Motion Sickness

I have been blessed with the ability to do ANYTHING in the car, plane, boat, train, blimp, helicopter, submarine... anything that moves.  I can read, write, watch movies, anything that might give other people a headache or send them scrambling for a brown paper bag.  My mother has always called me out on this and doesn't understand how I can do it.  I claim that it's from living in the country, so far from anything valid to call civilization that it came down to survival that I entertain myself in the car.  Long car rides were always a part of my childhood.

This week I've found myself in the center of change... a different motion.  So, here's a quick breakdown of what happened this week:

Monday a member of the Arequipa team, Daniel, was sent home.  I am at peace with the decision now, but don't necessarily agree with the decision.  He was sent home for his attitude.  I don't really want to get more into it, but please pray for him as he readjusts to American living... to be honest I'm slightly jealous of the food he is enjoying right now!

So, all week we were dealing with Daniel having been sent home, the Cusco and Arequipa team were more effected because he was from their cohort, but it was still upsetting regarding how many others had been sent home... it's never good.  Saturday, we all knew there were two major changes, but that doesn't mean we were prepared.  We packed up all of our things and moved over into a new apartment!  The girls have their own floor and the guys theirs.  We took down all of our beds and moved the dressers over... it was a ton of work.  But, at the end of the day we had to say good-bye to another part of our family, the Cusco team.  It was hard to let go of a piece of our family, but it's encouraging to know they are not too far away and that they are doing their mission work.  Please pray for our Cusco team as they start their work!  On top of that... we had moved to an unfamiliar place, which really isn't helpful when your faced with new uncomfortable situations or loss.

To top off a week of change, Sunday, the pastor of the Umacollo church, the church I have been attending, died.  This is also the man with whom Garren and I had lived while we were in language study.  Garren and I were walking back to the new apartment building when we ran into Cristobal on the road and that's where he told us the news.  It's still hard to believe.  We went to a service last night and got to grieve with my adopted family.  There are a lot of mixed emotions concerning the death of Pastor Genaro.  Maybe I'll expand upon that in another post.  His funeral is today.  Please pray for the family of Genaro and also the church congregation as we all deal with this sudden change.  He was just re-elected to continue his pastoral ministry not even a week ago, and now they have to find a new pastor to continue with the church.  He died Sunday afternoon and his birthday was Monday... he would have been 60.  A praise came from the apparent hopelessness of Genaro's passing.  Pastor Solano spoke at the service last night for Pastor Genaro and gave an invitation for salvation and a woman gave her life to Christ.  In the past I've been critical about the amount of people that accept salvation... but I was so happy.  The angels were rejoicing.

This week has truly been a storm.  I can't believe how much change we've been confronted with this week.  Please pray for us as we continue to plant our feet in the firm foundation of Christ.  Satan has been working on us this week to discourage us, but we remain strong in the Lord.

Things I Love and Don’t Love About Peru: Churros/Coffee

Hello Readers!  This is an idea that I had a while back after one of my journal entries.  My friend Garren had made a blog about things that he liked and didn’t like so much about Peru and it inspired me to make a list.  Along the side of each point I had drawn a little picture and thought I could make my creative perogative a form of entertainment for my blog readers.  After all I want you all to be a part of this journey and have as much of a glimpse into my life as you can.  So, I decided that every once in a while I will post a segment called “What I Love and Don’t Love About Peru.”  Along with an explanation of my loves and not loves, I’ve been tuning into my creativity and will post these cartoons I’ve been making with Aviary!  (Check it out!  It’s like a free Adobe Suite!)

Note: It is not my intention to make this a complaint segment.  I hope you don’t view “What I Love and Don’t Love About Peru” as “I Don’t Want to Be Here” or “I Hate Peru.”  Instead, I want you to get the best idea about Peru and what it’s like to live here!


So, that is my intro to this new segment.  I hope that you like it and that you ask questions if you have any!  I would LOVE to share this experience with you anyway I can… so put that on the list of things I love about Peru!  On with this segment!

Love: Churros
Introducing, the churro.  This is also a dessert that will be included in another segment I am developing called “Pieces of Heaven In Peru.”  These little pieces of heaven are a snack that us poor missionaries are crazy about, not only for their deliciousness, but also for the cheap cheap cheap price!  Are you ready for this?  Sixty cents each!  But wait!  It gets better!  That’s before the exchange rate!  So, they are more like a little more than twenty cents!  You just can’t beat that… and they are a five minute walk down the road.  Right, well, let me tell you what this thing is.  It is an elephant ear rolled up and closed at the ends with… hot-lip-burning-caramel inside and then rolled in sugar.  Yea, it’s a parent’s worst nightmare, a kids loftiest dream.

Not Love: Coffee    
So, you thought Sanka was bad?  Peru has the worst instant coffee in the world.  You know, that may not be true as I’ve only seen a small portion of the world, but of the world I’ve seen it’s the worst.  I mean, they have this coffee called Ecco here that’s not even real coffee… it’s coffee flavored barley.  Come on now.  On the other side, Peru does have their own REAL coffee, but it’s so sad… so so so sad.  However, all their great fruit juices make up for it!

*NEWS FLASH*
While writing this post I got a phone call from Saul, I wrote a blog entry about him maybe a month ago.  Well, he had sent me an email that he would get in contact with me and at the time it seemed like he was saying, Leave me alone. So, I got a phone call from him as I was writing this up and he said he wanted to talk!  We are meeting this Friday at the Plaza de Armas at 4:00p.m. so, your prayers would be appreciated! 
Also, I just got out of a meeting with some 40/40’s that I’ve been working with closely to unite two cell groups that we’ve been working with that would get us to the first level of a church plant!  This is huge!  Well, there are some church leaders that are getting involved and starting to make things difficult for our goal.  A lot of the church leaders here in Peru think our work as 40/40s is to grow their church congregation… we are not on the same page when it comes to goals.  So, please pray for us as we meet with these leaders and try to explain to them our Final Goal… a church plant.  If you have any questions, please ask!

That is all for this post!  Here are some other new segments that are coming your way!

• Pieces of Heaven in Peru
  
• Epistles of Joel

Wow, I only have two?  I thought I had more when I started that list!  This is where you come in!  HELP ME!  Give me some ideas about what YOU want to know about my LIFE in PERU that I could do a regular segment about.  I will still be giving you heartfelt entries, so don’t worry I’m not leaving you out of the loop in any way!

Also, look along the right closer to the top of this page and you’ll see the archive for “Things I Love and Don’t Love About Peru” underneath Pages called… Things in Peru!

One more thing!  The story I posted in my last entry got published with Engage Magazine!  Here's the link, if you read the last post you've already read this, but I think it's still noteworthy.

Ketchup!

It’s not very often when you feel your life is impacted in a short matter of time.  There are just those certain events, and I’m sure you all know from your personal stories, when either a person, a lesson, a decision or a mistake seems to alter the way you think.  I feel like someone took a pile of spiritual manure and dumped it over my head this past week.  I guess what I’m trying to tell you is I experienced some intense spiritual growth!
Most of my readers have kept up with this blog and know that every week I have a new class, yes a different class each week.  This past week our class was Spiritual Development of a Missionary… or something along those lines, I’m translating this from Spanish.  Our professor’s name was Jim Lynch.  He is gringo and TALL… very startling sight.  But, honestly I felt a closer connection with him in comparison to the other professors that I’ve had because… well we are both gringo! 
In our class we talked about the importance of prayer, reading the Bible and meditating on it, fasting, healing, and sanctification.  There’s a slight possibility that I may have missed something there, but you’ll forgive me, I don’t have my notes here with me.  One of the things that I learned most about was holiness or the sanctification.  I always thought that holiness was something that only old people could attain or, I’ll say bluntly, was boooooooooring!  I’ve learned quite the contrary, however, that holiness is something that God calls us to.  We read I Kings 8:54-61, you can read it at home too, it was eye opening. 
Later that week we did a study on healing. I normally would have been saying, “Whoa, hold on here!” But, having seen how much I had learned prior to this lesson I was open to hear what the professor had to say.  The thing that resounded in my head above all was that God as never changed, and the God we see in Acts working through the disciples healing broken people can happen all the same today.  We ended up gathering in the back of the room in a circle and the professor asked us if there was anyone in the group who needed healing to step inward and we would pray over them.  We prayed for an hour and a half anointing people within our group.  We know for sure that one person was healed! 
Part of the healing lesson the professor led us through had to do with casting out demons.  Again, God has never changed and he can still do the same work through us.  Well, this past weekend Roy had gone out with Tricia and Lindy and had come across a man who, after hearing about his actions, appeared to be demon-possessed.  I was scared when Roy was telling me about this and I thought… I need to go!  We went out looking for the man, but we couldn’t find him.  I was a bit disappointed, but happy because I answered God’s call and was obedient going out to look for the guy. 
*FLASH FORWARD*
Well, I started this post about a week ago.  But this past week we went to Puno to look for prospective homes.  This is the story of what happened while we were there.  It is posted on the Extreme Nazarene website, but I’ll do you the favor and post it here as well.

We have a praise from the city of Puno!  We recently traveled out to Puno to look for some prospective living places and to get to know the city better.  During some of our free time, we decided to explore the city.  From our explorations, we discovered the most authentic “Punonian” souvenir shop!  Garren and Roy initially discovered it, and then Kristen, Francisca and I met them there.  By the time we had gotten there, Garren, in an attempt to get a discount on a hat, had told the store owner that we were missionaries working in Puno to plant churches.
The store owner, Hector, showed immediate interest and started asking more questions about what we were doing there.  Francisca, being our only native Spanish speaker there, took the opportunity to share more about who we are and what we believe.  Then, she asked him if he was ready to make a decision to give his life to Christ.  There was no hesitation. He immediately said yes as he wiped away tears.  We gathered around him, and Francisca led him through the sinner’s prayer.  Afterward, we were joyful and shared more with him about our Christian walk and tried to feed him spiritually as much as we could in the short time we were there.
I think one of the most amazing things is how he shared how he had been looking for the truth in other religions.  He had gone to Seventh Day Adventist, Mormon, and Living Water churches, but he didn’t find what his heart we looking for there.  He told us that he could feel God’s presence with us.  Then, I think the most amazing thing is that he told us he never has his shop open in the mornings… and that he knew that that day he needed to open his shop.  I told him God had a plan and wanted him to come to him that day!
We gave him the address to the local Nazarene church in Puno, took down his information, and gave it to the Pastor.  Pastor Herman said he would be in contact with him!
We are all blown away with this blessing.  Not only was it awesome to see this man come to Christ, but also to see how God is preparing Puno for us before we are even there!  His hand is working, cultivating the hearts of these people. It is so encouraging to see the evidence.  Praise the Lord!  He is so GOOD!  Keep praying!  The Lord is listening!

It is so true.  The Lord is so good.  I am so excited to see what else He has in store, I know I say that a lot, but how could I not!?  Joel and I are getting along a LOT better.  Today we went out into town and stopped at a restaurant with Kristen and had some Chocolate Fondue.  It was pretty delicious!  So, I’m just excited to be spending quality time with my partner.  Thank you all for your prayers, they are every bit appreciated!