Peruvian Missions
Many of you are familiar with our mission trips to Peru and the street boys that our youth and adult have come to love. You also may associate Peru with the tables set up in the hallway each November where crafts and goods made in Peru are sold to help Scripture Union. The faces behind Scripture Union are Southwood supported missionaries, Paul and Marty Clark. They have been with Scripture Union since 1969. Paul, a sixth generation missionary, received his B.A. from Wheaton College and his M.S. from Azusa Pacific University. Marty received a B.S. from Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia and is an accomplished musician. Marty came to Peru as a short term missionary in 1960. After her marriage to Paul, she taught in various schools in Lima. Currently, she is assisting Paul in Scripture Union ministries. The Clarks have three grown children and six grandchildren. Their son and daughter-in-law, Billy and Yashmin, work with the Clarks in ministry in Peru. The Clarks work with Peruvians on the desert coast, in the high Andes mountains and in the Amazon jungle. They have a specific area of ministry with street boys. These boys are often abandoned by their parents at a very young age and have to live on the street. Their survival depends on their begging, stealing, and selling themselves to get food.
Our missions teams have been going to Scripture Union for the past eight years. Scripture Union’s five areas of ministry include Bible reading promotion, street boy ministry, work in schools, Christian camping, and ministry to the deaf. Our Southwood teams have worked with Paul and Marty building additions to the homes for the street boys, clearing land for the summer camps and spending time interacting with the boys. The teams report how much the boys like playing basketball, snuggling into a lap, or just holding a hand. While the funds for Scripture Union are mainly through support from churches in the United States, they have other creative means of fundraising. They sold their rickshaws and reinvested the money in vehicles to add to their fleet of taxis in Lima. You will learn more about this year’s mission trip when they give their report at summer’s end.