Hombro a Hombro 2017

Every 3 years our home church Grace Church Eden Prairie leads an exciting outreach in Lima Peru, serving hombro a hombro (shoulder to shoulder) with the Callao Church.  This was Dustin's 7th and Katie's 5th time on this outreach.  From 22-30 July 2017 our team of 100 from America joined several hundred Peruvians as we shared the love of Jesus in Lima and Callao.  

In these 7 days we presented to 7,350 people in 15 events.  Through the various outreaches, our team saw over 1,450 people indicate decisions to follow Jesus!  We had a full schedule with a parade to start the week out followed by multiple shows a day in different locations.

Through singing, dumpster drumming, kids games, dramas and of course unicycling, we presented the Gospel in parks, streets, a medical rehab center, church festivals, soccer fields and hospitals.

In addition to the performances, teams painted homes and prayed with their owners.  Others hosted a marriage seminar for couples and a day of events for kids with special needs.  Skilled doctors performed 50 complicated surgerys, as others on the medical team cared for hundreds of sick people.  Every act of love and service was accompanied with prayer and sharing of the Gospel.

New brothers in Christ!

It was great to reconnect with friends we've made over the past 18 years.  It's always fun to see other young unicyclists at the Callao church who have been inspired by Dustin.  As we have in other years, we left some unicycles for others to continue to learn.  

We praise God for the soft hearts He prepared in Peru and for the many people who chose to surrender their lives to Him.  We rejoice with the angels!

Shoulder to Shoulder in Peru

The last week of July was spent in Lima Peru with 205 others from Grace Church.  We worked "hombro a hombro" with hundreds from our sister church in Callao.  We did 19 presentations for nearly 13,000 Peruvians and a few dogs.  Throughout the week we saw nearly 4,000 choose to follow Jesus for the first time!  It was an exciting week ministering in parks, shopping malls, streets, schools, a rehabilitation center and parade.  It was special to reunite with friends made during our previous 4 visits to Peru and special to make new ones.  They are such gracious, joyful, loving people and it was a privilege to serve with them again!

Other points of interest include eating cow heart and stomach, and Dustin lighting his face on fire while fire breathing during a show.  He was told afterward not to take literally the saying, "he's so on fire for Jesus that people come for miles just to watch him burn"!  It sure worked as an attention grabber and he proceeded to share the powerful Gospel message and ride and juggle on his 10 ft. unicycle to complete the show.  

Click here for photos, videos and updates of the outreach.  Thanks for praying with us for these new believers in Jesus that they will get plugged into the Callao Church and become fully devoted followers of Christ!

Gracias for the unicycles!

As a result of our past visits to Peru, several unicyclists are now there who have put together unicycles with scrap bike parts. Unicycle.com and Quality Bike Products generously donated parts with which we were able to build many complete unicycles to leave for a blossoming new unicycle outreach. As a result, many Peruvian kids will be able to learn to ride a unicycle who otherwise wouldn't have this opportunity. We were able to leave many extra parts for them to use for more unicycles in the future, as well. It was neat to see the kids get excited about trying out these new unicycles.

Alabar al Señor!

We participated in quite a week of ministry in Peru from July 26 – August 1. In seven days and seventeen events, we presented to around 40,000 people and saw over 5,000 people give their lives to Jesus. Nearly 300 Americans joined nearly 500 Peruvians to storm the gates of Hell and take the Gospel to city of Callao and surrounding areas.

We presented in parks, a school, church, prison, juvenile detention center and the coliseum. Each day we did at least 3 performances which made for some long, exhausting and wonderful days. Dustin’s unicycling was coupled with other elements for each event, such as drama, illusions, choir, dancing, a skate team, and bucket brigade (drumming on buckets) consisting of both Americans and Peruvians. Dustin’s was blessed with a great translator, Fernando, who made Dustin’s job of communicating the gospel cross-culturally much easier.

It was exciting to see so many people who were so ready to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We had the privilege of praying with a police officer and a taxi driver, to name a few, who committed their lives to Christ. We pray that they will grow in understanding of all that God has for them.

Our church’s sister church in Peru whom we partnered with, the Callao Church, will diligently follow up on each person who responded to Christ; they have their work cut out for them and they are thrilled to do it! They are such an example of humble service, love and generosity. They showered us with welcome and farewell celebrations and presented each of us with traditional Peruvian churros (hats).

Thanks for all your prayers that God answered, giving us health, safety, strength and fruitful ministry. To God be the glory! For a recap video click here