Peruvian Way

“Even without a word, life still goes on”, well this seemed to be my life these past months, in the lack of sharing with you guys of what the Lord has been doing. It is so true, life does go on even without the news of hearing it at times; in the realm of God at work in our lives. But as we all know God is on the throne and is at work. My deepest apologizes to you all, but praise the Lord I am here now to share with you all what He has been doing and taken me since last time I shared.

Time in the states: Dec. 23-Feb.12
Amarillo:
For the holidays I had the privilege to visit my family, which was a sweet time of fellowship and rest. At one point we were all together, that is for a short period of time, no joke. If you all know my family it is like the Brady Bunch but double the amount, so for all of us to get together all at same time is always a miracle. It was great seeing them all and spending time with all my little nieces and nephews and seeing how much they have all grown… Of course, they were excited to see there Uncle Jerm; Jerm from the jungle, who lives with the lions and tigers, spiders, and snakes and so forth as there imagination goes. But don’t worry guys I am not that far into the jungle, at least yet…

During my stay home I also had the opportunity to teach, share with the youth at my church, which I always love doing. And as well I was able to teach on a Wednesday night at my church and share what the Lord has been doing in the ministry here. The Lord had put on my heart to teach from Mark 9:34, “Denying ourself, taking up our cross, and following Him.” Which was a true blessing for me, and always a good reminder, thank you guys.

California:
When in California I had the privilege of going to the Missions Conference, which was a sweet time of getting feed; no not just physically but spiritually. It was so cool to hear from other missionary’s and to catch up with old friends and to see where the Lord has taken them, and to see what He has done in there lives. If I could say the two most things that hit me or impacted me the most from this Conference and do ask for your prayers as maybe what the Lord might have in the future is, “to the unreached, church planting,” only God knows and time will tell, but I want a heart that will say,“I will follow Jesus no matter what the cost, I will take the cross no matter how it comes,” I am Yours.

Austin:
While in Austin I had the chance to spend more time with family and friends. And had the privilege of sharing at one of my supporting churches, with what the Lord has and is doing in Iquitos. Truly a sweet time of encouragement, fellowship and being sent out to continue to do what God has called me to do. Thank you all…. For more info on the church visit: http://ecclesiaaustin.com

Nashville:
In Nashville I had the chance to see a great friend of mine; one who is like a spiritual dad to me, one who I had worked in ministry with, and a great mentor who taught me a lot about ministry and how it is to walk by faith. It was a short, but sweet time of fellowship with him and his family of catching up on all that has happened in the last year. Thank you Tom… For more with his ministry visit: http://ru4one.com

Back to Peru: Feb. 13….
Lima: Feb. 13-23
I love the timing of the Lord, I am learning more and more, which you would figure I/we would learn by now that His timing is better. When getting back to Peru, and with it being Valentine’s day the church in Lima had held a marriage conference, with special guest speaker Thomas Shockey, which was awesome and about 35 married couples had attended. It truly was a time of Learning, conviction, reflection, repentance, brokenness, and reuniting. If you are wondering how I knew all this, well I actually had the privilege of being the photo man along with Sandra, well her being the photo woman. Which you know don’t have to use your ears to take pictures so we got to sit in on it and listen as we took pictures. Which was also a blessing for us to be there and listen, as it seems the Lord continues to lead us in that direction, towards marriage.

There was also a conference for the youth the following week, “Passion or Purity.” Which was so awesome, and with about maybe 200 or so who had attended, and with about half of them making a commitment to purity!!! It was such a great reminder of the importance of staying pure, not only for Christ but for your future wife or husband. Truly is of that of denying the flesh, counting the cost, running against the current (the world), but running with the current of the Holy Spirit and power of Him giving you the ability to do what He has called you to do. What use is a broken record if you can’t play it. But thanks be to God that He is the only One that can fix that record and make it new again and the sound of it, so sweet… that is a life of purity before the Lord!!! For Sandra and I it was a blessing, encouragement, and reminder of that living pure and upright before the Lord, putting aside our desires, wants and wanting a heart of what God has a heart for. Our desire is to be more like Him and for Him to be glorified through our lives.

Iquitos: Feb. 23….
Being back in Iquitos has been nice, a few challenges but good and always growing. Also, I finally got brave enough to cut my hair, so the looking like Jesus days are over, that is just with my hair and beard, you know what I mean. (Before and after picture)

Well, to start with, when in the states the Lord had put on my heart, that when going back to Peru to start teaching in Spanish with the youth. Before Albert had been so faithful in translating for me but now I think the little bird needs to jump out of the nest and began to fly on his own, so to speak. And with being in the states for a time I wanted to give it at least a month to get back in the flow of my Spanish, well with what Spanish I know right now. So with the Lord and His sense of humor, praise the Lord for, “hahaha”. My first week back, due to Albert being busy with a team he couldn’t translate for me that Saturday, so I jumped right in with teaching in Spanish. Which actually went great, a bit nervous, hard, and humbling but good. So looks like that month thing was out the window. I am reminded when Jesus called Peter to step out of the boat and walk on water, He didn’t say, “Peter wait a moment/month, then when you feel more comfortable, do it…” No He said, “Come.”

Youth news:
While in the states, my prayer for the youth in our church here was that they would continue to follow the Lord, even when Albert or I aren’t here. That there foundation, would be Christ!!! Which brings me to this prayer request. First, just a little background of Iquitos. There such a HUGE pull of temptation from the world on the youth with drinking, partying, girls, homosexuality, drugs, do anything for money kind of thing and etc… well I ask for your prayers b/c there seems to be some guys in our youth that have gotten caught up in this seen and the enemy is pulling them more and more away.

With news from someone I had found out where they were going to hang out, drink, party, mixing with the wrong crowd. So prayerful, I decided to take a surprise visit, check it out and say hi to them; at this bar in Belen (Floating city). For those of you who have seen pictures or have been here, Belen is under water part of the year due to the rainy season and the houses are floating and is the poorest and most dirtiest area here. Well this bar was on the Itaya river in Belen and to find out a pretty popular place where 100′s of teens go. Now this river is not the cleanest you could say, not the swimming type river, you wouldn’t want to fall in or touch the water, b/c it is not only a river but an out house, a source of use for many other things as well which pollutes the water as well.

So to get to this bar, we had to take a canoe and to get to the door I had to step out of the boat and in to the water, just past my knees, “Don’t worry I was praying hard.” Not on my knees b/c then I would be fully under… To add also this is not the typical place for a gringo to go and visit, but the Lord had put on my heart Matthew 18:12 where Jesus gave the parable of leaving the 99 and going after the one. For me it didn’t matter the cost… When getting inside and seeing the atmosphere of the place, the people; drinking, smoking, dancing, and so many homosexuals. I felt so disgusted just being there and seeing what I saw. And I thought to myself, “why would anyone come here, why would anyone leave the Lord for this.”

Just to walk I had to push people out of the way and had to keep one hand on my pocket b/c in Iquitos they are known for robbing and me being white of course am a target to them and even had some try to get in my pocket but couldn’t b/c my hand was there. I made sure I didn’t have anything they could steal, I just brought enough for the boat ride there and back. Now with this bar being on the river and the amount of people in there, I was praying that the Lord wouldn’t take this place down while I was in it, at one break it would all be destroyed and all would have died from the current of the river taking it under and of so many people fighting to try and get out of the place with it being under water. One verse then came to my mind from Romans, “The wages of sin is death…” Lord help them see there sin and the cost of it….

The guy who was with me helped look for them but when we entered he had seen one of them there but when he told me where he was, I had looked and he was gone. Of course, he didn’t want me to see him there so he hide and I am guessing ran out. But I am believing by me being there and the willingness to go, and with the conviction of his heart, that there would be godly sorrow which leads to repentance.

Thank you guys for your prayers with that, and ask for your prayers with the rest of the youth that they would not get entangled in the affairs of this world. I ask for your prayers as well for wisdom in how to protect the youth from more of them getting caught in that, and for those who have, how to lead them back to Christ the right way, with the right approach, with the right discipline the Lord calls for us to do.

I have seen the power of prayer!!! We do serve a God that does listen and is faithful to His word. May we stand in the gap and pray; that the chains, the sin, the bondage that sit so heavily on this place would be broken and for them to be set free. And for a place that is turned upside down to be turned right side up.

“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:16c

Thank you all for your continual prayers and support for the ministry….!!!!!

“Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil….” Ephesians 6:11-19

Just this past week we had out annual youth surf camp just 2 hours south of lima in a small surf town called Cerro Azul. We had a great time of sharing in the word, learning about the armor of God and putting it on. Also sweet times of games, teaching them how to surf, fellowship with familiar and un-familiar faces. And seeing the Lord work in the hearts there of wanting to receive the Lord and getting baptized by the end of the week. There was over all between the younger group and the older group about 200 kids that showed up. And now that the seed has been planted, we wait and see if the seed dyes and produces fruit, this is our prayer.

One of the things the Lord showed me there was just to be a servant and to help with what ever they needed help in and to have fun with the youth, to be a kid.