I just got back from the jungle yesterday, and we are leaving again today or tomorrow, we really aren't sure. So I don't have much time to fill you in on everything that God is doing here and what all has been happening in the past two weeks. But let me just say, it's incredible!! I didn't bring my computer with, because I didn't want to babysit it, but I will bring it on this trip so I can write as the stories unfold, then I can just post them when I get back!
A historical event will be taking place in our part of the world, a meeting with 183 native villages to protect the rights and educate the people. This is why we are heading back into the jungle so soon. The event will be Aug. 3-5, please be in prayer for what God is doing in our part of the world.
I was working in the next newsletter last night and hope to get it sent out today, so that will give some more details that I am not able to share right now due to time.
Keep praying and I will see if I have more time, depending on our departure.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
The Happenings
Life here is moving ahead. Hard to believe a whole week has past. On Friday, I thought it was only Wednesday. I don´t know how the days manage to slip by so rapidly.
Yesterday it was pouring here in the city of Iquitos. Nelton popped by to tell me we were going to ¨bañar como los pobres¨(bath like the poor). He pulled me outside and we stood under the gutters and got soaked in a matter of 2.8 seconds. It was so refreshing after 2 straight days of heat without end, the fan had broken in the midst of the painting project, so sweat and I spent a lot of time together.
Many of the neighborhood children were out playing in the rain, and we didn´t hold back from our share of fun. Countless eyes peered from cracks, doors, windows, or temporary shelters, watching as we ran down the streets like two little kids, laughing and splashing each other. I can only imagine what they were thinking as we were the only ones over the age of 13 celebrating God´s glorious and refreshing relief from the hot Peruvian sun. We made our way to his sisters, just to greet her. Ketty opened the door in surpise and looked at us laughing and playing. A grin broke across her face as she shook her head and told us we were crazy.
Today, we look forward to the week. Nelton is busy getting final details together for the team that comes from Costa Rica in two days. I spent the majority of the day with Paulette, catching up to speed on the ministry. She reflected on the last year or so. It has been a hard year, one of moving forward, stalling, stepping back, and needing to find sufficient strength to keep going ahead. We are glad to be together again and anticipate the weeks and months ahead.
We head for the jungle on Wednesday night. A team from Costa Rica comes and we will waste no time in getting into ministry. We will leave late Wednesday night to start the trip to the jungle. We will spend about five days at the mouth of the river, doing ministry in various villages. Then we will continue up the river. The team consists of two missionaries from Canada, who are bringing Dominicans they have been training in ministry, they are being exposed to the foriegn field. I believe there are four guys and one girl. I will be linking with the girl and assisting her in anyway she needs. I expect that it shall be a trip of seeing God move as he continues to bring about much needed freedom in communities that have only known certury upon century slavery and bondage. Pray for these days as they will be strategic in light of the events that have been happening in the jungle recently.
Yesterday it was pouring here in the city of Iquitos. Nelton popped by to tell me we were going to ¨bañar como los pobres¨(bath like the poor). He pulled me outside and we stood under the gutters and got soaked in a matter of 2.8 seconds. It was so refreshing after 2 straight days of heat without end, the fan had broken in the midst of the painting project, so sweat and I spent a lot of time together.
Many of the neighborhood children were out playing in the rain, and we didn´t hold back from our share of fun. Countless eyes peered from cracks, doors, windows, or temporary shelters, watching as we ran down the streets like two little kids, laughing and splashing each other. I can only imagine what they were thinking as we were the only ones over the age of 13 celebrating God´s glorious and refreshing relief from the hot Peruvian sun. We made our way to his sisters, just to greet her. Ketty opened the door in surpise and looked at us laughing and playing. A grin broke across her face as she shook her head and told us we were crazy.
Today, we look forward to the week. Nelton is busy getting final details together for the team that comes from Costa Rica in two days. I spent the majority of the day with Paulette, catching up to speed on the ministry. She reflected on the last year or so. It has been a hard year, one of moving forward, stalling, stepping back, and needing to find sufficient strength to keep going ahead. We are glad to be together again and anticipate the weeks and months ahead.
We head for the jungle on Wednesday night. A team from Costa Rica comes and we will waste no time in getting into ministry. We will leave late Wednesday night to start the trip to the jungle. We will spend about five days at the mouth of the river, doing ministry in various villages. Then we will continue up the river. The team consists of two missionaries from Canada, who are bringing Dominicans they have been training in ministry, they are being exposed to the foriegn field. I believe there are four guys and one girl. I will be linking with the girl and assisting her in anyway she needs. I expect that it shall be a trip of seeing God move as he continues to bring about much needed freedom in communities that have only known certury upon century slavery and bondage. Pray for these days as they will be strategic in light of the events that have been happening in the jungle recently.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Daily Life
Things are still going great. I have been studying Spanish regularly. Yesterday I spend about two and a half hours in the books and came away discouraged. I too a diagnostic test in the SATII Spanish Review book, which I am using to brush up on Spanish, review, and learn more. I found that I am ¨average¨ on both vocabulary and reading comprehension and ¨unsatisfactory¨in grammar and something else. When I saw Nelton later in the evening I told him I took a test and it told me to stop speaking Spanish. We laughed and it just motivated me all the more to study like crazy.
I am also using some of the tools aquired in SPAR (Stratigic Planning and Research) to help me research the cultural values, assumptions, norms, and customs of Peru. It has been quite comical as I am actaully living in the culture and not just dropping in to study it for three hours a week. I believe I have tapped into a key value of the culture through some wonderful observation and the next thing I know that observation is overturned as someone does exactly opposite of what my theory said was the norm. It´s been fun.
Yesterday, Nelton and I started painting the room, which was comical in itself. While he was out for the day, I cleaned the floors, washed the walls, and carefully taped the edges of the walls. I had wanted to get plastic to cover everything in that small room, but Nelton insisted we would just be careful, besides, it´s a waterbased paint that comes out with a little water and scrubbing. We began painting, and in no time, the floor was covered with little specs, or quartersized gobs of paint. So much for my taping.
Beyond that, there were 4 other people at one time crammed in that little room sitting on the bed in any empty space they could find or creeping around the small walkways I had created, and giving a live comentary of the whole ordeal. On of the guys was impressed with my taping idea, so it was worth it. Except for the floor is still a mess and needs to be scrubbed.
The climax of the night was when Nelton was using last bit of the paint in the plastic bin to do some touchup work before putting it back. He was climbing around on the ladder he had engineered from two chairs, and had set the paint on the ledge of the half wall the comes up between the room and the bathroom. I had just finnished scrubbing one section of the floor to a point that was satisfying to me, and had stopped to admire my work when suddenly my ears perked to the sound of something falling, Nelton gasping and saying, with a bit of a chuckle, ¨Oh my gosh, I don´t believe it.¨ I slowly turned, saw indeed, what I had feared, green paint splattered over everything. I quickly shut my eyes and for maybe a minute tried my hardest to imagine it away, all the while Nelton is chuckling. It was comical. Glory to God, he is right, it does wash out with relative ease. He would not permit me to clean it, but finnished up, cleaned all the paint off my arms and face with a wet clothe, and then took me out for a wonderful dinner. After dinner, I cleared off the bed, showered, tiptoed around the paint explosion and crawled into bed. The mess still sits there. We are going to finnish painting tonight as we only got through half of it, and I suspect tomorrow will be cleaning day.
I have been taking pictures of the project and hope to get them posted when all is said and done.
Prayer Request
I am also using some of the tools aquired in SPAR (Stratigic Planning and Research) to help me research the cultural values, assumptions, norms, and customs of Peru. It has been quite comical as I am actaully living in the culture and not just dropping in to study it for three hours a week. I believe I have tapped into a key value of the culture through some wonderful observation and the next thing I know that observation is overturned as someone does exactly opposite of what my theory said was the norm. It´s been fun.
Yesterday, Nelton and I started painting the room, which was comical in itself. While he was out for the day, I cleaned the floors, washed the walls, and carefully taped the edges of the walls. I had wanted to get plastic to cover everything in that small room, but Nelton insisted we would just be careful, besides, it´s a waterbased paint that comes out with a little water and scrubbing. We began painting, and in no time, the floor was covered with little specs, or quartersized gobs of paint. So much for my taping.
Beyond that, there were 4 other people at one time crammed in that little room sitting on the bed in any empty space they could find or creeping around the small walkways I had created, and giving a live comentary of the whole ordeal. On of the guys was impressed with my taping idea, so it was worth it. Except for the floor is still a mess and needs to be scrubbed.
The climax of the night was when Nelton was using last bit of the paint in the plastic bin to do some touchup work before putting it back. He was climbing around on the ladder he had engineered from two chairs, and had set the paint on the ledge of the half wall the comes up between the room and the bathroom. I had just finnished scrubbing one section of the floor to a point that was satisfying to me, and had stopped to admire my work when suddenly my ears perked to the sound of something falling, Nelton gasping and saying, with a bit of a chuckle, ¨Oh my gosh, I don´t believe it.¨ I slowly turned, saw indeed, what I had feared, green paint splattered over everything. I quickly shut my eyes and for maybe a minute tried my hardest to imagine it away, all the while Nelton is chuckling. It was comical. Glory to God, he is right, it does wash out with relative ease. He would not permit me to clean it, but finnished up, cleaned all the paint off my arms and face with a wet clothe, and then took me out for a wonderful dinner. After dinner, I cleared off the bed, showered, tiptoed around the paint explosion and crawled into bed. The mess still sits there. We are going to finnish painting tonight as we only got through half of it, and I suspect tomorrow will be cleaning day.
I have been taking pictures of the project and hope to get them posted when all is said and done.
Prayer Request
- Marriage Paperwork. We have been checking into stuff, bringing all the needed documents and paperwork in, and working with a man. Today I brought in my document of singleness (something very important here, but something we do not use in the States). I was not sure if it would work, but the man said he would check into it for us. So, from what I understand, he is going to check with his boss to see if it will be acceptable. If not, there may be a long process we have to go through. So just pray that it will be acceptable! I will keep you posted.
More later!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Here Comes My Life
Well, I am in Peru. I tried posting a blog in the airports, but everywhere charged for the use of wifi. So I waited, and well, what I wrote is old news (maybe I´ll post it later).
It has been a good couple of days here so far. I arrived to Iquitos on time, Monday, July 6th. Nelton was actually there! I was suprised and totally excited to see him. Before I got there, I wasn´t sure who, if anyone, would be there because of the problems in the jungle. So it was wonderful when I saw him, several members of his family, and some other friends.
Nelton and I had the reunion I always dreamed of, the one where he´s actually there (lol) and I run and throw myself into his arms. It was beautiful.
He was able to take the day off work and we spent the day together. I was suprised, but not shocked, at how quickly my Spanish came back and how much I had to say. I am sure I talked all day. I haven´t spoken English since, because Paulette is not feeling well, and Willie´s been working.
Nelton got off work yesterday at five and when people came for him, he said, -it will have to wait until tomorrow, I´m with Bethany now.- I felt valued. I see so much growth and maturity in our relationship, it´s encouraging.
We are doing well together. Getting the room set up for me, and for us when Sept. 13th should come around. We have been plans for the few days ahead before heading back to the jungle, we want to paint the room, get marriage stuff figured out at the equivelant of a court house, my visa stuff, paperwork for the mission, check into internet and a landline for the room, and hit the gym (I know 223, can you believe it!?). Then July 15th, the team from Costa Rica comes and we head out to the jungle.
Culture shock wise, I am still in honeymoon phase and wondering how long it will last.
Ministry wise- I´m taking this week to settle in and focus on the things that are more permantent than the past, when I have only come for 2 months. I think it´s a wise decision not to cast myself into busy ministry too quickly (as in yesterday and today, like I'm used to doing, that will come next week). There are times I get antzy and feel like I should be doing something like ministry and I have to remind myself, I have permission to take care of other stuff for this week.
However, Nelton and I have had some great talks as he has bought my up to speed on what´s been going on in the ministry. There is not much I can say except-- my heart is breaking and I´m saying -Lord, all this is impossible without your hand at work!!- I can´t do anything without him.
I thank you for your prayers and plead for you to continue in this manner.
All my love!
It has been a good couple of days here so far. I arrived to Iquitos on time, Monday, July 6th. Nelton was actually there! I was suprised and totally excited to see him. Before I got there, I wasn´t sure who, if anyone, would be there because of the problems in the jungle. So it was wonderful when I saw him, several members of his family, and some other friends.
Nelton and I had the reunion I always dreamed of, the one where he´s actually there (lol) and I run and throw myself into his arms. It was beautiful.
He was able to take the day off work and we spent the day together. I was suprised, but not shocked, at how quickly my Spanish came back and how much I had to say. I am sure I talked all day. I haven´t spoken English since, because Paulette is not feeling well, and Willie´s been working.
Nelton got off work yesterday at five and when people came for him, he said, -it will have to wait until tomorrow, I´m with Bethany now.- I felt valued. I see so much growth and maturity in our relationship, it´s encouraging.
We are doing well together. Getting the room set up for me, and for us when Sept. 13th should come around. We have been plans for the few days ahead before heading back to the jungle, we want to paint the room, get marriage stuff figured out at the equivelant of a court house, my visa stuff, paperwork for the mission, check into internet and a landline for the room, and hit the gym (I know 223, can you believe it!?). Then July 15th, the team from Costa Rica comes and we head out to the jungle.
Culture shock wise, I am still in honeymoon phase and wondering how long it will last.
Ministry wise- I´m taking this week to settle in and focus on the things that are more permantent than the past, when I have only come for 2 months. I think it´s a wise decision not to cast myself into busy ministry too quickly (as in yesterday and today, like I'm used to doing, that will come next week). There are times I get antzy and feel like I should be doing something like ministry and I have to remind myself, I have permission to take care of other stuff for this week.
However, Nelton and I have had some great talks as he has bought my up to speed on what´s been going on in the ministry. There is not much I can say except-- my heart is breaking and I´m saying -Lord, all this is impossible without your hand at work!!- I can´t do anything without him.
I thank you for your prayers and plead for you to continue in this manner.
All my love!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
