches, motivates me to declare all the glory is for Christ. He is great and powerful, and he has made our relationship to last this long.

This current year, 2016, is about to end, but it was a gift from God. I pray to God that he keeps blessing you in all areas of your life. May your church keep having in mind the passion for mission trips, May God’s love for others keep growing, and may Jesus be your reason for living.

In Pachacutec, our glorious God allows us to enjoy his blessings and to watch Gamaliel Church standing in faith. Seeing the service of the brothers and sisters here is so valuable. I can tell you that the school is a good place to spread the Gospel to children and parents. I am sure God is there.

As a church, we’ll go to Yauyos this coming week, starting on December 16. We are very excited to see our brothers and sisters in Christ. We call it the church of the “old people”, as many of their members are advanced in years. 

The school year is about to finish, and we just had an event called “Thankful hearts” in which we all express gratitude to God for what he has done for all of us during all this time he has watched over us. 

I would like to give you thanks for all this time you have helped me through your prayers. Thank you for the love you have for missions, and thank you for being an example to others.

Sergio  

Back to Fred as he finished out the evening. 

Rosy cleaning up. 

Getting the extra desserts ready for sale. 

Christine and Rosy are still smiling. 
Whoot. 

Wilma did an awesome job. 
Nothing unusual. 

Is that Phil behind that chair?

So it is.  

Time to seal the plates and get them ready for sale. 

The concert is almost over. 
I think everyone enjoyed it.  

Time to head for home.  

When we got home it was time for dinner and more "relaxation". 
It was fun having our evening relax times with Pepe.  
Fun to socialize.  

Saturday morning is upon us.  
Pepe is getting some gifts ready for our church school kids as well as those from Cornwall, which is where we were headed to today. 

Pastor Sergio once again gave us a gift. 
Such a sweet man. 

Breakfast on the road. 
Guess where.....  : ) 
If you said McDonald's....you'd be wrong! 

Arrived in Cornwall safe and on time. 

They were planning a morning pancake breakfast and invited the church to attend.  

Old friends reunited. 

Hey Gerry.  

Good food all around today. 

So how's Pass the Pigs going with you guys?  ": ) 

Gerry, always smiling. 

Many hard at work in the kitchen,

Even George. 
The consummate dish washer. 

Yes, that's me doing dishes. 
I offered to help. 
Really!  : ) 

Pepe and Marsha catching up. 

A good crowd came out. 

Marsha introduced Pepe to the group. 

And Pepe gave his same talk yet again.  : ) 

I never get tired of hearing it actually. 

After that, it was time to clean up. 
Pepe felt bad I was helping, so he offered to help too.

Such a nice guy. 

Then it was off to visit with some who have gotten to know Pepe well.  We travelled to Gerry and Marsha's place. 
Saw a deer on the way. Yep, it's way off in the distance.  Really small.  : )

Their place is right on the water.  Beautiful. 

Beautiful century home that is being renovated...and how. : )

Pepe, you STILL cold. : )

Everyone seeing pictures of Teya, Erin and Pepe's cute, young child.  

Gerry getting the fireplace going. 

A nicely renovated part of the home.  
Not all done yet.  

More food.  

Lots of food. : ) 
Always good food.  

Pepe and Pastor Steve.  

We hung around for a couple of hours, but eventually it was time to leave.  Parting is sad sometimes. 

Hey, we must have tired Pepe out AGAIN!  

Once home, time for a quick supper and off to Kanata to see a Sen's Game.  

Before the game begins.  

Warm up. 

National Anthem time. 

Another bad selfie. 
I let Gerry sit beside Pepe so he could explain the game to him as it unfolded.  
Oh, and George isn't in this picture, but he came too.  Just an FYI

The game in action. 
Two goals right off and then a pretty dull game actually.  : ) 
But Pepe had fun. 

Sunday morning and time for church. 
Pepe was introduced by Peter, who incidentally didn't know Pepe's full name. 
Interesting.  

Pepe briefly shared about Gamaliel church and Pachactec, and thanked us for the relationship and the learnings that have gone on.  

After church we gathered together for a potluck meal. 
Those who had been to Peru were invited to meet with Pepe on a more personal level. 

It was a great meal and we had time for people to comment and ask Pepe questions. 

We ended with a blessing over Pepe.  
Neat. 

Just having had food, Pepe and I did what any full person would do, we went to Costco to get some steaks. 
Pepe wanted to have Canadian steak for dinner.  
Who was I to deprive him of that. 

Also got my car washed. 

Pepe inspecting the quality of the car wash.  : )

Back at home  (and after several hours between meals BTW)  it was time for Pepe to teach me how to "properly" prepare steak.  

A bit of virgin olive oil and sea salt.  Let the sea salt melt into the meat, and rub in some olive oil.  

Then put on the BBQ and do the same to the other side.  

Turning every two minutes for 12 minutes...

And voila.  The BEST steak I've ever had.  
Really. 
Melted in our mouth.  

Even my girls, who don't like steak, really liked this steak. 

I'm a believer.  No more steak sauce needed cooking this way.  

After dinner it was time for some social relaxation. 

I invited a few people to simply come over and chat and talk with Pepe.  Up close and personal.  

It was a fun and special time.  

Pepe had been hoping for snow while in Canada. 
Well, he got it.  

Yes, Pepe, it's SNOW!!  : )

He likes it. 

We travelled to the church and Pepe and Pastor Craig spent some one on one time together.  
No Ron. : ) 
Better that way. : ) 

And then off to breakfast, which we didn't have time for because Pepe got up too late.  : )
Breakfast at Mello's.  

Pepe liked the place.  

Oh yeah.  Snow and shoes don't always mix, so we did come home to get Pepe some snow boots of mine. 
I did stick with my shoes, for the record. : )

We hoped to go to Montreal for the day, but not with the roads the way they were. 
Instead it was off to the museum of history in Quebec. 

Saw the Nepolean exhibit. 

Pepe chillin after walking the exhibit.  

The currency exhibit.  

We also went to see an IMAX movie. 

The place was packed.  : )

After the museum we went back to Parliament hill. 
Pepe wanted to see it in the snow. 

Hey, what are you doing Pepe?

Really, a snowball?

hmmmm. 
Wanted to start a snowball fight on parliament hill? 

We walked to the back to see the river and Quebec.  

And Pepe threw another snowball at me. 
Good thing we are friends.  

Walked to the Locks.  
A bad selfie. 

Saw how the water is passed through the canal. 
Cool 

The locks from the bridge. 

We stopped at the Chateau Laurier to warm up, and go pee. 
And to re-adjust Pepe's boots.  : )

Back for one last picture at Parliament hill. 

Another quick nap as I drove back home. 
Hmmmm, how come I'm not getting any naps?  

Oh, actually it wasn't home, it was straight to Peter and Wilma's home for dinner. Pizza.  Yummy 

Wilma getting things ready. 

Relaxing with the fam as the pizza cooks. 

Oh, a gift for Pepe. 
Peter, do you know what it is? 

Apparently Peter had no idea of the gift. 
Too funny. 
Nice shirt though. 
I know Pepe is wearing it with pride.  

Gifts for Wilma too.  

Some sort of salt stuff.  

Dinner is served. 

After dinner we went to the church and Pepe shared with the Elders and Deacons his talk, one more time. 
I forgot to get a picture of that....sigh.  : )
Then we went home to wait for Chris to come home so we could have a final evening of "sharing" together. 
Took him forever.  

Eventually he texted me, and Pepe and I drove to Carleton to pick him up and so Pepe could see where he and Sarah went to school.  
On the way home we stopped to get Pepe Poutine.  
My hope all week was to find a good place to get it, but Wendy's had to do. 

Time to dig in. 
Wasn't that bad actually. 

After another night's sleep it was time to get Pepe off and out of Canada.  
But first, Breakfast with Chris.  

And Joycegina. 
That hat again Pepe.  

Time for goodbyes. 

And last minute pictures. 

And more goodbyes

Off to the airport and into the parking garage. 

And time to check in. 
After a small name change glitch Pepe was ready to go. 
PLENTY of time to catch his plane.  

Farewell for now good friend. 

I decided to chill and watch the planes and wait till Pepe's took off. 

Airborne. 

Was great having you in Canada Pepe. 
All we need now is Erin and Teya to come with you next time. 
That would be a hoot.  
Until then, 
Blessings in your ministry in Peru with your people and nation.