Brazos Abiertos

I am Emmanuel, a Physical Education teacher serving as a missionary in the ministry of YWAM Lima Open Arms in Peru. I want to tell you that the grace and love of God is reflected in the lives of all the children with whom we have the opportunity to serve. Our responsibility as Christians is to form children for life, prepared for every good work, intellectually, in sports practice and values. But above all, to guide them in faith so that they know the love of Jesus at an early age, so we invite you to join the mission of Matthew 28:19. God bless you.

This week in art class we talked about Jonah and the consequences of disobedience. The students made a fish with CDs and colored leaves, beautiful works. Nature is the greatest work of art created by God, the students stamped tree leaves on a cardboard painted black with colored tempera. With the help of God we continue to promote intelligent creative recycling. Through the creation of mobiles with plastic bottles, more than 100 bottles were reused in these creations.

We started a month dedicated to learning about the work that YWAM missionaries do around the world. Third grade children, between 8 and 9 years old, researched with their teacher about the reality of the countries in the 10-40 Window, and asked missionaries Willem and Oscar to explain about islam and buddhism, which is practiced in most of these countries. Finally, all the children in the school prayed for these nations that God would send workers to their harvest, and they opened their hearts to be sent in the will of God.

On Thursday we had a school for parents, the topic was “The Responsibility of Healthy Eating.” The speaker was Lic. Zulema Gallardo, from the Children’s Hospital of San Borja. Her talk was complemented with food tastings prepared by the teachers in charge of the event, achieving a beneficial impact among the parents in attendance.

We celebrated Children’s Day at our school. The different classrooms celebrated this day with various activities such as: mini-chef, dances and surprises in the classroom. It was very nice to have the active participation of all the parents who sent beautiful messages full of love to each of their children!

In 2011-2012 I did a DTS with YWAM and came to Peru for my outreach and was able to be a part of the Brazos Abiertos ministry. My team had helped build a bathroom for their preschool at that time. After 10 years, in September 2022, God called me back to Brazos Abiertos until August 2023 where I was able to witness God’s work since I first came. During this time I was able to assist several teachers in their classrooms and teach English to the children. At church I helped with the children’s adventurers program. I also had the privilege of working with Yeissy, the leader of the teen ministry, assisting her with the teen programs and being on the same praise team on sunday. During my time at Open Arms God has revealed many things to me and blessed me with those who have become family.

Our teacher Helen is married to Jose Luis. It is beautiful to see them together and thankful that they want to follow Jesus together. We bless their marriage and pray for a wonderful time together.