2 Earthquakes Rock Lima!

Two earthquakes rocked Lima today!

At 1:40 AM this morning there was a short quake, probably 5-10 seconds long, which registered 4.3 on the Richter Scale. Then, at 7:51 AM this morning, there was a longer, much more intense earthquake, probably close to 30 seconds long, and which registered 5.3 on the Richter scale.

There are reports of injuries and collapsed homes and buildings in Lima. The earthquakes also caused a rockslide along the Costa Verde, near Larcomar and La Rosa Nautica, which closed roads along the ocean. In our home, books fell off of the shelves and pictures fell off of the walls, but there was no major damage.

Living in Lima is a little bit like living in California, and every time there is a tremor or an earthquake here, I am always reminded of the words of Jesus which are found in Matthew 24:7-8 (TNIV), "There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains (i.e., signs of the end times)."

Favoritism & Discrimination

Join us this Sunday at FRC-Lima for a very special live teaching about favoritism and discrimination. This week will mark the 40th anniversary of the death of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and we will learn what the Bible has to say about favoritism and discrimination. We will also look at the various types of discrimination that exist in this world. We also will focus on the part of the FRC Ethos that deals with diversity, and how we need to be ready to do life with those not like us. It is a very important teaching, so be sure to come, and invite your family and friends!

Easter @ FRC-Lima!

We are so excited by what God has done here in Lima over Easter weekend! Between Saturday and Sunday at the cinema, more than 400 people were a part of FRC-Lima. It's awesome to be a part of what God is doing in Lima and throughout Peru, using FRC-Lima!

We also know that none of this would be possible without the fantastic work by our leaders and key volunteers here in Lima. We are so proud of our leaders and key volunteers, and the great work that they do every week. We are truly blessed to have such committed leaders and key volunteers here at FRC-Lima!

Easter Weekend @ FRC-Lima!

We're really excited about Easter weekend here @ FRC-Lima!

Easter weekend is always a fantastic oportunity to invite your friends, family, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, and other people with whom you do life, to come and check out FRC-Lima, particularly if it's for the first time. This weekend we will be celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, with very special Easter services and worship, and we also will be serving Communion as part of the celebration.

Join us at the cinema on Saturday at 10:30 AM, or on Sunday at 9:00 AM and 10:30 AM, and remember: invite, invite, invite!

Beach Baptism III Now On YouTube!

Our beach baptism from last Saturday at Playa Santa Maria is now on YouTube!

You can find Beach Baptism III (we need to use Roman numerals now, just like the Super Bowl!) by going to www.youtube.com, searching for "Flamingo Road Church", and then going to page 6 of the FRC listings.

Be sure to check out BBIII, and show it to all of your family and friends!

43 Baptisms at FRC-Lima!

We have had two baptisms here in Peru over the past two weeks, one in the Amazon River and another in the Pacific Ocean, and over the course of the past year we now have baptized a total of 43 people here at FRC-Lima!

We are so excited for every single person who we have baptized. On Saturday we had our latest baptism in the Pacific Ocean, and an 8-month pregnant woman was among those being baptized!

(Note: That leads me to ask this question - does her baptism count as one or two? Just kidding!)

Baptism is a public display of a private choice that one has made to follow Christ. We want to congratulate all 43 of the people who have been baptized at FRC-Lima over the course of the past year, and we can't wait to baptize many, many more!

Amazon River Baptism Video Now On YouTube!

The video of our awesome Amazon River baptism is now on YouTube!

Just go to www.youtube.com, search for "Flamingo Road Church", and then go to page 4 of the FRC listings, and you'll find our Amazon River baptism video right there!

It's amazing to watch this video, and to re-live that God-blessed and God-filled day, and to be a part of what God is doing, using Flamingo Road Church in Lima, in Iquitos, in the city, in the jungle, and all throughout Peru!

10,472 Views On YouTube!

As of yesterday, 10,472 people had viewed our FRC-Lima videos on YouTube!

That is nothing short of awesome!

It is amazing to think that, over the course of the past year since we first started posting videos on YouTube, more than 10,000 people - all around the world - have viewed the videos of the various ministries of FRC-Lima, including our beach baptisms, our daughter church with the tribes in Iquitos, our projects in Pachacutec and La Victoria, our earthquake relief effort in Chincha, ourVBS@KFC, and our great band in action. I know that God has used our FRC-Lima videos to impact people around the globe.

If you still haven't viewed any of our FRC-Lima videos, then simply go to www.youtube.com, search for "Flamingo Road Church", and there you'll find them all. Join the 10,472 folks around the world who've viewed them!

Beach Baptism This Saturday!

We just baptized 13 people in the Amazon River, and this Saturday we're going to baptize more people at Playa Santa Maria!

We will leave the cinema at 11:00 AM sharp to travel to Playa Santa Maria, and we will return to the cinema around 4:00 PM.

If you would like to be baptized this Saturday at Playa Santa Maria, and you have not signed up yet, then please call me at 441-1837 or e-mail me at steve.guschov@flamingoroad.org for more information.

We'll see you on Saturday at the beach for the baptism!

VBS@KFC On YouTube!

We have posted the video of our VBS@KFC on YouTube.

Go to www.youtube.com, search for "Flamingo Road Church", and you'll find the video on page 5 of the FRC listings.

Close to 100 kids attended our VBS@KFC over 3 days, and 28 kids became Christ followers. This video shows some of the highlights from the 3 days, so be sure to check it out!

How God Saved Us On The Amazon River

On Thursday a boat on the Amazon River, carrying 37 American tourists, crashed into a large tree trunk which was floating under water, down the river, as is common during the rainy season. The large tree trunk ripped a huge gash along the bottom of the boat, and the 37 tourists had to flee to the life boats in the minutes before the boat sank. Thankfully, everyone made it out alive, albeit somewhat shaken up.

That is exactly what happened to us on Tuesday!

If you go back and read my blog from Tuesday, March 4, the day of our Amazon River baptism, you will read a little bit about our adventures returning to the port of Iquitos after the river baptism. The Amazon was chock-full of large tree trunks, long tree limbs, and huge, car-size knots of weeds and long grass, all of which go sailing down the river during the rainy season as the water level rises approximately 50 feet.

The motor to our boat conked out when it slammed into the tree trunk floating underwater. In the muddy Amazon, you can't see a thing under the water. It's like looking into a glass of chocolate milk! But as we read about how Thursday's boat sank, we see the mighty hand of God and how He protected us from a similar fate on Tuesday afternoon. We, too, had more than 30 people on board our boat, between FRC-Lima people and the members of the Yagua tribe, and we, too, crashed into a tree trunk floating underwater.

Didn't Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet go through something like this?

In all seriousness, I believe that the enemy was trying to knock us out after our glorious and victorious Amazon River baptism, but God stepped in, got us safely to the side of the river, and kept our boat afloat until a new motor arrived. That is the power of God, and that is how He saved us on the Amazon River!

More About The Amazon River Baptism

We are still in awe at what God accomplished on Tuesday in the Amazon River as we baptized 13 people.

Please continue to pray for the 13 people who were baptized, and also please pray for the entire Yagua tribe. Through the church we started in the jungle for them, and through our literacy campaign with them, plus with this baptism, we have been able to show the love of Jesus Christ to them in some very tangible ways, and it has given us a huge open door with them, and hopefully as well with other tribes in the future. Unreached people are unreached people, whether they live in South Florida, Lima, or the Amazon jungle.

The team that we brought to the jungle from FRC-Lima, 8 people in all, did a fantastic job. They really caught the fever about service and reaching the unreached. We're already planning additional mission trips back to Iquitos, with the idea of growing our partnership with the tribes there, and also with the vision for planting an FRC campus on the Plaza de Armas in the city center in Iquitos. They have a 4-cinema movie theater one block from the city center, and one day it may become another FRC campus in Peru!

Thanks again to everyone who was praying for us in the jungle. God heard and answered your prayers, and He covered us with His mighty hand of blessing, favor, and protection, and the Yaguas and all of us at FRC-Lima will never forget how God's presence completely and utterly surrounded us and filled us as we baptized 13 people in the deep, muddy waters of the Amazon River.

An Amazing Amazon River Baptism!

Today we had our Amazon River baptism, and it was one of the most amazing and unforgettable days of my life!

We baptized 13 people today in the Amazon River. 11 were men and women from the Yagua tribe, and 2 were members of FRC-Lima.

We started out this morning by meeting the Yagua tribe at the Port of Iquitos. As mentioned, 11 of them were going to be baptized, and another dozen or so of the Yaguas also came along to be part of the historic occasion. We all got in a large dugout canoe, with a roof made of palm leaves, and we took a 30-minute ride down the Amazon River together to the site of the baptism, in the port of a small pueblo called Barrio Florida.

Once we arrived in Barrio Florida, we all got off the boat and were met by a couple of local ladies selling coconuts, which they promptly whacked open for us with the sharp machetes they were carrying. We drank a toast of coconut water to the baptism candidates, then I led in a time of prayer, then the Yagua women led us in a glorious time of worship, then I gave the baptism candidates some instructions on what to do when I dunked them, and then we headed back down to the river.

The Amazon River is big, brown, and very muddy. It is like walking into chocolate milk. As soon as I stepped into the river, I sank in mud up to my ankles, even though I was wearing sneakers for better traction in the river. During the entire time of the baptism, I had to keep moving my feet around, so that I wouldn't get stuck in the mud. Pastor Samuel helped me baptize each of the 13 people. He is the pastor of our daughter church in Iquitos which we started for the Yaguas and the Boras. He and I had to hold on tight to each person as they waded into the muddy Amazon waters. We were waist-deep in the big Amazon muddy.

As we began the baptism, a crowd of about 100 people from Barrio Florida came over to watch what we were doing. They were absolutely fascinated by the baptism. As each person entered the water, our group of FRC-Lima folks and Yaguas broke out into worship, then we baptized each person, and then they were serenaded with more worship when they left the water.

The presence of God was so strong around us during every single minute of the baptism. We could practically hear the saints and angels looking down at us and cheering from heaven.

God also protected us from any nearby anacondas, crocodiles, or piranhas. I did feel a few nips around my lower legs at different moments during the baptism, but thankfully I'm still all in one piece!

The boat ride back to the Port of Iquitos was quite a trip! The motor broke on our boat, and so we had to sit and wait for 3 hours on the banks of the Amazon until another boat came along with a replacement motor for us. Then we had to proceed at a snail-like speed back to the port, due to all of the logs, weeds, and other assorted flotsam and jetsam which clogged the river as we putt-putted back to the port, going against the ultra-strong Amazon current.

Today also was the 35th birthday of our friend, Ricardo, who is one of the spiritual leaders of the Yaguas, so tonight we invited Ricardo, his wife, Keli, and his little son, Alex, to dine with us in Iquitos, in celebration of his birthday and the awesome Amazon River baptism today. We're going to be posting a video of the baptism on YouTube within the next few days, so be on the lookout for it.

Revelation 7:9 tells us that there will be people from every nation, tribe, people, and language in heaven. Today we saw a little bit of that as all of us, from FRC-Lima and from the Yagua tribe, stood shoulder-to-shoulder and arm-in-arm and praised our God together, worshipped our God together, and participated together as brothers and sisters in Christ in the most amazing baptism that I've ever been a part of.

Off To Iquitos!

Sunday afternoon, right after the services at FRC-Lima, we're off to the airport to go to Iquitos for our Amazon River baptism!

There's a group of 8 of us from FRC-Lima going on the trip. We'll arrive in Iquitos late Sunday afternoon, and probably attend a CMA church service in Iquitos on Sunday night. On Monday we're going to have a time of visitation and ministry with both the Yagua and Bora tribes, and get them ready for the baptism. On Tuesday we'll have the baptism! We return to Lima on Wednesday night, and then we'll put together a YouTube video of the baptism so that all of you can see it! Please pray for us as we go to Iquitos for the Amazon River baptism, that God covers us with His mighty hand of blessing, favor, and protection!