Our New Church

Since moving to Cusco a little over a month ago we have enjoyed being a part of a new church plant here in Cusco, La Fuente De Gracia (The Fountain of Grace).  We truly have been thrilled to finally be a part of this church that we have looked forward to serving at for so long.  The church was started in September as a result of campus outreach ministries that MTW missionaries and others have been doing in Cusco for several years now.  The church is a good mix of Peruvians, US missionaries, and a few folks from other Latin American countries.  The church meets on Sunday evenings in a house currently, though it is quickly outgrowing its current location.

As we approached our move to Cusco, one thing that I know I thought about a lot and hoped for was a good transition into this new church--particularly for Finn.  Since getting to Peru, church has been a challenging thing for me as a mom because we haven't attended a church with a nursery or children's program, and Finn just hasn't done well sitting with me in the worship service.  He's very squirmy and gets upset and cries when he can't go play.  So during our first 6 months in this country I have always been in a different room with Finn during the opening worship time, and then every other Sunday Derek and I would switch off who got to sit in the sermon and who stayed with Finn.  This was fine, and I was willing to do it for the sake of bringing Finn to church and being there myself, even if I didn't get to participate with the other adults very much.  But as I thought about switching to a new church on our arrival in Cusco, I was hoping that we'd find a way for Finn and myself to both be a little more involved at church.

I am ashamed to admit that I don't know if I even prayed about this.  I think it was just a thought in the back of my mind, that I didn't even really think was that likely to work out.  I just assumed I'd be doing childcare on Sundays until Finn was 3 or 4 years old.

Since starting to attend La Fuente, however, I have been so, so thankful for God's blessing in this area.  I've been a little hesitant to say anything about it for the first several weeks for fear that it was really too good to last--and it may be, but for now I am so thankful to report that Sundays have gone much better for Finn and I.

This church has all children in the worship service for the first 20 minutes or so during the worship and prayer time, and then dismisses them to a Sunday School time.  From day one, I brought Finn into the worship service with me and to my great surprise, he's done very well with it.  I think maybe the nature of the music and how it fills the small worship room helps capture Finn's attention?  I don't know what it is - other than God, but Finn has learned to just let me hold him, or sometimes he'll stand beside me, and watch the worship team while we sing in Spanish for 20 minutes or so.  And during the prayer time, he's usually quiet.  He does often ask me once or twice when a song ends if it's time to go play with the "choo choos" yet (they have toy trains in the Sunday School room for the youngest ones to play with), but when I explain that we're going to sing some more songs first, he seems to accept that.

As soon as the children are dismissed, though, he heads right out of the "sanctuary" with all of the other children without a backward glance in my direction.  I usually still follow the kids out to see if the teacher would like my help.  Finn is definitely the youngest one in the group and he kind of does his own thing while the teacher does a lesson with the older children, but the sweet teachers don't seem to mind, and often I'm able to head back to the sermon.

Finn always has a rather intense "cheese" for the camera

It was so refreshing, like a breath of fresh spiritual air to worship with a congregation of believers for the first time in 6 months.  I didn't realize how much I'd missed that.  And it's just done my heart so much good to have Finn comply with being in the worship service for a little bit.  He's beginning to learn more about what church is supposed to be all about!

Even aside from things with Finn, though, we've felt very thankful for the smooth transition we've had to attending a new church.  Derek has begun leading the worship - not only musically, but also giving short instructions and prayers in Spanish, and so far that has seemed to go fairly well.  He's really enjoying the team of musicians he has to work with - a mixture of Peruvians and missionaries.  He's also enjoying opportunities to get to know some men in the church through lunch meetings and attending a men's Bible study once a week.

Derek also got to play piano at this wedding of a sweet couple in the church. 

I have also been able to attend a women's Bible study and am slowly getting to know some of the different women at the church.  One sweet Peruvian lady expressed a desire to help me learn to cook Peruvian dishes, so she came over one afternoon last week to cook with me.  There were definitely several times when I had to slow her down and get her to use different words, but overall I think we were able to communicate fairly well.  It was great Spanish practice for me, and also fun to get to know her a little better.

Our limited Spanish vocabulary continues to be a struggle at times in getting to know people, but we're doing our best to try anyway and boldly use as much Spanish as we can.  We hope to begin spending regular time with a Spanish tutor soon so that we can work a little more intentionally on continuing to improve.  It certainly makes us humble to introduce ourselves to church members using the vocabulary of 6 year olds, but maybe God will use this to endear us to them.  I hope so.  We have certainly felt loved and accepted so far.  Isn't it wonderful to be a part of the body of Christ!