The McEuen Family

Cross Cultural Witnesses to Peru Jirn San Jos 230, Urb San Carlos Huancayo, Per opencircleperu@gmail.com http://opencircleperu.weebly.com April 2012 May the grace and peace of our Lord and risen Savior Jesus Christ be with you now and forever! The goal was to get this letter out to yall around the first of the month, but with Holy Week and Easter coming so early this year, we just could not fit it in! We have been very busy doing the work that we believe God has called us to do here. Let us give you a quick rundown of our lives since we last talked with you. Ash is still teaching at the local Methodist School, Colegio Andino. He teaches Christian Education to the seventh and eighth graders. His goal for all of them (himself included) this year is that they draw closer to God through learning how to study the Bible and then apply what they have learned to real in the twenty-first century. Most of the students in class are Catholic, but there are a few evangelicals, Mormons and other flavors of faith thrown in. We dont want to dwell on our differences, though. That will come at the right time as needed with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Our focus is on what unites us: Jesus Christ and his love for the world. It is a challenge because the culture in the classroom is different here than in the United States, but everyone is learning (including the teacher)! One of the additional responsibilities that come with teaching is monthly retreats with one grade (about 60 students each time). The first was with the students in promotion (that is to say, those who are set to graduate in December) took place on Saturday, April 14. It was a rainy day to be outside playing games and trying to lead workshops, but in the end, at least some of the students had an encounter with God. It was a lot of fun teaching a group of 15 and 16 year olds how to play Capture the Flag and then watch them play it with three different flags and teams! They kept begging to play again and again and again and A after all of that, Ash led them in an experience of a Date with God. The date consists of eight stations where they seek to hear the voice of God to guide them to paint or play with play dough or prayer or draw or just sit in the presence of God. At the beginning, there was a lot of talking, but toward the end the room quieted down and the students started praying with one another and

Page 2 hugging and crying and sensing God with them. We left to return to school in the pouring rain, but, as they say here, vale la pena! (it was worth it)! Please be in prayer for the students at Colegio Andino in Huancayo. Ash also had the chance to lead a workshop with the pastors and a few lay persons of the Sierra-Selva District of the Iglesia Metodista here in Central Peru. About fifteen people were present as he lead discussions based on one of John Wesleys sermons The Character of a Methodist (which, when you boil it all down, is really just the character of a person who really wants to follow Christ and be the person God created them to be). The three hour session was well received and the pastors feel a renewed need to truly be the church and the body of Christ God has called them to be. Please pray for continued renewal and vision in the Methodist Church in Peru. In the past month, the library Leer es Crecer has been on TV twice (that we know of). Both times, someone knocked on the door and asked for an interview. And people are watching! Some have later stopped into the library saying they heard about it on the news. A new development with the library is that we are starting the paperwork and the wait to be registered as a civil organization within the country of Peru. Weve already checked out the name to see if we can use it (we can) and now it is waiting for the paperwork to go through. Please pray for the doors to open and that we can become a registered agency. This will open other doors for working with and meeting people in the community. One of the Wednesday nights in March, we opened our house for people from a variety of walks of life (and, as it turned out, various countries: Peru, Mexico, Austria and the United States). We invited them over for a very informal time of practicing English. There is a huge desire to learn to speak English (and some of those we invited are English teachers), but there is little chance for them to talk with native speakers. About fifteen people were here playing games and talking. We plan on doing it again sometime We think about you often and you are in our prayers. May God bless you indeed this month as you go out to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ! Your brothers and sisters in Christ,

Ash, Audra, Kia, Ayli, Todd and Soraya McEuen