Rhythms of Ministry

The calendar pages are turning so quickly.  I suppose that before we had back to our cell group in Hunter tomorrow, I should give you a two or three week update…a lot has happened.  So after Señor Julio came to cell group and we were thrilled, the next week when we arrived at 7pm the whole family was hopping out of the pickup truck with 600 lbs of Chinese onions.  We knew that when we entered the house they would be exhausted and that trying to do a lesson was out of the question.  Normally if we’re there, the family will sit in on the cell group, in the past without Julio, and then wrap bundles of onions until about 1 in the morning and then go to bed before waking up at 4am to leave again at 5am.  Que feo!  So, Wendy and I stayed until quarter til 10pm and we got them all wrapped up and ready to send off to the market.  I thought this would lead to good things the next week…and in some ways it did, but was hard to see at first.

As a result of how hard the family works, we decided to move cell group from Wednesdays to Sundays so that they would spend all day in the field before cell group.  Sundays are just a market day and then much of the family comes over.  Well, the following Sunday we had 9 people…but Javier couldn’t make it, Shirley was doing laundry or something, I have no idea where Señora Cristina was, and Julio was passed out on his bed in the other room.  So we had some of the other couples and their babies that attended off and on throughout the past few months and a new couple.  They listened, some slept, some left for a smoke break, some were responsive…and afterwards when we were discussing a Christmas party they were joking back and forth and talking about bringing vodka to the party and all I thought was wow, these aren’t the signs of growth I was hoping for.

However, the following week, we had 8 people, including Señora Cristina and Señor Julio, as well as a friend and her son.  The rowdy bunch was either bored or busy, but still our numbers have been good – though I know that’s not what it’s really about.  The dynamic of the group was much more interested and involved.  We’ve have taken the last two weeks to break down an extensive lesson on prayer.  And of all people, Señor Julio had a comentary on prayer and how big God is, as well as, he was the only one to share a prayer request…though he makes the rest of his family laugh for the simplicity of his comments, he has really opened up.  This is the man who ran away the second that he let us in the house each week.

Please pray for our cell group and the multitude of people attending.  Pray for their spiritual growth and for the provision of their families. 

Also pray for the other work that we’re doing in Hunter – We continue to teach the children in the park from the children's festival every Saturday.  Other than that, we haven’t had much success with follow-through on the part of the people that we’re attempting to visit.  We’ve returned 3 times to the house of a lady that we continue to run into in the street…and she’s never there for our appointments.  That’s an hour combi (bus) ride and she’s never there.  We were discipling a single mom, but she had to take a job through Christmas time, so that’s on hold until January, and other people that have asked us to visit have not been home during the allotted time.  Not to mention, sometimes it’s impossible to find houses with given addresses.  Pray for our patience, persistence and for the people to hunger for God.  Also, we’ll be doing a festival for children close to Christmas time and have to turn in a document for permission – pray that all goes well.  Thanks!

The Start of Something Beautiful

This week has been a blessing, a pain, a lesson, a long walk, filled with surprises both good and bad - but the good has far outweighed the bad!  Here's a taste of what the week was like...

Monday we started out nice and early, headed out to Hunter for a 9am meeting with a 14 year old name Flor (Flower).  Because anything small or young normally has an "ita" at the end, her father calls her Florita.  Flor is one of the contacts from the kids’ festival.  The first time we chatted with her, was after visiting her neighbor - Felicitas.  We decided to knock on Flor's door because we knew they were neighbors.  She was a little more quiet then Flecitas, a little less open about her life.  She had to go to the market to buy liver for her family, so we went with her...and that walk began a relationship - the start to something beautiful.

She asked us to return Monday because she had very little homework for these days.  When we arrived, we chatted with her and Felicitas who was out in the alley too.  I shared a bit of my testimony and we asked them about their concept of God, and just as we were about ready to pray, out came Flor's dad and older sister. Her sister gave us a hard time for disturbing her on a week day when she has lots of homework to do, she told us that they were catholic, and coldly stomped back off into the house.   Her dad, however, was more receptive, though he had many questions because the Nazarene Church is not well known in southern Peru.  Wendy boldly taught from the Bible where it says for children to honor and obey their parents, and for parents to discipline in love.  We all prayed together and her dad said we are always welcome back to be an encouragement to Flor - we hope this is an open door to the whole family in time.

Afterwards, we began to walk to the next appointment with Rosa, about a 10-15 minute walk away.  We made it to her street and decided to sit on the sidewalk at the end of a Mormon church to talk about the last meeting and pray for the next.  While we were sitting there, a young man under some type of influence approached us to start talking about his problems.  Though we were a pair of mixed nationalities relatively close to a Mormon church, we were in normal street clothes - not in suits - and we were just talking at the point he arrived.  Unlike many of the drunks in the streets, he was not fascinated with the fact that I am a gringa, he straight up wanted to talk about what was happening in his life, belief in God - and why he was unable to do so, before we even said we were missionaries.  When we were talking to him, he abruptly had to get up and leave because a taxi pulled up and he said it was his uncle.  I said aloud, "Lord, hopefully it's a seed planted; I'll trust you to do something with it" - but in Spanish.  So Wendy chatted a bit more, just about ready to pray and after 10 minutes or so, he came back.  He talked about his problems and his inability to change and as Wendy said something about a heart in stone, it triggered a verse in Ezekiel that talks about God sprinkling us with water to clean us, removing our heart of stone and giving us a heart of flesh.  Then he will put his spirit in us....well, He was talking to the Israelites, but as Christians we are His chosen people.  I had Wendy read the verse, because my Spanish is sufficient, but not so eloquent just yet.  (I understand better, why we're in pairs.  I could hardly understand him talking; when Wendy repeated what he said, it triggered the verse that we had studied and printed in class during training.  She couldn't think of a verse or word to share at the time. His eyes lit up in response.) So we prayed with him and we'll meet up with him in a local park this Saturday to continue this start to something beautiful.  Because he has a bit of a substance problem and is a young guy, we gave him an appointment card with our numbers.  Pray that he joins us on Saturday at 6pm.

Oh yeah, and after speaking with him we prayed and went to visit Rosa.  She's a single mom who wants to continue being discipled by us every Monday.  We met her at one of the impact events.

There's just so many beautiful things starting up.....Yesterday, we visited Nancy's house further outside of the city.  Nancy is Javier's wife, from our cell group.  She wanted us to meet and share the Gospel with her sons from her previous marriage, as well as other family members.  Her sister-in-law wants to join us for the cell group.  She's a Catholic, whom reads the Bible, but doesn't go to church.  She had many questions, like, there are many religions that say they are the true religion...how do we know for sure?  The lesson that we had prepared for, for the cell group taking place after this meeting gave me a great base to share.  Wendy was impressed with my ability to respond to these types of questions.  God was definitely with us.

Then, it continues to get better; here comes my favorite start of something beautiful. Señor Julio stayed for our cell group!  When we arrived, the futbol game was on - Peru vs. Columbia.  We kept the game on, to keep him with us.  We didn't want him to feel kicked out of the room in his own house...and who doesn't want to watch futbol???  So Wendy then told him we would have a short lesson and would love for him to join us, and he did, after 4.5 months of avoiding us in his own house!  I taught the whole lesson and he was responsive with eye contact and he told Wendy that he understood everything, that what I had to say was very good and he would join us with his family the next week.  Praise God!

We've also had several moments of frustrations this week - we couldn't find a home for over 45 minutes........never did actually, visited people that forgot their appointments or wanted to reschedule, we spend 45 minutes to an hour one way in combis to get where we need to go, we've had misunderstandings in communication, personality differences, etc.  Every second of that is totally worth it, to be experiencing the stories I've just told you.  Today was one of THOSE days: communication problems, forgotten appointments, etc.  Nonetheless, God is sooooooooooooo good.  As a result of the work today, we'll meet with a family tomorrow night with a dysfunctional marriage - ever feel unqualified to do something?  I have experience to share, but no training.  Like the Bible says in Acts 4, "Gold and silver, I have not, but what I do have, I give to you..." My God is an equipping God; He gives us just what we need to fulfill His will.  We weren't promised an easy path, just His presence and the opportunity to see what He is capable of doing.  And what a beautiful start of it too!

Well, that's enough for now, of what's happening in Hunter.  Stay tuned to hear from Wendy and her perspective on the Happenings in Hunter.

Impactando Hunter - Impacting Hunter

Desde: Wendy

Tuvimos tres eventos de impacto dos proyecciones de películas y un festival de niños.

En las proyecciones de película hubo pocas personas, lo que nos llena de felicidad es que DIOS aun con esas pocas personas esta junto con su Espíritu Santo convenciendo a las personas de pecado y haciéndoles entender la necesidad de vivir con JESUCRSITO en su corazón.

El primer día de impacto que fue viernes  lo hicimos en el Ex Paradero 25, cuando se termino de proyectar la película Vanessa junto a Javier hablaban con las personas para visita a sus hogares. Mientras ellos se acercaban a ellos yo estuve hablando con un borracho  que estuvo presente en la proyección de la película y él decía: ¡quiero cambiar, e perdido a mi familia, estoy solo! Dios comenzó a poner palabra en mí y comencé a hablar por primera vez en mi vida con un borracho sobre el amor de Dios. Vanessa estaba muy feliz por que dos de los hermanos de nuestra célula estuvieron con nosotros ayudándonos y ella dijo: Javier es el futuro pastor de nuestra célula la verdad  es que estaba muy involucrado invitando a personas a su casa para unirse con nosotros, e iba a las personas a hablarles sobre el amor de Dios ahora nos toca enviarlo a la escuela de liderazgo porque es nuestro futuro líder de la nueva iglesia.

El segundo día sábado a las 3 de la tarde comenzamos nuestro festival de niños, primero hubo pocos niños pero después comenzaron a allegar mas y mas mientras los niños llegaban pintábamos sus caritas, regalábamos globos, jugábamos con ellos a la salta soga, con el paracaídas, cantamos, bailamos junto  a ellos  tuvimos también un  show con títeres, y un tiempo para hablar sobre Jesucristo con el cubo evangelistico , hubieron cerca de 30 niños junto y algunos junto con sus padres que hicieron un total de 40 personas , hubieron personas que quisieron que lo visitemos y niños también esa tarde fue una bendiciones nos ayudaron otros misioneros y nuestros padres de apoyo y no olvidar a RICO quien es el encargado de traer más niños con su dulzura y su amabilidad.

Terminado ese evento pasamos a otra proyección de película, la audiencia fue poca y también contamos con la presencia de 6 hermanitos de nuestra célula quienes nos ayudaron a tomar nuevos contactos  y estuvieron ayudándonos con el transporte de los equipos.

Ahora ya estamos visitando a los nuevos contactos Junto con Vanessa, estuve un poco mal de mi salud pero DIOS estuvo siempre  teniendo cuidado de mi y mientras yo estaba  débil Vanessa estaba muy fuerte animándome para salir a caminar y buscar a las nuevas personas.

Lanzándose miradas y risitas entre ellos

Ayer en nuestra célula estuvimos hablando sobre el Reino de Dios.

Que es el reino de Dios, quien es el rey de ese reino y quienes entran en ese reino

Mientras leíamos los pasajes bíblicos en Gálatas, Apocalipsis   los cuales se refiere a las personas que no entraran en el reino de Dios, las personas de la célula reían entre ellos y se codeaban pienso que ellos han tenido alguno de esos pecados o tienen alguno de ellos, pero es interesante que solo DIOS pueda perdonar nuestros pecados y olvidarlos, aunque a veces nosotros como humanos no podemos olvidar lo que una persona hizo en su vida pasada pero DIOS quiere que seamos como él.

Dios es quien habla cuando estamos enfermos, roncos y con malestar  !!!!!!!!!

Esta semana estuve muy enferma con malestar, fiebre, etc., ayer estuve todo el día en mi cama con dolor de cuerpo y no  tenía ganas de hacer nada, pero ayer teníamos que ir a nuestra célula, tuve que dejar mi cama para ir por esa personas que disponen un poco de su tiempo para escuchar lo que Dios quiere para ellos ,  cuando íbamos rumbo a la célula me sentí un poco mal otra vez pero cuando llegamos y al pisar la casa de Javier Joba tuve mucho ánimo de hablar no tenía de malestar la enfermedad se me fue , mi voz se fue aclarando mas y mas  fue un tiempo muy lindo, pero después que salimos de la casa junto con Vanessa y Zelmira tuve dolor de pecho  y mi voz estuvo se puso un poco ronca otra vez, pero entendí algo que nosotros solo somos instrumentos de DIOS y él es quien habla a través de nosotros, solo hay que salir y abrir nuestra boca por que quien habla no somos nosotros es Dios con su Santo Espíritu  fue una experiencia inolvidable y muy bonita.

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From: Vanessa

This past weekend was a beginning, not necessarily a remarkable beginning, but one with many blessings.  Last Friday night we did a public showing of the Felix Vargas Film  We set up a giant screen in a local combi stop and market called Paradero 25.  Javier and his wife Nancy joined us – and this is the thing that blessed that night.  Javier pointed out that a man standing on the other side of me that was watching the film had begun to cry, “Hermanita Vanessa, Perece como este muchacho esta sentiendo tocado para Dios; debes hablar con el.” (Sister Vanessa, it seems as though this man is feeling touched by God; you should talk to him).  We gave Javier some contact cards to talk with people about God or to invite them to the cell group.  He made me so proud.  He is a future leader. 

Saturday we held a kids festival in Hunter as well, we had about 30-40 children and parents.  We had interest from some of the mothers and teenagers that attended for home visits.  On Tuesday Wendy and I went to meet with a couple of the 14 year old girls that we met there.  On a street that wasn’t even on the maps and the locals weren’t really sure of.  It was a lot of fun to encourage these young girls in whatever way possible – how to navigate difficult situations with so-call friends, abstinence, etc.  Here are some photos from the kid’s festival:

We showed the film in another location later Saturday night and this time, 5 or 6 of the folks from our cell group were there to support us.  A little boy named Josef, that came out to the movie the night before with his sister Fatima, had come out to the location for the Kid’s festival…well the site that we planned on being at, but had changed locations.  So he arrived at the end of the festival and was broken hearted that he missed it. So he followed us to the film site…actually hopped into the back of the pick-up with us and then helped us set up.  There are no hugs in the world equal to a happy, eager child’s.  We were inviting people in the street to join us for the movie, when realized it was pretty dark now and I had no idea where he lived.  I asked him what time he had to return home and he told me 6pm.  We walked back to the movie site to ask Henrietta what time it was and it was quarter ‘til 7pm.  So, I sent him into the darkness…as he took off running, I thought, I would never do this is the states.  He is such a sweet boy.  He will return this Saturday for a kid’s lesson at the same park that we held the kid’s festival.  Back to the movie, we met a couple of 20 something students, one that is already a Christian, but as she told me immediately after she told me she was a believer – she has a lot of questions.   We’re going to meet with them tomorrow night at their house.

I’ve really enjoyed getting to know others in this process of building contacts.  God is so good.  Please be praying for Wendy, as she has been incredibly under the weather this week.  Which leads me to talk about our cell group last night; God is faithful to be our strength when we are weak.  Wendy had been in bed all day and only left it to head out for our cell group – she felt horrible until we entered the house and then began to feel energized with less tightness in her chest and a stronger voice - which was in spite of the rocky start with the new strange guy who was examining why we were there and what our religious beliefs were – this actually turned out well in the end.  We had 7 of the 10 people there and towards the end of the lesson we were laughing about first impressions and talking about the future.  Nancy asked us to come out early one day to meet her kids from her previous marriage to talk with them at their school.  They’re inviting us into their lives more and more each day.  There’s plenty more to say, but I’ll save it for later.  Thanks for following what’s happening here in Arequipa.

Bienvenida a "Happenings in Hunter"

From: Vanessa

About 4 months ago Wendy and I started a cell group in Hunter after Love Extreme.  We’ve been meeting regularly with this family and some additional folks during that time, also the time it took for us to complete our missionary training.  We’ve since then graduated and November 1^st marked the true start of our fulltime church planting work.  We’re so excited to see what God has in store.  You can back track some of the stories and updates in my personal blog: www.journeywithvanessa.blogspot.org.

From the Extreme Website you can learn more about Wendy & I, as well as the team of which we are a part, the territories in which we serve, and have opportunities to participate in the work we are doing.

Let me catch you up on the past 2 weeks:

When we met together for cell group 2 weeks ago, we had a new "joven" guy Dennis, and 6 others that are regulars.  We started with a short Bible lesson and before we began to show the Felix Vargas video, an argument started outside the house with Señora Kristina - the mother of the house and the folks that she and the family are indebted to.  The four of us that remained in the house: Wendy, Dennis, the Señora's daughter Shirley, and I began to pray.  When they returned we were singing a few songs and I showed the Life House skit - Javier, whom returned with the others from the outside asked me to start it over and then when we got to a certain part in the skit he asked me to stop it and ask questions to see if the others understood.  I'm pumped to think that he will one day be a leader in our church.  After we finished the Felix Vargas video Wendy began to preach them, that was not what she intended but she certainly became passionate about the change that God makes in our life.  Four accepted a deeper more intimate change in their life, one that could take an ex-drug cartel and change him into a pastor. 

It was a beautiful time of prayer with a commitment to walk more fully with God.  Dennis was very encouraged to be part of the cell group and would like something closer to his home.  His family is mainly atheists and he doesn't have lots of support for his spiritual journey.  He likes to play the guitar and drums -- and we're looking forward to putting his skills to use!

Following last week we decided to meet on Tuesday night for our cell group before joining them on Wednesday morning in the onion field.  Shirley, Javier's sister, forgot to mention it to Javier and so they were all out working when we arrived at 7pm and he was home alone on Tuesday night, but he had us come in to write down a name...which turned into about a half and hour of questions.  I believe that one day he will go through leadership school, maybe on to seminary -- only God knows, but this man is curious and eager to grow in his walk with God.

Wednesday morning Wendy, Calvin, Lindy & Trisha, as well as myself went out to the "chacra" the onion field to pick, clean, and pack onions with our cell group family.  The day looked like this - we arrived at 10am like we were asked.  We sat around for 2 hours talking and watching volleyball tournaments, tornado chasers, the news, etc.  Around 12ish, Shirley brought out heaping plates of rice, potatoes, chicken & vegetables for all of us.  We hadn't lifted a finger and were being fed a huge meal.  Then stuffed and tired, Wendy and I went with Shirley to borrow "the truck" from some neighbors.  Shirley took me arm in arm and said they were really going to miss us at the end of this 2 years.  I said it would be the same for me, but that we need not think about such things.  We drove the gutted pick up around the block...well, Shirley did the best she good with the stick shift to get it back to the house.  Cal became the designated driver, being that Shirley can't drive the truck very well.  As hilly as Hunter is, it was quite the fun trip - Cal only made it two second gear for the whole trip; we nerviously passed the cops as they eye-balled Cal's tall white body in the driver seat; and upon arriving anywhere we put blocks under the tires. 

Onions were cleaned and packed...even washed off in the river...which was just ditch water, but the what had an opportunity to be clean up, most importantly, was Señor Julio's opion of us.  He is the father of the house and hasn't been to thrilled about our presence in the house.  He also has a drinking problem and we have been praying for him incesantly for some time now.  He wasn't that thrilled about us being at the field either, but in the end, he was greatful for our help and said he'd come out Friday night (now tomorrow) to help with or to watch the Felix Vargas video.  Pray with us, that he makes a life change and accepts Christ into his heart. 

That catches you up for now and will seguey nicely into tomorrow and the weekend filled with impact events in Hunter.  Please blanket this weekend in prayer: tomorrow we will show the video and Saturday we'll have a kid's festival and another video showing in the evening.  Stay tuned to see what God has planned for the people of Hunter.

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Desde: Wendy

Hola estoy muy emocionada de escribir aqui para contarles las cosas que Dios esta haciendo en nuestro trabajo y en especial en  HUNTER es uno de los lugares para plantación de nuestras iglesias.

La semana pasada fuimos a nuestra celula y pues antes de eso tuvimos que esperar por un nueva joven llamado Dennis, el cual fue un contacto de una noche loca y de aventura en una de las Plazas de Arequipa, entonces ese día el estuvo en la reunion, pero nosotros estuvimos esperando en la casa hasta que todos estuvieran juntos para reunirse y empezar todos juntos, mientras esperabamos cantamos, oramos, y hablamos con algunos de los que estaban alli, y mientras tanto algunos de los que estaban junto con nosotros comenzaronb a salir uno por uno hast aque solo nos quedamos con 3 personas de las 7 que habian, cuando de pronto empezamos a escuchar  bullas y gritos cuando todo fue subiendo de tono supimos que era una pelea fuera de la casa por motivos de deudas en ese momento lo unico que se nos ocurrio fue orar por las personas que estaban a fuera que eran parte de esta discucion, entonces oramos con Shirley la hija de la señora Cristina, la cual era por ella es que estas personas vinieron y con Dennis el nuevo chico, pues terminamos de orar cuando las cosas aya afuera se fueron calmando, y las personas entraron a casa y continuamos con la lección pues que se trataba de EL NUEVO NACIMIENTO, para estoy Vanessa y yo quisimos presentarle una pelicula de Felix Vargas,como testimonio de que Dios puede cambiar vidas, mientras pasabamos este video el Espiritu Santo estuvo tocando las vidas de las personas, despues tuvimos un tiempo de oracion muy lindo donde senti  realmente la presencia de DIOS siempre quize que las personas tuvieran confianza en nosotros y despues abrimos un tiempo para que ellos dijieran como se sentian y vi lagrimas caer de los ojos de las personas realmente ese tiempo no lo podria explicar copn simples palabras por que era Dios noviendose en ese lugar.

Luego ellos nos invitaron algo para compartir, ellos son muy amables y muy atentos con nosotras, nos invitaron a su chacra a trabajar con ellos  WENDESSA estuvieron recontra emocinadas eso es lo que queriamos desde antes conocer como es su rutina de vida que llevan, tambien Nancy la esposa de Javier uno de los hermanitos mas curiosos por saber mas de Dios, nos invito a su casa para hablar de Dios , Dennis el joven que llego por primera vez el vio todo lo que estaba pasando alli con discuciones y gritos pero sin embargo el esta muy animado para trabajar y apoyarnos en la musica por que el toca muchos instrumentos, entonces fue algo muy muy lindo que Dios esta haciendo en este lugar.