Alegres in Washington and Back Again to Peru

A Wedding in Washington

July 23rd Cristian and I finalized our marriage by celebrating a Christian wedding near my parents' home in Washington. It was a beautiful day filled with the love and joy God has been so gracious to grant us for one another. I still don't have all the photos (I promise to post some when I do), but here are a few that were taken by friends on that special day.

In the days after the wedding we kept on thinking about how special the day had been, and about the blessing of having so many loved ones with us to celebrate. My mom was thrilled to share with me how many people (including the catering wait staff) had told her that they could really sense the presence of the Lord and His love that day. Cristian and I hope that will remain true in all the days of our marriage and that together our lives will be glorifying to Him. I hope you will continue to pray for us, that the Lord would continue to strengthen our marriage and fill us with His love so that we can be a light and blessing to others in the different places he has serving now and in the future.

What the Future Holds

As Cristian and I have continued to grow together and pray for God's direction for our lives, we believe that He is preparing us to one day serve Him together in full time ministry.

For now that means that Crisitan will continue to work as a finance manager, and I will continue to serve FH-Peru supporting the National Program Office in assisting with planning, staff training, monitoring and evaluation.

Recently FH-Peru began a process of re-organization, refocusing of our projects. In the last year, many of you know that I had been questioning my role and purpose in serving with FH in Lima, but in the midst of the changes that are taking place in the organization, I have felt a renewed sense of calling to the vision and mission of FH and I have begun to see more clearly the place God has for me with in the ministry of FH. Working with Noemi, the new National Program Manager, God has been using my skills of organization, analysis and even teaching to support the other members the FH team. The Lord has blessed Noemi and me with a good working relationship. I am learning so much from her leadership and am glad to know that I am a support to her as a sounding board and assistant in the training of staff. I am looking forward to continued work with as she guiding the FH team through a process of evaluation and redesign of our projects. (Click here to read more about the ministry changes in FH-Peru).

While Cristian and I serve God in different places during work hours (I with a Christian organization, and Cristian in the secular business world), we are also are beginning to look for new ways that we can serve God and others together. As part of this time of preparation, we felt God calling us join a new outreach ministry in our church here in Lima. In May we began attending services in the new San Borja annex of the Missionary Alliance Church in Miraflores. After returning to Peru as a couple we are beginning to look for the place God wants us to serve within this new annex. As a first step we are opening our home to a studying group for the "40 days of Purpose" the church is promoting. We are inviting several Christian and Non-Christian friends to our group, and we pray the Lord would prepare their hearts and ours for the work He will do.

Please continue to pray for Cristian and me as we seek God's plan for our lives.

Blessings,

Lauren

Ministry Changes - A Clear Calling for FH-Peru and Alignment of Programs

Whenever I read and reflect on the vision and mission of FH International I am encouraged all over again about the ministry I am privileged to be part of.

Vision: God called and we responded until physical and spiritual hungers ended worldwide.

Mission: To walk with churches, leaders and families in overcoming all forms of human poverty by living in healthy relationship with God and His creation.

The vision and mission mark a God sized task of which FH-Peru, by the grace of God will contribute a part. How do we know what our part is? For many years FH-Peru has tried to do a little bit of everything. While God has used different staff and projects to impact the lives of individuals, families and even communities, the work has not always demonstrated the excellence we and God desire. And so in the last few months the ministry team of FH-Peru has been in a process of reflecting on the vision and mission, listening for the specific call God has for FH-Peru, and then refocusing our projects to answer that call.

In May, I participated along with a group of 20 other FH staff members (including Ryan, the director, and Noemi the new Program Manger) in a workshop aimed at hearing God's call for FH-Peru. After 3 days of much prayer, discussion, and reflection God made His call clear, that He wants to use FH-Peru to transform lives so that "Children (boys, girls and teenagers) can develop healthy and joyful lives in harmony with God in a healthy environment."

Children are our focus, and while we will continue to walk with families, leaders, churches and communities in overcoming the issues of poverty that limit their development - we want to see them change so that children, the most vulnerable, have a chance to live healthy and joyful lives.

So with a clear calling heard, the FH Program staff team, lead by Noemi, began a process of evaluating our current projects, the needs in the communities where we serve, and then redesigning our programs for 2011 and on. During the month of July, besides becoming Señora Alegre, I was also busy working with the program teams in Pucallpa and Lima to conduct an evaluation of the most critical problems facing children. My role was to help facilitate the analysis of the information from surveys, interviews and focus groups. Learning to manage Excel spreadsheets and interpret the data was a new experience for many of the staff, but I was so glad to see how everyone contributed to the process.

By the time I returned from weddings and honeymoon, the team had summarized the results of the community needs assessment. After hearing from parents, leaders, and even teens, in both Lima and Pucallpa, it has become clear that violence in all of its forms (physical, psychological, sexual, emotional, etc.), is the greatest threat to children being able to grow up healthy and joyful.

Violence in Peru is actually a critical issue nation wide. According to the UN Peru is considered one of the most dangerous countries for women, and approximately 50% of women in the communities where FH works have experience some type of abuse in their lifetime. The reality of violence in the homes also affects children; it is common for parents to use acts of violence (excessive force, words of rage, and derogatory comments) when disciplining their children. Many parents expressed in the surveys that the biggest problem they faced in raising their children was not knowing how to communicate with them, and when anger rises up a parent can easily turn to violence if they do not know of other ways to communicate and discipline their children. As children grow up with violence it can lead to low self-esteem, learning problems, difficulty relating with others, and involvement in community violence like bullying and gangs. As I have learned more about this issue in the last few weeks, my heart breaks for children who are faced with violence everyday of their lives. It makes me wonder: how could the love of God, and the gospel change the lives of these children and families? If FH-Peru focused our ministry in helping to prevent violence against children, helping families raise children in healthy, joyful homes, what fruits could God produce?

For about four years now FH-Peru has carried out a small project aimed at helping reduce and prevent family violence. This project has seen God produce some fruits in the tranformation of lives as they overcome the violence that has held them captive. Recently I shared with you on such fruit in the story of Jose and Lucy. But I think God wants to use FH to bear more fruit like this.

We are now in the midst of the next step of the process as we are redesigning our projects in Lima and Pucallpa to focus on the critical issue of violence against children. During the last two weeks Noemi and I have carried out project planning workshops in both Lima and Pucallpa. I am so glad I am able to support the program team by teaching new planning tools, and helping the team develop the objectives, and key activities of this new project. As always it is a blessing to serve and learn alongside the Peruvian staff, and I pray that God will continue to grow and transform me so that I can be a support to them.

Please continue to pray that the Lord would continue to guide FH-Peru in finalizing the rest of the details of this new project, pray that we would all continue to be sensitive to His guidance. And stay tuned to hear more details about this new project/ focus of the FH-Peru Ministry.