VOLVIENDO AL PERÚ

Después de más de cinco años en EEUU estamos volviendo a Perú el 30 de julio. Estaremos en Lima por dos semana, luego iremos a Santa María, donde estaremos trabajando la construcción de la casa y ministrando el evangelio a la vez. Chaska está contenta porque va a tener un perro. Apreciamos sus oraciones. Gracias.

August 2009

In late July, Augusto went to Guatemala. The L.E.I. (Literacy and Evangelism) team with members from the U.S., Peru, Mexico, and Thailand, trained 11 literacy teachers, mostly young people.







The students practice in front












Augusto shows Sarita how to make a porta-sílaba












Augusto leading devotional












At the closing program

Literacy and Evangelism Int'l.

YES! After attending the International Literacy Training Institute in Ica, Peru in April 2008 and the L.E.I. Orientation in Tulsa in July 2008, Augusto and I are now OFFICIALLY LITERACY COORDINATORS for L.E.I. (Literacy and Evangelism International). We will be working primarily in Latin America, although we also have some interest and contacts in Kenya.

L.E.I. Orientation

We arrived in Tulsa on Sunday, July 13, after 36 hours on the bus. Our time in the Orientation here has been very fruitful. We have met new friends from Brazil, Ghana, India, Laos, and from the U.S. and have learned about the privileges and responsibilities of becoming members of Literacy and Evangelism International. One thing we especially like about L.E.I. is the emphasis on maintaining a vital personal relationship with God day after day. Having been involved with this organization for over seven years, we have finally applied for formal membership. This is a process and we expect to hear from them in about a month. Petition: Favor with the personnel committee of L.E.I.

From here we go on to Trinidad, Colorado and then on to Tyler, Texas, returning around August 12 to California. Petition: Safety in our travels and effective sharing with individuals and churches.

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers. In Christ, Augusto, Carolyn, and Chaska

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. Psalm 63:1-3

International Literacy Training Institute

The ILTI (International Literacy Training Institute) in Ica, Peru was very productive. We stayed in a Pardise with fresh fruit growing on trees all around us. Fifteen literacy coordinators were trained, including Augusto and Carolyn, but the most impressive part was having six highly qualified Aguarunas (three Bible translators) together, preparing the primer in their own language the last two weeks. We found that Augusto’s trip to Amazonas was timed precisely to bring Riquilda, and her father, Tomás Dati, to help us. Four other Aguarunas attended as well. The first two weeks two Quechua brothers from the North received training in how to prepare teachers to use their primer, prepared just last year. Spanish-speakers came from Iquitos and other jungle parts of Peru. Trainers and consultants came from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and from within Peru.

Meditation

Jesus said, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal. John 4:35-36

VALLE DEL MANTARO

At the elementary school in Santa Maria, Augusto’s hometown, 43 children watch the Jesus Film on April 2, 2007. We hope to go back from time to time to show other Christian children’s films. We pray God will give saving faith to these and other children in the Valle del Mantaro.

FUTURE EVENTS

Things are shaping up for our trip to the U.S., Lord willing, in August, where we will study for four months at Christ For The Nations Institute in Dallas. Carolyn will be working also in Children’s Ministries, as part of her scholarship. Then we will go to California, Lord willing, to spend some time with Carolyn’s family and visit some of you. Then, back to Peru in late January to train VBS teachers from provinces and to go to Puno to train, hopefully, along with the young people from Ayacucho, as we did in 2005. We will also participate in the ILTI (Int’l Literacy Training Institute) for 3-4 weeks in February, Lord willing.
Please pray with us that our mighty God will give us FAVOR with the U.S. Embassy here in Lima and help us take ALL THE DOCUMENTS we should for Augusto and Chaska’s visa interviews and that he provides for our airfare.


In February 2008 Literacy and Evangelism Int’l, Lord willing, will hold its International Literacy Training Institute (ILTI) in Lima. We expect to study, along with others who see the value of and need for evangelizing in this way. In June and July 2008 L.E.I. would also like us to attend a more extensive ILTI in Tulsa to receive specialized training in primer preparation, as Augusto is interested in working on the primer in the Agua Runa language.

We’d like to involve Pastor Gaspar more in the area of literacy in Huanta. The materials L.E.I. helped prepare in Ayacucho Quechua are not being used presently, and he took the literacy training class we held in Huanta in 2004. Please pray that the Lord gives us success in this. There are so many illiterate people in that region, up to 45% of women over 45 in Huanta, according to national statistics.

Brother Isaias (Agua Runa) and Brother Alfonso (Quechua of Ayacucho) are also considering accompanying us in February. Please pray for these two key leaders and their participation in the ILTI in February 2008. Thank you!

If you would like to help us economically, you may send tax-deductible donations to:
SAMH
P.O. Box 1309
Tempe, AZ 85280-1309
Please make checks payable to Hispanic-American Missionary Support and indicate “for Augusto and Carolyn Pecho”.
SPECIAL DONATIONS to help with our trip in August, if you don’t need a receipt, may be sent to Carolyn’s parents:
Martin and Aleta Smith
638 N. Sandy Hook Ave.
La Puente, CA 91744

PUNO

Our friends, Elias and Alberto, are looking at Christ For The Nations literature they are taking to Puno. They are working in a mining town over 13,000 feet above sea level. It is very cold there. They will also be showing the Jesus Film in Quechua (See DVDs on the table). Please pray for them, that their work will bear much fruit for the Kingdom of God. Thank you.

AGUA RUNAS

Pastor Ruben Ichias

We recently made contact with Brother Isaiah (top), an Agua Runa, who helped Wycliffe Bible Translators with the translation of the New Testament in that language. We met him on May 19, and he is willing to work with us. We hope that with his help the Lord will help us to produce a good-quality primer in Agua Runa and a literacy program among the Agua Runas, so that the believers will be able to READ the Agua Runa New Testament, to cling to sound doctrine, and not to be led astray. When the church is weak, the people believe almost anything.

Having grown up in an extremely home in an extremely poor region, he sees the need for projects which will give believers an opportunity to raise fish and other animals for food and also to sell. He asked Augusto to be an advisor to this project and Augusto agreed.

The Agua Runas also need health posts, hospitals, and trained personnel. They need to cultivate other crops besides yucca. The children eat very little fruit, while banana and papaya grow abundantly in the region, as the people rent out their land to mestizo farmers, who ship the fruit to Lima. Meanwhile Agua Runa children are undernourished. The stores did not even sell milk.
Pastor Ruben Ichias (bottom foto) lives deep in the jungle. He would like to take clothing for the people in a village two days deeper into the jungle and to evangelize them. Augusto would like to accompany him and to show the Jesus Film there. We are praying for the Lord’s perfect timing for this trip.

Ruth had her foot broken on Thursday, April 26 and put in the correct position. It will be in a cast for 2-3 months. Please pray with us for perfect healing, so that she can go to Ilo in the South to help a pastoral family with their children and to study as well, beginning in August, when we leave for Dallas.

PANGOA

In Pangoa, 12 hours from Lima, in the Peruvian jungle we visited a church that
is being roofed with funds given by friends of Christ For The Nations. The neighborhood, just outside of town, has great potential for growth, as there are abundant orange groves. The farmers send their produce to market daily. The roads are being improved and lots separated in preparation for new people who will move into the area. Pray the church will be strengthened and will win many, many lost souls and help them to become established in the Lord’s path.

The grateful believers gave us TWO ROOSTERS! We exchanged one for a hen! Now Chaska has pets, as she has been longing for! She wanted a dog, but that will have to wait until we are living in our own home.

HUANTA

We also visited Pastor Gaspar in Huanta. Here he is with his wife, mother, and three of his six children. He is still president of the Presbytery, as he was in 1996, when we sent out 12 young people to teach VBS in the small communities around Huanta. Although he carries a very heavy family responsibility, he is considered an “honorary” pastor, which simply means that NEITHER HIS CHURCH NOR THE PRESBYTERY PAY HIM! Please pray with us that the Lord will lay on their hearts to give to their pastor.

AYACUCHO

Students at the Romulo Sauñe School in Cuchipampa, Ayacucho hold up new Bibles we bought for them. Religion class is required here, usually from a Roman Catholic perspective, but this school is different. Please pray for these children, that they will be established in the faith, and for their teachers and director, too.