Prayer Request

Hello again!  It's been a very full day, and couple of weeks for me.  I keep intending to update the blog with all the happenings, but time has just not allowed for this to happen.  Tonight, I have an important prayer request for you all.  Many of my summer students have faced a fare amount of spiritual warfare in the places they are serving.  Please join with me in praying for all my summer missionaries.  Please pray that the Lord would strengthen, uphold, encourage and protect them.  It is discouraging for me to see them under spiritual attack.  I know the Lord has a plan and these students are his.  Please also pray for me as I make decision with these students.  Pray for wisdom to make the best decisions for everyone involved in situations and for words of encouragement to share with those who are struggling.

I feel like I'm starting to ramble.  It's time for me to go to bed!  Thank you for your prayers.  They make a difference!

For my Awesome Dad

Happy Father's Day Daddy!  I love you!!

Summer Missionaries

Summer missionaries have arrived!  This great group of 20 are FANTASTIC.  I am so thrilled to have them here.  They will be serving in Yungay, Huaraz, Iquitos, San Jose de Quero/Usibamba and doing research until July 30.  Life is great.  I love my job!

Praise the Lord!

In March I went to the jungle with a group of students from Ole Miss.  Another group of students came the second week of May, and while I wasn't able to travel with them, I've received an incredible report from them.

The past two weeks we have been in Chirani, a village in the upper jungle of Peru along the Perene River. There are about 200 Ashanika people living in Chirani. They are all very hard workers, spending most of the day in the fields, washing clothes, drying coffee beans, and cooking.

It has been so evident that God is revealing Himself to the people of Chirani. He is here! Showing Himself in  ways that no man could ever.

The school teacher allowed us to go in the school for 2 hours each day and teach English, do activities, and tell bible stories. What a great opportunity to began teaching children about the love God has for them! The men met every morning after cutting the grass with a machete. They prayed together and read scripture together. The last day we were in Chirani, Enrique, Isais, and Ricardo (all believers) asked the guys on our team to go to other men in the village to reach out to them, giving their word (in Ashanika) that those 3 would continue to meet on their own! Each night we had a community service in which we began teaching about the life of Christ, going through the book of John. From the first night, "why Christ had to come" up until the last night of the two weeks, "the prodigal son", Scripture had been speaking to them.

They are asking so many questions like "How do I love more?", "How do I have a Godly family?", or “How can I tell others about God?". These are definitely birthed by the Spirit. It's not natural for us to want to love more.

We have started one-on-one times with several people in the village and God has really been showing out in those times. They are so hungry to know more, it's God drawing them and nothing we are forcing.

I personally have been led to reach out to a lady named Rosalia. Since my trip in March, I have not been able to get her out of my mind, seeing her in my dreams, and constantly praying for her. I knew she was someone I had to talk to and invest time with this summer. The 3rd day in Chirani, I was washing clothes with her and trying to communicate as best as I could with my limited Spanish. She began telling me that she wants to understand the Bible that she read, but never understood.  That was such an affirmation to the power of prayer! We have had many conversations and started reading the Bible together and discussing stuff. She is so hungry and I can't wait to get back there!!!  I really see that He is leading us to spread out and meet people where they are in their homes.

In Philippians, Paul told them that he was confident that the work God began, He would also carry out to completion. It's God who reveals Himself, we have just been entrusted to carry the gospel to them.

We are just being obedient. Colossians 1:6. It is God who convicts and knocks on the hearts of the lost. It's so humbling to know that God doesn't need us, but chooses for us to be a part of this plan.

I love their passion, obedience and the ways the Lord is working!  I have the best job in the world!

Figured It Out

I figured it out.  Somehow I changed my Blogger setting to "Oriya."  Not knowing what language this was, I googled it, and discovered:

Oriya or Odia (ଓଡିଆ oṛiā) is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian state of Orissa. The language is also one of the many official languages in India. (Info from Wikipedia).

You can see how all those little symbols above meant absolutely nothing to me.  Now that the world is back in English, I will begin blogging again.....tomorrow.

The Lord did awesome things in and through the lives of the students from the Charleston BCM in South Carolina.  They came the last two weeks of May to serve in San Jose de Quero.  More news and pictures from their trip coming.

Thanks for praying for me!!

Everything is jibberish!

Sorry for the delay in blogging.  Everytime I log into blogger, everything is jibberish and there is nothing I can read.  As soon as I figure out how to change it to English or Spanish I'll post a great informative blog!

Electricity, how wonderful!

Amber and I had a surprise this morning when we woke up to no electricity.  At first, I thought maybe it was just my apartment, but that wasn't the case.  Evidently we lost power about 1:00am.  The electric company called our office to let us know we were the only house in the neighborhood without power.  What in the world?  We did pay our last bill a little late, but it was paid over a week ago.

The electrician came (even on time!), and tinkered around for a long time, yet still now power.  Eventually he came to tell me and Amber that the main breaker box had shorted out and needed to be replaced.  So, off he went to Ace Hardware (and a "short lunch") to pick up the needed parts.  Three and a half hours later he returned and went back to working.  Low and behold he was able to fix the problem and diagnose some other things that we "need" him to fix for us.  It felt a little more like he was looking for more work. =)

At the end of the day, electricity has been restored and I have been reminded of how dependent I am upon it.  Hopefully it will still be working in the morning!