Home :)

I am finally home. Although the last week, even though I was thousands of miles away, I felt at home.

Wednesday, November 14

My last day in Lima. After class, I went to visit th siblings of Betty, a Peruvian student. It was awesome to be able to visit her family and see what there work making clothes was like. i came back for dinner, always yummy. After dinner I packed and finally showered. I hadn't that morning. Eww, I know. I got to worship the Lord in Peru once more at the missions class, which was good. Afterwards some of the students and I went out to eat desserts.

Jesse, Annie, and Amy

Moses playing his guitar and singing during morning worship

Leo teaching

Kate and Ryan taking copious notes. :)

Cooking up a yummy storm.

Precious Grace showing me a bug.

Lovely ladies

Boys, reading like it should be done.

Mesod and Ubitza :)

Gardener Extraordinaire, really, there were cala lilies.

Doritos anyone?

Ruth and Juanita. :)

Getting ready to go out for ice cream.

The Bonner Family.

Ice cream/ yummy food place. :)

Check out the inside of my nostrils.

Awwww.

We finally sat down to eat. They ordered a little cake for me and sang. So sweet.

Leona eating a yummy tamale.

Cheese!

Back to the college for some cards,

and cake,

and best of all, hugs. :)

And of course, craziness; Matt's got that down.

I am gonna miss those guys and gals. What a blessing it was to be there; I truly felt like I was with family. Well, they are my bros and sises in Christ. :)

Thursday, November 15

I arrived in NYC. I got to hang out with one of my roommate's (Divya) family, mostly her grandma, who I talked with all afternoon. I love "grandma"; she is such a strong wise Christian woman. It was so neat, the first woman I had a long conversation with was from Peru. She was receptive to the Gospel. The other woman, an older American, I talked to briefly, one my flight from Lima, not so receptive. I could tell I was leaving a county that was open to the Gospel and coming to one that was much more closed. :(

NYC

Friday, November 16
Ms. Mani, grandma and I went to a Christian talk at the American Bible Society, very fancy. It was a great talk on the Sweetness of Sorrow, how God can bring about good things from everything, we just have to give our all. Both of our taxi drivers are Christians! :)

Ms. Mani hailing a cab.

Saturday, November 15

Divya, Jessica, Li, and I went to the game, well the tailgates, for a bit. It was good to bump into people from college. Joanie joined us for lunch. Then, we went to Li's apt and watched shows on the Foodnetwork. :) While most of the girls took a nap (Joanie left), I went to visit a good friend, Michael and his wife. It was nice to spend time with them. I came back just in time for a yummy dinner.

Bundled up.

Lunch at my favorite New Haven rest. :) simply because they have fried ice cream. :)

I loves my Jess!

Saying goodbye to my good friend Michael.

Dinner at a yummy Spanish rest.

Sunday, November 19

I got to go to a wonderful church in NYC: http://www.redeemer.com/. Ms. Mani made a wonderful meal. And I slept my last night away from home.

Grandma. :)

Monday, November 19

I had a wonderful trip! God is sooo good. I got to the airport at 2:55 for my 3:00 flight. Thankfully, my flight was delayed. I had a wonderful seatmate. We didn't talk until the last ten minutes of our flight. She was so open to knowing the truth. She was eager to go to Redeemer and learn more about the Bible. :) My next seatmate was also open to the truth. :) I gave her tracts. :) We watched the movie Evening, strange, but good. It reminded me of Romans 8:28, "we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."

Tuesday, November 20

I am home. I love my blood family!

I got to spend the morning with my cousin, aunt, and uncle. It was nice to chat with them. Finally, I got to see my mama. I am with her and my sister right now. :) I look forward to cooking Thanksgiving dinner with them tomorrow. :)

I have sooo much to be thankful for:

a wonderful month in Peru and NYC area

getting home safely

family, in Christ and in blood

that I can walk, sing, dance

that I feel safe

that I know where I am going when I die

that God died so that I can know that, and so I can be forgiven and have the Holy Spirit in me

for the Holy Spirit's guidance, comfort, and power to love...

for love, God's love and how His love allows me to love like Him

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Cor 13:4-7

Lima

Peru has been a blast, such a blessing. What God has shown me through His Word and experiences is amazing! At this time tomorrow I will be in a taxi headed to the airport to go back to the states. Here are some highlights and lowlights.

Highlights
- Being able to meet and take Josimar, a little boy I have been sponsoring and writing to through Compassion, a Christian organization, for over a year, to the zoo.
-Meeting Jovanna (a woman who is living in a tent) and seeing her growth in the Lord, forgiving people she hadn’t and joyfully depending on Him to provide for her and her family, and thanking Him for what she has.
- Being forgiven for hurting someone’s feelings.
- Seeing God’s beauty in creation, especially the sea, and in babies. How amazing children are, to think I once thought they came from a monkey, so sad. - Hearing the testimony of a young, but mature, Christian who believes her mom is in hell, but believes with all her heart that God is love. Praise God for her faith!
- Best of all, re-realizing we deserve a punishment for our sin: hell. Thankfully, Jesus paid the price on the cross.

Lowlights
- Doubting the reality of hell.
- Not seeing the people who said they would come to church at church.
- Hurting someone’s feelings.
- Seeing people so sick and frail in the hospital.

Read below for my last days.

Thursday, November 8
I got to see how difficult it can be to be a parent. Tracy gets up super early to get ready and then get her children ready for school. That wasn´t the hardest part. The kids had a ton of homework to do when they got home. Tracy and I barely had time to go to a two hour apologetics class at the Bible college, which was good, then we had to come back to pick up the kids. I helped Tracy a little with the homework then I got to donate blood to the young girl mentioned before. It was neat to go visit her and the other five cancer patients in her room. From there I went to the grocery store. I bought food for Tracy´s family and gifts for the family of the little boy I am going to visit Saturday.

PRAISE REPORTS
God makes such amazing kids!

PRAYER REQUESTS
Robin and Tracy for wisdom and patience in parenting and ministry.

Friday, November 9
Apologetics class was good, again. Today we finished talking about God and went on to talk about 7 world views. Afterwards Kate and I went to the hospital to visit Maria Gabriela and donate blood. It was a debacle with the blood donation. They called me in urgently to donate platelets. Kate, who knows NO Spanish, stayed in the room by herself. After four hours at the hospital we headed to Tracy´s house. We ate quesadillas and tortillas with avocado. Kate helped me bring all my stuff to the Bible College. :)

Gino and Kate on our way to the hospital, mulberry eating-throwing

Saturday, November 10
Today I got to go the the zoo with the little boy I sponsor, his mom and little brother. He loved the Bible.We had an awesome time! After that I went to buy gifts for people back home. When I got back I found out that Megan no longer wanted to go to Machu Pichu. That was a little hard to take, because I was thinking, I am in Peru now, who knows if I will come back again. But I know God´s promised to not withold anything good from me (Psalm 84:11), so maybe some other time I will get to go.

Meeting Josimar... So Fun!

Pachamanca! A typcial Peruvian dish, made of meet & yams, put in a hot hole!

An Evangelical Pastor was in that Barney suit.

Reading Josimar´s Stuff
He´s so good in School! Praise God!

Sunday, November 11

Church service was great today. Pastor John taught through Acts 26, but emphasized the importance of Paul´s calling, which is our calling as well, in verse 18:

Open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

1) Open their eyes
Only God can open their hearts, but we can help people see the evidence in favor of Christ´s death and resurrection.

2) turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.
That they would see they need to be forgiven for their disobediance to God, turn from that and turn to God.

3) that they may recive the forgiveness of sins and the inheritance.
That they realize God loved them soooo much He left heaven to come down to earth to suffer and excruciating, humiliating death so that they could be forgiven and go to heaven! And start living the abundant life his promises us (John 10:10) full of joy and peace.

I came back and hung out with Natalie, such a cool girl. We read quietly together and would have break times in which we would share what God has done in our lives. From there we went to believer´s night, which was really cool. Matt, one of the young teachers, taught on submitting to God. How we just have to do it! It´s the best for us.

Monday, November 12
Today has been very chill. I took the mid-term with the class. I think I did better than on any midterm I took in college. I wrote in my blog and helped a Peruvian student with his English homework.

Tuesday, November 13
Today was an AWESOME day!

It started off with a great devotional on Galatians 4:4-7:

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"
Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

God loved us so much he came to redeem us. He came to pay the price for our sins. We deserve hell, but my Abba Father, in His great mercy sent his Son. And Jesus willingly came to bear my sins on the cross, so that I, and any one who accepts His love, could live with Him forever. He allows us to be His children. Not only that He comes in dwells in us. The Holy Spirit enables us to live a life full of joy, love, and peace. Thank you God!

God´s plans for His children are sooo awesome! We see God´s love and care as was read in today´s devotional in Isaiah 5:1-3:

NOW let me sing to my Well-beloved
A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard:
My Well-beloved has a vineyard
On a very fruitful hill.
He dug it up and cleared out its stones,
And planted it with the choicest vine.
He built a tower in its midst,
And also made a winepress in it;
So He expected it to bring forth good grapes,
But it brought forth wild grapes.

That really spoke to me.
God has been bringing me to choice hills, Winterhaven, Peru, Cambridge, and providing me with everything I need. His Word, as Natalie said, is the choicest of vines, so rich. I have had a tower, in churches (in the people in them), and winepresses, struggles to cause the best to come out, in my character. Praise God!

After that, class was good. From there I went to get cookies for the kids in the hospital. When I was coming back I bumped into Deborah and Kate, two of my favorite people, and they invited me to eat sushi. I accepted. It was great, as was the seaweed salad and fried ice cream (my fave). I had to run back to meet up with the people who were going to the hospital with me. After half an hour of getting everyone together, we left.

The taxi ride as awesome. The taxi driver, Willy was soooo open to the Gospel. It was neat, because I got to share what we learned about hell today: we deserve a punishment for our sins and God is just. I told him about the Lord and he even let me pray for Him. His eyes were all teary eyed when I we finished crying. He didn´t want to charge us for the ride!

From 3-6, Tim and Sterling (two students) and Deb the financial director, went to the hosptial. I got to visit a bunch of cancer patients with my red clown nose, candy, and most importantly Gospel tracts. :)

Our taxi driver on the way home, Jose Luis, was open to listening about the Lord, in fact, his wife is a Christian. :)

When we came home there was yummy Mexican food waiting for us. :) :)

Tonight, it was really hard to read about hell. But finally something became clear: we deserve hell. Not because what people have done, but what people have not done: accepted Jesus. We are already destined to hell for being who we are: sinners. But Jesus in His amazing love, comes to rescue us. :) Then God fills us with His Spirit to live the life we are supposed to, one full of: love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, patience, kindness, and temperance (kind of like self-control). Praise God!

PRAISE REPORTS
The rerealization above!
Tim was able to donate blood.
Deborah qualified to donate platelettes.
I was able to use something I learned in class today: why hell has to exist

PRAYER REQUESTS
Ursula, who is having a tumor removed tomorrow.
For Willy´s salvation.
For Maria Gabriela, and all the kids I met today: Fortunato, Jimmy, Ruben, and Nicolas, for their healing and their salvation
For Maria Gabriela´s family, that they would have peace, and salvation.

Leaving Canete

I am now in Lima... It was hard to say good-bye to people in Canete... I cried. The people there are soo humble and dependent on the Lord, while still being very hardworking in the low paying jobs. The love they showed me while there was incredible, as you can see by pics and descriptions below. There goodbye gifts of love, sweet beans, hugs... are priceless.

Monday, November 5
Today has been an awesome day. I went to read the Bible with a two young ladies, sisters, who are both mothers. It was so neat to see them want to learn about the Lord. We talked about what it means to be a Christian, reading Bible verses and using this awesome conversation. A: Are you married?
B: I have been to weddings.
A: Are you married?
B: My parents are married. I believe in marriage.
A: I asked if you were married?
Afterwards I came home and the family took me to eat a wonderful lunch at Bambu. Peruvian ceviche-- so good. From there we went to the beach- beautiful and breathtaking

PRAISE REPORTS
For God's awesome creation.

PRAYER REQUESTS
Rocio and Tanya to grow in the Lord.
Jaime and his family to be united.

Tuesday, November 6
I got to go to playa hermosa. :) This time in convi (ghetto van). I got to talk to a lady about the Lord. Right off the bat the differences of the Catholic and Christian church came up. When we got to the church a little boy was there and together we went to his house then the beach. I tried to play a game with him... I lost. I got wet. Then Kristel tricked me into getting more wet.

Prayer meeting at the church as awesome as usual. The teens there are so on fire for the Lord. After church, Jaime, Kristel and I went to pick up her grandmother and take her to Jaime's house. I made a lasgana, garlic bread, salad and fruit punch. No one, but me, got sick. We had a good time. :)

PRAISE REPORTS

That Kristel's grandma, Marina, came.

PRAYER REQUESTS

For Kristel's grandma, Marina's salvation.

Canete still underconstruction.

A Day at the Market

Playa Hermosa

Playing, don´t let the wave catch me...

I lost.

All the Kids at Playa Hermosa

Lasagna Night

Wednesday, November 7

I got to read the Bible with the sisters again, this time three neighbors joined. I came home for my last, wonderfully homemade meal. I will miss Silvia's cooking. After lunch we went to church to be with the children. While Jaime did the teaching Krystel and I went to get candy and fruit for the kids. After the teaching I (with a carload of people) went to visit the woman with cancer. While we were there we went hiking up this mountain-- beautiful view.

After the visit we came back I went shopping with Kristel. The shop owner wrapped Jaime's gift in a liqor bottle wrapping paper. After shopping we went to Wednesday night service. Jaime taught on Luke 17:11-18. He emphasized how lepors were caste aside and could not go in the temple. Just as we can not be in the presence of God if we haven't accepted the blood of Jesus.

After service, Jaime said today we will be saying good bye to someone special, someone I thought was only going to be here a week. She has been here three weeks. Thankfully, he said, they were good. That was the first time I realized the person that asked if I could stay there only asked for a week. Jaime asked me to say a few words. I got up there tear eyed from his introduction. I thanked them, thanked God for having me there, and thanked God for saving taking off my spiritual leperousy. With that, I cried. The people from the church were teary eyed. Jovanna was especially sweet. She gave me a bean dish she was working on all day. :) She also told me, "When I saw you I thought, if she can be a Christian, I can be a Christian. Thank you." I thought, that is the funniest compliment ever.
The teens walked me to the bus stop.

PRAISE REPORT
A lady came up and said what are these youth about, in a good way, talking about the church youth just hanging out. It reminded me of "they will know you by the love you have for one another."
I am safely in Lima.

PRAYER REQUESTS
The church in Canete
The new believers Rocio and Tanya
The 3 youth that are very active there: Kristel, Kervin, and Gustavo.vvAnd the other youth: Ervin, Carole and Miguel, two young humblesiblings, Lina and Mirna, two young ladies, growing maturely in the Lord. Oscar Carazo who has leukimia
Luz Carazco who has a brain tumor
The people here in Peru, especially the taxi drivers, vendors, and people I have talked to on the bus and on the street, that the thewords that were of the Lord He would cultivate them in their hearts.
Please especially for Saith and the mother of Oscar, who said they would come to church.

Rocio and Tanya, after some Bible reading

Rebuilding in Canete

A little girl in charge of my camera... the mototaxi.

My Bedroom

Good bye Night

My Welcome to Lima, Tracy's Beautiful Children