1 Year and Counting

Today is the 22nd of May which means that today is the anniversary of the Salcedo Church of the Nazarene. It has been one year on those 4 benches preaching, teaching, and praying. I remember the 22nd of May last year which was our inauguration service. We invited all who we knew or thought were interested which was a total of 20 people. 19 of them said that they were going to come. Out of those 19 that said they come, nobody showed up. We sang, preached, prayed, and ate cake amongst ourselves. 4 months continually it looked like that; Geremías and I singing, preaching, and praying amongst ourselves. I didn’t know how hard the next year would be for me, us, and the church.

This past Sunday we celebrated the 1 year anniversary in Salcedo with much greater success and a higher turnout than the 0% at the inauguration. We decided to do it outside in the street. We got permission from the president of the street to close it down to have the event.

We scheduled it for 3:00PM and 3:00PM rolled around. Then 3:15, then 3:30 and there were very few people there. It doesn’t matter what event we do but 30 minutes after the “should-be” start time no one shows up and it is so demoralizing. But that usually all turns around and people start staggering in and it ends well. It’s never reassuring, though, at the next event when the same thing happens. Well, I was discouraged again 30 minutes after the original start time, but by the time we were really started there were over 50 people there. A ton of people from our church plants, a ton from Kristen’s church in Huascar, and a handful from the center church!

The program went really smoothly and wasn’t long or drawn out. The weather was perfect. I was smiling. The pastor preached. And at the end we had hot chocolate, sweet rolls, and cake for everyone.

This anniversary Sunday was really encouraging for me to end here strong and hand off Salcedo to the next person with the best possible church. It’s not often that I can have a good time at an event of which I’m in charge, but this was a legitimate change of pace for me.

We also have had 6 short termers from Mid-America Nazarene University to help us out which was more of a blessing than anything. They helped out at the anniversary setting up, serving food, and taking down. The biggest thing they did for us was paint Viviana and Paulina’s house on Tuesday. This is now the location of our newly formed cell group. It was an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (see what I did there?) for real. The transformation by just throwing 2 coats of paint on that house was incredible. It was amazing for me to see the house be beautified in such a simple way.

 

Random: I was given the opportunity to drive a car here in Peru. We were in a tiny pueblo called Chipana and I asked the taxi driver if I could drive back to the main town of Ilave about 15 minutes away. He kind of chuckled and dropped the subject. About 2 minutes down the road he picked the subject back up and asked if I was serious. I said yes and he stopped the car and let me drive all the way back to the main city! It was an awesome experience and I told him that I would never forget it! It’s just one of those things that would never happen unless you’re truly in the culture.

I cannot stress enough how much this year from inauguration to anniversary has changed me. How hard this past year has been, but how much it has been worth it. To see that yes God has been working through us to reach these three pueblos just outside Puno, Peru. It’s not often I get to see all this come together (and enjoy it!) but I thank the Lord for providing with a memory so great, and I’m still so sure it will not be the last because there still is a month to go. Until next time, check this out as always.

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

I should be graduating from college today, which blows my mind. I should be starting a full-time job right now as an actuary at some insurance company. I could be getting my own place, perhaps I even would be engaged or in a steady relationship. Maybe I would have my own dog, motorcycle, or even lawn mower (which is really what matters in life…)
I would be doing all these things at the age of 21, which is what I’ve wanted to do my entire life, but a tiny little 4 letter word changed all of that: Perú.
I think back to what I heard in 8th grade English class, and how I learned it my freshman year of college:

“The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

And considering the fact that my human plans above went awry, I find myself on this graduation day sitting in my bed sick with a sinus congestion and sore throat in Southern Peru writing this blog.
In reality, I can’t be more thankful that God brought me here even though it might seem to you like I regret it, I do not in the least bit. I think about how much I’ve changed and how much I’ve been stretched and I can’t help but be thankful for the blessings I’ve received in going through so much down here. I look at my plans above and I think of those piercing words that Jesus said:

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”

I was definitely on track to gain the whole world and forfeit my soul at the same time, the same state many of you are in today. I was in that American bubble and I had to come here and live here to realize it. Sometimes I look back and I think if I would have been one who said “Lord, Lord” but failed to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And my fear is that many of you are in this category, whether you don’t realize it (like me) or whether you do have a conviction of it.
I’m studying 1 Samuel in the mornings now, and I found how much my testimony was like that of king Saul before coming down here (taken from 1 Samuel 14-15). Like Saul, I had the outward pretentions of being a man of God, a worshiper of  the Lord, a builder of altars, and a man of prayer. But just like Saul, it was all surfacie. I was stubborn, I was self-righteous, and I did religious things because “that’s what you do.” I was all outside in my faith. But God still used Saul to defeat nations upon nations, and that’s what God has done with me.
Why do I share this with you? My prayer is that one of you will also take the leap that I took. My prayer is that you would leave your lukewarm state and do something radical. I told a short termer that came that he should be a missionary and I was dead serious. His all-too-quick answer was, “I have 3 kids and a wife.” And I said, “I think you, your wife, and your three kids should be missionaries.” Don’t be the one that has excuses, every single one of you can step it up today, and that’s the purpose of this blog. Don’t gain the world and forfeit your soul.
I do look back and I do think about where I’d be, but then I give myself a reality check and remember how much God has molded and matured me. I want to see that in you, dear reader, and believe me no excuse will do. This applies to everyone: be different and do something that changes the world.

(In the airport May 17, 2010)

Catch Up

It has been sinfully too long since writing my experiences and thoughts here on the ol' blog, but I have been altogether waaaay too busy with the churches and work. As of writing this, I have a little over 2 months left here in south Perú. I have a variety of subjects to touch upon in this blog since I wrote the last, so buckle up!
As most of you dear readers know, my parents were able to come and visit me/ construct the new temple in the center of the city. Everyday we split up into two groups: construction and impact. For various reasons I was chosen to be the construction site at all working hours (as translator) except for my two impact days when I was in charge. It was a change of pace for me because I didn't just translate, I worked my rear off. I'm not complaining because I loved every moment of it, but it definitely was a physical and mental change of pace for me. At first I was trying to let all the short termers work, but then they started handing me bricks. Then the animal inside me grew haha. I'll never forget Monday the 2nd of April as there were few of us at the construction site and it would be our hardest day pouring cement into the walls of the church. Shout out to the guys on my team hauling gravel and sand uphill in 5 gallon buckets: Randy, Tom, Hayden, Dad, and Tyler. 6 buckets of gravel and 6 buckets of sand in the cement mixer per bag of cement. We did 21 bags of cement.
Unfortunately my father had to leave early for about a gajillion factors affecting his health, but he did get to stay a week and see Puno and see both my church plant sites and the construction site and the moto! Then I did get to hang out with my mom, and she was a trooper on the construction site and even afterwards when everybody had left she did whatever I had planned!
The inauguration service at the new temple was very special for our family as it is dedicated in the name of my great-grandparents. The church was about 90% done construction wise, and it was filled to the max with people. There's something about inviting people to an anniversary that makes them want to come! My mom and I had the privilege of christening the church (and got champagne all over us) and overall it was a great success as a short term trip.

As far as our churches, from the impact in Salcedo we've been able to contact 3 people as most of the contacts that we made that day were from other places in the city, not from Salcedo. But in Rinconada we did a kids festival and we have been able to contact almost all of the people that we met and we've been able to disciple them. It has been a great success.
This Sunday the 29th of April is our last Sunday in our church in Rinconada. The people there are very poor and we don't have enough income to sustain the price of rent in the building we're in now. We are looking at many options that are free, but it looks like we will have a cell group church in the house of one of the ladies who attends the church faithfully. Her house has recently been put up for sale by the owner, who is her brother-in-law, after she's been living there 16 years. We are praying that she can take ownership of the house legally by having lived there for so long, as that's how the law works here in Peru. She just doesn't have good lawyers, or as good as the ones that would be one the other side. By faith we're going to open up a church in her house, faith that God will let her keep it and that the church will grow into multitudes. Please join us in this fight and pray for Viviana (the mother), Paulina (the grandmother), Ines, and José Luis (the children).

I also had the glorious opportunity after our 2 week spat of nonstopness to go to Arequipa, which has turned to a little ‘merica. Starbucks! McDonalds! Dominos! T.G.I. Fridays! It was a really great time with Trevor and Kristen to go and relax and do stuff that normal twentysomethings would do. I got to sit in Starbucks and read on my Kindle, walk around in shorts, be out at night, and have free refills at T.G.I. Fridays! Time of my life :D
But I still have to remember that I have only two short months more to make the biggest impact that I can. Please pray for me personally that I have strength and that I also have willpower to "leave it all on the field." It's hard and I'm so excited for many things about my future, but the goal here is to be here in the moment and to take advantage of every moment.
So that's the month of April. Until the next blog, take a listen to this.

The Lost Keys

The craziest thing happened me today, let me share.

We had gone in the morning to with the whole team to evangelize door by door in Salcedo, which is on the outskirts of town. We evangelized for a bit then we ate lunch. After lunch we took a combi (small bus) from Salcedo to Rinconada, which is even further outside of town. It’s about a 3 minute ride in a combi, (below is a picture of a typical combi) and we were the only ones in the combi. I paid for all of us, and as I took out my money to pay, my keys also slipped out without me knowing. The keys that I lost included 2 sets of church keys, house keys, and a spare motorcycle key. This was at about 2:00.

About a minute after I got out of the combi, I realized that I didn’t have my keys. So I ran after the bus, but I didn’t actually have sight of the bus (had I thought on my feet, I should’ve gone the other way and waited for it to turn around.)

I had to think hard about what that combi looked like because there are a huge variety of buses that go from one part of the city to another. All I knew is that the sign on the combi said “SALCEDO” in big letters and “rinconada” in small letters and that the lady who took the money was wearing a pink sweater. That’s it. I thought I knew what the car looked like, but I really had no idea.

I rushed back down to Salcedo to wait for the same combi to go around the whole city and come back to that spot. All I was looking for were those letters and that sweater. Probably about 200 combis passed by as I waited for about an hour and a half.

I gave up as the combis whizzed by, and it was already 3:30 and we were to have membership class at 4:00. No luck, and I didn’t even know what the combi actually looked like.

We did the membership class from 4 to 5 and talked a bit afterwards until about 5:30. Afterwards, I told Geremías “Let’s go to the central market to make copies of your keys for me and get some Api.” (Api is a special snack here in Puno.) He said that sounded good and off we went in a combi.

As we were getting close to the central market, right in the middle of the city we passed dozens of combis, but one caught my eye. A lady was standing up inside it with a pink sweater on. As we went by, I noticed that the letters were the same. But the model of the bus wasn’t the same that I thought it was so I had my doubts. We got to the central market, and I waited for that combi with a small hunch. I was about to stop waiting when it pulled up, now packed with people.

It stopped because I waived it down, and the lady in the pink sweater got off in order to let me in. I didn’t recognize her at first, and I almost didn’t say anything. I asked her, “Did you find some keys?” She said yes quite firmly and my immediate thought was “Is ‘Keys’ a place in Puno?” I asked her again and she said yes firmly and then she asked the driver for the keys they had found.

He handed her the keys, over the people in the packed combi, and it was like slow motion to me. They were my keys!! What were the chances of that? In a city of about 100,000 people, I find this one bus in the middle of the city. I didn’t know what to do, I wanted to hug her but then thought of paying her but I didn’t have any money. I smiled big and thanked her, and then boom they sped off.

I looked at Geremías and slapped him in the chest and screamed at him “CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!?!” We still got Api in the central market. Haha a great ending to my day!!

A Love for Those Who Hate

I have to admit, being so far away I was even shook up a bit due to the events that happened yesterday, the 27th. I woke up this morning thinking, “life goes on, and who now is hated most of all in Chardon, Ohio?” Yesterday, as I was scrolling my Newsfeed on Facebook I saw much of the same: “sending out prayers for the families of those lost,” or “prayers for the victims in this tragic day.”

Is that how a Christian should respond? Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t one of Jesus’ main teachings about love for your enemies (Matthew 5:43-48)? Not once did I see anyone mention that they were praying for this boy who killed innocent classmates in cold blood. Clearly the answer to my question is that this boy is the enemy of many right now. Someone who kills innocent people in cold blood usually assumes the position of “enemy” quickly with a number of people.

Our reactions as Christians should be to pray for this teenager T.J. Lane and his family, for the families of those he murdered, and any others suffering. It’s hard for the families of the deceased, but T.J. just realized today that the sun still rises, and what he did has changed his life and the life of others forever. This is some rough stuff for both sides now, but both need to find grace in us Christians. It’s time to not be Christians who shun and cast down, instead it’s time to be Christians who love and are compassionate to those who deserve to be hated by everyone else.

Think about it. Who’s receiving dinners from their neighbors today? Who’s getting cards mailed to their house today? T.J.’s family or the families who lost children? Who’s sitting alone in their house? Who’s afraid to leave, or to answer the door? T.J.’s family or the families who lost children? It’s easy to love those who’ve not done any harm, but much more difficult to pray for those who would never pray for you. I’m not saying forget about those who're the victims, but rather to pray for both because I guarantee that there are 2 sides in this morning that are hurting.

If all you can do is pray (and yes it is possible to do more) I challenge you right now to get on your knees and pray for T.J. and all your enemies, don’t just change your Twitter or Facebook. Continue in your prayer for those who are suffering today. Then go put a walk to your talk.

Too Soon?

Is it too early to start thinking and preparing for the end? From today there are just under 5 months left until the project is over (about 4 months for me personally). Well, it’s not good to focus on the future and hope upon it, but I still am North American, more organized than most, and intelligent. For me, it’s time to start thinking of how this whole “leaving” thing is going to go down and that it goes down in the best way possible.

We’ve recently upped the evangelism (as a team) in all of the districts where there are churches, or soon to be churches. That has to taper off here soon (probably after the short-term impacters come), and we really need to focus on the people we already have. Make the strong stronger, and the weak less weak, and then the strong to help the weak. If we keep adding multitudes of people in these next months, we might never reach a possible peak with these that are already grasping the Word. So step one is to slowly dedicate more time to just befriending our contacts more, and evangelizing less. Kind of like a stick shift car: ease off the throttle as you ease in on the clutch, then vice versa, with the goal of shifting up a gear.

The second thing to do would be to leave leaders in our place, so that our work doesn’t just undo itself. There are three options here: one of us stays longer, someone else comes along (native or missionary), or nothing gets done. I’m not in charge of this, nor do I have much of a say but my recommendation at this point would be for my compañero Geremías to stay until these churches that we’re planting get established. Rinconada is still very weak, and Salcedo is showing strength even through it’s finances. Not enough strength to meet the “goal” (I use that term as if it’s not mine, because it’s not) but enough to continue with these new believers. So of the three, what I want is what I think is best and what God has been leaning my heart to, but I’m not the one who has to make the big sacrifice. I would never have considered staying before, but now I kept myself open to that option and have been praying for awhile now. I just don’t feel like that’s what God is leading me to do.

Really these decisions determine the future of the lives of people, so we need to take them with utmost care. We need to dedicate our time in a way that pleases God, not letting up at all.

So I guess I’m asking myself what the purpose of this blog is. I think what I’m trying to get to is prayer. I want to ask for prayer from you guys today. Please pick one of these things to start praying for:

1. Wisdom and responsibility in knowing where to dedicate time in these next few months: more contacts or stronger contacts.

2. Guidance on appropriately wrapping up any loose ends that we would otherwise leave behind.

3. A strong leader to rise up in each church plant to take charge and help us out.

4. Strength and willingness for me personally everyday of the week to carry on.

5. And my parents are coming down, so pray for that whole impact group, construction of the new church, travel safeties, and open minds and hearts.

Your prayers will not be in vain, and are a valid reason for the success we’ve been able to have until now. Only now is not the time when we stop praying, but when we pray more dutifully.

P.S. I always try to include pictures. These are from Saturday when we went to the country, out in the Andes.

P.P.S. I always try to include a song, this one just happens to be what I’m listening to.

What’s in the Bag?

Having worked here for over a year as a missionary, I’ve learned to have the same essentials in my bag at all times. Now’s the time to share what and why.

1 Blue/Orange Nike Pullstring Bag

Light and convenient. The main reason I use this and not a full on backpack is because Geremías sits behind me on the moto, and a large backpack would leave us very uncomfortable.

1 NIV Bilingual Bible

This is the same Bible I use to study with in the mornings. Then I take it out with me all day. It’s falling apart, and it’s only 2 years old. Bilingual is necessary because sometimes people will ask us exactly what stuff means, and every once in a while they ask me stuff that I don’t know what it means in Spanish. I look over to the English translation and there it is.

x Church Invitations

They’ve got an explanation of the church, times and days of services, the address, and on the back a salvation message. I always carry more than 2.

1 Notebook

This is where I record anything but mostly everything. It’s mostly used for noting where people are in their discipleship lessons. On the cover I scratched words similar to those that are seen on the back of vests of government construction workers, “Con Obras, el Reino Progresa (With Work, the Kingdom Progresses.)

1 Ball-Point Retractable Pen

For writing in the notebook and lending to those who need to fill out their information or the discipleship lesson.

1 Literary Work

In this case it is a Spanish book to help me with my vocabulary. It’s not always this book, but it is always something. Usually a theological book if it’s not Spanish. If we get any time, I usually open it up.

1 Tube of 45SPF Aval Facial Sunscreen

Applied to nose and cheeks. The UV index here in Puno is 15 this time of year, anything above 11 is considered “extreme.”

6 Discipleship Books

“Knowing God’s Walk” and “Fundamentals of the Christian Faith.”

1 Manila Envelope

Taped and with cardboard on the insides so not to damage

1 Baseball Cap

My scalp burns  and then flakes and my hair gets super hot. Everyone wears hats here because the sun is so strong, unless you’re my partner who’ll put a Bible, scarf, or his coat on his head before he puts a hat on.

2 Socks

Nothing worse than stepping in a puddle at the beginning of the day and then having to walk around with cold, wet feet all day.

1 Fujifilm 14.0 Megapixel Point-and-Shoot Camera

You never know when you’ll need it. I used to take it out only on days that were big event days but I learned quickly that everyday is a big day.

1 Case Logic Compact Camera Case

To house and protect the camera.

1 Beanie

Because it’s always always cold when the sun sets, no matter what time of day.

 

Not Pictured (not kept in bag):

1 LG Cellular Phone

1 Motorcycle Key w/ Remote

1 Money Pouch

1 Set of 4 Keys

House key. Church key. Other church key. Extra motorcycle key.

2 Black Pleather Gloves

1 HJC Silver Motorcycle Helmet