Eternal Perspective

Have you ever walked into a place that you had never been to and felt that you had just come home?
That is how Peru felt for me. It's extraordinary really because I don't speak the language *yet* and I really haven't been in an environment like there before but it was just as comfortable for me to be there as walking into my church. *warm fuzzies*

This past Sunday Pastor Jack Hanes spoke at our church. He is a missionary to Australia. He spoke about the master key to abundant living. A life focused on serving others. The bible says that a day to God is like a thousand years to us. If we can expect to live about 70 years that calculates into about an hour in God's time. So in other words the life we live here is only about an hour of eternity. If that's true how can we expect to make an impact on eternity when we spend most of our "hour" focused on pleasing ourselves? As he was speaking I was thinking of things I have purchased for myself and how some of those things seemed so important for me to have but what good do they do me? What if I had helped someone in need pay a water bill instead of buying myself that new shirt? And now as Jose and I anticipate moving overseas we are talking about what is actually important enough to make the cut to take to Peru. It's amazing how that can change your thought process. It makes us think more about the eternal. What can we spend our money on that has an eternal purpose? What can we take with us when we move out of our earthly bodies and into heavenly ones?
Wow, I'm rebuked for my materialistic ways. Lord, help me never forget this lesson you are teaching me and always see things through an eternal perspective.

more pictures

I'm sorry it has taken so long to put more pictures up or for us to update this at all we are hoping to get internet set up in the next week or 2 but for now I do what I can when I can.

Peru was awesome. In some ways it was overwhelming just thinking of how quickly we will be living there. All of us loved it and are excited about going back. Jose and I are already getting ready to take a trip to Piura in April.

You are going to have to click on the bottom of this box to see the video because I can't figure out how to make it play automatically enjoy :)

From

Sunday

On Sunday we attended church at Casa De Padre. The pastors were in Arizona at the time. They returned home last night and Jose and I are going to meet with them tomorrow evening about our plan for Piura. Please pray for us that our meeting goes well and is helpful for us to learn some more about what we need to do.

A few things struck us about the service on Sunday that I wanted to mention. We actually arrived about 1 hour into the first service. (traffic in Lima is...very different from the US)  They had just started the message. It lasted about 20 minutes and then he finished up with prayer over the sick/repentant. We stayed for the 2nd service worship. It lasted almost an hour with just a quick word from one of the ministers calling the ushers forward for the offering. Everyone I could see gave something. It was so amazing to me coming from the church in America where the majority of people have to be convinced to give. Before you think these people are giving out of their abundance I think it's helpful to know that the minimum wage in Peru is $160 a month from what I understand it is not based on how many hours you work. Also work is very hard to come by. Because of this you see a lot of people selling things or performing at stoplights. They would rather do that than starve. (You never see people just standing with a sign asking for money.)  

Another thing we noticed Sunday morning as we were driving to church was people standing in line to get into churches. (Every church we saw this at was evangelical.) Picture a club or opening night for a much anticipated movie. I wish I could bottle the excitement I see in the Peruvian people for God and bring it back to America.

Kat~*

Pictures!

I wanted to put up a few pictures for everyone to enjoy :)

our internet connection is very slow so this is only a fraction of the pics we took on the first day.

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On the way to Peru

We are so excited! (this is toward the end of the trip so mommy was tired)

a roundabout in Miraflores

The Pacific Ocean there are mountains too but it's really foggy so you can't see them

We are up pretty high in a shopping center and this is a walkway to get down to the ocean

So Beautiful

                                               

There are lots of surfers even though it's pretty cold here. Logan really wanted to surf. I told him he's has to wait until he is at least 10. Later that day he said "Mommy! I'm 10 now!" lol

This is a playground close to the shopping center we went to. If you look closely on the left you can see the mountains and the ocean

Logan loves it here (so do I)

We are here!

We arrived in Lima last night at around 11pm. The trip was long with an 8am flight to Panama, 6 hour layover and then a 4 hour flight to Lima. We are about to tour Lima with some of Jose's family.
Hopefully tonight I will have a little time to write out a nice long post.
Thanks you for your prayers for a safe trip!
Kat~*