hey everyone!
we have been very busy this week! sorry about the lack of posts :/
let me start by telling you about what i thought this week was going to be like. as you know, i spent 10 weeks this summer here in matucana with andy and josh. i had an idea of what we were going to be doing and i had a few expectations. i was prepared for certain things. God again taught me to expect the unexpected. within the first day we got into matucana we found out that a church group that we left believing they would stay strong, ended up fizzling out within a couple weeks of us being gone. we were able to talk to the leader (elizabeth) and i believe she just became discouraged when some people didnt show up at a couple meetings and then called it quits. a few of us have talked to and tried to tell her that these things happen but the key is not to give up. we are still trying to help her and disciple herwhile we are here.
another surprise (as most of you have heard) Rosa became a Christian the first night we were here! WOOHOO! we´ve been talking to her all summer and she was always "busy" but that night she was open to what God wanted her to hear! she told us that wants to be baptised but not yet. she first wants to understand what it means and read about in the Bible. that is ok with me :).
this morning we were able to talk to the 4 and 5 year olds at their school and the principle told us we could come back anytime!
this afternoon will be our first time ever in the highschool, so please be praying that it goes well and that we will be able to go back next time!
thank you all for your prayers! i can´t wait to tell you all about it when i get home!
chelsea><>
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Matucana, Peru Trip September 09
Here it is Monday night. We are already half way through our time here...it is hard to believe. I can tell you all of us here have mentioned many times about feeling the prayers of the people back home...for that Thank you...but keep praying. It was a little crazy driving here, especially driving in Lima. That is quiet the experience. We had a team effort and made it safe and sound. When we arrived it was very apparent from the start that Chelsea and the others who came before made a great impression on the people of Matucana. When they saw Chelsea their faces lit up and so did Chelsea's. Chelsea took Kurt and I to see a lady by the name of Rosa. A very nice lady and she had a nice smile and just a good spirit about her. Chelsea led the conversation but we all played a part and by the end of the conversation she prayed and accepted Jesus in her heart. It was awesome and clearly hearing from Chelsea that was the fruit of alot of people before us talking and sharing the gospel with her. God's timing but our week was off and we were excited more than ever. We have a great team, the people from Alabama are just awesome and it is clear they love Jesus. We all have had divine meetings that God has allowed us to share his word and plant the seed...who knows there may be another Rosa out there. Please keep praying we have some meetings with the schools and some Bible studies scheduled later this week. We have a baptism on Wednesday... we just ask that God's will be done and that He does a work in us and the people here. God Bless.
Allen
Allen
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Week 9 - Day 62
Hello once again!
First of all, thank you all who read this every week! I know some people *cough, cough* can type about anything and everything and make blog posts a little more than you might want to read. Thank you for continuing to read though and praying for the team and also for the special people here in Matucana.
We have been busy this week. We’re busy with visiting with people (maybe for the last time) and also with finding new people and meeting with them.
Andy has been vigorously working translating an 11 page document for the Matucana municipal office. The document is tourism info for the area and since Matucana wants to also appeal to the gringos, they would need an English version of the information. Andy said he would do it for them as a gift to the city. It’s looking really good and I’m looking forward to seeing the finished document.
Our last English class was on Wednesday night and it was suggested by Jose’ Acosto that the theme of this class should be prayer. WOW. It’s still shocking to me that the government allows us to not only pray, tell a Bible story, but to teach them from the Bible how to pray. That was for the entire length of class! After class was kinda emotional for all of us, they were thanking all of us (even though I just sit through the entire class) for being there and willing to teach them. It was so great. They want us back on this coming Wednesday night to eat chicken and also to “conversate” with them. That will be a nice ending to our last day here I think.
We are continuing to meet with our regular people and things are going well with them.
Independence Day here in Peru is on Tuesday the 28th. This past week everyone has been painting and cleaning the outsides of their homes and businesses. Next week there will be many celebrations with concerts and other activities. We are allowed and are going to participate because they aren’t catholic related festivals! The Creative Ministry Team is coming on Monday and they’ll be able to do a lot of things in the squares and we are hoping to have a game day at the school on Tuesday. Pray that that works out because we haven’t been able to meet with the right people to get that set up.
That’s I have for now. I hope you all are doing well and had a good/ are having a good week! Please continue to pray that are last days here are productive and we get as much done as possible. We’re leaving on Thursday to go to Chosica for debriefing and Sunday night at 11:30pm we’ll be on our way home! I will be posting 1 more blog, then watch for a post from each of us the week of our return. It’ll be a post about our summer from our own perspectives.
See ya’ll in a little bit!
~Chelsea><>
First of all, thank you all who read this every week! I know some people *cough, cough* can type about anything and everything and make blog posts a little more than you might want to read. Thank you for continuing to read though and praying for the team and also for the special people here in Matucana.
We have been busy this week. We’re busy with visiting with people (maybe for the last time) and also with finding new people and meeting with them.
Andy has been vigorously working translating an 11 page document for the Matucana municipal office. The document is tourism info for the area and since Matucana wants to also appeal to the gringos, they would need an English version of the information. Andy said he would do it for them as a gift to the city. It’s looking really good and I’m looking forward to seeing the finished document.
Our last English class was on Wednesday night and it was suggested by Jose’ Acosto that the theme of this class should be prayer. WOW. It’s still shocking to me that the government allows us to not only pray, tell a Bible story, but to teach them from the Bible how to pray. That was for the entire length of class! After class was kinda emotional for all of us, they were thanking all of us (even though I just sit through the entire class) for being there and willing to teach them. It was so great. They want us back on this coming Wednesday night to eat chicken and also to “conversate” with them. That will be a nice ending to our last day here I think.
We are continuing to meet with our regular people and things are going well with them.
Independence Day here in Peru is on Tuesday the 28th. This past week everyone has been painting and cleaning the outsides of their homes and businesses. Next week there will be many celebrations with concerts and other activities. We are allowed and are going to participate because they aren’t catholic related festivals! The Creative Ministry Team is coming on Monday and they’ll be able to do a lot of things in the squares and we are hoping to have a game day at the school on Tuesday. Pray that that works out because we haven’t been able to meet with the right people to get that set up.
That’s I have for now. I hope you all are doing well and had a good/ are having a good week! Please continue to pray that are last days here are productive and we get as much done as possible. We’re leaving on Thursday to go to Chosica for debriefing and Sunday night at 11:30pm we’ll be on our way home! I will be posting 1 more blog, then watch for a post from each of us the week of our return. It’ll be a post about our summer from our own perspectives.
See ya’ll in a little bit!
~Chelsea><>
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Day 56
We are going on our 9th week here in our summer home of Matucana.
As most of you have read, we had a fun start to our week. Both Andy and Josh spent the night in the bathroom Sunday night. They were out for the day on Monday. The day before, Tommy left to go with his new group to Surco, which is about 25+/- minutes from here. He and the church group from Tennessee came to Matucana for a few hours on Monday to get some items and to have lunch with us. It ended up being only with me because of the boys’ conditions. It was nice to be with them and they asked a lot of questions about the college summer missions program from REAPsouth. While the boys spent the rest of the day in bed, I was able to get some things done on my own.
The next day Andy felt well enough to go to the school, while Josh wasn’t quite stable enough. Tuesday was the last day of school for us while we’re here because they are off school until August 2nd. I am happy we were able to make it on the last day. After our last class the 5th graders wanted to play soccer. I hung out with the girls while Andy played football(soccer) with boys. I let the girls play with my camera and they took really nice pictures :)
That afternoon we were able to meet with Julie at her shop and we did the story of the firm foundation found in Matthew 7:24-29. This story has been very good for the new Christians here to encourage building something worth building on rather than something unreliable. We then had the English class at 6pm. It started at 7pm. But we had a nice time with the 4 ladies who came. Andy introduced them to Reese’s cups. “Muy rico!” they said, which means “That tastes really good!” Everyone seems to like Reese’s even in Peru. Btw, you know how they say “There’s no wrong way to eat a Reese’s”? There is. Just watch one of the kids here eat one. It’s funny but at the same time disgusting and wrong. ;)
Wednesday Josh was still not feeling well, and we had 2 guys coming in to learn how to story. Mike and Heinz arrived at 2 pm. After they had a quick lunch, we had a meeting at our hostel at 3 (3:30). Jonathan, who is one of Gary’s friends, came. So we had a 5 on 1 Bible study. He seems very interested, but he hasn’t made that decision yet. Please be praying for him. He went back to Lima and I don’t think we’ll be seeing him the rest of this trip. We though we had a meeting with Selia at 5, but due to a mis-scheduling on my part, that meeting wasn’t until the next day. We had planned a meeting at the police station, but we weren’t able to because the police commissioner wasn’t there that day. we went back several times but they said that we may be able to have one on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Josh was feeling better. He was able to go with us to yet another meeting we had planned with Felicia at 9 am. Yet again she was not there. Her son was there and told us to come back the next day in the afternoon. We normally story (or try to story) with Maria on Thursday and Friday mornings, but she wasn’t there both mornings because both of her chicos were sick. We spent our day talking to and inviting people to our Saturday night meeting. Then at 5 we had our meeting with Selia. We let Mike and Heinz practice storying with her and they did a great job. We were able to get done in time for the English class at 6. We didn’t have it because no one came. Jacob, a man that we’ve been trying to meet with was there though and he talked to the boys about music, etc.
Friday we dedicated to visiting people we hadn’t seen in a while. We were finally able to meet with Maria in Huaripache. At the time when she was busy so we asked when we could come back. She practically said she was to busy for anything anytime soon. If it’s not with her business then she’s busy with her studies. We invited her to our meeting if she had time and left it at that. She seems very nice and I hope she gets time soon. We were all over town that day. That afternoon we had all done something we’ve been wanting to do since we’ve been here. We went to a bull fight! To much of the boys disappointment and to my happiness, they did not kill the bulls :) It was very interesting and there were a lot of people there. 2 things set our group of 5 apart from the other hundreds that were there: 1. We were white 2. We were sober. I don’t know what was more entertaining, the Matadors fighting the bulls or the bulls going after the drunks that appeared in the arena. It was fun and exciting and now I can check “Go to a bull fight” off my bucket list :)
Yesterday we went to visit another Maria in Cacachaqui (Kah-kah-chah-kee). Thanks to the Jackson Memorial clan, we have new contacts down there! It’s part of Matucana but another section. This Maria came with her 4 kids to our Saturday night meeting 2 weeks ago. Her prayer request that night was for her delicate health. I am unsure of what that means and how delicate her health is, but yesterday we talk to one of her girls and she said she wasn’t feeling well that day. we were not able to meet with her :/ . On our way back we split up and invited people to the meeting at 7. Josh and Andy went to Huaripache to find a lady who was asking about getting a Bible and wanting to study the Bible. That’s pretty exciting. That afternoon, I was able to hang out with Rosa one on one. Rosa is the 15 year old daughter of the hostel keepers Maribel and Emilio. I asked her a few weeks ago if she could teach me how to knit. She makes beautiful scarves and gloves among other things. She said yes and was excited about it, but we weren’t able to because of our schedules. But it ended up that yesterday at 3 was a good time for both of us. With the help of the pocket translator that a friend gave me, Rosa was able to teach me some basic things. It was really nice, even though we couldn’t communicate very easily, to spend some time one on one with another girl. I haven’t done that since Ellen was here about a month ago. We had fun. 7pm came very quickly and I told Rosa I’d be back after the meeting. The meeting went well and Jose’ and Elizabeth even came. Another man whose name is Marcelo came to. Everyone there was a Christian and after some Praise and Worship time, Josh did the story on the Master and the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30. We had a very good discussion afterwards. After we all said our goodbyes, I went back to hang out with Rosa and her mom Maribel. It was a nice ending to my day.
Well, I about typed out. Thank you all for your continued prayer support. We see how your prayers are helping us everyday. Honestly! We now have 10 full days left in Matucana before we go to debriefing in Chosica on the 30th. Please be praying that we finish out strong and that we won’t waste what precious time we have left here. Also, Mike and Heinz left today for Lima and they are going to Huaricherri on Tuesday morning. Their main purpose of going is to disciple and baptize the only Christian in that town. I believe her name is Lusianna and she is 16 years old. Thank you again for your prayers!
~Chelsea><>
Monday, July 13, 2009
prayer request
Hey everyone!
I know that Josh just updated this yesterday but I need you all to be praying. The boys were both up all night sick with countless trips between them to the bathroom due to throwing up and the other nasty. Please pray for a quick recovery. We may not be able to go to the school for the rest of our trip because they get out on Wednesday until August 2nd and I doubt with how intensely sick the boys are, we’ll make it there tomorrow. Times like this I wish I knew Spanish :/.
I am unsure of what they got, but with the symptoms, I don’t think it’s a parasite. I think it was something they ate yesterday at lunch, because I didn’t go with them yesterday, and I feel fine.
We had a lot of stuff scheduled today and tomorrow, but it looks like we’ll have to put them off until they get better.
Thanks for your prayers and we look forward to seeing you all in 3 weeks!
Love y’all!
~Chelsea><>
P.s. The kids are out of school for that long for Peru’s Independence Day which is July 28th. From the info we’ve gathered, it’s a huge holiday! Let the festivities begin!
I know that Josh just updated this yesterday but I need you all to be praying. The boys were both up all night sick with countless trips between them to the bathroom due to throwing up and the other nasty. Please pray for a quick recovery. We may not be able to go to the school for the rest of our trip because they get out on Wednesday until August 2nd and I doubt with how intensely sick the boys are, we’ll make it there tomorrow. Times like this I wish I knew Spanish :/.
I am unsure of what they got, but with the symptoms, I don’t think it’s a parasite. I think it was something they ate yesterday at lunch, because I didn’t go with them yesterday, and I feel fine.
We had a lot of stuff scheduled today and tomorrow, but it looks like we’ll have to put them off until they get better.
Thanks for your prayers and we look forward to seeing you all in 3 weeks!
Love y’all!
~Chelsea><>
P.s. The kids are out of school for that long for Peru’s Independence Day which is July 28th. From the info we’ve gathered, it’s a huge holiday! Let the festivities begin!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
"I´ve never had breakfast with a man in his underwear, but now I have"
This last week has been pretty crazy! We had a group from Jackson Memorial Baptist Church come in from Virginia. We were not really sure what to expect from them because they had not contacted us that much. They arrived on Thursday the 2nd and when they got out of the Car 4 out of 5 of the team had gray hair. A completely different team then the last one that had come here. However, we formed a closer bond with this team. We didn’t waste much time, but got started showing them the town and talking with people setting up meetings. They were awesome because many times when stuff would not work out or things were not going exactly to plan they just went with the flow and made things happen. We all really just want to thank them for coming and being flexible.
During the week we had so many great stories where they were able to help and just have fun with us. For example I ended up getting really sick for about a week and one of the ladies, Eileen, is a pharmacist, so she was able to help me with what type of food I should eat to help my Body get better. Then also Andy made a great connection with one of the Guys named Tom. They joked around a lot and always kept it interesting. One day the Jackson Memorial group and Andy went out for Breakfast and Andy had just woken up, so he went down to breakfast in his shorts and a tee shirt. Well Andy has long legs and his shorts looked really short on him, so it looked like underwear. Tom made a remark that, “I´ve never had breakfast before with a man in his underwear, but now I have.” That was pretty much the tone for the entire week of comradery. We had a great time with them. We were able to also split up and do multiple things because they had two fluent Spanish speakers. We were able to go up to Marachanca twice, and then go out to Huaricina three or four times.
This week we also had a guy named Tommy come into town. He had been here in Peru three years ago and last year doing what we are doing now. He was travling back to the states and wanted to help out here in Peru, so Reap south sent him here. It was awesome having him here. It was really what we needed as a team because he knows how it is to be in a town with people you barely know and work among the Peruvians. He gave us a lot of encouragement and constructive criticism. He was going to be with us the entire next week, but reap south pulled him to translate for another team, but while he was here he was an extreme blessing.
We also got to go to Lima this weekend with the Jackson Memorial team and take some time to go shopping and get some American food, like Chilies and Starbucks. It was really good for our team. We are now back in Matucana and ready to go.
Please pray for our team that we stay health for the rest of the time here in Peru. We only have 17 days here in Matucana, so please pray we take advantage of everyday that we have here. Please pray for the Christians that are here that they would become passionate about learning the word of God and telling others about what he has done in their lives. We want to have a Bible study here when we leave that is self sufficient, so there is still a lot that needs to be done here. Please pray that God would provide the leaders for the group or even groups.
Thanks for all your prayer and keeping up with us. We realy appriciate it all
*Josh
During the week we had so many great stories where they were able to help and just have fun with us. For example I ended up getting really sick for about a week and one of the ladies, Eileen, is a pharmacist, so she was able to help me with what type of food I should eat to help my Body get better. Then also Andy made a great connection with one of the Guys named Tom. They joked around a lot and always kept it interesting. One day the Jackson Memorial group and Andy went out for Breakfast and Andy had just woken up, so he went down to breakfast in his shorts and a tee shirt. Well Andy has long legs and his shorts looked really short on him, so it looked like underwear. Tom made a remark that, “I´ve never had breakfast before with a man in his underwear, but now I have.” That was pretty much the tone for the entire week of comradery. We had a great time with them. We were able to also split up and do multiple things because they had two fluent Spanish speakers. We were able to go up to Marachanca twice, and then go out to Huaricina three or four times.
This week we also had a guy named Tommy come into town. He had been here in Peru three years ago and last year doing what we are doing now. He was travling back to the states and wanted to help out here in Peru, so Reap south sent him here. It was awesome having him here. It was really what we needed as a team because he knows how it is to be in a town with people you barely know and work among the Peruvians. He gave us a lot of encouragement and constructive criticism. He was going to be with us the entire next week, but reap south pulled him to translate for another team, but while he was here he was an extreme blessing.
We also got to go to Lima this weekend with the Jackson Memorial team and take some time to go shopping and get some American food, like Chilies and Starbucks. It was really good for our team. We are now back in Matucana and ready to go.
Please pray for our team that we stay health for the rest of the time here in Peru. We only have 17 days here in Matucana, so please pray we take advantage of everyday that we have here. Please pray for the Christians that are here that they would become passionate about learning the word of God and telling others about what he has done in their lives. We want to have a Bible study here when we leave that is self sufficient, so there is still a lot that needs to be done here. Please pray that God would provide the leaders for the group or even groups.
Thanks for all your prayer and keeping up with us. We realy appriciate it all
*Josh
Thursday, July 2, 2009
week 6
Here we are, in the middle of our 6th week. Time for me these past 2 weeks have flown very quickly!
This past weekend the guys and I went on our midsummer “R&R” in Nasca, Peru which is about 7 hours south of Lima. We spent about 11 hours in busses and taxis on Friday to get to our desert destination. Nasca is famous for their “Nasca Lines”. Google them and you’ll see what they are. Josh was able to take an airplane up to see them and he took lots of pictures. It was definitely a tourist town and a bit different from Matucana. It was great place to find souvenirs. Andy seemed to have a good time getting to be around other people as well. I on the other hand was sick all weekend. Without going into detail Ms. Kathy Weaver named off some symptoms which I had and told me to go get some antibiotics to get rid a the parasite I apparently picked up between Matucana and Nasca. It’s a common one that can be in a single drop of water. I’m just surprised (and thankful) that none of us had gotten it earlier.
Last Wednesday, Tucker Swamp Baptist Church from Virginia, arrived in Matucana – all 14 of them plus 3 translators and a driver. We were only able to spend 2 days with them before we had to go to Nasca. We left them with all the info we could give them in that time period and they made great use of it. They decided to spend their time and use their resources in Huariquina where we’ve had the most difficult time. From the notes they left us they seemed to have made a lot of new contacts for us. With their 18 people they were able to do a lot more for the town than the 3 of us ever could all summer. Thank you Tucker Swamp!
There has been a huge festival going on in Matucana all day everyday for over a week now. This means that school is pretty much optional for the kids. We were able to have a class last Monday then again this Wednesday.
We have a group who just arrived from Virginia today. They will be here until next Friday. We are hoping to go to Marachanca twice with them and also go to Huariquina and follow up with what Tucker Swamp did there last week.
That’s all I have for now. I’m still a bit tired but I feel a lot better than I did 2 days ago. Please continue to pray for our health and for our safety. We are more than halfway through our trip, which is hard for me to believe.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!
~Chelsea><>
This past weekend the guys and I went on our midsummer “R&R” in Nasca, Peru which is about 7 hours south of Lima. We spent about 11 hours in busses and taxis on Friday to get to our desert destination. Nasca is famous for their “Nasca Lines”. Google them and you’ll see what they are. Josh was able to take an airplane up to see them and he took lots of pictures. It was definitely a tourist town and a bit different from Matucana. It was great place to find souvenirs. Andy seemed to have a good time getting to be around other people as well. I on the other hand was sick all weekend. Without going into detail Ms. Kathy Weaver named off some symptoms which I had and told me to go get some antibiotics to get rid a the parasite I apparently picked up between Matucana and Nasca. It’s a common one that can be in a single drop of water. I’m just surprised (and thankful) that none of us had gotten it earlier.
Last Wednesday, Tucker Swamp Baptist Church from Virginia, arrived in Matucana – all 14 of them plus 3 translators and a driver. We were only able to spend 2 days with them before we had to go to Nasca. We left them with all the info we could give them in that time period and they made great use of it. They decided to spend their time and use their resources in Huariquina where we’ve had the most difficult time. From the notes they left us they seemed to have made a lot of new contacts for us. With their 18 people they were able to do a lot more for the town than the 3 of us ever could all summer. Thank you Tucker Swamp!
There has been a huge festival going on in Matucana all day everyday for over a week now. This means that school is pretty much optional for the kids. We were able to have a class last Monday then again this Wednesday.
We have a group who just arrived from Virginia today. They will be here until next Friday. We are hoping to go to Marachanca twice with them and also go to Huariquina and follow up with what Tucker Swamp did there last week.
That’s all I have for now. I’m still a bit tired but I feel a lot better than I did 2 days ago. Please continue to pray for our health and for our safety. We are more than halfway through our trip, which is hard for me to believe.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!
~Chelsea><>
Sunday, June 21, 2009
From Andy
Since Andy doesn´t have a blogspot account he´s doing an update through my account. Here it is:
Hey guys how are all of you? ... I hope that you are doing very well
-We had our first meeting with the adult English classes on Thursday night, which was totally awesome. And like most things that happen in Peru, things didn’t go as planned. We were supposed to have 2 English classes on Thursday, one beginning and one intermediate. The beginner class arrived on time and they were ready. We stopped 15 minutes before they were supposed to be dismissed to tell them a Bible story. They then asked us to teach them a song from our church, so we taught them “Jesus Loves ME”…. they were all so funny. (We know that when these things happen that it is because you guys are praying for us, we could feel it!) I just thought it was such a cool thing that this group of government workers wanted to learn a Christian song that we sing at church, that was something very special. Then I asked Mr. Acosta where the other class was because we were supposed to teach the more advanced class at that time. He informed me that they had not showed up and that the beginner group wanted to meet for the next hour as well. They was just amazing. They were so excited about the song and learning the right pronunciation, as well as learning how to greet and introduce themselves in English. All in all we walked out of that classed very blessed by God!! They were so excited about everything; they were also many laughs because Josh and I were “ACTING” to give examples on how to greet and introduce one’s self. Furthermore, Mr. Acosta asked us if when we are telling the Bible study that we say it in English and that he could read it in Spanish as to be more involved!!!!!! This just blows my mind!
We also had the blessing to meet with Maria and Selia for a discipleship meeting. Both of these women own business so they are unable to attend the home church on Sunday evenings. We are going to be able to meet with Maria and Selia a couple of times a week. We met with Selia and went over the story of the 4 different soils, found in Matthew 13. We went over the importance of Prayer with Maria, found in Matthew 6. Please be praying for these two ladies, they seem to have very open hearts and read to grow. Hopefully we can get them on some sort of schedule where Maria, Selia and Julie could meet with each other when we leave because they all work next to each other.
Well there is another update!!....I love you guys, thank you for your time in prayer for us and the people here in Matucana!!!
God bless!!
Love ANDY
Hey guys how are all of you? ... I hope that you are doing very well
-We had our first meeting with the adult English classes on Thursday night, which was totally awesome. And like most things that happen in Peru, things didn’t go as planned. We were supposed to have 2 English classes on Thursday, one beginning and one intermediate. The beginner class arrived on time and they were ready. We stopped 15 minutes before they were supposed to be dismissed to tell them a Bible story. They then asked us to teach them a song from our church, so we taught them “Jesus Loves ME”…. they were all so funny. (We know that when these things happen that it is because you guys are praying for us, we could feel it!) I just thought it was such a cool thing that this group of government workers wanted to learn a Christian song that we sing at church, that was something very special. Then I asked Mr. Acosta where the other class was because we were supposed to teach the more advanced class at that time. He informed me that they had not showed up and that the beginner group wanted to meet for the next hour as well. They was just amazing. They were so excited about the song and learning the right pronunciation, as well as learning how to greet and introduce themselves in English. All in all we walked out of that classed very blessed by God!! They were so excited about everything; they were also many laughs because Josh and I were “ACTING” to give examples on how to greet and introduce one’s self. Furthermore, Mr. Acosta asked us if when we are telling the Bible study that we say it in English and that he could read it in Spanish as to be more involved!!!!!! This just blows my mind!
We also had the blessing to meet with Maria and Selia for a discipleship meeting. Both of these women own business so they are unable to attend the home church on Sunday evenings. We are going to be able to meet with Maria and Selia a couple of times a week. We met with Selia and went over the story of the 4 different soils, found in Matthew 13. We went over the importance of Prayer with Maria, found in Matthew 6. Please be praying for these two ladies, they seem to have very open hearts and read to grow. Hopefully we can get them on some sort of schedule where Maria, Selia and Julie could meet with each other when we leave because they all work next to each other.
Well there is another update!!....I love you guys, thank you for your time in prayer for us and the people here in Matucana!!!
God bless!!
Love ANDY
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Today was our last day of teaching English at the local elementary school for the week. I really enjoy doing that and it seems like the guys enjoy it to. Every time we walk onto the school grounds, we are bombarded with kisses, hugs, and handshakes. They cheer whenever they hear that it’s their class’ day to learn English. It’s wonderful to be apart of it! This past week we taught about David and Goliath. I would read the story in English, Andy would translate, and Josh would act out the part of David. After the story we would play a game according to their age (game show style for the older classes and a 4 corner style game for the younger) Josh headed up the games and I would keep score. Andy would go over the vocabulary words like: giant, battle, stone, sheep, bear, and lion. En Espanol: gigante (he-gon-tay), batalla (bat-tah-ya), piedre (pee-ay-dra), ovaja (oh-vay-ha), oso (oh-soh), y leon (lee-ohn). I learned all those words this week too! : ) After the class was over we gave each of the kids a rock to remember the story by. We found the rocks up by the train tracks so we figured they were reproducible enough. Yesterday we had some kids on the street come up to Andy and he said they were bragging about how they remembered the story! That was really neat for me to here. After sharing the story a total of 7 times I’m pretty sure I know it pretty well and I think Andy has it memorized in Spanish.
We were able to speak to Felicia today. Please be praying for her and her salvation. It’s been difficult to meet with her bc she owns a kiosk outside of the elementary school, but most of the time she’s not there. We check it out everyday and she hasn’t been there until today. She has cancer in her sinus’. I’m afraid she will not be alive much longer, so every day that I don’t see her I wonder if we had missed that opportunity. Last Saturday, we had a meeting set up with her, but she never came. So today was the first time I saw her since last week. She told us that she didn’t have time to go over a few verses in the Bible but she showed us that she has been reading her Bible. We left her with a few key verses to look over until the next time we talk (which is on Saturday at 11am). When we asked if it would be easier to come to her house, she said no. It’s sad to me to see so much pain in her eyes, I go away wanting to cry. Hopefully she’ll accept Christ and she will be able to live pain free for the rest of eternity.
On a happier note, Andy is teaching the first English class tonight. This whole thing has definitely been set up by God! There’s a man who works in the municipal building who is a Christian and speaks English. His name is Jose. Jose wanted us to teach his workers basic English. Originally it was about 5 workers. It is now up to 25+ workers! Now for the awesome part, he was very adamant about making sure we teach out of the Bible a good portion of the teaching time. He wants us to start with a story then with the lesson and then we will end with a prayer time. I am so excited about it. This will take place on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 6-7:15. Please keep that in prayer as well!
Almost everyday we have been able to meet with a local Christian who we believe is going to be a major part of ministry here in Matucana. His name is Gary Grande. What an amazing breath of fresh air he is! He’s is so in tune to God and has a totally different mentality than most of everyone else we met here. While it seems like we have to spiritually “beat” some people to get them motivated, Gary is so proactive. One time, he brought his friends to a discipleship meeting and he pointed to one of his friends during the prayer request time and said “I pray that you stop doing drugs!” HA! That was AWESOME! He’s so open and highly respected among his peers.
This past Sunday, we were planning on doing the Lord’s supper with another home group meeting, but something didn’t work out and it was postponed until this coming Sunday. I’m looking forward to it.
We went up to Huariquina on Monday at 4 and planned to share a story at that time. Before the story we walked around town and invited everyone we saw. All with the exception of 1 said they’d be there. To bad this doesn’t mean much here in Peru. No one came. We sat there for about 20 minutes then a little girl came by and I began the story of creation. Another little girl came and I started over began to retell it. They were so interested in it! There were a few sentences that I would skip just for the sake of their attention but they were reading over Andy’s shoulder and ask why I was skipping stuff. I began to read it word for word. I was so excited that they were excited about this story they never heard : ). We weren’t able to finish however bc a lady came out yelling at them bc they were suppose to be doing something else. After that we all prayed and went back home. Josh suggested that we go up there on the weekend instead of Monday bc there might be more people around. We will try that this Saturday I think.
A lot of stuff had happened this past week! We were able to meet with Leonel who is also a Christian. He works up in Marachanca and is a very helpful person and willing to get the word out about us coming in 2 weeks. We wanted to go up this Sunday, but told us that there was a town meeting that day and no one would be around. So we planned for the following week. I’m looking forward to going up there. We would like to send a couple people from the 2 church groups that are coming this summer up there for a couple days. We will be working on that.
Last Friday, both the soccer team and the Barnabas team arrived. This is the day after the Brown’s and Mary left. We were expecting the soccer team but not the Barnabas team. Barnabas teams are groups that come town to town wherever the summer missionaries are. Like Barnabas from the Bible, they encourage the groups and see if they need help with anything. At the time we did not bc the Brown’s gave us a pretty good jumpstart, but still they were very encouraging and gave us great words of advice. We got to know Greg, Ryan, and Janelle. Greg and Ryan gave us more great pieces of advice bc they both have served in Matucana. (There is a link to Greg’s blog to the right>>>>). Janelle got to talk and share a few stories on our hike up to a local waterfall. It was a 2 hour hike and I almost died. Janelle stayed there with me and we were able to talk the entire time. I know she will be a great encourager to other teams this summer.
The soccer team played on Saturday and we were hoping for a few more people to come. We had fun none-the-less with the 6 chicos who came to watch. They ended up being the opposing team. The soccer team had a great talk afterwards on how you can be like Christ on the soccer field and in your everyday life. They gave them the soccer ball after the game.
Both teams left on Monday morning and we look forward to seeing them during our mid-summer break.
That’s all I have for now (as if that wasn’t enough)!
Chao!
~Chelsea
We were able to speak to Felicia today. Please be praying for her and her salvation. It’s been difficult to meet with her bc she owns a kiosk outside of the elementary school, but most of the time she’s not there. We check it out everyday and she hasn’t been there until today. She has cancer in her sinus’. I’m afraid she will not be alive much longer, so every day that I don’t see her I wonder if we had missed that opportunity. Last Saturday, we had a meeting set up with her, but she never came. So today was the first time I saw her since last week. She told us that she didn’t have time to go over a few verses in the Bible but she showed us that she has been reading her Bible. We left her with a few key verses to look over until the next time we talk (which is on Saturday at 11am). When we asked if it would be easier to come to her house, she said no. It’s sad to me to see so much pain in her eyes, I go away wanting to cry. Hopefully she’ll accept Christ and she will be able to live pain free for the rest of eternity.
On a happier note, Andy is teaching the first English class tonight. This whole thing has definitely been set up by God! There’s a man who works in the municipal building who is a Christian and speaks English. His name is Jose. Jose wanted us to teach his workers basic English. Originally it was about 5 workers. It is now up to 25+ workers! Now for the awesome part, he was very adamant about making sure we teach out of the Bible a good portion of the teaching time. He wants us to start with a story then with the lesson and then we will end with a prayer time. I am so excited about it. This will take place on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 6-7:15. Please keep that in prayer as well!
Almost everyday we have been able to meet with a local Christian who we believe is going to be a major part of ministry here in Matucana. His name is Gary Grande. What an amazing breath of fresh air he is! He’s is so in tune to God and has a totally different mentality than most of everyone else we met here. While it seems like we have to spiritually “beat” some people to get them motivated, Gary is so proactive. One time, he brought his friends to a discipleship meeting and he pointed to one of his friends during the prayer request time and said “I pray that you stop doing drugs!” HA! That was AWESOME! He’s so open and highly respected among his peers.
This past Sunday, we were planning on doing the Lord’s supper with another home group meeting, but something didn’t work out and it was postponed until this coming Sunday. I’m looking forward to it.
We went up to Huariquina on Monday at 4 and planned to share a story at that time. Before the story we walked around town and invited everyone we saw. All with the exception of 1 said they’d be there. To bad this doesn’t mean much here in Peru. No one came. We sat there for about 20 minutes then a little girl came by and I began the story of creation. Another little girl came and I started over began to retell it. They were so interested in it! There were a few sentences that I would skip just for the sake of their attention but they were reading over Andy’s shoulder and ask why I was skipping stuff. I began to read it word for word. I was so excited that they were excited about this story they never heard : ). We weren’t able to finish however bc a lady came out yelling at them bc they were suppose to be doing something else. After that we all prayed and went back home. Josh suggested that we go up there on the weekend instead of Monday bc there might be more people around. We will try that this Saturday I think.
A lot of stuff had happened this past week! We were able to meet with Leonel who is also a Christian. He works up in Marachanca and is a very helpful person and willing to get the word out about us coming in 2 weeks. We wanted to go up this Sunday, but told us that there was a town meeting that day and no one would be around. So we planned for the following week. I’m looking forward to going up there. We would like to send a couple people from the 2 church groups that are coming this summer up there for a couple days. We will be working on that.
Last Friday, both the soccer team and the Barnabas team arrived. This is the day after the Brown’s and Mary left. We were expecting the soccer team but not the Barnabas team. Barnabas teams are groups that come town to town wherever the summer missionaries are. Like Barnabas from the Bible, they encourage the groups and see if they need help with anything. At the time we did not bc the Brown’s gave us a pretty good jumpstart, but still they were very encouraging and gave us great words of advice. We got to know Greg, Ryan, and Janelle. Greg and Ryan gave us more great pieces of advice bc they both have served in Matucana. (There is a link to Greg’s blog to the right>>>>). Janelle got to talk and share a few stories on our hike up to a local waterfall. It was a 2 hour hike and I almost died. Janelle stayed there with me and we were able to talk the entire time. I know she will be a great encourager to other teams this summer.
The soccer team played on Saturday and we were hoping for a few more people to come. We had fun none-the-less with the 6 chicos who came to watch. They ended up being the opposing team. The soccer team had a great talk afterwards on how you can be like Christ on the soccer field and in your everyday life. They gave them the soccer ball after the game.
Both teams left on Monday morning and we look forward to seeing them during our mid-summer break.
That’s all I have for now (as if that wasn’t enough)!
Chao!
~Chelsea
this picture was taken last week while the Brown´s were here. just a sample of the average class size.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
day 11
Hello all! We are now into our 2nd week of our Peruvian adventure. As Josh has said in his previous post, we we’re in training all week last week. Not much to say about that on my part except I met a lot of great like-minded people and hope to continue our friendships after we all return to the states in August.
I believe that Josh posted the blog on the day we arrived in Matucana. A lot has happened since then. We have been settling into our hostel and have been shadowing the Brown’s as they show us the “in’s and out’s” of Matucana. Sunday night we had our first home meeting in Jose’ and Elizabeth’s store. They have been meeting every week but find it hard to get people to come. On the night we were there, about 9+ people (not including the gringos) were there along with 1000 little kids. Ok, there weren’t 1000 but it seemed like there were a lot. Ms. Cheryl went out and played with them during our meeting. Josh lead the meeting by telling the story of the sower found in Matthew 13 while Andy did a fantastic job with interpreting.
The next day we were able to go to a nearby town called Huariquina (pronounced hor-uh-keen-nya). Mr. Dennis, Andy, Josh, and I went down there to let them know about a Bible study that was taking place the next day. We were able to have a great conversation with 2 men and we shared a few verses with them.
On Tuesday, when we woke up Andy wasn’t feeling good at all. He caught something and was out of commission for 2 full days! I, on the hand, caught it too but didn’t have as severely as Andy. However, I was out Tuesday afternoon and a part of Wednesday. On Tuesday morning before I was out, Mary, Ms. Cheryl, and I went to the school and taught a Bible story to a 1st grade class and also to a 5th grade class. It was so much fun and I look forward to being able to continue working there this summer.
The group (minus Andy and myself) went to Huariquina that afternoon. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done in that town, but by the end of the summer, I think we’ll be able to give them a firm and true foundation from the Bible.
Yesterday (Wednesday), I shared my first story to a group of 2 ladies and 2 girls. It was a follow-up story about baptism and how, as soon as we accept Christ as our Savior, we need to be obedient and follow through with baptism. It’s a difficult subject for many here bc of their strong Catholic backgrounds but some do follow through. Last night the ladies did not make a decision but, I feel if we continue follow up with them they might.
Speaking of baptism, we did hold a baptism yesterday morning. Julie was baptized by Martin. I’m not going to go into details, but it was quite humorous to watch! Whoever was there knows what I mean ;).
Today the Brown’s and Mary left which means Andy, Josh, and I are the only gringos in town. We will be visited by several groups coming through out the summer. 4 to be exact. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll have the ReapSouth soccer team coming to spend a few days here in Matucana.
That’s all I have for now. I’m going to try to call home again and see if anyone’s around.
Chao for now!
~Chelsea><>
I believe that Josh posted the blog on the day we arrived in Matucana. A lot has happened since then. We have been settling into our hostel and have been shadowing the Brown’s as they show us the “in’s and out’s” of Matucana. Sunday night we had our first home meeting in Jose’ and Elizabeth’s store. They have been meeting every week but find it hard to get people to come. On the night we were there, about 9+ people (not including the gringos) were there along with 1000 little kids. Ok, there weren’t 1000 but it seemed like there were a lot. Ms. Cheryl went out and played with them during our meeting. Josh lead the meeting by telling the story of the sower found in Matthew 13 while Andy did a fantastic job with interpreting.
The next day we were able to go to a nearby town called Huariquina (pronounced hor-uh-keen-nya). Mr. Dennis, Andy, Josh, and I went down there to let them know about a Bible study that was taking place the next day. We were able to have a great conversation with 2 men and we shared a few verses with them.
On Tuesday, when we woke up Andy wasn’t feeling good at all. He caught something and was out of commission for 2 full days! I, on the hand, caught it too but didn’t have as severely as Andy. However, I was out Tuesday afternoon and a part of Wednesday. On Tuesday morning before I was out, Mary, Ms. Cheryl, and I went to the school and taught a Bible story to a 1st grade class and also to a 5th grade class. It was so much fun and I look forward to being able to continue working there this summer.
The group (minus Andy and myself) went to Huariquina that afternoon. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done in that town, but by the end of the summer, I think we’ll be able to give them a firm and true foundation from the Bible.
Yesterday (Wednesday), I shared my first story to a group of 2 ladies and 2 girls. It was a follow-up story about baptism and how, as soon as we accept Christ as our Savior, we need to be obedient and follow through with baptism. It’s a difficult subject for many here bc of their strong Catholic backgrounds but some do follow through. Last night the ladies did not make a decision but, I feel if we continue follow up with them they might.
Speaking of baptism, we did hold a baptism yesterday morning. Julie was baptized by Martin. I’m not going to go into details, but it was quite humorous to watch! Whoever was there knows what I mean ;).
Today the Brown’s and Mary left which means Andy, Josh, and I are the only gringos in town. We will be visited by several groups coming through out the summer. 4 to be exact. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll have the ReapSouth soccer team coming to spend a few days here in Matucana.
That’s all I have for now. I’m going to try to call home again and see if anyone’s around.
Chao for now!
~Chelsea><>
p.s. here are some pics from the week. the two boys were just sitting there and i couldnt pass up taking the pic. and the girl´s name next to me is carman. she was visting huarquina while we were there on monday.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
The First Week
Yes we have arrived in Peru! Our journey has been very long and it is hard to believe that we have been here almost a week now.
Our trip started on Monday with a delay at Tampa International. We were supposed to leave at 11:00 but we did not leave until 1:30 because our flight had not arrived because of weather. We made it down to Miami and got to our gate with enough time to spare. We then boarded and had to wait almost 2 hours on the plane because the ground crew put too much gasoline in the plane, so they had to go get the right nozzle to take gas out and so we learned to be patient. Finally we got off the ground and started on our way to Peru. We arrived around 11:30pm Peruvian time, which is an hour behind EST because they don’t have day light savings time. After getting our luggage and meeting our fellow REAP south student missionaries we got on a crowded bus and head to Chocinca (I think that is how it is spelled) about 2 hours away. We finally arrived, after our bus driver got lost a couple times, around 1:30 to 2:00am.
The next couple of days we spent training for this summer. The REAP south program that we went with send out groups of students into villages to teach the message of Christ through the technique of telling stories straight from the Bible. Our training mainly consisted of: How to Story the Bible, What to expect in the Village, How do the locals communicate, What to do about Spiritual Warfare, How to make what we do reproducible among the Peruvians, and How to know the call of missions. I normally got up around 6 every morning, but we would start classes around 8am after breakfast and go until 9pm. We would get few breaks, but we were never certain of when these would be. On a couple of occasions we had a game time and we played a game called soccey ball. Which was essentially volleyball mixed with soccer. It was fun, but our team did not do so well. So far the food that we have been eating has been great. There is almost rice at every meal, but normally you can mix that with the other elements on your plate.
Today we made it to Matucana, which is where we will be based out of for the next 2 months. We were taken into the town by Mr. and Mrs. Brown and their translator Mary. We are now touring around the town getting familiar with it and meeting different people.
Please pray for us as we continue to getting use to the climate. As far as I know no one has gotten altitude sickness, but please pray that we don’t get it. Also pray that we would stay focused on our task here in Matucana and that we would be proactive. Please also pray for the Catholic Priest of the town His name is Oliver. We have heard that he is telling people not to listen to the gringos and not to associate with the Christians, so if you could pray for his heart and that we would have an opportunity to talk with him and share the truth. Thank you all so much for your continued support. Without your prayers we wouldn’t be here.
Until next time,
*Josh
Our trip started on Monday with a delay at Tampa International. We were supposed to leave at 11:00 but we did not leave until 1:30 because our flight had not arrived because of weather. We made it down to Miami and got to our gate with enough time to spare. We then boarded and had to wait almost 2 hours on the plane because the ground crew put too much gasoline in the plane, so they had to go get the right nozzle to take gas out and so we learned to be patient. Finally we got off the ground and started on our way to Peru. We arrived around 11:30pm Peruvian time, which is an hour behind EST because they don’t have day light savings time. After getting our luggage and meeting our fellow REAP south student missionaries we got on a crowded bus and head to Chocinca (I think that is how it is spelled) about 2 hours away. We finally arrived, after our bus driver got lost a couple times, around 1:30 to 2:00am.
The next couple of days we spent training for this summer. The REAP south program that we went with send out groups of students into villages to teach the message of Christ through the technique of telling stories straight from the Bible. Our training mainly consisted of: How to Story the Bible, What to expect in the Village, How do the locals communicate, What to do about Spiritual Warfare, How to make what we do reproducible among the Peruvians, and How to know the call of missions. I normally got up around 6 every morning, but we would start classes around 8am after breakfast and go until 9pm. We would get few breaks, but we were never certain of when these would be. On a couple of occasions we had a game time and we played a game called soccey ball. Which was essentially volleyball mixed with soccer. It was fun, but our team did not do so well. So far the food that we have been eating has been great. There is almost rice at every meal, but normally you can mix that with the other elements on your plate.
Today we made it to Matucana, which is where we will be based out of for the next 2 months. We were taken into the town by Mr. and Mrs. Brown and their translator Mary. We are now touring around the town getting familiar with it and meeting different people.
Please pray for us as we continue to getting use to the climate. As far as I know no one has gotten altitude sickness, but please pray that we don’t get it. Also pray that we would stay focused on our task here in Matucana and that we would be proactive. Please also pray for the Catholic Priest of the town His name is Oliver. We have heard that he is telling people not to listen to the gringos and not to associate with the Christians, so if you could pray for his heart and that we would have an opportunity to talk with him and share the truth. Thank you all so much for your continued support. Without your prayers we wouldn’t be here.
Until next time,
*Josh
Sunday, May 24, 2009
thank you!
it's 1am on the morning we leave for peru! i'm finishing up packing and i don't feel like i forgot anything important. our flight's at 11am and we should arrive at around 10pm local time (peru is 1 hour behind us i believe). the day after we arrive in peru we will be training for 5 days, then we'll be meeting up with the Browns and Mary Marcano. they will be taking us to matucana where we'll actually be the the rest of the trip.
thank you all for your prayer and financial support! we have been so blessed with great friends and family. keep checking the blog and comment. if you all have any questions we will try to answer them in a timely matter and to the best of our abiblities!
hope i didn't forget anything! love you all and please continue to pray for the people of matucana and us!
SEE you all in 10 weeks! :)
~chelsea ><>
thank you all for your prayer and financial support! we have been so blessed with great friends and family. keep checking the blog and comment. if you all have any questions we will try to answer them in a timely matter and to the best of our abiblities!
hope i didn't forget anything! love you all and please continue to pray for the people of matucana and us!
SEE you all in 10 weeks! :)
~chelsea ><>
Saturday, May 16, 2009
9 days. eesh.
i am about as prepared as one can be before leaving the states to live in a south american country for 10 weeks. that feeling of forgetting something is lurking and time is running out to hang out with my friends one last time before i go. i've been through this before only i went to colorado for a year and a half, so i know i can handle it. but still, it seems different that i'm leaving the comforts of america. i'm ready though. God has prepared me for this in so many ways. it even sounds like the hostel down there in matucana is actually better lodging than that little trailer i stayed in all summer in colorado. ;) good times. i loved that trailer.
with it being about 9 days this MAY be my last post before we go. i don't know. this will be a busy week for us for sure. i'm pretty excited because i have 2 more work days left before i go! tuesday night at 9 pm i will be done! wednesday night will be my last night working in my church's youth group until august 5th :( i'm sad about all i'm going to miss out on this summer, but i'm praying and i know that the youth group will grow so much in God this summer!
that's all for now, not much happened this past week, except that i'm packing. same will go for all of next week i'm sure.
~chelsea><>
with it being about 9 days this MAY be my last post before we go. i don't know. this will be a busy week for us for sure. i'm pretty excited because i have 2 more work days left before i go! tuesday night at 9 pm i will be done! wednesday night will be my last night working in my church's youth group until august 5th :( i'm sad about all i'm going to miss out on this summer, but i'm praying and i know that the youth group will grow so much in God this summer!
that's all for now, not much happened this past week, except that i'm packing. same will go for all of next week i'm sure.
~chelsea><>
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Stars
"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe."
Philippians 2:14-15(NIV)
this verse has been a major part of my life recently. there have been some issues and instances where i had to make a decision as to whether or not i should participate in some things that would not necessarily constitute as a sin but might hurt my witness. as i was deciding, there were times that i would try to justify my soon-to-be-action because it would "open me up to a whole new people group". one night we studied this verse in our middle school class at church and i was God-slapped: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-His good, pleasing, and perfect will." Romans 12:2(NIV)
that answered my question and i immediately was able to make my decision. God doesn't need me to be a witness by hovering on the line of right and wrong. there's already enough Christians doing that. instead, He calls us to be transformed and to be living sacrifices for Him. we need to reflect His glory to the best of our ability. it's easy to say "yes" and have the world assume nothing of it, but saying "no" leads to more opportunities of being a better witness.
this seems to be a popular subject these days and i wanted to put my two cents in there :)
anyway, this week has been pretty eventful. i praise God for all that took place, both good and seemingly bad. i try to remind myself that everything happens for a reason and God's always in control. here is one thing i will tell you about. we had a scare when josh found out his application wasn't accepted all because of a technicality. we are very grateful it has been/is being resolved.
as far as i know the guys (andy and josh) are done with their classes until after peru! what a relief for them. i am working a little less and will be done at auntie anne's i believe on the 19th until i return! i'm still praising God for a job when i get back!!!
please continue to be praying for us as the day arrives. personally, i am now at the point where i feel like i'm running out of time before i go. again, i need to remember that God's in control.
that's all for now. thanks for reading!
~chelsea ><>
p.s. 19 more days to go
Philippians 2:14-15(NIV)
this verse has been a major part of my life recently. there have been some issues and instances where i had to make a decision as to whether or not i should participate in some things that would not necessarily constitute as a sin but might hurt my witness. as i was deciding, there were times that i would try to justify my soon-to-be-action because it would "open me up to a whole new people group". one night we studied this verse in our middle school class at church and i was God-slapped: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-His good, pleasing, and perfect will." Romans 12:2(NIV)
that answered my question and i immediately was able to make my decision. God doesn't need me to be a witness by hovering on the line of right and wrong. there's already enough Christians doing that. instead, He calls us to be transformed and to be living sacrifices for Him. we need to reflect His glory to the best of our ability. it's easy to say "yes" and have the world assume nothing of it, but saying "no" leads to more opportunities of being a better witness.
this seems to be a popular subject these days and i wanted to put my two cents in there :)
anyway, this week has been pretty eventful. i praise God for all that took place, both good and seemingly bad. i try to remind myself that everything happens for a reason and God's always in control. here is one thing i will tell you about. we had a scare when josh found out his application wasn't accepted all because of a technicality. we are very grateful it has been/is being resolved.
as far as i know the guys (andy and josh) are done with their classes until after peru! what a relief for them. i am working a little less and will be done at auntie anne's i believe on the 19th until i return! i'm still praising God for a job when i get back!!!
please continue to be praying for us as the day arrives. personally, i am now at the point where i feel like i'm running out of time before i go. again, i need to remember that God's in control.
that's all for now. thanks for reading!
~chelsea ><>
p.s. 19 more days to go
Thursday, April 30, 2009
dependent!
presently, we have 25 days until we board the plane that takes us to lima, peru. it's weird for me to think about all that has to happen before we step onto that plane! eesh. yet, i've noticed that i'm abnormally content about what's going to take place this summer. i truly think this sense of calmness comes from so many people stepping up and telling me that they are praying for me. this confirmation from God is awesome and nothing has ever been such an encouragement to me!
last night someone told me he was praying, not only about peru this summer, but also what i'll be doing after i get back. i have been thinking a lot about that myself. what exactly i will be doing when i get back? since some of you don't know me, i can be...well...a spontaneous person when it comes to possible careers options. i have a few examples of ideas that failed, but i won't go into to those unimportant details. the only thing that is important is that i'm relying on God now. there's is no way to that He will fail! many people have been asking what my next adventure will be after this summer. i'm here to tell you, I DON'T KNOW! :) that's nice to say because for the first time in a long time, i am trusting in God to make that decision. no, that's not an excuse for me to not plan ahead, but it's an opportunity for me to discover more about God! i'm the independent stubborn type and i need to learn to be more dependent on God along with others who want to help. it's like they say "work as if everything depends on you. pray because everything depends on God." give God credit and take responsibility for your actions in my opinion is a good way to live.
thanks for reading! i suppose this 3rd post makes me an "official" blogger. i still feel a little weird about posting stuff that may or may not get read by anyone else but my mother (hi mommy!). she subscribed to it yesterday so she'll never miss anything :) nonetheless, i'm here and it's posted.
btw, pray for the guys as they are in their final weeks of college before we leave. in fact andy (as far as i know) is done after this week and josh will be done after next week. that's pretty exciting, but finals can be very stressful.
thank you for your prayers! love you all!
~chelsea><>
last night someone told me he was praying, not only about peru this summer, but also what i'll be doing after i get back. i have been thinking a lot about that myself. what exactly i will be doing when i get back? since some of you don't know me, i can be...well...a spontaneous person when it comes to possible careers options. i have a few examples of ideas that failed, but i won't go into to those unimportant details. the only thing that is important is that i'm relying on God now. there's is no way to that He will fail! many people have been asking what my next adventure will be after this summer. i'm here to tell you, I DON'T KNOW! :) that's nice to say because for the first time in a long time, i am trusting in God to make that decision. no, that's not an excuse for me to not plan ahead, but it's an opportunity for me to discover more about God! i'm the independent stubborn type and i need to learn to be more dependent on God along with others who want to help. it's like they say "work as if everything depends on you. pray because everything depends on God." give God credit and take responsibility for your actions in my opinion is a good way to live.
thanks for reading! i suppose this 3rd post makes me an "official" blogger. i still feel a little weird about posting stuff that may or may not get read by anyone else but my mother (hi mommy!). she subscribed to it yesterday so she'll never miss anything :) nonetheless, i'm here and it's posted.
btw, pray for the guys as they are in their final weeks of college before we leave. in fact andy (as far as i know) is done after this week and josh will be done after next week. that's pretty exciting, but finals can be very stressful.
thank you for your prayers! love you all!
~chelsea><>
Thursday, April 23, 2009
32 days left
When I stop and think about how much time is left before we leave for Peru I often have to take a deep breath. I have never been on a missions trip and honestly I am a bit nervous about what we will run into down there. For those of you who don't know me, I really like to know every detail of a task so that I know how to completely complete it, so with this missions trip I feel like there is an x factor of the unknown for me. I have nothing to compare this trip with, so everything is a new experience for me. This is all exciting and terrifying. Thankfully God tests us before we reach the place He wants us to be at. Over this freshmen semester of college I have been growing quite a bit. In fact, so many ways that it would probably take up an entire blog of its own to explain how everything fits together and every detail of this growing story of my life, but for the sake of your time and mine I will just give you a brief summary.
In my daily devotions for the past few months, I have been studying the life story of David son of Jesse (which can be found in 1 and 2 samuel). My view of David for my entire life has been in awe of how perfect David was..... well all except that one thing with Bathsheba. After I started studying his life and reading commentaries on his life, I found it interesting how David had this period of preparation in his life before he was king. He spent many years learning how to enquire of the Lord for everything. When David was doing this his life was filled with blessing although he was being persecuted, but right when he stopped enquiring of the Lord he fell into some sort of sin. After becoming King this training that he had been through helped him keep the kingdom of Israel from falling apart. The lesson I had learned is that David was a man after God's own heart not because he was perfect and new every detail of a task, but rather because he had learned to enquire of the Lord and obey what the Lord told him. Yeah david fell, but he always returned to the Lord and sought His direction. I guess this has encouraged a lot because I have had to learn to enquire of the Lord in a lot of situations this semester, and God doesn't just teach us to do things just for the fun of it, but for a purpose that will be used later. So I know that as long as we continue to enquire of the Lord this summer I know that He will direct us in the right situations of what to say and what to do.
If you would pray for us that we would continue to seek the Lord and enquire of Him in every situation now and while we are down in Peru that would be greatly appreciated!
*Josh
Sunday, April 19, 2009
family day
preparation update part dos (spanish for 2)
35 days until we board the plane that takes us to peru! as the day approaches i get more and more excited to see all that God has in store for me, my team, and matucana! i truly feel like something astounding and awesome is going to happen!
instead of our normal weekly meetings, yesterday we invited our families to come, eat some burgers, hangout, and ask any questions they might have about this trip. it also gave our parents a good opportunity to meet everyone and "to put a face with a name" sort of speak. i think it was also a relief for our parents (at least for mine) to be able to meet and chat with "the kids" that their child will be working with for 10 weeks in a different continent.
btw, here are a couple personal prayers that have been answered within these past few weeks. one thing i wasn't to concerned but still needed confirmation about was my job situation after peru. the kind of jobs i get are known to have high employee turnover rates. in other words, i can be pretty easily replaced. well, my boss at auntie anne's said to me one day while i was at the mall with a friend, "after peru, you're coming back to work here right?" :) that made my day! now, slice of life (my other job) has been another story. i've been putting off telling them that i would be leaving for the summer because i was afraid they'd let me go right then and there. i told the head waiter that i'm going to be gone for the summer. he said "oh yeah? doing what?" i told him and he responded "really?! that's really cool! will you be working here up until then and will you come back afterwards?" wow. that was a big sigh of relief! not that i WANT to work there when i get back, but that i have that option and i will still have that income up until i leave! thank you Lord! preparing for this trip has already been a great testimony to all that i work with. thank you all for your prayers!
~chelsea st. john ><>
p.s. this past week i have had some personal concerns that i needed to give to God. through a few of my friends' encouraging words, He was able to put me at ease about a couple unspecific things. pretty much i need to remember that He is there for me and that He wants me to delight in Him. conclusion: God wants to take away all my concerns because He loves me.
35 days until we board the plane that takes us to peru! as the day approaches i get more and more excited to see all that God has in store for me, my team, and matucana! i truly feel like something astounding and awesome is going to happen!
instead of our normal weekly meetings, yesterday we invited our families to come, eat some burgers, hangout, and ask any questions they might have about this trip. it also gave our parents a good opportunity to meet everyone and "to put a face with a name" sort of speak. i think it was also a relief for our parents (at least for mine) to be able to meet and chat with "the kids" that their child will be working with for 10 weeks in a different continent.
btw, here are a couple personal prayers that have been answered within these past few weeks. one thing i wasn't to concerned but still needed confirmation about was my job situation after peru. the kind of jobs i get are known to have high employee turnover rates. in other words, i can be pretty easily replaced. well, my boss at auntie anne's said to me one day while i was at the mall with a friend, "after peru, you're coming back to work here right?" :) that made my day! now, slice of life (my other job) has been another story. i've been putting off telling them that i would be leaving for the summer because i was afraid they'd let me go right then and there. i told the head waiter that i'm going to be gone for the summer. he said "oh yeah? doing what?" i told him and he responded "really?! that's really cool! will you be working here up until then and will you come back afterwards?" wow. that was a big sigh of relief! not that i WANT to work there when i get back, but that i have that option and i will still have that income up until i leave! thank you Lord! preparing for this trip has already been a great testimony to all that i work with. thank you all for your prayers!
~chelsea st. john ><>
p.s. this past week i have had some personal concerns that i needed to give to God. through a few of my friends' encouraging words, He was able to put me at ease about a couple unspecific things. pretty much i need to remember that He is there for me and that He wants me to delight in Him. conclusion: God wants to take away all my concerns because He loves me.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Preparing for Peru
this is my first official "blogging" experience. please bare with me :)
as most of you all know we (andy turner, josh corrick, and i) are preparing to take a little trip down to south america. matucana, peru to be exact. we are starting to meet on a weekly basis to practice our stories and attempt to cover all we need to know before we go down there for 10 weeks. mr. dennis and ms. cheryl brown have just gotten back from their 3rd trip down to that area and have been hosting our meetings at their house. they have been giving us the in's and out's of matucana from their experiences there. special thanks to mr. dennis' amazing organizational skills. without him i wouldn't feel nearly as confident as i do about leaving the states for over 2 months. he covers every detail!
we decided to keep this blog to be able to update you all as much as possible. we'll attempt to post at least once a week in as much detail as possible. that means it could be as simple as prayer requests to a page with pictures and all! we shall see. i know there is an internet cafe' there in the town but i am unsure of it's reliability.
thank you in advance for all your prayers and support! we have each seen God work in all areas of this trip so far and you all have really stepped up. it's astonishing!
~chelsea st. john
as most of you all know we (andy turner, josh corrick, and i) are preparing to take a little trip down to south america. matucana, peru to be exact. we are starting to meet on a weekly basis to practice our stories and attempt to cover all we need to know before we go down there for 10 weeks. mr. dennis and ms. cheryl brown have just gotten back from their 3rd trip down to that area and have been hosting our meetings at their house. they have been giving us the in's and out's of matucana from their experiences there. special thanks to mr. dennis' amazing organizational skills. without him i wouldn't feel nearly as confident as i do about leaving the states for over 2 months. he covers every detail!
we decided to keep this blog to be able to update you all as much as possible. we'll attempt to post at least once a week in as much detail as possible. that means it could be as simple as prayer requests to a page with pictures and all! we shall see. i know there is an internet cafe' there in the town but i am unsure of it's reliability.
thank you in advance for all your prayers and support! we have each seen God work in all areas of this trip so far and you all have really stepped up. it's astonishing!
~chelsea st. john
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