James and Julia

Videos

2014-05-10T12:46:00.002+01:00

Home assignment has now come to an end. As always it's been a privilege and a joy to meet everyone again and share a little bit about what God is doing in Peru. At some of the visits we were able to show a couple of short videos focussing on the work in Nauta and Huambutio. If you didn't get to see them, or if you want to see them again, we've posted them below.

Pray for Peru

2014-02-09T19:17:00.000+00:00

This week the BMS Prayer Guide is once again focussed on Peru. Please join us in praying for the following:

Sunday Pray for Peru’s Evangelical Baptist Convention (CEBP), equipping churches for outreach and growth of the kingdom of God.

Monday Pray for the work of the CEBP Social Work Department.

Tuesday Pray for: the fledgling church in Yucay; Bible study and Qhali Wiñanchis Social Project in Huambutio village; and for BMS workers James and Julia Henley.

Wednesday Pray for: Scott Williamson leading El Puente church, Cusco and Anjanette Williamson working in Qhali Wiñanchis clinic.

Thursday Pray for: Laura-Lee Lovering on Home Assignment and for the ecological income generation projects she has been developing in Nauta.

Friday Pray for the new group attending the Integral Mission training course in Nauta, organised by Gill Thurgood and Harland Rivas, together with Pastor Luis Alvarado.

Saturday Pray for Sarah MacArthur, arriving in Peru for six-month’s language study before moving to Loreto to work on environmental and church projects.

And we're back...

2014-02-06T09:24:00.004+00:00

Apologies for the slight delay in this post, but we wanted to write a quick note to let you know that after an exhausting but relatively good journey, we're safely back in the UK.

Many thanks to all who were praying for the journey. In the next couple of days we'll post our home assignment schedule. Looking forward to see lots of you soon!

The Final Countdown

2014-01-25T15:40:00.000+00:00

We've just seven days left until we leave Peru, and life at the moment is a fairly frantic blur of boxes, packing, paperwork, visits to the immigrations office and police, more paperwork and desperately trying to remember everything that we need to do!

Our work hasn't gone completely on hold though, and we've been busy trying to make the most of our last few weeks here and 'end well'.

In Yucay we've made the most of the school summer holidays to hold a couple of special activity mornings for some of the children we've been working with over the last couple of years. These included Bible stories, games and worksheets and seemed to be good fun! Please pray for all the children we've seen in Yucay - pray that whatever seeds of the kingdom have been sown would continue to grow and flourish.

In Huambutio we've also been making use of the holidays to run, along with others from El Puente, a weekly children's club based around the theme of 'Creation'. Thanks to a a lot of hard work, especially from our colleague Carla, the children have had a great time learning the creation story and making some impressive craft to take home. Please pray for Carla (a BMS supported partner worker) and the rest of the team working in Huambutio. We're excited about what the future has to bring for the project there, and believe that God has great plans for the town.

Finally, last week James was back in Nauta teaching at the Training Centre for pastors and leaders. Although
there were slightly less there than normal, it was another great week focussed on an introduction to the Bible and some basics of Christian doctrine. This is the start of the third full year of courses at the training centre - please pray for the whole team working there, especially as they try to discern how God wants them to keep adapting and improving what they are offering. Pray also for the pastors and leaders who come along - that they would have unity and the strength to keep going in often very difficult circumstances.

Vilcabamba Landslide

2013-12-27T11:00:00.000+00:00

We've been watching over the last few days as the BBC have reported on the storms hitting Britain at the moment. We hope that none of you are too badly affected and that you manage to stay safe through it all.

Here in Peru we've not yet seen the massive flooding of previous years, although rainy season is only just getting underway. Despite this, last week we heard of a small community where some of our clinic patients live who have been affected by landslides caused by the rain.

It seems that as part of the government construction of a new road to Paucartambo, a load of rubble, stones and mud were dumped at the side of the road. After a period of particularly heavy rain, this was all washed down into an already overflowing river, which in turn dumped it in the 'chacras' (small fields) of a number of local farmers. This has destroyed a lot of maize which would have been ready for harvest in April, and on which many of the locals rely for their basic diet.

Vilcabamba Landslide from J Henley on Vimeo.

In theory the government should pay compensation, but as so often in Peru, persuading them to hand over the money could be easier said than done! We are keeping in contact with the community to see if or how we might be able to help out. In the meantime, please keep all those affected in your prayers. Most of them simply don't have the contingency funds to allow for setbacks like this, so the future is very uncertain.

Deck the halls with boxes and bubble wrap...

2013-12-26T21:00:00.000+00:00

As I write this, 'Boxing day' (a very British tradition!) has come to an end, Katie is tucked up in bed and we are grateful for a lovely Christmas.

It was always going to be a slightly strange Christmas, as we have moved out of our house and into our colleagues house in preparation for leaving in just a few weeks. Most of our things are in boxes or should be in boxes by now, but we are grateful for the hospitality of the Williamson family for lending us their home and Christmas decorations whilst they are in the UK for home assignment.

Strangely too, this was our first Christmas day on our own, as in the past we have always shared the day with family. This could have felt a little sad, but actually we had a wonderful time, espeically as it was Katie's first Christmas and sharing the day with her (even though she knew very little about it) was a real treat.

Thank you for your prayers and messages - it was great to know that we weren't forgotten. Happy (belated) Christmas to you all. We pray that your Christmas was full of joy and wonder wherever and however you celebrated this year.

December Prayer Letter

2013-12-16T14:12:00.000+00:00

Our December prayer letter is now available on the BMS website. As you will see, it contains some pretty big news about a decision we've taken to return to the UK permanently in February 2014. This has not been an easy process as we've tried to discern what God wants for us, but feel that at the moment it is the right decision for us as a family.

As always thank you for all your prayers and support. We are very appreciative of all the support we've had from BMS over these last few years and also to you all for your ongoing love, prayers, encouragement and parcels.

Huambutio Chocolatada

2013-12-15T23:00:00.000+00:00

Today was the annual chocolatada in Huambutio - a traditional community event for Christmas with singing, drama, a short message and finally hot chocolate, sweet bread for everyone and presents for all the children.

The whole of El Puente Church got involved, and especially the youth group, who led the singing and the drama. It was a great day (only slightly hampered by a power cut!) and a great chance to bless the local community. Many thanks to everyone who was involved, and please pray for all those who came. It is a special privilege to be able to share something of the gift of Jesus' birth in a place where people have so little.

Adult Workshops

2013-12-11T17:43:00.000+00:00

Over the next couple of months we are involved in running a series of adult workshops at the clinic in Huambutio. These are covering a range of different themes, including hygiene, nutrition, physical health, child care, baby stimulation and much more.

So far, numbers are growing each week and we hope that these workshops can be a valuable resource for the community and can grow into something much bigger. Please pray for the whole team who are involved in leading and running the sessions - that we would have wisdom and clarity as we try and share with people.

Nauta Training Centre

2013-12-05T00:54:00.000+00:00

Last week we had the privilege of being part of the teaching team at the Nauta Training Centre; started by a group of local pastors along with our colleagues Gill Thurgood and Harland Rivas, mission workers with BMS in Loreto.

Nauta is about an hour and a half from the city of Iquitos, in north eastern Peru.It is situated on the river Marañon, which feeds into the Amazon just a few minutes up river.Here amongst the network of rivers and tributaries are huge numbers of small communities, accessible only by boat and often very poor. The Nauta Training Centre exists to provide local Pastors and church leaders of these river communities with a basic theological education, but also a support network and training in community development and skills such as first aid.Each training event lasts about a week and takes place six times a year.It is a huge sacrifice for those who attend as many have to miss out on paid employment and travel up to 10 hours to be there.And yet for many, it is the only training they have ever been offered.It is not unusual for people in these communities to have only the basics of a primary education and no opportunity for further study.

James taught a course on Integral Mission, Julia taught on the book of Romans and Katie enjoyed meeting many new friends.Despite the heat and humidity, which after the cold dry mountain climate of Cusco was quite a shock especially to Katie, we thoroughly enjoyed meeting the Pastors who had gathered for this month's teaching and to learn a little of what life is like for them. We were struck by their humility and their welcome to us and we were humbled to hear of their faithfulness and perseverance as they pastor in often very difficult circumstances.

This was the last training event of the year, so at the end of the week there was a graduation ceremony for those who had attended enough sessions. It was great to celebrate with them and to pray for God's blessing on them as they continue to serve him in ministry.

Please join us in giving thanks for the Nauta Training Centre as it continues to resource the river communities and please pray for the students as they begin to put into practice all that they learnt last week. Please pray too for our colleagues Gill and Harland and also Laura Lee Lovering as they serve with BMS in Loreto.

Home Assignment 2014

2013-11-17T13:36:00.002+00:00

Due to recent changes in the UK tax law, our plans for our next home assignment have changed, meaning that we're now going to be back in the UK in early 2014. If you would like to book us to come and visit you, please visit our page on the BMS website - http://www.bmsworldmission.org/jjhenley - and follow the links to book a speaker. Unfortunately we can't guarantee this time that we'll all be able to come to every visit, as it's a lot of travelling for Katie, but we'll do our best!

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible, but in the meantime here's a photo from last night's storm over Cusco...

October Prayer Letter

2013-10-16T02:20:00.000+01:00

Our latest BMS prayer letter can now be viewed here. As always, thank you so much for your prayers.

A Presidential Visit!

2013-09-18T00:00:00.000+01:00

This weekend we were privileged to welcome Pastor Domingo Juarez Juarez to stay with us in our home. He is the President of the Evangelical Baptist Convention (CEBP) here in Peru.

He visited our projects with us and shared a little with the folk that we met. He also did a great job playing with Katie!

It was great to get to know him better and come to understand a bit more of how our work fits into the bigger picture.

Please pray for him as he has the unenviable task of leading an organisation of over 200 churches spread over a huge and varied country, as well leading his own church in Ayacucho. He is a busy man!

Pastor Domingo with the Puma family after our Bible study in Yucay.

End of a chapter

2013-09-01T23:25:00.000+01:00

Many of you will have been following our progress with the group in Calca. We were asked to help lead the group at the end of September last year and have been working alongside Hermana (Sister) Julia since then as she faithfully evangelises and serves her community.

Over the past couple of months though, we realised that with our other work in Yucay and Huambutio, we were just too busy to do justice to any of our activities. After much prayer and reflection with trusted friends, we decided that God was calling us to leave Hermana Julia to continue the great work she has been doing in Calca and to concentrate ourselves on Yucay and Huambutio.

It wasn't an easy decision. We saw much need in Calca and had become very fond of those we were working with, but we're confident that Hermana Julia will continue to love and bless the children that she comes into contact with and be a postive witness in the town for as long as she has breath!

In many ways she was a great inspiration to us. Please pray for her and the group (some of whom are pictured below), that God would continue to minister to them and to give them all they need.

Huambutio

2013-08-21T17:03:00.004+01:00

The last few months have seen some pretty big changes for us - a new baby, a new car, moving house etc... As you can imagine, this has often been quite stressful, but it's also been a good opportunity to re-assess our work and ministry here and try and discern where we should be focusing our time and energy.

Alongside the work we're doing in Calca and Yucay, we've also decided to start working in a small town called Huambutio, which is about 30 minutes outside Cusco. Our colleagues Scott and Anjanette have been working in Huambutio for a couple of years now, and last year opened a clinic in the town, which runs one day a week. They have now seen over 200 patients and are beginning to build up good relationships in the community.

Our involvement is to try and build on those relationships and start some small groups reading the Bible together, with the hope of eventually planting a church there. We've already had the chance to read the Bible and pray with some of the patients as they come into the clinic, and there seems to be a real hunger for something more.

At the same time we're using an opportunity we've been given by the local school to go in twice a week, alongside a couple of people from the church in Cusco, to teach different classes on values. Finally, we are working with the clinic and with the Peruvian Baptist Convention to try and develop a nutrition project for the community and also a project seeking to tackle domestic violence.

On Saturday the Williamson's church in Cusco organised a community fun day at the clinic. Around 100 children and adults came for a morning of songs, games, food, activities and a short message about God's love. We had a great time and were able to chat to lots of different people and start to get to know them.

Please pray for us as we take on this exciting new work. Pray also for the team at the clinic - Carla, Carlotta, Claudia, Anjanette, Karina and Margarita - as they look after the medical needs of the community. Pray for the new projects we hope to start in the near future, and pray for the staff and students at the school as we begin working there.

Yucay Paseo

2013-08-10T17:03:00.000+01:00

Many of you will know that for the past year we've been holding weekly English classes for children in the village of Yucay. The class has been growing steadily and we now have 10-15 children who come regularly. The children are on school holidays at the moment and we wanted to do something a little bit different with them, so yesterday we took them out on a half-day 'paseo' - a walk in the countryside followed by games and food.

Twenty of us set out and walked for around 25 minutes until we arrived at 'Wachaq', a natural lake filled with reed grasses and surrounded by grazing land. As soon as we arrived the children's attention was caught by a dead calf in a ditch. We eventually managed to persuade them that playing with it wasn't the best idea, but we were able to borrow the rope that was attached to it and play an impromptu skipping game.

After some more games and a snack (most of them hadn't eaten that morning), our friends the Rogers, who are staying with us at the moment, shared the story of Zaccheus and the message that God loves us all, no matter who we are or what we've done.

On the walk back home the children were very keen to explore a stream that flowed through the field. Much to the disgust of a local lady who was trying to do her laundry in said stream, it was filled for a few joyful minutes with children trying to catch fish, splashing each other and throwing stones.

We returned home exhausted but relieved that it had gone so well. Please keep praying for these children and for us as we try and share God's love with them.

Bible Study in Yucay (at last!)

2013-08-05T23:06:00.000+01:00

Yesterday afternoon Julia led our first Bible Study in the village of Yucay in the Sacred Valley. We have been waiting, hoping and praying to start a meeting there for over a year now and so it was great to finally have a beginning.

We met with our artist friend, Javier, and his family. Originally he had said that he would invite a few of his friends to come along, but for this week it was just his family. Doris, Javier's wife, had gone to work early especially so that she could be there to take part.

Our aim was to introduce the group to Jesus via the Gospel accounts of his life in the Bible. We started yesterday with Matthew chapter 4 where Jesus commences his ministry. We talked about how Jesus was the fulfillment of Israel's hopes for a Messiah and how as he started his ministry Matthew was able to say of him: "This fulfilled what God said through the prophet Isaiah... 'the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.'"

It was great to be able to talk with them about what it means to say that, in Jesus, God's kingdom has come. What an encouragement to know that even in the darkest times, we can know God's light breaking through into our situation. Javier said at the end of the meeting: "I've learnt so much today. I'm going to invite my friends to come next week so that they can hear this good news too!"

Thank you so much for your prayers. We have been discouraged some times at the slowness of our progress here and how long it has taken to make a start. But praise God that he is working in Yucay and that his light has dawned!

July Prayer Letter

2013-07-10T16:51:00.002+01:00

Our prayer letter for July 2013 is now available on the BMS web site. You can read it by clicking here.

As always many thanks for all your prayers!

Inti Raymi

2013-06-25T04:22:00.000+01:00

Amongst the extensive pantheon of Incan deities, the sun (Inti) held a place of special significance. It was venerated for being the source of light and heat, and sacrifices were routinely offered to it to try and ensure a bountiful harvest. In addition, the Inca ruler could claim a direct genealogical to the Creator Wiraqocha through the sun, since the Creator fathered Inti who in turn sired the king.

Inti Raymi was the annual festival of the sun timed to coincide with the winter solstice and the start of the new planting season. Elaborate ceremonies and sacrifices were offered up appealing for a good harvest that year and abundant blessings across the whole empire.

For the last 70 years or so this ceremony has been re-created every June 24th in the centre of Cusco. Although now mainly a spectacle for tourists, for some at least the ceremony still carries deep significance.

Pink Paint...

2013-06-13T18:19:00.000+01:00

After far too long a time of quiet on our blog, it’s time to update you all on what’s been happening for us. Apologies for being so slow to keep in touch. Hopefully the following will explain that we’ve been rather busy!

Returning to Peru after some time away provided a good opportunity to reassess our work and life here - to think about what changes could be made to help us adjust to living with a young baby and at the same time make the most of our work. Coming back with Katie wasn’t easy as we had grown very used to the comforts of Worthing and the joy of having family and friends around us. Whilst we always knew that our house in Urubamba was going to be a challenge with a small baby, the reality of trying to live there and at the same time give Katie a good quality of life, whilst also finding time to do some work, proved a lot more difficult than we imagined. It was also becoming clear that the focus of our work wasn’t going to be in Urubamba itself, but rather in other places in the Valley.

After a planned visit from our boss, Mark, and much prayer and advice from a few close friends, we decided to continue working in the Valley, but to look for a house in the city of Cusco. Several weeks of frustrating house hunting later, here we are safe and well, just minus a few things that dropped off the back of the lorry!

One of our concerns when considering the move, was that perhaps we were ‘wimping out’ of what God had called us to. Reflecting with a good friend however, we realised that returning to Peru with the blessing of a baby, rightly means a re-ordering of priorities and a new ‘calling’. Our primary calling now is to be good parents to Katie and we pray that God will help us to do that here in Cusco.

There was a family with two small boys in the house before us with a colour scheme to match. So yesterday I (Julia) went off to buy some suitably pink paint for Katie’s bedroom. The standard paint colours were very pink indeed and we weren’t at all sure we were ready for quite so much ‘girliness’, so we had a pot mixed for us. The shop assistant took a pot of white paint and to my surprise, added just the tiniest speck of red and an even tinier speck of blue. After a few minutes in a machine to mix it all together, the result was a pot of (we hope) pleasantly pale pink paint!

Jesus had some things to say about how just a small amount of yeast will affect the whole batch of dough and how the tiniest mustard seed will grow into a mighty tree. It seems the same analogy also works for paint! Sometimes we feel too insignificant to make a difference here, but God promises us that with him all things are possible. We’re grateful for the reminder that the Kingdom of God starts small but, like a speck of red paint in a pot of white, will not leave the world unchanged.

Celebrating!

2013-05-22T15:51:00.002+01:00

Well, it doesn’t seem possible that we’ve been back in Peru for seven weeks. We’ve been so busy with sorting out the house, keeping fleas at bay and getting back into our work, as well as looking after Katie and ourselves, that the time has flown by. Thanks so much to those of you who have been praying for us. We are so grateful, even though we’ve been slow to update you with news just recently.

We’ll write more soon, but for now we wanted to share a little of what has been happening in Calca, (the group led by Hermana Julia). Since we’ve been back there haven’t been so many adults attending, but this has allowed us to focus on the children, who are as keen as ever. We’ve been teaching worship songs, Bible stories and encouraging the children to tell others at home and at school about their friend Jesus.

This week, as well as celebrating our birthdays and the 11^thbirthday of a young lad in the group, we also learnt about Pentecost and how it is really the birthday of the Church. We shared cake and fizzy drinks for the occasion and even sang a Spanish version of ‘Happy Birthday’ too. It was great to celebrate together and to help the children to do the same.

April News

2013-04-09T03:14:00.001+01:00

You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you,

but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach,

because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.

- Frederick Buechner

Well we're back! After what seemed like a mammoth journey (especially with a three month old baby) we're finally back in Urubamba and slowly settling into the house again. Many thanks to all of you who were praying for the journey and also for the smiting of the fleas which we'd been told were in the house. We're delighted to be able to announce that so far we haven't had a single bite, so we're optimistic that they're not going to be too much of a problem this year!

The slight downside to our arrival is that the roof leaked whilst we were away and so our two main bedrooms are covered in mould. It's not too much of a problem, but obviously not quite the welcome home we'd been hoping for. On the plus side, most of our neighbours seem genuinely pleased to see us and have all wanted to meet Katie, who's taken most of the fussing in her stride. Despite having quite a heavy cold and being (understandably) a bit confused about all the changes, she seems to be settling well and not too badly affected by the altitude.

Thank you also to all of you who made our time back in the UK so special. Home assignment was exhausting but also a great blessing. We drove just under 5000 miles, slept in 11 different beds and gave 18 talks. We were overwhelmed by generosity and hospitality and humbled by the gentle encouragement of people we barely know but who've absorbed our lives and story into their own. We laughed with some people and cried with others, and often wish we could be around to do more of both. We saw situations in which God is clearly at work in new and exciting ways and others where he seems painfully absent.

Perhaps most importantly we've had the chance to spend time with friends and family, and if we're honest it's been hard to drag ourselves, and Katie, away from them again. But we believe that God wants us in Peru because there are still things he wants to do in and through us (as though the two can ever really be separated). And so we invite those of you who have been holding and sustaining us in prayer so far to keep on doing that as we settle into life here once again, and as we try to discern how and where God is at work here, and how we can be a part of that.

For those of you who've said that you'd like to get more involved with supporting both us and the work of BMS World Mission, there are a couple of things you can do which we flagged up in our talks. Firstly, if you want to receive BMS' Engage Magazine on a regular basis then you can sign up for free by clicking here. The magazine includes a mixture of world mission news, interviews and articles and is well worth a read. Secondly, if you would like to help offset the cost of sending us to Peru by giving even a small amount each month, then please read more about becoming a BMS 24:7 Partner by clicking here.

Finally, after some gentle pushing from various people we've joined Twitter, where we'll be posting under the name jjhenleyperu. If you're on Twitter please follow us, and if you have idea what any of this bit means, please feel free to ignore it!

Thanks again for all your support and prayers, and as ever do keep in touch.

Pray for Peru 24th-31st March

2013-03-24T00:00:00.000+00:00

This week the BMS Prayer Guide is once again focussed on Peru. Please join us in praying!

Sunday - The CEBP and our partnership; that their directors, ministers and missionaries focus on the task of making God’s love manifest through works and word.

Monday - Margaret Swires who works nationally advising the CEBP Social Action and Family Department and locally with new church work in the capital Lima and Chincha, a coastal town.

Tuesday - Anjanette and Scott Williamson who, having established El Puente church in Cusco, are now focused on the preparation of sustainable leadership and on the medical clinic in Huambutio.

Wednesday - Gill Thurgood and Harland Rivas who, throughout Loreto region, develop church leadership training and ecological projects, focused on the Nauta Mission Centre, and are also supporting local churches.

Thursday - James and Julia Henley, at Urubamba, Cusco region, who have laid the groundwork for establishing new worshipping communities. They have been on home assignment, returning around now.

Friday - Laura-Lee Lovering, who works alongside Gill and Harland. She is particularly focused on a carbon-capture tree planting scheme, and also supports the local church ministry in La Unión, Nauta.

Saturday - Our mission personnel who assist national ministries of theological education, youth ministry and Convention administration and also receive volunteers, like robyn Sayers, recently returned from El Puente.

Peru Video

2013-03-12T10:00:00.000+00:00

Our Link visits are all finished now and, despite a lot of travelling, have been great. It's been lovely to see familiar faces again, to catch up with people, and to be able to share some of what God is doing in Peru.

One part of our presentation has been a short video highlighting some of the things we get up to and showing a bit of daily life in Peru. Now that we've finished we thought we'd make it available for everyone to...erm...enjoy. Please also feel free to use it in your churches if you want!

In For The Long Run

2013-03-10T10:00:00.000+00:00

The BMS Disaster Recovery Fund is aimed specifically at helping communities in the wake of disasters, but with a focus on long term recovery rather than immediate relief. This might mean paying for trauma counselling, rebuilding businesses or replanting crops. BMS works with local partners, directly supporting people who are on-the-ground and understand the situation. For more information or to order resources focussed on the Disaster Recovery Fund to use in your church, please click here.

Baptist Minister and friend of ours Paul Smethurst is raising money for the BMS Disaster Recovery Fund by running the Milton Keynes marathon in May this year. As he trains, he is recording short video journals of his progress and some of his thoughts along the way. You can see the first of those videos below.

Please do consider sponsoring Paul as he takes on this challenge. For more information and to donate online visit his page at Virgin Money Giving.