March 2011 Huancayo, Peru
LIBRARIES OPEN MINDS, HELP PEOPLE KNOW GOD
HUANCAYO, 2011 – Granted, Huancayo is a big city.
According to some things I’ve read, it is the fifth largest
city in the country of Peru. Lima is huge with 9 million
people. We have only 500,000. But that’s still big.
Remember I’m a country boy who grew up in a small
town of 700 people in south eastern Montana. We had
to drive 75 miles to see a stop light that wasn’t flashing.
This is a huge city for me.
There are churches here. There are catholic cathedrals
and storefront evangelical churches. The Mormons are
here. So are the Jehovah’s Witnesses. There is faith,
but faith in the God of the Bible (whether we are talking
Catholic, Evangelical, Mormon or Jehovah´s Witness
bibles) is secondary to the faith in the ancient Gods.
Pachamama was mother earth to the ancient people of
Peru. For the vast majority of the people in Peru today,
she is still mother earth. Many people still put forks in
the ground before sitting down in order to ask her
permission. During the many festivals here (they say
there is one for every day of the year here in the
Mantaro Valley), coca leaves are offered to her. Pots of
leaves and other things are ceremoniously buried in the
corner of corrals to ask for her blessings. And then the
Volume 4, Issue 3
people go to church. They read the Bible. They pray to
the God of all creation.
I´m not saying the people of Peru are old fashioned and
outmoded. They are wonderfully intelligent people.
They have hopes and dreams. They are still, however,
holding on to the ancient. Very tightly. They don´t want
to let go. I can understand that… to a point. That´s why
we need the libraries here.
We believe God gave each and every one of us a brain.
That brain is not there just to make sure our hearts are
beating and our lungs are pumping air. Our brain is
there to be used. God gave us a brain to be used. To
look at the wonders of creation and to see the hand of
God at work in the great mountains and in the tiny
grains of sand. God expects us to think and to reason
and to add two plus two and to explore the wonders of
the universe. God expects us to put the God of Bible up
against the gods of the earth, to think about it, to
consider the evidence, and to find who wins the battle.
God wants us to take all the evidence, sort through it,
and consider it. In the end, we believe God will win.
Libraries are collections of books and stories and
evidence. Without access to the wonders of our
imaginations found in the tales of the past and the
present, without the availability of science and math
Open Circle Peru is published monthly by the McEuen
Family, Missionaries to Peru with The Mission
Society. They may be reached by email at
opencircleperu@gmail.com. Their webpage is found
at http://opencircleperu.weebly.com. You can send
them mail at Jirón San José 230; Urb. San Carlos;
Huancayo, Perú.
and so much more, our brains and our ability to reason
begin to fail. The schools are doing their part, but that is
not enough. The children of the valley need to have
access to books and literature and information all the
time.

It´s sad, but we´ve had a few of the kids who checked
out books during the summer break (January and
February) come in over the past few days saying, “I
would like to unregister myself from the library.” When
pressed, they tell us something like, “Well, school´s
about to start and we won´t have time to read during
the school year. We have to study.” We don´t get it!
School is starting so you have to stop doing something
you enjoy? Something that will help you think even
more out of the box? Some we´ve been able to
convince to keep their cards. Others we couldn´t.

A few days ago I walk around our community (from

about four to five blocks in either direction from the
library) and made a list of all the high schools,
elementary schools, and preschools in the area. When I
could, I asked for the name of the director of the school
and the number of students. In this small area there are
at least 10,000 students attending school. This isn´t
even counting those who live here and go to school in
other communities. The community where we opened
the second library this month is about the same (and it´s
only about 15 blocks away). That´s a lot of kids. We
only have 1000 signed up now. We are only a small
corner of the city and the valley. If we average it out,
it´s about one book for every 10 children. If we multiply
that by the entire city and the valley, it is probably more
like one book for every 1000 children.
These kids and their families need a chance to read.
They need a chance to pick up a book. They need a
chance to expand their minds. To use their reason. To
understand their world—the world that God created—
and so the hand of the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. To see the God who sent his only son to come to
the earth two-thousand years ago, so that we might
learn what true love is all about.
May God bless you indeed!
Abel Santillán Campos:
Volunteer of the Month
SAN CARLOS, 2011 – Abel Santillán Campos is our
volunteer of the month. We have known Abel almost
since we first moved to Peru. His mother, Rosa, has
been helping out in the Kid´s Club ministries and
other programs. When Abel heard we were opening
a library, he said he would be willing to help us as
much as possible. He has not let go of that promise
one bit. Throughout the months of January and
February, he was there before the doors opened and
stayed four hours before going home for a quick
lunch before rushing off to summer school. (He was
getting extra practice before starting as a seventh
grader this month at Santa Isabel Secondary School.)
When people come in the door, he is ready to greet
them with a smile, tell them about the library, get
them registered, and check in and check out books.
When an errand needs running, Abel is ready and
willing to go where we need him. Abel will turn 12
years old on May 6.
Abel is truly a blessing to us and to those who use the
library. When you think of it, please say a special
prayer for he and his mother, Rosa.
Second Leer es Crecer
Library opens in Valley
LIBERTADORES, 2011 – Under the watchful eye of Luis
“Lucho” Carmago, the second Leer es Crecer Library has
opened. It is located in an area called Libertadores and
will serve that community and the surrounding schools.
Luis is excited and a bit nervous about the possibilities.
Children and families are already registering and
checking out books. His nervousness is the fact that he
realizes his library is an independent part of the library
system. We work together as a web of libraries with the
hope and expectation that each library will be financially
self sufficient within the first year. The ultimate goal is
that all libraries will one day be operated entirely from
Peruvian funding.

FINANCIAL SITUATION ON
THE ROAD TO CRITICAL
HUANCAYO, 2011 – People have been asking us about
our financial situation and the standard answer we
have been giving is, “We have a strong base of
supporters who faithfully give every month. That helps
a lot. What we need is about 10 or 15 more people and
churches like that.” According to recent report, if all
giving were to stop, we have only 1.5 months of
support left in our reserve fund. We know that giving
Calendar for March 2011
will continue, but we need to raise our reserve fund to Monday through Friday – Working at the Library
a higher level. A number of the friends we made in
Costa Rica have had to return to the United States for March 7 – New cycle of English classes begin
financial reasons. We don´t want to be in that number.
March 13 – Preach by SKYPE at Lowell UMC, Gerogia
We need to have enough to stay here until at least
October for furlough (October through mid-January), March 13-20 – Short term mission team from Dothan,
when we will return to the states to once again talk AL helping out at the library, English, and more.
with supporters and churches. Please pray about what
you can do to help us to stay here. If nothing else, March 25-26 – Ash helping in district youth retreat in
please talk to others about supporting us financially on city of Tarma.
a regular ongoing basis, hold a bake sale, host a golf
March 27 – Ash sharing message at la Iglesia Metodista,
tournament. Thanks for all you do! You are very
Huancayo, and la Iglesia Metodista, San Jeronimo.
special and important to us. To send gifts, please use
the form at the end of this newsletter or go online to March 30 – Go to Lima to meet visitors from Ball
www.themissionsociety.org/people/mceuen. Ground, GA, and (possibly) Ohio.
 What´s up with the Family
Kia is spending a lot of time hanging out with her
friends (and her boyfriend). She is also playing the
guitar and singing.

Aylis is almost always attached to her camera. She

has a great eye and is developing it more every day.
On her facebook account, she has an album called
Project 365 in which she is publishing a new picture
every day.

Todd´s violin classes have been going well. This

month he has performed in about three concerts.
He has learned 22 songs, including two Peruvian
songs called “Baliche” and “Santiago de Chile”.

Soraya starts school on March 7. She will be studying at

CHEA where they use the Suzuki Method. She also hopes
to start learning violin like her big brother.

Audra continues to be a great mother for the kids. She is

known by many as the Paula Deen of Peru, and makes the
best roasted pork barbeque in the country.

Ash has been trying to teach himself how to paint with

watercolors. He also celebrated his 41st birthday on March
5.

DEAR ASH, AUDRA, KIA, AYLIŚ, TODD, AND SORAYA,

Through careful and earnest prayer, I have come to the following decision:

 I/we will pray for you. Please send me/us your prayer letter.
 Please update me by e-mail ____________________________________________________________________________________________________
 As God provides, I/we will partner with you by giving $ __________ per month / quarter /year
 I would like to give a one-time gift of $ __________. Please contact us again next year.
 I would like to be your liaison with my church or organization.
 I would like to organize an annual support raising event (e.g., sale, dinner, carwash, golf tournament, 5K run, etc)

Your name ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Address______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

City_____________________________________________________ State________________ Zip _____________________________________

Phone (______) ___________________________ Church ______________________________________________________________________

Please return this form (with your first gift, if applicable) to:
The Mission Society Designate gifts: “McEuen Support 5/323”
PO Box 922637
Norcross, GA 30010-2637