Calvary Chapel English Service Lima

For those of you who our new to our website or church, we want to let you know about the special event we hold the last Friday of every month—which just happens to be this Friday!  We call it coffee shop night; and it’s a night where anyone who speaks or is trying to learn English can come out to practice.   We set up tables in the church with board games and card games in English, and open up the store with coffee, sandwiches, and yummy american desserts homemade by some of the ladies in the church.  You can find things like apple pie, peanut butter pie, cupcakes, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, ect.  And we usually have live music at some point in the night. 

If your interested in coming out, you can come anytime between 7pm and 11pm.  Everyone is welcome so invite your friends and come out an join us!

Saturday, we had our second annual church work day.  We asked people in the church to come out for the day to help us paint, organize, and do some spring (or here in Peru fall) cleaning.  We had a fairly good turnout and got a lot of stuff done.  And not only does the church look nice, but we had a good time serving the Lord together.

We searched and we looked and we prayed and we walked looking for God to provide us with a new kids ministry, as ours was quickly overflowing the two rooms at the back of the church we had, and the need for a nursery was becoming evident.  Then, out of nowhere,  God opened up a two room apartment for rent above our church giving us the two extra rooms we needed so we could turn the downstairs room into a nursery. An along with doubling our space, he doubled the amount of volunteers to work in nursery also.  So our ministry continues to expand and God continues to do new and incredible things with CCESL.

                                  2-5 Years Old                                                6-12 years old

Even though we’re an English church and what draws so many people to visit us is the fact that we do everything in English, twice a year we go bilingual to give people an opportunity to bring their friends and family to hear the stories that changed their lives.  Those two times of the year are Christmas and Easter, and although we usually see a decrease in people on these two days due to people traveling and families doing other things together, this year we had a full house.  People brought their families, others came for the first time after coming to the coffee shop the Friday before, and by the start of the service, there were few seats left open.  We had a record number of babies to watch at one time, and the children’s ministry was also busy during both services.  A full house gave us the opportunity to watch other people step up and help out.  And the best part of the day are the lives that came to know Christ-friends we’d been praying about for months and new people we just barely met took a step of faith and made Jesus not only the redeemer of the world, but the redeemer of their hearts.  It was an awesome and beautiful way to remember Jesus and all He did for us, and I for one, am very thankful He let me be a part of it.

Last night after home fellowship in San Juan, we invited everyone to stay and watch the big Peru vs. Chili soccer game.  It was a big game for both countries because both needed a win to still have a chance to go to the world cup.  The Peruvians were very patriotic and the game was really exciting for them.  So everyone hung out, ate snacks, and watched Peru win keeping them in the running for a chance to go to the World Cup!

These past few weeks we’ve been blessed at CCESL to have a special guest Leona Karni here with us.  She was one of the first missionaries sent from Calvary Chapel Murrieta and knows a lot about the Jewish culture; so this month, she’s been giving us a special class on the Jewish festivals.  It has been such a blessing to learn about how the Jewish cuture can help us understand some things in the Bible better.  Last night, she went through the whole process of what they do on the Sabbath.  Rick and Beth participated in leading the different prayers that are said and we all got to try special Jewish bread dipped in salt.  I for one, have learned a lot and am very thankful to Leona for staying with us a little extra time to teach us this class.

It’s crazy that the more our church grows, the more it grows in all different directions. before last summer, babies were scarce in our church; but as our kids ministry has continued to grow, we’ve now noticed there’s also a need to start a new infant ministry. In the past year, 6 or more new little lives have joined our fellowship.

Two weeks ago, CCESL had our 3rd baby dedication as Javier and Janira dedicated their new little baby Adrian to the Lord. Also, we had the privilege of meeting little Mya when she came to church for her first time ever at only 6 days old. We had a little baby shower for her after church this past Sunday and were able to love on her, pray for her and her parents, and offer advice and help.

We are really excited about this new way God is adding to our church, teaching us about Him, and blessing not only their parents but our church family as well!

Of all the events we do during the year, one of my favorite and also most encouraging and rexing for me, is our yearly baptism/church picnic.  We rent a bus and fill it up with people from the church and head right outside of town to get away for the day and hang out as a family as we celebrate each other and new life in Christ.  It was a hot day but the day was full of worship, swimming, delicious food, and even a few intense volleyball games. About 60 people from the church (from all over lima, some 2 hours away) came out for the day and 3 people decide to get baptized and share their testimonies with everyone else.  Those testimonies will be posted on here soon, but for now we’ll go ahead with Pictures.  We are so blessed every time we get a chance to get together as a family and enjoy the friendships and blessings God has given us!

To see more pics, click HERE

Elis Teixeira arrived here in Lima on January 21! We are thrilled to have her joined the team for a month. Elis is from Brazil but moved to England 2010. Recently, she went to Hungry for a year to attend Calvary Chapel Bible College. Now Elis has completed Bible College and is here in Peru doing a one month outreach. Mary will be housing her and taking her around to the various church outreaches. Some of the activities she will be involved in are the conversation clubs at ICPNA and the church, coffee shop night, and leading worship for Friday night Bible Study. It is her desire to be a blessing to the church leadership team and the Peruvian people. Please pray for Elis as she serves with CCESL now through the end of February. Also, please pray for her as she searches for what God would have her do after this month. It is her desire to serve long term as a missionary somewhere. Pray that God would give her direction and insight during this month as to what the next step is that she is to take.

Pray for Elis

• Å God would use her to touch lives in Lima
• Å She would hear from the Lord as to what the next for her after this month
• Å She would grow closer to the Lord during this time

As a church we have developed the tradition of hosting a New Year’s Eve party followed by a time of
worshiping in the New Year. This has been a time when we can come together for fellowship, fun, food,
and singing praises to God. This year was no different. People gathered at the church where there was
good food to enjoy, including lots of Paneton (Peruvian traditional Christmas fruitcake). The church
was beautifully decorated with yellow flowers, balloons, and streamers. We decorated in yellow since
it is the color associated with New Year’s in Peru. There were silly 2013 eye glasses, party hats, and yellow leis to wear. Karaoke was a new activity we did this year. It was a fun to see people lay aside their inhibitions and shyness as they really got into performing a song. Karaoke was such a big hit that midnight snuck up on us and before we knew it the sounds of fireworks going off reminded us that it was time to ringing the New Year. So we all went out to watch the beautiful colors and designs that were filling the Lima sky. After some time, we returned to have a time of worship to our Heavenly Father the Creator of the heavens and the earth. It was a great way to start the New Year by focusing on the one who really knows how much time we all will have on earth. This year Rick challenged us to embrace the changes God is going to bring into our lives this year and to draw closer to Him than we did last year. May that be everyone’s goal this year to walk closer with their Lord by spending quality time with every day in 2013! Happy New Year!