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.