Feature Volunteers - Arequipa 40/40sPosted: 04/13/12
How does one go about explaining so many people's encounters with God and sum up two years of our lives in the 'uttermost part of the earth'? I didn't know, so I just asked a few open-ended questions to the team and let those who lived it from the beginning give us a glimpse into what that might look like.
In February of 2010, six North American 40/40s and a cluster support family moved to Arequipa to begin language training and in late April, six Peruvian 40/40s came to join the North Americans for church planting school. A total of sixteen people served for at least a portion of the time as 40/40s, as well as two cluster support families. At the end of the project, there remained three Peruvian 40/40s and four North American 40/40s, and the cluster support family that took over in December of 2010.
And there are many more numbers too (including Love Extreme):
• More than 14,000 lives reached in the name of Jesus
• Approximately 7,000 accepted Christ
• Approximately 300 short-term and long-term staff contributed to the work
All of our concepts of the ministry goals in the beginning were about numbers such as each pair planting 3 churches, of 12 members each, in 18 months of work. Everyone had some additional personal goals as well, but everyone centered on that common numeric goal.
But God...... That phrase is repeated so many times in the scriptures, and so many times in our personal and corporate lives and experiences during this ministry project. But God has done so many marvelous works in so many lives; not just in the lives of those being ministered to, but also in the lives of those doing the ministering. God hasn't planted churches in the originally assigned locations, or the goal numbers. He has done as He pleases. And even though we are leaving, He is not leaving—He was already here when we arrived and He will be here as long as there is a here. We who have lived this will not measure success or failure in terms of numbers, but in terms of eternally changed souls whose faces are indelibly etched on the pages of our minds. We came here to change this place, these people's lives, to make a difference. But God has used this place, these people, and this time to change each of us eternally. And in the process, yes, He has used us to make an eternal difference. The good that has been done, He has done. To God be the glory through Jesus our Lord!!!!!!!!
I, Lindy, accept responsibility for what is written here and all that is omitted. Check out the pages for each of the communities and each of the undersigned individuals for a better understanding. But know this; no amount of words can describe all that God has done here.
In Jesus' name,
Beth, Nohemy, Emily, Wendy, Vanessa, Mapi, Henrietta, Tricia, & Lindy
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