June 19th-24th

[Jeffrey Surrett]

Teacher and Family Conferences (June 19th) The conferences were not as well attended as we had hoped partially due to do people traveling for Father's day and some lack of promotion due to the miners strike but those who did come were very grateful for the sessions. I had one particular young man who serves his church as a Sunday School teacher indicate that the conference had helped him to realize that he needed to have clear objectives for his class and his teaching. We also had the opportunity to witness to a few unsaved people who came to the church for the first time. It was a long day with the teacher's conference running from 9:30am to 2:00pm and the family conference from 4:30pm to 8:30pm. Though we were tired, we believe that the Lord blessed the day. Sunday Preaching (June 20th) Due to some complications with transportation, I was not able to travel out to Los Sureños on Saturday and a taxi was going to be expensive to go out Sunday morning. The missionary family that I am staying with let me use their car. I was a little nervous driving across town since I have not driven in Peru for many years. Since it was Sunday morning at 7:00am, there was not much traffic and I was able to make it to the church in about 1 hour. I had the privilege of teaching the combined youth-adult Sunday School class and then preach in the morning service. After the service, I was able to spend some time talking to the pastor before going out to lunch with the pastor's family. For the evening service, I drove out to Pachacutec, another church where our teams from previous years have labored, and preached for the evening service. It was encouraging to see how the Lord has continued to bless both churches throughout this last year. I was also grateful for the Lord's protection as I drove back home that night arriving at around 10:30pm without any incident. Going back home over the mountain (June 21st) On our trip back to Lima, we had to wait for the bus to arrive. While we waited, we handed out some tracts and witnessed to three ladies that were selling snacks to the travelers and to a mother and daughter who were there to travel to Lima. The bus ride was fairly uneventful with some stunning views of the mountains of Peru. When we passed through the city of La Oroya where the mining strikes had occurred earlier, we passed without a problem though we could still see evidence of the strike (military vehicles including a water cannon tank). As we were arriving back in Lima, our bus ran out of gas and tried to coast into a gas station. It made it half-way in before stopping. With part of the bus sticking out into traffic, they had to fill a can with gas and then fill the bus with the can since the fuel hose would not reach the bus. When things like this happen which you would not normally see in the United States, I usually just turn to an American traveling companion and say, "Welcome to Peru." Having left San Ramon at around 9:45am, we finally made it home at around 8:00pm. Sent to the principal's office (June 22nd) As part of my research for our teacher-training ministry, I visited three schools and had the opportunity talk to the directors of the school for about two hours each. I was able to get a better understanding of what the Peruvian schools emphasize in education (about one-third of the school day is dedicated to math) and some of their methods of instruction and discipline.  Fine Tuning of mission goals and strategy (June 23rd) I continued my research by visiting La Molina Christian School and speaking with a couple of the directors about how the school is operating and some of its strengths and weaknesses. We would like to use this school as a launching ground for the teacher training and curriculum development aspects of our ministry. After our discussions, we have come up with some potential plans for how we could effectively work together to reach our goals of strengthening teachers and schools to maximize the potential for ministry and to create a generation that is willing to serve the Lord here in Peru and even willing to go beyond Peru as missionaries. Though it may seem like a bold goal, we are praying that God will use this ministry to strengthen the churches to become epicenters for missions. Pricing for the future  (June 24th) I was scheduled to visit one more school and talk to its director but when we arrived, we were informed that the director had to leave on a trip. We instead used the day to do some price shopping for a vehicle and other items. We also had the chance to visit with a couple of families for a little time before heading back home to prepare for a busy weekend. We have just a little under one week left. Remaining schedule Friday day - school chapel and observations Friday night - two sessions with a group of church leaders in their monthly leader's (which includes all teachers) meeting Saturday - Teacher's conference Saturday - Youth conference Sunday morning - visiting a church and preaching in Los Olivos Sunday evening - preaching at Los Sureños Monday - speaking at a pastor's meeting Tuesday - speaking three times at a church retreat Wednesday - tying up loose ends, packing and going to the airport Thursday - travel home (flight leaves at 12:05am)

Sending Church Emmanuel Baptist Church 4681 East Trindle Rd. Mechanicsburg, PA 17050 717-761-7000 www.ebc-ebca.org

Contact Information 225 Gettysburg Pike Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 717-791-9116 www.surrett.org je...@surrett.org

Mission Agency Open Door Baptist Missions 1115 Pelham Road Greenville, SC 29615-3603 864-297-7890 www.odbm.org