Samuel has been a pastor for twenty-five years. He serves the Baptist church in Lince, a district in Lima we might refer to as a “middle class” neighborhood, but please put that in a Lima context. Lince is an area between the very rich, and the very poor. It is a community wrought with violence, and robberies. There are many street youth and a culture of begging.

My new friend is a ball of energy and very inspiring to be with. Impressive in that this is not an easy ministry setting. The church is in a walled compound that deters robbery and also offers protection for children and families when they attend community programs.

After hearing Jim Cymbala speak, Samuel told me that he came to the place where he said, “Lord, do your work.”

“A turning point in my life was prayer. I was a preacher, teacher – but I didn’t believe in prayer.”

Since then his ministry has been renewed and the church has tripled in size. His counsel to those of us in ministry, “The first thing you must learn to do is pray.”

Realizing that Samuel cannot ‘do it all’ for his church or his community, he decided to start an independent seminary at his church. He is building into twenty-five future pastors who are attending two-hour classes every day.

The premise of the strategy is captured in the word ABLE. It stands for Administration, Bible and Theology, Leadership and Evangelism and mission today. Samuel wants workers and has a vision for planting churches in the poorer barrios.

“My mind is filled with evangelism and mission,” he said. “In the north pastors are mostly scholars. The Kingdom does not need more scholars – we need workers.”

Samuel invites in the form of a challenge to leaders in the north, “The fishing is very good in South America. You need to experience it.”

Samuel has an infectious presence, and I look forward to staying in touch with this local hero and his family.

What I take away from my time with Samuel is the supernatural way that two people can meet for the first time and yet be brothers for life. His focus on prayer is convicting. I want to introduce him to others and would love to see some teacher friends offer to come teach at this seminary for a week. Hmmmm.

Alfred Cooper, Capellán Evangélico en La Moneda speaks with a very pleasant British accent, reflective of his schooling in England. He is an Anglican priest and serves as the evangelical chaplain for President of the Republic of Chile, Sebastian Pinera.

Pinera took over the presidency in March 2010. If you remember, this was when Chile was reeling from a major earthquake. He could be described as conservative politically from a North American perspective. Pinera is an economist, investor, businessman and former senator. Oh and did I mention he is also a billionaire, and is not in this position for the money.

An early decision he made was the appointment of Alfred as his evangelical chaplain and spiritual advisor.

As James, Justine and I approached the main gate into the palace we were told to wait outside. Within a significant presence of guards and security, as one might expect, suddenly a smiling cheerful man brushed his way through them without raising an eye – greeting the guards on his way through to us. It was Reverend Cooper.

With smiling eyes and gracious spirit he welcomed us and instructed us to follow him into the security office where our passports were checked, and kept, and where we passed through scanners as you experience at an airport screening.

Now we are inside the palace.

The palace consists of an outer frame of rooms and offices surrounding four inner courtyards.

Locals refer to the building as simply “La Moneda” which I think translates ‘money.’ That is because it used to be the mint. La Moneda is only open to the public once or twice a year, and even at that, the public is only allowed to walk through the inner courtyards so I felt privileged to enter into the building itself. It is the equivalent to visiting the White House, and speaking of that President Obama and our own Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, have made visits here recently – Harper just a week or so ago.

I felt constrained taking pictures inside. Guards stood at every corner visible and it just didn’t seem right to stop and be touristy when there was a chance to visit with Alfred about his role.

Passing by the final guard in the hallway to Alfred’s office we were welcomed in and offered tea which he made himself from a personal stash in his cabinet. Everything about this man exudes authenticity. He is loyal to the president, and as a loyal friend and Christian has opportunities to speak into his life and leadership.

Alfred is perhaps best known for mobilizing the nation wide prayer movement for the Chilean miners trapped for sixty-nine days underground. It was one of the most watched television events in history and created what Alfred called “a spiritual fervor” in Chile.

Alfred was with the president at another event when the mine collapsed. Faith and prayer were central to how President Pinera handled the crisis he told me: “When they first vanished, we didn’t know whether they were alive or dead. The President called for an emergency prayer meeting. We prayed here in the presidential palace. That prayer meeting was attended by all the ministers.”

While miners were certainly praying underground, Alfred said that the nation of Chile was praying. “Up on the surface, we were called to pray,” he said. “We had a massive prayer meeting that spread to the whole nation.”

The thirty-three miners all gave testimony to their being a 34^th person down there with them – Jesus. Alfred also noted they were a highly organized democracy underground– but it was a spiritual democracy, something he has had the opportunity to pass along to other heads of state.

We shared about other things that day concerning leadership, faith, mentoring however these are not to be written about, rather treasured within. I asked if I might pray for him as we departed and it turned into a very precious time of Christian brothers supporting one another in our roles for the sake of the Kingdom.

This experience left me thinking about how important it is for all of us to have spiritual advisors in our lives. Friends, who are loyal and willing to speak truth into our lives. It makes me grateful for my friends like Bob and the adventure of this trip and the amount of time we get to spend together.

I think the greatest challenge is making time for friendships when we are back in the throes of life back home.

This experience in the palace also made me wonder about how much we really believe in prayer – and the power and influence of prayer. If we really believed, would we not pray more?

In the palace I was also reminded of how Christians are to pray for those in positions of power like my friend Mayor Peter Fassbender, my MP Mark Warawa, and our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. It is not as though they are above other people and our prayers for their well-being. The Scriptures encourage prayer for those in authority over us because so much depends on their character and plans. The security of life and freedom depends so much on them and God has power to influence their hearts and to incline them towards what is just and equal. That is why we should pray for them.

Peter, Mark and Stephen; consider yourself prayed for this day.

Day 8 was a long travel day first with a flight from Cusco to Lima then on to Santiago, so a rather boring blog day. We did think it was exciting that we knew where to go at the Lima airport to get free wi-fi from our previous flight through Lima, so there was time for a quick call to our wives en route.

Enough of this,  let’s go back to yesterday.

Watch Your Pockets

Two teenagers at Machu Picchu approached me when I had my iPhone out taking pictures. They asked politely if I would take a picture of the two of them with their camera. Being the kind Canadian I am I said of course, and took a great photo of them. The guys then came on each side of me to look at the photo, commented on how good it looked and asked if I would take another which I did. They thanked me and walked off.

Well twenty minutes later I reached for my iPhone and it was gone.

Bob and I were separated at this time for he was attempting to climb Machu Picchu mountain. I was without my wingman.

I hadn’t moved from where we separated and I quickly put together what had happened. I sought out a park officer and told him my story. His English was better than my Spanish but he did understand “iPhone” and “pick pocket.” He quickly radioed all the officers to be on the lookout.

There is only one exit out of the park so he sent me to the administration office at the park gate and to fill out a form there and then stay by the gate to see if the two young guys appeared.

The women at the administration office felt badly but did not offer me much hope. They gave me a book that I was to write the loss in – I didn’t like how thick the book was. As I am writing out all my information I was praying asking the Lord to resolve this as I knew we could not possibly afford this right now and it would hinder our communication ability. I was also pre-grieving the loss of some recorded interviews I had not backed up.

As I am halfway through the form one of the administrators called to me, “Are you Dr. Pue?”

“Yes,” I said with some surprise because I had not given her my name yet.

“Congratulations, your phone has been found. Cecelia, one of the tour guides has it and will bring it here for you but she is about an hour away.” (My new business card from the church was in the phone cover.)

“Praise God,” I said as we all celebrated together.

I asked her to show me where it was found and she pointed out on a map that it was in the grass about 1000 meters from where I was.

Why would they discard it?

Just two days before this incident I had figured out how to put a coded lock on my phone. I had noticed all my sons had this and I originally thought it awkward that they had to type in this code before doing anything on the phone. However without the code the holders of my phone were hooped so probably discarded it after trying several times to guess the code.

More importantly, I have a dear group of people praying for me at First every Wednesday evening along with many others that I know of.

Inca Golden Rulers

You cannot think about the Incan’s without thinking of gold – they were golden rulers with the precious metal.

The last sermon I heard Darrell Johnson preach at First Baptist Vancouver was on “Golden Rulers” and it was a great exposition on how Jesus taught very differently from other religious expressions of reciprocity.

Well  I was thinking of this when Cecelia came into the office. She spoke no English but in translation through the administrator I thanked her.

She then replied with a big smile, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

We hugged and I went off to try to find Bob – his story is amazing but that is his to tell and you can read about here on Positively Parkinson’s.

The alarm went off at 4am and it was pitch black with a full moon illuminating the town of Aquas Caliente. We packed, showered and surprised the hotel staff by coming downstairs before five.

Why? Well Bob thought it would be fantastic for us to be at the top of the mountain at the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu to see the sunrise. I was all in for that. The photos we took will allow us to remember this day forever.

The bus ride up in the dark over the switchbacks was probably terrifying at points but we used the 30 minutes to nap. By the time we arrived at the entrance it was beginning to lighten up allowing us to get in position and watch the sunrise and particularly on the Temple Del Sol. As I looked over this ancient city located on a mountaintop in the midst of a tropical jungle I was filled with thoughts about the intricate construction how they did this and why?

History

The facts behind Machu Picchu are not forthcoming because of the lack of any written language records. We do know this…

When the Spanish came to the shores of Peru in the fifteenth century, the Incans welcomed them openly and thought they were fair-skinned Gods. They gave the Spaniards gold of which they had plenty and were excellent craftsmen with. The Spanish explores took their treasure back to Europe and then returned for more, this time with an army. The kidnapped the Incan King and held him for ransom. The tribe brought them more and more gold and even when their boats were filled, they Spaniards killed the Incan king anyway and left behind their diseases and the start of years of occupation that led to the end of an empire.

Cities Old and New

I love cities and I was quite caught up by this ancient urban marvel. Covering 32,500 ha. It was the last stand for the Inca Empire and as such is recognized as a World Heritage Site. You can see four distinct parts of the city: agriculture, religious, royal and the work section of this ancient planned city. I noticed that there was no entertainment section, something my city has plenty of – perhaps that replaces the religious sector.

This made me think of the ‘parish’ around our church and the various sections of the downtown. I am so pleased that we are a church located right in the heart of downtown.

Grocery stores, community gardens and rooftop terraces replace agriculture in our downtown. Religious expressions are not readily visible although there are many new church plants happening in the downtown core of Vancouver it would not approach a quarter of our cities design.  The Royal part of downtown is perhaps our courthouse and city hall. The industry section is just down the street from us where men and women labor to earn enough to live in our beautiful city.

Insight: Machu Picchu was designed to encourage community while there are few places in our downtown that foster communities.  I am so encouraged by our emphasis on building community but this must extend beyond our walls and into the lives of those in our city. I also envision designing more community spaces in our new development in the future.

Our hotel arranged for a cab to drive us the thirty minutes to the train station up the mountain from Cuzco. Yes that is right. We drove uphill from the hotel until I thought my ears were going to pop. It reminded me of being in Bolivia with Brenda last summer and leaving in the morning from Cochabamba to visit villages in the mountains where World Vision is working. Bolivia is very close to where we are today, sharing the mountain range with Peru. It is amazing to see how people have adjusted to living at these kinds of altitudes.

The Andean countryside is perhaps best be viewed by rail – seems true of most countries where this is an option. Our journey on Perurail was only 56 km however it would take us more than four hours.

Arriving at our destination of Aquas Caliente it would become our base camp for the visit to MachuPicchu tomorrow. When you get off the train you are guided through dozens of tourist stalls selling mostly all he same things. They have certainly caught on to the dollars that can be made in tourism. We were met by an escort assigned by the hotel to walk us there through the gauntlet of restaurant owners trying to convince the two new gringos in town to eat at their place.

With the population swelled by backpackers and people from every nation, Aquas Caliente began to remind us of familiar mountain towns like Whistler or Banff in an Andean kind of way.

We had time in the afternoon for a nap and then to scout where we might go for supper that night. We found a funky fusion foodie place that even provided wifi although our attempts to connect with wives fell flat. It had nautical decor, more of a pirate kind than a yacht club – still funny to find in the mountains.

Over supper we discussed just how blessed we have already been this week. The people we have met and the sights we are seeing. I have also been blessed by emails from my family (both natural and church) telling me of their prayers and how I’m missed. They are enjoying following the trip virtually.

An insight from today, life friends are the best. 

Not for Traveling Amateurs

Today was a travel day for us flying from Lima to the mountainous city of Cuzco. I’m not a traveling amateur and have travelled a great deal but i must say the approach into the airport here was something else. Weaving between mountain tops in the clouds, our Airbus 320 then made a dramatic turn placing the aircraft on its side to make the final approach with the runway.

Bob and I looked at each other with a nervous smile that said lots. We were both relieved when the wheels touched down and our plane taxied the very long runway to the terminal.

Cuzco’s elevation is 11,300 feet. Imagine six of Toronto’s CN Tower stacked on each other reaching over two miles into the sky with me sitting on the top. That is equivalent to where we are. When you walk from the plane to the terminal you immediately notice the altitude’s effect on you. It starts with a shortness of breath, a headache and a pressure in your chest like someone stuck a brick in behind your diaphragm. I was half expecting oxygen masks to drop when they opened the airplane doors.

We walked about six blocks from our hotel to get some supper and on our return we felt like we had run a marathon. At night I experienced a hard time breathing even when lying in bed. It is hard to sleep when your pulse is racing like you are at the gym. It will make for a pretty sleepless night, and we have an early morning to board a train to Machupicchu.

Athletes and Altitude

They say that it is good for athletes to train at these altitudes. We talked about how our friend David should be with us practicing his waterskiing on Lake Titicaca nearby.

What is interesting is that this altitude affects everyone. Whether you are a marathon runner or an out of shape 56-year-old, if you climb too high too fast you will experience symptoms.

This made me think of same principle in leadership. If a leader climbs the career ladder too quickly the symptoms will show. Do you know of a leader who got promoted too quickly? I’ve seen it happen to three different types of leaders.

1. A leader who is very gifted but lacks the experience for the new position and whose ego needs do not allow them to ask for help.
2. A poser, a leader who actually does not have the goods for a high altitude position but has bluffed their way through life so far.
3. A good leader who gets promoted because they are so loyal. No one stops to ask if they really have the skill set and gifts necessary to handle the new promotion.

Of course there can be other types of leaders who find themselves at high altitude leadership too quickly but no matter how one gets there the symptoms begin to emerge and if the leader is self-aware they too will feel that brick behind the diaphragm.

How to Overcome Altitude Sickness

So how does one overcome this?

Well, for the leader who deep inside senses they have climbed too high too fast, find a mentor who can help you develop quickly – or better still, try to get into an Arrow Leadership class STAT.

If you find yourself two miles high on top a mountain, the local favorite treatment for actual altitude sickness is cocoa tea. It tastes like green tea, just don’t try bringing any back to North America.