Yo soy muy feliz...

Hey ya´ll!! This has been such an awesome week. The team from Porter Memorial Baptist Church came on Sunday...shout out to my peeps from Kentucky and Alabama! HA HA (I know they all miss me already!!) They were such an encouragement! Every one of them just had an amazing passion for God and sharing the Word. I´m so excited about the impact that they had on the people here and in my own life.

We had our first church service last Sunday night. There were 14 people that came! It was a great message and a great time of fellowship in the Lord. Another door was opened for us on Wednesday. There is an agricultural institute right outside of town, and they invited us to speak. The kids were very open during discussion time and a girl was saved! Also, we had 3 days of VBS for the kids. I led the music for this too...Mr. Garner better watch out! HA HA jk Those 3 days went great! Tonight, the ladies had a tea for the women in the village. There is also another church service Sunday night. I wish I could be there but Michael and I are in Nasca for our mid-summer debriefing. We will return on Tuesday with the Creative Ministry Team. We are hoping to take them back to the agricultural institute to do some evangelism.

God is really working here in Bella Union and continuing to open doors for us. Just keep praying for these people, our ministry, our health, encouragement, and our church services. Also, pray for traveling mercies for both teams this week.

One more for Christ...

Hey everybody!! So this week has been pretty tough. I dealt with sickness this week. Some days are better than others. Nothing serious...just typical stuff. I found out that my roommate´s grandfather died. I was pretty upset that I wasn´t going to be able to be there for Court. Please pray for peace and comfort for this family. I, also, just found out that Miles´s grandmother had a stroke and she´s not doing good at all. Please pray for their family as well. I know this is hard for all of them.

I struggled with being homesick this week very bad. By the time Wednesday was here, I really just felt like packing up and coming home. Pastor Amias, who has been here with us all June, felt compelled to share with us a passage out of The Purpose Driven Life. It came at a timely moment. He talked about how our mission was to reach these people who have never heard, how we need to live our life trying to reach just one more for Christ. That´s when a peace just washed over me. That´s why I´m here....just one more for Christ. I didn´t really understand why I was called to be here when so much was happening back home. But now I realize that this is my mission...just one more for Christ!!

On a happier note we are having our first church service tomorrow night at 630!! I´m so excited!! The group from Kentucky and AL are coming also! Please pray for our service!! We had an interesting experience Sunday night. There was a big shindig in Acari, the next village, for Father´s Day. We went to see the kids dance. We actually walked to the village which took about an hour...no joke!! When we returned Sunday night there was nowhere to eat. Mama Beth made peanut butter and banana sandwiches on saltine crackers...true story! So if u ever have a craving...hit me up!!

My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty...

Hola!! So this week has been such a blessing. There were some times of discouragement and frustration but the Bible says in James 1 to ¨Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because u know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.¨ As I was doing my Bible study, this verse just kind of jumped out at me. As I was thinking about it, I realized just how true that is. Without trials, we would never learn to fully rely on God. This week has been somewhat of an eye opener for me. This culture is pretty laid back...which drives my dad crazy. Sometimes it gets frustrating but we just have to remember why we are here. We have had so many people come to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ this week. We began some discipleship training sessions with some of the believers. I´m so excited about what the Lord is doing here and in my own heart! We climbed a mountain today that was just outside of the city. I wish everyone of you could see just how beautiful the view was. At night, the stars are so amazing. There are no lights to block out the full beauty of them. I really do just stand in awe sometimes at just how amazing and wonderful our gracious God is. I never realized just how much I take for granted.

Greetings from Bella Union!

Hola!! So I´ve been here a week in Bella Union, Peru. It is located in south Peru. It is very dry here...it has never rained here...true story! It pretty much looks like the desert with lots of rocks. One side of the road has an irrigation canal and that is where lots of olives are grown! That is what this village is famous for...I did try some with pimento in them. Pretty good if I do say so myself! The food here is good. We do LOTS of walking. There are mountains around which are made just of sand. I think one day we are gonna try to climb one...seriously.

This week we have been trying to locate people who had previously made professions of faith. We have not had the best of luck. We did visit Señor Guido Quiroz´s house yesterday. We had some worship time and then Pastor Amias led us in a Bible Study. Today Jaime, Señor Quiroz´s son, came over and our teammember Jerry discipled him and answered questions for about 2 hours which is really exciting. I also led a Bible Study with one of the teenage girls today. It was interesting trying to explain in Spanish. I think it went really well. Racsel is coming back on Monday to do another Bible Study. I have been trying to build relationships with the teenage girls. Most everyday we go to the park and play with the kids. Last night was the school´s Homecoming Assembly. Jerry and I went to watch the girls bec they were doing some dances for the school. We also went to the Homecoming Parade today. One of our goals is to have a worship service Friday. I get to lead the worship...so pray for me! HA

One big thing that you all could pray for this week would be encouragement. We have not had the best of luck with finding people. It just seems like everything is happening very slow.

Love and miss ya´ll,
B