First Half!

Oh my goodness! Can you believe I´ve been here in Peru for over a month!? This is crazy! I feel like yesterday I was on my way here. Ok, so first I want to apologize for not updating more often. We´ve been really busy and the internet here is so slow. Also, there is so much to tell, I don´t know where to begin. Ok, so since I lasttalked to you guys I´ve milked a cow, climbed a mountain and eaten a cactus...well the fruit of a cactus. It tastes like a kiwi (Dad, you would like it!). So the week before debriefing in Nazca, the CMT (creative ministry team) came to out village. They were a huge blessing to us and I know that God appointed a specific time for them to be there. They brought music and dramas and games ( and I got to stunt with them!). We had our highest attendance in our Bible studies and Arturo (the team leader) was able to relate with the Peruvians so much better than we´d been able to thus far. The second night they were there, they did a kids study in the plaza where they sang lots of songs and did a few really good skits. The kids were so involve and excited to see all of this, but probably my favorite part was that the parents came out to watch as well. Arturo talked with them afterwards. I have no idea if they learned anything, but I know God was working that night. A girl named Kelli is on that team and God used here to answer my prayers. I had had a couple prroblems with one of my teammates and I needed some guidance on what to do about it. On a hike up the mountains, Kelli and I talked and we were able to easily open up to each othere, and she was able to comfort me and give me guidance. Praise God for her! The last day they were in the village, they did their ¨shabang¨for the primary and secondary schools. After this, one of the professors invited us in to do a follow up on one of the skits. God gave us a great opportunity to plant seeds ther. The next day, we all headed off for Nazca. On the way there, we climbed a tower and saw two on the Nazca lines! They were pretty cool. Also, on the way back we got to go sandboarding! So much fun! Ok, so we went to Nazca for 3 days for mid-summer debriefing. This was rough, but such a blessing! We realized our teamhad a lack of communication and a few personality conflicts and our leaders, Ginny and Brytne, were able to help us realize these issues and sort them out so that we can better serve our Lord. Please pray that no new issues rise. So after this, my team and I were super excited to go back to our village and better communicate the gospel to tehm. Let me just tell you that God had worked a lot in Llauta while we were in Nazca. We´ve been back for three days and SO much has happened. So the first thing that happened started during the first half. I asked many of you to pray for relationshops with the youth. Well when we climbed the mountain I mentioned, we thought we were going to a sports competition of the children So we got up @ 5 and went and climbed a mountain for 2 and a half hours.(One of the hardest things I´ve done in my life...actually may be the hardest.) When we got to the top, we didn´t see any kids. So we asked the professor and he sid the kids competition was on a mountain on the other side of Llauta, the competition we were at was for the youth! While we were a little frustrated at the fact that we climbed 2 hours to go to a competition that was about 4 hours of climbing away, God was working on our relationships with the youth. We watched the competition and interacted with the youth and you could see the excitement in their faces that we would go all that way just to watch their competition. we were also invited to a quinceñera (a 15 year old bday party)(the big bday party for hispanic girls). We also were able to make friends there. But when the CMT came and performed for their school, they found out more of why we were there and some of them were very interested. The day we got back from Nazca, we had a get together with some of the youth. We played a few games and just got to know them. Buttowards the end we told them why we were there and they asked questions. At that poit we were able to share the gospel with them. One girl named Xiomara was specifically interested and you could see the light in her eyes. Pray foor her continued interest and that God would give us th words to speak to her heart. The next day Tatiana and I went to learn to make a hat. On our way back to lunch, we ran into the sports coacha dn all of a sudden he was interested in us and the Bible and he asked questions! He said he would like to talk again some time. Yesterday Phil was out with a guy named Jon and a girl named Synthia. They went on a hike and after Phil got to talk to Jon. Jon is the first person we´ve found that wont have anything to do with worshipping idols. He likes to read his Bible and hear preachings of the Bible, but he´s not yet a follower of Christ. But he´s so interested. Pray that one of us would get another opportunity to share Gods love to him in some way. Also, while all this was going on with Phil, Tatiana and I were eating lunch and a guy named Hilario, whom we have made friends with, began asking us about our faith and telling us about his life and what he knew about the Bible. He referred to himself as a hearer but he wasn´t yet a beleiver. He asked Tatiana to sit down with him and explain the Bible better to him. She talked to him today and he had so much to say taht she didnt get to say much, but she listened. He told her that he felt God was keeping him alive (he works in a dangerous job) for a reason and that he felt like his time to beleive would be soon. He aslo said that he felt like God put us in his life for a reason and that he felt like we are different than the Americans he´s met before. He said he looked at us and said we are good. And he sees that we don´t see ourselves as better than them. so pray for him. Also one more thing we need you to be in prayer for is a man of peace. This is a man whose been descipled and believes strongly and follows Christ. We need this man because we need someone to continue the work that God has started through us in this village. So far we haven´t met any believers and that has been hard for us, but we know that God is working and taht He will provide for us. He´s opening doors everywhere for us! I praise Him for that! Thank you for all your support and prayers and encouragement! It´s been much needed! I´m praying for you guys too, I hope you are all having a great summer! (also, i´m sorry for all the typos. i´m trying to be patient with this computer haha)

Llauta

Hey everyone! I know it´s been a while since my last post, and I´m so sorry! There´s so much to tell you guys! Well, on the way to Laramate, we stopped to stay the night at a pastor´s house because the trip was so long. There we found out that there was a smaller village near Laramate that desired to hear the Word. So that night, we prayed to see where God wanted us to go, and we felt like He was saying to go to the smaller village. The name is Llauta (ya-u-ta). So we got to this village last Monday. The people are so nice and they are so excited that we are here! We´ve spent the last week really getting to know the people here. We have this strong connection with the children here. They really seem to enjoy our joy and they are interested in why we are here. The adults are interested too, but they were a little slower to talk to us. Phil, my teammate, helped with this. He´s very talkative, so he just jumped right in and began making connections with the adults. Where we are having problems is connecting with the young people, people our age. We play sports with them (volleyball and soccer) but they are hard to start conversations with. Please pray for some connections with them! Sunday was election day for the Peruvians. It was crazy! They had so much food and so much going on, it was great! We were able to talk to a van driver named Roberto. He was so interested in why we were there and we were able to talk to him about his faith! We have no idea what kind of effect God had on his life that day because he left the same day, but we know God used us to work in his life. We started english classes yesterday with the children. They are so eager to learn! It was so fun too! Also, we started a Bible study yesterday. We were so nervous, but after it was done we just rejoiced soo much! We had about 6 children come and two adults and one young person. They were asking questions and they were just so curious! Praise God! Afterward, they asked if we were meeting again tomorrow. They want more! It´s only by your prayers and God´s work that this was possible. Thank you so much! Another thing that´s been on my heart since last night was a girl named Greyci. I told her I was going to pray before the study and she asked me what that meant. I told her I was going to have a conversation with God.She said, ¨but you´re not really talking to Him because He doesn´t talk back.¨ I told her yes He does! She asked me what He says and how and I told her some of the things He´s said to me and how and she was so excited. But she was a little skeptical. Just pray that He would talk to her in a way that she would hear. Also, that kinda brought to my attention that maybe she´s not the only one who thinks this. Our God is a living God who wants a relationship with us! We want them all to know this and experience this awesome thing! Please pray also for ways to serve these people. We want to be there servants, but they are prideful people and very capable of getting their work done without our help. But we want to be able to serve! We are also very thankful for our closest family, Libia, Cristell, Johan, and Daygoro. They have been our sources of how the village works, they have fed us while we are here and they are our friends! Praise God for them! I hope you all are doing great and I am so thankful for each one of you! Please continue to pray for my team, the villagers and the other missionaries in Peru! Dios les bendiga!
(oh! and we got to watch cows being milked and got the chance to try! so cool!)