so i have been in peru for.... 3 weeks and 2 days. it really doesn't seem like it has been that long. but really its not that long if you really think about it...
so right now i am at the mission house in Lima for our break. We go back on monday.
can i just say right now that we have been blessed? can i? ok...
WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED!
let me tell you why...
first... we have been getting along pretty well with out a translator but it is hard to develope relationships with people without really knowing what they are saying. so last week kegan's church was in panao and they brought along 2 translators. it was awesome because we could communicate more effectivly and we could just understand better. we asked one of the translators if he would stay with us for the rest of the time we are going to be in the villages and PRAISE JESUS he said he would. so monday when we leave he will be with us.
second... we have a place to lay our head at night. despite the fact that there are chickens and pigs right outside our window that make noise all night long. that is ok because we have a bed and a sort of hot shower with the hot water heater on the shower head and if you touch it then you get electricuted but if you don't touch it and you don't get to close to the shower head then you are fine! its just like a normal shower. ish...
third... we are working with a church that is awesome! they are keeping us busy all the time and we are so thankful!!! the language barrier is somewhat tough to get through but that is ok!! we are managing! they love to take us to the square and play the guitar and have me and sarah sing all types of worship songs in english and spanish. and we have sung trading my sorrows about 20000000 times. but that is ok! we love it.
there are so many ways God has blessed us but i can't think of anymore right now!!! so anyway...
lets see... what else...
oh sarah's wallet got stolen. we were at a mcdonalds here in Lima and this guy sat directly behind us in the nearly empty restaurant. well he sat behind us and took her wallet out of her purse that was hanging on the back of her seat and calmly walked off. so we were like sarah check your purse and she did and it was opened and her wallet was gone. so sarah and kegan run out of the restaurant and catch the guy. the guys had the wallet wrapped us in a news paper. so kegan, who is a big guy, grabs the guys shoulder and we take him to the security guard that was really close by. well then he had to call the police and then we had to find one that spoke english so then after that we all went down to the police station. we were there for about 3 hours while sarah and the guy got questioned. we even met some british girls that got some of there junk stolen! that was cool! so finally sarah came out with a huge smile on her face and we were like "what happened?" and she said "HE GOT ARRESTED!!!" and we were like "YES!". so my partner got somebody arrested. SHE IS HARDCORE! i love her! it was a very exciting day.
honestly i don't know what i would do without sarah! she is another one of my blessings!!! she is so awesome!!! straight from God. anyway...
i have over 400 pictures and so many funny stories that i have to tell you all!!! oh man. good times.
anyway i must go! love love and double love with door knobs!!!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
so i tried to post a blog the other day but the computer i was working on was poop....
so much has happened since i blogged last. i am now in a village called panao which is a providence of pachitea. we are at 10,000 feet of elevation and it is beautiful up here. the mountains of peru are more amazing then i had ever imagined. it makes you wonder how people can think that there is no God, or how they can go on through out there lives not praising Him everyday. to be honest the night we got here my teammate and i had a mini nervous break down. we were terrified of coming to this place where we knew noone and had only each other and kegan our third teammate. only sarah (the one i had a nervous break down with) and i speak any spanish out of the three of us and even then it is not enough to tell people the word of God. we were going out of our minds almost in tears over the fact that we were literally being dropped on top of a mountain for 4 weeks with no knowledge of how we are to return to lima. in the midst of our freak out session our friend josh, who is spending his 4 weeks in santa cruz, gave us some great advise and encouraged us in an incredible way. he told us that we had nothing to worry about and that God would take care of us. well of course that is easy enough right? God will handle it and we have nothing to worry about... then satan says ¨yes you do. how are you supposed to get back to lima for your break after 2 weeks because the guy that dropped you off doesn´t know. who are you supposed to work with here? how are you three going to start bible studies and stuff like that when you don´t even have a church to work with? you can´t do this. you need to be at home because you are not good enough for it. don´t you miss everyone you were in lima and canta with for the past week and a half? you can´t do this without them. you are hopless and you should give up.¨ and we fell for it hook line and sinker... for about a half a day. then sunday came and larry the guy that dropped us off said that there was a church that morning and that we should go and meet the pastor because he is a great christian. thank you JESUS! finally we have somewhere to go. so we went sunday morning, we hopped a cab because it was in the village next to panao then we climbed the mountain to get to the church because you can´t drive on the roads up to the church. when we walked in it was like Jesus was saying ¨here, this is what you prayed for and i am giving it to you. because i love you and i am always with you.¨ the church had technology which is a rare find up here. (seriously, one night in canta we went to a church and it was lit by candle light. but the service was incredible!!!) they had a power point thing on the wall that had to words of the songs we sang and it had an outline of what the pastor was preaching on and everything. it was awsome. i gave my testimony in spanish and that was rough but God gave me the ability to speak spanish for a reason so i have to work hard to perfect it! the pastor has been amazing. he took us out on monday to different peoples houses in the villages and we got a chance to talk to them and read the bible to them in spanish. it was amazing. we went to a woman named maximine´s house and she is very ill. her house is literally made from brick and dirt. the floor is dirt and she sleeps on old potato sacks stuffed with grass. she has a 2 year old daughter who is beautiful. maximine´s uteris is inflamed and the surgery will cost 3000 soles which is like $1800. she can´t afford it and the only way for her to get better is to have the surgery. she is afraid of what will happen to her daughter when she dies. God really humbled me with that experience. Please pray for her and her daughter. we went to various other people´s homes and stores and we prayed for them and read the bible to them because most of the people here can´t read. and sometimes they are hearing the word of God for the first time. The children here are the most gorgeous children have ever met. they are so curious about everything and once they warm up to you they really love you. we had 3 little boys follow us around the whole village on monday. it was adorable. The pastor is thankful that we are here because it is easier to share the gospel with amaericans because the people are more interested and will listen. God has blessed us with an amazing ministry to work with here. This week we are working in the village just going house to house with the pastor and praying and reading and then next week we will be doing some other stuff in panao and working with the church there. we will be working with the pastors in 4 different villages thanks to the pastor here. the last week we will be having a huge concert for all the youth in the 4 villages. hopefully me and sarah will be singing. i can´t wait to see what God is going to do with us. unfortunatly yesterday me and sarah got sick and we had to stay in because the only bathroom that we knew of that had a toilet seat was the one in our hotel room. satan really ran with the fact that we were sick and he started to make us fear for our lives here and made us really homesick and made us miss our other teammates that are scattered through out peru. luckily God gave made us realize that it wasn´t us it was satan getting us down. he led me to matthew 28:19-20 which says...
¨Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.¨
God has been with us the whole time and all the time we were worrying and freaking out, God was right there saying ¨It´s ok I am here.¨ How awesome. God has done nothing but answer our prayers and bless us with great things. every fear we had about being here, every doubt we had has been completly dimolished by God´s grace and love for us. He loves us so much. He has given eveything we need to do His work here. Praise Him for that.
I am excited to come back with the memory of everything God has done this summer. and everything He will do.
God is working on my self image right now in a super way. He is teaching me how to be a Proverbs 31:10-31 woman. I am finding more beauty in myself through Him everyday. I know what kind of woman i am. Know what kind of man i deserve. and God will bring him to me in His time. I won´t settle for anyone that is not living for Him. i won´t settle for someone who isn´t ready. i am living for God. and right now He is all i need.
PRAYER REQUESTS!
pray for our ministry here.
pray for maximine and her family.
pray for the rest of the reap north summer missionaries and the work they are doing in their villages.
thanks. i love you all. don´t forger to sent me comments!
so much has happened since i blogged last. i am now in a village called panao which is a providence of pachitea. we are at 10,000 feet of elevation and it is beautiful up here. the mountains of peru are more amazing then i had ever imagined. it makes you wonder how people can think that there is no God, or how they can go on through out there lives not praising Him everyday. to be honest the night we got here my teammate and i had a mini nervous break down. we were terrified of coming to this place where we knew noone and had only each other and kegan our third teammate. only sarah (the one i had a nervous break down with) and i speak any spanish out of the three of us and even then it is not enough to tell people the word of God. we were going out of our minds almost in tears over the fact that we were literally being dropped on top of a mountain for 4 weeks with no knowledge of how we are to return to lima. in the midst of our freak out session our friend josh, who is spending his 4 weeks in santa cruz, gave us some great advise and encouraged us in an incredible way. he told us that we had nothing to worry about and that God would take care of us. well of course that is easy enough right? God will handle it and we have nothing to worry about... then satan says ¨yes you do. how are you supposed to get back to lima for your break after 2 weeks because the guy that dropped you off doesn´t know. who are you supposed to work with here? how are you three going to start bible studies and stuff like that when you don´t even have a church to work with? you can´t do this. you need to be at home because you are not good enough for it. don´t you miss everyone you were in lima and canta with for the past week and a half? you can´t do this without them. you are hopless and you should give up.¨ and we fell for it hook line and sinker... for about a half a day. then sunday came and larry the guy that dropped us off said that there was a church that morning and that we should go and meet the pastor because he is a great christian. thank you JESUS! finally we have somewhere to go. so we went sunday morning, we hopped a cab because it was in the village next to panao then we climbed the mountain to get to the church because you can´t drive on the roads up to the church. when we walked in it was like Jesus was saying ¨here, this is what you prayed for and i am giving it to you. because i love you and i am always with you.¨ the church had technology which is a rare find up here. (seriously, one night in canta we went to a church and it was lit by candle light. but the service was incredible!!!) they had a power point thing on the wall that had to words of the songs we sang and it had an outline of what the pastor was preaching on and everything. it was awsome. i gave my testimony in spanish and that was rough but God gave me the ability to speak spanish for a reason so i have to work hard to perfect it! the pastor has been amazing. he took us out on monday to different peoples houses in the villages and we got a chance to talk to them and read the bible to them in spanish. it was amazing. we went to a woman named maximine´s house and she is very ill. her house is literally made from brick and dirt. the floor is dirt and she sleeps on old potato sacks stuffed with grass. she has a 2 year old daughter who is beautiful. maximine´s uteris is inflamed and the surgery will cost 3000 soles which is like $1800. she can´t afford it and the only way for her to get better is to have the surgery. she is afraid of what will happen to her daughter when she dies. God really humbled me with that experience. Please pray for her and her daughter. we went to various other people´s homes and stores and we prayed for them and read the bible to them because most of the people here can´t read. and sometimes they are hearing the word of God for the first time. The children here are the most gorgeous children have ever met. they are so curious about everything and once they warm up to you they really love you. we had 3 little boys follow us around the whole village on monday. it was adorable. The pastor is thankful that we are here because it is easier to share the gospel with amaericans because the people are more interested and will listen. God has blessed us with an amazing ministry to work with here. This week we are working in the village just going house to house with the pastor and praying and reading and then next week we will be doing some other stuff in panao and working with the church there. we will be working with the pastors in 4 different villages thanks to the pastor here. the last week we will be having a huge concert for all the youth in the 4 villages. hopefully me and sarah will be singing. i can´t wait to see what God is going to do with us. unfortunatly yesterday me and sarah got sick and we had to stay in because the only bathroom that we knew of that had a toilet seat was the one in our hotel room. satan really ran with the fact that we were sick and he started to make us fear for our lives here and made us really homesick and made us miss our other teammates that are scattered through out peru. luckily God gave made us realize that it wasn´t us it was satan getting us down. he led me to matthew 28:19-20 which says...
¨Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.¨
God has been with us the whole time and all the time we were worrying and freaking out, God was right there saying ¨It´s ok I am here.¨ How awesome. God has done nothing but answer our prayers and bless us with great things. every fear we had about being here, every doubt we had has been completly dimolished by God´s grace and love for us. He loves us so much. He has given eveything we need to do His work here. Praise Him for that.
I am excited to come back with the memory of everything God has done this summer. and everything He will do.
God is working on my self image right now in a super way. He is teaching me how to be a Proverbs 31:10-31 woman. I am finding more beauty in myself through Him everyday. I know what kind of woman i am. Know what kind of man i deserve. and God will bring him to me in His time. I won´t settle for anyone that is not living for Him. i won´t settle for someone who isn´t ready. i am living for God. and right now He is all i need.
PRAYER REQUESTS!
pray for our ministry here.
pray for maximine and her family.
pray for the rest of the reap north summer missionaries and the work they are doing in their villages.
thanks. i love you all. don´t forger to sent me comments!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
a quick little message...
hey everyone! i have a quick minute to update you guys on what is going on...
so i am in a village called canta for this week. we are doing training excercises like going out into the village and evangalizing. i am trying to do it in spanish so ray that God will equip me with the language. sunday night we went to a church service at a small church in a village called pera marta. i think that is how you spell it. it was awesome!!! it is one thing to worship in the states where christianity isn´t as persecuted. but to see these peruvian people worship God was incredible. it really made it a world wide thing. but i have to go!! i love you guys!!
pray pray pray.
so i am in a village called canta for this week. we are doing training excercises like going out into the village and evangalizing. i am trying to do it in spanish so ray that God will equip me with the language. sunday night we went to a church service at a small church in a village called pera marta. i think that is how you spell it. it was awesome!!! it is one thing to worship in the states where christianity isn´t as persecuted. but to see these peruvian people worship God was incredible. it really made it a world wide thing. but i have to go!! i love you guys!!
pray pray pray.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Um... what was that? Was that an earthquake? I think it was!!!
Hola de Peru!!! (Hello from peru!)
i am here and i am safe! so far my experiences have been awesome. our theme verse for our mission is...
"The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witness, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." 2 timothy 2:2
EXQUSITE!!! so this is what we will be doing while we are in peru...
1) tomorrow we will be traveling to a village called canta to begin some of our on the site training. we will be there for a week.
2) we will be coming back to lima to go and get things we are going to need for the next four weeks from a store called wong. its perus walmart. but cooler because it is peruvian.
3) then each of us will get broken up into teams and sent off to 4 different villages. we will be there for four weeks.
4) we come back and all of us are going to the jungle for a week where, our trusty missionaries have informed us, the percentage of people getting sick is a mere 75%. nice!
then we will go shopping and come home!!
Yesterday we went down to the beach which is gorgoeous btw and we ate at a mall that is built inside a mountain!!! and we went cosmic bowling. (pictures will come later!) we ate dinner at a resturant called padros and this guy ( no not a random guy.. he is on our team) ordered this beef dish and was asking all of us to try it... well we did. do you know what is was??? cow heart. yeah i did say cow heart!!! and it wasn´t bad. i will cook it for you all!!
oh we also got woken up by an earthquake this morning!!! but yeah other than that it has been good.
so far God has shown me that He can do anything and He doesn´t need us to do it. But he calls us anyway because He wants us. and loves us.
pray for us and our team! they are awesome!! i promise i will get into some more meaty stuff later but now i have to go. i love you guys!! and i miss you like crazy!!
food for thought: When a bunch of americans to go bowling in Peru, expect to be watched by the peruvians. literally...
love love and double love with door knobs!!!
i am here and i am safe! so far my experiences have been awesome. our theme verse for our mission is...
"The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witness, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." 2 timothy 2:2
EXQUSITE!!! so this is what we will be doing while we are in peru...
1) tomorrow we will be traveling to a village called canta to begin some of our on the site training. we will be there for a week.
2) we will be coming back to lima to go and get things we are going to need for the next four weeks from a store called wong. its perus walmart. but cooler because it is peruvian.
3) then each of us will get broken up into teams and sent off to 4 different villages. we will be there for four weeks.
4) we come back and all of us are going to the jungle for a week where, our trusty missionaries have informed us, the percentage of people getting sick is a mere 75%. nice!
then we will go shopping and come home!!
Yesterday we went down to the beach which is gorgoeous btw and we ate at a mall that is built inside a mountain!!! and we went cosmic bowling. (pictures will come later!) we ate dinner at a resturant called padros and this guy ( no not a random guy.. he is on our team) ordered this beef dish and was asking all of us to try it... well we did. do you know what is was??? cow heart. yeah i did say cow heart!!! and it wasn´t bad. i will cook it for you all!!
oh we also got woken up by an earthquake this morning!!! but yeah other than that it has been good.
so far God has shown me that He can do anything and He doesn´t need us to do it. But he calls us anyway because He wants us. and loves us.
pray for us and our team! they are awesome!! i promise i will get into some more meaty stuff later but now i have to go. i love you guys!! and i miss you like crazy!!
food for thought: When a bunch of americans to go bowling in Peru, expect to be watched by the peruvians. literally...
love love and double love with door knobs!!!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
The only thing to fear is fear itself.
hmmm... i guess it has been a while since i have done this.
it is officially the day before i leave. even if it is midnight-ish. none the less it is still the day before i embark on an adventure. the adventure of a lifetime some would say. i would say that too.
so i am very excited but my excitement is muffled by my fear. no... not muffled... stifled. that's a more appropriate word. i guess i am afraid of the whole being in a country that i am not familiar with. i am afraid of not knowing what to do in certain situations. i am afraid of not being prepared. i am afraid of not being the vessel that God needs me to be. i am afraid of missing my family and my friends. i am afraid of coming back and everything being the same. i am afraid of not having everything i need. i am afraid that God will let me go out on the water in the middle of a storm and leave me to fend for myself while watching from the mountains. I am afraid of what i will learn about myself. i am afraid of being alone. i am afraid of my insecurity. I am afraid that God will break me into a million pieces and leave me to clean up the mess.
Kelly is gone. so that makes my fear a bit less because it lets me know that she got off ok and that she is fine. in a way it makes it a bit worse because now it is real. i am actually going to Peru. I am actually going to be gone all summer with people i barely know. i am really about to immerse myself in a COMPLETELY different culture. i just hope that someone misses me as much as i have missed her. she has been there for me and now that she is in Serbia i can't call her up when i need some encouragement. or when i need a reality check. she is good at that. and that is why i love her dearly.
i am going to miss my friends that are staying here. especially my flo town people. i have never found better friends then them and i probably never will. the calls in the middle of the night on my way back from a certain someones house were much needed. especially the ones where i just needed a audible shoulder to cry on. i will miss that very much.
but aside from all of that babble that just makes me cry...
i have all of my money! PRAISE GOD! I was very worried about that. now i am officially going. i am almost packed so all i have to do now is pick up a few more things from walmart and drive to Charlotte.
so... since my last post a lot has happened. not physical though. if that makes any sense. i have gone through many emotional scuffs. i use that word because they really aren't battles. they are just annoying little things that make me cry. there is one particular person that is the reason for the scuffs. there is a person that i have been friends with for a very long time that has had my heart since the day i met him. i have gotten over him and then fallen right back where i was in the beginning. i know that right now he is not the one for me. he is not where he needs to be in his walk with God. (well i say that because i am going on what we have talked about.) And i know that but every time i am with him it feels right. and that is not good because i start to expect stuff of him that he can not be. i find myself hoping for more than God is ready to give me. And then i tell myself not to get my hopes up with him because he might not be the one. but i can't ever picture myself with anyone else. maybe it is me just wanting to fill a void that was left when my heart was broken a year ago. maybe it is because i want to be able to say that i am in a relationship. what ever it is it has to stop!! because i can't waste my time thinking about this person any longer. there is no reason to. i am supposed to be working on being content being single but i am not. because i am surrounding my self with him and his family. i am talking about him constantly and i am not, by any means guarding my heart. and i HATE it. i want to be content with being single but i keep getting distracted. and satan loves that because he knows that this person is, right now, a weakness of mine. soon i hope he will be one of the things that keeps me strong. but now it he is one of the things holding me back from falling in love fully with Jesus Christ. i love God and i want to love Him more. More than i care for this person.
unrequited love is a beast. but when you replace it with God it becomes a beauty.
...
prayer please...
pray for my trip! what ever you feel like God is calling you to pray for then do it! mostly just pray for His will to be done in a earth shattering way.
continue to be in prayer for my Nana. she is getting better then worse then better then worse then better. so pray that she will be healed. if it is in God's will. i hope it is.
pray for my mom so that she will not go insane with worry and fear for me.
pray for my teammates.
pray for all the summer missionaries.
pray that God will replace my distraction with Himself.
that is all.
it is officially the day before i leave. even if it is midnight-ish. none the less it is still the day before i embark on an adventure. the adventure of a lifetime some would say. i would say that too.
so i am very excited but my excitement is muffled by my fear. no... not muffled... stifled. that's a more appropriate word. i guess i am afraid of the whole being in a country that i am not familiar with. i am afraid of not knowing what to do in certain situations. i am afraid of not being prepared. i am afraid of not being the vessel that God needs me to be. i am afraid of missing my family and my friends. i am afraid of coming back and everything being the same. i am afraid of not having everything i need. i am afraid that God will let me go out on the water in the middle of a storm and leave me to fend for myself while watching from the mountains. I am afraid of what i will learn about myself. i am afraid of being alone. i am afraid of my insecurity. I am afraid that God will break me into a million pieces and leave me to clean up the mess.
Kelly is gone. so that makes my fear a bit less because it lets me know that she got off ok and that she is fine. in a way it makes it a bit worse because now it is real. i am actually going to Peru. I am actually going to be gone all summer with people i barely know. i am really about to immerse myself in a COMPLETELY different culture. i just hope that someone misses me as much as i have missed her. she has been there for me and now that she is in Serbia i can't call her up when i need some encouragement. or when i need a reality check. she is good at that. and that is why i love her dearly.
i am going to miss my friends that are staying here. especially my flo town people. i have never found better friends then them and i probably never will. the calls in the middle of the night on my way back from a certain someones house were much needed. especially the ones where i just needed a audible shoulder to cry on. i will miss that very much.
but aside from all of that babble that just makes me cry...
i have all of my money! PRAISE GOD! I was very worried about that. now i am officially going. i am almost packed so all i have to do now is pick up a few more things from walmart and drive to Charlotte.
so... since my last post a lot has happened. not physical though. if that makes any sense. i have gone through many emotional scuffs. i use that word because they really aren't battles. they are just annoying little things that make me cry. there is one particular person that is the reason for the scuffs. there is a person that i have been friends with for a very long time that has had my heart since the day i met him. i have gotten over him and then fallen right back where i was in the beginning. i know that right now he is not the one for me. he is not where he needs to be in his walk with God. (well i say that because i am going on what we have talked about.) And i know that but every time i am with him it feels right. and that is not good because i start to expect stuff of him that he can not be. i find myself hoping for more than God is ready to give me. And then i tell myself not to get my hopes up with him because he might not be the one. but i can't ever picture myself with anyone else. maybe it is me just wanting to fill a void that was left when my heart was broken a year ago. maybe it is because i want to be able to say that i am in a relationship. what ever it is it has to stop!! because i can't waste my time thinking about this person any longer. there is no reason to. i am supposed to be working on being content being single but i am not. because i am surrounding my self with him and his family. i am talking about him constantly and i am not, by any means guarding my heart. and i HATE it. i want to be content with being single but i keep getting distracted. and satan loves that because he knows that this person is, right now, a weakness of mine. soon i hope he will be one of the things that keeps me strong. but now it he is one of the things holding me back from falling in love fully with Jesus Christ. i love God and i want to love Him more. More than i care for this person.
unrequited love is a beast. but when you replace it with God it becomes a beauty.
...
prayer please...
pray for my trip! what ever you feel like God is calling you to pray for then do it! mostly just pray for His will to be done in a earth shattering way.
continue to be in prayer for my Nana. she is getting better then worse then better then worse then better. so pray that she will be healed. if it is in God's will. i hope it is.
pray for my mom so that she will not go insane with worry and fear for me.
pray for my teammates.
pray for all the summer missionaries.
pray that God will replace my distraction with Himself.
that is all.
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