New Year, New Things

The end of the year brings reflection
and perspective and I am beginning this new year very grateful for
what God has done in the last year in Nauta and the way that He
continues to speak love into my own heart while at the same time
revealing potentially dangerous blind spots in my life and
mis-direction of said heart.

I arrived back in Nauta at the end of
November, and have spent the last month re-adjusting to the reality
of living in Peru (heat, mosquitos, pit toilet, “running”
rainwater, some people gone, some new people here, etc…) and to the
call that God has on me here. I have been reminded that I am NOT
here to serve my own interests (you’d think that would be obvious,
wouldn’t you?) but the interests of our Savior. We were indeed
bought with a very precious price.

Since I have a faulty memory, let me
recount in reverse some events that have stood out to me from my
arrival. Tonight in my house there was a Bible study of five young
men and the parents of one of them. I did not call the meeting –
in all actuality I had planned on having an English Bible study with
five different youth interested in bettering their English as well as
their walk with God. They didn’t show up, but these other five did,
four of whom have passed through the 3-month training period of an
IMB offshoot, the Extreme Team. They meet together regularly (as
well as attend their respective churches) with the purpose of seeking
God and His will for their lives. We sang, shared scripture, shared
struggles and prayed together. Needless to say, I was blessed.

A few days ago I had a conversation
with a pastor here in town with whom I’ve been working on the
training school. To summarize, the first bimester of the school,
there were four students here. The second bimester there were two.
And now none are returning. He has decided to take the training to
the river villages in the form of a three day seminar and see what
fruit comes of that, and I support his decision and would happily
invest there as well, but it would seem that the Lord is leading in a
different direction at this point – which direction that is
precisely, I don’t know, but God made it clear that at the moment we
are going in different directions ministerially.

In the two days prior to that
conversation, I was invited to two events – one being a women’s
conference at the end of this month in Iquitos called “Women of
Destiny” with the purpose of awakening latino women to the purpose
and call of God on their lives. I am eager to see what God does there
and would covet your prayers for the women attending. I was invited
as a participant, not as a speaker, lest I mislead any of you 🙂 …
which is just fine by me. The other event is a week-long conference
at the beginning of March at a camp two hours upriver from Nauta. It
is a conference specifically for indigenous people from the Urarina
tribe who have recently received Christ and want to know more, men,
women and children. I am VERY excited to be able to serve in this as
I see God’s hand in the story of how it has come to be, and hope to
give you more information on what God is doing after seeing firsthand
His work.

In smaller news, since coming back I
have shoveled grass off my back yard, attended a missionary Christmas
White Elephant party, had three girls spend the night at my house and
make liberal use of my nail polish, played baseball with students
from Spring Arbor with children in Indiana (on the Amazon river), saw
Santa and a clown celebrate Christmas with children from different
congregations here in Nauta, made hot chocolate and provided sweet
bread for the kids on my street, had my motorcycle stolen AND
rmiraculously ecovered, and saw a dear friend return from the states
(Chris!!) and am so very grateful that my “mom in Peru” is back.
On a more somber note, I also found out that the father of a friend
(some of you might remember Maicol from previous letters) died in an
electric accident, leaving 5 young children and 2 grown sons behind.
Another friend lost a two-month old baby to dysentery. And I hear
from many pastors that their congregations are waning and that they
are discouraged, and am so very tired of seeing the enemy steal, kill
and destroy the good that God wants to pour into the lives of His
children.

Please pray for God’s Kingdom to COME
here to Nauta, Peru. Pray for unity among the believers here, and I
also pray that His Kingdom would come to your towns, to the states,
to India, to Mexico, to the Dominican Republic… and to every corner
of this earth. Please pray for Cesar, the young man here in Nauta
who would like to go to the Dominican as a missionary-in-training
with Miguel and Kristen Shaul. Funds are slow in coming in, and we
know that God has a plan and a purpose in all these things, but I
believe that this is from God and would ask your prayers for Cesar to
be sent in the Father’s timing and for any interference of the enemy
to be thoroughly thwarted. Thank you and may God’s grace and peace
reign in your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our most
beautiful Savior and friend!!!