"Something Heavenly"

"Whatever you're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
but I'm giving in to something heavenly"
...
"Time for a milestone
Time to begin again
Revaluate who I really am
Am I doing everything to follow your will
or just climbing aimlessly over these hills
So show me what it is you want from me
I give everything I surrender..."
...
Whatever you're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but now I can see
This something bigger than me
Larger than life something heavenly
Something heavenly

It's time to face up
Clean this old house
Time breathe in and let everything out"
-excerpts from "Something Heavenly" by Sanctus Real

Hey guys not sure if you know this or not but being on the mission field is hard. We have those days that are hard, tiresome, and just stink and we have those days that are great and beyond belief. God has already been changing me over these past five months on the mission field however I know He is not done with the changes yet. This is where it has hit the hardest - that I at times am fighting this change so hard as I refuse to surrender more and more of me til He has it all. You would think that me going out on the mission field was me giving it all, and it was at that point, but I now realize it is an everyday surrender. There is a song by Sanctus Real called something heavenly - I encourage you to take a listen if you have not heard it (here is a link with the song & lyrics). As I really listen to the words and as I surrender everything it is so much easier. I feel like I am really starting to listen daily and I am starting to find that peace. It is amazing how if we just surrender it can get easier.
Right now our work in Chachani is going great. We have been having children's classes, services for adults, and discipleship classes. God is blessing our work in Chachani and I am excited to see where it is headed.
My team and I have been working hard in school (which is taught totally in spanish) trying to get through all our classes and the mountain of homework we have. It has been really good and hard which is how it should be.
Our team has also been working hard at working together as a team. We have had our challenges as between all 6 people we have 6 leaders. So we are discovering how God takes a group of leaders and makes them into a Godly team. It has been tough, however I know God is working on all of us and changing each and everyone one of us into who we need to be. I am excited already for the changes that I not only see in myself but the other people on our team as we come together.
Please Continue to keep the team and I in prayer as we work together and slso be in prayer that we can find the other people we need to complete our team.
Also in this past week I had the opportunity to talk with the people at my church. It was great to talk to you all and share what is happening here in Peru. I love and miss each one of you and I know you are all praying for me.

Service in Chachani.

Today we had our first service in Chachani and it was awesome. Leon, Felipe, Gladis, and I went out early this morning because there was a meeting at 7 in the morning and we were going to have the opportunity to speak and tell everyone about our service. So we got there and while the boys went to the meeting Gladis and I went and talked to the people about the service we were going to have. We were really excited about this and we were so ready to have service.
The other people from our team got up to Chachani a little bit later and we started setting up for service in the building we were using. We got all set up for service and we were ready to start however there was only kids there. So we started the service anyways hoping we would attract more people. As we started service people started trickling in. By the end of the service we had a total of 37 people including 19 adults. It was amazing to have this many people at our first service. We also have many of these people excited to come back next week. God is amazing!. We are all excited for having more services in Chachani.
Tonight las chicas went back out to Chachani to have a discipleship class with some of the women. The women that said the were going to come never did however this turned out to be an okay thing. We got to meet with one of our other contacts who I have talked about before in these blogs. Her whole family happened to be there so while I played with the kids, Emily and Rayann led a discipleship class with Jessica and the rest of her family. This woman is so hungry for everything about God and it has been a blessing to have her as one of our first contacts.
It has been amazing to see the work that has already been done in Chachani. I am super excited for the plan God has for this area because I know it is going to be big. Please continue to pray for this area as we continue to work in it.

I finished Spanish School!!

I FINISHED SPANISH SCHOOL!!! Our graduation was last week were we had to give a five minutes speech in Spanish. It went well I guess because they gave me the certificate that says I finished the class. Thanks to all who were praying for me as I was going through Language school. The Paragauy team has started their second part of training which means we are back in school. We are going through missionary training classes. All in Spanish I might add. So please keep me and the rest of the team in prayer as we go through our schooling.
As many of you know we are working in the area of Chachani. God has been doing big things in this area and I am stealing a little bit of our Chachani blog to tell you all about it:
From the medical clinic we met a woman whose daughter was having trouble in school. We set up a visit that day in the clinic and we met with her the following Tuesday. We went and visited her and she talked about all the problems that her daughter was having in school. This women talked about how her job was hard to deal with while at the same time trying to help her daughter. We prayed with her and we all walked away from the visit knowing we would visit again but having the feeling that she was not interested in knowing God. On the following Saturday we had our normal kids group. This woman showed up and Rayann had the opportunity to talk to with her. She asked Rayann if we were planning to do anything for the adults. Rayann told her that we wanted to but we had not yet. The woman said that we needed to start something and she went on to describe a small group. Keep in mind, this was the woman who a couple days before gave the impression that she was not interested in learning more Now she was asking us to start a small group. It was mind-blowing to us but we jumped at the opportunity.
The following Wednesday Emily and Rayann went and visited this women again. They talked about how much we wanted to start a cell group in the area but we needed a location. The woman told us about a building that is a local building. She said that she would talk to the president about getting the key so we could use the building for meetings. It is amazing how God is using this women in a way we where not expecting at all. We plan to follow up with this women this Tuesday and see if she got the keys. If so we plan to start our first cell group in Chachani this Sunday. We know that God is going to use this women even more then he already has and we also know that God has big plans for this area. We cannot wait to see the big picture!

That was from a last week but we went out again yesterday and we wrote another blog post for that:
Today we had a special opportunity to visit with Jessica and her three daughters, and we were there for an emotional goodbye between them and her husband/their father. He is leaving for the rest of this month for work, which is good but also hard on the family. Unfortunately, this situation is quite common. If a man is responsible, not a drunk, and able to find work, he will often have to leave for long periods of time, probably not for what we would consider a fair wage.
But the joy we were able to share in was in talking with Jessica. She is very excited to begin discipleship classes next week, and on top of that she has helped us contact the president of her area to obtain keys to a 'locale' where we plan on holding a starter service this Sunday. We are hoping that many people will come, want to learn more about God and want a relationship with Him. But even if we have a service with just us + 2, we know God is working and trust Him to build His church if we will but lay the brick where He tells us.
Jessica shared a lot of very personal things with us, including how her daughter wanted to know what God is like, what Heaven is like, and why there is suffering in the world if God is good. We were able to share about God's love, sin and salvation, and just comfort some of her worries. We prayed with her and left optimistic for a chance to begin discipling someone who is yearning to know God more. (malvado, by the way, is the word for evil... we couldn't think of it while we were talking to her!)
The other group (we were split in two) got to visit some more of the contacts we have been trying to reach since the medical clinics, and were invited to share in "mystery meat" soup time! It is such a blessing to know we can connect, get to know and earn the trust of God's beloved in Chachani!

Isn't God amazing. He has blessed us with this women!
And yes I was part of the mystery meat visit but it was amazing to have an opportunity to visit with this group. The group that offered us soup is very interested in knowing about the bible but as of yet our schedules do not work to meet. Please be in prayer that we will have the chance to meet with them and start classes.