The missionary community said goodbye to Christian and Gudrun Heuchert yesterday
In two weeks the Heucherts will pack their bags and return to Germany. Their year’s work in Curahuasi was invaluable for Diospi Suyana.
Flashback. Christian is a child of divorce. His childhood is hard and without much love. Not a good start. As a teenager, he falls into a downward spiral without hope. At the age of 16, he is on the precipice of his life. And in the midst of his hopelessness, he has an encounter with God. From then on, things started to look up.
His career developed well and he gained a wealth of experience as a civil engineer. He and his wife Gudrun, an educator and nurse, raise three children together. During the pandemic, he begins to come to terms with his past. He has to come to terms with difficult conversations and brutal truths.
On June 6, 2024, the two are sitting in the audience of a church congregation in Pforzheim. A missionary doctor talks about the coincidences and miracles involved in building a hospital in Peru. At the end, they get to know each other briefly and shake hands. June 20 arrives – Christian has an unpleasant journey ahead of him. In Hamburg, he has to have one last crucial discussion to clear up his own story from back then. He has done it! Now he is free. The burdens of his life are behind him. Will new tasks await him now? In the late afternoon of the same day, the speaker of the lecture calls and invites him to Peru. This coincidence is quite something and is even mentioned in his wife’s diary.
The engineer managed the construction work for the school extension as well as a whole range of other projects. As a consulting partner, he supervised the construction of the guest house on the hospital grounds. And finally, as a proven expert, he checked the statics of the new amphitheater. Gudrun helped in the hospital’s outpatient rooms and later with the schooling of the missionary children. The words of thanks at yesterday’s farewell ceremony underlined the great importance of her commitment.
One statement by Christian Heuchert will be remembered. “I’ve gotten out of the habit of believing in coincidences!” Yes, when we make ourselves available to God, our path through life becomes wondrous and exciting. /KDJ
Caption: The civil engineer narrates. His wife Gudrun is sitting in the front row.
