Report from the USA.

Report from the USA

Hello brethren, I'm glad to greet you all again, I'm in the land of y'all so I'm so glad that I'm able to write to you. From the last time I've wrote from Puerto, we had a team from Central Baptist Church in Crossville, Tennessee. It was an encouraging, exciting long week of work, we went to an school and a pre school, went to do visitations around pueblo Viejo, also we were able to visit/help other missionaries in Puerto also. It was an encouraging time.

Now there is a couple staying at the church, their name is Dan and Ruthie, they are such a godly and sweet family from Texas, and they have 2 beautiful kids, they will be filling in while I'm here in the USA. Please pray for them as they minister and encourage people in pueblo Viejo, I think it will be good for the people there to see a while a couple ministering them so some of their needs can be addressed in their context also. The last 2 days before I head to Lima I did send time with them and it was such an encouragement for me.

Concerning USA: for some reason I forgot the address of the friend I was staying with when I entered the states, so there was a time when I was looking in my phone and tablet for the address and I couldn't find it and immigration could have easily tell me to go back to Peru. But for some reason the person in immigration was merciful to me so I gave my friend's work address, so I could clearly see that the Lord wanted me to be here. I will be here until August 3 but I'm gonna travel on July 25/26 to NJ, because my returning flight is from there, also I will approach that time to visit/minister family and visit my uncle in prison and encourage my family. 

While I am in the states I'm looking to raise funds to be used for ministry tools and help people who want to come to help me in Peru whether they are from Lima or from another country. As many of you know, I'm by myself working in Puerto so there is sometimes not a lot that I can do by being a single pastor By myself in there, so I would like to have help while working in here, so that money would help people to pay fully or partially their trip to Puerto depending where they are from. They will help me to do program with kids, youth, working with women and also helping other local missionaries with whatever they need. Also it will be used for anything may be needed for the ministry, or tools that I can use while I work there also. 

So I'm looking to present this project to people and churches in here while I'm in the USA. My calendar is open and flexible except July 17 because I'm meeting with a team coming in October to Puerto.  But my calendar is open until July 25/26 so if your church wants to hear more about what is going on in Puerto or would like to go to a short term trip to the jungle of Peru or just support a local missionary, let me know, I will be glad to go there and see you and sharing the ministry with you all. 

Prayer Requests

Character: pray that the Lord grows in me humility, it is essential to look others as a bigger priority than myself and sometimes I can grow an inch above and that inch above is too high. Pray also for love for people and that I be sensitive to minister people while I'm in the USA. Also for perseverance in patience and faithfulness to the sound preaching of the Gospel.

Missionaries in Peru: Pray for Tj Lindsey(missionary in Lima, working with kids in Caja de Agua), Buddy and Loren Fitzgerald, Daniel and Becky, (The husbands are pastor in other churches in Puerto Maldonado), Scott and Tracy (La buena Semilla, Puerto Maldonado, girls home) Bud and Laura Lenz (El Arca orphanage) Walter Isse (Pastor in a church in Lima).

Dan and Ruthie: pray for them as they are in pueblo Viejo ministering to people.

Opportunities to speak in the USA: I'm waiting for two confirmations if I speak in a church in CO and AL so I don't know how that will end but please pray for it and if you think of a church I can speak on and introduce them to ministry let me know.

Chacapampa: there is a team in the mountains of Peru where I was last year and do you guys remember the couple Espiritu and Rita? Well they just got married so that's a huge praise I haven't talk with the team that is there right now about them but the sat time they came in March I've heard that things were getting better with them so praise the Lord, keep praying for this team from Fort Collins, Colorado while they are there sharing the Gospel and also encouraging the local missionary, Liz. 

Family: my mother is very involved in church and really having good friendships from it, she is really encouraged and I think the Lord is truly working in her, she is very willing to be taught and she is also getting discipled, I thought I would baptize her right after I came back from Peru last year but did not happened but pray she keeps growing. I'm getting more close with my Dominican sister so that is great. And pray that rest of my family comes to Christ.

Finances: the Lord has been faithful and He will, pray for wisdom to administrate the money I have, also I'm looking for some project I can work on while I'm here so if you have anything I can do let me know. 

If you would like to Support me, please consider it prayerfully as you doing the will of God and if the Lord will so here are the options:

The Great Comission, C/o Edher Cavero

700 N. Parker Rd. Greenville, SC 29609

TD Bank account: reply this message so the account will be sent to you.

If you would like to send me an encouragement letter or anything, you can send it to 

Edher Cavero

12 west 53rd St Bayonne NJ 07002

If you have any questions, complaining or anything, let me know and feel free to ask any question.

Also tell me how can I pray for you.

Love you all

Edher

Why your short term mission trip is a good idea.

There is a lot of blogs and articles questioning the idea of a short term mission trip,  that last a few weeks or months. Some arguments presented in these articles are really good but the idea of always questioning short term mission trips brings discouragement to those who want to go with a genuine desire to serve God. 

So even tho I will give some warnings, the purpose of this post is redirect your thought about why it is important to do short term trips and how can we make the most of it. 

1. Encourage the long term missionaries and local pastors: even if you are going for a short period of time, there is missionaries and pastors who stay in those countries, these long term missionaries or local pastors most time deal with frustration, loneliness, stress and interpersonal conflicts within their families or with other people. The presence of short term teams can bring refreshment to the long term ministers, even if the week gets busier, I highly recommend to make the most use of your time to encourage the local missionaries or initiate personal conversations regarding how you can pray for them or what is going on in their lives. It is important to take care of those who are staying after you leave, I know you have projects and want to get them done, but you should never forget the hearts of those who will see the long term of the fruit of your work.

     You can also encourage missionaries by having a relax time with them and talking to them, chilling or hanging out with them, or if they are from your country, you can bring them something they miss. Where I work, I know a lot of long term missionaries who speak English and they get excited when English speaking people come. Remember, there is missionaries who are planing to stay long term and having a little taste from home helps them in their homesickness.  People you know and love, even tho they are from different countries can be an encouragement to people in the field, there is a big importance in lift up spiritually (not their ego) to those who stay in the field. 

2. They have people to work with some projects: sometimes missionaries have specific tasks they wish they could do but they sometimes can't because of lack of people prepared for this or just lack of availability in people. So your medical team, construction team, or the group of people you brought can be used for the task that missionaries may have at that point. The presence of your team will be a blessing as you are willing to be flexible and help them with the projects they have in mind. So yes, you should come and help them.

3. Unique time of fellowship: there are missionaries who work in very small rural areas where there is no church at all. For those missionaries the only fellowship they get with other believers is when mission teams comes to help them. So take a time to get in deep fellowship with them because sometimes it has been several weeks or months since they had contact with other believer in person. Fellowship is important in the Christian life, but there is times where the Lord takes you to work in places where fellowship with other believers is something you get once in a while, I've been in those shoes and I can tell how encouraging it can be.

4. You can learn from them: sometimes the mission field help us to grow in maturity if we are not stubborn or proud. The Lord humble us and as missionaries we hope to teach you how to do things effectively in your short term mission trip. And we can say that not because we are proud or we think we know better than you but because when we stay we see the outcome of the work done by short term teams. So if you want to help long term missionaries, let them help you in your short term trip, you may want to get things done but the long term workers know what is best for the area.

5. Don't get too caught in your plans: I know that some people have the mindset of having a full schedule trip where they gonna work 24/7 and that's a great start but sometimes the things you are going to do more by learning, praying and encouraging. Listen before you speak, learn before you act and pray before you preach; it may an eternal help for you and those who hear you. There is some cultures or places where is harder to have everything scheduled because things go slower so be flexible, if you don't have a lot to do one of those days maybe the Lord wants you to be quiet and think about the interactions you already had or meditate in his word and who knows maybe you need to study his word more that day so He prepares you for a particular time He will use you. Whatever plans you have, surrender them to the Lord, and if you are a workaholic, don't worry He will teach you.

6. Enjoy the Culture: Some people who goes on short-term trips are afflicted by the culture they are in, they feel so different and that everybody is staring at them because is not common for the locals to see people like them. I understand that in different places people don't navigate things in the same way you do. But instead of focusing in all the differences and saying look at this or look at that, learn why locals think that way or learn how they get their culture, it will be helpful for you as you are there and also to contextualize your gospel witness.

I think short term mission trips are good but we must be careful to not do our own thing but go along what the Lord directs us to do as we learn more about  the culture and the missionaries who are there. Also don't forget to prepare yourself biblically and in prayer and if you have access to ask questions, don't hesitate but always learn.

My prayer is that you be encouraged by this and go help a missionary whether is locally or oversees.