'The Mountain'

In addition to the micro-enterprise project linked to the church, there is also a project (or rather a project in development) based at ‘The Mountain’. Americo, our pastor, had a vision before he came to Cusco 12 years ago, of having a ‘prayer mountain’ where people could go for retreats and prayer and where they could also do social action projects. About 6 years ago, after much prayer and searching, the church was able to purchase literally ‘a mountain’ – this is a large area of mountainside (50 hectares) just outside Cusco.

On Saturday, Pastor Americo and Mary took us up to the mountain where they have now built a large, adobe-brick house. They lived in this house for a while as a family (they have three sons – 13, 10 and 7) but have recently moved out so that the house can become what it is designed for. The house is comprised of a large, long room which could function as a dining room and lounge, two large dormitories, an office, a kitchen and bathroom. Here the plan is for churches in Cusco to use it as a retreat, conference and youth centre and also to attract tourists to use it. At the front of the house is a large covered patio area which is to be developed into a kitchen and dining room area for a children’s feeding programme and Bible club, reaching out to poor families in the area.

Pastor America and Mary have ideas to raise guinea pigs (not for pets!!) and other animals on the land above to help to sustain the project and, at some point in the future, to build a children’s home on land further along where there are some flatter areas for games and sport.

The purchasing of the land and the building of the house seem quite miraculous. Another amazing thing that has happened is that the house has a water supply. There is no mains supply in this area and this caused quite a problem at first. Water for everything had to be bought and carried up the long, rough track to the house – expensive and time-consuming. The Pastor prayed for a resolution to the problem and amazingly he found water springing up through the ground a little way above the house. He had built the house just below a fresh water spring and this now provides a constant, clean water supply!

We think it is amazing how the micro-enterprise project led us to the church and that the church also has this project which is so much in line with our ideas before we came out here. Having now seen the mountain we have all sorts of ideas that at some point we hope we can discuss with Americo and Mary and see how we can be involved.

In addition to the picture God gave us years ago about working alongside people in a place associated with birds of prey, more recently in my Bible readings he has seemed to highlight ‘mountains’. This fits in well with our desire to help the poor as here the poorer people live in the mountains. It seems an amazing ‘coincidence’ that this project is situated in a place known as ‘The Mountain’!

One thing that has been challenging us is how tourists might see real Christianity in Cusco amidst all the incredibly interesting and stunning historical Catholic and Inca sights and sites. Many visitors to Cusco are interested in the spiritual aspects of the place, but they only really get to hear about ancient Inca beliefs and the mixed Catholic-indigenous practices. It is interesting that our Pastor is asking the same question and seeking to use the mountain as part of the answer - a place where they can learn about biblical Christianity and see service to the poor in action. Our vision is that people return home transformed in their own lives and with the desire to make a difference to those less fortunate.