Serving God in Peru - LCMS International

The DiLibertos

December 2012 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We pray that the holidays were filled with God’s

joy, peace, and hope as you celebrated the birth of

our Savior!

As always, the month of December was full

of activities, Christmas parties, and many

opportunities to share the Gospel. Our first big

event was the Church Christmas party on

December 8. Just like last year, we showed VINO,

a short-film made by missionary James Neuendorf

while he lived in Panama. It tells the story of

Jesus’ birth in a modern context and clearly

proclaims the Gospel message. Our Seminarian,

Elvis Carrera, did a great job leading the

discussion following the movie. We had several

new people come, and we praise

God for a great turnout!

On December 13, I had the

opportunity to return to Lunahuana

with Bruce Wall to visit our friends

and church members there so that

Edition 6

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah 9:6

December 2013

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Confirmation Class Above is a picture of Anthony with

his three most regular Catechism students. From left to right they are

Cesar, Anthony, Angel, and Lidiana. Please continue to pray for

each of them as they learn more about God’s grace and prepare to

confess their faith.

Family Visit We were blessed to have my parents, brother, and sister-in-law visit us for Christmas. They arrived on December 22 and left on December 31. We had a great time together worshiping

in San Borja, showing them around Lima, and just enjoying each other’s company at our apartment. We loved the fireworks show on Christmas Eve throughout the city. We were

also blessed to travel together to Cuzco to see Machu Picchu and Puno to see Lake Titicaca and the Floating Islands of the Uros.

Bruce could say goodbye to them. He and his family

moved back to the U.S. on December 31. We thank

God for their service with us in Peru and pray for

them as they continue to serve God in a new stage of

life. Bruce and I had some wonderful visits with the

people of Lunahuana, and I praise God for our time

there.

On December 14 and 15 we had a couple of

celebrations. First we had our team Christmas party

with a gift exchange and a trip to the restaurant

Chili’s. We love to treat ourselves to American food

on special occasions. The next day we had a going

away party for the Wall Family.

During December, we met for Coffee &

Conversation 4 times, including one fun night when

we watched Home Alone and sang Christmas carols.

Please pray for our friends who attend Coffee &

Conversation, as many of them express interest in the

church, but are not quite ready to come to a church

service yet. Please pray for Juan, Diana, Julio, Jose,

Katy, Victor, and Ricardo specifically. We thank God

for our relationship with them and pray that the Holy

Spirit would work mightily in them.

Special Services

During December we held Wednesday Advent services each week. We discovered that most churches do not do that here in

Peru. It was a great time for fellowship and reflection on the gift that Jesus was and is to us. We also had a special service on Christmas

Eve. This service was very well attended, and we even had some

first-time guests!

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Chocolatada – Mercy Ministry

December 22 was by far the biggest mission

event we had all month. It was the inauguration of

the Mercy Center, Castillo Fuerte, in La Victoria.

Anthony spent much of his time with missionary

Rachel Powell preparing for this big event, which

was a traditional Peruvian Christmas party called a

Chocolatada. We had face painting, played games,

and made balloon animals to start the party. Then,

once everyone had arrived (around 100 kids), we

went upstairs for a puppet show that told the

Christmas story and taught the children that Jesus is

the best gift ever. Right after the puppet show, a very

jovial Santa showed up (Anthony) dancing to Feliz

Navidad (with lots of stuffing inside his Santa suit).

The kids loved it! Finally, we served them panetón

(Italian sweet bread – a Peruvian tradition) and hot

chocolate and gave them a small gift bag. We also

invited them to come to a summer English class in

January.

Another big blessing from the chocolatada in

La Victoria was that we had about 15 Peruvian

volunteers helping us with everything from face

painting to decorations to the puppet show and

proclaiming the Gospel. We pray that the message

was heard not only by the kids, but by our adult

helpers as well.

To support our work financially, you may send a tax-deductible gift to:

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod P.O. Box 790089

St. Louis, MO 63179-0089.

Make checks payable to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Mark checks “DiLiberto Support.” Gifts can also be given through the LCMS website on our online giving page at www.lcms.org/diliberto.

Prayer Requests Thank God for the people he has placed

in our lives. Pray that we would be bold

to share His Gospel message.

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2.

3.

Pray for our whole team as we prepare to

have several short-term mission teams

and other groups visiting during January.

Thank God for the awesome Mercy

Center Grand Opening! Continue to

pray that we find a permanent location

for the Center, and pray for the English

classes we will start there next week.

4.

Pray that God would continue to

connect us to the lost and broken people

of Lima that we might share His

message of life & salvation with them.

6.

Pray for all the ministries – worship, the

blog, catechism classes, English nights,

Chitachay, and more. Pray that God

would show us how to reach the people

with His message of salvation.

5. Thank God for my family’s visit and

our time together. Thank God saving

us and giving us His message to

proclaim!