Prayer Still Needed

We haven't heard anything back yet.  Please continue praying for our VISAS for  Spain.  Praying for approval for the entire family.  Thank You. 

Our paperwork we submitted in August
(applications + supporting documents for each family member + 2 copies of everything = a lot of paper) 

First Neighborhood Kids Bible Study

So this week I've been meeting with our 12 year old neighbor, Malu, to study the Bible. We met Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for about 2 hours each day going through the gospel (she accepted Christ =) and then we've been going through how to study your bible, pray, what obedience looks like etc... Anyways so on Wednesday she asked me if I could substitute for a Peruvian missionary that was doing a bible study at her house on Saturday but couldn't come. Since then I had gotten very little information from her on it- just that it should be about an hour long, some games and studying the Bible.

So I prepared all of that and showed up at 4pm. Malu came out of her house and said no one had showed up and then I found out that this was going to be the first week. She didn't invite anyone from school, like she thought, because she didn't know if everything was going to work out. There was a continual mix up with the Peruvian missionary. Anyways- so Malu said- well you're here and I want to study, so let me go find some friends. So she gathered up 3 other neighborhood kids that were outside playing and we had bible study.

We read the parables of the lost sheep and coin and I explained to them that each of them were very important to God. Asked them if they had ever lost something important to them and how did they feel when they found it. After that I said that is how God feels when a person confesses their sins and accepts Christ into their lives...that its a big party in heaven. We read John 3:16 and talked about that fact that God loves them so much that he sent his son to save them. Then we read the parables of the hidden treasure and pearl of great price. I explained to them that their relationship with Christ (because some are Christians and some aren't) is the most important thing that they could ever have in their entire lives. Then I pulled out a bucket of sand (which I got for free by walking down to the end of the street and scooping it up from the mounds of it heaped around all the construction equipment being stored on our street by the government). I had them search in the sand with a pair of tongs (from my kitchen) for their hidden treasure. I had buried 12 braided bracelets in the sand. Since only 4 of them were there, I let each of them find 3. They really enjoyed it and I told them that when they looked at the bracelets it could remind them that their relationship with Christ is their greatest treasure. Two of kids like the game so much (the two youngest ones 8 & 10) they re-hid their bracelets and searched some more.

Well Malu wanted to study some more and that meant I would be "winging" it (which I don't really enjoy, so much). So the 10 year old John-Pierre said he wanted to read Luke 8: 1-10. Which is the parable of the sower. So then I asked if they were a seed, what kind of soil would they want to fall into? They all said the good soil, so then we talked about what living in good soil meant. Which lead into what does producing good fruit look like in your life? They gave some examples and then we read Galatians 5:22 and I explained the Fruit of the Spirit.

Then Malu busted out the big guns and said she had been reading in Revelations and wanted to know when and if God created Satan, since he created Adam & Eve. So I explained that God did create Satan that he used to be an angel but that he wanted to do things in his own strength but most importantly he wanted to be God. So he was punished for this and cast out of heaven forever. We also talked about the end of times, the 1st church in Acts and giving God glory.

Then a huge storm started to brew on the horizon and we decided that we should probably wrap things up. We had a prayer time and I returned my borrowed sand to the heaps at the end of the street.

But I have to say that the Lord really helped me with this, I wasn't nervous, my Spanish made sense (most of it anyways- haha) and scripture came to mind easily and I was able to have answers to difficult questions (which usually I just panic and then can't think of the answers). So God really was in, through and wrapped around this little bible study.
Pray for Malu, she really wants to keep doing this bible study and I want to help her with it but don't want to step on any toes and really it would be best of this Peruvian Missionary would help/lead it because we are leaving soon. Pray for Malu as she continues to grow, she has such a sharp mind and is so intrigued by the Bible.

SPECIAL PRAYER REQUEST

Could you please lift up one of our co-laborers for us? His name is Jacob. He is a pastor in Oklahoma, who has been faithfully coming down to work in the jungle for the past few years as part of their associations strategic partnership. We found out this week that he has tuberculosis and having previously had a liver transplant- it makes his case extremely sensitive. From what the doctors have told him, that there is only a 50% survival rate of cases of tuberculosis with people who have also had a liver transplant. As you can imagine we are so upset by this and were actually encouraged by Jacob yeseterday with his eternal perspective and attitude towards all of it, saying basically that if you've got to die, what better way than because you were doing missions. We have really enjoyed getting to know him over the years as well as two of his children that have also served with REAP. When they come down, its feels like family has come to 'visit' with us. His oldest son is coming at the end of this month, Jacob was planning on leading this team but will not be now, because of all of this.

Would you take some specific time before the Lord in prayer for Jacob, his family, the doctors that are treating him and the medications he is taking and also for the Iquito people that their association has adopted.

We can't say enough to really relate to you how much we would deeply appreciate you going before the thrown with this. As Jacob put it...PRAY ON and may God be persuaded by the MULTITUDES praying on his behalf!

Prayer Update- November 5th

Well- Jeremy and I have been really bad about updating our blog in the past few months. We're going to try to get better about it and post more stuff about life in Peru, life with two little girls, ministry updates and of course prayer requests. We'll start with prayer requests:

- Jeremy has been in a two day meeting, yesterday and today, discussing what our team and other teams like REAP North will look like in the future with the limitations we are facing of future personnel serving in South America due to lack of funds and a stronger focus on engaging the lost of the lost- which our team is doing but we are going to have to figure out a way to do it with less personnel and more churches adopting areas. Please pray for guidance of leadership and all of our team mates and strategies are discussed and future plans are carved out.

- Jeremy will also be traveling out to a ministry area tomorrow- it is a simple trip of traveling up with a team, carrying gear for them and coming back that evening but it will be about 10 hours of driving.

- During these meetings, a national friend has come to help me with the girls, since I'm still on a weight restriction for lifting Karis. However, she can't come tomorrow because she will be traveling as a translator with the team going up to the mountains from Lima. Several of our team mates here have offered to help out- which we are thankful for...please pray that tomorrow will go smoothly for Jeremy, and us girls staying at home.

- Adalyn is a great baby and we are SO thankful for her. Her sleep patterns are wonderful some nights with her sleeping 5 and even 6 hours stretches but then she'll go through a few days of poor sleep which also means poor sleep for Jeremy and I. We know this is a season of parenting, but I'm already ready for it to end. =) Jeremy does much better than I do on lack of sleep. I really struggle with a poor attitude and exhaustion when Adalyn has a bad night.

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!