Coming to a Close

As we wrap things up here in Arequipa we are overcome with so many different feelings – sorrow to leave behind great friendships, joy to see others take over and step up in leadership, worry of how things are going to hold up when there aren’t enough leaders to take over the many different meetings that Wendy and I could handle because we had no other work…and the list of feelings and emotions goes on.
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On Good Friday we had a youth retreat with 18 teens - 12 from Huacshapata and 6 from Hunter.  The retreat was held at the International Club in the center of Arequipa. With the help of a friend we got access to the club and permit the teens to have an experience that few can afford. I have many photos from the retreat in my facebook album “parting is such sweet sorrow…” One young lady told Wendy that she was not leaving from the retreat as the same person that left from her house that morning. Glory to God.

We’ve had some great times with our folks in Hunter as time has been winding down.  We’ve finished the classes for membership with Zelmira and Abel.  And recently Pastor Cristobal joined us in their house to administer a “gifts” test, which was particularly neat to discover with them what their spiritual gifts are.  We have a future pastor couple in the making.  We’ve had the privilege to see Zelmira’s sons off on their first day of school back in March, more recently watched Soul Surfer with the extended family and in the middle of lessons we’ve found time to play several rounds of UNO and make animal noises.  It’s been a great time deepening our relationship with them as they deepen their relationship with God.

 

Thick & Thin

Through thick and thin we keep treading onward.  In Hunter there are both moments of joy and frustration.

What a difference a day makes.  From one day to the next carried the difference between having a locale and dreaming about all that could take place in the new space and then being told that the decision to rent it out had been retracted and we were back at square one.

We continue teaching Abel and Zelmira.  We're in the middle of membership courses and it's really neat to experience this process with them.  When we met Zelmira she had just given birth to Camila 2 months prior and was living alone.  Abel has since then moved in and they are currently taking care of her boys for "summer vacation".  They are both in the same sales program and growing together as a pair and as Christians. 

Nilda and Jessica continue with discipleship courses and their teenage girls and now Meri's boy and his friend are coming to discipleship/youth group every week. 

The elderly group at the health post are always a good time.  This month we took a trip with them on our free day and went to the beach.  I'm still recovering from a bad sunburn.  It was a pleasure to pass the day with all of them.  The doors have finally opened to do a Bible study with them and the psychologist is offering the meeting room next to her office.  Many people here in Arequipa are traditionally catholic, but non-practicing and more so superstitous than anything.  I would say that the majority are not what catholocism intends for them to be.  Many are closed to considering anything new, so the time we've had singing, dancing, exercising, sharing and so on for the past year has made many of them comfortable enough to say that they're coming for sure next week. 

We've started back up with the Joves.  Always interesting. Always something.  This past week we spent time with Señora Cristina and Señor Julio, just the two of them.  Señor Julio whined about missing us terribly and said that next week he's going to make a typical pasta and cheese dish for us.  He was drunk, but I have a 5 minute video of him promising to be sober the next week and wanting to hear the word of God.  He repeatedly asked me not to take his photo.  I do plan on showing it to him next Sunday evening.  In all, there has been a great change in the family and we continue praying for more.

We started visiting Laura who used to be at the Jove's house, but for a new business and frustration with Jimmy's drinking habits she rarely goes anymore.  While Wendy talked with her about emotional healing and partnership from a biblical standpoint, I held grandma's hand and listened to her lonesome repetition of a hard life and little to hope for.  I prayed through our conversation that this widow would find the hope that Christ offers and could maybe feel it in her bones and know it deep in her soul before fading out of this world.

These days are varied and blessed.  I ask that you join us in prayer for Nilda's nephew that is hospitalized for drug use and for her father that is currently in the hospital for health problems.  Also, a lady from the elderly group has had horrific back pain for 2 weeks and can't sleep; she wept as I asked her how she felt and if we could pray for her.  The strongest meds she's been taking are not helping.  Pray that we can continue to use the municiple center even though they don't want to show favoritism by letting us use it with out paying.  We need to find a permanent place to meet and are down to 2 months.  Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for supporting Hunter and these lovely people with your prayers.

Stairway to Heaven...(or at least heavenly moments)

Over a year ago we got to know a lady name Sandra, she’s probably 25 and a single mother.  Life has been hard for her.  We went to her house several times, chatted with her outside – she never trusted us enough to let us in.  I guess a while back, some people came through that claimed to be missionaries and kidnapped someone’s child just a few houses down from hers.  We returned several times at an hour that we had chosen together to start discipleship, but she was never around.  We called, but then her cell phone service went out.  We finally stopped going to her house, when the drunken landlord came out and said some choice words to us because we were standing outside her house yelling for her in hopes that she would come out.   We got the picture, not only did she never let us in her house, she was pretty non-committal and then she continued to stand us up, until we finally decided that are time was better used elsewhere.

Well, yesterday she was on bus as we headed out from Zamacola to go to Hunter, minimally a 45 minute ride.  Apparently she sells vegetables out in Rio Seco, farther north than where we live.  We caught up and as it turned out she did want us to come visit her.  Wendy was in the back of the bus, so I made the arrangements to visit her today in the afternoon.  I think that she is less afraid of who we are now that she sees that we’re still up to the same business over a year later…we haven’t run off with anyone’s kids; which is a valid fear.  I don’t exactly look like many folks from around here.

So today, after trudging through lots of rain water, we arrived at the long series of no less than 100 steps that pass by her home.  About halfway up she resides and had been waiting for us.  She came out and was interested in a lesson.  We had the lesson outside on the stairs – Wendy taught and I entertained her daughter Camila so that mom could focus.  She is looking forward to the next lesson and even said that the next time we can enter the house.  Praise God.  I did a split second hesitation to write that, thinking if any of my friends that don’t have faith read that, it will sound so old-fashion and churchy.  But, I decided, no, I will say exactly what should be said.  Praise God.  It’s been a difficult couple of months realizing that we’re not where we were hoping to be and it’s been discouraging.  Although, we’ve come up short on some man-made goals, we find ourselves in the middle of what God wants for us and he continues to show us right where he wants us to be working.  It’s a beautiful thing. 

Faith In Things Unseen

So the end of 2011 brought a few disappointments for us in Hunter.  As you know, we've come to plant a church here in Hunter among other locations.  What has been difficult for us, is that after discipling folks from anywhere in between half a year to over a year, they have really enjoyed having us in their homes, but were not motivated to begin attending the church.  While, we've been doing what we feel God wants us to do here, our reality and are expectations have fairly big gap between them. And I'm experiencing how weak my faith can be at times.

So we've been praying and at times fasting throughout this process.  I just finished Henry & Richard Blackaby's book Experiencing God, which was a good reminder to keep my relationship with God fresh and not just look for answers.  In the midst of our reality we don't want to force our agenda but see where God is working and to join him in that work - another key theme of the book.  So after a 12 day vacation, we've come back to work learning to submit ourselves to God's will, to have more patience, to observe where he is working and to join him in it -- this serves as good medicine for the anxiety that can come from wanting to do a good job and complete the human goals set on the forefront of our time here -- when in all reality we have little visible signs of accomplishing that with just under 4 months to go.  However, there is a solid base of people that we've been discipling that we continue to pray the Holy Spirit will move to become more involved.  And on a positive note, in Hunter we've seen an alcoholic change his behavior and stop drinking as much, caring more for his family, not running away from home for multiple days.  We've seen the faith grow of many folks and teens recognize there worth.   

Sunday, at our first service of the year, no one arrived by the time we typically get started.  We could not enter the auditorium because they had changed the system of permissions for usuage of the auditorium without notifying us and now we have to have a letter of authorization.  So, Lindy, Tricia, and I went up the street so I could show them some properties up for rent, but both are outside of our budget because it's an urban area and everything costs more.  I really was beginning to feel discouraged and allowing myself to waller in it.  Is that a word - waller? Or just a hillbilly notion of a word?  I'm from West Virginia, ya know.

Anyway, coming back down the street we got back as the town meeting was letting out.  And as always, Señora Sonia was there and started talking to us about another auditorium/location that was closer to all the elderly folks we work with and closer to other folks that we disciple.  As we wrapped up chatting with her, a couple of our teens showed up, then a couple more.  So we decided to have service with them in the park in front of the municple center.  Then Zelmira & Abel arrived with Camila and Zel's two sons that are here on summer vacation.  Yes, it's summer here.  Then Nancy and Shirley with two toddlers showed up at the end of the service when we were getting ready to serve a snack during our community building time, "the share".  This was the first time we had many of our regular folks show up, even if incredibly late...and all were at least a half an hour late.  One of the teens is going to lead worship next week and we're going to get Abel involved with the treasury and offerings if possible.  Monday when we were at Zelmira's new house, (they got kicked out of their other place) she said her favorite thing to do is share and encourage.  So we're going to have a time of sharing and she'll be our first testimony in church. 

There are still many others that we disicpled for over a year that are not attending and we hope them to be involved in the family, that they'll be taken care of when we head off.  We need your help with prayer support: one, that the those we've known and been working with for awhile will want to gather together; two, that we can find a permanent location; and three, that we will always bring in new folks or share with them where they're at and that this concept will be passed on to those we've been working with.  Thanks for reading and please keep praying for Hunter and the formation of both believers individually and as a community.

Celebrating Spring

This week in Hunter:
We met with Maribel in her home and talked for a long time about life and what's going on in the house.  We rounded a corner in which it was safe to say that we can choose to shut the door on being a seeker in general and be a seeker soley of the Christ of the Bible.  We've completed the first study book with her and will be moving on to the next which is a more profound look at themes along the lines of developing our understanding of God, the Bible, and what it means to be part of the church. 

The Joves as a group had shrunk to 5 - 6, but it's a much more serious, fervant group.  And we were happy to see Nancy and Laura once again after months of not seeing them.  It's cool to watch this group grow in understanding and commitment. Señor Julio was sober this past Sunday, which was a change from the past 2 weeks prior.  He apparently had changed and instead of drinking all week long he was only drinking on Sundays.  I made a comment to Javier that if we only get to see him on Sundays and he's drunk, it's wonderful that he has changed that pattern, but we only see him during this time and it's a little disruptive - his tyraids of commentaries that losely fit with what's going on.  So, I was grateful to see him present and ready to participate.  Unfortunately, the father of Señor Julio is on his deathbed and we will be going to see him next Sunday.  Be praying for their family and our meeting, if you will.

Things continue to go well at Zelmira's.  We recently taught about baptism, which Zelmira and her father will probably participate in next month.  One church told her that she had to marry first, which is very expensive for the average person here and so she never had.  She intends to marry, but it's not an incredibly easy process for many.  Her father used to read coca leaves to guide people; he was baptised immediately after becoming a believer and never fully understood it.  He's interested in being baptised, fully acknowledging it's simbolism. 

Thursday at the Wawawasi, we watched a video with the ladies there.  Numbers where low, because the owners of the Wawawasies had to go to a work meeting and couldn't attend; I'm grateful that they permit us to use their space either way.  We realized that a group of teens will probably be the next step there because of the average age of attendance for the video.  Maribel came for the first time and a neighbor came for the first time with her daughter.  So I was pleased with the quality compared to quantity. 


Earlier that day we were with the elderly celebrating Spring's commencement and had a coronation.  Thanks to the group of missionaries headed for Paraguay for helping us with the festivities.  We also made a trip to the Founder's Mansion with the elderly folks this week on our free day - good times!

I'd like to wrap up with a couple of prayer requests.  Things fell through with the Youth House.  It's occupied everyday of the week.  We hope to use the municiple auditorium and will eventually go to the administrator for the University to talk about the property in Hunter.  Also, we were out and about visiting other contacts when a regular contact was out of town and discovered that a lot of our contacts play volleyball Sunday afternoons.  I joined in a game and we lost, but it was a good time.  We're praying and thinking about what can come of this natural grouping of people and how we can use this time to reach out to more people. 

Quickest of Updates

We currently are discipling:

The Jove family

Zelmira & Abel

The Wawawasi Ladies (with Vilma & her daughter from the Naz church that died 10 years ago.)

Rosa

Maribel

Natali and her mom (starting tomorrow)

______

Tomorrow we will go to finalize a schedule for the “youth house” where we’ll start having services.

I’ve got a few stories to share that are evidence of God working in Hunter…but I’ll share them at the end of the week.

Pray for all the folks above and Charo & the Sello – that God would open doors.

Don’t go too far…things are just heating up.

Vlog con Wendessa en español!

Hunter Lately

We're in Hunter four times a week: Sundays with Meribel and at the Jove's; Mondays we visit new contacts and check up on old contacts that haven't been able to meet for a long time, as well as - starting tomorrow, we'll be on dirt mountain as I call it, which pertains to Socabaya but has it's entrance on the back side of Hunter; Thursdays with the elderly group at the Health Post and at the Wawawasi (gov't subsidized daycare); and Fridays with Zelmira's family and back on dirt mountain with the 3 women and 13 children.  That's the quickest rundown of what we've got going on.

A couple of weeks ago we had some missionaries from all over Peru and from Paraguay helping us out.  We split up into pairs and went door-to-door.  While this type of evangelism doesn't go over well in the U.S. and isn't a form of ministry I particularly connect with, it was a pretty decent time having the opportunity to chat with more people in our area close to the cell groups and 42 people (40 adults/teenagers and 2 children) accepted Christ.  We've been working these contacts in around the other cell groups.

Tonight at the Jove's, we taught about the Church: it's nature and purpose.  There were five: Javier, Nancy, Señor Julio & Señora Cristina, and Shirley.  Everyone was sober and attentive.  I remember the first few months we were going to the house and Señor Julio would open the door and practically run away.  He wanted nothing to do with us.  Though he tends to fall asleep in almost every lesson because he's so exhausted from their long day's work, he is there and still manages to give a response from his sleepy state.  His wife told us tonight that she is grateful that Julio has changed, and for the better.  I'm blessed to be a part of the body of Christ with them. 

Right before Wendy and I got to their house, we realized that tonight was a dinner on your own night.  And though we get money for these nights, we didn't really have enough money on us because it's the beginning of a new week, end of the month, etc. and we didn't carry enough money.  I remember thinking - well, Lord, we'll just trust you to provide.  Maybe the Joves will have crackers and soda like they often do, and I can just fill up on that.  Well, they did have crackers, little rolls and soda.  I was so grateful, and as they like that you help yourself and can be offended you refuse, I made sure to just snack away.  Then when we were ready to head out they were putting the futbol game on and asked us to hang around.  So without knowing why, we did, and bless their little hearts, after 5-10 minutes they came back in the room with plates of chicken and fries.  Thank you Lord for your provision and for the kind hearts of the people you are using.  After eating dinner with them and hanging out a bit longer, on our way out the door, Señor Julio put six soles in my hand for a taxi home, a little over half the fair.  Not all nights are like this.  I can think of only one or two other times in the past year when they surprised us with lunch or dinner.  Tonight I left their house with a full heart and stomach.

We are currently looking for a house/building to rent in Hunter so that we can begin having services with the 25 or so folks that we are discipling.  That doesn't include the many contacts that we have yet to bring into the fold.  We will be having a medical campaign the first two weeks in August and hope to make some other great contacts for the center of Hunter where we hope to "plant" our physical church.  Please pray with us for a location and for the 2 days that we'll run clinics in Hunter.  As always, thanks for reading and for supporting the ministry that Wendy and I are a part of in Arequipa.

Dios es Grande

After a couple of weeks of short-term projects, a short-but-sweet family vacation, and hitting the pavement again we are witnessing some doors opening that really give us hope for a future church in Hunter.  A few times after more recent meetings Wendy and I have walked away with giant smiles on our faces, rejoicing in what we see God pulling together.

During the time that we had with short-term help we painted at a local elementary school, entertained the students during their recess with a puppet show, a drama, and choreography to Justin Beiber’s  “Baby”.  A few days later we had a kid’s festival at a nearby park and a couple hundred people came out as a result of flyering at the school.  We have several new contacts – one group of women that are encouraged to meet together (5 women & 7 children just in the first meeting).  We are going to do a medical clinic at Nilda’s Wawawasi, which is a government subsidized daycare.  She gets paid 2 soles per person per day.  Needless to say, we're excited to see what lies ahead with Nilda and this group of women.   That’s just one story as follow up to the great couple of weeks.

Another is of a woman named Maribel.  We gave her a call to see if we could visit her later that afternoon.  She said yes and when we showed up she began to tell us that at the time we called she was in the middle of an argument with her husband after finding a photo of another woman in his wallet.  In the middle of their argument he hit her and she said she was at the point of doing something that she’d regret, but we called and she said, “Dios es grande”.  She believes that God wants to be a part of her life and is looking forward to joining us for our cell group at the Jove’s house.  I feel very blessed to be a part of this work.  I’d like to encourage you to check out my facebook for more photos from the events.  We have more short-term projects coming up in August and November if you’d like to register go to www.extremenazarene.org and click on GET INVOLVED.

God is good and we’re excited to follow where he leads and see what he has in store.  Please join us in praying for Hunter, the people with whom we’re working, and for a place to rent out as our church.  We certainly have enough people interested to get going.

BUENAS NUEVAS !!!!!!!!!!!

ELLOS TAMBIEN NECESITAN CONOCER DEL AMOR DE DIOS, personas de la tercera edad

Hace 6 meses hicimos un festival de niños en uno de los parques de ese distrito y contactamos  a una señora Sonia, ella es la directora de lo de la tercera edad, ella quiso que vayamos  a la Posta a hacer un drama y a continuar con ellos visitándolos y así lo estamos haciendo estamos visitando a las personas de la tercera edad, en la posta médica de Hunter.

Regularmente se reúnen 50 o 60 personas para hacer terapias, ejercicios, paseos, etc.

Hace dos semanas proyectamos una película para ellos  llamada: Camino a la Redención, hubieron 50 personas y fue un tiempo muy bonito con alabanza, karaoke, gaseosa, galletas, caramelos.

Realmente estas personas dan  gozo a nuestras  vidas ver como aun con las pocas fuerzas que tiene continúan alabando a Dios y están felices cada vez que estamos con ellas para compartir mas de Dios.

New Beginnings and Focusing Efforts

Hope Becomes Reality

At times, as a missionary trying to plant 3 churches within the next year, it's hard to imagine the task actually being completed. But fortunately, we've got God on our side and He plays a pretty huge role. He's the reason for everything we do and the source of our connections and the changes in people's lives.

I'm grateful that He is allowing us to see the changes happening. One of the guys in our Hunter cell group was a bit drunk and out of it; he had been sleeping in the side room and stumbled into the doorway a bit dazed and confused. When he recognized that he was standing in front of a room full of people he quickly headed back to his room. Of course everyone in his family was laughing and distracted, as we were trying to make it through the lesson. Three people came in after we finished the lesson and sat down right before the closing prayer. After prayer the mother of this new family, wanted to clarify just how catholic she was and ask if it was ok to attend other churches if there wasn't a catholic church in her town, as well as make sure that we were catholic. Sometimes it feels like just about anything and everything will happen, but to have the word be heard and absorbed, now that's out of the question. I really don't care what church you attend, just that His rich and vibrant, living word is sinking in – because that is going to lead you closer to His heart and will. He'll make it clear where to be.

Anyway, as we were heading out, Javier came out and apologized for being so distracted and tuned out, on behalf of the group, and then said he was so grateful that we were there and to please continue to bring the word of God to them. He agreed to teach a lesson while we will be on vacation and that he wanted to teach the very lesson that we had just taught. He told us about the obvious changes occurring in his father's life – Julio is not or hardly is drinking and he's waking up early to do some family chores, things he never used to do. He is eager to know more and to get others pumped about knowing more of and simply knowing God. Good stuff.

Zelmira is preparing to send her boys back to Cusco, where they will start back to school and live with their father. Her home is too small to house them with her; she's devastated. Kevin, her oldest son at 10 years of age, is incredibly sad and blames God for this happening. We'll meet with them for ice cream or go to the zoo on Friday to help him process what is happening. It's so hard for them to understand. And Zelmira lives in a tiny one room home with her parents-in-law and her current husband; she feels as though she has no one with whom she can talk about what the boys are going through and how much she wishes she could be nearer to them. It has a little too much to do with the father of her boys. She pulled us aside the other day on the way out to ask prayer for the situation, she cried, and trusted that God is in the midst of what will come. She also agreed to teach a lesson while we're gone and join the folks at Javier's place.

Javier's place averages about 7-8 folks now and Zelmira's room had 7 adults and 3 kids last Monday. We're watching God's word call out to people and draw them in. We're watching people reach out, open up, begin to trust and dare to change. We're watching people claim this faith walk as their own and ask people to join them. We watch our church start to take form. Hope becomes reality by the grace of God.

Celebration Service

What a great evening!  Wendy and I, will the help and support of our church family, support family, and members of the office held our very first combined service for our 3 church plant areas.  The objective was to celebrate with them in their new way of living, help them to know all the folks in their district and give certificates to the seventeen people who completed a series of lessons about Christian basics.  Wendy prepared two slideshows, one that dated back to Love Extreme – which initiated our ministry, and one that contains photos and videos from our impacts and cell groups.  It was really cool to see all that has occurred over the past year.  We had band for worship for the first time in a long time at the church, a saxophone special, a drama, and I preached for the first time in my life…in Spanish.  I’ve spoken in front of hundreds of people, shared my testimony several times, given devotionals to small groups, but this was the first time that I preached and it was probably in front of 50 people or so.  After the service we had sandwiches and snacks, watched one of the slideshows and mingled.  It was such a great night.  Here are photos from the service.  Thanks to everyone who helped out!

Glimpses

Sunday, we didn't go to church because the night before Wendy fell and bloodied up her toes, as well as, had general body pain from the fall.  Beth, was a huge blessing and gave of her time to go out with me to my and Wendy's cell groups. (Read the Paucarpata blog to hear about the first half of the day and what happened on that side of town.)  First of all, it was the first time Wendy and I were not together for work.  It was the first time I taught a lesson by myself to adults.  Beth was a great help; she didn't know what the lessons were going to be on, but chimed in with some really great points.  It is very encouraging to know that at this point, finally after a year, I am able to share, teach, pray, etc. in Spanish...though I still need to increase my vocabulary, as well as learn and master some tenses.

More importantly, after the episode with two drunk guys in our cell group about which I need to update you on, we had eight people and some great news.  So here is last week's story: We had five people, two of which were drunk - one left to vomit in the middle of the lesson.  We were teaching on the fruits of the spirit, love in particular, and managed to convince Señor Julio and his son Richard to join us though they had spent there afternoon drinking and were drunk.  Richard hadn't woke up from his buzz-dream and was snoring up a storm on the bed while we were singing and going ahead with prayer and the lesson.  When he finally woke up, we convinced him and his dad to join us.  We're there every week, we know what the deal is, and said that they should just join us.  Well, Wendy laid down the law.  I honestly, was a little uncomfortable with it, but believe that God was leading her and really it was a word they needed to hear.  Julio was ready to listen and I don't feel as though Richard was ready to receive it, but she left it in the hands of God...well, fretted over whether it was good or bad all week and prayed about it a lot, but ultimately it's in the hands of God.

As it turns out, she was unable to go yesterday and I showed up with Beth.  We waited for everyone to trickle in bit-by-bit, got started late in doing so, sang a few songs, sang a few more as more people trickled in and then began the study on Patience.  I asked if anyone wanted to pray - everyone was incredibly hesitant.  Jimmy was volunteered by his uncle, we did a little coaching, and he offered a sincere and beautiful prayer.  Afterwards, though a little flustered at times I was grateful that they understood my teaching and it was a fairly interactive lesson.  There are so many under the surface details that I won't get into here, but nonetheless, Julio's brother was there and wants to come weekly because of the change that Julio has made over the past week.  He either didn't drink at all, or barely drank anything and wants to continue to change.  The uncle, whom I'm sure is a WOO if he were to do Strengths Finder, has a Christian background and will be an asset in the developing group - though he seems to be fond of the prosperity gospel, one I wonder if God gets tired of hearing about instead of the truth about picking up our cross and following him. 

There was an energy to the group that hasn't always been there and it was the reality that they are beginning to believe that God has much more instore for them and their lives are changing!  Yesterday was a glimpse of what God is up to in their lives.  It's been a rather discouraging month and Sunday night was a big encouragement.  I have to keep the longview in sight - I can't imagine what God will do in this place by the time we are done with our mission and ready to return to our respective places.  Please keep this family in your prayers, as well as all the folks in Hunter during this rainy season.  It's a little more difficult than usual to meet together and continue building on the foundation that we have; however, the battle is not ours, it's the LORDs.

Day-by-Day

We've been blessed to see some growth and change in Hunter, which we have to remind ourselves is not always the case in ministry.  Sundays and Mondays are our Hunter Days.  We're right in the middle of the rainy season here in Arequipa.  Based on last year around this time I hadn't a clue that the rainy season existed, but it came back full force this year, the worst that some have seen since their childhood.  Because of this, we've been unable to teach in the park, but since our impact we have been making new connections that appear to be bearing fruit.  We continue to teach at Zelmira's house.  Her father joined the group yesterday and we had 4 children in addition to the 5 adults.  A little girl, of 11 years, that lives across the street wanted to join us but could not leave the care of her house while her mom is working.  We will start to meet with her and her mom next week.

We stopped by Sandra's house again - she had not joined us at the church because of the rain and her phone had been turned off.  We were leaving a note and on our way out, when she and her daughter Camila came walking up the long stretch of stairs.  She still wants to meet with us at Zelmira's house next week and possibly go to church with us on Sunday.  We were unable to meet with Rosa yesterday because she was working, but continue to look forward to being with her next week.  Mariselda, a single mom that came to the event, has opened her house to us to teach her niece, nephew, and daughter besides joining us for the cell group.  She seems eager to learn as well.

The conversation that touched my heart the most this week was at the Jove's house.  Barely anyone came out because of the rain, but Laura was there and was later joined by Shirley and her mom, Señora Cristina.  When we arrived we witnessed Laura getting Jimmy up out of the room to haul him to another room - both him and his father were drunk.  Señora Cristina, tried to convince Señor Julio to join us, but he said, "I'm a little drunk and embarrassed, but you can give them my word that I'll be there to listen next week."

In many of our lives, Sundays are a day of rest from work and a time we go to church or spend the day with family.  For many in this area there is still work on this day, but less than normal, and then the rest of the day they sit around and drink.  Maybe by virtue of being around consistently we can help convince them of other pass times as all of the women in their family are saddened by this behavior.  Since it was just the three women, and for a time only Laura, we were able to have a heart-to-heart with them.  We were able to apply Biblical truths to their situations, encourage them to continue to pray even if at times it feels like God isn't listening, and we were able to witness first hand the spiritual hunger that God is putting in Laura's life especially.  It's a beautiful thing really and it's the slow bloom of relationship day-by-day.

Back in the Saddle Again

I feel like I just came out of a whirl wind. After Wendy and I got back from Paita for the holidays we hoped to have a strong start in Hunter and our first Sunday back at it, none of the lil kids came around and the folks from our cell group weren't able to get together. The following day we visited with Zelmira, whom we've had a relationship with since the megaevent in June and decided to start a cell group with her family. Then we visited with Rosa, a single mom, who we had met through our first impact in Hunter and visited only once in her house before December.  She was looking forward to starting back up again.  At least things were picking back up and fitting together for our Sundays and Mondays that we have devoted specifically to work in Hunter.  And then yesterday blew my mind a little.

We had a festival for families at the Complejo Señor de los Milagros, a big park, where we passed out invitations on Friday and thought there might be a better turn out this time. We also noticed that it seems as though more people hang out on Sunday afternoons at this park where we teach Bible lessons to a handful of children.  The combination of both doubled, or even tripled, the turnout to our last impact and we saw many people come forward to accept Christ.  At the very least we had 100 people immediately around the shows and between 20-30 adults came forward to accept Christ.  Many had never been to a church, read the Bible, or talked about Jesus. 

After the event, Wendy and I went to our cell group and while there were only 7 people there, 3 were new and appeared to have a Christian background, which is always helpful when your shepherding new believers.  Javier is all about inviting more people into their home and so a lot of people from the event are going to start coming.  One of the more encouraging occurances at the cell group was that we had a little alone time with Laura, Jimmy's wife.  They have shown promise for their interest in this new life, but are a little timid.  She opened up to us and shared how much they missed learning more about God while we were away.  She talked about their curiosity religiously, how they had went to a mormon church and scoped out some other places before, but that really it was a beautiful thing to begin to get to know about God and to know him personally like they never have before.  She later pulled Wendy aside privately to share some prayer request.  There are signs all around that God is moving in the hearts of our new friends in Hunter.

Today we visited two people from the event, they intend to join us for church on Sunday - we're going to meet them half way to take them there.  Also, one of the ladies who had given us her contact information was not at her house, but her daughter was: a 24 year-old, single mother, that had her reasons to be skeptical.  I played with her 3 year old daughter Camilla while Wendy spoke with her and prayed with her.  She's another that has never read the Bible and accepted Christ today.  She needs some consistency in her life and I pray that God guides our steps in every way that we may exemplify to her something in which she can trust. 

We also started discipling Zelmira's family today: her, her husband, and parents-in-law.  Zelmira's husband, Abel, and his parents accepted Christ!  While Wendy was talking with them I taught her two sons and nephew about the Isrealite's situation before Moses was born.  It was a very special time for me because it was the first time I was ever alone to teach without someone's help.  More good news: their house just happens to be on the other side of the hill from Sandra, the 24 yr. old, single mom.  Sandra, would like to join us for these meetings as well. 

Rosa, the single mom mentioned earlier, also is willing to have new people join her at her house for a time of discipleship and wants to go to church with us on Sunday too.  All in all, though I'm rather worn out from the past two days, I'm immensily blessed and so grateful to be doing this work for the Lord.  Hunter para Cristo!

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.