February Trip, Part 2

[Jeff Surrett]

Visiting church plants The pastor that we are working with here near Arequipa was my youth pastor back when I was in high school. He moved to this area about 21 years ago and the Lord has used him to start the main Baptist church in this area as well as several daughter churches and missions. During the daytime, we had the opportunity to visit some of these churches and see how the Lord has been working as well as eating lunches with several of the families of these churches. Pastor Apolinario preaches in his main church as well as in two of the missions while he has turned over the main responsibility of two other churches to other pastors. Part of his responsibility is also overseeing a couple of Compassion meal and tutoring programs for children run by a couple of his church plants. My voice returns Though I was still coughing some, I was able to preach on Friday night as well as Saturday night. I taught on using the Bible as our source for decision-making. If there is a clear cut command in the Scripture, either for something or against it, seek no further for an answer. However, where the Bible does not address something directly with precept, God has still addressed it in principle. We then looked at some biblical principles that can help us in making good decisions. Cutting the trip short After the service Saturday night, I received a message that I needed to call Debbie right away. To help pass the time of my absence, Debbie had taken the kids to Illinois to spend some time with her parents. Debbie's dad has been having major back pain for some time and due to the pain, he has not been sleeping well. On that Thursday, Debbie and her mom took her dad into the hospital to see about getting some help with the medications. Some complications developed resulting in his being disoriented and confused. When I talked to Debbie Saturday night, it was obvious that she needed my help in taking care of the kids and her parents. I then started trying to make arrangements to come home early. Preaching, traveling, and preaching on Sunday After discussing maters with Pastor Apolinario, we decided I should catch the bus to Arequipa Sunday afternoon in order to make a flight early Monday. He called a pastor in Arequipa to pick me up from the bus terminal and to make arrangements for a place for me to spend the night. As he made arrangements, he also arranged for me to be able to speak in a church that Sunday night in Arequipa. I preached twice in Pastor Apolinario's church Sunday morning before heading to the hostal and packing up. We then went to his parents house for a traditional Peruvian meal before heading out to the bus stop. The bus ride was fairly uneventful and I arrived, was met by the other pastor, and was able to go over to his house to rest for about an hour before heading out to church to preach. I enjoyed the evening service and the opportunity to preach even though it had been a last minute arrangement. It was a help for the pastor because he had just come down with a cold and was having difficulty speaking as well. God does work in amazing ways. Tying up loose ends and Traveling back to the USA In order to fly back early, I was once again flying standby. I made it out of Arequipa without any problems and arrived in Lima with my luggage safely. I was met by Pastor Trejo and we went to his house so I could pack up the rest of my things, help to make arrangements for my replacement in the camp I was supposed to be speaking in over the weekend, buy a few more things to bring back and then get back to the airport in plenty of time to get one the standby list as early as possible. I was able to get on the list and then had to wait to see if they would clear me to go through security for our 11:40PM flight. They finally cleared me to go through at almost 11:00 and I had to get through security and through immigrations. I made it through security and was standing in line for immigrations when they announced the last call for the flight to Miami. There were others in the line trying to get to the same flight so I was hoping they would wait. I got through and ran to get on the flight and made it on. After being seated for a little bit, the pilot told us we would be leaving momentarily. He then came back on the intercom and informed us that they had discovered a problem with the plane and that they were checking on replacing the part. After a couple more delays, they told us that the flight was cancelled and that we would need to get off the plane and they would try again the next night. After we got off, they told us that they had figured out how to fix the plane but that now the airport was doing maintenance on the runway and we would need to wait. We finally left Lima at 4:00am. Since I was flying standby, I was glad that the flight was just delayed and not totally canceled as my chances on following flights would have been more difficult. Once I arrived in Miami, I was able to fly to Tampa and then on to Chicago arriving around 6:00pm.  Dealing with family matters It has been nice seeing my family again a little sooner than I was expecting but I would have preferred different circumstances. We have been trying to help Debbie's dad and mom through this time. He is scheduled for surgery this Wednesday and we are praying that God will allow him to get the relief he needs through this surgery. We are not sure how long we will need to stay out here to continue helping through this process but just ask for God to give wisdom and grace through it all. Preaching this last Sunday in Illinois (once in English, twice in Spanish) One of our supporting churches in this area allowed me to preach Sunday morning both in their normal morning service as well as in their Spanish service. Another church we had ministered in last year also gave me the opportunity to preach in their Spanish service Sunday night. Even though I was back in the States, I still had the opportunity to minister and even continue preaching in Spanish.  Prayer Requests Praise that since another church took us on for support, we are now at 73% of our needed monthly support That my father-in-law's surgery will go well, that he will be relieved of the pain, be able to get the sleep he needs, and that he will continue to improve. That I will be able to continue to fill our schedule That the materials that we have left in Peru will continue to help the churches with their evangelism outreach into their communities

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