PCUSA mission coordinator for Central America and Mexico visited First Pres February 16

The Peru Task Force welcomed Stan DeVoogd, PCUSA World Mission Area Coordinator for Central America & Mexico, to First Presbyterian Church on Tuesday, February 16. At a dinner presentation at 5:00 p.m. that day in the Curtis Room, he discussed Presbyterian mission opportunities in Central America & Mexico. A

Stan’s desire to serve in mission began at a young age in his home church, where he was a leader in the Young People’s Society. His interest in mission service continued while he was an undergraduate at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, majoring in religion and sociology.Together with his wife Kitty, he taught for two years at the Inter-American Christian School in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

From 1980 to 1985, they served as missionaries in Costa Rica with a church-based NGO in Costa Rica that focused on adult education and literacy.
In 1986, Stan, Kitty, Andy (born in 1982) and Nicolas (born in 1984) moved to El Salvador. There they worked with a variety of churches, accompanying the Salvadoran people as they lived through a horrible civil war. Through experiencing the suffering and oppression of the Salvadoran people, Stan became even more convinced of the need for the healing power of the Savior “El Salvador.”

The Peru Task Force was formed in 1999, following a visit from the Rev. Pedro and Emma Arana Quiroz, who were ecumenical parish visitors from Peru to First Pres in 1997.

One of the group's primary foci is participation in and support of the work of MISIUR, an outreach program for indigenous rural people in Callqui, Peru. Funding to purchase a farm house and adjacent land, to be converted into a community center for Callqui, was provided by First Pres in 2000. Since then, work teams from First Pres have taken several summer mission trips to work beside the parents and children of Callqui constructing and keeping up the new facility, called the New Center.

The Peru Task Force also supports the Bread of Life project in Lima, which provides children in schools and daycare with food (breakfast and lunch) and religious instruction.

Last but not least, First Pres youth in 6th-8th grade participate in a pen pal club with youth their age in Lima, and periodically hold fundraising events to purchase school supplies for the children of Callqui.