Peru

The first time my wife Pam and I visited Pamplona Alta was just before Christmas 1999 to attend their Sunday evening worship. As we arrived for a 7pm service the first ‘sitting’, the 6pm, was attempting to leave. It was necessary to have two services, back to back, in order to accommodate all the people in this tiny front room. There was a great buzz of excitement as people took time to greet one another as they passed. Arrivals and departures are very important in Peru and time is given to greet each person individually both on the way in and later on the way out of services or any social gathering. There was much chatter and noise as about 30 people squeezed into this small room and a little group of singers, with the help of a single drum, enthusiastically started to lead the singing. Two hours later we were still singing and this was our introduction to worship in the vast expanse of shanty towns which surround the city of Lima.

  Norma Montoya, (right), with women in Pamplona Alta

Several of the original mission team from Christ Church, Plano, returned to Pamplona Alta during a week in August this year to complete the work. The team of just 12 people arrived at Lima airport late on Saturday 17^th August. Their task was straightforward, to paint the church inside and out, and prepare it for the consecration service on the following Saturday, 24^th August.

We had been preparing for their arrival and they had been carefully preparing for the mission. Both groups were aware of the challenges ahead and were able to focus their prayers and preparations. Our Bishop gave us a simple target, "Whatever else happens, Santisima Trinidad will be dedicated at 5pm on Saturday 24^th August." This was prophetic …… but only just!

  Bishop Godfrey dedicates a cross
in Pamplona Alta

Will it be ready on time???

Anderson and I, he in Spanish and I in English, (meetings were slow but fruitful!) organized teams of local people to prepare the walls and put the base coat of paint on. In response to our budget the Plano team had sent us some money to purchase materials and recruit the services of a local maestro painter. We were under way. But what about those electrics, the plumbing, the doors and windows, to say nothing of the furniture!?

About that time I received a letter from our Missionary Society in England which included this statement from an earlier missionary in India, who wrote "My position is now untenable ……. There are difficulties everywhere, and even more ahead; therefore we have no alternative but to continue." This was truly inspirational, we had no choice……… but to continue.

Next day a team of workmen turned up at church with loads of materials and started fitting windows and doors and preparing to install electrics. They were fitting a new public toilet at the back of church, and a wash basin in the vestry, and there were men out the back building a security wall. They even had an architect to supervise the work. Where had they come from? The Bishop was away in Arequipa, 700 miles to the south of Lima, preparing for the christening of their first grandchild, and with just a week to go before the mission team arrived, Anderson and I thought he had organized some help. Strange he hadn’t said anything! Just before he left for Arequipa Bishop William had made a flying visit to Pamplona Alta and was really impressed with the progress that was being made. He thought Anderson and I had organized it!

There wasn’t time for too many questions as Pam and I flew off to Arequipa for the christening.

We returned early on Monday morning and headed immediately for Santisima Trinidad which was now a hive of activity and we were beginning to question if there would be enough work left for the mission team. The Bishop and I rapidly drew up plans for a new altar and a large (3 metre high) wooden cross which was to be erected on the wall behind the altar. These we had included in our budget "but we should have a lectern and a credence table to match the altar", and we had not made provision for an aumbry. Could we rework the budget? We had put a contingency allowance in. "In that case we ought to have three new chairs for the Sanctuary as well!" Orders were duly placed with a local maestro carpenter.

The following Saturday I arrived early at Lima International airport. It was 11pm in the evening and the airport was packed with people waiting the arrival of several International flights. I had my ‘Christ Church’ sign at the ready. No sign yet of Anderson, Julio or Norma, and even more worrying, they were bringing the transport! The team from Plano started to arrive and still no transport. I recall rapidly working out how many taxis I may need to organize for transporting the team to the convent in Miraflores. Having introduced myself to the team I tried to explain the mysterious absence of the bus and went off to the crowded car park in search of a likely looking vehicle.

The team from Plano paints walls.

 Welding brackets in place 
to hold the cross

I returned to discover Anderson and Norma had arrived with a wonderful banner welcoming the team to Peru. They had a puncture enroute to the airport, but not in the large bus I had been expecting, in one of the very old ‘combis’ they had brought to collect the group and their luggage. They thought it would be a good idea to give the job of transport to one of their local people. Perhaps I should explain that a ‘combi’ is a small minibus, and that combis based in the shanty towns are very old and not the recommended form of transport for our visitors from abroad. To have a puncture is not uncommon, and to have a spare is almost unheard of, tires are very expensive to purchase. With a squeeze one ‘combi’ carried the entire luggage and equipment and the other carried passengers. Some members of the team had been introduced to this form of transport on an earlier mission to Peru so the initial shock was received with much amusement. Even the absence of a third gear, and some of the windows, failed to subdue the excitement. I prayed all the way from the airport to the convent and all arrived safely. It was 1am, Sunday 18^th August. I hasten to add this is not the normal or recommended arrival procedure and transport that we arrange for mission teams visiting our Diocese. 

The convent offered simple, basic accommodation, was clean, had a lovely chapel, excellent meeting rooms and most importantly three delightful Roman Catholic sisters who made the mission team very welcome. Sister Maria, the sister responsible for visitors, was later to be given the name of Mother Teresa because although she spoke little English, if she believed we had not understood something she had said she would take us slowly and gently by the hand and show us. Sister Maria was very kind and attentive to everyone needs. 

The convent was close to where Pam and I have an apartment which meant I was able to join the group on Sunday morning for breakfast before traveling a short distance to the Cathedral Church of the Good Shepherd to share in morning worship at 9.30am. The service was led by our Bishop, William Godfrey, who formally welcomed the team to the Diocese.

After the service there was opportunity over a cup of coffee for the team to meet with members of the English speaking congregation at the Cathedral. This was followed by two introductory Sessions, one giving some historical background to Peru and its politics with some excellent insights into the life of people living in Peru. This session was led by Harry Bastante, a teacher at our church school in Lima and a Lay Minister in the Diocese. Harry has given his life to living and serving among the very poorest people on the outskirts of Lima in the parish of El Nazareno.

Time is getting close

Session two, led by our Bishop, gave the group some historical background to the Diocese. Bishop William shared some of the vision God had given him to the future of the Diocese including building a new church at Pamplona Alta.

Lunch was rapidly followed by the team’s first visit to the new church, Santisima Trinidad, at Pamplona Alta, one of many large shanty towns on the southern outskirts of Lima, about 40 minutes drive from the Cathedral in Miraflores. Some members of the mission team had been in Pamplona Alta for the laying of foundations 18 months ago and their initial response to the completed building was very interesting. They were delighted with the grandeur of the new church, with it’s tall bell tower and large cross on the top. Several members of the local congregation were there to greet and welcome us including Father Julio Montoya, his wife Norma and son in law Anderson Sanchez.

The group carefully assessed the project ahead, with discussion in small groups which eventually produced the comment "OK, three days!" I was immensely relieved and there were several rounds of laughter as we described our hectic preparations. Bishop William and Father Julio pondered long over the samples of paint we had tested on the walls the day before. Two of the three chosen colours were not quite right and would have to be changed first thing Monday morning! There was a wonderful atmosphere of excitement and anticipation. The team was to require little motivation, they had been carefully selected, had prepared prayerfully and thoroughly. We had been blessed by the presence of several builders, an architect, an electrician and above all a team with real servant hearts.

The team returned to the convent for a short rest and then back to Santisima Trinidad for their evening worship at 7pm. We looked forward to starting work on Monday morning.

Following morning worship and an 8am breakfast at the convent, we all made our way to Pamplona Alta. There were lots of greetings (a lovely Peruvian custom) with prayers and a blessing from Padre Julio. Then within 5 minutes the floor was completely covered with polythene brought from the USA and masking tape was in abundance. A small group of us went to change the paint. The main wall colour, Alabaster, was thought to be "too creamy" and needed to be several shades lighter. The paint shop promptly tipped half the Alabaster into a large plastic drum, tipped in an equal quantity of white paint, a good mix, and problem solved. By the time we returned to Santisima Trinidad all the lower walls had been given their first coat of paint and the team was waiting for us to arrive with paint for the main interior and exterior walls. It was only a short time before the tops were off the paint pots and out came the paint rollers which had also come from the USA. Also the longest extension poles (telescopic) that I have ever seen. I had informed the team that the walls were high and they had come prepared with the longest poles American Airlines would allow. Suffice to say that by the end of day one the first coat of paint had been applied to all the interior walls of the church. The remainder of the week proceeded with equal efficiency and there was sufficient time for the team to experience the mission work of Santisima Trinidad with visits and worship at their two outreach projects, high on the hillsides overlooking Pamplona Alta. Up at Los Jardines (the gardens) and El Trebol (the clover leaf), after the roads had become dirt tracks, the team experienced the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, being taken right out to the very poorest areas, where running water, electricity and sanitation have not yet reached. God was building His church here also and it was a joy to behold. The scale of the difficulties in these places are larger than most people have seen anywhere in the world.

By Friday the paintwork was complete and Fred our electrician from Plano, Texas, had sorted the electrics and installed most of the lighting. So it was clean up and prepare for the dedication service to commence on Saturday at 5pm. There was a large quantity of exterior paint left over. "Perhaps we could paint the front of Father Julio’s house and the house between his and the new church?" These buildings are all linked together. With the neighbour and Julio’s agreement the painting was duly completed. But where were all the carpentry items? We were still missing altar, lectern, pews etc!

Part of a group from Plano, Tx. outside a soup kitchen operated by the Anglican Church of Peru in conjunction with the Govt. of Peru.

A telephone call revealed they would be all be arriving that evening, Friday, and that workmen would work on into the night to fit the three metre high wooden cross into position on the wall behind the altar. News reached us later that evening that there was a problem at Santisima Trinidad and all the electrics had cut off. "No problem" said Fred; I will sort it in the morning". The problem was without electricity the workmen were unable to fix the cross and also they did not realize that there were no steel fixings on the wall to hold the cross. We arrived at Pamplona Alta about 10am on the Saturday morning to discover no altar, no lectern, no credence table, no pews! We were assured that all would arrive at 1pm. All did arrive, at 3pm! but still no fixings for the cross, they arrived at 4pm! and required welding into place about 10 metres up the back wall! The final scaffold had been kept in place to receive the cross but the service was due to commence at 5pm. "Why worry" someone said "when we have panic to fall back upon". God must have been smiling as the bishop paced the new church; the sparks from welding equipment were flying all over the scaffold, and the sanctuary! and the congregation began to arrive. In true Anglican tradition we handed out the service sheets and showed people to their seats, or at least the seats that were in place. At 5pm, when the service was due to commence, the cross was raised into place - a wonderful symbol to remind us why we were all gathered in Pamplona Alta. At 5.30pm, the cross in place, the Sanctuary quickly mopped and dried, the altar and all the other furniture in place, the dedication service could begin.

There was a wonderful dedication and consecration of the new church and a celebration of Holy Communion. The fiesta ran late into the night although many of us retired early.

We give praise and thanks to God for the mission team from Christ Church, Plano, Texas. For all the fun we shared together. We give praise and thanks for all the answered prayers, for the affirmations of faith, and for the wonderful witness of what God’s people from Peru, USA, England or wherever, can achieve when they work together. There were so many blessings it was difficult at times to believe we were in one of the poorest areas of the world.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Dan Caldwell
Lay Minister - Diocese of Peru

 The Nave at Santa Trinidad