A Few Pictures from the IWC Project

From top to bottom: One of the large group International World Changer team pictures. This was taken after we all got back to Iquitos and were able to take a "real" shower with running water =). Next, is the family photo from all three of us out in the community together- our first family ministry trip. Third- Just a cute picture of Karis. Fourth- when we were out in the communities during the day with ministry teams- after lunch I would find a place to either set-up Karis' hammock or find a house where I could use a hammock for Karis to nap in. Which was interesting some days- one day I had about 15 people watching Karis try to get to sleep in her hammock. LOL! So that is Karis being a good jungle baby and napping in her hammock (well Daddy's hammock from Venezuela technically but Karis has claimed it for herself). The last picture is us on the last day in Palmaras while Karis is napping- I enjoyed her nap times, I was able to talk to several of the moms in the communities and/or curious kids coming to see the gringa baby sleeping.

Overall the IWC project was a wonderful trip both from a ministry point of view and from a family perspective. There was definitely some difficult moments and many opportunities for both the team and us to practice being flexible and having plans change. God did some really neat things in and through the team. He opened doors in some of the villages that we haven't seen open like that before. There was solid discipleship that took place, evidence that God was at work in people's hearts before the teams even arrived and there were also those that came to know Christ as well. One girl in one of the villages started asking "What is sin?", "How can I stop sinning?" etc... obviously God had been working in her life before we arrived. Another lady memorized her first Bible verse and other communities had questions answered from scripture about assurance of salvation and what is prayer and many more topics. It was neat being able to see God working in the villages, instead of just hearing about it as I debrief teams when they come back to Iquitos. Karis did better each day we were out. The last day on the boat ride back to Iquitos was rough, but unbeknownst to us, she was cutting her first molar tooth and had really itchy chigger bites on her ankles. So all in all Karis did REALLY well. We're really blessed to have such an adaptable baby- she was sleep deprived, took river bucket baths, was dirtier than she's ever been in her life, has never sweated that much for that long and been surrounded by that many people for a week straight. We were proud parents for sure.

Thanks for your prayers.

Prayer Request for IWC-Orellana

INTERNATIONAL WORLD CHANGERS- ORELLANA

Please pray for the 56 volunteers, 3 missionaries and 15 translators that will be working amongst Yagua people off the Amazon River, doing discipleship of believers and holding Bible Yard Bible clubs this week. The original plan was to work in 5 communities: Atun Coche, Las Palamaras, Vainilla, Puerto Rico and Catalan Urco.

Specifically pray for safety, discipleship & growth for believers there and witnessing opportunities to those that remain lost.

Also we just learned several moments ago that the water on the river is unusually low for this time of year and the boats will not be able to reach most of the villages. Even Orellana, the community we will be staying in for the week. We will have to hike in & out of the communities each day. Pray for flexibility for the volunteers, missionaries, translators and for the Yagua communities as well.

We also will not know until we try, once we get there but we are fairly certain that we will not be able to reach one of the villages we were trying to minister to this week (Catalan Urco). The river has dried up too much and there is no trail through the jungle to get to it. It is one of the most remote places in the this segment of Yagua and has no church and only 2 new believers. We are discouraged by this news but trusting the Lord in providing a way to either reach Catalan Urco or opening up other doors in more accessible Yagua villages. The river should not be this dry until almost mid-August. Its even taken the Yagua by somewhat of a surprise. We were just there two weeks ago and made it in and out of all of the communities with very little difficulty.

Pray for Crystal and Karis as well. This is our first time out on the river for this long. Pray for Karis to sleep well at night, its hard for her with the intense darkness, no air circulation and new sounds. Last time she was very fearful at night. Pray for protection and safety for Crystal , she is almost 6 months pregnant. Pray for Jeremy as he is somewhat nervous and excited about having his family on-site for the biggest group he has ever lead into the jungle!