Global Mission ¡Mission Peru!
Huch’uy Runa, Cusco, Peru
A focus of our mission work in Peru, Huch’uy Runa (meaning “important small person” in Quechua) provides holistic care to about 200 street children through academic, trade, physical, psychological, and spiritual support. Under the loving eye of founder Senora Clara Santander, children progress through grade 6 while learning baking, woodworking, tin-smithing, agriculture, pottery, painting, and other crafts that enable them to earn a living in this tourist town, the gateway to Machu Picchu. Normandale teams have visited Huch’uy Runa every other year since 2006; several members have dropped in, too, to warm welcome. Our 2011 budget allocates $6,700 to ¡Mission Peru! which supports Huch’uy Runa (through ELCA Global Mission). You’re welcome to join!
ILEP, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Peru
The Holy Spirit has led the development of our relationship with ILEP—through music! In addition to our 2008 Women’s Ensemble and 2010 Christmas Music youth tours of Peru, our associate organist, Lorna Wolthoff, has worked with Lutheran missionaries in Peru to develop church keyboard, liturgy, and vocal abilities. Just ask her about her visits! We’ve also been able to support the ILEP Church Music program through special financial gifts. Pastora Dana Nelson, Tom Ososki, Tana & Anthony, Lima, Peru
Dana Nelson, the first ELCA missionary in Peru, serves as pastor of Cristo Rey congregation in Lima. She also provides pastoral care and teaches several hours a week at a small seminary. Tom Ososki, an architect, has helped plan and design several church projects. Dana and Tom were instrumental in planning our Women’s Ensemble 2008 and Music Christmas 2011 youth visits to Peru.
Contact: Pastor Dale at dale@normluth.org or 952-929-1697, ext.17
October 15, 2011
Dear Sponsoring Congregations, Friends and Family,
Greetings to you from Lima, Peru! Here at “Cristo Rey” Lutheran church, we are getting ready and excited for the annual Reformation Sunday celebration, when all 10 congregations of the Peruvian Evangelical Lutheran Church (ILEP) that are here in the capital city gather together for worship and lunch! Even though we are all in Lima, it takes about an hour to travel from one congregation to another. This year the hosting congregation is “Belen” in the central district of Breña in Lima. Cristo Rey will rent a bus so we can all arrive together. (The electric train is almost completed! For sure by next year we will be able to zip around this huge city faster.)
Our Estrellitas de Jesús (Little Stars of Jesus) girls’ choreography ministry is practicing hard learning some new liturgical dance moves for the Reformation celebration. We’ve been selling pieces of cake after church raising money to buy material for their new dresses. (My waist line is expanding a bit - we are eating lots of cake!) Rosa in our church has volunteered to sew them their matching flowing red dresses they designed for the occasion. If you have heard the popular Latin American praises song, “Si tienes fe como un granito de mostaza” (from Matthew 17:20), then you know that the music for their choreography is very upbeat and lively!
Oscar, a middle aged computer programmer, husband and father of three, came up with the idea to show “the Martin Luther movie” next Sunday after church to gear up for the Reformation celebration, and to provide a crash course in Reformation history for those new to Cristo Rey. Thankfully Oscar is organizing everything, making invitations, popping popcorn, and transforming our sanctuary into a neighborhood cinema for the day.
One more piece of news I want to share is that I have started teaching, one night a week, at the UBL Seminary (Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana.) Its main campus is actually in Costa Rica, but there is a small satellite campus here in Lima. I teach homiletics (preaching), and it so much fun! I have twelve students, and the class is so diverse! Two Lutherans (from ILEP), one Catholic Benedictine monk, one Mennonite, one Presbyterian, and six Pentecostals from a variety of independent churches (such as the “Union Pentecostal Church of the Sower of the Seed”, “The Peruvian Church of God of Prophesy”, “The Evangelical Pentecostal Church of Jesus Christ”, etc.) There is never a dull moment. The students are great.
Have a wonderful Reformation Sunday, a meaningful All Saints Day, and a happy Halloween or Dia de los Muertos. You are in our prayers.
En Cristo,
Pastora Dana
P.S. Photos: Oscar, Roberto and Tom (and our kids) – making three flights of staircases safer for the Sunday school children (…so they won’t slip and fall through the railings).
Pastora Dana Nelson, Tom Ososki (ILEP Architect), Tana, Anthony
Congregación Evangélica Luterana Cristo Rey
Calle Conde de Nieva, 237
Urb. La Virreyna, Surco
Lima 33, Perú
www.ilep.org
dnelson003@luthersem.edu
telephone 51-1-271-7097 (home)
51-1-278-0169 (church)
www.ilepperu.org NEW!
facebook: cristo rey congregacion luterana NEW!
Missionary Support -
The Global Mission Committe is excited to announce that Normandale will offer missionary support to Pastora Dana Nelson started on January 1, 2009. A Minnesotan graduate of Luther Seminary, Pastora Dana serves Cristo Rey (Christ the King) Church in Lima as the first ELCA missionary to Peru.
Missionary support to Pastora Dana will help Normandale nurture our developing relationship with the Lutheran Church of Perú (Iglesia Luterana Evangélica Peruana [ILEP]. Please sign up, as in the past, on the 2009 Mission Support Board located in the Narthex (entry hall) right outside the sanctuary. We pray for your continued support in God’s work of mission.
Click here to view Dana, the church, and other pictures. This jumps to another web-site.
Keep the Nelsons, the Sacks, and all missionaries in your
prayers as they bring the Word to those who are strangers
to the Lord.
Susan Hoel
Chair, Global Mission Committee
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