Casa de Dios

We have our first building in Yanamayo! Francisca and I had been asking everyone in Yanamayo if they knew of a room or house to rent. We are discipling more than 20 people in Yanamayo and we need a place to meet all together so these new believers can start fellowshipping and also so Franci and I can consolidate our house to house lessons into a group lesson.

After asking around for weeks, finally one day Carmen told us she has a friend who has an empty house down the street. She got the keys and we took a look at it. The cool part was, Mom and Dad were here that day and they got to check the house out with us! I walked in and started tearing up. I knew God had this place for us and I was so excited for what He has in store for Yanamayo, so relieved to finally have found a place.

We would have taken the place immediately, that day but the owner was out of town. So we waited another week and a half until she was back in Yanamayo. The moment Carmen called us to let us know she had arrived, we dropped everything we were doing and went up to Yanamayo to sign a contract and give her the first and last month's rent.

A few days later, we had an inauguration service and now we are holding services there every Sunday and Tuesday evening as well as a kids class on Saturday afternoons! Check out our awesome turnout for the inauguration service as well as some photos of the house. Many of the houses in Yanamayo, including this one, were a Habitat for Humanity project back in the 80's. Ronald Regan went to Yanamayo Peru to help with this project and all the original owners still remember his visit along with many other North American's.

Our kids singing a song at our first service. And, my homemade sign with our schedule of services.

There's only running water in the morning so we have to fill up the trash can with water and use the bucket to flush the toilet.

Thanks NWCC for the Spanish Bibles!

The house came complete with curtains!

This is our backyard, I call it the jungle, still a bit of work to do!

The floor in the bathroom and the living room.

Proud Momma.....

These communities are like my babies, they are my children. And when I can see a change in one of our contacts, I am a proud Momma (as my Momma would say). I was so incredibly proud of Petronila last Saturday. Franci and I normally visit Petronila, Guillermo and Elvis on Tuesdays. But last Saturday, May 14th, was a special day. It was Elvis' 12th birthday! My dad had mailed me a yo-yo and mini race car video game to give to Elvis for his birthday. (So sweet, huh?!) So, I wrapped up the gifts and we headed to Yanamayo. We had some visits and a kids class then we had a bit of time to run over to their house to say 'Happy Birthday' and give Elvis his present. We didn't have much time so we walked quickly to spend all the time we could with them. As we arrived to the house, I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and saw Elvis walking behind us. I gave him a hug and kiss (Peruvian greeting), and told him, "Feliz Cumplanos!". We walked into their tienda and I realized Petronila was walking up behind us as well. Petronila greeted us and the first thing she said was that God must have made her forget her money. What? What does that mean? She explained that she and Elvis had just got on a combi to go to the market. But, right after she got on the combi, she realized she didn't bring her money. She can't very well buy food for dinner without money. So, she and Elvis hopped off the combi and walked up right behind us on their way home for the money. Petronila was not upset for forgetting her money, she was not upset for the time lost, she was not frustrated with herself or Elvis. Instead, Petronila told us it was a blessing from God that she forgot her money becuase if she hadn't forgot, we would have just missed them. I was so proud and excited for her attitude! We can learn so much from this new Christian and her grateful spirit, giving the glory to God in all circumstances!

Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Guillermo......

This family is very special to me. Their names from left to right are Elvis, Guillermo and Petronila. I actually was in Arequipa saying goodbye to some friends leaving Extreme while Franci, Joel and Trevor met this family in Yanamayo. Franci and I went back the next Tuesday (February 22nd) for a scheduled visit with them. That day was a little weird and I wasn't sure what to expect with them. Petronila was incredibly sweet and hospitable. We sat outside the house with her and watched the hens run around in the dirt and grass. Her son/grandson, Elvis, brought us out little wooden stools to sit on and I taught him some English words. Elvis does not have any parents and now lives with his Grandparents who treat him like a son and call him hijito (son) instead of nieto (grandson). Then we wanted to start the discipleship classes and Petronila called Guillermo over to join us. Guillermo griped and told us he had work to do. But, as men do in the states, they do here as well.......he listened to his wife and sat down with us. We started the first lesson and Petronila, who was so adamant that Guillermo listen, had to leave. So there we were, with Guillermo, the guy who didn't want to stop work for 15 minutes. But it turned out incredible. Guillermo really got into the lesson and we had a great chance to talk about God, the Holy Spirit and a life with Christ.

From that day on, through the good (the day they accepted Christ, the 1st of March) and the bad (the day Guillermo had peed his pants from drunkeness), I've learned to love this family more and more. Today I'm so proud of them! I love them and their willingness to learn more! Guillermo and Petronila are the very first of our contacts to go through the first discipleship series of seven weeks. They didn't miss even one week. Every single week we go to their house and they make time not for us, but the Word of God. And it's not that they see us coming and put things aside, but they are waiting for us. At 10am on Tuesday mornings, Guillermo is always standing in the doorway looking at his watch as we arrive.

Pray for this family. Pray for Petronila as she turns 63 on the 26th of this month and she has a desire to read the Bible but cannot read. Pray for Guillermo and the tienda they run for income. Pray for him as the spiritual head of the household. And pray for Elvis, this sweet young man without parents. There's just something about Elvis when he greets me with a hug and kiss that puts a smile on my face. This family is so precious, I cannot express how much I love them and how proud I am of them.

Kids Festival

Thomas and Ella inviting a litle girl at the corner to come play with us and Franci playing parachute games with the kids.

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More games. I play Mar (sea) & Tierra (land) with the kids and Chad taught them Red Light, Green Light.

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We had a puppet show, songs, a Bible lesson and an English lesson.

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By the end of the festival, we had over 50 children with a handful of mothers and grandmothers listening as well. With the huge number of kids we had at the kids festival, there is great potential in this area to work with children and let the children be an open door to the parents.

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Franci and I used the festival as a kick off to our Saturday afternoon class. Every Saturday at 3pm we have a class with a little bit of English and a Bible lesson in Yanamayo. So far, the class has been small with about 6 - 8 kids each week. But we are building relationships with these kids and last week four of the girls didn't want us to go home. They followed us to our next appointment just to be with us a little longer. But we do have a problem with the location we have permission to use. There is a community location called Vaso De Leche (Glass of Milk). We have permission to use this location to teach the kids but the past two weeks we have been unable to find the president of the community group at home in order to get the key. So, we have continued with the class out on the sidewalk. . Pray that we would be able to use the Vaso De Leche location this Saturday and also pray that God would use Francisca and I to touch the lives of these children and their families.

Cars.....

On Thursday's Franci and I go to a Wawa Wasi, translated from Quechua means Baby House. Wawa Wasi is an awesome government program here for daycare. I think sometimes they charge the parents but in certain locations, like Yanamayo, they don't charge anything. There are other neat things about this program such as lunch food. A government worker for Wawa Wasi brings hot food to the house around lunch time for the kids to have a nice hot meal and the provide, in this case, our friend Ana, doesn't have to worry about cooking.

At the Wawa Wasi we play with the kiddos and sing songs. We want to use this time to help out Ana and give her a break as well as meet the parents and family members of these kids to possibly make future contacts. Its all about networking! Even in the business of God!

This week I brought paints and wooden cars to the Wawa Wasi for an activity to do with the kids. The cars my dad bought for me in Heritage Square when I was home for Christmas. We were in a cute shop with all sorts of handmade kids toys. We saw these little car "kits" and dad got me 7 to take back to Peru and use at some point. I figure this would be a perfect opportunity to share these little gifts from the states and interact with the kids.

Painting and taking pictures at the same time proved to be a bit hectic. But the kids loved getting their picture taking and they had a blast painting their little cars. Then when I got them all put together, they couldn't wait until they were dry to play with thier new toys. We made a mess but it was fun and I'm sure a blessing for these children that probably play with plastic bottles and broken toys at home.

After our painting activity we waited for all the children to be picked up. Then we started our first lesson with Ana. We have met with Ana a few times now but we never want to rush anyone into starting the lessons with us. But she was ready so we got started. The first lesson in this booklet the Nazarene church uses througout Peru is "Pecado", Sin. I hate the first lesson! I hate to think of the sin part but we have to start with the bad to get to the good. And that's exactly what I told Ana. I told her exactly that, that I don't like this lesson of sin but that thre's an answer to this problem and that answer comes through the gift of Jesus.

We went through the lesson with her and touched on some points. Then, Ana just completley opened up to us. She told us about her other son who's 18 years old and ran away from home with a gang at the age of 15. The day he ran away she wanted to kill herself and she still cries just to think about how she felt that day. But she didn't kill herself as Florsita was a baby and she didn't want to leave her baby girl without a mother. Jorge, her oldest son who ran away is now out of trouble but living elsewhere. He comes to visit at times but their relationship is still strained. Ana is now concerned for her other son, Richard, who is 13 years old. She wants him to join in on our lessons to learn about the Bible and get him on a good life path.

Ana opened her heart and soul to us this day. I am so grateful that she feels like she can share with us. This is what we are here for! Pray for Ana and her family. I don't know her husband's name but the kids are Jorge, Richard and Florsita. Keep her especially in your prayers on Thursday's as we spend time in the word with her and hopfully Richard and eventually her husband.



Victor


Anabel ................................. Florsita (daugther of Ana)


Franklin

Glory to God.....

A row of semis stopped on our corner.

Our walk from the house to Yanamayo.

In my last post I asked for prayer that Franci and I would make it out to Yanamayo to visit with Ana even though there was a strike and literally no transportation. I also asked for prayer that Ana would be home and available to meet with us as I really feel the first visit is the most important.

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Well, Franci and I did have to walk from our house to Yanamayo which took about an hour. We are used to walking the 30 minutes to Huascar so it was only anothr 30 minutes on top of that. I'm so glad we did walk there though! Ana was at her house and available to chat with us! She was so suprised and impressed that we walked just to see her. I really think this was God's plan to show her we are serious about being her friend. Not only did we have a nice chat with her, but also, we found out she runs a government daycare from he home called Wawa Wasi. Wawa is baby in Quecha, an ancient language still spoken in more rural areas of Puno. Ana agreed to continue meeting with us on Thursday's and she said we can come early every Thursday to help teach the kids in her Wawa Wasi about God! Glory to God that this day turned out well! It could have been a bust....walking all the way out there for nothing. But God used us and opened up Ana's heart. I am incredibly excited for Ana's future and the opportunities we will have with these kids and thier families!

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Not to us, Lord, not to us

but to your name be the glory,

because of your love and faithfulness.

Psalm 115:1

Un Dia de Animales

Franci and I went out to Yanamayo yesterday. We haven't spent much time out there yet and had absolutley no contacts there. We walked 30 minutes to catch a combi then took that combi up the mountain to Yanamayo. As we got off the combi I felt lost as to what to do. We just stood there. We really didn't have a plan except to walk around and pray. After getting off the combi at we realized we were at the cemetary and across from the cemetary were a bunch of little flower kiosks. Finally, after standing there dumbfounded for a few minutes we walked over to the flowers to check them out. We went up to the first little kiosk and ended up starting a conversation with the vendor. Her name is Carmen and she's about 40 years old with one little girl. At first, she seemed a bit timid talking to us. I'm sure her normal customers don't stand there and chat as they are buying flowers for the ceremony of a loved one. But after a few minutes she seemed to loosen up a bit. We didn't buy any flowers as we knew we would be walking around all day and had no where to put them. But we told her we would be back to buy from her and chat some more another day. So we plan on visiting Carmen again soon.

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After our encounter with Carmen, we just started walking. We were in an area of Huascar we hadn't been before so we were getting to know the place by wandering around. After walking a while we came across some people washing clothes in the street. Franci and I had just seen the prison on the hill and were wondering if it was a men or women's prison. So I asked the people washing clothes a few questions about the prision while Franci and I sat across the street from them. Then they asked us what we are doing here. Well, Franci and I have decided to try and stay away from the words.....Biblia, misioneros, y iglesia for the first few times we see people. It seems like the people here in Puno get scared off when we mention these words too early. The joke between Franci and I is that if we say these words too early, the people are going to throw themselves into Lake Titicaca and swim to Boliva just to get away from us! haha! But, we have also discussed that we cannot lie. Therefore, when someone asks us if we are with a church or what brought us here, we tell them the truth. And that's what happened yesterday. Franci told these 4 people on the road that we are here with an evangelical church. The eldest of the ladies proceeded to tell us, "No me gusta la Biblia", (I don't like the Bible). But then, her daughter clarified and said yes, she does like the Bible and believe in the Bible but doesn't like missionaries. So I joked with them and said, "Ah, intiendo, usted le gusta la Biblia pero no le gustan nosotras!" (I understand, you like the Bible but you don't like us!). We all laughed a little bit then Franci and I left shortly thereafter. The gal was nice enough to tell us to take the road to the left instead of to the right because the road to the right has dogs that will eat us. haha! Yes, she said they would EAT us! So, we took the road to the left! But on the road to the right was a giant pig, the biggest pig I'd ever seen!

We continued our walk through Yanamayo and as we walked up to a paradero (combi stop), there was a lady with her little girl. This adorable little girl was staring at me and smiling as she sucked on a mango. I walked up to her, knelt down, and told her she was a cutie and asked her for her name. She was shy so I started talking to her mom. We ended up having a great conversation and Franci was able to open the door for us and scheduled a visit! This gals name is Ana and her daughter, almost 3 years old, is Florsita. We are to go visit Ana at her house tomorrow at 5pm. We need lots of prayer as there is a combi strike tomorrow and we have no idea if we are going to have to walk all the way out to Yanamayo and back. And, we want prayer that Ana will be in her house at the time we scheduled and that she would be available to talk to us. Our hopes are to just want to hang out with her and cultivate a friendship. But as we have found in the short time we've been working, this first visit is crucial. Many people say, yeah, you can come visit me at this day and time. But then at that day and time they are not there or don't have time. So please be in prayer with us that we will be able to get out to Yanamayo despite the strike and that Ana will be at her house available to spend some time with us.

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Then, after Ana got on the combi she was waiting for, Franci and I walked some more and found some llamas. The neighbor went down by the llamas with us so we could take some pictures. This gals name is Victoria and she is with the Adventist church. I've heard the Adventist church has some weird rules and practices here but as long as they believe in the absolutes of Christ, we are not in the business of stealing members.

And we continued on, walking through Yanamayo. We were walking down a muddy street as most are in Yanamayo when we heard some yelling. There were three girls at a park yelling at us for our attention. We asked what they were doing and said they were looking at lagartos (lizards). So we walked over not knowing what to expect especiallyas I didn't know what this word lagartos meant! As we got near to the girls we found out they were watching little tiny lizards climb around on the rocks. We spent some time with the girls, the little adorable one is Rosemary. As we spent time with them I let them take some pictures with my camera and along with the lizards, we also saw a mouse run across the grass! We left the girls and some of their other friends with a promise to visit another afternoon soon.

And guess what, we kept on walking! Now we were walking by a little field and didn't know what was planted there. On the other side of this baby field were two women sitting and knitting. I walked a bit closer to them just to ask what type of plant it was and maybe start a conversation. One gal told me not to come any closer because there was a dog, but really, the dog was lying there resting and of no danger to me. I asked about the plants and a few other questions. The women were very short and obviously not interested in talking so we walked away.

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A little bit further down the road there was a cute baby sheep on the side of the road. The owner, a Senora, was standing there and gave us permission to take pictures with the cutie. So we did and as we were leaving I asked for her name. Her response was, What's your name? Then she asked us if we were with a church and we answered honestly like I discussed. She was not very kind but told us her name is Carmen and that she is a testigo, Jehova witness. We thanked her for letting us take pictures and trekked further on the muddy road.

Overall we had a great day, it was almost like being at a petting zoo! We saw lots of sheep and dogs, black big pigs, pink little pigs, tiny lizards, a mouse, a baby sheep and llamas! But on a serious note, our time in Yanamayo strengthened our relationship, we made a contact and an appointment with Ana, we have a friend to visit, Carmen, and the kiddos that want us to come back. We did have the majority of people not respond to us very well. But, we have been praying fervently that God would guide us to the people in whom he has been softening, people ready for what we have to say. So, I'm grateful to God that this day we had clear open doors and clearly closed doors.