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.