Prayer Letter - "WILLY" (December 2000)

Dear friends;

Willy, for his 26 years, has lived at least two lifetimes. I met him just as he completed service in an Army anti-terrorist elite force. He had faced danger on a steady basis. He was acquainted with death. Willy and his childhood friend, Hector had come out alive from a raid to an inaccessible place where they could advance only at night - following the leading commando officer single file through the dark, mountainous jungles (the officer was the only one with night-vision equipment.) During the day they were forced to stay put in one place and at night they moved by holding onto a strap on the backpack of the one in front of them, with the strict order of silence at all costs.

One morning at the break of dawn, camouflaged to the teeth and ready to nest for the day's sleep, it was discovered that one man was missing from the commando. Willy risked his life to return to search for the lost soldier, whom he found scared and weeping.

When I met Willy in the stadium for the first time, 2 out of every 10 words were a curse. But all over Huanta you could not find a better or tougher soccer player than he. In his build, he is a regular "Rambo", but getting close to him through the years, I've found that there is a sensitive and tender heart, just waiting to blossom; and I find myself praying for him much as Hugh Powlison prayed for me.

Among soccer players it is a common thing to see broken noses, split eyebrows and a lot of bleeding. My friend, Dr. Galarza has helped me to patch them up many a time. One day a player approached me with the news that another player, "Chino" had been knifed in a local bar and was close to death. He needed to be taken to a bigger hospital in the next city for surgery. So I organized a small soccer tournament to collect money for Chino and offered to match funds with the amount that the kids raised. They all helped willingly, because he was one of them -- a soccer player. Willy helped gladly. Six months later, "Chino" was back playing soccer again.

On one of my visits to the hospital, I found Dario Merino, a well-known sports motorcycle driver, as well as the best blacksmith in town, gravely ill with cirrhosis of the liver, vomiting and defecating blood. He was almost unrecognizable, disfigured by approaching death, the picture of human trash.

I wanted my soccer players to see Dario and what happens to those who drink alcohol. So I suggested a small soccer tournament to help Dario - but found no response among the players. He was not one of them, so there was no interest. I urged them to keep their after-the-game refreshment money to give to Dario, and to that they agreed. But I wanted them to see Dario up close. Once they had 'swallowed the bait' to help him, we took off in a pick-up truck to visit him and to put the money in a piggy bank that I'd set up beside his bed. As we entered the hospital room, we prayed, and each player filed up to deposit his money in the can, but the pestilence in that room was disturbing. That was my show and tell lesson, "This is what awaits those who drink." Nevertheless, Willy went back to drinking and got into a fight in which he was almost killed.

One day later, we had a serious tournament, and though I was not counting with Willy, there he was. He could barely see from his right eye and had black and blue marks, stitches and scratches on his face and a broken nose through which he could hardly breathe -- but there he was begging to play. As much as he was needed for the success of the game, I didn't want him to play but allowed him to do so to comfort and encourage him. He walked into the stadium in the midst of cruel, merciless heckling from the spectators. Everyone, including myself, was quite surprised to see Willy playing like a lion against the visiting team and against his own demons. We won! Willy, his brother and his friends have visited the church many times. He is now married and has a little daughter, who is an incentive for his change. Willy reminds me so much of myself, and I beg your prayers for him; for he is an example of one of the many we are trying to reach in Huanta for the Lord. As we are on HMA (Home Ministry Assignment), it is good to have our two eldest, Osman and Keila "minding the business" with the young people, the ladies, the orphans and the church. Osman is becoming a good friend of Willy, and he is as happy as he's ever been and is growing in grace as he helps Rev. German Santillana, with the ministry. As we look back at this last term of service in Peru and enter the new millennium, we are extremely grateful to the Lord for giving us finally the opportunity of our lifetime to minister in our own Jerusalem -- for which we prayed for over 20 years. Everything we have in life done up to this point, dims in comparison to what we have done in the last 4 years.

Please join us in prayer to see together the unfolding of God's grace in the work through the mentoring program (discipleship defined as being with people and leading by example), which is well underway. We feel as if we have struck gold in applying this method in our ministry as the Lord did 2000 years ago. Please pray for the core group of young people in the mentoring program, beginning with our son, Nathaniel, Ruben, Juan Carlos, Benjamin, Wilmar, Danilo, Nilton, Wilber, Pino, Luis, Jon, David, Jonathan and the girls, Maruja, Katy, Miriam, Gisela, Nadia, Sammy, Conga, Mariela, Lucila, Judith, Jessica, Rocio and Heidi, all 18 years and older.

Pray for the Saturday Mayor's prayer breakfast group, which is faithfully carrying on in our absence with German, and is attended by the chief of police, the governor of Huanta, the mayor, the minister of education, the doctor, the judge, teachers and businessmen.

Pray for us as we work on the overhauling of our health . Ruthie had successful surgery on her eye, for which we praise God. Pray for our 3 youngest boys who are trying to make up for their irregular schooling in Peru, and are working hard to catch up. Nathaniel (19) has been living with sister, Lois and her husband, Matt, who is interning for the ministry in Pittsburgh, PA, and is being prepared for college. We'd appreciate prayer for Lois's little Rachel and her poor eating habits and lack of weight and for Ben and Caleb here with us in Wilmington, Delaware. We praise God for you and our partnership in the service of our Lord Jesus.

With gratitude and many thanks

Gerry Gutierrez

- Wednesday, August 8, 2001