Meet the Team!

Finally, here is the blog I´ve been promising. I wanted to introduce you to my new team mates and what we are doing here. 

It all started when 2 people fell in love. 

(Well, it started somewhat before then, but this is where we´ll start)

Anna and Mark are from England and felt God calling them to Peru shortly after they were married in 2003.

They moved to Peru permanently in 2007 when Daniel, their first-born, was only a year old. 

Joel (3), Anna, Caleb (6 mos), Daniel (5), Mark




Through the four years they´ve been here, God has been brought them through many challenges and victories and eventually called them to Chorrillos in Lima, Peru, which is a middle-class district located in southern Lima. 


They, along with Shaun and Amanda are the leaders of our team and God has given them a vision and passion to see over 100 house churches/ missional communities established in Peru. To find out more about the Burgess family, check out http://theburgessfamilyblog.blogspot.com/. 


Anna also has a fantastic blog that will encourage the soul. http://www.sittingunderanopenheaven.blogspot.com/






Meanwhile, another couple fell in love and found that God was calling them to Peru. 

Amanda and Shaun Wissmann moved to Peru in 2008, and in 2011, they joined Anna and Mark in Chorrillos.

Amanda and Shaun

My dear friend Lauren, who is also a missionary here in Lima (www.laurenservinginperu.blogspot.com) and Amanda actually met over the internet. And, in time, I met Amanda and Shaun. I never dreamed that God would use them in my life the way He has. I would not have met any of the wonderful people on this team had it not been for Shaun and Amanda. I am so deeply grateful for their friendship, their desire to see me succeed and their genuine love, even when it was tough. 

Now, on a lighter note, I want to talk about what happened after Amanda and Shaun joined Mark and Anna. 

And, that´s where MY STORY begins. 

Don´t worry. I didn´t fall in love...yet. 

However, God DID call me to Peru. So, strap on your seatbelts, because now that you know who the leaders are, I´m going to introduce you to some of my teammates. 

Me, Amanda, Shaun and Daniel at Daniel´s superhero birthday party. 

You already know who Daniel is. He is Mark and Anna´s oldest son. But, what you don´t know about Daniel is that he is secretly a pirate, a river pirate to be exact. His name is Lookout Matthew Daniel Burgess, or LMDB as we sometimes call him. Together with Joel and whoever else happens to be on our boat (the hammock in the backyard), we protect the open river and keep it safe and useable for all respectable citizens. 

This is Joel. Yes, you already know him as well. Joel and I go flying together (flying being launched into the air while laying tummy-down on my shins). 

Nancy and Angela

This is Angela. She is Mark and Anna´s neighbor and also a part of the team. She leads a small group Bible study during the week. She is always wearing something adorable, even if she´s just going out to pick up a few things from the store.

Nancy and Rosa


This is Rosa. She is from Pucalpa, a city in the jungle, and she is studying nursing in Lima. She is also leading a small group (staring this month) and she and I always end up challenging eachother to do the goofiest things...and then doing them together. Somehow our ages go down from 26 and 19 to 6 and 4...don´t know how that happens...

Lili, myself, and Silvanna. 

Lili is such a blessing in my life. She has been through many of the same things that I am going through and God has brought her through it. So, as you can imagine, she is not only an encouragement to me, but also someone who just ¨knows¨ what I´m feeling without me saying a word. 

Silvana is fantastic because we can laugh about the goofy stuff, but then have a conversation about something serious. She is my personality twin, which would make you think we might clash, but we actually get along just swell. Everyone loves Silvana, and she is so great about making everyone feel loved and welcome. She is sincere, yet able to take and give some serious humor, which, of course, I love....

And, apparently, for whatever reason, no pictures will upload to this blog. So, I will just have to give you a word picture of Ronald, Karina, Stevie, Jessica and Anna Lu.

Ronald is a blast to hang out with it. We have the same musical tastes and we both enjoy talking in Peruvian slang, which always gives one or both of us a good laugh. It is so neat to see his heart too, because he´s seeking so fervently after God and has such a soft and teachable heart. He and Lili are brother and sister, and it´s so cool to also see their relationship with each other, and how much they care about the other. 

Karina, is genuine yet practical. She is very solution-oriented and would go as far as to give you the shirt off your back. She actually lives in Ventanilla where I lived before coming to Chorrillos, and she to loves to talk in Peruvian slang as well. Her dedication is like non I´ve ever seen. She is a woman of purpose and determination and she is an encouragement to me. 

Steve, or Stevie B as we call him is our resident Canadian =). I am still getting to know Stevie B as he just recently joined the team as well. He is a talented blogger and podcaster as well as the general editor of fire press online magazine. Check out his website at http://stevebremner.com/

Jessica has such compassion for those around her. She is easy to talk to, and fun to be around. We sat together on the bus to and from Pucalpa (the jungle), so we had about 40 hours together and I got to learn a lot about her life and passion. She has recently come to know Christ and lives in one of the areas where our team has been ministering. It is really need to see God work in her life. 

Anna Lu is just lovely. She arrived about three weeks ago, and will be here about 6 months as an intern. Where to start with Anna Lu...she is someone who, even though she is six years younger than I am, I deeply admire. Not simply because of her sweet smile or her simple yet gorgeous beauty both inside and out, but because of the way she is able to relate to God as her Daddy. She knows who she is and her life is based on this reality. I love the way I can talk to Anna Lu, and all of a sudden, the conversation just turns into a prayer being offered up to God...then after we are done praying we just keep on talking until the next time we lift something else up to God. 

So that´s the team. Our vision is to teach and disciple the people of Peru in a tangible way through Biblical principles. I will post an example of the type of stuff we are teaching in a future post. Blessings.

Bed bug blogger

For at least the 50th time tonight, I´ve tried to sleep. And for at least the 50th time, I´ve failed. This time, my body is exhausted but my mind isn´t tired. Not really worried, just not tired. 

Some things you just shouldn´t post on blogs because they are far to embarrasing or just gross. One of those things would be getting BED BUGS. Which I am currently posting about. Yes, I discovered it yesterday when late night projects got the best of me, and swarms of those terrible little freckle-bettle-bugs joined me, crawling all over my body and making me want to cry out in agony because their tickly little feet were crawling EVERYWHERE!!. Do you know what a bedbug looks like? Or what it feels like when it crawls all over you? Well, this is what it looks like:

Nasty little thing, huh? And you know, they are about the size of the tinniest freckle you can still see. When they are crawling on your body, it feels like someone is taking a very fine-tipped pin and gently dragging it across your skin, but then CAWWWP- their bite just feels...annoying. Well, actually, it´s a blood-sucking bite, and, well, to say in the least it´s defininetly annoying.

Although it seemingly takes alot to embarrass me, this was one incident that was (and is) not only embarrassing, but also humiliating. What I probably should mention is that I am pretty sure I brought them back from the jungle when we went a few weeks ago. While I didn´t realize what they were at the time, I remember now that my bed in the hotel was infested with them, and I innocently thought, oh, they´re little. There´s bigger things to worry about. Little did I know...

With all of that being said, I am in the process of irradicating this infestation, and in f figuring out how to best do that, I learned that these nasty little creatures like to hide in the dark during the day time, but when it is night, oddly enough, they come out to play.

As I was thinking about this, I began to ponder the spiritual applications of this in my own life. In reality, really there are bigger things to worry about. Or, bigger things in our lives that we think are small and insignificant, but that cause an infestation of nastiness when figuratively speaking, ¨the light goes out.¨

I headed down to the beach to sit and spend a minute asking God what dark corners of my life He wanted to clean...what things I had maybe ignored or thought were ¨insignificant¨ and this is what He told me: 

1. Family issues (forgiving my parents and spiritually breaking the generational curses that are looming over our family). 

2. Interactions with the opposite sex: letting God truly fill my heart where I have had a ¨carved out part¨ labeled  ·I´m in control of this area· 

3.Developing better management of my time and money.

So, I ask for prayer as I work through these issues. Forgiveness is a daily thing that, when it´s truly run it´s course, allows us to be able to receive love as well as give it. It´s a chain breaker. 

That God would give me the wisdom and grace to bless my brothers in Christ and honor them in the Lord, as well as guard my own heart and theirs by not acting toward them with selfish or impure motives. In addition, truly falling in love with the Lord and letting him be my first and only love.

And then with time and money management: Firstly that God will send the funds in that I need to stay here, and that He will give me the wisdom to appropriate them where needed, and also to use this time to the max possible potential: it´s only a season of life and it won´t be like this forever. 

Thank you for your prayers. Sleep tight, and don´t let the bed bugs bite. Uggggg. ;)

Los Vientos Del Cambio

Amigos, se que eso no es perfecto, pero tengo sueñito y quiero dormir =) Si no entienden algo, mensajeame por face no mas. Dios les bendiga y me jalo al sobre ;)

Alguna vez te has hecho la pregunta "¿Dónde está Dios? ¨ Yo, si.  Yo lo he preguntado un mil veces, y más de una vez durante las últimas semanas. Ahora que lo pienso, era realmente más como  ¿Por-qué-no-puedo-sentir-Dios-en-este-parte-de-mi-vida-se-llama-HOY?....este tipo de sentimiento. Sí. Eso es. Ahí está la dificultad. Es como ya sabemos que Él está ahí, pero no puedes sentirlo mucho.

Y ya has sentido esos sentimientos exactamente en el momento en que te sentiste que Dios fue lo más necesario? Lo he hecho.

Mientras yo estaba empacando mis cosas hace una semana y media, llegué a estar tan abrumada emocionalmente que sentí que no podía continuar. Así que, por supuesto, hice lo que la mayoría de los 20 tantos años harían... Me tomó un descanso con facebook. Yo estaba mirando fotos recientes publicadas y la soledad estaba devorando a mí.  Yo estaba en silencio lamentando mi dolor y pidiendo a Dios por qué se sentía tan lejos.

De repente, Dios me hablo, y me dijo que regresar y ver fotos que se tomaron cuando me mudé a Perú, hace casi dos años. Cuando empecé a ir hacia atrás y ver las fotos, me acordé de los sentimientos que sentía, los desafíos que me enfrentaron cuando estaba acostumbrándome a la vida aquí. Justamente, lo sentí de nuevo ... Él estaba hablando conmigo otra vez. Él me dijo, "Nancy mi mano estaba contigo, guiándote y dirigiéndote. Mi mano siempre ha sido contigo durante todo este tiempo. ¿Qué te hace pensar que va a quitar mi mano de tu vida ahora?"

http://tinyurl.com/79jcuta

Vez, estas palabras significaban mucho para mí en este momento, porque me había sentido su voz, llamándome a hacer algo que me incomoda... sí, una vez más. Para algo aterrador, nuevo y fantástico.

Cuando vine a Perú por primera vez hace dos años, sinceramente, no estaba pensando que Dios me llamaria a América del Sur. Pero lo hizo. Yo no sabía que iba a vivir en un orfanato en Ventanilla, Lima por casi un año enseñando inglés y la Biblia. Yo no sabía que cambiaria mi corazón para ser una persona que planta las iglesias en las casas en Ventanilla por casi un año. Sin embargo, El lo hizo.

Y ahora, Él me estaba llamando a otro lugar. Vez, yo había llegado a Chorrillos, que es uno de los cuarenta y tres distritos de Lima (Mas o menos dos horas y media de Ventanilla) y sólo tenía previsto quedarme un día o dos días máximo. Nuestra  amiga tan linda, Amanda, (Ella es de Tyler, Texas, y también es un misionero acá, junto con su esposo, Shaun...chévere, ¿eh?) bueno...me había invitado a venir a pasar algunos días con ellos, porque ella sabía que yo no estaba haciendo bien. Dios me había mostrado varias cosas en mi vida personal y ministerio, y yo también había hecho algunas decisiones que me había traído a un lugar donde necesitaba un poco (ok mucho) ayuda. Entonces, fui a Chorrillos para pasar un rato con Amanda y Shaun. Cuando llegué a Chorrillos, dormía por la mayor parte de tres días y noches seguidos.  Cuando me di cuenta de cómo absolutamente agotado yo estaba en todas las áreas de mi vida, supe que algo fuerte había pasado.

Durante los siguientes meses, el Señor comenzó a trabajar en mi corazón y me llamaba más hacia sí mismo. El comenzó a definir los detalles de mi identidad en Dios, y mi identidad en el cuerpo de Cristo. Había temas dolorosas en mi vida que estaban apareciendo, y El me hacia recordar que él estaba allí conmigo, que me sostenía. Hubo muchos días en que yo había pasado mucho tiempo en mi habitación con la luz apagada, acostado en la cama, escuchándole, pidiéndole que me hable.  ¿Y sabes qué? Él lo hizo. Uno de las cosas que El me dijo fue que yo tenía que estar en Chorrillos. Puedo señalar el momento específico en que sentí la llamada a ser parte del equipo de Chorrillos, pero, sí soy sincera, yo lo dudaba y lo luchaba. Pedí a Dios por su confirmación, y Dios me dio la confirmación a través de ser capaz de hablar con Lauren y hemos dado cuenta de que Dios nos estaba llamando a dos lugares diferentes.

Esa para mí fue la parte más difícil... despidiéndome de Lauren. Si soy sincera, realmente se sentía como estaba terminando con un enamorado. Para clarificar las cosas, me gusta los hombres....por se caso jajajaja.... Pero en serio, cuando has pasado dos años de tu vida con alguien que te ve en tus días buenos y tus días malos, ella sabe lo que me molesta y lo que me gusta- y me conoce hasta el punto que se puede predecir mi próximo acción. Bueno cuando las cosas son asi, es difícil a separase de esa persona. No por lo que han hecho o dejado de hacer, pero por el vínculo que tienen juntos, las cosas que hemos compartido juntos. Intentando de explicar que está dejando a esa persona porque sabes que tienes que ser obediente a Dios..esto es dificil...en serio. Es darse cuenta de que estás en un lugar donde se necesitas sanación.

En realidad, un golpe al orgullo también, si estamos siendo honestos, porque te enfrentas a los factos: que son los problemas en tu vida que tienes que enfrentar.  Es tener victoria sobre tus problemas en lugar de huir de ellas. Y sin saber realmente lo que el ministerio será durante o después del proceso, pero confiando en Dios, que El sabe lo que es mejor, y eso es lo que te hace seguir adelante. Es saber que lo que se necesita cobertura y comunidad, y darse cuenta de que es algo que una persona tiene que hacer intencionadamente. Es confiar en que Dios...que El cuidará de los que tienen estas dejando, y que Él proveerá para todas sus necesidades.

Despidiéndome de los nuevos creyentes también fue bastante difícil. Lauren fue increíble en todo esto. Yo no conozco a ningún otro compañero de equipo, que podría dar una fiesta por su compañero de equipo, pero Lauren lo hizo. Yo tuve la oportunidad de explicarles que la razón estaba mudándome a Chorrillos y estoy muy agradecida que fui capaz de hacerlo, porque sé que muchos misioneros y pastores no tienen esa oportunidad.

Aunque sé que Dios tiene grandes planes para mí en Chorrillos, estoy todavía en el proceso ser triste... lo que siento es una pérdida, pero sé que es algo que a los ojos de Dios es algo mucho más grande que me puedo imaginar.

Si solo pudiera decirte que yo fui la súper- Cristiana que nunca duda Dios y que siempre tiene la fe en Dios- que Dios  sabe lo que es mejor para sus hijos....Y aunque sé esta verdad,  es fácil de olvidarlo. Sí, en vez de sentir todos los sentimientos correctos, yo estaba enojada con Dios. Yo pensaba "Dios, si supieras que mi ibas llamar a un otra parte de Lima, ¿por qué me dejaste comenzar un ministerio con Lauren, vivir dos años de mi vida en Ventanilla, hacer amigos y ver a la gente llegar a conocerte y comenzar a crecer en su fe?" Bueno...justamente cuando mis pensamientos llegaron allí, Dios me recordó que no era mi ministerio, no, ahora no, nunca, sino de él. Ouch. Verificación de la realidad. Dios no me necesitaba. El se puede trabajar sin mí o conmigo.

Bueno, es verdad que Dios no me necesita, pero él me ama mucho más que una necesidad.  Él ve el cuadro completo, y eso es lo que hace esta cosa tan hermosa. Que él me quiere, me desea, anhela una relación conmigo. Él quiere lo mejor para mí, y Él siempre ve el panorama más amplio, y está escribiendo una historia de amor a través de mi vida.

Por lo tanto, este parte de mi vida consiste en dejar. El perdón de las cosas que, cuando pienso en ello, realmente no tengo derecho ser enoja. Este ministerio no era mío, en primer lugar. Siempre fue tuyo, Señor. Estas personas no eran los míos tampoco. Siempre fueron tuyos.

Así que, mis queridos amigos, les pido por oración durante este tiempo. Pido oración contra el enemigo que los pensamientos de rechazo, condena, la competencia o cualquier otra cosa que no viene de Dios trata de invadir cualquiera de nuestras vidas, o a los ministerios que nos ha dado.

Pido sus oraciones por Lauren durante este tiempo; ella será la líder principal del Ministerio de Ventanilla. Dios se lo ha dotado en muchas maneras y ella es una persona tan fuerte, pero es difícil estar solo, no importa quién eres o dónde estás. Les pido que oren para que Dios sigue enviando líderes fuertes y que Dios verdaderamente multiplica el tiempo de Lauren mientras ella se tira en direcciones muy diferentes. (Para ver lo que Dios sigue haciendo en Ventanilla, consulte el blog de Lauren en www.laurenservinginperu.blogspot.com)

Pido oración por mí también, mientras descubro más acerca de quién es El, y quien soy yo, y lo que me ha llamado a ser y los llamados y dones que Él ha puesto dentro de mí. Pido también por oración en mi trabajo a través de los problemas personales que han surgido en mi vida, y que dejar que el Señor realmente me hace todo.

Pido oración para el ministerio en general, tanto en Ventanilla y en Chorrillos para que Dios sea glorificado, y que Satanás no tendría ningún bastión en todo de esto.

Pido oración para todas las personas involucradas en ambos ministerios, que sus ojos no sean puestos en un líder terrenal, sino en el Buen Pastor mismo. Pido oración mientras Dios comienza algo nuevo en mi vida. Que no sea resistente a los cambios ordenados por Dios, pero que puedo aceptarlos y vivir en la verdadera libertad en mi vida diaria.

Esta vez, para mí no sólo será un tiempo de sanación, pero también un tiempo de Dios me está mostrando  lo que  es mi parte en el ministerio dentro de este equipo nuevo.

Ninguno de nosotros realmente tenemos la oportunidad a dejar  nuestras vidas mientras arreglamos los problemas, y es lo mismo para la vida de un misionero. Así que, como espero hacer el ministerio en un entorno nuevo y nueva ubicación, aumentar el apoyo que se necesita para vivir aquí, etc, pido oración por la sabiduría y la fuerza que Dios sigue para definir quién soy yo en él, y especificar los dones y el llamamiento que ha colocado dentro de mí, y cómo voy a servir al pueblo de Chorrillos.

Voy a escribir más sobre algunas de esas cosas, así como más información sobre el equipo ahora estoy trabajando en los siguientes puestos. Como siempre, gracias por leer y que el Señor te bendiga y te guarde.

Winds of Change

Have you ever asked yourself the question ¨Where is God?¨ I sure have. I´ve asked it a million times, and more than once over the past few weeks. Now that I think about it, it was really more of  a ¨Why-don´t-I-feel-God-in-this-particular-part-of-my-life-called-TODAY¨ type of feeling. Yeah. That´s the one. That´s the question. It´s like you know He´s there, but you just can´t feel Him much.

And have you ever felt those exact feelings right at the time when you felt you needed Him most? I have.

As I was packing up my things a week and a half ago, I became so emotionally overwhelmed that I felt I couldn´t go on. So, of course, I did what most 20 something- year olds would do...I took a facebook break. As I was looking at recent pictures posted, the loneliness was eating away at me, and I was silently lamenting my pain and asking God why He felt so far away.

Suddenly, I felt Him nudging my heart, telling me to go back and look at pictures that were taken when I first moved to Peru, almost two years ago. As I began to go back and look at these pictures, I remembered the feelings I felt, the challenges I was facing as I was adjusting to living here. Then I felt it again...He was talking to me. He said, Nancy my hand was with you then, guiding and directing you. My hand has always been with you- through this whole journey. What makes you think I will stop guiding you now?

http://tinyurl.com/79jcuta

You see, these words meant so much to me at this time, because I had felt Him calling me out of my comfort zone...yes, yet again. To something terrifying, new and fantastic.

When I visited Peru for the first time over two years ago, I honestly didn´t think God would call me to South America long-term. But He did. I didn´t know I´d live in an orphanage in Ventanilla, Lima for nearly a year teaching English and the Bible. I didn´t know He´d move my heart to become a house church planter in Ventanilla for almost a year. But, He did.

And now, he was calling me to yet another place. You see, I had come to Chorrillos, which is one of the forty-three districts of Lima (about two and a half hours from Ventanilla) and only planned to stay a day or two...a few days at max. Our sweet friend, Amanda, who is from Tyler, Texas and also is a missionary here in Peru along with her husband, Shaun, (cool, huh?!) had invited me to come spend some time with them, because she knew I was not doing well. God had brought up several things in my personal life and ministry, and I had also made some decisions that had caused me to be in a spot where I just needed some help. So, I headed out to Chorrillos to spend some time with Amanda and Shaun. When I arrived in Chorrillos, I slept for the better part of three straight days and nights. When I realized how absolutely worn out I was in every area of my life, I knew I had worked myself into a bad spot.  

Over a period of a few months, the Lord began to work on my heart and call me closer to Himself. He began to define the specifics of my identity in Him, and my identity in the body of Christ. As painful issues in my life were surfacing, He reminded that He was right there with me, holding me. There were so many days that I just spent time in my room with the light out, laying in bed, just listening, asking Him to speak. And He did. One of the most life-changing things that He told me was that I needed to be in Chorrillos.  I can pinpoint that specific moment when I felt God calling me to be a part of the team in Chorrillos, but, to be honest, I doubted it and fought it. I asked God for confirmation, and even with my Gideon-like spirit, asking him for water on the fleece, God so mercifully gave me that confirmation through being able to talk with Lauren and realizing that God was calling us to two different places. 

That was probably the most difficult part...telling Lauren goodbye. If we´re being honest, really felt like more of a break-up than anything. When you´ve spent two years of your life with someone who sees you on your good days AND bad days, knows what your pet-peeves and the kind of stuff you like and who can even give you 26 birthday presents on your 26th birthday and be spot-on on almost every single one of them, and knows you down to the point that they can predict your next move, it´s hard to leave that person. Not because of anything they´ve done or haven´t done, but because of the bond you have together, the times you´ve shared together. Trying to explain that you are leaving that person, and it´s not because of anything they have or haven´t done, but because you know you have to be obedient to what God is calling you to do is extremely hard. It´s realizing that you are in a place where you need healing. 

Really, a blow to pride too if we´re being honest, because you´re facing up to the facts: that are issues in your life that you need to deal with. It´s facing your issues instead of running from them. And not really knowing what ministry will look like through the healing process or after it, but trusting that God does know what´s best, and that is what you go on. It´s knowing that you need accountability and community, and realizing that it´s something you have to intentionally make moves to be a part of. It´s trusting that God will care for those you have to leave, and that He will provide for all of their needs.

Telling the new believers goodbye was also quite hard. Lauren was incredible in all of this. I don´t know any other teammate who would be able to single-handedly throw a party for her teammate who was leaving, but Lauren did. I was able to explain to them that the reason and I am so thankful that I was able to do that, because I know that so many missionaries and pastors do not have that opportunity, and the people never truly know why they are leaving. 

While I know that God has great plans for me in Chorrillos, I am still very much in the middle of the grieving process and morning what I feel is a loss, but I know is something that in God´s eyes is something much bigger than I can imagine.

Wish I could tell you I was the super Christian who never doubts God and who always has the faith that God does know what´s best for His children. And while I do know this truth, and it´s easy to forget. Yeah, instead of feeling all of the right feelings, I was mad at God. I thought God, if you knew all along that you were going to call me to another part of Lima, why would have let me start a ministry with Lauren, live two years of my life in Ventanilla, make friends and see people come to know you and start growing in their faith? It was about that time that God reminded me that it was not MY ministry, not now, not ever, but His. Ouch. Reality check. God doesn´t ¨NEED¨ me. He can work with or without me.

Right, God might not need me, but He loves me so much more than just ¨needing¨me. He sees the whole picture, and that´s what makes this thing so beautiful. That he WANTS me, He DESIRES me, He longs for RELATIONSHIP with me. He wants the best for me, and He always sees the bigger picture, and so His calling me away from one thing and to something else is just part of the love story He is writing through my life.

So, that involves letting go on my part. Forgiveness of the things that, when I think about it, I really don´t have the right to be angry about. This ministry was never mine in the first place. It was always yours, Lord. These people were never mine either. They were always Yours.

So, my dear friends, I do ask for prayer during this time. I ask for prayer against the enemy that as thoughts of rejection, condemnation, competition or anything else that is not of God tries to invade either of our lives or the ministries God has let us be a part of. 

I ask for your prayers for Lauren during this time as she will be the senior leader of the ministry in Ventanilla. God has gifted her in so many ways she such a strong person, but it is hard being alone no matter who you are, or where you are. I ask that you pray that God continues to raise up strong leaders for what God is doing there, and that God would truly multiply Lauren´s time as she is pulled in so many different directions. (to see what God continues to do in Ventanilla, check out Lauren´s blog at www.laurenservinginperu.blogspot.com) 

I ask for prayer for myself, as I discover more about who God has called me to be and the callings and giftings He has placed inside of me. I ask for prayer as I work through the personal issues that have surfaced in my life, and that I let the Lord truly make me whole.

I ask for prayer for ministry in general, both in Ventanilla and in Chorrillos that God will be glorified, and that Satan would have no strong-hold in any of this.

I ask for prayer for all of the people involved in both ministries, that God would continue to focus their eyes not on an earthly leader, but on the Good Shepherd Himself. I ask for prayer as God begins new things in my life. That I would not be resistant to God-ordained change, but that I would accept it and live in true freedom. in my daily life. 

This time for me will not only be a time of healing, but also a time of God showing me and what my part of ministry within this team will look like.

None of us really get to ¨stop life¨ to deal with our issues, and it´s the same for the life of a missionary. So, as I look forward to doing ministry in a new setting and new location, raise the support I will need to live here, etc., I ask for prayer for the wisdom and strength as God continues to define who I am in Him, and specify those gifts and callings he´s placed inside of me, and how I am to minister to the people of Chorrillos.

I will write more about some of those things as well as more about the team I am now working with in the following posts. As always, thank you for reading and may the Lord bless you and keep you.