I seriously pray that this post finds you in a blessed state from the Lord in the rewards from your time in the secret place (Matthew 6 & 7) and that you’ve truly rejoiced in the Lord always (Phil 4:4)! Many of you have been posting daily things you’re thankful for on Facebook for the month of November. Please REMAIN thankful and faithful! In my devotional times since I last wrote I’ve just finished Hebrews and the short books preceding it. Oh how we need to persevere to the end and live Holy lives, so that others will see Jesus in us!
*Originally written November 19th, 2012, revisions added for the blog today.
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Miguel & Manuel, the 2 ninos that Brandon & I live with
Yes, yes there is NASA in Peru…
Ramiro Priale ministry event:
The last 9 days have been nothing short of great as usual. I’ve been continually finding joy in the scriptures and private time with the Lord, my Spanish has continued to grow even when I don’t notice it, the Kingdom has been expanded more, the Church is still growing and producing fruit even when building circumstances are unsure, and I’m still healthy! I’ve been reminded by a lot of teammates and fellow missionaries getting sick recently that I truly need to cherish my health. Last week we helped with an outreach event at Ramiro Priale Iglesia del Nazareno which is one of the Nazarene churches wayyyy on the outskirts of the city. It’s amazing to me that you can have such a bustling center of the city full of shopping malls, restaurants, and bustling businesses, and then drive 20 minutes outside of town and encounter 1 room houses with people living on maybe $100 a month, if that. So thankful. We loved on people and helped with simple things like lead in childrens activities, gave out lots of clothes from a US donor, fed people, and presented the Gospel. The next day CJ, one of our teammates preached her first Spanish sermon at the church. God was there, and I believe he’s working in that area through the Webbs who are ministering there currently.
Church Retreat
This weekend we had a beautiful time with members in the church. Every 2 months the church invites anyone who’s willing to come, to go on a retreat with the local missionaries and church leaders. It’s a weekend event where they spend Friday and Saturday worshipping, learning from local pastors and missionaries in classes/seminars, team building games, good food, campfires, and fellowship. It ends on Sunday at our evening church service. We had 6 people attend this retreat, and I was privileged to attend the Saturday evening events with Chelsea. We got to sit in on the tail end of Pastor Elvin’s teaching on Sanctification, and praying for a baptism of the Holy Spirit over every individual. It was very powerful! The evening we had worship around a campfire and team dramas that we had to create on the spot. Let me tell you, Bible dramas in Spanish have made me understand the Old Testament in a new light! Haha.
One of the group dramas at the retreat. They had to create & perform this with 5 minutes of planning!
New Christians, & Hallway Baptisms w/Worship!
Last night’s church service was absolutely INCREDIBLE! We have negotiated with the building to have 3 more weeks of services there. Please join us in prayer for the new building. The service was powerful. Pastor Brian gives a Gospel message at the end for newcomers, and we had 2 people accept Christ for the first time. After service we went downstairs and did baptisms in a pool. This was the 2nd baptism service I’ve been privileged to be a part of. Sammy played guitar, I played cajón (small acoustic box drum), and we all sang worship songs and clapped while 6 people were dunking their old selves, and resurrecting their new bodies through the symbolism of baptism. It was extremely powerful. We went way over our scheduled time to rent the building, but God had His way!! I attached a photo of the service and baptisms.
Testimonies from the retreat, & baptisms in the hallway!
I can’t encourage you enough to be in the Word reading your Bible daily, praying daily, and creatively seeking the Lord. If he’s your best friend, He truly must inhabit your everything.
Please continue to pray for a new church building to show up in the next 3 weeks, health for our team and the other missions teams here, against what the devil wants to do and FOR what God wants to do.
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