Christmas Outreach

We had a great time with our Christmas outreach Sunday Morning. 

We had initially set a goal of giving gifts to 100 kids but because of the generosity of so many people (in the states and here in Piura) in the end we had enough gifts for 160! 

Here are some pictures of the highlights 

Loading up the truck with presents

Driving to Expolvorines it started to rain on the way there

Jose overseeing set up with some help from Logan and Timothy

Jose preaching on the true meaning of Christmas

 60 people raised their hands for salvation!

 Logan and Timothy liked helping...Tim did not want to give up that bullhorn 

These are some of the pictures from handing out the presents. If you look closely you will see Timothy down in the mix with the other kids.

Jose and Patrick did most of the work to make this happen

The whole team plus 3 kids from the outreach

(the shacks in the background are houses. They have no running water or electricity)

People thought we were crazy for doing this on December 25th. 

Most people here celebrate Christmas on the 24th and sleep all day the 25th. 

But God knew what he was doing. We had a ton of help and an overwhelming response from the kids and families of Expolvorines (the area outside Piura that we chose for the outreach)

On our way to the outreach it started raining and it continued until Jose finished preaching.

So our volunteers not only set up but they did it in the rain. Once it stopped raining it got really hot.

We all have sunburns to show for it. 

Most of the volunteers are just getting introduced to us because of this outreach. 

(only 5 in the picture were members beforehand) 

It was awesome for us to work with them and they are all excited about the things Powerhouse Church Peru has planned. 

We were so blessed to be able to be a part of this and just want to say thank you to all of you who donated to this and prayed for it. 

We can't wait until next year!

Christmas pictures

Have you ever gotten family pictures taken and then you couldn't pick a favorite?

Yeah, me too.

Merry Christmas from Piura, Peru!

Christmas Outreach

We are really excited to be doing our very first community outreach for Christmas. 

There is a little area outside of Piura where there are tons of impoverished families. 

Our plan is to bring Christmas gifts and dinner to 100 children. All it takes is $11 per kid. 

If you would like to participate please click the Children's Christmas Outreach donate button on the right of this page  and your donation will go to our goal of $1100.

You can include a message to the kids if you want and we will make sure the kids get them.

I will take lots of pictures and post them here and on Facebook.

Thank you for your help to make this happen! We can't wait to see what God does.

So Thankful

I'm almost a week late but we have a lot to be thankful for this year. 

We had 25 people at our house on Thanksgiving. I made my first Turkey ever (actually 2 turkey breasts because my oven is tiny and I was afraid a whole turkey wouldn't fit), I also made my first pumpkin pie complete with crust since you can't buy pre-made crust here and gravy for the turkey. Aside from that I made stuffing, sweet potato casserole and mashed potatoes. All of those things were new to the Peruvians we invited over. (mashed potatoes are actually somewhat common but not the way I make them ha) the pastor Jose has been mentoring came and brought his family. His wife wanted to help and was walking around the kitchen as I was cooking saying "what is that?" "Are you sure you don't want to peel these potatoes?" "what are you doing?" She was very helpful, but I did for a moment want to banish her from the kitchen. In the end we ran out of almost everything and everyone was surprised that they liked the american food cooked by the gringa. ;) Apparently US americans have a reputation for not being able to cook. How we got the reputation I don't know.

The one picture I took of the night/food.
It was an awesome night and I Tarzan-ed my way through several conversations before I just started telling people I don't speak spanish after 10. Actually I barely speak english after 10 so I'm doing ok I guess.

I am now 30 weeks or 7 1/2 months pregnant.
We are trying to get family pictures today or this week so I will hopefully have some to put on here soon. I'm not that great at self portraits. I thank God for sustaining this baby and keeping her safe. She moves around a lot and every kick and hiccup is a reminder that God is watching over her.
We are only 8 weeks away from meeting her on the outside. I cannot believe how quickly this pregnancy has flown by!

Some highlights of the past month have been
~Pastors GF and Rose and the team from Powerhouse that came to visit
~Jose's dad Pedro came and spent a month with us. He also took time to make lots of improvements on the house while he was here. Such a blessing!
~3 day trip to Ecuador to renew our visas
~Powerhouse Church Peru had our first baptism's Logan and Jose's dad were 2 of the people baptized
~We hosted our first men's/pastors meeting with 20 people
It has been an awesome and full month

We are looking forward to a few things in the next month and year and will update more as the details are put together.
We have also updated our Prayer Needs tab. Please continue to pray for us!
 

Life

You know those people that have mountain size faith? They get hit with something that seems impossible to recover from and they just kind shake it off and move forward. In my mind they are to faith what Rocky is to boxing. You should never count them out because no matter what hits them they always come back stronger than ever. Jose is one of those people. His faith and steadiness in the storms we have gone through always points me back to the one who holds our future in his hand.

I on the other hand am not like Rocky. I usually get blindsided by that first punch and then reel for a little bit before I get my head back in order. Then I'm usually ready for the fight. A couple months ago I mentioned that we needed prayer for the baby because I have low amniotic fluid. Last night I was talking with a friend and we naturally started talking about the baby. She asked me how I'm doing. I kind of just spilled my guts about how I've been feeling in general. It was good and healing and while I was talking to her God was talking to me.

About a year ago a big percentage of my prayer life was me telling God I wanted to have more kids but it just didn't seem like it was possible. I had so many questions and logistical concerns and was just trying to get God to show me what to do. Then La Casa Del Padre had a conference and brought in 3 prophets. I was not at the conference and didn't even expect to meet them, but on Sunday they called Jose and I up on stage so they could pray and prophesy over us. One of them told me he saw divine protection for our family and angelic assignments over our children not just the ones that we already had but the ones that were coming. He said that I had many, many questions but God just had a smile on his face as he poured out a divine grace over our family for more children, even when the circumstances are not as great as we may think they should be. The things that he said gave me peace and I let it go. Just waiting for God's timing. Jose and I decided that April would be good timing for us to start trying for another baby. That was obviously the right timing because I got pregnant right away. Long before the pregnancy test would have come up positive I knew.

Since we were moving in the middle of the pregnancy and our plan was to visit Piura in my 12th week. My US Dr never saw me before 12 weeks so it seemed like a good plan. Things for us are always subject to change though and through about 4 different circumstances we ended up postponing our trip to my 15th week. The week before we came La Casa Del Padre had the Pastors mentors (Pastor Danny an Giselle Bonilla) in town. They happen to be American and they also operate in the prophetic. They were talking to Jose and I after the service and she told me she saw a little girl that looked like me preaching to a crowd. Then she asked if I had a little girl. I told her no but I'm pregnant so you never know.

So we get to Piura and I have my Dr's appointment. He couldn't find the heartbeat, so he did an ultrasound. The baby's heart beat was strong but my amniotic fluid was low, the baby was measuring a week small and wasn't moving around. He was kind but told me what to watch for if I were to have a miscarriage. I was blindsided by this he didn't have anything he could do and there was nothing I could do. I started to think I would lose the baby. We emailed a few people and told them to pray. I didn't tell everybody and I didn't know when I would be able to. I didn't want to hear anything good or bad about other people that had been through it. I just needed to process and pray.

My mentor emailed me Exodus 23:25-26 "So you shall serve the Lord your God & he will bless your bread & water. And I will take away sickness from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days." Jose randomly decided to listen to the recording of the prophecy from last year and I heard the things he said about angelic assignments over our children to come. Then God gave me Jeremiah 29:11 "For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope." And I remembered something Pastor Danny Bonilla told me when we were talking that night. He said "I feel like God wants you to know that everything is going to be ok with your baby" Those things bound me up and got me ready to fight. We shared our prayer request with the world and many people joined us in praying for the little life inside of me. I had confidence that this child would live.

We went back for another appointment last week. I felt ready for any kind of news. The news we got was that my amniotic fluid is still low. He couldn't tell for sure but he thinks it's a girl and she has caught up in her growth. (no small babies for me) She was moving around a lot and her heart beat is still strong. Then he told us he had thought we were going to lose her when we went in the first time but she's growing and active and it seems like she's going to make it. I left feeling ok. I knew that it was possible my amniotic fluid was still low and to be honest I'm 6 months pregnant and still look like this.

Which he said is because of my amniotic fluid. So I wasn't really all that surprised. But a few days after the Dr I started to worry.

Have you ever read a story in the bible and gotten frustrated with the people and their response to God? Whenever I read about the Israelites and their time in the desert I just want to shake them. I want to yell "God just let you walk through the sea and then drowned the Egyptians! WHY are you complaining? Did you already forget?" But I'm not like that with myself. I come back to God praying for peace and comfort when he gave me a pile of comfort to fall back on. I mean, how many pregnant women get 3 different prophets telling them their baby is going to be ok? yeah, not many. I know I'm weak and just as bad as the Israelites I want to yell at.

But now I'm fighting. My little girl is going to be named Zoe. It's a name Jose and I picked out 8 years ago. Before we were even married. Zoe means Life which I think is prophetic in and of itself.

2 Sundays 2 guests

Sunday was our second service here at Powerhouse Church Peru. The first week was a little disappointing because it was just the 5 of us. I kept thinking that we should not despise small beginnings so we keep pressing forward. This Sunday we were happy to have 2 visitors! So excited to see increase. Jose and Victor go out everyday to minister and invite people to our church. I stay home most of the time and work on school with the kids. We are getting settled into our life here in Piura.
It's still not easy but we are getting used to the differences of living here. It's funny how something as simple as a new grocery store can take some getting used to. I'm really happy to know that we will be here for an extended amount of time. I'm ready to let my roots stretch out some.

I have updated our prayer needs in the pages tabs. Some things will be there for a long time and some things change almost daily. We really appreciate every one of you that prays for us, as always we can feel them and see them working.

For those of you that are interested we will be visiting the dr on Monday. I will be 6 months pregnant and he will do an ultrasound to check on my amniotic fluid level and find out the gender. I can't wait! Girl or boy I'm ready to call this child by name :) Please keep us in prayer for all good news, especially about the amniotic fluid. I'm praying for a miracle increase.

what we have been up to

So yesterday I had this blog all written out. I had even published it and announced it to facebook and twitter. Then because I am amazing, I deleted it never to be seen again, in a way that is both frustrating and entirely too complicated to explain. So I'm back with a new and completely different blog post. Because once I write something down it's out of my head never to return, unless I read it. Aren't you glad you know that now? I feel better just having written it down. ;)

The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of packing, moving things, sleeping on the bus, getting to our new town and home, trying to figure out exactly what the most important things to buy are with our limited resources, buying 4 mattresses and strapping them to the top of a car roughly the size of a prius. Going to the car shipping place every day for several days in hopes that ours had arrived. Going to Starbucks more times in one week than I ever have in a year just so we can check our internet stuff, putting the kids to bed and going out with Jose for a hot chocolate just so we can breath and flirt with each other. Practically living at the mall where all the things we need are sold so we can check and check and check the prices of the stuff we need. Watching our boys exult in the joys of having a yard after a year of living in an apartment and almost 3 years of living places where we had no yard. (We have decided to call Timothy dirty harry, because his hair is all over the place and he has developed a dust cloud similar to charlie browns pal, pigpen.)

You can add into the list Jose working with a printer so we can get flyer's made up for inviting people to church, a Dr's appointment, and all the other things I'm forgetting that Jose will remember and that is what our last 2 weeks have been. Just typing that makes me tired. I think I need a nap now. ;)

God has blessed us tremendously and we have been able to get quite a few of the things we needed. We now have a table and chairs, mattresses, a fridge, and washing machine. We also got a double burner to cook on until we can manage to get an oven. For the curious, the things we are still praying for are as follows.

*bed frames
*a living room set
*an oven
*a bigger bed for me and Jose
*rugs
*chairs for our church services
*a lectern or podium of some sort for Jose to preach from
*a set of pots and pans
*a trampoline for the boys and the kids that come to church

Obviously there are more things that we need or could use but these are our priorities over the next few months. It's really amazing how much stuff you need to make a house a home. But with or without "stuff" we are blessed to be where we are. This house is exactly what we prayed for. Everyday I walk around and thank God for everything he has done for us and blessing us with the amazing people that pray for us and support us financially. You are all a blessing to us and we really do think of you as a part of our family. Thank you so much!

It's the final countdown...

Two weeks from today we will move to Piura! The rest of our time in Lima will be spent helping with the Salvemos A La Familia conference and packing. 

We don't have much stuff which should make packing/moving easy. It also makes it a little difficult once we get to Piura. Please pray with us that we will be able to get a fridge, washing machine and stove quickly and also beds. Everything else is just kind of extra but those are the things we are believing for as soon as we get there.

Thank you for praying with us. We already see God's hand move every day and we know that nothing is impossible with God.

Happy Labor Day!

Baby steps.

Yesterday, August 25th was the one year anniversary of our arrival in Lima. It's hard to believe it's been a year. Sometimes it feels like it's been longer and sometimes it feels like it has been only a couple months. The past year has been a time of stretching and growing. Trial and error, and tons of learning.


Last night Jose and I went for a walk and we were talking about our move to Piura in less than a month. In Lima we have been renting a furnished apartment so when we get to Piura we will just have the stuff in our suitcases. Houses here don't come with any kitchen appliances so we will have to get a stove, fridge, along with a washing machine and furniture. So we were discussing what the priorities are considering we are not millionaires. It reminded me of our first week in Lima when we were thinking we would buy everything here. We were looking at big refrigerators, etc... and thinking like americans. That we need the biggest of everything we can find. Here most of the refrigerators are about as tall as me (5' 2") or shorter. The ovens and washing machines are also much smaller. If you want to get U.S. sizes you have to pay a lot more.


This time around we were talking about things like "we only need a small fridge because we mostly use it to keep water, meat and dairy cold, and I don't have to have an oven that lights automatically unless we can get it for a great price." There was a lot more to our conversation and honestly the logistics of furnishing a house on faith can make your head spin. But the conversation we had made me think. A year and a half ago we were giving everything away but we still weren't as selfless as we thought we were. We thought we could live the american dream as missionaries. We expected to live in an American house with american amenities. But reality hit us hard and we had choices to make. We had to choose to give up the nice big apartment for a much, much smaller one. We had to learn to prioritize.


In Piura we saw some amazing houses. But we knew that even if we could afford them they wouldn't be the best use of God's money. So we told the realtor our price that we could pay and asked her to only show us the ones we could afford. She only had one. It was ok. The neighborhood was not as nice and there was only one bathroom on each floor (2 total). It had no closets and was quite frankly nothing like what we thought we wanted. I knew that I'm the one Jose was thinking of as he looked at the house so I told him. "I know this sounds crazy but I think this house can work". It was actually about $100 below our minimum price and I was thinking we could at least live there until the baby came. He looked at me skeptically and said let's think about it.


The next day we found out about a house through a friend. It was one of those "I know a guy who knows a guy" kind of things so we didn't have a lot of details. It took us 2 days to go through all the people to even find out more about the house and then get to see it. We saw it our last day in Piura. It was perfect! There is a small yard, a garden area and 4 bedrooms which is really important to us. There are even 4 bathrooms! Plus, it's on the low end of our budget. And it's ours. The landlord had one other person interested in it but in the end God worked it out so we got it. When we found out about the house I told Jose "I wonder if God had this house all along and was just waiting for us to be content wherever we go."


Whatever it was God had a plan and we are so happy to be a part of it. He is still doing a work in us and we still have a ton of learning to do. But when I think of who we were and who we are now I'm amazed at the grace of God.


As a side note if you have not read the book Radical by David Platt I highly recommend it. Especially if you are interested in missions it is a great book.

If I could live anywhere it would be the beach

This is what I'm loving right now. 

So I thought it was the best way to start this blog.

Jose's cousin, and uncle blessed us by lending us their car

and beach house for a couple days.

It is winter and so there were literally 3 people at the beach with us. 

Locals who were not there to play.

   

 But we played and we froze 

we collected a ton of seashells 

walked up and down the beach 

and watched crabs roll balls of dirt

It was lovely and peaceful. 

kind of like this 

I really love the beach. If Jose and I ever retire I want to live there. If we don't I'm believing my mansion in heaven is built beside the crystal sea. (yes I think there is a beach in heaven. God made a lot of them on earth so he must love them at least as much as I do)  

It was a nice break from the rest of our trip because, well, house hunting is stressful.

Especially when you have a very specific list of needs and most of the houses you see work for half of them.

There is also the fact that Peru has a slower time table. "we need to have something by monday" doesn't mean anything here. We might as well talk like the grown ups on charlie brown. 

My favorite so far was a realtor who wanted to show us a 2 bedroom house that was about $1000 more than we want to pay because it has a big yard. Jose told her no several times and finally spelled out that we need enough room for 5 (well 6 soon) people.

Tomorrow we are looking at a few more houses then making a decision. If we don't find the perfect thing we have at least found a good temporary place. So please keep us in prayer for that.

Another prayer request is for me and the baby. We had a chance to see the dr here in Piura. 

He is an old family friend and I'm really happy to have such a great dr to work with here.

During my exam he did an ultrasound and found that I don't have very much amniotic fluid. 

It's something that can fix it itself and there are a few things we are doing to help. 

I am drinking a ton of water, not lifting heavy things and trying to rest. (hahahahahaha, rest is not easy when you are a mom, wife and missionary who is moving in a month.) Like I said I'm trying.

After I found out I waited a few days to tell other people because Jose and I wanted to just pray. We did and we have peace that this baby is going to live. We are still asking everyone to pray that my body will produce the amniotic fluid, and that we would be able to do everything we need to in the next month while mommy is on light duty. We won't hear anything else about the baby until next month so for now no news is good news.

Lots of prayer requests this week/month.

Thank you so much for lifting us up in prayer!

I will leave you with this

a boat driving down the street. 

I wish I had a boat car...not really

Moving, changing, growing

he bites the inside of his lip. Jose and I both do this so it's hard to make him stop 

One of the wonderful and sometimes annoying things about living in Peru is the pace of life.

                                                                                                                       If you try to go to the store before 9am or after 9pm you will be disappointed. There are no midnight ice cream runs here. Not that, we've needed one or anything.

At least a couple times a month there is some national holiday that is celebrated mostly by the entire city shutting down and going to our neighbors house for a party. 

Those are the kind of days we really love. On a day like that you have no choice but to spend time as a family and relax. 

We have this awesome park we like to go to

It has this huge tube slide that is built on a hill. We call it the huge slide park.

a real smile!

When we go there I make the boys pose for pictures at first because I have this great plan that I'm going to make a photo book for each year of their life. They are 5 and 6 and I just had this idea. So I guess they will just have to try to imagine what their lives were like before

phony smile

Throwing sand and loving it!

He likes to pose and comes up with a bunch of his own 

I love just spending time with our little family of 4 since in 6 months we will have another member

This picture was taken last week when I was 13 weeks pregnant. I should really take a new one... 

For anyone that wonders. I'm doing great while experiencing normal pregnancy symptoms. The main one being that I would be perfectly happy to stay in bed all the time. I'm that tired. Morning sickness comes and goes and usually comes back just when I think I'm over it. 

We are all really excited about the baby. Logan wants it to sleep in his room. Even though he doesn't like sharing a room with Timothy. Obviously he's not spent a lot of time around babies ;)

A couple things we would love ya'll to pray for us about. Next week we will all be travelling to Piura to look for a house. This house will be our home and the base for our church until we reach about 100 members. Because of that we need something with a big living room for church services and somewhat of a separation from the sleeping areas so we can still have a little privacy if we need it. I have a very specific list of what I would love to have in a home and we are praying we find the perfect place for next to nothing
Also since this is our last month in Lima and we are leaving right after La Casa Del Padre's conference, we have a lot going on this month. So we could really use your prayers for wisdom and efficiency this month. We need to get everything done and all still like each other at the end.
Thank you so much for praying!

2 Corinthians 1:11
And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for us. 

Pieces of the Puzzle ~Part 4 The Finale

The last week has been an amazing time of seeing what God has been doing behind the scenes. So full of confirmation that what we are working on is what God wants us to be doing. But first let me tell you what God did to bring us to this point. The story is long so we will be breaking it up into parts. To start at the beginning go here

After our initial trip to Lima, one of Jose's spiritual son's Victor came to us and said he knew his calling was linked to ours and he wanted to come with us. Our Pastors agreed that he should go with us. The 5 of us took a 2 week road trip to visit some friends and family and tell them about our mission to Peru. We flew out of Miami, FL the end of August. Between the 5 of us we had 23 bags filled with books, clothes and toys. 18 were to be checked. Jose's dad flew out the day before us so we checked at the counter to see how much our 8 extra bags would cost (we each had 2 free) The lady told us $60 each so we planned accordingly. The next day we arrived and one of the first things out of the desk agent's mouth was to tell us the cost was actually going to be $120 each, almost $1000. Me and victor started trying to figure out if we could make some of the bags carry-on's instead when the boss came over and told Jose that since it was their error in communicating, our excess bags would be free. God was bringing things together.

We got here and got busy but I'm not going into detail on that right now. In November we had planned a trip to Piura. The day we left was a Sunday we went to church that morning and there were some guest ministers who operate in the Prophetic. They called Jose and I up to pray and prophesy over us. Everything they said was confirmation of things Jose and I had been praying about and living out. The main things that stood out from the prophecy was that God is protecting us, will supply all our needs, is sending us out as church planters and will continue to pass this mantle on to the next generation. He also said that our calling has been confirmed over and over and God will continue to confirm the work he is doing in and through us. 

For the next 6 months Jose and Victor saw the need for spiritual fathers and affirmation everywhere. It was made so apparent that the message we carry is needed here.  

Fast forward to last week. 

We had 4 key meetings that brought all the pieces together. On Monday we had a meeting with Jose's cousin's best friend who has been a pastor in Lima for the last 4 years. In that meeting he said (among other things) "There are people in Piura that are waiting for their pastor to arrive." When we told him we are planting a church there next month he got so excited.  

Tuesday Jose flew into a city halfway between Lima and Piura to meet with the director of Surge church planters in South America, Brother Bob Finke. Jose also got to meet the pastor of the strategic church plant in Peru, Pastor Jhonatan Boulangger. There God confirmed the vision he had given us to plant churches. Our vision continues to be expanded. Pastor Jhonatan also told Jose that there are people and connections in Piura waiting for us when we go. 

Jose got back on Thursday and attended a mini conference La Casa Del Padre was hosting for Ministry Fellowship International (MFI). He and Victor had dinner that night with Pastor Reuben and his wife from Chiclayo (a town 2 hours south of Piura) these pastors also mentioned people in Piura who are waiting for a pastor (notice a theme?) They have encounters and other events and people from Piura come to their to church to be involved then go home where they have no church to plug into. 

Saturday night was the last night of the conference. Pastors Danny and Giselle Bonilla are the apostolic covering for the Aguayo's and were the speakers at the conference. Jose and I attended and at the end the Bonilla's prophesied over some of the pastors. They called us up last. They started out by saying that God had called us, sent us and will provide for us. He has confirmed the calling over us and it will continue to be confirmed. They said there are people waiting for us to be their pastors. That God meant for Jose and I to be together and the enemy has tried to take us out and take us apart but He has protected us because he has a greater purpose for us than we can even see now. There was so much more in that time that our hearts are full of encouragement and excitement about the things God is showing us and doing.
The Bonilla's were so excited about what God had shown them about us that they came up to us to talk about it afterwards. In that conversation they shared with us even more. Little personal details that they couldn't have possibly known without God telling them. 


We just want to encourage everyone that reads this blog to continue praying for us. Even with everything here our story is just beginning and you are a part of it. Through trials, stretching, test's and triumphs God continues to be faithful.  

Pieces of the Puzzle ~Part 3

Part 3

The last week has been an amazing time of seeing what God has been doing behind the scenes. So full of confirmation that what we are working on is what God wants us to be doing. But first let me tell you what God did to bring us to this point. The story is long so we will be breaking it up into parts. To start at the beginning go here

For the next several years the missionary thing got put on the back burner and all but forgotten. We had babies and jobs and ministry work. Life was busy and good. Every once in a while Jose would mention to someone that we wanted to be missionaries and I would nod and smile and think it was never gonna' happen. 

In 2007 the pastor from Lima our pastors had visited 5 years before came to Powerhouse. He spoke about Peru showed pictures of the people. Something inside of me broke. I was in tears the whole time he was speaking. I realized that I had hardened my heart toward missions even though I spoke a good game I had no intention of ever doing it. That was the beginning of the end for me. I told my mentor what was in my heart and Jose and I began to talk about going to Peru in earnest. 

Suddenly the future became crystal clear and for almost a year everything fell apart in our lives. We lost material things, friends and family left our church and relationships changed, and our business failed. The enemy tried to destroy what God had called us to do. This was just another piece of the puzzle. 

At the end of 2008 we were just beginning to recover. We still had embers of our vision burning. Jose invited his dad to attend an Encounter and in the beginning of 2009 he did. Jose was his small group leader and it was an awesome time for them. After the encounter Jose's dad told him that whenever we end up going to Peru to start the work he wanted to go with us and be a part of it.

We started making plans to visit Peru as a family including Jose's dad. Jose says he knew that this would either make the desire unquenchable or put it out. One month before our trip he had a meeting with our pastor. We knew that if this was God it would be confirmed by our spiritual authority. He gave us some direction about who to contact in Lima and asked us to report back after the trip.

In August we took a 10 day trip to Lima. Jose and I fell in love with Peru and saw the great need here. We both knew we could never go back to living the "American Dream."

In Jose's follow up meeting with Pastor he said "this is it, we want to move to Peru and plant a church." Our Pastor said he knew and he had just been waiting for us to level out after the shaking we had undergone the previous year. At that time we said we will leave in one year.

We started planning out how we would get there and what we would do. We planned to sell everything except what we could carry in our suitcases.

In March of 2010 our Pastors invited us to accompany them to the Remnant conference hosted by Pastor Larry Stockstill. One of the speakers was Robert Morris. We had heard of him as the pastor of one of the most prosperous churches in America so our mindset was that he was going to talk about money and how to have a prosperous church. Instead he spoke about the heart and having a heart of sacrificial giving. He had written a book called "The Blessed Life" which was basically about being willing to give up everything for God.

Let me just pause and tell you something about how Jose and I operate. We are both givers. We love to bless other people and are known to be a little bit out there in our willingness to give. However I'm usually quite a bit more reserved than Jose. I know that anytime Jose leaves the house anything on his person is subject to being given away. I'm more likely to figure out what the needs are and go from there.

So when we were sitting in this session God told me we needed to give our stuff away. Not sell it. This does not make sense. We planned to buy our plane tickets and maybe fund ourselves a little bit with the sale of our furniture and other personal belongings. But I knew what God told me to do. So before I could push it back or ignore the thought I whispered it to Jose right there. This only served as confirmation for Jose who had been feeling the same thing for a little bit. So that was it. We were going to give everything away.

Part 4 Tomorrow

Pieces of the Puzzle ~Part 2

Part 2

The last week has been an amazing time of seeing what God has been doing behind the scenes. So full of confirmation that what we are working on is what God wants us to be doing. But first let me tell you what God did to bring us to this point. The story is long so we will be breaking it up into parts. For part one go here 

In October of 2001 I went to Russia on a 9 month mission trip. I thought it was something God had called me to do but in reality I was trying to be a missionary on my strength. It was the the hardest thing I had ever done at that point and because of various situations there I returned home in May 2002. Completely broken and with no desire to have anything to do with God or Christianity. 

While I was in Russia, my parents decided to change churches. I was not pleased. I wanted to go home and hang out with my old friends at my old church. Not start over at a new church. Honestly, the only reason I went was to keep my parents happy. I had no intention of getting involved or even liking it but slowly God started working in my heart. I met real Christians who loved God purely and passionately and as a result showed His love to me when I doubted His existence. I wasn't all the way there yet but I started seeking God again. 

Jose attended his first Encounter God weekend in February 2002. There he was liberated from all addictions, affirmed as a son, understood the true cost of sin, was filled with the Holy Spirit and given vision for his life. The following month our pastors went to Lima, Peru. They visited a church and an orphanage. When they showed the video and gave testimony of what they saw Jose's heart began to race. God was showing him another piece of the puzzle. He couldn't believe a white guy from Katy, TX went to his country to minister the gospel. After that service Jose went up to our pastor to talk to him for the first time and told him "The next time you go to South America, I'm going with you." 

Later that year Jose was commissioned to minister to men. At that time God had spoken to Jose to talk to his dad about Jesus. He visited his dad in November and presented the gospel and testified of what God had done in his life.

It took 2 years of God preparing Jose before he accompanied Pastor to South America.

2 months after Jose went to South America we got married. Thinking we would be missionaries in 5 years...

Part 3 tomorrow

Pieces of the Puzzle ~Part 1

The last week has been an amazing time of seeing what God has been doing behind the scenes. So full confirmation that what we are working on is what God wants us to be doing. But first let me tell you what God did to bring us to this point. The story is long so we will be breaking it up into parts.


For Jose before he was saved he knew there was some connection for him in Piura, Peru he just didn't know what it was.


For me I knew I was called to missions at a young age. Surprisingly for me God told me to begin praying for my future husbands salvation in January of 2001. Before that I had just assumed I would marry someone who grew up saved. But when God tells you to do something it's usually best to listen. I didn't tell anyone but I prayed for him for 6 months and in June I felt a peace to stop praying for his salvation. That October I went to Russia on a 9 month mission trip.


In January of 2001 Jose had watched his friend go from a broken life to a much better place in about 8 months. Seeing the change and liking it Jose in his carnal way decided he wanted to be a better person too. That ended up making him double minded and affected him almost to the point of suicide. Seeing this, his friend started inviting him to church. Dr Edwin Louis Cole says "When the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change, you change." This was true for Jose. He began attending church in June and was saved June 18th 2001.


For the next 5 months Jose struggled. Having one foot in the church and one foot in the world. Inside he was saved and was being transformed by God. But he was still pulled by relationships and addictions that made it seem impossible for him to fully change. All his life he had run away from his problems. In November the perfect opportunity for him to run away arose. He could go live with his dad in Florida and start a new life. Before he made his final decision he attended a midweek Thanksgiving service at Powerhouse Church. This service would change his life and add another piece to the puzzle that God was constructing. Pastor GF Watkins taught on Abraham building his altar, pitching his tent, and digging wells. That message spoke to Jose that this church was where his new life would begin. This church is where he would worship, sacrifice and grow deeper with God, no matter what else happened around him.


Part 2 coming tomorrow

How Much is Enough

This morning I have been meditating in the word and saw something that really spoke to me. 1timothy 6:9-10 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Wow, how much is enough and where does it end? Do we give God Glory with everything that we own or do we say this is for God and this is for me and my selfishness. Please understand that God does give us possessions for our enjoyment and to spread his kingdom. Do you desire to be rich? Well then this is what you should expect. 1)temptations--not that we don't already have temptations, but the ones that get you in debt, distracted, and are selfish. 2) a snare--simply a trap. We fill our houses with things to make us feel great or buy things to impress others or think we need, but it's all a trap because in the end none of these things work. 3)foolish and harmful lusts--what we see and think we need, the latest this, that or the other. Foolish, the word in proverbs refers many times acting like a child and in all the cases they do not enter the presence of God. 4) to drown in destruction and perdition-- think about it, if you desire to be rich you will be drowned in destruction and perdition. Your destiny is not heaven it is torment and everlasting hell. Jesus told his men, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25 NKJV) 5) the love of money has strayed them from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. Do you desire to be rich then expect the piercings of being filled with grief. It comes down to greediness. The question again is, how much is enough? How many cars are enough, how many houses are enough, how many shoes are enough, how many dogs are enough, how many tv's are enough, how much jewelry is enough, how many guns are enough, how many games are enough, how much ______ (fill in the blank) is enough? Please let me help you to understand that it's not that God will not provide for you. It is not that wealth means you are evil or even having money makes you evil. Listen to this verse. Mark 10:29-30 NKJV So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. But the key is this. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:33 NKJV) Please listen to what I'm about to say and examine yourself. I have to daily because I have been blessed to have lived in a great country where we have a buffet of liberty and choices and selection of commerce and opportunity to live the American dream. If you make more than $2 a day you are richer than 1/3 of the world. That sounds crazy. You may step outside of your house and maybe not believe it, but you are. I am not saying giving your money to the poor is your ticket into heaven, works can't do it for you; only Christ, his blood and him crucified. If you think about it and look around your house you are probably like most of us and see you got more junk and stuff you don't use and probably pay storage fees for things you will not go through again. God has blessed us to be a blessing to others. Show that today. What can you do with what you already have to change this world and to bring the gospel to the at least 4.5 billion of people who don't know Christ. That is 4,500,000,000 people! It is our responsibility to do it.

JOSE

Deeper!

This year has been such an amazing year for us. I can't believe it's only half over! I feel like we have all grown and learned so much just from experiencing God. I could go on about this for awhile but there is so much else for me to talk about that I'll save it for another post. ;)

One of the biggest blessings for us was something that just happened! Jose and I planned our trip to the states in March so we could be a part of the Intense mens conference/father son campout. The only downside, we couldn't stay long enough to be a part of our 15th anniversary conference. So we enjoyed our time there. Only told a few people what we had faith for and PRAYED. So 2 weeks before the conference Jose gets an email that the tickets have gone down to half the normal price (the only time we have seen that happen) so we got blessed with the tickets to go to Houston! We surprised our Pastors and most of our church and had a great weekend of spiritual refreshing! I can't even begin to describe all the ways we got blessed last week while we were there. I will just summarize by saying that God is always, always faithful! He provided for every need we have and used some amazing and often surprising ways to do it. :) 

Some highlights from the conference

*We burned the note! Our building is paid off and Jordan Ranch is more than halfway there! I can't express how exciting this is for us!

*Jose turned 10! He got saved 10 years ago at the 5th anniversary conference. I will always be grateful to God for bringing Pastor Watkins to Katy Tx 15 years ago. Without him my husband would not be the man he is today. We will never forget where we came from!

*The teaching from the other covenant pastors. So awesome to hear the word from brothers in the faith!

*Seeing 57 men, women, and youth get commissioned!

*Visiting with Pastor Carven and Juanita Izaks from Namibia, South Africa. A brother and sister in the Lord and we love having them as a part of our family :) 

*The look on Pastor GF's face when he saw us walk into the sanctuary!

* Seeing so many people we love! We didn't have enough time to spend with most of you and we really wish we could have. But it was encouraging as always to see you and hear what God is doing in your lives!

There is too much stuff to list on one post!

   

One of the things we got blessed with was THE camera I've been praying for. I took over 300 pics and narrowed it down to about 90 favorites. So here are some of the best of the best. Or at least some of my favorites :)

We also got to say hi to some of our family. My niece is cuter than ever and likes Jose more than me. It's really not fair ;) Also my brother looks like an adult now. Which is so weird because when I think about him he is still in his 15 year old body. Why do they have to grow up (I admit he is almost 24 so I should probably adjust his age in my mind) 

For Nothing is impossible with God ~ Luke 1:37

5 Years

Wednesday (June 15th) our baby will be 5.
This will be a bittersweet celebration because he won't be the baby anymore.
Next year there will be another little Lopez taking that title, so the celebration is way more sweet than bitter. :)

Timothy is my shadow.
He loves to sit in the room with me and play while I do whatever I'm doing.
I can always count on him to keep me company.
I can also count on him to always make me laugh.
I never want to forget the way he started memorizing words (including the spelling) this year.
Words like Walt Disney Pictures Presents, restroom, all of our names, cake, exit, men, and monsters inc.
He loves to spell them out. For example if he needs to use the restroom he says "I need to go restroom, r-e-s-t-r-o-o-m-m-e-n"   And before he figured out what that spelled he would say
"I need to go potty m-e-n"
He also thought e-x-i-t spelled "get out of here" so when he was ready to go he would say
"let's e-x-i-t, get out'ta here"

He will always be my baby. Even though he tells me "No, not baby. I Timothy!" 

whenever I call him baby.

Timothy Joseah, thank you for allowing me the privilege of raising you. 

You are a sweet, funny, caring little boy with a mind that is totally your own. 

I thank God that you are who you are. I wouldn't change you, or trade you for anything in the world.

You are awesome. Don't you ever forget it!

Love, 

M-o-m-m-y Mommy

You've stolen my heart, yes you have

Sometimes you just need to worship in your own language.
When you are trying to learn a language mostly by immersion it's easy to think of everything (even church service) as a language study course. At least that's how it is for me. During worship I find myself mentally translating the song instead of just singing it to God. I'll be thinking "does that mean worthy or glory? wait, what is this song talking about?"
I try not to but I eventually slip back into it and then my spirit starts getting very, very thirsty. Have you ever had a thirsty spirit? It's kind of like the feeling you get when you have been working outside in the heat and you go inside for a drink only to find the water has been turned off and you have nothing to drink in the fridge. So I have been listening to english worship music online. It's been working ok, but I was still missing that live worship experience. It was an important little thing that I told God about. I didn't even really pray about it. All I said is "God I want some english worship." Then I moved on and mostly forgot about it. I didn't even mention it to Jose.  

Last week Jose was was on Facebook and said "Hey, Leeland is in Lima. You want to go see them?" I said sure. Now don't stone me but I'm not that into Leeland in general. Jose loves them and I like some of their songs but I probably wouldn't have even noticed they were here. I thought I was going for Jose.

They were singing at a church nearby as part of the evening service. When we got there a Man from Mississippi was preaching in English. I thought it was cool to get to just listen and not have to interpret or wait for Jose to explain why everyone was laughing (even when I get most of the message the jokes are hard to understand) After that the church worship team sang and it was nice. Then Leeland went up and sang "Yes you have". I just started worshipping. One of maybe 20 people singing in a room of at least 1000. At first I noticed but then I didn't and I just started crying. I felt Gods' presence right at the place where they say "this is all for you" In that moment the King of the world brought everything together so I could worship Him in english with other believers. He did it because I mentioned it to him in passing. Like a long drink of cold water. My God loves me so much!

He's stolen my heart. Yes he has!

And now the winner of the giveaway is.....


PAMELA WHITEHEAD
Congratulations! Email me (jkmission2peru@gmail.com) your mailing address and I'll get it to you asap

I love birthdays and a giveaway!

I love birthdays. Like really, really, love them. There have been times I tried to pretend like I didn't really care because I thought that was the grown up thing to do. But now that I'm a grown up I realize it doesn't really matter what other people think. I think birthdays are awesome! 

So this is my last birthday in my 20's I am turning 29 on Thursday. 

I like getting older...there I said it. ha Every year older I get I get a deeper knowledge of God and my life seems to get richer. So next year if I freak out about turning 30 just gently point me back to this post. ;) 

This year has been beautiful. Old friendships have been rekindled. New trails have been blazed in my world. I have become more confident and sure of what I want. What I want is closer to what God wants for me than it ever has been and it is beautiful.

My life is not charmed and I don't have a lot of money or even more than I need. 

I live far away from a lot of people I love and sometimes I get lonely for them.

I'm still not good enough at speaking spanish to have a decent conversation. 

But life is good. 

I have these three guys wherever I go to make me smile.

And God knows all the desires of my heart and has been 

granting even some of the silliest ones to me. 

Because that is how God is. He loves to bless those who delight in Him. 

29 is going to be a good year. I can feel it!

I also love gifts! 

So this year for my birthday (and because this is my 100th blog post) I'm giving away a present. 

 I love butterflies and think these are just gorgeous! They are native to Peru and the picture doesn't do it justice. Depending on how you look at it you see purple, dark blue or this teal color.

So lovely

fyi that is victor's thumb...mine is much girly-er. ha  

(girlyer is a word, even though spell check doesn't believe me)

My camera finally decided to bite the dust so Victor is the designated photographer now. 

He's good at it isn't he?

This is actually a window sticker. It's backwards because you put it inside your window and it looks right from the outside. I just thought it was funny because that is a llama jumping over the u so it's like the puma logo only with a llama. haha 

It's ok if you don't think it's funny. I still laughed. 

I might even add a box of my favorite tea in if I don't forget.

All you have to do to be entered in the giveaway is leave a comment. 

(If you comment anonymously please put your name so I know who you are)  

If you want an extra entry you can tell me your favorite birthday or year or something that makes you happy.

Honestly this couldn't be easier :) I will announce the winner in my next blog