Getting Started

Before I start this post I want to apologize for the inconsistency of our posting to the blog. We have been in a state of transition for a long time but now that we are settled and starting our respective jobs we will be posting regularly about what we are doing and specific ways that you can be praying for the work in Peru. Thank you so much for those of you who haven’t given up on us and actually see and read this post!

Mindy and I have moved into a wonderful apartment in an area of Lima called San Isidro. It is on a quiet street, gets lots of sunlight, and has a back yard. We absolutely love it! Our first two weeks in Lima have been spent getting settled in, going through more orientation and training (survival training), and getting to know our team. We were especially blessed to be able to get here just in time to join our team for the annual prayer retreat. The retreat was at the beach and was a great opportunity for all of the new people to meet and learn from the veterans. Before you start feeling envious you should know that we all came home covered in flee and mosquito bites.

This past Friday, Mindy and I went on our first trip. The purpose of this trip was to prepare for two groups of International World Changers (IWC) that we will be hosting this summer. Two of the project coordinators, Chad and Kathy, came to Peru to check out the site, plan the ministry projects, and figure out all of the logistics. This is a big job because there will be around 70 high school students each week plus around 15 missionaries and 15 interpreters. That is a lot of people to move around the mountains! We will be based in a small city called Canta but the students will be working in schools, hosting plaza parties, doing construction projects and more in villages scattered in the mountains all around Canta. It was really good for Mindy and I to see an area where we have churches working and to visit a local church and pray and worship with the members. We also both got some (a lot) of practice driving a straight shift truck up and down those narrow, dirt mountain roads. If you have been to Peru, you know exactly what I am talking about!

Tomorrow I will be leaving to go with a team from College Street Baptist Church to go work with the Ambo Pasco people. My role on this trip will be to talk with the local pastors and find out how many new churches have been planted and how many people have been baptized. This is really exciting because we get to see how the churches that College St planted have started other churches. The group will be doing evangelism, encouragement of house church leaders, discipleship, and pastor training. I am really excited to be able work with this team and to start on my first research project.

Prayer Requests:
• For the World Changers coming this summer
• For the College Street Trip
• That God would send us more people interested in summer missions
• That Mindy and I would continue to learn how to do our jobs
• That our relationship with God would grow and deepen everyday and that it would be the center of all that we do.