not the end!

Hey everyone...or anyone still following. I wanted to give you all an update/summary of everything that went on in Llauta, Peru. My team and I (Tatiana, Phil, and I) went to Llauta May 31 this summer. The main things we did while we were there was anything and everything. We lived with the people (there were about 300 in our village), got to know them, built relationships with them, and just learned to live like them. We stayed in the same village for two months. We set up Bible studies and English classes within the village. The main reason for being there for so long was to build relationships with the people so that we could not only share the Gospel in our Bible studies by word of mouth, but also to interact with them and to show them by example what it means to live a life following Christ. The first month, we really got to know a lot of the people. We would help them cook, clean, harvest barley and beans, milk cows, hike the mountains, or whatever else they were doing on a day-to-day basis. We started up Bible studies, three times a week at the same time, but no one ever remembered. We would go out and remind them and they would say they were coming, but no one came. Although that was a little discouraging, we did not lose our faith. God is all-powerful and His Holy Spirit moves even though we don't know how. At Nazca for mid summer, we made some adjustments and had a little break. When we got back to our village, we took on a new perspective. We decided since the people weren't coming to the Bible studies, we would take the Bible studies to them. We began visiting people in their homes. A few of them would say they were busy and to come back later, but most of them invited us in. To our surprise, they were so open! They would tell us what was on their hearts, they would ask us deep questions and they would tell us personal stories. But our favorite was that they were open to the Gospel and to the Bible. They were so interested! Many of these people would invite us back! But not only that, but other people in the village were seeing that we were visiting people in their homes and invited us to come to their house as well! How awesome is our God! One day while we were there, it rained. It wasn't supposed to rain while we were there, it's not their rainy season. Well, it rained. We thought it was really strange. That night we had a Bible study, but because it was so cold, no one was out. So we decided to go find everyone. We went to the little store and found about 6 or 7 people and we decided to have the study there. One of the girls who had been regularly attending the studies was there. Phil told the story about the wedding feast and also quoted from Isaiah where it says that "our best works are like filthy rags." The point was that in order to get to heaven, you have to have pure white clothes, but if our best works are like filthy rags, how are we going to get there? The answer is that Jesus Christ has pure white clothes because He never sinned. And He died so that we could wear His clothes. Afterwards, Tatiana and I were talking with a few of the girls who were so close to understanding, but they just didn't get it. We were a little discouraged until we turned around and saw Phil and Marite praying. Marite was asking Jesus into her heart. We were so excited! Marite was the only person in the village that accepted Christ into her heart while we were there. However, we met a nurse, a professor and an elderly man who were all Christians! (so four Christians total). None of them knew each other was in the same village. So, the last week we were there, we were able to arrange a meeting for all of them and introduced them to each other. Within the last three days, they expressed a desire to meet together and study and interpret the Word together. How awesome! We did not get to see much fruit, but we saw a growing desire from the Christians to study together and from the non-Christians, we saw a growing interest to learn about the gospel and to know what it means for them. So, we didn't see much fruit, but the seed is planted! And although we aren't there anymore, He still is! And we can still pray for them! I want to thank all of you for any support you gave me. Anything and everything you gave was not to me, but to the Lord! Thank you for your prayers, I felt their power everyday. But mostly, thank you for joining together to advance His kingdom and to glorify His Holy Name! Praise God!