January-February 2016 - Northwest Church of Christ

DAVIS CUSCO MISSION
SHARING THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST WITH THE CITY OF CUSCO, PERU • JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2016
The last time we spoke with most of you
was in person in the States! It was such a joy
to spend time with almost all of our supporting
congregations during the holiday season in
November and December. Below we’ve
included a few of our memories from the trip.
Thank you for refilling our tanks and giving us
just the encouragement we needed to start
2016 off right! Upon returning back to Cusco,
we’ve plunged deeply into the work in a way
that we couldn't before because of our daily
Spanish lessons. Because we’re now fluent in
the language, we’ve been highly involved (and
busy!) since the beginning of the year. Read on
to hear about some new, exciting ministries
we’ve been a part of.
A cross-stitch surprise from Cindi
Cotton of Estes church of Christ
Sharing a meal at Olive Garden in Mt. Juliet, TN with family and supporters at the end of our furlough
Ryan’s grandparents, Robert
and Irene Taylor, in Ripley, TN
Our sweet dog Kobe
who couldn’t make the
move to Peru with us
Ryan’s family at Freed-Hardeman University
Lunch with the
Flower family of
Oakwood Rd.
church of Christ
Thanksgiving day with Sarah’s family in Clemmons, NC
Receiving a beautiful quilt from Frank and Jane
Shepard of Warners Chapel church of Christ
Enjoying time with a special couple, Bill and
Kay Mills, of Camden Ave. church of Christ
Christmas with Sarah’s uncle and aunt,
DeLacy and Pam Luke
MINISTRY SHIFT
Many of you will remember that throughout 2014-2015 we focused our ministry as a couple on the youth group. It was amazing
to see these teenagers come to Christ and grow in their faith week by week. However, after much prayer, we decided to shift our
focus and concentrate on a very underserved group in our church - young professionals and young families. We made this choice
because, knowing that our youth group was already thriving, we realized that the church was lacking a ministry to attract strong
young professionals and families. This is a key age group for the future spiritual leadership and financial growth of the church.
So, in January, we shoulder-tapped a fantastic young couple named Julio and Joana (with their sons Adriano, 5, and Alessandro, 1.5)
who have wonderful leadership potential. Julio used to be a professional boxer who now manages a family mechanic shop, and
Joana, who is originally from Cochabamba, Bolivia, has a great sense of humor and a very honest heart. We asked them to
consider starting a Bible study group in their house each week, and they immediately and enthusiastically accepted. Our group of
about 8 is very close-knit and growing. We spend about an hour studying the Bible together each Wednesday. Then, Julio and Joana
spoil us every week with amazing snacks, which are often more like full meals. Many times they’ve cooked tasty treats for us like
homemade empanadas (crispy folded dough stuffed with delicious meat), stir-fry rice with wantons, or rotisserie chicken. We’ve
learned the beauty of “table-fellowship.” In other words, great friendships can be made not only during our Bible study but
afterward when we are just spending time together relaxing over a meal.
Our next goal is for each member of this group to bring a couple of friends with them every week because we’ve found that this
is the best way to organically grow these home Bible studies. Pray for our group to grow in number and in spiritual maturity!
CELEBRATE WITH US!
Three souls were added to Christ over the past couple of months here in Cusco! First, Brandon, who never seems to stop smiling, was
baptized on New Year’s Eve. He is the son of Martina who was baptized in October. Then, Consuelo, who is the wife of Percy and mother of
Jharel, Jhafet, and Ioshua was baptized on January 11. And finally, Cesar was baptized on February 10. He stopped Barton in the middle of a
study on baptism and said, ”No one has ever told me this before!” It's in moments like these that we remember why we're here!
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
Over the past two months, Ryan preached and taught a Bible class for the first
time! This sounds like a piece of cake in English but is not so simple to study, memorize,
and deliver lessons in your second language! He preached twice in January during our
series called “Be Light” and twice in February in our series called “Revolutionaries.” A
particularly special lesson that he preached was during our “Be Light Ceremony” on
February 7th where we took everything we’d learned throughout the series about letting
our lights shine in the community and made a promise together to put it into practice in
our daily lives. Ryan designed a special service which included a
lot of creative elements such as the use of candles, videos, and
songs, even including the children’s class in the ceremony.
YOUNG MEN’S MINISTRY
This past month we decided to start a special discipleship
group for the young men in our congregation. We were
pleased because they were all attending services on Sundays
and even leading in worship, but they hardly knew each
other and never fellowshipped outside of church services. All
of them are also very newly baptized
Christians, and we knew that they
needed to grow in their faith and
relationship with God. So far, this
group has really been a gamechanger. Guys that barely spoke
before are now becoming friends.
We’re having weekly studies where
they can share their spiritual
struggles and grow together in the
Lord. And this past Saturday we had
a blast hiking together to the
“Tambomachay” ruins. Some of these
men may be elders and deacons
leading and serving the flock in
Cusco one day, so we believe that
investing a little extra time in them
will really count!
TO WORK OR
NOT TO WORK…
Steak dinner at
Our biggest struggle in ministry is how to balance off-time. Ministry, and
especially mission work, is definitely not an 8-5 traditional work day, which
has its blessings and its curses at times. Somehow it can sound like a noble
thing to be working all the time, but we know that even Jesus took time for
relaxation with his closest friends away from all of the hustle and bustle. With
some of our teammates on furlough the past couple of months and us
becoming more interwoven into the work than ever before, we’ve admittedly
been overly-busy in January and February. But we’ve also enjoyed some great
down time together as well!
Cicciolina’s restaurant
Starbucks is always a little piece of home
Exploring a new
neighborhood in Lima
after a short trip for
legal docs.
Baby Elanor’s 1st birthday!
FUTURE CHURCH MINISTERS UPDATE
We’ve had a lot of people ask us how Elvis, Yolanda, and Percy are doing in their first
few months of study at the Baxter Institute in Honduras. They are doing great adjusting to
life in a very different Latin American country, and they tell us that their studies are really
challenging! They’ve already made some good friends there and feel very supported by the
faculty and staff. The past two months have been difficult on us in this respect as well
because we lost some of our best Peruvian buddies and half of our preaching and work
force at the same time. We are thankful for the frequent updates we get from them but
would love the opportunity to visit and encourage them in person later this year!
Don’t forget to begin planning and purchasing plane tickets to join us for the July Community Outreach Campaign!
Dates are July 23-30. Most likely there will be two aspects to the campaign: 1) a “World English Institute” where campaigners
will offer free English classes to the community using the Bible as the book of study with a goal of setting up Bible studies
and 2) an outreach project to a group such as an orphanage where we can shine the light of the Gospel.
PRAYER REQUESTS
This month please
pray for:
• Our upcoming medical
mission campaign March
5-12. That the community
may be helped physically and
touched spiritually and for
the safety of the campaigners
God’s hands
at work with
a beautiful
sunset in
Lima
• S a r a h a s s h e ’s b e e n
struggling with a lot of eye
problems since returning to
Cusco that the doctors think
are altitude-related
• Carolina Luz and Xavier:
current one-one-one Bible
students we’re studying with
“May the Lord of peace himself give you
peace at all times in every way. The Lord be
with you all.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16
• Sarah’s upcoming 8-week
women’s Bible course on the
problem of pain and suffering
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Ryan & Sarah Davis
[email protected]
DavisCuscoMission.wordpress.com
Please send all checks or
correspondence to:
Estes church of Christ
P.O. Box 191
Henderson, TN 38340
[email protected]
Thanks for reading our newsletter
and for your constant prayers and
support!