Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:
We are so excited after a short trip to the community of Salvatierra! The four new believers gathered with us for church meetings almost nightly while we were there, and it is thrilling to watch the Holy Spirit do His work among His people. They hear His voice and are receptive to what He says. We can't wait to see what else He will do to build His Church among the Guarayo people!
Prayer Necessities:
1. Please be in prayer for the new church in Salvatierra. They have already faced some persecution, and this is a critical time for them to stand firm in the faith and to be grounded in sound doctrine. Pray that they would be emboldened from the start to make disciples of others and that the Spirit would enable them to stand strong for Christ.
2. Pray for the church in Ayuma, as we have just made our final trip to disciple them. Pray that God's Word would take root in good soil and that they would bear fruit. And please pray especially for Nelly, who is currently recovering from a recent surgery.
3. Please pray for wisdom for Leah and me as we complete the work among the Quechua with a short trip to Taramarca in November and then begin the work in Salvatierra in earnest in December. We only have four months to spend there, so pray that we would make the most of every opportunity and that we would know how to focus our efforts in discipleship.
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:
First of all, please forgive the lack of pictures in this blog installment. I'm having some major computer issues at the moment and will upload pictures as soon as I can.
As I've previously mentioned, the church in Salvatierra is small with only four baptized believers. But those four are faithful, and the Lord's work in their lives is evident. Their names are Mariluz, her husband Umberto, her best friend Adela, and a young man named Benjamin.
We recently spent a week with them, and it was an emotional roller coaster of a trip. Salvatierra is in the jungle, and that's definitely an adjustment for me. When I first arrived in South America, I spent five months in the jungle doing training for our team. However, for the last two years, I've worked in the mountains at around 10,000 feet, which has its own set of challenges. But suffocating heat and biting insects are not among them, so Leah and I have definitely had to readjust. :)
Discomfort was certainly one of our greatest challenges, and the other was being asked for things - CONSTANTLY. The Quechua are subtle in asking for what they want; they hint around and, if you don't bite on the hints, they usually won't ask you directly. Not so with the Guarayo. They asked us for rides to their fields, for food, for money, for medicine, for anything they saw and lots of things they didn't see. Learning to discern when we should and shouldn't give has been an enormous challenge, and I'm sure will continue to be for the remainder of the time that we work inSalvatierra.
The village is predominantly Catholic, and the influence of those beliefs is strong. The priest comes every Sunday to perform mass, and catechism classes are taught in the schools. This has actually been one of the greatest barriers we've faced, and I will address some of that in a future blog.
Before we went to Salvatierra, Leah and I had discussed with the men's Xtreme Team what they had previously taught and had developed a list of stories that we wanted to teach that would address some of the problems that had been seen. Our first story was taken from the Sermon on the Mount, mostly focusing on anger, lust, and how to treat others.
One night after we had taught the story, it rained heavily. We were cooking dinner, and Mariluz and her son and his girlfriend were visiting in our house with us. It had just gotten dark, and someone came to the door and spoke to Mariluz in Guarayo. She then told us there had been an accident. One of the men from Salvatierra had been chopping down a tree when part of it fell and hit him in the chest. He was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital about 90 minutes away.
Mariluz left to go find out more and returned several minutes later to tell us the man had died on his way to the hospital. Leah and I were dumbfounded. This man had a wife and five sons, and now he was gone. We decided to stop and pray for the family he had left behind.
After praying, I went to the door and looked out, and Mariluz pointed out to me that all the other doors were closed. Now, let me tell you, that is unusual. It is HOT in Salvatierra, so people have their doors open almost all the time. When I asked Mariluz why they were all closed, her answer shocked me, even as it gave us great insight into the worldview of this people.
She told us that the people were scared that the spirit of this dead man would come to bother them. There is a larger town about 10 miles away that the ambulance had driven through on its way to the hospital, but the spirit wouldn't bother the people there because they had electricity. In Salvatierra, where there is no electricity, the spirit could come and wreak whatever havoc he desired because there was no light to drive him away.
This belief didn't surprise me. Beliefs in appeasement of the spirit world are common among indigenous peoples here (this is called animism) and, although they consider themselves to be Catholic now, their true worldview is really just a mixture of Catholicism and animism. But all of it made me sad that these people live their lives in such fear.
But the Lord encouraged me by reminding me of the story that I had taught just the previous night. At the beginning of His famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells His disciples:
"You are the light of the world." (Matt. 5:14)
I realized that Mariluz wasn't afraid. She was standing with us in the only house with its door wide open. I realized that she didn't need to be afraid because she had the True Light that drives away every evil spirit. And she, as the light in Salvatierra, could show others the way out of this dark abyss of fear in which they live.
I then told Mariluz what 1 John 4:4 says:
"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."
She just nodded and said, "Yes, I believe that, hermana." And I knew that she really did because the threat of an evil spirit in the darkness outside didn't bother her at all.
Praise God that He has called her - and us - to His marvelous light!
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." (1 Pet. 2:9, NAS)
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Women's Conference... Weekend Three
Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:
We have now finished with the women's conference, and the best part was that we got to watch both our translator Ester and our good friend Nelly from Ayuma teach the stories of the crucifixion and the resurrection. It was so exciting to see them share!
Prayer Necessities:
1. Please pray for the churches in Ayuma and Taramarca. We have been working in Ayuma since last year and will be headed to Taramarca this month to do some teaching. These will be our last trips to Quechua villages, so please pray that the teaching they have received will change them and that they will be unified and loving toward one another.
2. Be in prayer for a new church in the community of Salvatierra. The people are part of the Guarayo people group, and there are now four newly baptized believers there. Leah and I began working in this community with a short trip this month and then will be making more regular trips out there beginning in December. Pray that they will mature and that Leah and I would have wisdom to know how we should disciple the new believers.
3. Please pray for our team as they make a transition to working with unreached people groups in Peru next year. Ask that the Lord would grant them favor with government officials and that He would provide the means whereby these groups can hear the Gospel.
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:
Following the second weekend of our women's conference, Leah and I both struggled with some serious discouragement. We had wanted these women to learn the seven stories we were teaching and to share them with others, but we didn't have a single one who had learned even the first four stories that we had shared.
But the Lord readjusted our attitudes and reminded us that this is His work and that His purposes are never thwarted. So we headed back out to Ayuma with our translator Ester on August 27 ready to see what He would accomplish in the last weekend.
By that time, we had learned to just expect the unexpected. There were a few more people there this time when we arrived, and we settled down to help prepare food as usual. But, before too long, they were asking us to go ahead and get started with the teaching.
Leah started out with teaching a story about the cost of discipleship. This is a story that is drawn from several passages, and it talks about having to lose your life in order to find it and how following Christ involves denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Him. It's a difficult story to learn because it is mostly based on Christ's teaching and doesn't have much action, but they seemed to learn it quickly enough.
That evening, the elder from the church in Taramarca preached and, though we couldn't understand his teaching, we could tell he was a very good speaker. He had the crowd laughing and interacting with him, and it made us laugh to watch all of them.
Then, on Sunday morn
ing, our friend and translator, Ester, got up to teach the story of the crucifixion. She had told me she was nervous, but you couldn't tell it from how she told the story. She was very animated and enthusiastic in her teaching, and the women seemed very interested. Many of them had heard the story before, so they learned it fairly quickly. Ester was so excited to be able to do this, and she did such a great job with teaching! (She's pictured here portraying Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.)
Finally, we were ready for the grand finale - the story of the resurrection. Months before the conference began, we had started talking to Nelly about teaching this story. She had learned it from us and knew it like the back of her hand. It was not a question of her knowledge but whether she would overcome her fear and get up in front of the crowd to teach it.
Even up to a few minutes before time to teach the resurrection story, we weren't sure Nelly would get up and do it. But she did, and I can't tell you how excited it made us to watch this young Quechua woman teach such a powerful story to her own people! (She's pictured here as she taught the story to her friend Marina.) Ester is also Quechua, so it was great to see her teach. But it was even better to watch Nelly do it because she lives in Ayuma and is one of them. We are hopeful that this will send a direct message to these women that they, too, can do this!
Once we arrived back in Sucre, Leah and I rejoiced in all that the Lord had accomplished through this time. Ester had told us that she feels more secure than ever in her calling to be a missionary (God has called her to go to India, and she is awaiting His provision for that to happen), and she is currently going on short mission trips to nearby cities to share stories with the people in Quechua. And, now that Nelly has taught this one story to a large audience, we are hopeful that she will continue to teach the stories she has learned and that others will see her example of obedience and follow it.
In short, Ps. 126:3 expresses our thoughts perfectly:
"The LORD has done great things for us, and we are glad."
Church elders Abdon and Felix with a certificate of appreciation that we gave to the church
We have now finished with the women's conference, and the best part was that we got to watch both our translator Ester and our good friend Nelly from Ayuma teach the stories of the crucifixion and the resurrection. It was so exciting to see them share!
Prayer Necessities:
1. Please pray for the churches in Ayuma and Taramarca. We have been working in Ayuma since last year and will be headed to Taramarca this month to do some teaching. These will be our last trips to Quechua villages, so please pray that the teaching they have received will change them and that they will be unified and loving toward one another.
2. Be in prayer for a new church in the community of Salvatierra. The people are part of the Guarayo people group, and there are now four newly baptized believers there. Leah and I began working in this community with a short trip this month and then will be making more regular trips out there beginning in December. Pray that they will mature and that Leah and I would have wisdom to know how we should disciple the new believers.
3. Please pray for our team as they make a transition to working with unreached people groups in Peru next year. Ask that the Lord would grant them favor with government officials and that He would provide the means whereby these groups can hear the Gospel.
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:
Following the second weekend of our women's conference, Leah and I both struggled with some serious discouragement. We had wanted these women to learn the seven stories we were teaching and to share them with others, but we didn't have a single one who had learned even the first four stories that we had shared.
But the Lord readjusted our attitudes and reminded us that this is His work and that His purposes are never thwarted. So we headed back out to Ayuma with our translator Ester on August 27 ready to see what He would accomplish in the last weekend.
By that time, we had learned to just expect the unexpected. There were a few more people there this time when we arrived, and we settled down to help prepare food as usual. But, before too long, they were asking us to go ahead and get started with the teaching.
Leah started out with teaching a story about the cost of discipleship. This is a story that is drawn from several passages, and it talks about having to lose your life in order to find it and how following Christ involves denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Him. It's a difficult story to learn because it is mostly based on Christ's teaching and doesn't have much action, but they seemed to learn it quickly enough.
That evening, the elder from the church in Taramarca preached and, though we couldn't understand his teaching, we could tell he was a very good speaker. He had the crowd laughing and interacting with him, and it made us laugh to watch all of them.
Then, on Sunday morn
ing, our friend and translator, Ester, got up to teach the story of the crucifixion. She had told me she was nervous, but you couldn't tell it from how she told the story. She was very animated and enthusiastic in her teaching, and the women seemed very interested. Many of them had heard the story before, so they learned it fairly quickly. Ester was so excited to be able to do this, and she did such a great job with teaching! (She's pictured here portraying Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.)Finally, we were ready for the grand finale - the story of the resurrection. Months before the conference began, we had started talking to Nelly about teaching this story. She had learned it from us and knew it like the back of her hand. It was not a question of her knowledge but whether she would overcome her fear and get up in front of the crowd to teach it.
Even up to a few minutes before time to teach the resurrection story, we weren't sure Nelly would get up and do it. But she did, and I can't tell you how excited it made us to watch this young Quechua woman teach such a powerful story to her own people! (She's pictured here as she taught the story to her friend Marina.) Ester is also Quechua, so it was great to see her teach. But it was even better to watch Nelly do it because she lives in Ayuma and is one of them. We are hopeful that this will send a direct message to these women that they, too, can do this!
Once we arrived back in Sucre, Leah and I rejoiced in all that the Lord had accomplished through this time. Ester had told us that she feels more secure than ever in her calling to be a missionary (God has called her to go to India, and she is awaiting His provision for that to happen), and she is currently going on short mission trips to nearby cities to share stories with the people in Quechua. And, now that Nelly has taught this one story to a large audience, we are hopeful that she will continue to teach the stories she has learned and that others will see her example of obedience and follow it.
In short, Ps. 126:3 expresses our thoughts perfectly:
"The LORD has done great things for us, and we are glad."
Church elders Abdon and Felix with a certificate of appreciation that we gave to the churchThursday, August 25, 2011
Women's Conference... Weekend Two
Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:
Leah and I received our two-year residency visas last week! We will not be here for two years longer, but we are glad to have in our hands the documentation we need to be able to legally live in Bolivia until our mission term ends in May of next year.
Prayer Necessities:
1. Please continue to pray for our friend Nelly, who continues to have some health problems. Despite several visits to doctors and a few rounds of antibiotics, she still has intermittent abdominal pain that remains unresolved. She is often worried about this, so please pray that the Lord would resolve this and that she would trust Him with her health.
2. Be praying for our friend Sabina, who lives in Ayuma. She is a non-believer and is well-known for her drinking and for making the local alcoholic beverage for others to drink. We have heard that she says she will just drink herself into the grave, but we have had an opportunity to build a friendship with her. We got the chance to share the Gospel with her through Quechua Bible stories this past weekend, so please pray that His Word would touch her heart and bring her to salvation.
3. Please pray for Leah and me as we very soon make the transition into working with another people group, the Guarayo, in October or November.
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:
The second weekend of our women's conference was August 13 and 14, and the results were not what we had hoped. When we began this conference, we had the intention of teaching seven stories from Scripture over the course of three weekends. The goal was for the women to learn the stories, then to go home and share them with at least one other person.
We had made those expectations very clear and had told them that we would be asking two questions when they arrived on August 13: 1) Did they still remember the stories? and 2) With whom did they share them?
We knew that most people would not share the stories, but we were hoping for a few who would. When we got there, we asked the two questions. When we asked the first question, several of the women raised their hands, and we were excited. Then we asked who all had shared the stories, and there were still a few hands raised. But, when we began to ask them individually with whom they had shared, only one person could say that she had shared the stories.
But we were excited about the one! Yhovana is 17 and had shared both stories with her mom and with two friends from school. Wow! We gave her a can of milk as a reward (milk is kind of a precious commodity in the village), and we also gave milk to Nelly, who had missed learning the second story but had shared the first one with her family.
We then set about teaching the next story - the story of God testing Abraham's faith by asking him to sacrifice Isaac. Just like the previous week, it was very obvious that many of the women were not interested at all, but there were a few, including Nelly and Yhovana, who were really trying. Leah asked for Nelly's husband Oscar and one of the local boys, Luis, to come up and help her as she told the story (in the picture below, Luis is to the far left and Oscar is beside him as Leah teaches the story), and they played the parts of Abraham and Isaac. I think it was a really great visual for them to get to see what it might have looked like for a man to sacrifice his son. Afterwards, the question time went really well, as one of the women confessed that, if God had asked this of her, she would not have been able to sacrifice her child. And Yhovana offered the insight of the night, as she told us that, just as He did with Abraham, God also wants to test each of us to know whether or not we will obey Him. We went to bed that night truly encouraged by Yhovana and Nelly, who continued to impress with their quickness to learn and willingness to share what they had learned.
But Sunday brought great discouragement when Yhovana didn't show up to learn the story. We had seen her at her house that morning and knew she was healthy, so we didn't know what happened. It was my turn to teach, and I just looked around at everyone and wondered why exactly we were doing this when no one really seemed to care. But Leah encouraged me by reminding me that, even if everyone around us was disobedient, we still had to give our all. Our great God deserved that.
I knew she was right, so I got up to teach the story of the woman at the well from John 4, determined to give my best effort in teaching it. It is an incredible story that always touches my heart so, after the second time of telling it, I was really into it. In acting the story out in front of the women gathered there, I really thought about what that woman must have thought when Jesus told her He was the Messiah, this long-awaited One Who knew everything she had ever done... and yet still promised to give her living water. I knew how excited she was to meet Him, and it made me remember the excitement that I had - and still have -
when I really meet with Him and feel that spring of living water flowing inside of me.
Among the 40 women or so who were gathered there, I could see a few who were really interested. There was one woman in particular, a lady named Ines, who would crane her head as I moved, just to be sure she could see what I was doing. It was encouraging to know there was someone who really wanted to know this awesome story of love and forgiveness, so I focused most of my attention on her and the few others who were interested (pictured here are Nelly sitting down by the "well" as Jesus and Noelia as the Samaritan woman, while I help coach them with the story).
At the end, I asked several questions about the story. One of the questions was about what the Samaritan woman did after Jesus told her He was the Messiah. The answer? She went back to her town and told everyone to come and hear Jesus. When we talked about that, Ines spoke up and explained that they didn't have time to go and tell others. They were all so busy cooking and washing clothes and working in their fields that there just wasn't time to go and tell the Catholics about Jesus. (Ines is pictured below with me as we go through the story of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well.)
That might have been the most discouraging thing I heard that weekend, but I know I do the same thing. I get so caught up in what I want or "need" to do that I don't take the time to tell others the Good News, that the Messiah has come and offered us living water so that we might never be thirsty again. When Ines said that, I wondered how the 5% of Quechua people who are believers can withhold such a valuable truth from the 95% of their people who don't know it? And I wonder how can I withhold it from so many around me who also don't know Him?
Scripture tells us this:
"Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:15-16).
Since our lives are nothing longer than a vapor and then are over, let's heed this advice. Let's spend ourselves in His service, making Him known and telling everyone about the living Water. There is NOTHING we do that is more important!
Leah and I received our two-year residency visas last week! We will not be here for two years longer, but we are glad to have in our hands the documentation we need to be able to legally live in Bolivia until our mission term ends in May of next year.
Prayer Necessities:
1. Please continue to pray for our friend Nelly, who continues to have some health problems. Despite several visits to doctors and a few rounds of antibiotics, she still has intermittent abdominal pain that remains unresolved. She is often worried about this, so please pray that the Lord would resolve this and that she would trust Him with her health.
2. Be praying for our friend Sabina, who lives in Ayuma. She is a non-believer and is well-known for her drinking and for making the local alcoholic beverage for others to drink. We have heard that she says she will just drink herself into the grave, but we have had an opportunity to build a friendship with her. We got the chance to share the Gospel with her through Quechua Bible stories this past weekend, so please pray that His Word would touch her heart and bring her to salvation.
3. Please pray for Leah and me as we very soon make the transition into working with another people group, the Guarayo, in October or November.
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:
The second weekend of our women's conference was August 13 and 14, and the results were not what we had hoped. When we began this conference, we had the intention of teaching seven stories from Scripture over the course of three weekends. The goal was for the women to learn the stories, then to go home and share them with at least one other person.
We had made those expectations very clear and had told them that we would be asking two questions when they arrived on August 13: 1) Did they still remember the stories? and 2) With whom did they share them?
We knew that most people would not share the stories, but we were hoping for a few who would. When we got there, we asked the two questions. When we asked the first question, several of the women raised their hands, and we were excited. Then we asked who all had shared the stories, and there were still a few hands raised. But, when we began to ask them individually with whom they had shared, only one person could say that she had shared the stories.
But we were excited about the one! Yhovana is 17 and had shared both stories with her mom and with two friends from school. Wow! We gave her a can of milk as a reward (milk is kind of a precious commodity in the village), and we also gave milk to Nelly, who had missed learning the second story but had shared the first one with her family.
We then set about teaching the next story - the story of God testing Abraham's faith by asking him to sacrifice Isaac. Just like the previous week, it was very obvious that many of the women were not interested at all, but there were a few, including Nelly and Yhovana, who were really trying. Leah asked for Nelly's husband Oscar and one of the local boys, Luis, to come up and help her as she told the story (in the picture below, Luis is to the far left and Oscar is beside him as Leah teaches the story), and they played the parts of Abraham and Isaac. I think it was a really great visual for them to get to see what it might have looked like for a man to sacrifice his son. Afterwards, the question time went really well, as one of the women confessed that, if God had asked this of her, she would not have been able to sacrifice her child. And Yhovana offered the insight of the night, as she told us that, just as He did with Abraham, God also wants to test each of us to know whether or not we will obey Him. We went to bed that night truly encouraged by Yhovana and Nelly, who continued to impress with their quickness to learn and willingness to share what they had learned.
But Sunday brought great discouragement when Yhovana didn't show up to learn the story. We had seen her at her house that morning and knew she was healthy, so we didn't know what happened. It was my turn to teach, and I just looked around at everyone and wondered why exactly we were doing this when no one really seemed to care. But Leah encouraged me by reminding me that, even if everyone around us was disobedient, we still had to give our all. Our great God deserved that.
I knew she was right, so I got up to teach the story of the woman at the well from John 4, determined to give my best effort in teaching it. It is an incredible story that always touches my heart so, after the second time of telling it, I was really into it. In acting the story out in front of the women gathered there, I really thought about what that woman must have thought when Jesus told her He was the Messiah, this long-awaited One Who knew everything she had ever done... and yet still promised to give her living water. I knew how excited she was to meet Him, and it made me remember the excitement that I had - and still have -
when I really meet with Him and feel that spring of living water flowing inside of me.
Among the 40 women or so who were gathered there, I could see a few who were really interested. There was one woman in particular, a lady named Ines, who would crane her head as I moved, just to be sure she could see what I was doing. It was encouraging to know there was someone who really wanted to know this awesome story of love and forgiveness, so I focused most of my attention on her and the few others who were interested (pictured here are Nelly sitting down by the "well" as Jesus and Noelia as the Samaritan woman, while I help coach them with the story).
At the end, I asked several questions about the story. One of the questions was about what the Samaritan woman did after Jesus told her He was the Messiah. The answer? She went back to her town and told everyone to come and hear Jesus. When we talked about that, Ines spoke up and explained that they didn't have time to go and tell others. They were all so busy cooking and washing clothes and working in their fields that there just wasn't time to go and tell the Catholics about Jesus. (Ines is pictured below with me as we go through the story of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well.)
That might have been the most discouraging thing I heard that weekend, but I know I do the same thing. I get so caught up in what I want or "need" to do that I don't take the time to tell others the Good News, that the Messiah has come and offered us living water so that we might never be thirsty again. When Ines said that, I wondered how the 5% of Quechua people who are believers can withhold such a valuable truth from the 95% of their people who don't know it? And I wonder how can I withhold it from so many around me who also don't know Him?
Scripture tells us this:
"Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:15-16).
Since our lives are nothing longer than a vapor and then are over, let's heed this advice. Let's spend ourselves in His service, making Him known and telling everyone about the living Water. There is NOTHING we do that is more important!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Women's Conference... Weekend One
Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:We are so blessed and grateful for the help of our friend Lidia, who translated for us in the first weekend of our women's conference (I'm pictured here with Lidia in the middle and one of the students, Mariela, on the right). Not only did she do a wonderful job of translating, but she was also a great encouragement to the Quechua women, as they could see someone of their own culture who was doing the Lord's work. She exhorted them to go out and share the stories with others, and we are hopeful that they will take her words to heart!
Prayer Necessities:
1. Please continue to pray for the women's conference and the women who participated in it. Pray that they would go out and share the two stories they have learned and would return for the second weekend excited and eager to learn the next two.
2. Pray for wisdom for Leah and me as we think through the rest of our time on the mission field and some potential changes that are coming within the next couple of months.
3. Please be in prayer for our bosses, Trent and Kay, who will be returning to the US in September to begin a nine-month stateside assignment. Pray that they will have a smooth transition and an enjoyable time of reconnecting with friends, family, and stateside churches.
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:
Well, our women's evangelism conference began this past weekend, and the only thing to be expected was that everything was unexpected. :)
Things did actually start out a little discouraging, though it was probably just a cultural misunderstanding. We had advertised the conference in April at a previous conference held in a larger city called Pocoata. We had brought posters and letters describing our women's conference and had talked about it in front of the approximately 300 people present. We had mentioned that it would be held over three weekends, with each Saturday's teaching beginning at 3:00 in the afternoon, and Sunday's beginning at 8:00 am and ending around 11:00 am, just prior to the morning worship service in Ayuma.
The people in Ayuma kept telling us they were expecting about 200 people to attend our conference and, to be honest, we didn't want that many. We knew there was no way all 200 of those people would actually want to learn stories and share them, and it's easier to really teach the Bible stories in a smaller group. But we figured we'd just try to handle it the best we could and, for the subsequent weekends, there would be fewer people, once they figured out what we were doing and expecting of them.
We had agreed to provide half the food, so we loaded our truck up in Sucre with about 80 pounds each of noodles and rice, about 50 pounds of sugar, and plenty of oil, carrots, onions, tomatoes, and a few spices thrown in for good measure. On Saturday morning just before 6:00, we picked up our translator Lidia and hit the road for Ayuma.
We arrived just after noon, expecting to pull up to a big group of people already cooking over a huge fire for the expected crowd of 200-plus. What we found was just the opposite: Ayuma was an absolute ghost town. One church member, Roman, and an elderly lady from another community were standing outside the church building, and that was it. After we knocked on a few doors, we discovered that almost everyone had gone to a market in another town and wouldn't be back until evening. And we were also told that most of the people who would come to the conference probably wouldn't even come until Sunday!
Now that was a problem because I was supposed to teach the creation story on Saturday, and Leah was going to teach the fall of man on Sunday. If most of the women didn't come until Sunday, t
hey'd already be a story behind. And creation is a really important story to set the stage for the Gospel.So, needless to say, we were pretty discouraged by all of this. Our conference was set to start in less than three hours, and there were five people there, three of which were teachers or translators!
All we knew to do was to start peeling potatoes, knowing that would be the first thing our Quechua friends would do when they arrived, and a few people slowly began to arrive (here are some of our friends peeling potatoes). We had decided that we would start at 4:30, regardless of who was there. But, at 4:00, when there were still were no more than 15 people present, we decided to take a short walk to gather our thoughts and regroup.
Leah suggested that we pray, and we each said a prayer asking for the Lord's help and wisdom in how to go about things. And Lidia was very encouraging in her prayer, asking that the Lord would give us strength and wisdom to be able to proceed. After that, we all felt much better.
We returned to the town and decided to begin the conference at 5:30 with Leah teaching a health class. She was teaching on how to prevent back injuries and on good nutrition, and it went really well. We had about 30 women there, and they asked some great questions. It seemed like we were finally getting things rolling!
After that, we had some dinner (which was prepared mostly by the men) and then returned to the church building as I began to teach the creation story. At that point, we had around 40-50 people, some of whom had walked a great distance to come. There were three teenaged girls from the community of Saqa Saqa who had walked four hours to get there. So we were excited to see what the Lord would do with that great sacrifice on their part!
They and several others seemed very interested and, at the end of an hour and a half, they had learned the story and were able to tell it back with very little prompting. We had also explained to the women very clearly that they would be asked two questions when they returned for the second weekend of the conference: 1) Do you remember the stories? and 2) With whom did you share them?
Lidia, Leah, and I climbed into bed exhausted around 10:00 that night. We stayed with our friend Nelly, the lady who has learned nearly all of the stories we've shared in Ayuma. She had come and learned the story of creation on Saturday but told us she wouldn't be able to be present on Sunday when Leah taught the fall of man.
But the next morning, Nelly had changed her mind. She told us that she had gotten up early to cook for her family so that she could come and learn the next story. We were so excited to hear of her willingness to sacrifice to obey the Lord! We knew He was pleased with this!
We had planned to start teaching the story at about 9:00 on Sunday but, as usual, our plans were not what came to pass. Leah was finally able to start teaching a little after 10:00 but, once again, the women did well in learning. At Lidia's suggestion, we even broke up into two groups to do a competition: A drama of the story of Adam and Eve's sin in Eden. It went great, and it was obvious there were about 10-15 women who had the story down really well!
But we were saddened to see that Nelly did not come after all. She showed up for the last few minutes of the story, asked Leah to teach it to her, but left again before Leah had the opportunity. We found out later that she went to help make bread for the local school's upcoming celebration. It made us sad to see that, but we are hopeful that we will have the opportunity to catch her up with that story when we return to Ayuma next week. Or, better still, we hope that one of the other women who was at the conference will teach it to her.
We're not yet sure how successful the conference was, but we will know more on the second weekend. The ladies will arrive again (we hope!) on August 13 and 14, so please continue to pray that the Lord will work in their hearts and that they will be obedient to learn His Word and share it and will thus fulfill the Great Commission!
Friday, July 15, 2011
Looking for Good Soil
Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:
Leah and I have memorized the stories for the first weekend of our upcoming women's evangelism conference, have lined up our translators and, after buying a few items tomorrow morning, will have fully completed our preparations. We are excited and a little nervous about getting things started!
Prayer Necessities:
1. Our dear friend Simon is going through some significant trials lately related to his family and to his hometown. Please be in prayer for him and his family as they seek to navigate the difficulties of raising two teenagers and of facing major opposition for the cause of Christ from many in his hometown. (Pictured here is Simon with his wife Daria, and their children, Ruben and Cesia.)
2. Please continue to pray for our upcoming women's conference. Ask that God would send to us the women He has prepared to participate and that there would be much fruit as a result of their participation.
3. Pray for wisdom for Leah and me as we are seeking the Lord's direction regarding a major ministry change in the coming months. This would involve leaving the Quechua and going to work with another people group for the last six months of our time on the field.
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:
Several months ago, I read a book that had me looking at Jesus' parable of the sower (or, more appropriately, the parable of the soils) in a whole new light. In the context of our upcoming women's evangelism conference, I've been thinking a lot more about this parable and thought I'd share those thoughts with you.
The parable goes like this:
"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times." (Mk. 4:3-8)
Jesus went on to interpret the parable like this:
"Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop - thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown." (Mk. 4:13-20)
Leah and I have been working in Ayuma for well over a year now and, when it comes to seeing fruit in those with whom we have worked, we have precious little to show for it. Nelly, the woman with whom we have spent the majority of our time, has learned ten stories from Scripture. Two other women have learned at least one story, but none of them has shared what they have learned with others. And since the whole goal is for them to be doers of the Word and not hearers only - meaning they, too, should be going out and making disciples - the results have been more than a little discouraging to us.
All of that has me thinking again about this parable which, according to Jesus, is fundamental. He asks in verse 13, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?"
During the women's conference, which will run every other weekend for three weekends in July and August, we will teach seven stories from the Bible, beginning with creation and ending with Christ's resurrection. Not only will the women need to learn all seven stories, but they will also be required to tell them to at least one other person.
Leah and I fully expect to have 100 women or more there for the first weekend. Oh, the Quechua DO love their conferences. They will expect to come and sit on wooden benches or stand in the back of the church's building to listen to some teaching, eat a few large bowls of food, and listen to their brothers and sisters sing and make music well into the night. What they'll get, aside from the food, is something VERY different. From the very beginning, these women will be asked to be active participants in the conference, rather than passive observers. They will have to interact with us as the leaders, speak in front of the other participants, and then go put into practice what they've learned. On the second weeked, they will be asked - in front of everyone present - whether they shared the stories they learned with someone else. If they didn't, they will have to go out and share them before they can learn the next story.
No, this conference is not for the faint of heart.
More accurately, it's not for the disobedient.
And we don't expect to have very many that will fulfill the requirements we have set. But the ones that do will be the good soil. And, after spending so much time sowing in non-productive earth, I long to plant God's good seed, His Word, in soil that will produce fruit at a yield of 30, 60, or even 100 times what was planted.
Please pray that God would cultivate that soil ahead of time in preparation for the sowing of His Word and that we would sow it faithfully. (Pictured here are a couple from Ayuma as they sow beans in their field.)
Leah and I have memorized the stories for the first weekend of our upcoming women's evangelism conference, have lined up our translators and, after buying a few items tomorrow morning, will have fully completed our preparations. We are excited and a little nervous about getting things started!
Prayer Necessities:
1. Our dear friend Simon is going through some significant trials lately related to his family and to his hometown. Please be in prayer for him and his family as they seek to navigate the difficulties of raising two teenagers and of facing major opposition for the cause of Christ from many in his hometown. (Pictured here is Simon with his wife Daria, and their children, Ruben and Cesia.)
2. Please continue to pray for our upcoming women's conference. Ask that God would send to us the women He has prepared to participate and that there would be much fruit as a result of their participation.
3. Pray for wisdom for Leah and me as we are seeking the Lord's direction regarding a major ministry change in the coming months. This would involve leaving the Quechua and going to work with another people group for the last six months of our time on the field.
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:
Several months ago, I read a book that had me looking at Jesus' parable of the sower (or, more appropriately, the parable of the soils) in a whole new light. In the context of our upcoming women's evangelism conference, I've been thinking a lot more about this parable and thought I'd share those thoughts with you.
The parable goes like this:
"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times." (Mk. 4:3-8)
Jesus went on to interpret the parable like this:
"Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop - thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown." (Mk. 4:13-20)
Leah and I have been working in Ayuma for well over a year now and, when it comes to seeing fruit in those with whom we have worked, we have precious little to show for it. Nelly, the woman with whom we have spent the majority of our time, has learned ten stories from Scripture. Two other women have learned at least one story, but none of them has shared what they have learned with others. And since the whole goal is for them to be doers of the Word and not hearers only - meaning they, too, should be going out and making disciples - the results have been more than a little discouraging to us.
All of that has me thinking again about this parable which, according to Jesus, is fundamental. He asks in verse 13, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?"
During the women's conference, which will run every other weekend for three weekends in July and August, we will teach seven stories from the Bible, beginning with creation and ending with Christ's resurrection. Not only will the women need to learn all seven stories, but they will also be required to tell them to at least one other person.
Leah and I fully expect to have 100 women or more there for the first weekend. Oh, the Quechua DO love their conferences. They will expect to come and sit on wooden benches or stand in the back of the church's building to listen to some teaching, eat a few large bowls of food, and listen to their brothers and sisters sing and make music well into the night. What they'll get, aside from the food, is something VERY different. From the very beginning, these women will be asked to be active participants in the conference, rather than passive observers. They will have to interact with us as the leaders, speak in front of the other participants, and then go put into practice what they've learned. On the second weeked, they will be asked - in front of everyone present - whether they shared the stories they learned with someone else. If they didn't, they will have to go out and share them before they can learn the next story.
No, this conference is not for the faint of heart.
More accurately, it's not for the disobedient.
And we don't expect to have very many that will fulfill the requirements we have set. But the ones that do will be the good soil. And, after spending so much time sowing in non-productive earth, I long to plant God's good seed, His Word, in soil that will produce fruit at a yield of 30, 60, or even 100 times what was planted.
Please pray that God would cultivate that soil ahead of time in preparation for the sowing of His Word and that we would sow it faithfully. (Pictured here are a couple from Ayuma as they sow beans in their field.)
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
What is the Limit of My Willingness to Sacrifice?
Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:
I just returned from a four-week vacation in the US, followed by a week-long meeting with other missionaries in Peru. Both were times of great encouragement for me, and I am refreshed and excited to return to work in Bolivia for the remaining ten months of my time on the foreign field!
Prayer Necessities:
1. Leah and I will begin conducting our women's evangelism conference for three non-consecutive weekends starting on July 30 and 31. We will teach the participants seven stories from the Old and New Testaments so that they will be able to share the Gospel orally with their friends and neighbors. Please pray that the Lord would send to us only the women He has prepared to learn these stories and share them.
2. Pray for wisdom for Leah and I regarding some future changes. I will share more about this in the future but, for now, please be in prayer for us that we would be able to discern the Lord's will and obey Him.
3. Be in prayer for the members of our Xtreme Bolivia men's team, Javier, Landon, and Roberto. All three will shortly be returning to their home countries (Peru, the US, and Argentina, respectively) for a time of rest and relaxation. Pray for their transition back to their home cultures and that they would remain faithful to continue the Lord's work in whatever He calls them to do next.
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:
As I mentioned above, Leah and I recently returned from a meeting of IMB missionaries serving in five South American countries. The meeting was held at a resort in Peru, and there were about 225 people present (including about 65 MKs!). We had a wonderful time of swimming, sandboarding, horseback riding, dune buggying, and a host of other activities... in addition to getting some work done. :) (The pictures below are of me after dune-buggy riding with Leah and our new missionary friend Audra, who serves in Ecuador, and of the pool at the resort.)
But the best part had nothing to do with what we did. It was just an absolute joy to be around so many like-minded people, people who are all consumed with a passion to see the nations come to worship Christ.
Towards the end of my time there, Leah and I had the privilege of sitting down to talk with two women who are now my heroines. I'll change their names because both work in high-security areas such that exposing their identity could result in physical danger or deportation.
Marian has served as a single missionary for more than 25 years and is now working with an unreached group of indigenous peoples. The area where she works is quite dangerous for foreigners, so she travels by night with some South American brothers who help to hide her from the paramilitary groups who would kidnap her at the first opportunity. Once they reach the village where she works, she spends the day in the home of the local pastor because the villagers cannot know she is there. Once a month, she travels by night to a hidden camp several hours down the river. To get there, she must rely on her South American brothers, who hide her under a canvas for the duration of the trip. When she gets there, she is greeted by a group of indigenous people who have to learn stories from the Bible from her. They will then return to their own villages to share the Word of God with those who have never heard of Him!
Sandra has served as a single missionary for more than 15 years and began working in the cities of her country doing music ministry. Before long, however, she couldn't escape the faces of the many indigenous peoples who needed to hear about Jesus. Notwithstanding multiple government obstacles that could have resulted in her deportation, she now travels out to tribal areas to share God's Word with the people. On her first such visit, she met a man who asked her why she was there. Not wanting to identify herself as a missionary, she simply told him, "I work for a church." When he heard that answer, his face lit up, and he said, "Do you know Jesus?" When she answered yes, he excitedly asked, "Can you tell me about Him? I want to go back and tell everyone in my village about Him!"
Can you imagine being the first one to tell someone about Jesus? And, what's more, knowing that they will go and tell others who have also never heard of Him? If that's not encouragement to keep pressing on, I don't know what is!
But those wonderful stories were not the only things I learned from Marian and Sandra. We got into a deep discussion about sacrifice and just how far we were willing to go to follow the call of Christ.
What prompted all of this is the fact that both of these ladies are single, and so are Leah and I. Our conversation started off along those lines, with Marian and Sandra, both of whom are in their 50s or older, describing to us how they have struggled with the desire for husbands and children and how, despite the lack of fulfillment of those desires, they have chosen to remain faithful in service to the Lord, knowing that where they are and what they are doing means being single makes them better suited to be His servants.
Now that resonated with me because, having never married at age 40, I also struggle with those desires. Having faced that particular landmark birthday earlier this year, it has really made me confront the likelihood that I will ever have children. But now, unlike earlier in my life, I find myself not really caring whether I ever do. I think I just don't have the patience to be around kids at my age, so it's kind of nice to be able to be around other people's children when I want to but hand them back to their parents when I get tired of them. :)
Marriage, however, is another struggle entirely. That is a desire I've had since I was a teenager, and it's always been my greatest wish. And that particular longing doesn't seem to be going away, nor do I anticipate it ever will.
A few years ago, I was sitting in a Bible study, and our singles pastor asked the group a question that cut me to the heart. He said, "If you had the opportunity to choose between getting married and having a family but living kind of a mediocre Christian life vs. being single for the rest of your life but living out everything God has for you and having a perfectly fulfilling relationship with Him, what would you choose?" I went home and cried that night because I had to admit that I didn't know.
I think often about the life of Abraham. I feel like my life is supposed to parallel his in many ways, and I hope that someday I'll reach the level of faith he had.
Abraham waited 25 years to receive the son God had promised, and he got that boy when he was 100 years old. Several years later, God told him to take that precious son Isaac three days into the wilderness.
And sacrifice him.
Can you imagine? Here is Abraham's dearest treasure, the greatest longing of his heart, this precious boy that God had promised him. And now God is taking him away? That doesn't make any sense!
But you know what happened. Abraham obeyed. He took Isaac up on that mountain, and the young man willingly allowed his father to tie him up and place him on that altar. And, at the last possible moment, when Abraham raised the knife to slaughter his son, God stopped him. What the Lord says to him then is so telling:
"Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." (Gen. 22:12)
I want God to be able to say to me that He now knows that I fear Him, because I have not withheld from Him my longing for marriage. If it will glorify Him more that I remain single, I want to be willing to do that. And, honestly, there are days when I am definitely willing, but there are days when I'm just not. But, thankfully, I think the former is starting to outweigh the latter.
Recently, I thought about that old question of my singles pastor, and I asked it to myself again. This time, my answer was different. Day by day, if I choose to walk in God's grace, it can remain the same, that I choose Him over anything this world and its temporary pleasures have to offer.
Thanks for reading about my struggles! I figure you can plug your own greatest desire into that verse to find out what the limits of your own willingness to sacrifice would be. And, if you're not there yet, don't worry; you're not alone! But He'll get us there.
I just returned from a four-week vacation in the US, followed by a week-long meeting with other missionaries in Peru. Both were times of great encouragement for me, and I am refreshed and excited to return to work in Bolivia for the remaining ten months of my time on the foreign field!
Prayer Necessities:
1. Leah and I will begin conducting our women's evangelism conference for three non-consecutive weekends starting on July 30 and 31. We will teach the participants seven stories from the Old and New Testaments so that they will be able to share the Gospel orally with their friends and neighbors. Please pray that the Lord would send to us only the women He has prepared to learn these stories and share them.
2. Pray for wisdom for Leah and I regarding some future changes. I will share more about this in the future but, for now, please be in prayer for us that we would be able to discern the Lord's will and obey Him.
3. Be in prayer for the members of our Xtreme Bolivia men's team, Javier, Landon, and Roberto. All three will shortly be returning to their home countries (Peru, the US, and Argentina, respectively) for a time of rest and relaxation. Pray for their transition back to their home cultures and that they would remain faithful to continue the Lord's work in whatever He calls them to do next.
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:
As I mentioned above, Leah and I recently returned from a meeting of IMB missionaries serving in five South American countries. The meeting was held at a resort in Peru, and there were about 225 people present (including about 65 MKs!). We had a wonderful time of swimming, sandboarding, horseback riding, dune buggying, and a host of other activities... in addition to getting some work done. :) (The pictures below are of me after dune-buggy riding with Leah and our new missionary friend Audra, who serves in Ecuador, and of the pool at the resort.)
But the best part had nothing to do with what we did. It was just an absolute joy to be around so many like-minded people, people who are all consumed with a passion to see the nations come to worship Christ.
Towards the end of my time there, Leah and I had the privilege of sitting down to talk with two women who are now my heroines. I'll change their names because both work in high-security areas such that exposing their identity could result in physical danger or deportation.
Marian has served as a single missionary for more than 25 years and is now working with an unreached group of indigenous peoples. The area where she works is quite dangerous for foreigners, so she travels by night with some South American brothers who help to hide her from the paramilitary groups who would kidnap her at the first opportunity. Once they reach the village where she works, she spends the day in the home of the local pastor because the villagers cannot know she is there. Once a month, she travels by night to a hidden camp several hours down the river. To get there, she must rely on her South American brothers, who hide her under a canvas for the duration of the trip. When she gets there, she is greeted by a group of indigenous people who have to learn stories from the Bible from her. They will then return to their own villages to share the Word of God with those who have never heard of Him!
Sandra has served as a single missionary for more than 15 years and began working in the cities of her country doing music ministry. Before long, however, she couldn't escape the faces of the many indigenous peoples who needed to hear about Jesus. Notwithstanding multiple government obstacles that could have resulted in her deportation, she now travels out to tribal areas to share God's Word with the people. On her first such visit, she met a man who asked her why she was there. Not wanting to identify herself as a missionary, she simply told him, "I work for a church." When he heard that answer, his face lit up, and he said, "Do you know Jesus?" When she answered yes, he excitedly asked, "Can you tell me about Him? I want to go back and tell everyone in my village about Him!"
Can you imagine being the first one to tell someone about Jesus? And, what's more, knowing that they will go and tell others who have also never heard of Him? If that's not encouragement to keep pressing on, I don't know what is!
But those wonderful stories were not the only things I learned from Marian and Sandra. We got into a deep discussion about sacrifice and just how far we were willing to go to follow the call of Christ.
What prompted all of this is the fact that both of these ladies are single, and so are Leah and I. Our conversation started off along those lines, with Marian and Sandra, both of whom are in their 50s or older, describing to us how they have struggled with the desire for husbands and children and how, despite the lack of fulfillment of those desires, they have chosen to remain faithful in service to the Lord, knowing that where they are and what they are doing means being single makes them better suited to be His servants.
Now that resonated with me because, having never married at age 40, I also struggle with those desires. Having faced that particular landmark birthday earlier this year, it has really made me confront the likelihood that I will ever have children. But now, unlike earlier in my life, I find myself not really caring whether I ever do. I think I just don't have the patience to be around kids at my age, so it's kind of nice to be able to be around other people's children when I want to but hand them back to their parents when I get tired of them. :)
Marriage, however, is another struggle entirely. That is a desire I've had since I was a teenager, and it's always been my greatest wish. And that particular longing doesn't seem to be going away, nor do I anticipate it ever will.
A few years ago, I was sitting in a Bible study, and our singles pastor asked the group a question that cut me to the heart. He said, "If you had the opportunity to choose between getting married and having a family but living kind of a mediocre Christian life vs. being single for the rest of your life but living out everything God has for you and having a perfectly fulfilling relationship with Him, what would you choose?" I went home and cried that night because I had to admit that I didn't know.
I think often about the life of Abraham. I feel like my life is supposed to parallel his in many ways, and I hope that someday I'll reach the level of faith he had.
Abraham waited 25 years to receive the son God had promised, and he got that boy when he was 100 years old. Several years later, God told him to take that precious son Isaac three days into the wilderness.
And sacrifice him.
Can you imagine? Here is Abraham's dearest treasure, the greatest longing of his heart, this precious boy that God had promised him. And now God is taking him away? That doesn't make any sense!
But you know what happened. Abraham obeyed. He took Isaac up on that mountain, and the young man willingly allowed his father to tie him up and place him on that altar. And, at the last possible moment, when Abraham raised the knife to slaughter his son, God stopped him. What the Lord says to him then is so telling:
"Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." (Gen. 22:12)
I want God to be able to say to me that He now knows that I fear Him, because I have not withheld from Him my longing for marriage. If it will glorify Him more that I remain single, I want to be willing to do that. And, honestly, there are days when I am definitely willing, but there are days when I'm just not. But, thankfully, I think the former is starting to outweigh the latter.
Recently, I thought about that old question of my singles pastor, and I asked it to myself again. This time, my answer was different. Day by day, if I choose to walk in God's grace, it can remain the same, that I choose Him over anything this world and its temporary pleasures have to offer.
Thanks for reading about my struggles! I figure you can plug your own greatest desire into that verse to find out what the limits of your own willingness to sacrifice would be. And, if you're not there yet, don't worry; you're not alone! But He'll get us there.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
The Next Step
Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:
I now have my US passport in my hand just in time to begin my four-week trip home for vacation next week! The officials in La Paz had already returned the passport to the immigration office in Sucre even before I went to request it to be loaned back to me for the trip. When I return to Bolivia after vacation, I will have to send the passport and one more piece of paperwork to La Paz, but the visa should be complete soon thereafter. Thanks so much for your prayers! See y'all soon! Just to get you in the mood, here are some pictures from last year's vacation: Me with my parents and me hanging out with my friend Amy at the beach. :)
Prayer Necessities:
1. Please continue to pray for our friends Simon and Daria and the church that is meeting in their house. We have still not been able to participate in one of their meetings, but they continue to be faithful to meet every other Saturday to study God's Word and to pray. Ask that the Lord would continue to grow them in the faith and in numbers.
2. Pray for Leah as she returns from her vacation next week. She is a little concerned about being in Sucre alone for so long while I am out of the country. Pray that she would have wisdom to know how the Lord would have her use the time in the city and that she would feel safe and secure knowing that she is well cared for by our Lord.
3. Please continue to be in prayer for Ayuma's church. Ask that they would love one another and that this extraordinary love would be noticed by the non-believers in the village, making them want what the church has.
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:
As time seems to fly by us so quickly, and especially so for those of you living life in the hyper-paced United States, many of you may not realize the length of time I've been overseas. Well, it's been 2-1/2 years and, if that shocks you, let me ease your mind by saying that it blows me away, too. It just reinforces for me the truth of this verse:
"You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath." (Ps. 39:5)
The IMB requires its missionaries to go for a period of assignment in the US after 3-5 years of overseas service, and my period of eligibility for that stateside time begins in October of this year. My partner Leah and I have decided that we will heading home around the 3-1/2-year mark in May of 2012.
With my first term as a career missionary nearly complete, I have had some decisions to make. The IMB has recently undergone some major organizational changes, with the end result being that the majority of its missionaries will focus almost exclusively on unreached people groups. For Board purposes, an "unreached" people group is defined as a group with less than 2% evangelical believers. I am in complete agreement with the new strategy, but it means that our work with the Quechua (who, as a whole, are about 5% reached) will end when we leave after this term.
All of that brought me to a place of decision before the Lord regarding what I should do after this first term overseas. Should I return to South America, but in a different capacity and in a different place? Should I go to another foreign country, perhaps somewhere in Asia? Well, after much seeking of the Lord's face and receiving confirmation from other believers who have sought Him alongside me, He has shown me that my next place of assignment is back in my home country, though now on the opposite coast.
My next step in this nomadic life to which the Lord has called me takes me to Seattle, Washington.
At first, my response to that was resistance. I mean, really? Seattle? I have never lived anywhere west of the Mississippi River, nor have I ever had any desire to do so. And, honestly, it rains there something like 360 days a year! :)
Plus, leaving the work overseas means leaving the IMB and all of the financial security that it entails, but that just lends another aspect to this step of faith to which God has called me. Thankfully, I do have a skill in being a pharmacist that allows me to have a job nearly anywhere in the country, which gives me an effective tentmaking plan (see Acts 18:1-3). So my tentative plan is to work part-time as a pharmacist and full-time making disciples.
And, in time, the Lord has given me a peace and even an excitement about following Him there.
Seattle is, if not quite an unreached people group, at least an unreached city. Only about 4% of the people there are followers of Jesus Christ. That means that, in this city with a metropolitan area population of nearly 4 million, only about 150,000 belong to Him. And it is not a city that was once filled with His people but that has now grown cold. It has actually NEVER followed Him.
It is a very multicultural city, with some 190 languages spoken there, but that also means that there are a variety of world religions represented. Most people would classify themselves as "spiritual but not religious."
Have you ever wondered if it was possible that there could be a city in the US where the people haven't heard of Jesus? Well, this is it.
But, despite the spiritual darkness - or perhaps because of it, I am excited to go to this new place where the name of Christ is not yet exalted. I want to see the Holy Spirit move there in a mighty way to claim for Himself this modern-day Athens (see Acts 17:15-34), these people who worship so many false gods but not yet the One True God. I long to be a part of His work and to help harvest what He brings to bear.
But for now, my work remains here in Bolivia. He has called Leah and me to make disciples among the Quechua here, and we strive to be faithful to that calling. I have not been distracted from that by what God is calling me to do in the future, but I did feel it was time to let those who have so faithfully supported me in this journey know about where He is taking me next. My hope is that you will add the people of Seattle to your prayer list without removing the Bolivian Quechua.
I'll be in the States on vacation from late May until late June if you would like more information or clarification on this next step in my somewhat nomadic life. Or you can always feel free to shoot me an e-mail at dogfight17@hotmail.com.
I'm looking forward to seeing many of you during my time at home!
A few fun facts about Seattle:
I now have my US passport in my hand just in time to begin my four-week trip home for vacation next week! The officials in La Paz had already returned the passport to the immigration office in Sucre even before I went to request it to be loaned back to me for the trip. When I return to Bolivia after vacation, I will have to send the passport and one more piece of paperwork to La Paz, but the visa should be complete soon thereafter. Thanks so much for your prayers! See y'all soon! Just to get you in the mood, here are some pictures from last year's vacation: Me with my parents and me hanging out with my friend Amy at the beach. :)
Prayer Necessities:
1. Please continue to pray for our friends Simon and Daria and the church that is meeting in their house. We have still not been able to participate in one of their meetings, but they continue to be faithful to meet every other Saturday to study God's Word and to pray. Ask that the Lord would continue to grow them in the faith and in numbers.
2. Pray for Leah as she returns from her vacation next week. She is a little concerned about being in Sucre alone for so long while I am out of the country. Pray that she would have wisdom to know how the Lord would have her use the time in the city and that she would feel safe and secure knowing that she is well cared for by our Lord.
3. Please continue to be in prayer for Ayuma's church. Ask that they would love one another and that this extraordinary love would be noticed by the non-believers in the village, making them want what the church has.
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:
As time seems to fly by us so quickly, and especially so for those of you living life in the hyper-paced United States, many of you may not realize the length of time I've been overseas. Well, it's been 2-1/2 years and, if that shocks you, let me ease your mind by saying that it blows me away, too. It just reinforces for me the truth of this verse:
"You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath." (Ps. 39:5)
The IMB requires its missionaries to go for a period of assignment in the US after 3-5 years of overseas service, and my period of eligibility for that stateside time begins in October of this year. My partner Leah and I have decided that we will heading home around the 3-1/2-year mark in May of 2012.
With my first term as a career missionary nearly complete, I have had some decisions to make. The IMB has recently undergone some major organizational changes, with the end result being that the majority of its missionaries will focus almost exclusively on unreached people groups. For Board purposes, an "unreached" people group is defined as a group with less than 2% evangelical believers. I am in complete agreement with the new strategy, but it means that our work with the Quechua (who, as a whole, are about 5% reached) will end when we leave after this term.
All of that brought me to a place of decision before the Lord regarding what I should do after this first term overseas. Should I return to South America, but in a different capacity and in a different place? Should I go to another foreign country, perhaps somewhere in Asia? Well, after much seeking of the Lord's face and receiving confirmation from other believers who have sought Him alongside me, He has shown me that my next place of assignment is back in my home country, though now on the opposite coast.
My next step in this nomadic life to which the Lord has called me takes me to Seattle, Washington.
At first, my response to that was resistance. I mean, really? Seattle? I have never lived anywhere west of the Mississippi River, nor have I ever had any desire to do so. And, honestly, it rains there something like 360 days a year! :)
Plus, leaving the work overseas means leaving the IMB and all of the financial security that it entails, but that just lends another aspect to this step of faith to which God has called me. Thankfully, I do have a skill in being a pharmacist that allows me to have a job nearly anywhere in the country, which gives me an effective tentmaking plan (see Acts 18:1-3). So my tentative plan is to work part-time as a pharmacist and full-time making disciples.
And, in time, the Lord has given me a peace and even an excitement about following Him there.
Seattle is, if not quite an unreached people group, at least an unreached city. Only about 4% of the people there are followers of Jesus Christ. That means that, in this city with a metropolitan area population of nearly 4 million, only about 150,000 belong to Him. And it is not a city that was once filled with His people but that has now grown cold. It has actually NEVER followed Him.
It is a very multicultural city, with some 190 languages spoken there, but that also means that there are a variety of world religions represented. Most people would classify themselves as "spiritual but not religious."
Have you ever wondered if it was possible that there could be a city in the US where the people haven't heard of Jesus? Well, this is it.
But, despite the spiritual darkness - or perhaps because of it, I am excited to go to this new place where the name of Christ is not yet exalted. I want to see the Holy Spirit move there in a mighty way to claim for Himself this modern-day Athens (see Acts 17:15-34), these people who worship so many false gods but not yet the One True God. I long to be a part of His work and to help harvest what He brings to bear.
But for now, my work remains here in Bolivia. He has called Leah and me to make disciples among the Quechua here, and we strive to be faithful to that calling. I have not been distracted from that by what God is calling me to do in the future, but I did feel it was time to let those who have so faithfully supported me in this journey know about where He is taking me next. My hope is that you will add the people of Seattle to your prayer list without removing the Bolivian Quechua.
I'll be in the States on vacation from late May until late June if you would like more information or clarification on this next step in my somewhat nomadic life. Or you can always feel free to shoot me an e-mail at dogfight17@hotmail.com.
I'm looking forward to seeing many of you during my time at home!
A few fun facts about Seattle:
- Highest percentage of college graduates of any major U.S. city
- Home to Microsoft, Boeing, and Starbucks
- Population is about 30% non-Caucasian, including 14% Asian and 5% Hispanic
- Average yearly rainfall is 36 inches, as compared with 39 in Washington, DC, and 40 in New York. The least amount of rain falls in July. On average, there are 226 cloudy days per year (not 360, as originally assumed :)).
- High cost of living, with an average 1-bedroom apartment costing slightly over $1000 per month and an average family income around $85,000 per year
- Is the same distance from both London and Tokyo
- Approximately 18% of its population is foreign-born
- Has four professional sports teams: The Mariners (MLB), Seahawks (NFL), Storm (WNBA), and Sounders (MLS)
- Major export, by far, is aircraft parts
- Is about 85 square miles in area
- Most famous landmark is the Seattle Space Needle
- Nickname is The Emerald City
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