April 2nd and all is well

It has been a fast 3 weeks. Everything is going really well. I teach 5 hours of English a week. One hour with each of the 5 Secondary School grades. It has been interesting. I am strengthening my Spanish a lot by teaching them. I have been amazed at how much the kids know. They are just scared to use it. Which I completely understand. Speaking a strange language is scary. Next week we are going to start doing short dramas (sketches) to better their pronunciation. Things are also going well at Milagro. The services on Thursday evening and Sunday morning are both well attended. I have been sharing the preaching duties with the pastor from the main church. The people are very gracious and help me when I'm stumbling with a word. It's interesting, because most analogies that I would normally use don't make sense to the people in this village. It is something I've never thought of before. I started sharing a story about a lamp that isn't plugged in being useless and then realized that 90% of them had no idea that there were lamps that could be plugged in. Milagro is one of the more remote villages and they use kerosene lanterns. I love the work out there. i have also been spending quite a bit of time in the office seeing as how Ken is in the States for this month to be with his dad. I have had some responsibilities that I didn't expect, but nothing that has gone awry.
Yesterday was my birthday. I wasn't expecting to do anything but sleep in and stay home and rest (we didn't have classes yesterday or today), but I was pleasantly surprised by the Ruth and the teachers with a big lunch. Then I was surprised again when one of the elders in the church came knocking on my door and told me that they needed me at the church. We walked over and they had the people of the church there with gifts, cake, coffee. Way more than I ever expected. We just had a nice little time of worship and fellowship. Since their kids are in my English classes they were asking a lot of questions about English and the States and my daily life when I'm in the States. It was a lot of fun.

Safe Arrival

Well. I got here fine. I arrived in Lima at about 4:50. After running to the ticket counter then to the checkin then back to the ticket counter then through taxes and security, I was able to just walk onto the 6:30 flight. I got to Chiclayo at about 7:40...with all my luggage!....then had to just grab a taxi from the airport to the school. There were many anxious taxi drivers, so I just picked the one who looked the least shady. Haha. Got to the school, set my bags down and went into a meeting with ken to start talking about what is going on. A quick catch up. After spending the rest of the morning with Roma Lee and taking a long awaited shower, I got to eat lunch with the kids. They fixed my favorite meal, rice with lentils. They took up one of my spare bedrooms for storage, so Roma Lee and Donna are at the house and I'm in the clinic this week. PS my djembe arrived safely along with everything else. I also had a meeting already today with the director (principal) to start setting up the English class, which they are very excited about. Overall everything is going well.

The Next Step

I am very excited about what is coming. Lord willing, I will be leaving mid-March to spend the rest of the year in Peru. There is a lot of work to be done and I can't wait to get there and get started. Please pray that the funds will be there to make the trip down and that everything will fall into place so that I will be able to leave. Thank you for all of your support and prayer.

"See mom, we don't need money. God gave us food."

Yesterday we handed out food boxes to 55 families in the Las Delicias church. The boxes included rice, lentils, beans, oil, sugar, soap, detergent, tuna, canned milk, spaghetti, popcorn, toothpaste, oatmeal, and much more. Last night one of the mothers in the church gave a testimony. She said that her husband can hardly walk because of knee problems and hasn't been able to work for a long time. (he also has a gambling problem even when he is making money). She said that a neighbor had given them a food box a while back that had lasted them a month. With no money she has a hard time feeding a family of 6. She said that when they got the food box home yesterday her son said, "see mom, we don't need money." She was confused and asked him what he meant. He said, "We don't need money. We pray and God gives us food." They were able to eat lunch yesterday and she said that it was such a blessing to her family. Praise the Lord for all that He is doing in this place. Last night we had a meeting about the breakfast programs and got it planned out. After a meeting tomorrow night to come up with monthly estimates they are going to start this next Sunday. I wish I could be here for that, but that's ok. Tonight we are going to put together boxes for 60 families in Milagro to be handed out on Wednesday. Then Thursday it's off to Lima then back home. A fast trip, but so worth it. I have been touched immensely by watching God's mighty hand at work in these few days. Feeding children who otherwise wouldn't be eating. God is good. Amen.

Feeding of the 500

We had our first feeding today. It was in Nueva Reque (New Reque) where there is an annex that was celebrating it's 6 year anniversary. I don't even have words to explain to you this experience. We started with a children's service at 10am. Then they were to go get their parents and tell them that there was going to be an adult service with a free meal afterwards. First of all, someone got saved at the adult service. Praise the Lord. Then the real work began. After the people of the church in the school and some mothers in the area cooked all morning it was time to serve. A group of us got trays and we would go to the house and load up with plates of food. The people were waiting on a community soccer slab and we took the food to them. Families came in from all directions. Roma Lee kept her eye out and made sure we didn't miss a soul. When the day was done, we learned that we had fed over 500 children!! 500!!! This is the first big scale feeding that I have been a part of. When I took my first tray out and saw the children eating I almost lost it. Like now when I am typing this. I had to go aside and pull it together and remind myself that I had to keep going. It was so moving to see the work of God first hand in that little slum of a village. There aren't words to accurately describe this experience. There are pictures which may help that I will have posted on Facebook. Just absolutely unreal.
After the feeding we came back to the school and put together food boxes with staple foods for 55 families. These will be handed out to the people of the church tomorrow morning. 55 families. Needless to say the workers were weary by the end of the day, but it is definitely worth it. I will let you know how tomorrow's food distribution goes. God is so good. Proverbs 19:21 has become my verse of the trip. We cannot plan anything. God's plans are so much bigger, and they are so much better. I am so happy that I get to be a part of what is happening here.

We're here!

The trip was so long. Both Roma Lee and I had delays on flights, but we got here after about 28 hours of travel. Ken met us in Lima and we all kept each other company as we spent the night in those uncomfortable plastic chairs. Haha. We got here yesterday and after showers and lunch we slept most of the afternoon. Today is a national holiday, so there are no classes, but we have a full day planned. This morning we are hoping to go visit families in their homes. It will be a good day for it, because kids are out of school and maybe whole families will be home. This afternoon I will most likely go with Maria and Ruth to buy food for the 2 feedings we have planned for this weekend. That's right, 2 feedings! Nothing better than hitting the ground running. Tomorrow, Saturday, there will be a community feeding for lunch in New Reque. It is the ten year anniversary of the Sunday School there and it will be a great outreach to the community. A soup kitchen is going to let us use it's facilities for the day. We are planning to have a chicken stew with none other than rice. On Sunday morning we are going to hand out food boxes to all of the families in the church here at the school. These will be much like the food boxes that are handed out during Roma Lee's workcamps and will include staple foods such as rice, flour, oils, canned milk, oatmeal, potatoes, and many other things. We are planning a feeding in an evening next week for Milagro. All of the rest of the time will be spent trying to find leaders for breakfast programs in all of the Sunday Schools. The plan is to have breakfast for every Sunday School each week. If this works well, then hopefully it will turn into daily feedings in each of those villages. Thank you for all of your prayers, and I will keep you updated as the work continues.

Peru Bound!!

God is so good!!! I wrote last time about a new opportunity that has come up in Peru. Roma Lee has taken on raising funds for feeding programs, and she has enough to start a few. She had asked me to go with her on October 7th and help set things up. At first I said that if God worked it out I would go. God provided the money for the tickets. Then Roma Lee's health took a turn for the worst and we decided to postpone the trip for a month or two. After I updated my sponsors, I received word that Roma Lee was feeling better and we put the trip back on. In a huge step of faith I bought the tickets with all of the money that I had. I had faith that this trip was in God's will and He could provide what I would need for Stateside expenses and expenses in Peru. Of course I was a little nervous, because I only had a week to get everything together. After speaking at my new church in Wichita, God paid for my rent and more through several generous givers. Then I knew that I had one last $100 check coming in the mail. I woke up yesterday morning and told my roommate that I wished I had $100 more. That would just make me feel so much better about everything. When that $100 check came in it was written out for $200!!!! So now I am Peru bound once again. Roma Lee and I leave tomorrow for Peru. We will meet up in Atlanta around 1:30pm and then I think our flight leaves for Lima at about 5:30. We will return on the 16th. It is a much shorter trip than I am used to, but I know that it is meant to happen. Thank you for your faithful prayers, and I ask that you keep Roma Lee and this trip on your mind. Her health is fragile, but her faith is solid. Thank you God for everything you do.

Proverbs 19:21