Tuesday, June 7th
Another busy and exciting day visiting the Churches of Asia Minor – better Turkey. Today our journey took us first to the sites around Sardis. The excavations here reveal the Temple of Artemis but next to it within almost touch range of a golf club, stands the remains of a Church. It is interesting to see the signs of Christians, believers, carved into the marble of even the pagan temple ruins. But to see the Church in the shadows of the pagan temple was exhilarating. Here we took time again to read the scriptural passage and hear comments from one of our team.
And here I began the filming of a promotional video to encourage churches and pastors to help Ismail Serinken establish churches in the Seven Cities of the Book of Revelation. It was all I could do to hold the camera as Ismail began to share his conversion story and how God is leading him to plant Churches here in Turkey.
From Sardis we journeyed to Philadelphia. There isn’t much excavation here because the current city is built upon the ancient site. But the four pillars that stand in the ancient site depict a large building used by the Church here. Sadly, here as elsewhere we see somewhere adjacent a Mosque to almost every Christian site.
Another hour and one-half journey took us to Laodecia. There is a mammoth area here of the remains of ancient Laodecia adjacent to the current city, Denizli. Here we spent almost three hours walking and viewing the city’s ruins. And here is the first site chosen to purchase a building for the new work Ismail has begun here. He was born here. His parents live here. Thank God they have received Jesus as their Savior.
A quick drive through part Denizli to get a “feel” for the city and then finally to our hotel and supper. And speaking of supper, I am getting used to the Turkish food. Not bad at all! And the deserts are fabulous.
Well, I will get a good sleep tonight since it is now only 9:30 here and I will soon be finished with the work I need to do.
I can’t wait to see how many are willing to go through all the pictures and videos I have. Anyway, I am “PUMPED!”
God bless and see you when I see you,
Dr D
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
SARDIS, TURKEY
Monday, June 6th
I made it! I MADE IT!
We started out in Izmir, Smyrna, this morning at 8:30 and wound up the hill to the Smyrna Citadel which overlooks the city of Izmir. The Citadel, fort, looks like a Crown from a distance. In Revelation 2:10, Jesus said, “...be thou faithful until death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” It is said that Pollycarp was martyred here.
It was stirring to one’s spirit man to stand there and hear the Word of Jesus to the Church of Smyrna read. It was as though you could hear the sounds of the martyrs crying out to God for the people of Turkey. In my spirit I could hear the call of Jesus for assistance for the people of Turkey – all 4-5,000 believers of the 72 million – saying come over and help us! They do not need bodies, put prayers, finances to assist them to do the work of reaching their own Jerusalem.
Our journey then took us to Pergamum. It was a journey of about 3 hours. Then a ride up the cable car to the Acropolis. There are a lot of ruins on top of the mountain. If we were back in the days of John we would see three idols from over 3,000 feet below the Acropolis. Everything up there would look like gods to those below. There the “major” buildings were built of white marble. There are still huge stones with the names of notable people inscribed on them because of their positions. Do you remember that Jesus said, “To him that overcometh, I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written....”
Below the floor of the major temple, are huge arches and walls to support the temple. But through these one can walk today and descend to the next level and look out and see the steepest amphitheater of any in existence or known. The place is uncanny with sights and the imagination can run in every direction.
After almost three hours we then headed to Thyatira. It was again about a three hour or more journey. Here, it was my turn to read the passage about the Church from Revelation 2:18-29.....
Let me interrupt! Do you hear the sounds? The sounds of the evening call to prayer for the Moslems?
Back to where I was ..... and to share some thoughts. It does something to you to do this and remember the believers who were allowing their political connections, their cultural connections, to weaken their walk with Jesus by compromise. Even to the point that because they belonged to a “guild” they slowly began to indulge in the ways to their culture, their political position, until Jesus said (as stated in the Message Bible) “I’m about to lay her low, along with her partners, as they play their sex-and-religion games.” (Rev. 2:22) That is how low the step-by-step alignment with the ways of the world took them.
I wonder: Is there a message for the Church today in regard to how our relationships with society and its clubs, societies, our political persuasion, and the enticement of “compromise” can produce in our lives?
Well, enough preaching – particularly since I am to be simply writing a “blog” – which is a record of the day’s activities. But what else can I do, when I hear the cry of the martyrs and the warning of the Spirit as it rings loudly the message of Jesus to His Church?
God bless you,
Dr D
I made it! I MADE IT!
We started out in Izmir, Smyrna, this morning at 8:30 and wound up the hill to the Smyrna Citadel which overlooks the city of Izmir. The Citadel, fort, looks like a Crown from a distance. In Revelation 2:10, Jesus said, “...be thou faithful until death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” It is said that Pollycarp was martyred here.
It was stirring to one’s spirit man to stand there and hear the Word of Jesus to the Church of Smyrna read. It was as though you could hear the sounds of the martyrs crying out to God for the people of Turkey. In my spirit I could hear the call of Jesus for assistance for the people of Turkey – all 4-5,000 believers of the 72 million – saying come over and help us! They do not need bodies, put prayers, finances to assist them to do the work of reaching their own Jerusalem.
Our journey then took us to Pergamum. It was a journey of about 3 hours. Then a ride up the cable car to the Acropolis. There are a lot of ruins on top of the mountain. If we were back in the days of John we would see three idols from over 3,000 feet below the Acropolis. Everything up there would look like gods to those below. There the “major” buildings were built of white marble. There are still huge stones with the names of notable people inscribed on them because of their positions. Do you remember that Jesus said, “To him that overcometh, I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written....”
Below the floor of the major temple, are huge arches and walls to support the temple. But through these one can walk today and descend to the next level and look out and see the steepest amphitheater of any in existence or known. The place is uncanny with sights and the imagination can run in every direction.
After almost three hours we then headed to Thyatira. It was again about a three hour or more journey. Here, it was my turn to read the passage about the Church from Revelation 2:18-29.....
Let me interrupt! Do you hear the sounds? The sounds of the evening call to prayer for the Moslems?
Back to where I was ..... and to share some thoughts. It does something to you to do this and remember the believers who were allowing their political connections, their cultural connections, to weaken their walk with Jesus by compromise. Even to the point that because they belonged to a “guild” they slowly began to indulge in the ways to their culture, their political position, until Jesus said (as stated in the Message Bible) “I’m about to lay her low, along with her partners, as they play their sex-and-religion games.” (Rev. 2:22) That is how low the step-by-step alignment with the ways of the world took them.
I wonder: Is there a message for the Church today in regard to how our relationships with society and its clubs, societies, our political persuasion, and the enticement of “compromise” can produce in our lives?
Well, enough preaching – particularly since I am to be simply writing a “blog” – which is a record of the day’s activities. But what else can I do, when I hear the cry of the martyrs and the warning of the Spirit as it rings loudly the message of Jesus to His Church?
God bless you,
Dr D
Sunday, June 5, 2011
FROM IZMIR, TURKEY
Sunday, June 5th
Sunday is the day to worship our Lord and Savior, and I had a great worship experience this morning! I could not understand the words, but my spirit was moved by the Holy Spirit as I listened to the believers, Turkish believers, along with some Koreans who live here, pour their heart out in worship.
The Church is pastored by Ismail Serinken and wife, Angelea. And of course their three children, from ages 12 - 2. (Two boys and a girl – I’ll give you their names later. Why, later? Do I have to really answer that question? That is what I thought!) Ismail is Turkish and his wife is from Romania. She came here as a missionary from her Romanian Church, met and married Ismail.
Counting the 15 of us, there were about 50-60 in attendance. They own their own building (a room on the third floor of a nice building as well as a coffee house about three doors to the left of their Church. There is so much to tell, but it would be so much more meaningful with pictures, and I am very tired, so it will have to wait.
Quickly now, we had a delicious Turkish meal and then visited the site of an ancient fortress on a high hill in Ankara. It dates back to the time of the Hittites, which takes you back before the entrance of the Israelites into Palestine. It has been rebuilt several times but the foundation is Hittite.
A quick one hour flight then put us in Ismir, the ancient city of Smyrna and that is where I am presently.
Ismail has joined us for the rest of our journey through the Seven Churches of Revelation, which begins tomorrow.
So, I am stopping to get the rest – the walking was tough today up the hill and upon the walls of the fortress.
God bless,
Dr D
Sunday is the day to worship our Lord and Savior, and I had a great worship experience this morning! I could not understand the words, but my spirit was moved by the Holy Spirit as I listened to the believers, Turkish believers, along with some Koreans who live here, pour their heart out in worship.
The Church is pastored by Ismail Serinken and wife, Angelea. And of course their three children, from ages 12 - 2. (Two boys and a girl – I’ll give you their names later. Why, later? Do I have to really answer that question? That is what I thought!) Ismail is Turkish and his wife is from Romania. She came here as a missionary from her Romanian Church, met and married Ismail.
Counting the 15 of us, there were about 50-60 in attendance. They own their own building (a room on the third floor of a nice building as well as a coffee house about three doors to the left of their Church. There is so much to tell, but it would be so much more meaningful with pictures, and I am very tired, so it will have to wait.
Quickly now, we had a delicious Turkish meal and then visited the site of an ancient fortress on a high hill in Ankara. It dates back to the time of the Hittites, which takes you back before the entrance of the Israelites into Palestine. It has been rebuilt several times but the foundation is Hittite.
A quick one hour flight then put us in Ismir, the ancient city of Smyrna and that is where I am presently.
Ismail has joined us for the rest of our journey through the Seven Churches of Revelation, which begins tomorrow.
So, I am stopping to get the rest – the walking was tough today up the hill and upon the walls of the fortress.
God bless,
Dr D
Peru 2011 - Marilyn & LTI students - Blog #5
Debie Phillips
soo...right now we are taking pastor cesi, marco and jovana to vote. Today is presidential voting day in Peru and the lines are ridiculously long! They go all the way outside and around the voting buildings. So we are just in the van waiting.
I’m feeling better! Thank you to everyone who was praying for me!! I started feeling better on thurs, praise God because we were in Chincha which is about 3 hours from where we had been staying. We ministered in two services there, one on weds night and one on thurs night. And we also went door to door inviting people to an evangelistic outreach that we did nearby.
After the outreach, we went to the pastors house, which is upstairs on top of the church, and they gave us some “hamburgers” that were very...interesting. I don’t think any of us really liked them at all but we all kept smiling and ate them without making a reaction...except jason lol that was funny, you definitely had to be there for that one to understand. After we ate, we ministered in their Thurs night service. Emily, Dillon and Emily did their skit, I sang in Spanish and then I gave a message. I really enjoyed the service. The worship was very loud and energetic and the people were very responsive.
I really went off my notes and gave most of my testimony which wasn’t planned at all. After I finished, Dillon came and gave an alter call and they prayed for people while I sang. It was a great service for me personally because I really just became vulnerable and went off my notes, it was kind of hard because I felt like I wasn’t going to make sense and I wasn’t going to be capable of connecting all my thoughts to flow together into a message unless I stuck to my notes but I just prayed and asked the holy spirit to completely take over and it was a very neat experience for me.
Service got out late and we made the 3 hour trip back to Jica Marca in a very crowed van...4 full grown men(Jason, Dillon, Pastor David and Marco) 5 women(Myself, Pastor Ceci, Emily, Jovana, and Mrs. Marylin) andddd 3 children, one of which is a baby whose favorite hobby is crying and im not even exaggerating.lol. But it was a fun ride on the way back, we played games and Emily laughed so much that she lost her voice the next day.
Friday, we returned to the school that we visited last week and we spoke to one group of 60 kids who were in 5th grade I believe. We did a skit, drumline and a salvation message. They absolutely loved the drumline, one of the kids got up and started break dancing kinda lol they loved it.
Friday night, we did street ministry near a busy little market in a not so great part of town. We went with a church which was a blessing because they had a sound system for use to use which was a huge help. Emily gave her testimony, we did the drumline and a skit and then Jason stood up on a bucket and preached the Gospel. He did reallyy good! Of course lol. People were really paying attention and seemed to connect with them. The pastor closed out, we prayed for a few people and then left to go eat. Nothing was open, so we drove to the airport since they have a 24 hour Mcdonalds and ate there.
Yesterday,(Saturday) we woke up and worked until around 3pm. Emily, Jovana and I washed all the dusty windows of the church and the side of the building. Then we helped the guys pick out all the rocks out of some soil that their hoping to plant grass on. After that, we ate, showered and got ready to go minister at another service at a church in Lima. Before church, we were rushing in the downtown Lima traffic to pick up Angeline; she was our translator for the night. So we sent jovana out into the downtown “town square” to try and find Angeline, only for Angeline to find us first. So then we were just looking for Jovana. This was not a good idea....to say the least lol there were sooooo many people. Almost like NY city or somthing. So we keep driving around stalling for them to get in the van butttttt...jovana was nowhere to be found and hadnt returned to the van. So we sent Jason out into the crowd to look for her....bad idea number 2! Lol. So we keep driving around the square hoping to spot them but we didnt. After a few minutes, we spotted Jason and he got back into the van and then Marco got out to start looking, while our translator drove the van. Thennn we found jovana!! Lol so now we were just looking for Marco. Keep in mind we had already driven around this square like 50 times! Lol. Once we spotted him, the translator pulled over for him to catch up and get into the van, and she just so happened to pull over right in front of the presidents house...bad idea number 3! So all of the guards with big machine guns started blowing their whistles at us telling us to move. It was a very interesting expirience! But praise God, everyone was finally safe in the van.
Service that night was awesome. The church we went to was predominantly young people and it was a packed house. I sang my song in spanish, dillon spoke a short message and Emily gave the word. After that, there was an alter call and we prayed and ministered to people. It seems that everywhere we go, the people are just so hungry for the word of God and so ready to experience him. It truly is very touching.
Sooo yeah, I think thats all for now, Emily is going to blog next and I don’t wanna keep her waiting any more :-) I cant wait to be home!
I miss you mom and Michael!! Give Eli hugs and treats for me!
Cedric!! I miss you so much!! I love your emails!! Cant wait to talk to you, I love you!
Anna!! Cant wait to see you girllllll!!!!! lol.
Thanks to everyone who has been reading and praying for us!
To God be all the glory!!
Thanks!
God bless!
Jason
The past few days have been great. This week we have been traveling a lot. We have ministered with 4 different pastors in the past four days. During our prayer time in preparation for this trip our greatest prayer was that we would operate in the power of the Spirit. We asked God that He would go before us and prepare the hearts of the people. We asked God that we would not operate in our own power but that we operate only in His, and everywhere that we go we take His presence with us. He definitely answered that prayer for us. At the churches the people have been very receptive to the word of God. Last night we went to a church and they were the most on fire church that we’ve been with. My favorite ministry in the past four days though was on Friday. We did an evangelistic service in a busy part of Lima. I didn’t think that we’d be doing street ministry while here in Peru but the Lord made it happen. The pastor had his own team that did worship then us LTI students did the rest of the ministry. Emily shared her testimony, then we did our drum line, next performed a skit then I had the opportunity to share the gospel. This was a dream come true for me because the Lord has given me a desire to preach the gospel in the open air but I never put any feet to it. (Psa 37:4)Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. The Lord put a desire in my heart to preach in the streets, and on this missions trip he gave me that desire. A year ago if you would have told me that I’d would be in the streets of Peru preaching to the people while standing on a bucket I would have called you nuts. Praise be to God for giving us desires that are pleasing to Him, and then bringing it to pass as we delight ourselves in Him. Yesterday was our last day of ministry, and we have two free days. We were supposed to have ministry today but due to presidential elections all activities have been cancelled. Thank you for your prayers and for keeping up with the blog. Beth I cant wait to see you in a few days! And I cant wait until we can travel and do ministry together. God bless you all, see you soon.
Dylon
It’s ridiculous that God allows us to be apart of His ministry. The move of the Holy Spirit has been with us everywhere we’ve gone. We speak with boldness when we tell the people that God is here to affect them because we know it will be confirmed. This trip has been everything I could have hoped for.
Thursday night we spent time at a church in Chincha. Jason brought encouragement, Debi shared the Word, and I closed with a Scripture regarding what the Holy Spirit was speaking to me for their church at that time. Many people responded to the altar call and the experience was evident in all that responded. We have not been using translators when praying for and laying hands on people, but just allowing our words and prayer language to minister to their spirits.
We got back from Chincha to Jicamarca about 1am and I went straight to bed. Friday morning we returned to the school we ministered to the week before. The target was the older age group, but I don’t believe they quite remembered that we were coming. Upon arrival, we waited 30 minutes before someone invited us to come in. We went through our 45 minute program smoothly and effectively. Then we began to wait for our next group to arrive for an additional 45 minutes. Finally we realized that it was time for school to end and another group wouldn’t be coming… yes, we were forgotten about. But all is well, the director of the school clearly stated that the door was open to him whenever they needed. Having that achieved is a far greater accomplishment toward kingdom advancement in the region then just getting through 45 minutes of our program. There was a great weight that rode on our time in this particular school because it was the first opportunity Pastor David or anyone has had in being able to speak to the kids. The fact that Pastor David is now able to be a voice here will be great towards the growth of his church, the discipleship of believers, counsel for many young people, and ensuring that young men find Jesus rather than the community of local gangs.
Friday night we traveled to Marcus for street ministry. The pastor accompanying us was the blind pastor whose church I spoke at last year. It was great to see him again. I really enjoy his company and way of thinking. The only possible “negative” to the loss of his sight is that his ear has become very fine-tuned. Sound check took about an hour total. We walked around and attempted to invite people at the market to come and enjoy the music or as Jason said “there will be cute boys,” but this was very difficult when we had no idea how this ministry would continue to be delayed.
However, that is the nature and beauty of ministering overseas. In some ways you must completely depend on those you are ministering with. It can be frustrating at times, but its important to keep in mind that it all will happen in God’s timing and the people will be there who are ready to receive what God has given us. The greatest enjoyment of taking part in this two-part trip every year is being completely open to the will of God. You know that every opportunity you have here is according to His will and I love to make the most of those opportunities. Although we may be forgot about or be delayed for hours at a time, it’s easy to say, “It’s supposed to happen this way.”
Our ministry was well received even on the street. We did not see an immediate fruit of souls being saved, but the pastor does similar ministry often and many people do come to his church at a later time to be discipled.
Saturday we continued work in the garden and assembled a wooden beam for the front of the church which Pastor will grow vines over as a decorative piece. Work concluded with lunch and we began to prepare for travel to our next church. This was definitely the youngest church we have visited so far. The worship was loud and guitar driven and very exciting. Jason and I were limited by the pole in front of us to display our usual expressions of worship and I became very familiar with an orange wall in front of me during the message. We all flowed very prophetically speaking very specific messages to the congregation and pastor. This would be close competition for one of my favorite Peru experiences just because of the nature of what was happening.
I’ll say it again because I truly can’t get over it-- what God enables and empowers us to do is amazing. He lets us be apart of what He can already do on His own. Wow.
Emily R.
Well fellow readers at the moment we have been sitting in the car for about 45 minutes waiting for Jovana to vote. The traffic today is insane! Here you have to option to vote and not vote and pay a fee of about $100 or more. Fun. The last couple of days we have had the opportunity to go to Chincha to minister to the word. Jovana has been helping me to break my many fears of ministering the word in Spanish. I’ve had fun overcoming them and even went door to door inviting people to come to an evangelistic service that we had prepared.
While in Chincha, we ate at a really good restaurant call El Baton and stayed in the Christopher Columbus Hotel where the water pressure in the shower almost drowned me. It was amazing! We were able to visit with Pastor Maria Isabel and her father Pastor Honorado and his family. He had hours of stories to tell us while we ate burgers. It was truly an experience.
Friday morning we went back to Emprendedores which is the school that Eliel goes to a few days a week. There we had an amazing time with the kids from age 11 to 15. There we were able to share our drumline, testimony, skits and salvation message. The kids responded well to the things that we shared. They even got involved in playing on the buckets and others danced. By the time we were done kids were asking where Iglesia Vida were and when would they be able to go and speak with the Pastor. Praise God for the lives that we are able to impact.
Yesterday I inspired Jovana to clean to front of the church. It was amazing to see the difference in color once she added a little soap and water. Deb and I were on window duty cleaning them up and making them shine. The boys on the other hand had another day of working in the garden which by the way looks amazing. Pastor David started building a canopy like thing to plant some kind of flowers around it that will hold on to it. Sorry for the vague description but I will post pictures of it on Facebook so that you all can see what I am talking about. :)
Last night we went to a church that full of young people who were hungry for the word! We could all sense it from the moment that we walked in. Deb sang, Dylon shared an encouraging word, I shared a message and Jason closed. Marco then made an altar call which almost everyone responded to and the Holy Spirit showed up to minister to each and every one of them. Chains were braking off, burdens lifted, fresh anointing was coming over them. I’ve never been apart of something like that. It reminds me of how blessed we all are to have a God that is willing to use us to bring His Kingdom to Earth!
Thank you for all of the prayer and support that you have all provided. It encourages us all the keep on doing what God has called us to do! Declaring His will in the earth at all cost. Love you can’t wait to see everyone back home!
Marilyn (known here in Peru as Mama D)
This has been a very full two weeks. I think all of the students are tired from the busy schedule AND the hard work. I know they would like to be able to sleep in – so after we arrive in Ft. Myers around four on Wednesday morning, expect them to be comatose most of the day. LOL!!
They have enjoyed the ministry most of all. I asked each of them what their favorite was – and for the most part, something different impacted each of them and for different reason. Truly - all of them have been thrilled at their ability to move beyond their notes while speaking. Frankly, it is impossible to anticipate where God might take them and lead them. What great times for them to have at such a young age.
They have also worked - HARD!! It is such a blessing for David and Ceci because the help they are given is engergizing to them to complete tasks they have. The work is NEVER ENDING. David and I were looking at things that are still to be done and we had to laugh because every time we think if just these few things could be done – and there are always more. Nearly impossible to believe that it all began just three years ago to see what is here today. Especially when you understand the monumental task it is to complete something and the fact there is no Home Depot nearby if you need something to complete your job.
We are out all day due to the elections. We are at a nice Mall right across from the Pacific Ocean. The kids are going to be going out in a bit to walk “down” to the beach area and to some parks. The rest of us are going to wait in or around Starbucks. Nice having Internet AND some American coffee.
Tomorrow night, Iglesia Vida in Jicamarca has planned a farewell party for us. The students truly have enjoyed the opportunity to get better acquainted with these faithful people.
Probably, we won’t write another Blog. Love to all of you and thanks for your prayers. With the exception of Debie - all of us have remained healthy - a real answer to prayer. The anointing has been evident in ALL we’ve done.
soo...right now we are taking pastor cesi, marco and jovana to vote. Today is presidential voting day in Peru and the lines are ridiculously long! They go all the way outside and around the voting buildings. So we are just in the van waiting.
I’m feeling better! Thank you to everyone who was praying for me!! I started feeling better on thurs, praise God because we were in Chincha which is about 3 hours from where we had been staying. We ministered in two services there, one on weds night and one on thurs night. And we also went door to door inviting people to an evangelistic outreach that we did nearby.
After the outreach, we went to the pastors house, which is upstairs on top of the church, and they gave us some “hamburgers” that were very...interesting. I don’t think any of us really liked them at all but we all kept smiling and ate them without making a reaction...except jason lol that was funny, you definitely had to be there for that one to understand. After we ate, we ministered in their Thurs night service. Emily, Dillon and Emily did their skit, I sang in Spanish and then I gave a message. I really enjoyed the service. The worship was very loud and energetic and the people were very responsive.
I really went off my notes and gave most of my testimony which wasn’t planned at all. After I finished, Dillon came and gave an alter call and they prayed for people while I sang. It was a great service for me personally because I really just became vulnerable and went off my notes, it was kind of hard because I felt like I wasn’t going to make sense and I wasn’t going to be capable of connecting all my thoughts to flow together into a message unless I stuck to my notes but I just prayed and asked the holy spirit to completely take over and it was a very neat experience for me.
Service got out late and we made the 3 hour trip back to Jica Marca in a very crowed van...4 full grown men(Jason, Dillon, Pastor David and Marco) 5 women(Myself, Pastor Ceci, Emily, Jovana, and Mrs. Marylin) andddd 3 children, one of which is a baby whose favorite hobby is crying and im not even exaggerating.lol. But it was a fun ride on the way back, we played games and Emily laughed so much that she lost her voice the next day.
Friday, we returned to the school that we visited last week and we spoke to one group of 60 kids who were in 5th grade I believe. We did a skit, drumline and a salvation message. They absolutely loved the drumline, one of the kids got up and started break dancing kinda lol they loved it.
Friday night, we did street ministry near a busy little market in a not so great part of town. We went with a church which was a blessing because they had a sound system for use to use which was a huge help. Emily gave her testimony, we did the drumline and a skit and then Jason stood up on a bucket and preached the Gospel. He did reallyy good! Of course lol. People were really paying attention and seemed to connect with them. The pastor closed out, we prayed for a few people and then left to go eat. Nothing was open, so we drove to the airport since they have a 24 hour Mcdonalds and ate there.
Yesterday,(Saturday) we woke up and worked until around 3pm. Emily, Jovana and I washed all the dusty windows of the church and the side of the building. Then we helped the guys pick out all the rocks out of some soil that their hoping to plant grass on. After that, we ate, showered and got ready to go minister at another service at a church in Lima. Before church, we were rushing in the downtown Lima traffic to pick up Angeline; she was our translator for the night. So we sent jovana out into the downtown “town square” to try and find Angeline, only for Angeline to find us first. So then we were just looking for Jovana. This was not a good idea....to say the least lol there were sooooo many people. Almost like NY city or somthing. So we keep driving around stalling for them to get in the van butttttt...jovana was nowhere to be found and hadnt returned to the van. So we sent Jason out into the crowd to look for her....bad idea number 2! Lol. So we keep driving around the square hoping to spot them but we didnt. After a few minutes, we spotted Jason and he got back into the van and then Marco got out to start looking, while our translator drove the van. Thennn we found jovana!! Lol so now we were just looking for Marco. Keep in mind we had already driven around this square like 50 times! Lol. Once we spotted him, the translator pulled over for him to catch up and get into the van, and she just so happened to pull over right in front of the presidents house...bad idea number 3! So all of the guards with big machine guns started blowing their whistles at us telling us to move. It was a very interesting expirience! But praise God, everyone was finally safe in the van.
Service that night was awesome. The church we went to was predominantly young people and it was a packed house. I sang my song in spanish, dillon spoke a short message and Emily gave the word. After that, there was an alter call and we prayed and ministered to people. It seems that everywhere we go, the people are just so hungry for the word of God and so ready to experience him. It truly is very touching.
Sooo yeah, I think thats all for now, Emily is going to blog next and I don’t wanna keep her waiting any more :-) I cant wait to be home!
I miss you mom and Michael!! Give Eli hugs and treats for me!
Cedric!! I miss you so much!! I love your emails!! Cant wait to talk to you, I love you!
Anna!! Cant wait to see you girllllll!!!!! lol.
Thanks to everyone who has been reading and praying for us!
To God be all the glory!!
Thanks!
God bless!
Jason
The past few days have been great. This week we have been traveling a lot. We have ministered with 4 different pastors in the past four days. During our prayer time in preparation for this trip our greatest prayer was that we would operate in the power of the Spirit. We asked God that He would go before us and prepare the hearts of the people. We asked God that we would not operate in our own power but that we operate only in His, and everywhere that we go we take His presence with us. He definitely answered that prayer for us. At the churches the people have been very receptive to the word of God. Last night we went to a church and they were the most on fire church that we’ve been with. My favorite ministry in the past four days though was on Friday. We did an evangelistic service in a busy part of Lima. I didn’t think that we’d be doing street ministry while here in Peru but the Lord made it happen. The pastor had his own team that did worship then us LTI students did the rest of the ministry. Emily shared her testimony, then we did our drum line, next performed a skit then I had the opportunity to share the gospel. This was a dream come true for me because the Lord has given me a desire to preach the gospel in the open air but I never put any feet to it. (Psa 37:4)Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. The Lord put a desire in my heart to preach in the streets, and on this missions trip he gave me that desire. A year ago if you would have told me that I’d would be in the streets of Peru preaching to the people while standing on a bucket I would have called you nuts. Praise be to God for giving us desires that are pleasing to Him, and then bringing it to pass as we delight ourselves in Him. Yesterday was our last day of ministry, and we have two free days. We were supposed to have ministry today but due to presidential elections all activities have been cancelled. Thank you for your prayers and for keeping up with the blog. Beth I cant wait to see you in a few days! And I cant wait until we can travel and do ministry together. God bless you all, see you soon.
Dylon
It’s ridiculous that God allows us to be apart of His ministry. The move of the Holy Spirit has been with us everywhere we’ve gone. We speak with boldness when we tell the people that God is here to affect them because we know it will be confirmed. This trip has been everything I could have hoped for.
Thursday night we spent time at a church in Chincha. Jason brought encouragement, Debi shared the Word, and I closed with a Scripture regarding what the Holy Spirit was speaking to me for their church at that time. Many people responded to the altar call and the experience was evident in all that responded. We have not been using translators when praying for and laying hands on people, but just allowing our words and prayer language to minister to their spirits.
We got back from Chincha to Jicamarca about 1am and I went straight to bed. Friday morning we returned to the school we ministered to the week before. The target was the older age group, but I don’t believe they quite remembered that we were coming. Upon arrival, we waited 30 minutes before someone invited us to come in. We went through our 45 minute program smoothly and effectively. Then we began to wait for our next group to arrive for an additional 45 minutes. Finally we realized that it was time for school to end and another group wouldn’t be coming… yes, we were forgotten about. But all is well, the director of the school clearly stated that the door was open to him whenever they needed. Having that achieved is a far greater accomplishment toward kingdom advancement in the region then just getting through 45 minutes of our program. There was a great weight that rode on our time in this particular school because it was the first opportunity Pastor David or anyone has had in being able to speak to the kids. The fact that Pastor David is now able to be a voice here will be great towards the growth of his church, the discipleship of believers, counsel for many young people, and ensuring that young men find Jesus rather than the community of local gangs.
Friday night we traveled to Marcus for street ministry. The pastor accompanying us was the blind pastor whose church I spoke at last year. It was great to see him again. I really enjoy his company and way of thinking. The only possible “negative” to the loss of his sight is that his ear has become very fine-tuned. Sound check took about an hour total. We walked around and attempted to invite people at the market to come and enjoy the music or as Jason said “there will be cute boys,” but this was very difficult when we had no idea how this ministry would continue to be delayed.
However, that is the nature and beauty of ministering overseas. In some ways you must completely depend on those you are ministering with. It can be frustrating at times, but its important to keep in mind that it all will happen in God’s timing and the people will be there who are ready to receive what God has given us. The greatest enjoyment of taking part in this two-part trip every year is being completely open to the will of God. You know that every opportunity you have here is according to His will and I love to make the most of those opportunities. Although we may be forgot about or be delayed for hours at a time, it’s easy to say, “It’s supposed to happen this way.”
Our ministry was well received even on the street. We did not see an immediate fruit of souls being saved, but the pastor does similar ministry often and many people do come to his church at a later time to be discipled.
Saturday we continued work in the garden and assembled a wooden beam for the front of the church which Pastor will grow vines over as a decorative piece. Work concluded with lunch and we began to prepare for travel to our next church. This was definitely the youngest church we have visited so far. The worship was loud and guitar driven and very exciting. Jason and I were limited by the pole in front of us to display our usual expressions of worship and I became very familiar with an orange wall in front of me during the message. We all flowed very prophetically speaking very specific messages to the congregation and pastor. This would be close competition for one of my favorite Peru experiences just because of the nature of what was happening.
I’ll say it again because I truly can’t get over it-- what God enables and empowers us to do is amazing. He lets us be apart of what He can already do on His own. Wow.
Emily R.
Well fellow readers at the moment we have been sitting in the car for about 45 minutes waiting for Jovana to vote. The traffic today is insane! Here you have to option to vote and not vote and pay a fee of about $100 or more. Fun. The last couple of days we have had the opportunity to go to Chincha to minister to the word. Jovana has been helping me to break my many fears of ministering the word in Spanish. I’ve had fun overcoming them and even went door to door inviting people to come to an evangelistic service that we had prepared.
While in Chincha, we ate at a really good restaurant call El Baton and stayed in the Christopher Columbus Hotel where the water pressure in the shower almost drowned me. It was amazing! We were able to visit with Pastor Maria Isabel and her father Pastor Honorado and his family. He had hours of stories to tell us while we ate burgers. It was truly an experience.
Friday morning we went back to Emprendedores which is the school that Eliel goes to a few days a week. There we had an amazing time with the kids from age 11 to 15. There we were able to share our drumline, testimony, skits and salvation message. The kids responded well to the things that we shared. They even got involved in playing on the buckets and others danced. By the time we were done kids were asking where Iglesia Vida were and when would they be able to go and speak with the Pastor. Praise God for the lives that we are able to impact.
Yesterday I inspired Jovana to clean to front of the church. It was amazing to see the difference in color once she added a little soap and water. Deb and I were on window duty cleaning them up and making them shine. The boys on the other hand had another day of working in the garden which by the way looks amazing. Pastor David started building a canopy like thing to plant some kind of flowers around it that will hold on to it. Sorry for the vague description but I will post pictures of it on Facebook so that you all can see what I am talking about. :)
Last night we went to a church that full of young people who were hungry for the word! We could all sense it from the moment that we walked in. Deb sang, Dylon shared an encouraging word, I shared a message and Jason closed. Marco then made an altar call which almost everyone responded to and the Holy Spirit showed up to minister to each and every one of them. Chains were braking off, burdens lifted, fresh anointing was coming over them. I’ve never been apart of something like that. It reminds me of how blessed we all are to have a God that is willing to use us to bring His Kingdom to Earth!
Thank you for all of the prayer and support that you have all provided. It encourages us all the keep on doing what God has called us to do! Declaring His will in the earth at all cost. Love you can’t wait to see everyone back home!
Marilyn (known here in Peru as Mama D)
This has been a very full two weeks. I think all of the students are tired from the busy schedule AND the hard work. I know they would like to be able to sleep in – so after we arrive in Ft. Myers around four on Wednesday morning, expect them to be comatose most of the day. LOL!!
They have enjoyed the ministry most of all. I asked each of them what their favorite was – and for the most part, something different impacted each of them and for different reason. Truly - all of them have been thrilled at their ability to move beyond their notes while speaking. Frankly, it is impossible to anticipate where God might take them and lead them. What great times for them to have at such a young age.
They have also worked - HARD!! It is such a blessing for David and Ceci because the help they are given is engergizing to them to complete tasks they have. The work is NEVER ENDING. David and I were looking at things that are still to be done and we had to laugh because every time we think if just these few things could be done – and there are always more. Nearly impossible to believe that it all began just three years ago to see what is here today. Especially when you understand the monumental task it is to complete something and the fact there is no Home Depot nearby if you need something to complete your job.
We are out all day due to the elections. We are at a nice Mall right across from the Pacific Ocean. The kids are going to be going out in a bit to walk “down” to the beach area and to some parks. The rest of us are going to wait in or around Starbucks. Nice having Internet AND some American coffee.
Tomorrow night, Iglesia Vida in Jicamarca has planned a farewell party for us. The students truly have enjoyed the opportunity to get better acquainted with these faithful people.
Probably, we won’t write another Blog. Love to all of you and thanks for your prayers. With the exception of Debie - all of us have remained healthy - a real answer to prayer. The anointing has been evident in ALL we’ve done.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
FROM TURKEY – ISTANBUL AND ANAKARA
Saturday, June 4th:
I ended yesterday with: “Saturday begins early, 8:00 AM with more sites to see here in Istanbul then a 3:00 flight to Izmir – old Smyrna of the Book of Revelation where we will attend Church on Sunday and tour the old city on Monday.” Guess what? Incorrect!
Here is the correct information: “Saturday begins early, 8:00 AM with more sites to see here in Istanbul then a 3:00 flight to Ankara.”
But we did get started early and the morning was filled with a visit to the Mosque: Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia means “Holy Wisdom”. It was first a Church and then was converted to a Mosque and is now a museum. It is amazing the amount of space it contains, the type of construction used with the pillars inside, and the gold in the murals and some of the fixtures in the front. And to think that it was burned two times by riots caused by believers because of suggested usage of non-Christian concepts, purposes, etc.
From there we went to the Grand Bazar. If you wanted it! “IT” was there! Jewelry, leather, trinkets, clothing, and on and on. I stood with three others for about 15 minutes talking just inside and decided to walk out and find a place to rest and eat dinner. It was the best decision. O, don’t worry! I will buy something, but it is too soon to do it now and then have to carry it around on the next two in-country air flights and from hotel to hotel. Besides, I do have at least one weakness: Leather!
From here we headed to the airport to take our flight to Ankara, the capital city. And would you know it! Matt Bennett signaled me and said lets go to Starbucks and get on-line with our iPads. WHAT? NO ONE TOLD ME STARBUCKS WAS IN THE AIRPORT. So we headed that way only to hear the announcement: “Flight to Ankara is now ready for boarding.” What a sad sound it was! I did not have time to get my “fix” and get back to join the others for boarding, so I walked away with only an “eyesight satisfaction.”
Now do not get excited. This trip isn’t all historical, non-biblical sightseeing! We will be touring the seven cities of Asia Minor and we will go to Church. So “un-lax” my friends, the history of the country is all entwined with the Biblical, secular and “religious.” One cannot be fully understood without the other. And I am getting a lot of pictures, film and recordings of the guide’s sharing about each place, as well as purchasing some written information.
Anyway we are now in Ankara which is named after the Angora goats. Supper is finished and we have the rest of the evening to relax. Tomorrow we attend the IPHC Church here in Ankara and have lunch with the pastor and his family. Then we head to the Ankara Castle and finally board a flight to Ismir – ancient Smyrna.
Just think: There are only about 3-4,000 believers in the whole country of 71 million Muslims. And this was at one time the “hot-bed” of Christianity.
So that ends the information for today. Thanks for reading. Thanks for your prayers.
Dr D
I ended yesterday with: “Saturday begins early, 8:00 AM with more sites to see here in Istanbul then a 3:00 flight to Izmir – old Smyrna of the Book of Revelation where we will attend Church on Sunday and tour the old city on Monday.” Guess what? Incorrect!
Here is the correct information: “Saturday begins early, 8:00 AM with more sites to see here in Istanbul then a 3:00 flight to Ankara.”
But we did get started early and the morning was filled with a visit to the Mosque: Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia means “Holy Wisdom”. It was first a Church and then was converted to a Mosque and is now a museum. It is amazing the amount of space it contains, the type of construction used with the pillars inside, and the gold in the murals and some of the fixtures in the front. And to think that it was burned two times by riots caused by believers because of suggested usage of non-Christian concepts, purposes, etc.
From there we went to the Grand Bazar. If you wanted it! “IT” was there! Jewelry, leather, trinkets, clothing, and on and on. I stood with three others for about 15 minutes talking just inside and decided to walk out and find a place to rest and eat dinner. It was the best decision. O, don’t worry! I will buy something, but it is too soon to do it now and then have to carry it around on the next two in-country air flights and from hotel to hotel. Besides, I do have at least one weakness: Leather!
From here we headed to the airport to take our flight to Ankara, the capital city. And would you know it! Matt Bennett signaled me and said lets go to Starbucks and get on-line with our iPads. WHAT? NO ONE TOLD ME STARBUCKS WAS IN THE AIRPORT. So we headed that way only to hear the announcement: “Flight to Ankara is now ready for boarding.” What a sad sound it was! I did not have time to get my “fix” and get back to join the others for boarding, so I walked away with only an “eyesight satisfaction.”
Now do not get excited. This trip isn’t all historical, non-biblical sightseeing! We will be touring the seven cities of Asia Minor and we will go to Church. So “un-lax” my friends, the history of the country is all entwined with the Biblical, secular and “religious.” One cannot be fully understood without the other. And I am getting a lot of pictures, film and recordings of the guide’s sharing about each place, as well as purchasing some written information.
Anyway we are now in Ankara which is named after the Angora goats. Supper is finished and we have the rest of the evening to relax. Tomorrow we attend the IPHC Church here in Ankara and have lunch with the pastor and his family. Then we head to the Ankara Castle and finally board a flight to Ismir – ancient Smyrna.
Just think: There are only about 3-4,000 believers in the whole country of 71 million Muslims. And this was at one time the “hot-bed” of Christianity.
So that ends the information for today. Thanks for reading. Thanks for your prayers.
Dr D
Friday, June 3, 2011
Peru 2011 - Marilyn & LTI students - Blog #3
(This Blog was written before Blog #4 but we didn’t have a way to send it – so obviously, this precedes yesterday’s Blog.)
This is Marilyn and it is Tuesday and we have no idea when we will post but we will keep writing until the time we can get on the Internet.
We spent the day in Lima yesterday. Our first stop was at Pastor Augustin and Jessica’s. Augustin is famous for his coffee drinks and is affectionately known as “Auggiebucks”. He made us all coffee.
The kids were able to see the “other side” of Lima as they are in a more affluent area. Their Church is just under four years old and David and I were walking with them during the process of starting and they look to us for counsel. Yesterday Augustin wanted to spend some time asking some advice on how to proceed with instituting new and higher level leadership within the Church. It was decided that when David and I are here in August we will lay hands on one of the young men who graduated from David Wilkerson’s Institute (in the States) so that he will be recognized by the body for this new position.
We then went to the Inca Market so the kids could do some shopping. From there we proceeded to the Mall so we could eat a late lunch/early dinner at Chilli’s. This is a very modern and affluent Mall. On a Monday night it was crowded with people and the kids walked around a bit and then went to Starbucks. That is where we were able to post our Blogs and pick up e-mails from home.
Peru’s economy is growing at a rate that is second to only one other Country in South America. It is evident and reflected in ALL the prices whether it be at McDonalds where a Happy Meal is $4.36 or the grocery store where prices are 1 ½ to 2 times what they were a year or so ago. Prices have skyrocketed. David and Ceci have stopped shopping at the grocery store as they CANNOT afford it and Ceci’s sister goes to a market in a very dangerous area to buy all the groceries, not just for our team, but for David and Ceci’s every day consumption. Without her help in this area - David and Ceci could not survive.
Ceci, Debie and I stayed at the house today while the team went to minister at a Christian School in Lima. David and Ceci had a work team here just one week before we came. Because of all that was involved - she is behind on their own needs, laundry and Homeschooling. I am helping her with laundry today and Debie is here getting some rest and trying to get over whatever “bug” has attacked her. We leave tomorrow for an overnight trip to Chincha so we want her healthy and rested so we can make that trip. It was very difficult for her to make the decision to stay - but both Saturday and Sunday she worked very hard (when she probably should have been in bed) because she did not want to let the team down.
I cannot begin to describe the hard work that the student, David and Ceci and I did for our three “work days.” An incredible amount of work was accomplished and it was a huge help for David and Ceci. Thankfully, it was all done for the Glory of God!!!!
Missions blog
-Debie Phillips
There is nothing worse than being sick in a foreign country. For the past four days I have been fighting some kind of stomach bug. At first it seemed almost like a flu, nausea, chills, fever (I think....thermometer was dead) headache and aches all over my body. But as the days progressed, it was mostly just stomach pain and intestinal issues. Even though I felt very bad, I tried to fight through and participate with the rest of the team. Sunday we worked from like 9am to 3pm digging holes, spreading gravel and sorting through junk to be thrown out then got cleaned up for Sunday service at 5:30 pm. The service was awesome! We had a great time of worship led by Julie and Carlos. Julie-master of the tambourine, and Carlos- the great guitarist. Lol. Then I sang the song “healer” in Spanish and Jason and I both spoke on suffering for the cause of Christ. After we spoke, Pastor David gave an alter call and many, if not all, responded.
I wish I could’ve participated in the ministry more but I felt horrible :-( the work from the day, singing and preaching was all my body could handle so I sat and worshiped on the front row.
Yesterday, (Monday) was very eventful! We drove I think around 2 or 3 hours into the city. Im not sure how long it took exactly because time really seemed to fly when we were on the road. I was enjoying looking out the window and seeing everything. I’ve been to many different countries, in fact I was even born in a foreign country(Costa Rica) but I was too young to really see things the way I see them now. I just looked out the window and couldn’t help but say “thank you God!!”. I sat there trying to imagine what kind of lives these people have and I wondered what kind of dreams and aspirations these people could possible have in such a poor place. They definitely don’t have the same opportunities that we have and that is something I think works to their advantage at least here at David’s church. The people have such a clear revelation of their need for God. They truly know that without God they have nothing...literally. I believe we, as Americans, have lost sight of that. So many times our “stuff” whether we realize it or not, fills some of the void that only Christ can fill. But anyways, I wasn’t planning on writing all of that, it just came lol.
Soo we stopped at the “Inca Market” I believe is the name and shopped for about 2 hours I think. Its been very strange not to be able to really keep track of time, I should’ve brought a watch. We never know what time it is! Lol. After the Inca Market which sells traditional Peruvian souvenirs and such, we went to a reallyyyy nice mall. Our first stop in the mall was “chillies”.......HALLELUJAH!!!! It was so nice to have some American food!! But what was even better, was having a drink....with ICE!!! I guess for some reason Americans are the only ones who put ice in their drinks. Sooo all of our drinks have been like room temperature and I have been cravinggg an ice cold refreshing drink! So that was nice ;-). After lunch, we walked around the mall and got Starbucks. At this point my stomach was killing me and all I wanted to do was go home :-( Mrs. Marylin let me read my email from Cedric and that made me smile despite how I was feeling.
Once we got home Mrs. Marylin said that if I still wasn’t feeling good, I could stay home the next day. She said that she was proud of me for pushing through with my sickness the past couple days and that the decision to stay home tomorrow was mine. I really wanted to go to the school with the rest of the team but I knew it would probably be wise to stay home and fully recover so that I could continue strong through the rest of the week. Soo I stayed home today. It was nice to be able to sleep in and in fact, I slept on and off most of the day which just goes to show how sick I was because at home, I can never take naps or sleep during the day unless im about to die or something. So apparently I needed the rest. Im feeling much better today than I have for the past few days praise God.
I hope I am fully recovered by tomorrow(Wednesday) because we are traveling to “Chincha” (not sure if thats how it’s spelled) and staying there overnight to minister at 2 different churches. Apparently, its very conservative. So I can only have one earing in each ear. Also, Pastor David said we should probably wear skirts but none of us knew to bring any soo this should be interesting. Lol.
Well, I think thats all...I miss everyone back home. I’m enjoying it here very much (except for being sick) but I’m looking forward to being home with my family and friends.
Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and reading our blogs. Pray for my stomach :-( please. I just want this pain to go away.
God bless!!!
-Debie
This is Marilyn and it is Tuesday and we have no idea when we will post but we will keep writing until the time we can get on the Internet.
We spent the day in Lima yesterday. Our first stop was at Pastor Augustin and Jessica’s. Augustin is famous for his coffee drinks and is affectionately known as “Auggiebucks”. He made us all coffee.
The kids were able to see the “other side” of Lima as they are in a more affluent area. Their Church is just under four years old and David and I were walking with them during the process of starting and they look to us for counsel. Yesterday Augustin wanted to spend some time asking some advice on how to proceed with instituting new and higher level leadership within the Church. It was decided that when David and I are here in August we will lay hands on one of the young men who graduated from David Wilkerson’s Institute (in the States) so that he will be recognized by the body for this new position.
We then went to the Inca Market so the kids could do some shopping. From there we proceeded to the Mall so we could eat a late lunch/early dinner at Chilli’s. This is a very modern and affluent Mall. On a Monday night it was crowded with people and the kids walked around a bit and then went to Starbucks. That is where we were able to post our Blogs and pick up e-mails from home.
Peru’s economy is growing at a rate that is second to only one other Country in South America. It is evident and reflected in ALL the prices whether it be at McDonalds where a Happy Meal is $4.36 or the grocery store where prices are 1 ½ to 2 times what they were a year or so ago. Prices have skyrocketed. David and Ceci have stopped shopping at the grocery store as they CANNOT afford it and Ceci’s sister goes to a market in a very dangerous area to buy all the groceries, not just for our team, but for David and Ceci’s every day consumption. Without her help in this area - David and Ceci could not survive.
Ceci, Debie and I stayed at the house today while the team went to minister at a Christian School in Lima. David and Ceci had a work team here just one week before we came. Because of all that was involved - she is behind on their own needs, laundry and Homeschooling. I am helping her with laundry today and Debie is here getting some rest and trying to get over whatever “bug” has attacked her. We leave tomorrow for an overnight trip to Chincha so we want her healthy and rested so we can make that trip. It was very difficult for her to make the decision to stay - but both Saturday and Sunday she worked very hard (when she probably should have been in bed) because she did not want to let the team down.
I cannot begin to describe the hard work that the student, David and Ceci and I did for our three “work days.” An incredible amount of work was accomplished and it was a huge help for David and Ceci. Thankfully, it was all done for the Glory of God!!!!
Missions blog
-Debie Phillips
There is nothing worse than being sick in a foreign country. For the past four days I have been fighting some kind of stomach bug. At first it seemed almost like a flu, nausea, chills, fever (I think....thermometer was dead) headache and aches all over my body. But as the days progressed, it was mostly just stomach pain and intestinal issues. Even though I felt very bad, I tried to fight through and participate with the rest of the team. Sunday we worked from like 9am to 3pm digging holes, spreading gravel and sorting through junk to be thrown out then got cleaned up for Sunday service at 5:30 pm. The service was awesome! We had a great time of worship led by Julie and Carlos. Julie-master of the tambourine, and Carlos- the great guitarist. Lol. Then I sang the song “healer” in Spanish and Jason and I both spoke on suffering for the cause of Christ. After we spoke, Pastor David gave an alter call and many, if not all, responded.
I wish I could’ve participated in the ministry more but I felt horrible :-( the work from the day, singing and preaching was all my body could handle so I sat and worshiped on the front row.
Yesterday, (Monday) was very eventful! We drove I think around 2 or 3 hours into the city. Im not sure how long it took exactly because time really seemed to fly when we were on the road. I was enjoying looking out the window and seeing everything. I’ve been to many different countries, in fact I was even born in a foreign country(Costa Rica) but I was too young to really see things the way I see them now. I just looked out the window and couldn’t help but say “thank you God!!”. I sat there trying to imagine what kind of lives these people have and I wondered what kind of dreams and aspirations these people could possible have in such a poor place. They definitely don’t have the same opportunities that we have and that is something I think works to their advantage at least here at David’s church. The people have such a clear revelation of their need for God. They truly know that without God they have nothing...literally. I believe we, as Americans, have lost sight of that. So many times our “stuff” whether we realize it or not, fills some of the void that only Christ can fill. But anyways, I wasn’t planning on writing all of that, it just came lol.
Soo we stopped at the “Inca Market” I believe is the name and shopped for about 2 hours I think. Its been very strange not to be able to really keep track of time, I should’ve brought a watch. We never know what time it is! Lol. After the Inca Market which sells traditional Peruvian souvenirs and such, we went to a reallyyyy nice mall. Our first stop in the mall was “chillies”.......HALLELUJAH!!!! It was so nice to have some American food!! But what was even better, was having a drink....with ICE!!! I guess for some reason Americans are the only ones who put ice in their drinks. Sooo all of our drinks have been like room temperature and I have been cravinggg an ice cold refreshing drink! So that was nice ;-). After lunch, we walked around the mall and got Starbucks. At this point my stomach was killing me and all I wanted to do was go home :-( Mrs. Marylin let me read my email from Cedric and that made me smile despite how I was feeling.
Once we got home Mrs. Marylin said that if I still wasn’t feeling good, I could stay home the next day. She said that she was proud of me for pushing through with my sickness the past couple days and that the decision to stay home tomorrow was mine. I really wanted to go to the school with the rest of the team but I knew it would probably be wise to stay home and fully recover so that I could continue strong through the rest of the week. Soo I stayed home today. It was nice to be able to sleep in and in fact, I slept on and off most of the day which just goes to show how sick I was because at home, I can never take naps or sleep during the day unless im about to die or something. So apparently I needed the rest. Im feeling much better today than I have for the past few days praise God.
I hope I am fully recovered by tomorrow(Wednesday) because we are traveling to “Chincha” (not sure if thats how it’s spelled) and staying there overnight to minister at 2 different churches. Apparently, its very conservative. So I can only have one earing in each ear. Also, Pastor David said we should probably wear skirts but none of us knew to bring any soo this should be interesting. Lol.
Well, I think thats all...I miss everyone back home. I’m enjoying it here very much (except for being sick) but I’m looking forward to being home with my family and friends.
Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and reading our blogs. Pray for my stomach :-( please. I just want this pain to go away.
God bless!!!
-Debie
FROM ISTANBUL TURKEY
Friday, June 3rd
This was a FULL DAY! From 8:30 am - 10:00 PM we moved through historic Istanbul. So much of history was impacted by this area and the peoples who controlled it, fought to take it and who lived or now live here. Much of the world’s religious philosophy had it roots in this city as well as the surrounding country.
Today we visited Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the Blue Mosque; the site of the Hippodrome adjacent to the Blue Mosque; Topkapi Palace, the imperial residence of the Sultan, his court and Harem and also the center of the state administration. On the grounds of the Sultan’s residence is found the Byzantine Church of Hagia Eirene (Holy Peace) where the second major Church Council was held in the early part of the fourth century.
There are four major courtyards involved in this Palace and so it takes time to see it all and we tired but still missed some of it. But while there we had dinner overlooking the Marmara Sea and could view both continents from there – Europe on our left and Asia to the right. This was a major political site during the Ottoman Period.
We visited the Spice Market and saw unbelievable mounds and mounds of spices beautifully displayed along with some of the most delicious Turkish candies. NO! I only had a taste of ONE! My resistance level was high today, but pray for it to remain high the rest of the time here.
The evening found us on the Marmara Sea on a boat for one and one-half hours gazing at the sights along both the European side and the Asian side. The extreme amount of wealth in the homes along the Bosporus Straits is staggering.
And my night concluded with a very tasty meal at a Turkish restaurant with a sampling of their appetizers and their first course concluding with a sampling of all their meats but topped off with a great Turkish desert of your choice.
Saturday begins early, 8:00 AM with more sites to see here in Istanbul then a 3:00 flight to Izmir – old Smyrna of the Book of Revelation where we will attend Church of Sunday and tour the old city on Monday.
God bless – thanks for your support,
Dr D
This was a FULL DAY! From 8:30 am - 10:00 PM we moved through historic Istanbul. So much of history was impacted by this area and the peoples who controlled it, fought to take it and who lived or now live here. Much of the world’s religious philosophy had it roots in this city as well as the surrounding country.
Today we visited Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the Blue Mosque; the site of the Hippodrome adjacent to the Blue Mosque; Topkapi Palace, the imperial residence of the Sultan, his court and Harem and also the center of the state administration. On the grounds of the Sultan’s residence is found the Byzantine Church of Hagia Eirene (Holy Peace) where the second major Church Council was held in the early part of the fourth century.
There are four major courtyards involved in this Palace and so it takes time to see it all and we tired but still missed some of it. But while there we had dinner overlooking the Marmara Sea and could view both continents from there – Europe on our left and Asia to the right. This was a major political site during the Ottoman Period.
We visited the Spice Market and saw unbelievable mounds and mounds of spices beautifully displayed along with some of the most delicious Turkish candies. NO! I only had a taste of ONE! My resistance level was high today, but pray for it to remain high the rest of the time here.
The evening found us on the Marmara Sea on a boat for one and one-half hours gazing at the sights along both the European side and the Asian side. The extreme amount of wealth in the homes along the Bosporus Straits is staggering.
And my night concluded with a very tasty meal at a Turkish restaurant with a sampling of their appetizers and their first course concluding with a sampling of all their meats but topped off with a great Turkish desert of your choice.
Saturday begins early, 8:00 AM with more sites to see here in Istanbul then a 3:00 flight to Izmir – old Smyrna of the Book of Revelation where we will attend Church of Sunday and tour the old city on Monday.
God bless – thanks for your support,
Dr D
Peru 2011 - Marilyn & LTI students - Blog #4
There is a blog that precedes this, but the computer that it was written on was left in Jicamarca and we are now in Chincha.
Jason
Monday
Hi, I found my deodorant. Thanks for praying for me if you did, if not, oh well. Monday was a free day. We first went to Pastor Augustines house, they were very hospitable to us. They served us cappuccino and clementines. Very delicious. Afterward we went to the inca market. I looked around with Dylon and Marco as the girls went their own way. We found some very…interesting items there. I helped Dylon get a 20 soles item for only 14 soles using my master negotiating techniques. Dylon and Marco were making fun of my negotiating techniques, I told em don’t hate the player, hate the game. After the market we went to Chili’s. It tasted just like the Chili’s at home in Fort Myyyyyers. After Chili’s we hung out at the mall. The mall was very nice. Then we got home at night and Dylon Pastor and I were in the kitchen and its almost pitch black on his property. Pastor was telling us a story about demonic activity that he’s encountered while in Peru. In the middle of a sentence his face turns to stone, he looks behind where Dylon and I were standing and he says “what was that?” my heart almost stopped because I thought he saw a demon or something. I turn around to see what he was looking at…IT WAS A MOUSE. Good grief. It turns out that I am more afraid of mice than I would be of a dumb demon. I actually already knew that but this wat evaaa. So Pastor comes up with this master plan of how we were going to catch this mouse. His master plan consisted of Dylon moving the bucket that he suspected the mouse was behind, then I would step on it with my shoe. I said absolutely not. I was not going to step on an ugly mouse with my shoe. Na son. Long story short, Dylon moved the bucket and there was no mouse. The end.
Tuesday
Today was marvelous!!! We went to minister at a school that is 9 miles away from Pastor David’s house, but it took us 1.5 hours to arrive there. Going through the mountains took up a nice portion of the time. We were supposed to have 3 sessions, but the principal only had us do two, im not complaining. I was going to do my story about Jesus feeding 5,000 people acting as the apostle Andrew. The group that was taken out was a group of 25 kids from age 3-5. While the story is fun to do, it is very exhausting because you have to be very animated and energetic with the kids or else they will find you very boring. And after having done the story 5 times in one day on Friday I don’t have much desire to do the story for a long time. So the 1st session we had was about 120 kids age 6-11. This session was good, but before the 2nd session I felt something in my spirit that made me want to explode. I was so excited to share the gospel message with these teens. The 2nd session was about 90 kids ages 12-15. We started with a drum line that they enjoyed very much. Debie stayed home to recover from sickness, and Jovanna (Pastor David’s niece and one of our translators) was willing to learn Debie’s part in the drum line. It worked out fantastic. After Drum line Emily shared her testimony with the group. After the testimony Dylon and I did a skit. The teens enjoyed this very much as well. It starts out being funny then has a dramatic twist as the skit goes from the natural to the spiritual. After the skit Dylon presented the gospel message to the teens, and taught about growing in relationship with Christ and being filled with the Holy Spirit. After Dylon taught, I shared a few words with them and invited people to receive Christ as their savior. Very many people responded to the invitation to Christ. Afterwards Dylon invited the ones who are already believers and wanted to grow in relationship or receive the Holy Spirit. After this invitation almost every student was at the front. We prayed with those who received forgiveness of sins and salvation, then we began to pray with people to receive the Holy Spirit of God. What happened next rocked my world. First we made sure that we laid hands on every person at least once. The Holy Spirit at this time was ministering to a few people. Dylon, Emily, Jovanna Pastor David and I then began to really press into the Spirit of God. I began to make a demand on the Spirit of God to fall upon all those who desired Him. When we were calling upon the Spirit of God He answered. It became more and more evident that the Spirit was ministering to more people as we began to make a demand for Him. At first I was nervous. I thought how could I minister to someone if we don’t even speak the same language? At Iglesia Vida, when we went to minister to someone we had a translator that could speak to the person with us because there would be about 20-30 people who we would be ministering to with 3 translators. There were almost 90 kids and no translators because our two translators were doing Gods work and ministering to the teens as well. I knew that if I was going to minister to any of these students it was only me, the student and the Holy Spirit. I went up to one boy who was about 15 years old. I laid hands on Him and immediately as I did so he began shaking from the power of the Holy Spirit. I went close to his ear as though I were going to speak him and I began to speak in the spirit to him. The more I spoke in the spirit, the more the spirit ministered to Him. When I realized this, I began to speak to the student even more strongly in the Spirit. I have ministered to people many times with words before but never have I ministered to someone’s spirit by the Holy Spirit. While I was speaking to this student in the Spirit language it was as though he understood what I was saying to him. I honestly was so shocked by what I was privileged to be a part of. You read things in the word of God but it goes to a totally different level when you can actually be a part of it. So I continue to speak to this boy in the Spirit and my spirit is ministering directly to his spirit, then suddenly like wildfire he breaks out speaking in tongues. Glory to God in the highest! I mean the boy wouldn’t stop, you could see the joy of the Lord written all over his face. I moved on to pray with another boy. I could tell that the Spirit was already ministering to him. I went and laid hands on him. I got very close to his ear and said one word in the Spirit and the boys reaction was as though he understood what I said. I began to speak to Him more in the Spirit and he began to weep. I then begin to speak to the boy even more strongly in the Spirit and he is still weeping as though he is understanding what I was saying. We were communicating spirit to spirit. Insane! I took both my hands off and continued to speak to him very strongly in the spirit. Then I touched the boy and he fell out in the power of the spirit. He actually fell onto the concrete, he fell right on his butt bone. Ouch :X we should have had a Life Church usher there, he wouldn’t have had such a fun time falling on his backside lol. When he was on the floor the joy of the Lord too entered his heart and he had the brightest smile on his face. Praise be to God for an outpouring of His Spirit. You know the portion of scripture in Acts that says that all the people in various villages and cities brought people to be healed and receive ministry from Peter? Well that’s what happened here. We were ministering to so many students and the Holy Spirit fell upon so many of them that the teachers started to bring each student to us to be ministered to. There was one boy that one of the teachers brought up from the back to ministered to, I could tell he did not want to receive ministry but I began to pray for him anyways. I began to pray in the spirit for this young boy and the spirit told me to say “leave him alone” I ignore what the spirit told me to do to see if it was just my mind or if it was the Spirit. I was praying for the boy in the Spirit and it was not having the same effect on this boy as it did the others. The thought arose again, the Spirit told me to say “leave him alone” this time I knew it was the Spirit. So I said what the Spirit told me to say and as soon as I did the boy dropped his head lower. The Spirit revealed to me that this boy had a demon. I began to declare to the demon that the boy belongs to the Lord and He does not share. Declaring freedom in the name of Jesus and the more I spoke to this demon this boy began to cry stronger and drop his body down lower. This is when I knew for sure he had a demon because while I was praying in the Spirit the boy had no reaction at all, but when I began to speak to the demon he began to respond. Pastor David came over and declared freedom from the demon in the name of Jesus as well. The demon left the boy. I have never experienced anything like this. Before the sessions started we were jokingly saying that revival would be nice. Little did we know what the Lord was planning to do. Today greatly increased my faith. Now I have absolutely no doubt in the power of the Spirit. Not that I had doubt before, I guess I just say that because I have never operated in the power of the Spirit in such a fashion as today. pray that those who responded for salvation don’t fall back into the things of this world and pray for those who desired more of God and those who received the Spirit to continue to grow in Him. Keep us in your prayers for safe travels to be used by God in the way He wants to use us and for us to have patience with one another. Some of us need more patience than others :P haha. Bethany, I love you J If your fam is not reading this tell them I say hello. Family if you are reading this, hello lol. Thank you all for keeping up with the blog and for your prayers.
Dylon
It’s Thursday afternoon and I am on a bed in a hotel in Chincha. I’m not really sure where to begin and quite frankly I don’t feel like writing very much right now. I want to thank everyone for your prayers so far and encourage you to finish out strong as we do the same. I can assure you that your prayers are working and are helping to minister to all of us as well as those we touch. So a big THANK YOU. I can feel your support more than ever.
Tuesday we went to a school on the opposite side of the mountain that Pastor David lives on. The journey was interesting literally traveling through a level of clouds. We had no idea what else was around us. We arrived and they weren’t expecting us for another two days, but they were flexible in fitting us into their schedule. This was a place where the administration was very willing to allow us to flow and truly minister and the result was definitely a product of this. The older kids came into their prayer room where we were preparing. We immediately all felt something in the atmosphere change. At first we were sensing a spirit of rebellion as they entered, but then the Spirit began to stir in us and we felt the opportunity for us to speak strongly and specifically. Our program went better than ever and the time following at the altar was phenomenal. I have a feeling Jason went into great detail about this experience, but many received salvation in a very real way showing signs of true repentance. This included many potential gang members who Pastor David has been trying to reach through his previous ministry at the school.
Then the Holy Spirit came as those who were willing stood to experience His power. I was very firm in announcing to all of them that if they were not serious about receiving the power of the Holy Spirit that they needed to sit down because they were about to experience something very real in tears, laughter, peace and joy. My words were strong, but the Holy Spirit was there in a very strong way and I knew it would come. Many began to “break” as we laid hands on them and spoke to them. No, we didn’t speak in English, but we spoke spiritually and somehow, in God’s awesome way, it was received. We all were more satisfied in the end with the ministry of the outreach than ever before because it wasn’t just what we could do, but what God lead us to do helped to prepare the school’s heart for what HE could do. He proved His word with signs and wonders!
Yesterday was mostly travel to Chincha. We had a great lunch at a local restaurant and then prepared for ministry at a small church here. This was the same church we traveled to last year, but it was unrecognizable. Marco, our guide, even got confused about what street it was on because of how different everything looked. Jason and I taught on discipleship, in a slightly different way of course, to impart growth to a young congregation in Christ.
We had breakfast this morning and went to the local basket market and bought gifts for people at home. Jason exercised his terrible negotiation skills and it didn’t work out for him… again. But he’s trying. I’m more accepting of the prices here and I usually pay what they ask. (It’s cheap, either way.) I’m ready to go home, not in a sad way because I truly do love to be here, but I miss the people that surround me. I appreciate and love all of you. See you soon.
Jason
Monday
Hi, I found my deodorant. Thanks for praying for me if you did, if not, oh well. Monday was a free day. We first went to Pastor Augustines house, they were very hospitable to us. They served us cappuccino and clementines. Very delicious. Afterward we went to the inca market. I looked around with Dylon and Marco as the girls went their own way. We found some very…interesting items there. I helped Dylon get a 20 soles item for only 14 soles using my master negotiating techniques. Dylon and Marco were making fun of my negotiating techniques, I told em don’t hate the player, hate the game. After the market we went to Chili’s. It tasted just like the Chili’s at home in Fort Myyyyyers. After Chili’s we hung out at the mall. The mall was very nice. Then we got home at night and Dylon Pastor and I were in the kitchen and its almost pitch black on his property. Pastor was telling us a story about demonic activity that he’s encountered while in Peru. In the middle of a sentence his face turns to stone, he looks behind where Dylon and I were standing and he says “what was that?” my heart almost stopped because I thought he saw a demon or something. I turn around to see what he was looking at…IT WAS A MOUSE. Good grief. It turns out that I am more afraid of mice than I would be of a dumb demon. I actually already knew that but this wat evaaa. So Pastor comes up with this master plan of how we were going to catch this mouse. His master plan consisted of Dylon moving the bucket that he suspected the mouse was behind, then I would step on it with my shoe. I said absolutely not. I was not going to step on an ugly mouse with my shoe. Na son. Long story short, Dylon moved the bucket and there was no mouse. The end.
Tuesday
Today was marvelous!!! We went to minister at a school that is 9 miles away from Pastor David’s house, but it took us 1.5 hours to arrive there. Going through the mountains took up a nice portion of the time. We were supposed to have 3 sessions, but the principal only had us do two, im not complaining. I was going to do my story about Jesus feeding 5,000 people acting as the apostle Andrew. The group that was taken out was a group of 25 kids from age 3-5. While the story is fun to do, it is very exhausting because you have to be very animated and energetic with the kids or else they will find you very boring. And after having done the story 5 times in one day on Friday I don’t have much desire to do the story for a long time. So the 1st session we had was about 120 kids age 6-11. This session was good, but before the 2nd session I felt something in my spirit that made me want to explode. I was so excited to share the gospel message with these teens. The 2nd session was about 90 kids ages 12-15. We started with a drum line that they enjoyed very much. Debie stayed home to recover from sickness, and Jovanna (Pastor David’s niece and one of our translators) was willing to learn Debie’s part in the drum line. It worked out fantastic. After Drum line Emily shared her testimony with the group. After the testimony Dylon and I did a skit. The teens enjoyed this very much as well. It starts out being funny then has a dramatic twist as the skit goes from the natural to the spiritual. After the skit Dylon presented the gospel message to the teens, and taught about growing in relationship with Christ and being filled with the Holy Spirit. After Dylon taught, I shared a few words with them and invited people to receive Christ as their savior. Very many people responded to the invitation to Christ. Afterwards Dylon invited the ones who are already believers and wanted to grow in relationship or receive the Holy Spirit. After this invitation almost every student was at the front. We prayed with those who received forgiveness of sins and salvation, then we began to pray with people to receive the Holy Spirit of God. What happened next rocked my world. First we made sure that we laid hands on every person at least once. The Holy Spirit at this time was ministering to a few people. Dylon, Emily, Jovanna Pastor David and I then began to really press into the Spirit of God. I began to make a demand on the Spirit of God to fall upon all those who desired Him. When we were calling upon the Spirit of God He answered. It became more and more evident that the Spirit was ministering to more people as we began to make a demand for Him. At first I was nervous. I thought how could I minister to someone if we don’t even speak the same language? At Iglesia Vida, when we went to minister to someone we had a translator that could speak to the person with us because there would be about 20-30 people who we would be ministering to with 3 translators. There were almost 90 kids and no translators because our two translators were doing Gods work and ministering to the teens as well. I knew that if I was going to minister to any of these students it was only me, the student and the Holy Spirit. I went up to one boy who was about 15 years old. I laid hands on Him and immediately as I did so he began shaking from the power of the Holy Spirit. I went close to his ear as though I were going to speak him and I began to speak in the spirit to him. The more I spoke in the spirit, the more the spirit ministered to Him. When I realized this, I began to speak to the student even more strongly in the Spirit. I have ministered to people many times with words before but never have I ministered to someone’s spirit by the Holy Spirit. While I was speaking to this student in the Spirit language it was as though he understood what I was saying to him. I honestly was so shocked by what I was privileged to be a part of. You read things in the word of God but it goes to a totally different level when you can actually be a part of it. So I continue to speak to this boy in the Spirit and my spirit is ministering directly to his spirit, then suddenly like wildfire he breaks out speaking in tongues. Glory to God in the highest! I mean the boy wouldn’t stop, you could see the joy of the Lord written all over his face. I moved on to pray with another boy. I could tell that the Spirit was already ministering to him. I went and laid hands on him. I got very close to his ear and said one word in the Spirit and the boys reaction was as though he understood what I said. I began to speak to Him more in the Spirit and he began to weep. I then begin to speak to the boy even more strongly in the Spirit and he is still weeping as though he is understanding what I was saying. We were communicating spirit to spirit. Insane! I took both my hands off and continued to speak to him very strongly in the spirit. Then I touched the boy and he fell out in the power of the spirit. He actually fell onto the concrete, he fell right on his butt bone. Ouch :X we should have had a Life Church usher there, he wouldn’t have had such a fun time falling on his backside lol. When he was on the floor the joy of the Lord too entered his heart and he had the brightest smile on his face. Praise be to God for an outpouring of His Spirit. You know the portion of scripture in Acts that says that all the people in various villages and cities brought people to be healed and receive ministry from Peter? Well that’s what happened here. We were ministering to so many students and the Holy Spirit fell upon so many of them that the teachers started to bring each student to us to be ministered to. There was one boy that one of the teachers brought up from the back to ministered to, I could tell he did not want to receive ministry but I began to pray for him anyways. I began to pray in the spirit for this young boy and the spirit told me to say “leave him alone” I ignore what the spirit told me to do to see if it was just my mind or if it was the Spirit. I was praying for the boy in the Spirit and it was not having the same effect on this boy as it did the others. The thought arose again, the Spirit told me to say “leave him alone” this time I knew it was the Spirit. So I said what the Spirit told me to say and as soon as I did the boy dropped his head lower. The Spirit revealed to me that this boy had a demon. I began to declare to the demon that the boy belongs to the Lord and He does not share. Declaring freedom in the name of Jesus and the more I spoke to this demon this boy began to cry stronger and drop his body down lower. This is when I knew for sure he had a demon because while I was praying in the Spirit the boy had no reaction at all, but when I began to speak to the demon he began to respond. Pastor David came over and declared freedom from the demon in the name of Jesus as well. The demon left the boy. I have never experienced anything like this. Before the sessions started we were jokingly saying that revival would be nice. Little did we know what the Lord was planning to do. Today greatly increased my faith. Now I have absolutely no doubt in the power of the Spirit. Not that I had doubt before, I guess I just say that because I have never operated in the power of the Spirit in such a fashion as today. pray that those who responded for salvation don’t fall back into the things of this world and pray for those who desired more of God and those who received the Spirit to continue to grow in Him. Keep us in your prayers for safe travels to be used by God in the way He wants to use us and for us to have patience with one another. Some of us need more patience than others :P haha. Bethany, I love you J If your fam is not reading this tell them I say hello. Family if you are reading this, hello lol. Thank you all for keeping up with the blog and for your prayers.
Dylon
It’s Thursday afternoon and I am on a bed in a hotel in Chincha. I’m not really sure where to begin and quite frankly I don’t feel like writing very much right now. I want to thank everyone for your prayers so far and encourage you to finish out strong as we do the same. I can assure you that your prayers are working and are helping to minister to all of us as well as those we touch. So a big THANK YOU. I can feel your support more than ever.
Tuesday we went to a school on the opposite side of the mountain that Pastor David lives on. The journey was interesting literally traveling through a level of clouds. We had no idea what else was around us. We arrived and they weren’t expecting us for another two days, but they were flexible in fitting us into their schedule. This was a place where the administration was very willing to allow us to flow and truly minister and the result was definitely a product of this. The older kids came into their prayer room where we were preparing. We immediately all felt something in the atmosphere change. At first we were sensing a spirit of rebellion as they entered, but then the Spirit began to stir in us and we felt the opportunity for us to speak strongly and specifically. Our program went better than ever and the time following at the altar was phenomenal. I have a feeling Jason went into great detail about this experience, but many received salvation in a very real way showing signs of true repentance. This included many potential gang members who Pastor David has been trying to reach through his previous ministry at the school.
Then the Holy Spirit came as those who were willing stood to experience His power. I was very firm in announcing to all of them that if they were not serious about receiving the power of the Holy Spirit that they needed to sit down because they were about to experience something very real in tears, laughter, peace and joy. My words were strong, but the Holy Spirit was there in a very strong way and I knew it would come. Many began to “break” as we laid hands on them and spoke to them. No, we didn’t speak in English, but we spoke spiritually and somehow, in God’s awesome way, it was received. We all were more satisfied in the end with the ministry of the outreach than ever before because it wasn’t just what we could do, but what God lead us to do helped to prepare the school’s heart for what HE could do. He proved His word with signs and wonders!
Yesterday was mostly travel to Chincha. We had a great lunch at a local restaurant and then prepared for ministry at a small church here. This was the same church we traveled to last year, but it was unrecognizable. Marco, our guide, even got confused about what street it was on because of how different everything looked. Jason and I taught on discipleship, in a slightly different way of course, to impart growth to a young congregation in Christ.
We had breakfast this morning and went to the local basket market and bought gifts for people at home. Jason exercised his terrible negotiation skills and it didn’t work out for him… again. But he’s trying. I’m more accepting of the prices here and I usually pay what they ask. (It’s cheap, either way.) I’m ready to go home, not in a sad way because I truly do love to be here, but I miss the people that surround me. I appreciate and love all of you. See you soon.
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