Taxis and amigos

Since retiring, I have come to Arequipa, Peru, for two or three
months a year. Depending on family and other matters, sometimes my
wife Bonnie comes with me. We are here for the month of September.
I, as usual, am teaching classes in scripture and theology at the
Arequipa campus of el Seminario Ss Agustin. On this visit Bonnie is
a teacher’s aide in English classes at Colegio Anglicana San Lucas,
St. Luke’s Anglican School. In our visits over the last number of
years we have made many friends. Most of these friends are
seminarians, teachers and students at San Lucas, and members of the
various Anglican parishes and missions where I help out as
requested on Sundays. In addition, there’s Irma, the woman from
whom I buy the Diario La Republica, the Republic Daily newspaper
and her 12 year old son Howard; Charley, the bus traffic
controller in Ovalo Vallecito near Cristo Redentor Church, where
the seminary is located; Silvia where we take our laundry; Daniel
at Cafe Sarten Loco, Crazy Skillet Cafe, where we often have
lunch. When we’re home in Healdsburg I keep in touch with many of
our Peruvian friends, especially clergy and seminarians, via
e-mail.
In the urban center of Arequipa half or more of the cars on the
street at any time, day or night, are taxis. The taxis have no
meters so when you hail one, you stick your head in the window and
tell the driver where you want to go and ask how much. He may say,
10 Soles (about $4), and I may say I only paid 8 Soles yesterday,
and he’ll either drive off or agree to 8 Soles. When I get into a
taxi, the driver will often ask me where I’m from. Given my
appearance and my accent, it’s apparent I’m not Peruvian. I say I’m
from California in the US. Is it your first visit? No, I’m a
retired priest and I come for two or three months a year to teach
in an Anglican Seminary. Last week after this exchange there was a
brief pause, and the taxi driver said, is the Anglican Church
Christian? The question of whether or not a Church is Christian
almost always means that the person asking is an Evangelical.  And
that was the case. My taxi driver, Raul, is a leader in La Iglesia
Torre Fuerte, The Strong Tower Church, an independent Evangelical
Church. I told him that yes, the Anglican Church is Christian, and
that when I preach and teach, I try to emphasize the truths that
all Christians, Evangelical, Anglican, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal,
share in common: The Trinity, one God, Father Son, and Holy Spirit;
the Incarnation of Jesus the Son of God; and His redeeming death on
the Cross for our salvation. Even though we have differences in
forms of worship and church order, I said, we all believe those
things. He nodded his head and we continued to talk about how we
were raised, how we became ministers, and about our families. I
told him that I have been married for 45 years, have five adult
children, and eight grandchildren. He told me that he is getting
married on October 8 and invited me to the wedding. Bonnie and I
will have to return home by October 8 but I told him I would put
the date in my calendar and that I would pray for him and his bride
on that day. 
All this took about 20 minutes. We arrived at St. Luke’s School
where I was going to meet with Bonnie. Before I got out and paid
the fare I reached over and took his hand and said, “Will you
please say a prayer?” He offered a heartfelt prayer for me, my
family, and my ministry. I asked God to bless him in his ministry
and in his marriage. We exchanged e-mail addresses and have already
sent and received several messages. Raul, is an Evangelical
preacher and taxi driver. I am an old-fashion Anglo Catholic
priest, now retired. But after twenty minutes together in his
taxi we are friends, amigos, hermanos en Cristo; brothers in
Christ.
Canon Marvin Bowers is a retired clergyman and may be
reached at fr************@gm***.com.