La Vida en Perú: Calm before the Storm

Ahhh. Finally time to sit down and write about things here. We finally got our tentative weekly schedule set for the rest of the year. I guess you could call it more of a routine. Now it´s just a matter of putting it into practice.

Yesterday I read a verse that really hit me hard. It was talking about sharing the gospel out of duty verses sharing out of desire.

Can I just be honest for a moment? I many times don´t have an overwhelming desire to share the gospel, but it´s more of something that I feel compelled to do. Yesterday as I went about the day going to the orphanage, going to the market and the grocery store, there were several people that I came into contact with that I felt I should pray for in passing or witness to. But there was one particular lady that was sitting on the steps of the clinic at the orphanage and I just wanted to share the gospel with her. It was kind of one of those things that I was out the door before I realized what was happening. For the first time, I am realizing the difference between telling someone about Jesus out of duty and doing it out of desire and love. There are certain people that the Holy Spirit leads me to talk to, but I am seeing that just rambling off a story that I´ve said 5,000 times with a glazed over look in my eyes is not witnessing out of love. I think I am honestly scared to witness out of love, because it involves a deep sense of sincerity and being transparent. Granted, these things come pretty easily within friends but to a stranger? That is hard. Real hard.

I am just burdened even more to pray that God will do something in the hearts of the people that live in this city. No matter how many times I tell them that Jesus died and rose again for them, and that we can´t be ¨good enough¨ to get to heaven, they will not give their lives to Christ until the Holy Spirit works in them. But this requires me to be vulnerable. Jesus was. Sooo vulnerable. I walk down the dirty street of such a poor city and my heart is overcome with a deep sense of sadness that most of these people have not found security in Christ.

I am praying too that God will send more people to our team…after doing our weekly schedule, it´s easy to see that things this year are going to be crazy, and there are only two of us. Three when Alvaro is there. I know that God has given us more than what we need to do what He has called us to do, but I can´t help but think how our time would be multiplied with more people who are here long term. So, please join us in prayer for this.

Things we´ve been doing around here…we´re putting the final touches on the house and breaking in the new appliances! Such a blessing. Pics to come!
Please pray against fear in my life. It is something that I struggle with on a daily basis. Fear because of where we live. Fear of failure. Fear of the unknown. Un-rational fear. I know that perfect love casts out fear, so please pray that I will not only have a deeper understanding of his love in my life, but that it would truly fill me.

Met with a teacher that I worked with last year to help him with an English class he is teaching. He admitted to me that he wanted to be more ¨religious, ¨ and I explained that it´s not about religion but about a relationship with Christ. I invited him to come to one of our house churches, so please pray that he will come.

Also, another cool thing happened today. Last night, we had our Mexican Fiesta night with our gringo missionary friends here, and we also had a prayer time. During this prayer time, the other missionaries prayed that our landlady would come to know Christ, without Lauren or I really saying anything about it. Of course this has been on our hearts since the day we met her, and we have been witnessing to her, but she has not given her life to Christ yet. We decided to invite them over for dinner tomorrow, and guess what, 10 of them are supposed to come!!! Not only the landlady, but her parents that live in the jungle and a bunch of her other family too! Please pray that we will really share Christ with them and that they would have open hearts.