With a population of just 41,394, it's easy to overlook Puerto Maldonado
(pictured right bottom). For precisely this reason, the gospel of
Jesus Christ hasn't reached many of the local residents of the area.
Once outside of Puerto Maldonado, small villages dot the dirt roads
and rivers that crisscross the thick Amazon jungle.
As with the other jungle sites, ecotourism is beginning to gain in
popularity and as a result Puerto Maldonado has seen double and even
triple digit growth in tourist visas granted through the small airport
just outside of town. Puerto Maldonado exhibits the characteristics
of a small remote town through its lack of infrastructure. The town
is cut in two by the river and as of yet, no bridge exists to connect
the two halves so car ferries are the only way to get people and vehicles
to the roads on the other side.
In January 2008, the Nazarene Church touched down for the first time
in Puerto Maldonado to establish church work there. Pastor Freddy
Zapata (pictured right middle) arrived on scene without a single friend,
not even so much as a contact and within 3 months had a mission church
started with 15 members. The people are hungry to hear about the power
and saving grace of Jesus Christ in Puerto Maldonado.
Just after dark, a tiny house sits quietly with a single dim red light
that hangs from the hastily constructed ceiling. Standing in the doorway
of this house appears the shadowy silhouette of a young woman in her
early teens. A paying customer approaches her and they fade into the
dark house. Her two year old son stays outside the house, playing
in the street or just sitting on the curb waiting for his mother to
reappear. This young woman's house is just one of dozens with similar
red lights filled with dozens of young women, too many with innocent
young kids left unattended along this dark dirt road cutting right
through the middle of Puerto Maldonado. Many of these young girls
are orphans or victims of a shattered family and have gotten trapped
in this devastating trade that appears to have no exits. Pastor Freddy's
vision for the Nazarene Church in Puerto Maldonado is to provide an
exit. He wants to open up the doors of the church to the women of
these brothels, to the drug addicts, to the alcoholics who have hit
rock bottom and have nowhere to turn. Extreme Nazarene has agreed
to partner with Freddy through the 40/40 project in this venture.
The "Hope House" will be a place of detoxification, refuge
and hope as the healing and redeeming power of Jesus Christ is displayed
24-hours a day for its precious and fragile patients.
