Cornucopia of Faith and Resilience

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Dear friends,

It has been four years since I have been in the U.S. for the autumn season and the holidays. What a joy to experience the fall activities and reactions to the seasonal changes through the eyes of our three-year-old son, Leandro. We have piled and jumped in our share of leaves, picked apples, carved pumpkins, gone on hayrides, and observed in awe the variety of colors of leaves that have evolved above and around us in our neighborhood.

On our dining room table, there is a cornucopia, a symbol of abundance and plenty as we give thanks for the harvest and all who make the harvest possible, as well as gratitude for all we have.

After a long year, and now seeing symbols of change and abundance around me, I think now it is timely to reflect on the gratitude we share for our partners and their ministries in Peru.

[ngg src="galleries" ids="1047" display="pro_horizontal_filmstrip" show_captions="1"]I am grateful for the continued and faithful perseverance of our partners as they serve marginalized communities in various forms of outreach:

o Organizing ollas comunes (community kitchens) for vulnerable communities and delivering food to those on the margins to address the issue of food security, the right to access healthy food, which has significantly decreased throughout the pandemic.

o Providing medical materials for those who did not have access to them amidst a broken healthcare system.

o Housing refugees and advocating for housing rights in a time when welcoming the stranger was not encouraged.

o Creating call support lines to offer emotional and mental health support for those affected by the pandemic.

o Facilitating health protocol trainings and workshops for those without access to this medical education.

o Designing creative methods to provide access to educational tools for children, such as books, printers, materials, internet, or other necessary equipment in times of virtual learning.

o Succeeding in advocating for and designing an Environmental Health Law to address the injustices faced by people affected by mining contamination on a national level.

As seminaries and biblical institutes received permission to open in 2021, I am grateful for the Evangelical Church of Peru (IEP) pastors and professors in the Cuzco and Puno regions who made this possible and for the hundreds of men and women who returned to their theological studies after a year of closure:

o The IEP opened its seminary doors to over 30 students to begin or continue their classes on campus while living in a learning bubble with their fellow students. The graduation celebration for fourth-year students is currently being planned to culminate the school year in December.

o The IEP’s Women’s Ministry celebrated the graduation of the first ten women to complete its women’s theological course. There are more than 130 women who continue to study this course throughout the high jungle area of Cuzco, inspired by those who graduated in August to become more faithful and educated leaders within their church.

o Various theological courses were taught in the Sajiruyoc Bible Institute, located in the high jungle outside of Cuzco, and in distant, rural communities around the area, where church leaders traveled to reach isolated congregation members.

o IEP church leaders in the Puno area were inspired to re-open the local Theological Institute. After such an extended period without local church fellowship or Biblical teachings, due to the lack of internet access by many of its members, church leaders wanted to try to reach those who were searching for deeper theological studies.

Though the Peruvian presidential election caused a deeper divide and conflict, I am grateful that a president was ultimately chosen, a Cabinet was formed (on the second try), and that discussions about issues that our partners have fought for years to bring to the national agenda, are being held.

As PERUSA, we have been focusing our time on interviewing our partners and other external contacts to map out the influential actors in Peru and their work focus to gain a clearer understanding of the current context in which we serve and partner. I am grateful for a dedicated team of colleagues who are committed to making the Peruvian Joining Hands Network and all its programs stronger and more relevant in these changing times.

So as the leaves change color around us, our partners have also adapted their ministries to the season of change around them. I give thanks for the cornucopia of faith and resilience that our partners demonstrate as they daily follow God’s call to serve the least of these. I give thanks for the endless forms of support and partnership that you all have provided in this past year to strengthen and encourage our partners in that call. I give thanks that this partnership creates a space where God’s cornucopia of love and justice can be rooted, grown and flourished, even through the change to which that call leads us.

May we continue to faithfully walk in partnership and gratitude together.

Peace,

Chenoa

Please read the following letter from Sara P. Lisherness, the interim director of World Mission:

Dear partners in God’s mission,

I don’t know about you, but daily my heart grows heavier. News about the pandemic, wars, wildfires, gun violence, racism, earthquakes and hurricanes cloud my vision. It’s hard to see hope; our world is in a fog. Yet we trust that God’s light and love transcend the brokenness of this time.

God is at work transforming the world, and you, through your prayers, partnership and encouragement, are helping us share this good news. Thank you for your faithful and gracious support of our mission personnel.

How can we see through the fog? What will the church be after the pandemic? Could it be that God is doing “a new thing” and is inviting us to perceive it? Through all the uncertainty we know that God’s steadfast love and care for all creation will prevail and that God’s Spirit is at work in each of us.

We all have an integral part to play in fulfilling God’s mission. As we seek to grow together in faithfulness there are three important steps I invite you to take in supporting our shared commitments to God’s mission:

Give – Consider making a year-end financial contribution for the sending and support of our mission personnel. Your support helps mission personnel accompany global partners as together they share the light of God’s love and justice around the world. Invite your session to include support for mission personnel in its annual budget planning.

Act – Visit The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study to delve deeper into the work God is doing through the PC(USA) and its partners in ministry around the globe: pcusa.org/missionyearbook.

Pray – Include our mission personnel, our global partners, and our common commitments to share God’s grace, love, mercy and justice in your daily prayers.

Thank you for your faithfulness to God’s mission through the Presbyterian Church. It is my prayer that you will continue to support this work with your prayers, partnership, and financial gifts in the coming year. We hope you will join us and our partners in shining a beacon of hope throughout the world.

In the light of hope,

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Sara P. Lisherness, Interim Director

World Mission

Presbyterian Mission Agency

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

To give please visit https://bit.ly/PCUSAmission

You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16