From the corners of the

The incredible workers you support

Words: Hannah Watson Photos: Hannah Watson, Jacob Barrell and Melanie Webb

THE PASTOR WHO EMBRACED A TOWN IN MOURNING. THE PASSIONATE TEACHER CARVING A BRIGHTER FUTURE. THE MAN HOLDING THE DOORS OF JUSTICE OPEN FOR THE OPPRESSED.

This is BMS World Mission. These are the workers you support.

Pastor Amilcar is one of the kindest people you could meet. He can’t walk ten paces through the streets of Pisac, Peru without locals stopping to kiss him on both cheeks. He’s got a kind word for everybody, asking after relatives and how business is going. He’s not from this town, but Pastor Amilcar’s gentle reflection of Jesus’ love for this place has meant that, one by one, people here have come to know Christ. Taking Amilcar almost by surprise, a fledgling church has formed in Pisac, borne out of his witness. This village in the Andes is a long, meandering drive from the city of Cusco, where Pastor Amilcar faithfully leads his congregation. So why would a busy pastor embrace such an unassuming place, over an hour away?

Pisac may be a small town, but it’s got a heavy history. In 2010, a flood broke the banks of the Vilcanota river, which splices its way through the Sacred Valley of the Incas in which the town is nestled. You can feel the water’s power each time you cross the bridge connecting the two sides of the town. The flood killed 12 people, many of them parents to young children. This is why Pastor Amilcar is drawn back to Pisac. He’s committed to mourning with families who are still recovering. “After the tragedy, people needed help. They needed clothes and food, but all these things were temporary. People really needed help that would last,” says Pastor Amilcar. That help has come in the form of sharing Jesus’ love with people in Pisac, but Pastor Amilcar knows he couldn’t do anything he does without BMS supporters. “Thank you for your love for people you don’t know. God bless you. Because of your support, families here will have their lives transformed.” This is what your support of BMS’ church planting ministry looks like. It looks like life springing from the shadow of death. It looks like supporting Pastor Amilcar. It looks like embracing a town in mourning.

Esther Sarker’s Facebook feed is a riot of colour. She’s always posting craft ideas, visual aids and activities for children – a kind of digital mood board for her job. Some people are born to teach, and Esther is one of them. It’s clear from the way she convulses into giggles at some of the funny things her pupils say. From the student workbooks she’s meticulously illustrated by hand. And from the compassion she radiates when she finds out that one of her pupils from a poor, rural area in Bangladesh only owns one outfit to wear to school. Esther is a recent recruit to the Social Health and Education board of the Bangladeshi Baptist Church Sangha. It’s a project transforming futures for Bangladesh’s children, starting at the very youngest age, by equipping local teachers to provide preschool education to marginalised areas. (Turn to page 14 to read more about how BMS supporters are the ones making this transformation possible.) For Louise Proctor, BMS’ Educational Consultant heading up the project, Esther’s input has been indispensable. She understands the local context that Louise has had to adapt to over four years. “Esther can get more of a real picture of what’s happening,” says Louise. “She’s starting to build up relationships with the teachers, and we’re hoping that they’ll begin to open up more to her, and share their stories and difficulties.” Esther’s faith infuses everything she does. It’s important to her that Hindu and Muslim children, as well as Christian kids, are getting to know who Jesus is through the witness of the preschools. “We can spread that light,” says Esther. “Our society has needs. And rural areas have little chance to access education. If our country wants to develop, then children are our future.” Jesus taught that space should be made for little children to come to him. And by supporting BMS education projects, you enable teachers like Esther who take that teaching seriously – teachers who love their jobs, who love Jesus, and who want to share his love with the children they teach.

Luis Alfredo Manjate is a man with a plan. As the Executive Director of BMS partner the Mozambican Association of Christian Lawyers, he wants nothing more (and nothing less) than to turn the Mozambican justice system around, and ensure people’s rights are upheld. Excited to have found a calling where he can marry his profession as a lawyer with his faith, Luis is passionate about working for a Christian organisation which holds the doors to justice open for widows, for orphans, for the vulnerable. And with an arresting gaze, and a smile that creeps in at the corners of his mouth when he wants to check he’s being understood, Luis is a lawyer you’d want on your side faced with any kind of trouble. “It’s a great privilege to be here in an environment where you can talk about God,” Luis says. There are cases he’s received, where, instead of turning reflexively to litigation and courthouse disputes, he’s been able to resolve the conflict by giving advice, praying for the parties involved and sharing the Word of God. For Luis, bringing justice means bringing peace. “The support that has been given to us has meant we can make justice real to people,” Luis says, as he thanks all BMS supporters who have helped make his work possible. “The privilege we have of providing justice for people is being fulfilled.” By supporting BMS justice ministries, you’re binding up the broken-hearted and bringing peace to the oppressed. You’re sharing God’s love with people when they need it most. And you’re fuelling workers like Luis who have their hearts set on serving God and the people made in his image. •

Thank you

As a BMS World Mission supporter, you enable over 200 workers like Pastor Amilcar, Esther and Luis to make a difference where God has placed them. From all corners of the globe, your generosity means BMS-supported workers can make life better for the people around them, be it through church, education or access to justice, or any of the ministries BMS works through. But not only that. Through their work and their witness, they’re transforming people’s perceptions of the God they serve – a God who cares for the vulnerable, the lonely and the lost. None of this would be possible without your giving. Thank you.

Threatened, bereaved, kidnapped: these are the stories of resilient Venezuelan settlers in Lima, Peru. They represent just some of the people caught up in the second largest refugee crisis in the world, a mass exodus of five million, living in exile across the globe.

Smiling faces welcome people into a church full of joyful chatter. It’s nine o’clock in the morning, and the mouthwatering aroma of cornflour patties reaches every corner, wafting its way over to children who are singing and dancing to Christmas tunes. These delicious fried buns, otherwise known as ‘arepas’, leak melted cheese and tasty ham. Breakfast is served.

Arepas are a taste of home and staple comfort food for the 100 Venezuelan asylum seekers here today at the Primera Iglesia Bautista de Lima (First Baptist Church of Lima) in Peru. Working in tandem with the Peruvian Baptist Convention (CEBP), BMS World Mission workers Daniel and Regiane Clark chose this centrally located church to host a social action event dedicated to supporting Venezuelan settlers.

Every room in this large church offers a free service, thanks to Regiane’s careful planning. In the central hall is an experienced doctor, with a volunteer dentist checking people’s teeth and teaching children good oral hygiene. Upstairs sit psychologists, expert lawyers and a physiotherapist, all offering advice and a listening

Carmen’s faith upheld her when her husband, who had to remain in Venezuela, tragically passed away.

A crowd of children watch a volunteer dentist in action.

Arepas are a taste of home for so many Venezuelan refugees.

Volunteers host games that give children a chance to be children again.

ear. Outside, volunteers host children’s games and even a puppet show. Everyone has given up their Saturday to serve.

And what volunteers offer their Venezuelan guests today provides a striking contrast with what they’ve left behind. “We couldn’t find any food in the supermarkets,” says Carmen Mora, a mother of three who arrived in Lima in January 2019. “You needed to get up early to join the queue. You’d stay there until 6pm – and then the food would have run out.”

Carmen is one of the 800,000 Venezuelans who have fled political persecution and desperate poverty to arrive in Peru, a country now home to the second largest population of Venezuelan refugees after Colombia. “The idea was to come to Peru, earn a living to send back home and then return when the situation improved,” explains Daniel, who heads up a BMS-supported Baptist Seminary in Lima. “But now they have no hope of returning to Venezuela. Or there’s nothing for them to go back to.”

Carmen decided to leave when her home’s electricity, gas and water were cut off. She gathered her children and grandchildren to take a series of buses across Colombia and Ecuador to Peru. It took a terrifying and uncertain six days. Her eldest son and her husband remained, her son wanting to complete his studies and her husband committed to working at a company he’d been loyal to for 25 years. “But then my husband started to get ill,” Carmen explains. “They said he had a type of hepatitis. But it was pancreatic cancer. With the lack of treatment there – everything was so expensive – he died.” There was no way Carmen, a Venezuelan with an unresolved refugee status, could leave Peru to attend the funeral. “But my faith in the Lord has strengthened me,” Carmen says. “Please pray for my son

They have no hope of returning to Venezuela

TIMELINE OF A CRISIS

2014 Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans take to the streets to campaign for the removal of Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro. In three months of violent demonstrations, 43 people die.

2015 Inflation surpasses 180 per cent, forcing the Government to make more cuts to public spending, culling subsidies for food and medicine, leaving poorer Venezuelans destitute. Power cuts start to become a part of everyday life.

2016 Hospitals fail due to the lack of medicine, clean water and electricity. Over half of Venezuela’s healthcare professionals leave the country.

2018 The UNHCR reports that over 3 million people have fled Venezuela due to lack of food, water, medicine, gas and electricity. Once bustling cities become ghost towns.

2020 More than five million people have fled the country, almost 20 per cent of the country’s population.

Together we are praying and doing

who stayed in Venezuela, that God would console him.”

Today might be the closest to home that people like Carmen have felt in years. “When you’re with other Venezuelans – it makes me feel at peace,” says fellow settler Barbara Marquez. Christmas has turned her thoughts back to her homeland. “I’ve laughed all day, had a chance to celebrate. This has been a rollercoaster, but I thank God for your support. It brings the feeling of heaven just that little closer to Earth.”

Barbara is just 26 years old. Her dream one day is to travel, to embark on a very different type of voyage to the one she felt forced to take across Latin America. “I left my mum, my dad, my home, my whole life,” she explains. “The journey was dangerous because of the street riots. And everything was so expensive.” Barbara and her husband sold everything they had. “You want to take everything and everyone with you. Even the dog!” She laughs a little, brushing away tears. “But it was the right decision.”

And it’s events like these that have helped Barbara feel her difficult choice was the right one. Her face lights up as her three-year-old daughter brings her a large bowl of food supplies. She picks up the items one by one to show the girls; arepas, cooking oil, gelatine, lentils, pasta and milk, each

Barbara jokingly introduces her children: “This is Victoria – she’s three and is Venezuelan. And here’s Valeria – she’s one and is Peruvian.”

“I’m so grateful to God. He’s supplying all we need to help,” says Dorcas.

accompanied by an excited exclamation: “Look!” She also took her youngest daughter, Valeria, to the doctor at today’s event. Valeria struggles with a condition called hip dysplasia. “They say her hips are aligning,” Barbara says, delighted. “God is healing her!”

But leaving the past behind hasn’t been easy. “My eldest son was kidnapped,” says Diana*, visibly shaken as she recounts the events. “They only kept him for two hours, but after that he was traumatised.” As a university student, he’d been taken away in a car and interrogated by political investigators before they decided he was no threat and released him. Her son decided to leave for Peru immediately. Diana felt like she might never see him again.

Diana and her husband gave up their electrical engineering business to sell food on the streets of the Peruvian capital so they could be reunited with their son. “As a business owner it’s so hard to start again at zero,” she explains. “Many of us have studied at university. But because we don’t have any documents, we can’t find proper work.” For legal employment, asylum seekers need to have refugee status, for which the waiting list is becoming increasingly long.

But hope is emerging. The day before the event, Brazil began a process to accept Venezuelan asylum seekers as refugees. The news left Robert, a professional Taekwondo coach who has been seeking political asylum for three years reeling with excitement. He hopes that soon neighbouring countries like Peru will begin the same process.

The gathering is the second of its kind, and Regiane and Daniel, along with the CEBP would not have been able to organise it without your support. “It’s with your help that we’ve been able to do campaigns like this. It’s incredible that total strangers help from so far away,” says Pastor Homero, President of the CEBP’s social action projects. “There is so much need here. It’s all done in the name of the Lord. It leads people to Christ.”

Supporting hundreds of thousands of refugees is a mountain of a task for Peruvians to tackle alone. “We don’t have all the resources here,” says Dr Dorcas Gambini, a psychologist who is volunteering her time to counsel those who need support today. But when God’s people work together, he makes seemingly immovable mountains move. “You heard us and offered us help. Together we are praying and doing,” says Dorcas. • *Name changed.

I thank God for your support

PLEASE PRAY for Daniel,

Regiane and the Peruvian Church as they seek to show the love of Christ to Venezuelan refugees:

•Pray for wisdom and strength for those leading events to support Venezuelan settlers.

•Pray for Carmen’s son in Venezuela, that God would console him and protect him.

•Pray for Barbara’s daughter Valeria, that God would heal her hip dysplasia.

•Pray for Diana and her family, that they would overcome the trauma they’ve faced and find fullness of life in Peru.