Bloom in the Desert, by Emily Kephart

Emily Kephart arrived in Peru in January for a short term.  Until December she had served as a social worker in Erie, PA.  Now she is applying her skills in a very different context and exploring how God might use her training and gifts in missions.  The article below is excerpted from her first prayer letter home.

It is summer in South America, and I am in the coastal desert region of Peru . It almost never rains. Puerto is a small fishing town, with a population of about 12,000. I am currently living with missionaries Cesar & Grace Cubas. Less than half of the streets in Puerto are paved. Water is pumped into homes by the municipality for about an hour or two every day. For families who do not have a water holding tank in their homes, this is the only time during the day to get water.

There is a small market in town, and various corner shops. Almost all the food we eat is fresh, bought that morning at the market. The houses here are small, made of brick or concrete, and built right up against one another.

The town is surrounded by sand dunes.  The further up the sand dunes you go, the more houses you encounter with corrugated metal roofs, cane and mud-plaster walls, and even woven-reed sheets for walls and ceilings. Job prospects here in Puerto are grim, and many of the younger people are moving to the larger towns and cities in the regions to find work.

I have become a small part of something very big that God is doing in this town!  La Communidad Cristiana Supe Puerto, which translates to the Puerto Supe Christian Community, is the group that the Cubases have initiated as their vehicle for change here.  La Communidad's goal is spiritual, social economic development. La Communidad is made up of community friends and neighbors, and is a recognized community organization.

Their main project right now is a Summer Olympics program.  This week and next they are running a soccer tournament for boys and volleyball for girls.  I have been stationed on the sidelines, painting faces of those who are not on the field.  We have some very dedicated neighbors who are coordinating their teams, based on streets and neighborhoods.  There are also several weekly meetings that Cesar leads in the home of La Communidad members.

I am currently working on a Sexuality/Sex Respect program proposal to take to the high school for approval for the coming school year.  The plan is to run a 1-2 week program that consists of daily one-hour sessions.  Our goal is to do at least three of these.  This will serve two purposes: to help develop a healthy view of sex and sexuality in the young people and to help create contacts and form relationships with the teenagers here.

The second and largest part of my ministry witll be relational ministry with the high school kids, outside of school, investing my time and energy in their lives.  My strategy is to teach by being a living example of Christ's mercy and grace in our lives.  It is my hope to plant seeds in the lives of young people that will someday flourish into a joy that only a liberating relationship with Christ can bring.

I have never depended on God so much as I am now, and it is a fabulous feeling.  I still believe that God has called me here, and that He has planned the work I will do, and the lives He will touch through me.  I know that there will be times of doubt and resistance, but I am confident that God will lead us through.