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Peru
Demetria Montes’s experiences called forth a great hunger in her to study and understand the Bible.
The lives of theology students are often intertwined with the history of the country where they serve,” writes mission co-worker Harry Horne. Demetria Montes grew up in the Ayacucho region of Peru where the violence between the Sendero Luminoso (the Shining Path) guerillas and the Peruvian military devastated the lives of people around her. She was asked to take charge of a home for children orphaned in that violence. In her words, “Before I went to work in the orphanage, I was a bit indifferent. I did not take a stand. But I changed. I stopped being an observer and began to take part. Everything I do now has to do with God.”
After working at the orphanage for some years, she left for the remote jungle area of Peru. There she saw Christians who, instead of taking sick children to a doctor, fasted and prayed for several days. The child (or adult in some cases) almost always died. These practices led Demetria to ask, “Did not God give people the responsibility to administer all of God’s creation? Aren’t evangelicals called to assume this responsibility, even more so than those who do not know God?” These and other questions challenged her to study the Bible. She writes, “The courses I have taken at the Latin American Biblical University have helped me to understand the message and the purpose of God, who by means of the Bible and God’s Son, Jesus, has shown us a life that gives priority to life, and life abundantly.”
PC(USA) People in Mission
Latin American Biblical University: The Rev. Dr. Edward Horne, New Testament professor
Deborah Horne, YAV site coordinator, Joining Hands Against Poverty
Young Adult Volunteers, community development interns, Joining Hands Against Poverty, Peru: Alex Cornell, Lynn Hasselbarth, Sean Kerr, Leslie McKnelly, Katie Rain, and
Michael Sinklier
Partners/Ministries
Evangelical Presbyterian and Reformed Church in Peru: Ps. Rodrigo Maslucán Goñas, president, Adrian Fernandez, secretary
Northeast Lima Presbytery, Evangelical Church of Peru: The Rev. Eduardo Arbocco, president Joining Hands Against Poverty Network: Conrado Olivera, coordinator
Presbytery Partnership
Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy with Joining Hands Against Poverty
PC(USA) General Assembly Staff
Ray Scaletti, OGA
Kristin Scally, BOP
Lord, sent us forth to serve you, as witnesses to you and your will, as instruments of peace, and as bearers of the abundant life we find in you. Amen.
Ps. 56, 149 Ps. 118, 111
Jer. 52:1–34
1 Cor. 15:12–29; Matt. 11:7–15
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