Orientation Recap

All of the students have arrived at their final destination for the summer!  We had an incredible four days of orientation.  It included teaching on Bible Storying, world view, mountain culture, spiritual preparedness, discipleship, evangelism, cooking from scratch and much more.  We really packed in a lot and tried not to overwhelm anybody!

It was so fun for me to watch the students bond.  Not just with their teammates but with other students they won't see again until the end of the summer.  It seemed like a group was always playing Banana-grams during the breaks.  Other sat and laughed, played guitar and sang, took mini naps when they could.

As the village teams departed on Sunday and Monday, there was a sense of peace that they are where the Lord wants them this summer.  I was brought to tears as the last group departed Lima yesterday thinking about all they are going to experience and learn, how the Lord is going to shape them, what and impact this summer will have on their lives and the light that they are going to be to the people around them.  I am humbled to have the opportunity to be a small part of what the Lord is doing with these 25 amazing students. 

Now I wait (slightly impatiently) to be back with them again.  In about 3 weeks I'll begin traveling to meet up with the mountain teams for a time of rest and debriefing for them.  I just want to encourage and love on them during that time.  I pray that I will be a blessing and they will feel refreshed (and not just from a hot shower).  


If I haven't mentioned it yet (and you will see this again).  I love these students.  

And then they were sent out...

They have arrived, learned, asked questions, laughed, cried a little, prayed, and encouraged one another for  the past four days.  Today the summer missionaries are sent out to their ministry sites.

As the teams depart this morning, I will have to start dealing with my "empty nest syndrome."  I absolutely adore these students and would love to work alongside them in the villages.  For now, that is not my role, and as I stay in Lima and continue to pray for them I look forward to the reports of what the Lord is doing among them.

Summer Missionaries 2011

We had a great first day of orientation.  The students are troopers.  They are tired and probably slightly overwhelmed but they were awesome today.

I love getting to know them in person instead of via email or Facebook.  It's so much more personal and real, the extravert in me needs that.

Here are a few pics from today.  We did have a beautiful sunny day all day until we got down to the coast to take pictures.  Go figure.

I'll add more as the week goes on.

Iquitos Team

Los Angeles Team

Recuay Team

San Jose de Quero Team

Chancay River Valley Tean

The Whole Gang!!

Amazed and Thankful

It is 24 hours before the large group of students arrive and I must admit I am completely amazed that it's already here.  That past two years I've been running around like crazy the days before trying to finalize everything and make sure it's perfect.  Being the third summer that I've done this, I have a good feel for how things will go, it's comfortable, I have a routine for orientation.

Usually I'm stressed and sleep deprived when orientation begins, but not this year!  No stress and I'm actually going to bed early.

Whatever the difference is this year, I'm thankful.  Sleep and a calm spirit make all the difference!

Please continue to pray for the 25 student who will be in orientation this week.

Six Days!

Yikes!  It's only 6 days until my summer missionaries arrive!  This is about the point that I hit panic mode racking my brain trying to make sure that I have everything set up and ready to flow really smoothly.  There are some things that are out of my control, like flights landing on time.

Please join me this week in praying for these requests.

• Pray for the 26 students who are saying their goodbyes for the summer to friends and family.  Pray that this would be a time of excitement about what the Lord has for them during the summer.
• Pray for smooth connections at the airports, that flights will arrive on time, and that luggage would arrive WITH them.
• Pray that I would sleep well this week and be able to "turn off" my brain at night and not think about all the I need to do the next day.
• Pray for the Reap Team and I as we teach the students June 2-5, pray that the Lord would speak through us, we would clearly communicate and that the students would be like sponges soaking up information.
• Pray for the students as they begin to build relationships with their summer teammates and translators beyond the world of Facebook. ;)  
• Pray for the translators who will be working alongside the students all summer as they also prepare to leave home for almost 7 weeks.
• Pray for wisdom for me in handling the unexpected things that will come up. 

Thank you so much for your love and support!

Pictures and updates to come about our orientation days.

Helloooo from Louisville, KY!

Greetings from Louisville, Kentucky, home of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

I've enjoyed a week of vacation soaking up some delightful spring days, watching my dad graduate with his PhD, lots of time with the whole family and of course some shopping and great food!

I'm currently sitting in the Miami, FL airport waiting for my flight back to Lima.  The week has passed so quickly, but it has been such a blessing to be here to celebrate my Dad's accomplishment with the family.

A team of 7 students arrived in Iquitos yesterday to serve for 4 to 10 weeks on a tributary of the Amazon River.  {Some are staying 4 weeks and others 10 weeks, it's not still up in the air. ;) }

June 1 officially kicks off my summer.  Twenty-six summer missionaries will be landing in Lima to serve two month in the mountains or jungle.

They just announced boarding, so I should fly for now.  More to come next week about my incredible students!

Special Prayer Request

Could you please lift up one of our co-laborers for us? His name is Jacob. He is a pastor in Oklahoma, who has been faithfully coming down to work in the jungle for the past few years as part of their associations strategic partnership. We found out this week that he has tuberculosis and having previously had a liver transplant- it makes his case extremely sensitive. From what the doctors have told him, that there is only a 50% survival rate of cases of tuberculosis with people who have also had a liver transplant. As you can imagine we are so upset by this and were actually encouraged by Jacob yeseterday with his eternal perspective and attitude towards all of it, saying basically that if you've got to die, what better way than because you were doing missions. My missionary friends in the jungle have really enjoyed getting to know him over the years as well as two of his children that have also served with REAP. When they come down, its feels like family has come to 'visit' with them.  His oldest son is coming at the end of this month, Jacob was planning on leading this team but will not be now, because of all of this.

Would you take some specific time before the Lord in prayer for Jacob, his family, the doctors that are treating him and the medications he is taking and also for the Iquito people that their association has adopted.

I can't say enough to really relate to you how much we would deeply appreciate you going before the throne with this. As Jacob put it...PRAY ON and may God be persuaded by the MULTITUDES praying on his behalf!