Sunday, January 31, 2010

The 'Nevers' of the Gospel

O Lord, may I
never fail to come to the knowledge of the truth,
never rest in a system of doctrine, however scriptural,
   that does no bring or further salvation,
   or teach me to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts,
   or help me to live soberly, righteously, godly;
never rely on my own convictions and resolutions,
   but be strong in thee and in thy might;
never cease to find thy grace sufficient
   in all my duties, trials and conflicts;
never forget to repair to thee
   in all my spiritual distresses and outward troubles,
   in all the dissatisfactions experience in creature comforts;
never fail to retreat to him who is full of grace and truth,
   the friend that loveth at all times,
   who is touched with feelings of my infirmities,
   who can do exceeding abundantly for me;
never confine my religion to extraordinary occasions,
   but acknowledge thee in all my ways;
never limit my devotions to particular seasons
   but be in thy fear all the day long;
never be godly only on the sabbath or in thy house,
   but on every day abroad and at home;
never make piety a dress but a habit,
   not only a habit but a nature,
   not only a nature but a life.
Do good to my by all they dispensations,
   by all means of grace,
   by worship, prayers, praises,
And at last let me enter that world where is no temple,
   but only thy glory and the Lamb's.

From The Valley of Vision

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Prayer Requests


  • As many of you know, I'm praying for the opportunity to stay in Peru three weeks past the end of my term to assist with and International World Changers (IWC) project.  We have approximately 87 people arriving in Peru the day that I'm suppose to go home.  It breaks my heart to think that I might not be able to stay for the last student summer project of 2010.  I heard this morning that my request has been passed as far as the IMB home office.  Please pray with me that the men deciding if I can stay a little longer will understand the reasoning and approve the request.  I don't know when a decision will be made.

  • Friday morning, my supervisors and I are taking IWC Coordinators to the ministry site in the mountains. We're going about 2.5 hours outside of Lima to Canta (approx. 10,000 ft in altitude).  Please pray for wisdom and vision as we plan out ministry for the 2 projects in this area this summer.  
  • My constant prayer over the next 7 months is for discernment of what's next in life.  The Lord is giving me peace and a calm spirit (which is NOT of me) about the future.  Please pray that I will rest in His peace and in the right time, begin to see what His plan is.



Monday, January 25, 2010

What The Future Holds

With just over 6 months left in Peru, I'm being asked more and more frequently, "What's next?"  In all honestly, I really don't know.  I'm open to moving just about anywhere and don't really know what I want to do workwise (and I'm open to suggestions!).  It's going to be very difficult to leave Peru and start over again Stateside.  I know that the Lord can use me anywhere and His work here is not in any way dependent upon me.  
Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails."  I don't feel like I have any plans at this point, but I know as my time in Peru draws to a close, I will have to start making plans for the future.  I pray that it is always the Lord's purpose that prevails in my life.  Please pray with me for wisdom and direction as I return to the States in August.
I am as committed as ever to stay focused on ministry in Peru with all the talk of the future.  Students are signing up to come serve this summer and it's exciting!  My team will have more students this summer than any previous year and I can't wait to see what the Lord does in and through them.  I look forward to seeing the Lord glorified through the students lives and testimonies.
I can't say it enough: THANK YOU!!!  Thank you praying, writing, visiting, encouraging, calling, responding, and just being yourselves. 

Back in Lima

After a really good but long week, I'm back in Lima once again.  I still haven't downloaded my pictures from my camera, but for a great overview of the Pastor's Conference last week, check out my friend Amber's blog.  I'll try to post some of my pictures next week.

For the first half of this week my supervisor's are in the States and I'm staying with their kids in Lima.  They are 10 and 13, so it is super laid back and doesn't take quite as much energy as having 100 last week!    We're planning some fun outings for the next couple of days to help the time pass until their parents return.

Next weekend, I'm headed back to the mountains for the 3rd time this month.  It's been just a little crazy since coming back from vacation!  We are taking a small group on a site visit to look and plan for an International World Changers project this summer.  In June and August we will have a group of 80 arrive to split up and work in villages for a week.  This weekend we'll do a lot of the ground work.

I feel like my blog has recently turned into the a running commentary on my schedule since I've been in and out so much.  I know it's not the most interesting or exciting, but I greatly appreciate the prayers and encouragement.  Please let me know how I can be praying for each of you!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Day 1 with a Trampoline

I'm in Huaraz  helping take care of kids during the Pastor's Conference this week.  It has been an exhausting day, but good day.  We didn't know how many kid to expect, and ended up with 74 kids ages 2 to 15.  We're keeping them at a mission house that has a huge yard with some jungle gym equipment and a huge trampoline.  Needless to say, the trampoline, was the hit of the day.  We spend most of the days saying, "Only five at a time, without your shoes for 5 minutes."  Every time we turned around there were more and more kids on the trampoline.  They were so excited to get to play all day, and were really great about playing with each other and not needing a lot of adult supervision (other than the trampoline).

We have 3 more days with these kiddos.  It's going to be a long week!

The great thing is their parents are getting solid Biblical teaching completely uninterrupted by their kids.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Discipleship Trip Update


Sorry for these blog posts not being in sequential order. My first trip to the mountains for 2010 was before I took care of the boys (2 posts ago).

It is always good to get back to San Jose de Quero. The people are so generous, and there is a part of me that just feels closer to the Lord there. That might have to do with the fact that it's located at 13,100 feet! It's a beautiful area and I can always see the Lord at work in people's lives.

The team and other missionaries that I traveled with have the opportunity to meet with the Bible study group in San Jose de Quero. It was a smaller group than usual due to the heavy rains, but still a sweet time of singing, preaching, encouraging and prayer.

We also were able to meet with Godofredo and his wife Arminda. They are believers trying to begin a Bible study in their town, Usibamba. They have had some difficulty in getting others to come. We were able to answer many of their questions from their own personal study. They asked us to return the following day to meet with them again. When we arrived Sunday morning, the girls on the team shared their testimonies. Godofredo was the only person there, but I was excited that we would get to focus and pour into him even more. About 30 minutes into our time, a young man, probably 22, arrived named Michel. Michel shared with us that he used to go to church with his grandparents, but after their death, he hadn't been much. As we listened and learned that he is not a believer, we could hear from his story how the Lord was working on his heart. The team shared the gospel with him, answered questions, shared more scripture and as our time came to a close, prayed with him for discernment in his life. Michel agreed to meet with Godofredo to continue to learn more about Christ. It is exciting to see the Lord calling people to Himself!

Please pray for:
* Michel's salvation.
* Godofredo as he meets with Michel and as he strives to learn more about the Lord.
* Arminda as she makes time to read scripture and pray daily while caring for her family and store.
* the discipline in reading the Word and prayer for all the young believers in San Jose de Quero and Usibama.

The are more encouraging stores to share from this trip, but I'll save them for a later post. I leave in 6 hours for my next trip to Huaraz to assist a REAP North Stategy Coordinator church with children's ministry during a conference for local Peruvian pastors and church leaders. Time to go pack!

Burning News

After my couple of days with the boys, I came home pretty tired, and glad to have an afternoon to not do a whole lot. I opened up the apartment to get a nice cross breeze and was laying on the couch watching/napping as I heard fire trucks racing by. I didn't think much about it. Lots of street noise is normal in a city of 8 million. Then I heard my neighbor yelling "fire, fire, fire!" I decided I should see how close this fire was to me. From the balcony, it was closer than I expected:

I was surprised to see part of the building on fire since the structure is all made from cement. I don't think the pipes were on fire, but the flame in the middle was coming from the floor below.

Our local fireman came through the roof with his hose to put out the flames. He didn't appear to have any back up with him.

This neighbor saw a flame jump across the roof and land on the wooden chair. When it started smoldering, he decided to do something about it. So he climbed from two houses away to get the chair, but then didn't know what to do with it. The whole neighborhood was on their roofs or balconies giving him instructions on what to do with it. His eventual decision? Drop it 3 floors down and see if that puts out the small flame. I don't know if it worked or not, but everyone cheered and he turned around with a huge grin on his face!