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.

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

Getting in touch with my inner gypsy

Growing up we moved a lot. Actually, that could qualify as the understatement of the year. We moved so much that people joked they wrote our address in pencil in their address books. (Which I think they were serious about so I guess that doesn't really qualify as a joke...) Anyway, we moved across town and cross country. I never really knew where to tell people I was from so I would answer "I was born in Amarillo, TX" and let the rest just kind of go unspoken. Sometimes people would ask why we moved so much and I thought it was fun to tell them we were in the witness protection program. The real reason is that my parents are gypsies, as in travellers. They like to move around try on new houses and new cities. Which if you think about it, is the perfect childhood for a missionary.

Which brings me to today. We are moving. When we got to Peru we were under the impression that the apartments available were really expensive. While we got a great deal on the place we've been living we have discovered there are less expensive places close to where we live. Since we are living on a tight budget and want to be good stewards we have decided to move. Please pray for us this weekend that all the loose ends get tied up quickly and nobody gets hurt in the process of moving from a 2nd floor apartment to a 3rd floor apartment. (thankfully there is no furniture to move) We will live there until our next gypsy dance takes us up to Piura

In other gypsy news it's looking more and more like we will be able to go to America next month. I found an amazing deal on tickets. Some friends are having a fund raiser for us and a few others have made direct donations! If you could see my face it looks kind of like this :^D God is good and I'm excited  

And now I will leave you with a few pictures of my boys that I finally took off the camera. I took these when my Grandma was here

Timothy with his monkey

When there is a fountain nearby a boy must touch it

Or run in it

The giraffe posed for us too

Timothy was the one who was asking to see the girraffe's and he wouldn't pose for the picture

But he posed for this one

look in the lenses you can see victor, me and my grandma

Inspiration from my past self

I was going through some old journals and a sheet of paper fell out of one of them. When I was younger I loved poetry and would usually journal whatever poem or song I was feeling the most. This paper had a poem on each side. One of them is very well known and the other is one I found in a poetry book and have never seen it before or since so I don't think it is very well known.

Here they are

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
                                   ~Robert Frost

How Did You Die?

Did you tackle that trouble that came your way
with a resolute heart and cheerful?
Or hide your face from the light of day
with a craven soul and fearful?
Oh, a troubles a ton or a troubles an ounce,
or a trouble is what you make it.
And it isn't the fact that your hurt that counts
but only how did you take it?

You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what's that?
Come up with a smiling face
it's nothing against you to fall down flat,
but to lie there-that's disgrace
The harder your thrown, why the higher you bounce
be proud of your blackened eye!
It isn't the fact that your licked that counts,
it's how did you fight and why?

And though you be done to the death, what then?
If you battled the best you could;
If you played your part in the world of men,
why the critic would call it good.
Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce
and whether he's slow or spry
It isn't the fact that your dead that counts
But only, How did you die?
                                ~Edmund Vance Cooke

I'm not sure what was going on in my life that these 2 poems inspired me then. But I think it's really cool that I found them when I did. The second one especially describes a lot of things I have thought and even blogged about already. No matter what may happen to me, the important thing is not what happened but how did I respond? I don't always respond the right way. Sometimes I let my flesh respond and that is usually when I feel like a whipped puppy. I'm learning.

In 7 weeks my world is going to change. Am I nervous? Of course! But 100 times more excited than nervous. I am so thankful for the people that are excited with me. Romans 12:15 says (Rejoice) "Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep" You guys are awesome! :-D

I have a new thingy on the side over there---------------------------------------------------------> somewhere, with our prayer partners names. If you would like to be added to our list (because we love you!) let me know (by commenting) and I will add you. I won't send you any junk mail, I will just know you are praying for us :-D we will post prayer needs as they arise on this blog. And, if you would like I can send you a direct email with our prayer needs (but only if you like...I promise not to spam you!)

(And) when I went to find the exact wording of the verse above I thought how awesome and appropriate the rest of these verses where so I decided to leave you with this.

Romans 12:14-21
Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!

Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable.  Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,
“I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.
Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”
Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.