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Shipibo Learning Community- Final Thoughts

2012-05-28T23:49:06Z

“Causing great surprise or sudden wonder.”

In terms of the word “amazing” I would say this week could fit that definition.

Before leaving for the jungle we spent hour upon hour, praying, writing, preparing... and we had no idea what to expect. This was our first ever “official” learning community. It was done by gringos speaking Spanish, which was then translated into Shipibo, to a people group that lives in the middle of the Peruvian jungle. And it went off with a bang. We saw God multiply food (which we prayed for after day one), time, and bring healing to minds and hearts.

I think it will take me months to process God’s grace in this area. Glory to Him!

However, this is just the beginning. This is not a short process; it will require many years.

Currently we have a team of Shipibo leaders that are discipling and helping build up and encourage these communities on a more consistent basis. We get a few times a year to work with these communities, however the team of leaders we have can spend daily time with them.

We are praying for their provisions, and their safety as they travel all over the jungle to serve their people.

It is so exciting to think that this one community time may be used to spark a fire in the jungle. We are so grateful for those pioneers that came and shared Jesus with the Shipibos years ago. We pray that we might continue their pioneering ways, and as a result unreached tribes throughout the Amazon might come to know Jesus.

As with all things, there are many ways you can help us “finish the task”, and we are looking at how we can present those opportunities to you. In the meantime, if you have any questions please feel free to contact us!

Thanks for reading!!!

Shipibo Learning Community- Day Four

2012-05-28T23:32:18Z

Each day has been an adventure. This final day was no different. The week had been jam packed with quite a bit of teaching, learning, confessing, repenting, worshiping, and excitement. As a result, everyone was a bit tired.

But as always, God knew that. So it was perfect that this day Nancy would teach about the pastoral ministry, and then we would minister to those that needed prayer.

Let’s Talk a Little About the Word “pastor”

To the Shipibos, the word pastor is always capitalized. It is capitalized because it is a title given to the leader of the church. No one else can be a pastor, only the leader of the church.

So on this day, Nancy explained to them that a pastor can also be someone in the congregation taking care of the believers. It was a bit shocking to them. “So a pastor isn’t just the leader?” [The picture here is Rosa translating one of the "shocked" questions.]

Spiritually and mentally it made sense to them, but experience told them otherwise.

To be real, their reactions were similar to seeing a person running to go through a patio door, but the screen was still there, and they didn’t see it so they smacked right into it. They could see the other side, they could nearly touch it, but there was something in the way. (And that something can hurt when you run into it at full speed.)

During the week this was the only teaching time where the people started asking questions in the middle of the teaching. This was earth shattering for them. The other teaching times they had never really had pre-conceived notions because it was the first time they had heard teaching like that. However, the word pastor was something they felt they understood before... and now they were realizing that their current understanding wasn’t complete.

It was so interesting to watch them as Nancy taught. The men- their faces were twisting as they began realizing a huge hole in their ministry. The women- I thought they were going to start jumping up and down screaming “PREACH! PREACH!”

It was sad to me to hear them talk because they almost felt as though they had been cheated of something. For so long they thought the burden of Pastor was just for one man, and that man would take on all the problems of the church. They had never thought about visitations, or a team of pastoral people that love listening to problems, love to love on people, and won’t gossip. The men never realized that the women were feeling a bit excluded in terms of serving in the church. And the women never really realized “HEY! I can do that. I can pastorally lead people.”

Although their previously held ideas were being a bit deconstructed, and they were feeling the “smack of the screen door,” they are quick learners. They quickly fell out of that “cheated” feeling, and into a renewal of their minds. They realized what they needed to do now, and why. “But how do we do it?”

First, Nancy emphasized that it is difficult to help hurting people if we are hurting ourselves. (It all goes back to the idea of having a personal life of devotion and worship.)

So after encouraging personal worship Nancy talked about ministering to one another, and praying for one another. This was something they recognized as missing in their churches currently. They realized that leaders are not praying for people and as a result the body of believers were not gathering around the sick, lost, and lonely. This was quite troubling for them. Consequently, they wanted to know how they could change things.

Rather than trying to teach “ministering,” we felt it was critical to simply pray for them, and model it to them. We decided this because we all minister in different ways, and we didn’t want just one example to show them. Additionally, after spending almost a week with them, we realized there were a lot of broken hearts that needed healing. So we wanted to pray for them and see God encourage them in ways only He can.

As we made the invitation for prayer, Anna Lou began playing the piano, worshiping God. Ministry example number one: worship.

As people sought out prayer, Mark began walking around to various people as the Lord led Him. As things came to his heart, Mark would then give those words of encouragement to the people. Ministry example number two: listening and being obedient to give the encouragement.

Then as Nancy prayed for various people, she would step back and cover the entire group in prayer. She was diligent to see where the Lord was taking things, prayerfully seeking the voice of God. Ministry example number three: things can be intense, and it is important to be covered in prayer as we pray for people.

On a personal level I walked around as the Lord led me, and prayed for various men. God talked to me a lot about their identities- that they are “loved sons.” So I found myself praying for them, speaking that over them, and then God encouraged me to hug them like a father would to a son. Ministry example number four: acts of love.

I know I walked around with a lot of Shipibo snot bubbles on my shirt because God was doing some pretty tough healing within the people.

It was so amazing to see the team move in and out of various forms of ministering. It was also encouraging to see that the Shipibo team leaders of Oikos began surrounding their people by praying for them.

As we wrapped things up the effects were obvious- you could see it all over their faces.

We ate lunch together, and we had one more session to remind them of important points. Then on Friday we had some personal one on one appointments with leaders. All of those things went very well, and we are excited to see the fruits of those conversations as we return back to the jungle in the near future.

Shipibo Learning Community- Day Three

2012-05-28T22:43:06Z

Know God.

Experience His Presence.

Teach these things.

From Creation forward we can see this pattern. We are to teach out of knowing and experiencing God. It is supposed to be a daily lifestyle, this cycle. Know. Experience. Teach. Yet for the Shipibos this is largely a completely new concept for them.

As I mentioned before, by their own admission, Shipibos are really good at services, instead of something that flows out of their personal pursuits of God. A spiritual life in the Shipibo culture appears to be very corporate first, instead of as a result of their personal walks. So in large part, for them, “teaching” meant only the act of preaching instead of living lives with one another in discipleship. Consequently, leaders would spend chunks of time preparing messages, and it would often be quite difficult for them.

Here are a few reasons why:

1.) Until Monday, the idea of a daily conversation, listening, and worship time with God had never been presented to them.

2.) Many thought that God was part of their daily activities, but they didn’t know how exactly how He fit in. So they found it difficult to apply the Bible to the context of their lives. This made the idea of “experiencing God” quite foreign to them.

3.) “You can’t teach what you don’t know.” It’s even worse when you have to learn and teach something that is not in your first language. It takes a lot longer, and after a while the brain just can’t handle it. (Shipibo is their first language, not spanish.)

However, it gets much deeper. The model of teaching that they have is roughly 30 to 50 years old, depending on the community. Not only that, but in the past few years, the Shipibo alphabet has gone through an overhaul; this means that the elderly and the young people don’t even read and write the same way... even though it is the same language.

But wait, there is still the cherry on top.

On this day we wanted to see them start to become more effective teachers. For if the Word truly is a “sword,” and it is sharper than any two-edged sword, we want people to be swinging effectively. Otherwise, we might have parts of the Body of Christ getting wounded, hacked up, or even worse, cut off.

What we have come to find out, is that this is exactly what is happening in their churches. Not on purpose, but rather as a result of broken foundations in teaching which is going to probably require years of encouragement and love to get working in a healthy way.

So yeah... we had (and still have) a few obstacles to overcome. However, we had (and still have) a lot of hope, especially because we could see the spiritual hunger they had all over them. We were really excited about the plan!

In our eyes as leaders our goal was to help the Shipibo leaders to create plans to create small groups and Bible studies. However, after the first session that all went out the window. Here is the exciting reason why:

Repentance

My goal was to talk about teaching through the Bible, and how it should flow as a result of our relationship with God. I started with the Garden of Eden, and worked my way through a couple of key points in the Bible, specifically Pharisees and Scribes.

Obviously whenever someone teaches about teaching throughout the Bible, the teachers of the law come up. (Say that three times fast). It can’t be avoided, (the teachers of the law). This is especially true considering the stance Jesus had against religious people, and the way they taught about God.

So I pointed that out.

The effect that that teaching had was shocking to me. In fact, I got to see first hand the effect it had.

When we broke into groups to talk through questions, I began to float around to observe, and answer any questions. As I arrived to Nancy’s group, I got to sit in and listen.

There is one man in her group that I know a bit more than most of the people in the conference. To be honest, I pray for a lot of grace for him. He has such an amazing heart and faith that can plant so many things in the Shipibo church. Unfortunately he has been very divisive in the past, as well as very religious. So imagine my shock and awe as he stands up and says the following:

“I realized today that I am like a Pharisee. I am religious.”

I could have gone back to Lima right then. He was ready to repent, and did so.

In each of the groups there were similar testimonies. Religious hearts returning to God by repenting, and seeking to know, experience, and then teach.

After lunch we had a second session on how and what they could teach in their communities, but they were still processing this new pursuit of God. In my heart, I really wanted to see them walk away with a plan, but I was glad for what God wanted and was doing.

I have to remember that we need to treat every day like Jesus is coming back, but if it is His will, we need to prepare for a long haul. So, we will not try to create a revolution in their teaching in one day. We will take as much time as each individual community needs, and I know we will see the fruits of our patience.

Shipibo Learning Community- Day Two

2012-05-28T22:17:32Z

Vision. Without it, we perish. We start out on our journey, excited, anticipating the pastures to come. Yet, without direction, slowly we are picked off one by one. We starve. We die off. Our children forget the purpose of the journey. We become wild. Eventually, we cease to exist.

According to the leaders we are working with that is what was slowly happening to the Shipibo church communities throughout the Amazon. A slow death. However yesterday, for 25 leaders, that changed.

Mark taught two sessions on vision. What it is. What it looks like. How they can have it.

The response of these leaders were breathtaking. We thought they would be overwhelmed, and instead they were bright eyed. They have never had anyone come to them to tell them that a church community requires direction. So they were excited. Now they know what they can do. Before, they just “did stuff.” [Their explanation of their services.]

“We know we are supposed to pray, so let’s do a service.”

“We know we are supposed to worship, so let’s have a service.”

“We know we are supposed to have church, so let’s have a service.”

“We know young people are important, so let’s have a service.”

So that’s what they did. They have a bunch of services, and through their own admission they are not seeing any breakthrough, and church is a struggle. In their own words: “Our model is broken. We need something different. We need something that is different from what we are doing now.”

So, as Mark taught, and then we broke out into groups we saw the hope, and we honored those radical missionaries that planted these churches in the name of Jesus.

Why did we have hope? Let me give you an example of the community Junin Pablo, which is a 24 hour boat ride outside of Pucallpa. [The picture is of three leaders from Junin Pablo, one leader that lives an hour further up the river, and one of our leaders in the Oikos network].

30 adults.
30 young adults.
100 children.

Which equals 160 Christians.

There are approximately 950 people in their community and there is only one church family.

Can you scream “OPPORTUNITY” with me?

Their next door neighbors are ready to know Jesus, even if they don’t know it yet.

When we shared with the leaders that they could reach their people with the Gospel, it breathed new life into them. The church was planted 54 years ago, and it is slowly dying as it gets older.

Yet now with new vision, it looks like this church may have a new heart, and a new body.

And that is just one group; we have two more.

Although this is largely breathtaking, it is not without its obstacles. It’s hard to live in vision, when you have been nearly starving for so long. They can’t jump right into the rich meals, and beautiful pastures to enjoy a nice frolic. They have to ease their way into it so they don’t become sick and weak.

They are ready to go back because they are fired up. However, too many changes too quick can cause major problems.

So we have tried to affirm personal worship first. Knowing God personally, is something they really struggle with. So part of their vision is to have a daily plan of devotion to know God personally.

After worshiping, learning, and laughing together they now know they are the perfect people that God has called to reach their culture. They are part of God’s plan, and now they actually know that!

As always I could write more, but those are my first thoughts, so I will leave it there for now.

Ok, maybe not. One quick testimony:

The Shipibo learning process is very similar to the action of disrespect in Western culture. [The picture shows a typical teaching time.] They don’t look at you often. They looked bored. They seem tired. To be honest, if you struggle with your identity in teaching, you will be in for some discouraging times based on their appearance alone.

Until now.

Yesterday, one of the female leaders talked with us [not pictured]. She was one of the women that looked the least interested. She was staring off into “space” nearly the entire time I was working with them in the group.

She explained that yesterday she had decided to take the challenge. [She was staring off into space because she couldn't stop thinking about things.] She couldn’t live her life the way she was before. She was completely sold out for Jesus. She said, “until I die, I will do this for the rest of my life.” She realized that God was calling her to reach out to her people. It took her a while to wrap her mind around that. And when she got it, she made the decision to never look back.

After days like yesterday, how can we look back?

Thank you God for what you are doing, and how we get to be a part of it!

Shipibo Learning Community- Day One

2012-05-28T21:56:53Z

Days like today I wish I could box up, and send it to all Western churches. The sites. The sounds. The smells. The conversations. All of it.

For anyone to have a taste of these moments- it is more addictive than any drug this former druggie has ever tasted. To see the fire of God spread without limits...who doesn't want to experience that?

We have come to Pucallpa to help train leaders within the Shipibo culture. Currently we have six churches represented. They range as close as a 25 minute ride in a moto taxi, to a 24 HOUR boat ride. They have come hungry. Literally, and spiritually. They are making sacrifices, and it is because they desire to see God do something in their communties.

Some of the leaders that live in Pucallpa have completely re-done their homes to allow 10-20 people to stay with them, TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH THE PEOPLE FROM FURTHER COMMUNITIES!

To teach these lovers of Jesus is extremely humbling. (Oh, how I wish that I had this hunger in the past). However I won't look back...these things push us more to why we need to live like Jesus is coming at any moment. They sure are living it, whether they realize it or not.

Last time we were here in January, the teaching was diificult. It took a while to hit our stride because there were so many things to overcome. Namely the learning culture. It was, at times, very discouraging because our faith began to waver at times. "Are we actually planting seeds here?"

We got our answer today, and it was an emphatic YES!!!!

I want to leave you with some quotes that have impacted me today as Anna Lou taught about living a personal life of worship, and Mark talked about what the Church actually is. Here you go:

"I wake up at three in the morning and go to work at seven. And sometimes I forget to pray or spend time with God. You asked me why. It's because I need to go get fish for my family to eat. Then I need to get ready for work. But I know God personally, and I want to know Him more. Today I have a plan. I know I can spend more time with Him."

"How can I know God more???? Help me!"

"I understand now...Jesus discipled His disciples by living life with them. This is how He taught them...we aren't doing this. It's time to do this and make disciples."

This next one hit me like a train...it wasn't critical of anyone, but man, I am so grateful for the openness. And I am so grateful for every missionary that paved the way for us.

"There have been so many people, gringos, Americans, that have come to these places. They come through and they teach their messages, and then they leave. We appreciate them. However, this is the first time in our lives that we have experienced what we experienced today. It was a culture shock but it was a GOOD one. This was the first time that we have ever been able to SIT DOWN in this type of environment with missionaries, and learn from one another. In January when you came, to hear Amanda sing in Spanish, one of my languages...it was the first time I have ever seen any missionary do that. And you did it again today...wow."

Glory to God for all the walls He is breaking down! To watch the Shipibo leaders we are discipling, teaching these things with us- awesome. To see the women that normally don't talk open up and share their hearts- unbelievable.

We still need prayers as a team, both Shipibo and missionary. We have some financial obstacles to overcome because a lot of the attendees spent all of their money to get here, so they are without breakfast or dinner right now. We are asking God for supernatural multiplication of food, and provisions.

We also know that for many this is the first time that they have been in this environment of teaching, so it can be overwhelming at times. God is taking care of it, but we definitely need to know how to teach these things in a helpful way to them.

We are praying for healing in their hearts, and their minds. We are praying that the Jungle catches fire. We are praying for hearts of worship. We are praying for humble hearts. We are praying for His will in all things. We can't wait to see what He does!

Shipibos- Get Your Learn On

2012-05-28T21:33:47Z

The following series is a series on the Shipibo Learning Community we had in early May.

“But wait, hold up Shaun. What is a learning community?”

A learning community is a space that we create within a building, that replicates a “community.” We create a "teaching area," and then "group areas" where communities from different regions can gather together in separate groups and have a leader guide them through what they just learned.

In even more detail- in one corner we teach. In three other corners people from the same community sit together and focus on things specific to their lives and churches to help them process and put into action something that they have learned.

In addition to these formal times we are sure to include one of the most important parts of discipleship- the informal. Part of discipleship and learning is the informal times so we eat lunch together, laugh together, worship together, and try to learn more about one another.

For this learning community we were blessed to use the facilities of Luz Divina, a large church in Pucallpa. As you will see from the pictures, the set up couldn't have been more perfect. A large room, mics, power, shade, and a cafe that we cooked lunch for almost 40 people (for a very low price)!

About the blogs:

The first two blogs on the Learning Community were written while we were in the jungle. The time was very intense, emotional, and thought provoking on every level. It is by far one of the most rewarding and challenging weeks of teaching I have ever had in my short life.

The last two blogs in this series have been written nearly a month after the community time. This means it is less emotional for me, but it also means a lot of processing has taken place in my mind.

A little disclaimer:

At times, as you read, you may notice or feel like I may make sweeping generalizations based off of my experiences through the learning community. I am saying things like “the Shipibos __________.” as if that includes the entire indigenous population.

That is not my intention.

The info and opinions I have about the Shipibos are based off of personal conversations I have had with a small portion of a large population. These are things that they tell us, not what I assume. Obviously things can get lost in translation from Shipibo to Spanish, but we try to focus on clear communication. So if there is a question, we ask it.

I “generally speak” about the Shipbos more out of ease in writing, to provide you with as clear of a picture as I can. I would much rather you read 500 words instead of 5,000 to paint an image in your mind.

We continue in our day to day lives with the Shipibo’s even if we are not there. We are still in active prayer and discipleship with them, and we can not wait to see what God does through this friendship!

So thanks for reading, and thanks for being patient with us as we all invest in the Shipibos!

[To continue reading, click the next post which appears at the top of the page.]

This Needs Prayer...An Update

2012-04-25T20:15:19Z

We understand people are often short on time, but want to know what happened in terms of the response of people. So please forgive the bullet point nature of this update! We hope this is an encouragement for you!!!

Marcial

The Response

We are overwhelmed by the love we saw through you!

What we saw through the Body of Christ was exactly what 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 says. When the body was hurting, you guys hurt with it... but were also a part of the healing!

Erling

Where Are We At Now?

Lots of people are praying!
Earlier this month we sent out an email attempting to raise support for Erling, Marcial, and their families. The cost to help support all of them is $600 a month. Friday through Monday we were $15 short of a month’s worth of support. AWESOME!!!

A Few Learning Points

God is about complete restoration. In the process of restoration God works in the immediate, and in the long term.
So He teaches us to look at the manner in which we disciple people, and how well we are relieving, rehabilitating, and developing the people and their lives.
He has made it clear that life-on-life, long-term discipleship is the answer.
The desired results that we are praying for and seeing in the impoverished people around us can be summed up by 2 Corinthians 8:1-4:

"Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians." (MSG)

Praise the Lord, we are seeing exactly this in these families that you, the Body of Christ have reached out to. These believer’s that we are blessed to know, give and give and give.

Miguel

Where We Hope to Go From Here

Three words that are taught about in “When Helping Hurts.” Relief, Rehabilitation, and Development. It is with these three words that I will try to explain where we are going from here, as a result of the prayer and discussion that we have had as a team.

Relief: The immediate situation that needed relief is the daily food consumption of these families. They were selling what they had so they could eat. We will be using some of the support received, to provide them meals for the coming weeks.

Rehabilitation: In Peru, money management is a difficult concept. Most of the people we work with live day to day, not paycheck to paycheck. We want to help break that cycle. Therefore, we seek to:

Look together and reflect on what God says about provision, and how we use our money.
Help them create a budget.
Look at their current business practices, and see if there is anything that can be changed or improved.

Development: This is answered in three parts:

1.) Potential New Businesses

-Erling has a new business plan we will review in May.

-His idea is ridiculously good, we just need to see if there is a market.

-We will also be reviewing some of the Shipibo crafts, and the potential sales that may come about as a result.

2.) Support

-As I alluded to in the previous post, teaching jobs are hard to come by and both Marcial, and Miguel are teachers. This year they were not given a contract to teach.

-So we are looking at contracts with Marcial, Miguel, and Erling, as part of their development, to help them improve their business skills. They will still work on their private businesses, but we will help supplement things, and oversee their work, as friends and partners.

-In order to do this effectively we need to raise $600 a month in support.

3.) The final but most important part, continued discipleship

-We as a church community are in this, with them, for the long haul.

-We see the ultimate solution as relationship, where grace is flowing and we are empowering one another. (We learn from them too!!!)

-We meet with them every week, for skype calls. We visit pretty regularly to the jungle. This year alone we will visit three times. (That does not include their visits to Lima, when they can come.)

Rosa and her mom, Vilma

How You can Help

1.) Please receive our deepest, and most sincere thankful hearts. Your first response in the relief of these needs, blew all of us away!

2.) Please ”enter into the exuberance” with us because God is flourishing the body through these trials!

3.) Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in the Jungle.

4.) Critically evaluating whether or not you may be a help with the financial needs, namely the $600 monthly support we are seeking for them. (To be clear, that is $600 combined, not for each person.)

This Needs Prayer

2012-04-20T16:21:13Z

Since two p.m. yesterday this has been on our minds. I started writing this at 12:17 am. We are still processing. I have written a couple of intros to this, and I am not really sure how to start this communication. So please bare with me.

This past Christmas holiday we spent two weeks getting to know certain people within an indigenous people group, the Shipibos. We met people within a city, as well as deeper along the Amazon River. We also had a young man named Erling stay with us for two months, as he visited his sister Rosa, and spent some more intentional time being discipled. He spent almost all of the money he had to get to Lima; he was going to work here to pay for his schooling.

As he spent more time with us as a community, he began realizing that God had him there to learn more about His Savior. We evaluated with Erling if he should work or not, and through prayer and through conversation he decided that growing in the Lord was worth more than any money that he could earn. Mark, Anna, Amanda, and I quickly looked at ways that we could help support him financially aside from living in our house and eating food. So he did small jobs, and we paid him. We got him glasses so he would stop getting headaches when he looked at things in the distance. We did what we could to bless him, as he was blessing us with his amazing servants heart.

Erling left a few weeks ago, and the house has felt empty.

Shortly after his return back to Pucallpa, I talked to him. We have skype appointments that we keep so we can continue discipleship and accountability. Erling is one of four men that God has given us, to reach out to the Shipibo people group. His father Miguel, one of the four, is also an amazing teacher and leader of one of the churches we are in relationship with.

When I talked to Erling, one of my first conversations with him was not a skype call. It was a phone call at 4 am. His dad with serious diabetes was sick, throwing up and with horrible stomach problems (if you get my drift). After praying that God would heal Miguel, he threw up and we knew that he needed to go to the ER. He kept refusing because of the finances.

You see Miguel is a teacher. In Pucallpa there are few schools, and tons of teachers. Miguel is older, with health problems, and he is in competition for jobs against people that are half his age, and with very few things to tie them down. Each year they get a one year contract which they have to test for and “earn.” This year, Miguel didn’t win... he failed.

So they are hurting for finances, and a doctor’s visit would eat up what they had. Unfortunately, Miguel, Erling and their family are not the only ones that are hurting financially. One of the other men, Marcial, has not received the pay that he was supposed to receive for the Shipibo crafts that they make. An investor decided to not invest on time, and of course it happened right after they moved from Lima back to the jungle. Why did they do this? Well, the Lord was calling the entire family to reach out to their people group and show them who Jesus Christ is. Marcial and his wife Doria are the leaders of the Oikos network in the Jungle. They left all they had here in Lima for Jesus.

Last week, during our weekly team meeting Erling and Marcial hinted that they were struggling. Miguel had just gotten out of the hospital. The money that they had was running low. They asked what they should do, and we said “let’s keep praying.” “Keep the faith. God is preparing something, we just don’t know what.”

I mean what could we say? We have no idea what God is doing. The last email we sent out for the jungle did not receive any support in prayer or finances, that we are currently aware of. (It's highlighted because it is a link to the last email, not because we are upset). We were really starting to wonder if we were hearing God right.

Yet, they weren’t looking for encouragement. They were stating small facts, but focusing on Jesus. They were scrounging money to get out to the churches to train leaders, help worship teams, and visit people. They know God is faithful. They were just seeking to find out if God was saying anything to us.

So yesterday, I had my weekly talk with Erling. The video connection was horrible, so we ended up having to type things. Thank you God that I didn’t have to see Erling’s face. With the utmost respect and love Erling began to ask me if he could just pour out a little bit. That’s why we have those times, so he can share what God is doing in His life, what feelings he is having, etc.

Erling proceeded to tell me how, with full trust in God, they are struggling and he doesn’t know what to do. They had to sell all their household items because they hadn’t eaten in two days. The last two hold out items? A television they can’t watch because their power has been cut, and a fridge that is empty. They sold the television they had so they could buy food.

Erling was embarrassed because he had to borrow two soles of food money (75 cents) to go to the internet, so we could talk because he didn’t want to miss his appointment with me. In that moment I could barely swallow.

He has been racking his brain in how he could provide for his family, and serve the Lord. He kept saying, “I know I am a child of God.” It was his anthem. God will provide for him. He knew it. We talked about a potential business plan, and we played out some different scenarios. However that is long term, and his last business plan was to buy sodas to sell. The day after he bought them it rained, and it has barely stopped since. So no soda sales.

Marcial and his family are in a similar situation. Yet they keep pressing forward.

I don’t know what to do. We don’t know what to do. We are looking for a miracle. We are asking the Lord what we can sacrifice to help them. We don’t want to guilt people, and we know that some people view supporting indigenous people as enabling and unhealthy. Thankfully these guys don’t look at us as the “great white hope.” They look to God for Hope, and they are thankful that we are in their lives, and that people that love us are interested in what God is doing here in Peru.

They are in this for the long haul. They have given their lives to serve the Lord. They are not lazy. They work hard, and try to make a living while sharing the Gospel as a full-time job. They have sacrificed in ways that we have barely tasted.

We are not being guilted into action. God is calling us into action. We just don’t know what that looks like in terms of supporting them. That is why we are sending this out.

We know we need help to help them. We are looking at creative investments for them which will meet the long term, but the need right now is the short term. We don’t want anyone to feel guilty for the coffee they drink, or the nice meal they have. We are blessed beyond imagination ourselves, especially in comparison to them.

In sharing these things we are trying to balance between sharing needs, but not making people feel guilty. We know that so many people are doing amazing things for their communities and for people around the world. Yet, this need might be something that you might want to pursue?

If you feel like there is a way you can help, would you consider letting us know? Can you please pray with us for a miracle, and some clear solutions? Because we need it!

Los Cedros: Explosion

2012-03-06T20:29:28Z

Have you ever been so lost with something you just feel like it might be time to pack it up? Maybe a puzzle or a video game? Maybe a math problem? Maybe your financial situation? Well for us, for me, it was Los Cedros. I didn’t know what to make of this neighborhood.

Since it is a working class neighborhood, many people are away at work. Many of the women stay in the house, taking care of the house. Kids roam the streets, especially in the summer time. It was an enigma to me, and I was all for us focusing on other things in Pacifico instead of developing something here.

Mark, on the other hand knew God was saying, keep things going. Since we are a team, and I am wrong often enough, I was 100% behind him... but I wanted answers. “How are we going to do this? What is the vision? What is the direction?"

The answer? Prayer and let Ronald do what he does.

What does that mean?

Well Ronald, is one of those people that is a natural evangelist. Without forced language Ronald is always taking about who Jesus is, and what He did. Kids gravitate towards him. He teaches the guitar to them. He teaches them worship songs. He throws water balloons at them. He gets so wrapped up with sharing Jesus, sometimes he forgets to come to lunch.

When Mark, Anna, Amanda, and I said it was time to reduce Ronald’s work load to free him up to evangelize, we thought it might take at least three to six months. Wrong. As soon as we said “go” the next thing we know our Sunday evening worship time tripled.

Since it is summer time, we have decided to wait to start any cell groups, until after they start school. That way we can get to know them in informal ways, by playing volleyball and soccer with them. The kids also come around for birthday parties, and conversation times. They hang out, watch us pray, and even sing with us... because they like to sing the worship songs.

We don’t know what the future holds, but we are excited to see what God is doing right now!

San Genaro Dos: The Beginning

2012-03-06T20:11:34Z

We are happy to report that the very first Bible study has started in San Genaro Dos. On the 13th of February, Lili and I made our way to “The Burrito Bar,” owned by an expat in another district. A woman named Doilith works there, and she also happens to be a resident of San Genaro Dos. She has become our person of peace (Luke 10:5-6).

For the past couple of weeks, every Friday, Lili and I have been praying through, and pouring through resources to begin developing how we can best outreach to the people. From a teaching perspective it has been extremely enjoyable to work with Lili because she has such a bright and fresh outlook on teaching the basics about God. I am always encouraged and refreshed when we have our planning times.

We have made it a point to go in and get to know Doilith and her family. Just like Pacifico, we have made it a point to love without purpose. Why? Because they will know us, who we are, by our love.

I wanted Lili to give a little testimony of what happened the first day. So here it is:

When Shaun approached me about leading our newest cell group in San Genaro Dos, I was nervous, but very excited. I was nervous because this has been a very busy year, and I wanted to make sure I had time. I was excited because I like new things, new challenges, and this would definitely be one.

After making the decision and planning with Shaun, I went to Doilith’s house with our intern, Anna. The plan was to learn about Doilith and her family. When we arrived, Doilith and her husband Miguel were waiting for us. We had such a good time with them! They are very welcoming and direct, so there wasn’t any awkward pauses.

Doilith was very open. She doesn’t know anything about God, but she is hungry. From the beginning she was ready to learn. Miguel was very different. He is very open to learn and grow, but it is because he wants to come back to his relationship with God. He became a Christian when he was 16, but after his teenage years he walked away to do other things. Now Miguel wants God to change the way he lives.

A lot of times because I am very busy, I can get tired. But, when I get there or when I pray for them, I get so excited. They are so desperate to know God, and they can not wait to learn! I can’t wait to see what God will do in their lives, and in the lives of their three children Marlon, Fransisco, and Brenton.