Greetings to you at St John’s! - Juan Carlos and Penny Marcés

Greetings to you at St John´s, and thank you for your support of us (Juan Carlos and Penny Marcés) here in Lima, Perú.

24th Dec, 8.30am. A big market area on the southern side of Lima. Traffic noise, people shouting, the usual rubbish along the edges of the streets. And, as usual, some minivans stopping in the only available lane (street sellers and parked cars having blocked the other lane) to not only pick up passengers but to try to persuade others to catch this bus – and to wait until enough seats had been filled…. Order? Respect for other people? NOT very evident. And then it struck me again – this market is called “Ciudad de Dios”, meaning “City of God”. Not quite the usual idea of what is portrayed in the Bible! And yet, trying to use this time sitting on a nearly stationary bus to mull over the “Emmanuel” theme for the next day, this is exactly what “Emmanuel” means – Jesus coming from the celestial “city of God” to the human “cities of God” (Lima or anywhere else).

In Jesús el Nazareno, a poor area up a hill, we have held Lunches for Seniors every 2 or 3 months. At one of these lunches Milagro stood up and told people how she was sad because she was losing her sight and would no longer be able to read the Bible, so we ought all to read the Bible while we still can. (She HAD been to the Eye Hospital, so her statement that she would lose her sight was not unfounded). BUT she then had an operation to clean the lens, and can now see! She proudly read in Church the following week, leaving several people open-mouthed. (For the record, most people her age in El Nazareno have limited literacy; she, along with others who WANT to read the Bible, have a far higher level of literacy than their education warrants). A couple of people have come to services; sadly one of them is a Quechua-speaker, thus meaning communication was “difficult” (euphemistically speaking!)

At the other end of the age scale, we continue to hold “Tesoritos del Señor” for mums and babies/toddlers. A health visitor from one of the local clinics has taken an interest and sent several mums. Sadly, one family had obviously understood that they were going to the group to be given clothing – which sometimes we do but not as a general rule. Once a month a missionary pediatrician is coming to give consultations and advice; sometimes there are very few clients but once none of us had time for lunch and we had to turn people away.

We have held Sunday School all year, and last year had a very stable group of children. Some listen VERY carefully; 5-year-old Emilia told her mum the story of baby Jesus being taken to Egypt, and her mum (who did not remember this part of the story) had to investigate since Emilia INSISTED this was true. The end of the year also means the end of the academic ear, and students are now on holiday until March. We are about to begin our 6 week summer club on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Jesús el Nazareno – “Learning with Peter” – with songs, Bible story and crafts.

Some of the older children (11+) have also been doing a Bible study during the year. With the help of worksheets we read the whole of Mark´s gospel and are now advancing through Acts. Whilst having to admit that they do NOT remember most of what we have done the previous week, usually SOMEONE remembers SOME of it… The longed-for group for 12-16 year olds finally began in August, so some of them are in Church 3 times a week. (Please take into account that in El Nazareno the children almost always go on their own – mostly the parents are NOT part of the Church, although a few are now coming to some things through their children)

Meanwhile, down the hill in San Juan Evangelista, where Juan Carlos has been Rector since March 2024, the celebration of their Anniversary in May provided an opportunity to invite people who attended the Church as young people 30+ years ago. This resulted in very positive results – several have renewed links. One man who was there was Juan Rivera, who Penny remembers as an 11-year-old in San Juan Evangelista back in 1985; he was later ordained but after several years he left Church ministry. However, a combination of circumstances led to him becoming more involved in San Juan Evangelista and in November whilst reading the story of Zacchaeus he felt God saying very strongly to him “Come down out of the tree”. This is an answer to prayer as to who will replace us in both San Juan Evangelista and Jesús el Nazareno; for the next few months Juan Carlos will be working with him.

All this against a background of increasing political instability. Our current president (in office temporarily from Oct 2025) is the 8th in 10 years. There will be general elections in April for President, Senate (to be re-instituted, having been abolished in 1992) and Congress. There are 36 prospective Presidential candidates, making it difficult for anyone to get many votes in the first round. Security is a HUGE issue. Last year there were about 2000 murders, over half by hired assassins. Bus drivers continue to be targets, even if they DO pay the “protection” money. Please pray for Peru over these next few months. We will be travelling to UK in mid April (after the first round of the elections), until the second half of July, and look forward to seeing you then!

Meanwhile, thank you again for your support, which we appreciate very much.