Birgit Ufermann
Globe Europe Missionary to
Peru| Origin: | Germany | | GEM missionary since: | November 2005 | | Country of ministry: | Juliaca / Peru | | Education: | Physiotherapist/qualified Social Education Worker/Social Therapist | | Status: | single | | Newsletter: | Download (german) | | Website: | www.chacradedios.org |
I am the second of three sisters, and received Jesus Christ as my Lord at 17. Already as a young person I was interested in missions work, and it was during a missions congress that I told God of my willingness to one day go to a foreign country as a missionary myself.
My connection with Peru started in 1989 after my training as a physiotherapist during a discipleship school with Youth with a Mission; after a week of intercession for this country I was impressed to continue to pray for it by myself. In the years that followed I started relationships with different missionaries living in Peru, informed myself about the country and began to learn Spanish.
1991 I began to study Social Education in Darmstadt, afterwards worked there for five years in a clinic for addicts, at the same time continuing my professional training to become a Social Therapist.
In Darmstadt I met Mr. and Mrs. Kinast in the Johannes Church, who had a burden for missions work in Peru just like me. We met for 3 1/2 years regularly to intercede for this country, and in 1993 I travelled thee for the first time to get to know the country and its people and to see if a potential calling would be confirmed. Further milestones on my way were my accompanying the Kinast Family when they left for Peru in 1995, my being their contact person for several years in Germany, a lot of prayer and two more trips to Peru. In the Summer of 1999 the decision was finally made that I would work in the Kingdom of God in the highland of Peru together with the Kinast family, founder of "Chacra de Dios" and later the Bedford family and local co-workers. In July 2000 the Protestant Johannes Church in Darmstadt, which is still to this date my spiritual home, sent me out as a missionary.
The spiritual training centre "Chacra de Dios" (Field of God) is at 4,000 m in the peruvian Andes, and we have a close working relationship with the Protestant Pastors Alliance in the near-by town of Juliaca. Our goals are to further the unity among the different local denominations, to offer multiplication and leadership training, and since Spring 2005 the building up of a new church. For more information see our homepage (see above).
My tasks in Peru are prayer/intercession, teaching, looking after trainees, and communications and contacts. Moreover, as the treasurer I am a member of the committee of "Chacra de Dios", I am envolved in the areas of worship, preaching and administration, and again and again I find deepest satisfaction in working in the place in the Kingdom of God that God has called me to. |
|
