Bursting at the Seams...

I am bursting at the seams to tell what God KEEPS on doing. Yesterday night, we went to the family that had been hosting the house church that has pretty much desolved. This family has hosted this church for about 6 months or so, but the attendance had slowly had started decline, and then Lauren and I went back to the states, February and apparently there was not church when we were not there. We didn´t have it last Sunday, and decided this time around that we needed to put a lot more prayer into it and re-strategize, this time letting the Holy Spirit lead it through Peruvians and putting a ton of prayer into it. It has definetely been an adventure since we are not even sure where this family is spiritually. Anyways, we went to just go pray and talk with them last night, and then ended up going back today to pray with them.

The mindset of the average Peruvian family is so different from our mindsets. The woman`s life is many times centered around buying and preparing the food and taking care of the house, taking care of the kids, etc., and the man´s day is usually filled with some type of work driving a moto or taxi or working in a factory of some type. The man is many times disconnected with the family or non existant. There is much alcoholism involved in many of the men´s lives, and many times don´t seem to be there for the families. The moms too many times seem to be emotionally absent and overworked. The kids sometimes get pregnant at 15 or younger too I guess, and then they are faced with abortion or letting their parents take care of the baby or quitting school. Adoption isn´t really that common.

So, one of our biggest challenges right now is figuring out how to do house church that will work for this type of family. Granted, I am not saying that every Peruvian family is like this. Many are not. But what I am saying is that many of them are so tired when they do have time off that they do not have the motivation or desire to come to church. Sure, people come when we bring food or crafts from the States, but this proves to be more harmful than anything else because it teaches that in order to have a house church or talk about the Bible, you have to bring food and American crafts...and this simply is not the case.

So, all of this to say that today we went and prayed with this precious family who has opened up their home, and we were able to discuss some of the characteristics of the average Peruvian family, and what a truly reproducable peruvian house church would look like.

To be honest, it seems like this is going to be a long process with this particular house church. The family told us that people don´t come when there is not something physical like food or when ¨the gringos¨ aren´t there. Sorry to break it to ya, but it´s not about food OR gringos =)

So we spent a time of prayer today with the mom of the household, Lauren, our taxi driver, and myself. The prayer time was very short and basic, and we asked God to draw the hearts of the people, to raise up Peruvian leaders, and people who would volunteer to open their houses.

Today was also a big day because God seems to be opening up the doors for us to rent a house. It seems to be in the perfect loction, it´s the perfect size, and the family that owns it seems precious. It´s the second story, and we would have our own intrance, and our own bathroom with RUNNING WATER and ELECTRICITY which is oh, so huge. We put down a deposit and first month´s rent, and they are doing electrical work and putting down flooring for the next week, so hopefully should be moving into our new jato (peruvian slang for house) soon!

This house has a pretty big living room, which would allow us to have house church training sessions or seminars or whatever you want to call them in our livingroom. And, did I mention it has running water?? =)

So this evening we went to Camino de Vida (finally!!). This is a church in Surco, Lima that is pretty big and led by a man who is from the States and who has lived in Peru for over 30 years. I can not tell you how freeing and amazing it was to worship the Lord in Spanish together with hundreds of other Peruvians. When I looked around at one point in the service, there was not one person I saw without their hands up in the air. I know worship is not about the experience, but this is one experience I never want to forget.

On the way out of church, we met a lady who we were talking to about Jesus, and we were able to give her a Bible. She seemed kinda closed to the gospel, but then she started to open up more, and Lauren asked her where she lived and she said Pachecutec. That is the city in the boonies like 3 hours away. Incidentally the city is 5 or 10 minutes from where we live in Ventanilla. We talked to her about coming and studying the Bible with her at her house. Maybe it will be the start of another house church.

Then, another wonderful thing happened today. I found cheese sticks like at Sonic. That has been the one thing since being back that I have craved and have not found. I know. it´s a small thing. But sometimes when you´re in a different country, it´s the small things God uses to say ¨Hey, I love you.¨ So God loves me with greeeeesy fried cheese sticks and maranara sauce! =)

Well, after church and dinner, we were walking down the street and Lauren saw this homeless lady that had a blanket over her head and she was sleeping in the street. I would have walked right by her, but Lauren noticed her. So she went over to her and we gave her our leftover food and we started talking to her about Jesus. Her life was so sad. She had been robbed 5 months before, and was now on the street. She said she had given her life to Christ, and talked about how in this life, we have no pain or bad things in our life with Christ...and this is coming from a lady that is on the street! Lauren taught her a few songs about the Lord and the three of us sang them together, right there in the street. Here I am struggling with being embarrased about singing songs with a Christian begger on the side of the street cause I am afraid of what people who are walking by (who I will never see again) are thinking. Oh, I have such a long way to go.

Anyways, I am so blessed to live this life. And we found internet tonight too, so that makes the day even better.

Anyways, facing this next week for the first time not having a plan. Asking the Holy Spirit what next steps we are supposed to take to see this vision completed. Well, I guess we have somewhat of a plan...and that is to research more on house churches, pray like crazy and read Acts. That´s all for now, folks!

Dios te bendiga.