Living His Story

Rename

2010-08-12T07:50:00.000-07:00

So I'm thinking of renaming this blog "Single Girl's Guide to DIY."
I bought my first power tool a few days ago and proceeded to hang curtains and pictures using my new drill. I'm most proud of the end table that I constructed from two trunks (pictures later). This weekend I will tackle the installation of my washer and dryer. Hopefully I don't flood the people below me, or catch our complex on fire. Luckily, one of my first purchases was a double set of fire extinguishers.

All of my boxes are still in my living room. I've unpacked my kitchen and am slowly working my way around my house. At least with the boxes in the living room it looks less empty. I love Waco craigslist and it is going to be responsible for furnishing my apartment. Even though I've had fun figuring out how to do some things around the apartment by myself, I don't have a truck and it's impossible for me to move furniture by myself. I found some guys on craigslist that have a handyman/moving service to help them pay for college, so they are probably going to be the ones that become my go-to for hauling stuff up 3 flights of stairs.

I'm going to actually blog a real update later, but I was taking a break/stalling from unpacking.

Whoa

2010-05-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

It's been over a year, geez. It's not that I haven't had anything to write about, it's that I rarely take the time to sit down and write it.
Quick update: I'm going to SEMINARY. I got a scholarship to Baylor University to attend Truett Seminary. I'm pursuing a Master in Divinity and a Masters in Social Work. I'm excited to see what happens with these degrees in my future. This means that I'm leaving the Rio Grande Valley but not Texas. Teaching has taken me on a whirlwind of an adventure, but I'm ready for more. Can't wait to get to where my heart belongs.

Upcoming plans:
Moving stuff to Waco the first of June
I'm going to walk across Spain this summer! Some friends and I are embarking on the Camino de Santiago from Leon to Santiago de Compostela. June 15-July 5th (ANOTHER 4th of July celebrated from afar).
Spending some time loving on my nieces and my parents. Miss them all so much.

Doubtful that anyone still reads this but I promise I will be blogging more during seminary. I'm going to rebrand my blog and give it a new name. I want it to be something people actually read, more than just my friends. Hopefully it will be a source of insight and comfort in the distant future...doubt it but we'll see.

Prayer requests:
My mom has a job interview tomorrow (Wednesday, May 12th)
My move
God to give me peace while I'm here
my students to focus and pass their end of year exam
Protection over the summer
My family and friends in Tennessee dealing with the flooding.

Just checking in...

2009-04-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

I'm still alive and I feel like I'm in the home stretch now. I'm having planners block, I don't really want to do anything school related. I'm enjoying church and love my friends. I'm excited to see what God has in store for me after TFA. I really don't know what is next, but I don't think it's going to be teaching :-)

This is an email I sent to my church, I wanted to make sure people who actually read this saw it too.

My heart still belongs on foreign soil, but God has called me to stay put here for now. God has given me the opportunity to serve Him in different settings and in different countries, and I know that He will lead me to the next big step when the time is right. For now though, we are focusing on the little steps, which is why I'm writing today. Through my church here, Calvary Baptist Church, I have the opportunity to spend 2 weeks on a mission trip to Kenya this summer. I will be traveling from June 14-28 with a group from church to work with a children's home in Mataw. Since I left Peru in 2007, Africa has been on my heart. I didn't know how or when I would be there, but I knew that God placed an undeniable desire to serve Him in Africa. I jumped at the opportunity to go this summer, and it works perfectly with my school schedule. God is the great Provider and has proven this time and again during my preparations for my previous trips to Peru. Even though I am not in Alabama anymore, I wanted to come to my church family for prayer support at this time of preparation for Kenya. Please pray for the following things:

1) To prepare my heart and the hearts of those in Kenya that our team will reach out to for the mighty work that God is preparing to do

2) Pray for Bud and Kim Huffman, the missionaries in Kenya

3) Pray for the safe travel for my team and I as we travel to Kenya

4) Pray for me to find additional funding for my trip

I also want to provide you with the opportunity to help fund the work that God is going to do by contributing to my trip. I know that God is faithful to provide, and I would greatly appreciate any gifts that are made. I miss you all so much and can't wait to see you when I come to Alabama in July.

In Christ,

Lindsay Swain

If you would like to contribute to my trip to Kenya, please respond to lswain.uab@gmail.com so that I know what is being sent so I can make sure the church office receives it.

In order to continue to provide tax deductible credit for your
contributions, please note the following:
Please make all checks out to Calvary Baptist Church
Please do NOT write anything on the checks/memo line (Don't write ANYTHING on the memo line or it can't count as a tax deduction in this case)
Please attach something to the check (note or sticky note) that says the check is for Lindsay Swain for Kenya

Mail to: Attention David Chan- Missions Office

Calvary Baptist Church

1600 Harvey St.

McAllen, TX 78501

or, you can mail it to me still following the same directions in bold above. Lindsay Swain, 2401 South Jackson Road, Lot 10, Pharr, TX 78577 This is my home address here so please save it even if you aren't sending a contribution I love receiving notes of encouragement from people!

When it rains...

2009-02-08T15:32:00.000-08:00

it pours, except for the rain part, that was the week for me. To start off a great week, someone hit my car because they were driving drunk and hit me before they even left our neighborhood, then left the scene. Luckily an honest neighbor came and told me who did it and I approached them about it so all is well. I've been sick, took a sick day because I felt like a train hit me. My computer died, so I bought a Macbook. Even though this week seemed terrible, when I think back on it I handled it pretty well. Last year, this week would have probably led me to a breakdown, but after this week I definitely know this is where I am supposed to be right now. Despite all of the crazy crappy things that happened, I stayed calm, handled what I needed to, and made it through the week without freaking out or crying. I credit this to the fact that I have no doubt that this is where God wants me right now. He is giving me the tools and strength to grow and learn more about myself in every situation, and I am grateful for the opportunities that I have had so far.

As far as teaching goes, my students are ridiculous most of the time. We are starting a unit on the West, which basically means I get to teach about cowboys and american indians for the next 2 weeks. It's strange because this unit was supposed to be longer than the Civil War...but I took the liberty to make the Civil War longer and more emphasized.

Prayer requests: Africa funding, God's will for graduate school, me to have peace about what He wants me to do in the future, for me to figure out WHAT God wants me to do in the future.

My slumbering heart awakes...

2009-01-28T17:42:00.001-08:00

...for the people of Africa. So for those of you who really know me, you know that I have a heart for serving God in the mission field. It is what led me to Peru twice, and to moving to Texas. I have been incredibly blessed by a wonderful church family here in the Valley that has introduced me to a new place to love, Kenya. After I left Peru last year, I knew that my next stop would somehow be Africa. I wasn't sure how, when or where, but I knew I would be in Africa. Well, my church, Calvary Baptist of Mcallen, partners with Imagine Network in building a children's home in Kenya. Every summer, the church takes a few teams to Africa to work with the people in Kenya, and this is where I feel God is asking me to go as well. I was beyond excited when I heard the missionaries talk this morning. They are a beautiful couple, probably 5-7 years older than me, who have a precious little boy. They basically have another 12-20 children in their care too because they run the children's home along with the house parents. This morning I made 2 decisions that God has been leading me to for months now. First, I commited to sponsor a child in the children's home. He is precious, his name is Nehemiah and he's 3. He has 3 siblings and loves math (at 3??? I don't know). He wants to be a doctor when he grows up. My Texas Mom adopted Nehemiah's brother, so I thought that was really neat.Commitment number 2 is that I will be going to Africa this summer. I will turn in a deposit in a few weeks. I ask that all of you begin praying about this because it will be a very expensive trip. God always provides though. I am hoping to raise half of the funds so that I only have to pay for the other half. This means that I have about 5 months to raise $1400. If you are interested in sponsoring me, let me know and I will give you an address to send any donations. The missionaries are Bud and Kim Huffman and their website is www.huffmansinkenya.blogspot.orgThanks,Lindsay Swain

Nehemiah is the kid in the sports costume (by the kid in orange)

Mi Perito

2008-10-31T19:18:00.000-07:00

I have a dog!! After much debate and discussion, my roommates and I decided that I should get a dog. We pretty much took the first dog that we met home. She was adopted from Oasis Animal Sanctuary, a small nonprofit shelter that fosters all of its dogs. Her name is Baby and she's an old woman, 9 years old. She is a wire haired terrier mix, housebroken, and an amazing cuddler. We really needed something to enhance our lives and give us a little joy. She's pretty nervous right now, but hopefully she warms up and starts showing her real personality soon. Right now all she does is snuggle up when we're watching tv. She does follow me around the house, which is pretty precious.

Yay!!

Oh, and if you can recommend some good names that aren't too different from Baby let us know. We hate that name, but because she's old we're afraid to change too much.

Excuse the terrible picture of me, and sorry for wearing a Florida shirt. I'm on the Florida Gators team at school.

Sweet Home Alabama

2008-10-08T17:23:00.000-07:00

So in the spirit of procrastinating, which I will never let go of, I decided to do a little post about the things I miss in Birmingham, AL.

This goes without saying, I miss my parents, Jayla, and my sister beyond measure. I also miss my church family and my work family...so for the sake of this not being a long and boring post, i'm going to focus on the funnier things.

I miss Birmingham BBQ, even though I don't eat pork or beef.
I miss hearing my name, "Lindsay" not "Miss, Miss, Miss"
I miss adults.
I miss living at home and not stressing about bills.
I miss UAB having free food and the scholarship paying for my food.
I miss TrailBlazers.
I miss studying for Dr. Moore's class.
I miss UAB Honors Program lectures...and free food, and the stinky couches.
I miss Hilary, Thad, and Brooke and all of my other friends
I miss Surin West
And not being looked at strangely when I say I'm from Birmingham, Alabama.
I miss not being the only white person around.
I miss the diversity.
I miss people who know that Birmingham has moved past the 1950s and that don't automatically assume I'm a racist biggot just because I was born in Birmingham and the only thing their history books talk about is the injustice that took place then.
I miss UAB's library...for real.
I miss the panini station at the cafeteria.
And the free movies in the FLMS
And reading school books
And having adult conversations about things besides teaching and students
I miss ARBYS
I miss my church friends and BCM people that can carry on spiritual conversations and still be open minded.
Oh...and I miss people not only associating the fact that I'm from Alabama with the movie Sweet Home Alabama and referencing it in each conversation. Like..."Lindsay, are clubs like this in Alabama (in a Texas country dancing bar place) because that's what they are in Sweet Home Alabama"~~ One of my personal favs
I am the only person from Alabama that about 75% of my friends here have ever met.

I miss Alabama, but don't let this message make you think I'm miserable. I'm far from it actually, this is one of the best weeks I've had in a long time. I'm just thinking back on how much has changed in a year and it got me thinking about what all I miss.
Love ya'll!

Then again, maybe not

2008-10-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

SO I just finished my first 6 weeks grading period (which is really 5 weeks) and I really don't know what to say. I think I like my job during 1st and 5th periods...during 2nd I sorta like it, and during 3rd/4th I dislike it almost enough to be done with it all. But starting my day and finishing my day with the students that I adore almost make all of this craziness worth it.
My roomie and I spend 2-4 hours a night planning our lessons and studying Texas History. I do a pretty good job if I do say so myself. On other news, I think I'll only teach for 2 years. It's intense and although I hope it will get better, I think I want to spend the rest of my career doing other things besides teaching. Maybe I'll become a school guidance counselor, that's when I get really excited during the day. When I can get one of my students to open up about what's going on and work through it with them, I actually feel like I'm making a difference. That happened today and I'd have to say it was one of the better days that I've had so far. Well, I thought that I'd just do a quick update to let everyone know that I am still alive. I have no life really though, I can't wait till that comes back. My entire world revolves around teaching, Teach for America, and Texas.

On that note, I now have a TX Drivers License and car registration.

Well...anyways, I'm going to not start rambling so I'll stop here. E-mail me, I miss you! lswain.uab@gmail.com

I think I like my job

2008-09-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

First a disclaimer: I haven't exactly formulated this update in my head yet, so if I ramble or if something doesn't make sense then stop reading.

"F**** U*** B*****" is what one of my students yelled in my direction the first day of school as he sped past my classroom while he fled from security and the principal. About 10 minutes later he stumbled into the class line, initially defiant but eventually he complied to my demands of standing with the other students as we practiced how we are supposed to enter my classroom. After they got in the room and got quiet, I went and talked to R, my first "I expect the best in this classroom and I want you to succeed so you are NOT going to act like this in MY class" speech followed by 50 more in the first 2 weeks of school. Well, R got to work and was great the rest of the class. "Ok, this isn't as bad as I thought"...next day he wasn't there, while I breathed a sigh of relief, I wanted to see how it would go. He's in my third period class, come to find out sometime before lunch he was turned in by a friend for pot. ON THE SECOND DAY OF SCHOOL, SERIOUSLY?? The student liason told me the reason he worked so well the day before was probably because he got high over lunch then came to my class... This is going to be an interesting year.

I'm a teacher with wheels...meaning that I have a giant cart for a classroom. I teach 4 periods a day and 1 conference period, but only one class meets in the same room each day. This means that in the span of 2 days, I am in and out of 7 classrooms. My poor students are never on time but I can't let them use the excuse "but Miss, I couldn't find the classroom" one more time. Rachel and I are poor sights, rolling around the school, manuevering ourselves around the halls that are brimming with 1300 students. We share an office with a classroom space worth of items that are being stored in the room my students lovingly call the "soffice" or the storage/office. This room is soon to also house the security in addition to everything else, although I hear they are moving the storage items out.

In other news, my life is completely consumed by teaching so I really don't have a personal life right now. I wake up around 5, get to the school by 7am, teach until 3:40, grade/plan at school until 6ish, come home, eat, and lesson plan until I fall asleep around midnight. We try and incorporate some fun stuff into our lives, Tasty Tuesdays which we finish off with an exciting baked good or ice cream, and dinner with some of our teacher friends on Wednesday.

On other notes, I REALLY miss home. I miss my parents and Jayla like crazy. I miss my church, but I think I've found a church... I'm still praying about it.

Well, that's enough I guess. Thanks for reading.

My first week of teaching

2008-06-20T16:46:00.001-07:00

I am 2 weeks into teacher training called Teach for America Houston Institute. Lots of things have happened since I left home on May 31st. Doesn't seem so long, and yet it seems like I've been gone forever. I want to get to the good stuff, so I'll try and speed through the logistics. We got here on the 8th and started working on the 9th. I am staying on the 17th floor of Moody Towers, a massively huge dorm. If you take a shower after 4:55am, it's freezing cold, and now it's shut off for a few days. I'll just pretend I'm in Peru again, but I'm not sure if my kids or my roommate would appreciate that. There are over 900 of us here, 700 new members and the rest are support staff to help us out. After 3 more weeks, we will all go back to our regions (Rio Grande Valley, Houston, St. Louis, Hawaii, and Denver.classes The structure of Institute is 1 week of training, 4 weeks of teaching one class and going to hours (4-8) of sessions and classes. I officially started teaching on Tuesday, but I met my kids on Monday. We'll be here for a total of 5 weeks.

My day usually begins before 5, so I can shower. Breakfast and coffee by 6, bus by 6:30. Sessions start at 8 then I teach at 10:55 and go back to my next session by 2. I'm at an amazing school and really not having some of the insane experiences that a lot of my fellow RGV corps have. I'm at a Houston charter school that serves the north central area. The school was started by some TFA alumni, and the biggest goal is to get all of their kids to and through college and to give them something to push forward to do. I have really enjoyed the kids, but they are just normal kids. I think a lot of us got disillusioned by the fact that these kids are in a really amazing school environment, but once they leave our walls I have no idea what they are walking in to.

So my amazing story as short as I can get it...In the 5 days of class, I've had to give one kid 2 marks for talking during my lesson. 1) They only have tables at the school, so everything is basically group work, it's a little irritating. 2) I understand it's hard to sit for 50 minutes. I wasn't mad, just said "Ok, E, this is your warning" followed a few minutes later with "E, that's a mark" and kept going with my lesson. Once a kid gets 3, they get a letter sent home to their parents. While I didn't give him 3, I was the lucky #3. Fast forward, I was trying to find the form for the letter and found out that E had an IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) that I wasn't aware of. Come to find out, he has a severe behavioral and emotional disorder. When he's called out in class, he goes off the deep-end. The teacher told me to basically leave him alone and as long as he isn't doing anything to any of the other kids he should be fine. Then she asked me what he had done to get in trouble. I said "well, he's been great, participates well and seems to have fun and interact with his table, he just has a tendency to talk when I'm giving my lesson" She looked at me in utter shock (mild exaggeration), he usually gets in trouble for mild violence or attitude. She was really surprised that E had been so involved in my class. I was surprised that the student hadn't gotten mad at me for getting on to him. I felt so guilty because, if I knew what was going on, I could've taken action to help correct his behavior without doing something that would set him off.
FF again (it really isn't that short, sorry). So I went to give him the note during study hall, and he was still in a great mood. I told him that I knew what we could do to help correct his behavior and that I knew we could both work really hard he could start over next week and do great. He said he had 12 notes sent home last year, I told him that I think we should try for only 2 all summer. It's a big goal, but I know he can do it, especially if we all work together to keep him positive and on task.
So today, since I had to send a bad letter home, I decided to send a good one home. I nonchalently stuck it in his folder that I passed out before class started. While I was giving instructions for the day, I saw him pull it out. As he read through it, and amazingly bright smile crossed his face. I basically just said, "Thank you for all of your hard work this week, you did an amazing job. You always particpate in class discussion and I really enjoy having you in my class. I hope you have a good weekend. Let's try for no marks in my class next week" We'll see if that happens, but I know he can do it. I can't believe how invested I am already. This is why I teach for America!

Texas History

2008-06-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it to Texas safe and sound. The only complication was my air conditioner, but in the 100 degree heat, it doesn't seem so minor. I left Birmingham at about 9:00am on Saturday and met up with a girl from Georgia in Tuscaloosa. We traveled to Meridian, MS where we met up with a girl from Boston and a guy from Philadelphia then stayed the night in New Orleans, where we met up with another corps member from Palm Beach, FL. The 16 hour drive would have been quite painful if it weren't for the great friends I made on the trip. We stayed the night in New Orleans, then again in Houston, and finally arrived at our final destination, the Rio Grande Valley, around 1pm on Monday. All I have to say is it's HOT in Texas.

Today Rachel and I had meetings with our district human resources department and we got set up in their computer systems so you're looking at Alamo Middle School's 2 newest 7th grade Texas history teachers. There are 2 men teaching TX History now, and we made four. We're really excited about it. She and I have talked about living together, so now we're trying to find our way around the valley enough to find a place to live. It's not easy because A) We don't know where anything is. B) We don't know anything about the area. C) We don't know where to find the houses. So this could be interesting, but we seem to have plenty of time so it should be ok. It's just great to have a regional placement, a grade assignment, an actual teaching position, a new e-mail address (not so excited about another one of those though), and a potential roommate. The staff seemed great, so I can't wait to get started. PS. I know nothing about Texas history...so I guess I get to start renting documentaries and watching wild west shows, fun times!!

I'll be in Edinburg, TX until Sunday when we go back to Houston for our formal TFA training. We return on July 12 and immediately start preping for the fun stuff. Thanks for the support and I miss ya'll!

What is Teach for America

2008-05-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

This is all stuff from the Teach for America website that I'm going to throw together as an introduction to what I will be doing for the next two years. It's late and I have a lot to do, but I wanted to give everyone a quick intro to what TFA is all about.

From www.teachforamerica.org
As a college senior, Wendy Kopp proposed Teach For America's creation in her Princeton University undergraduate thesis. She was convinced that many in her generation were searching for a way to assume a significant responsibility that would make a real difference in the world and that top college students would choose teaching over more lucrative opportunities if a prominent teacher corps existed. As a 21 year-old, Kopp raised $2.5 million of start-up funding, hired a skeleton staff, and launched a grass-roots recruitment campaign. During Teach For America's first year in 1990, 500 men and women began teaching in six low-income communities across the country. Since then, Teach For America's network has grown to 17,000 individuals. We have become the nation's largest provider of teachers for low-income communities, and we have been recognized for building a pipeline of leaders committed to educational equity and excellence.

Teach For America is the national corps of top recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunity. Teach For America teachers (corps members) go above and beyond to help their students achieve dramatic academic gains. Teach For America alumni are a growing force of leaders with the insight and added commitment to effect the systemic changes required to put children in low-income communities on a level playing field with children from more affluent areas. Teach For America is building the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our nation’s most promising future leaders in the effort. Our vision is that one day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.

Teach For America exists to address educational inequity. In our nation, which aspires so admirably to be a land of equal opportunity, where a child is born still determines that child's educational outcomes. Our mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our nation's most promising future leaders in the effort. Our vision is that one day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.

Moving to Texas!!!

2008-04-30T08:59:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post on here a new blog link for when I move to Texas for anyone that receives updates about me through my postings. I will be using adventuresintexas.teachfor.us for my future bloggings. Don't type www... just the straight adventuresintexas.teachfor.us
So here you go! I graduate on Saturday and move a month from tomorrow!

News about the earthquake devestation from Wayne Brinkley

2007-08-19T13:47:00.001-07:00

Here is a writeup of the assessment trip, written by Wayne Brinkley administrator of the IMB in Lima.

We left Lima at 7:00 a.m. on Friday. The missionaries who went with us were Boots Holder of the REAP North Team, Arnold Austin of the REAP South team, Pam Shearer of the Lima Strategy Group, Jack and Beth Sheridan, Debbie and Wayne Brinkley. We also had volunteers from Camp McCall, Pickens, South Carolina, Steve Reams and Alex Cook. Pepe Flores, the president of the Baptist Convention accompanied us. Margaret Swires from the British Baptist Mission Society also assisted us on the trip. We will work with the British Baptist Mission and the Peruvian Baptist Convention in the disaster relief response. The goal of the trip was to be able to assess the situation in five cities who suffered the greatest damage. We decided to try to not only find areas of greatest need but to find areas where we have some type of Christian contact. Since we were taking four mission trucks, we wanted to take some essential supplies for an immediate response. We took 130 blankets 1000 liters of water (in 20 liter boxes), flashlights and extra batteries. We also prepared 400 hygiene bags that contained soap, hydrogen peroxide, toothpaste, toothbrushes and evangelistic tracts.

The first city we arrived in was in Cañete. We went to a section of the town were we have a new Baptist church. This community is called Santa Cruz. There are about 300 adults in the community. Counting children, the community is over 1000. This area suffered some structural damages to houses with 8 to 10 houses be completely destroyed. These families were sleeping out in an open field. They did not have any type of shelter. The community had been without water and electricity for two days. The community had organized a common kitchen area. With large pots, they were cooking food for everyone who could contribute something. While we were there, a small water truck from the government arrived. However, he only had a limited amount of water and was not planning to return to the community. Through the local pastor, we were able to contract a water truck to provide water for the next several days. We want to return to provide some temporary shelter for these the 8 to 10 families. There is the potential for a volunteer team to help with rebuilding the homes, since there was so few that was completely demolished. We would probably want to build the homes with materials that are similar to the other houses.

We went on to the next major town called Chincha. We decided to leave the trucks full of supplies on the main road and Debbie and I entered the town with the pastor and British missionary. The concern I had was that if the people saw the trucks full of supplies, they would want the items. We did not have enough to give out to large groups. The town, like most of the area was without electricity. When we entered the town, there was a lot of damage to the brick buildings downtown but some of the greater damage was in the poor areas. In these areas, the houses are made of adobe (mud brick) walls. We have a new Baptist work in a poor area called Pueblo Nuevo. Caesar, the young pastor, lost his entire house. When I refer to “house” I am typically referring to a one or two room structure. It is incredible to see the concern of this pastor for helping the people in his community when his house was one of the hardest hit. There were blocks of these houses that were completely demolished. In his community there are about 120 families. Again, the greatest need was water, food and shelter.

Caesar then took us to a larger community called Húsare de Junin. This community has 360 families. When we arrived in the community in my truck, several hundred people quickly made two lines behind the truck, ready to receive any help. I was very surprised how orderly the people were. This was not the case in most of the communities. I had to explain to them that this was an investigation trip. As we talked to several hundred people, the main need they had was for food and water. We told them that we would try to get a water truck to help them that day and return with other supplies. We rode around the town of Chincha in search of a water truck who would take water to these people. Water in these towns is a business. Owners drill wells then use trucks to sell water to the poor communities. We went to several areas that had wells many were already empty and the ones who had water did not want to sell it to us. We were very discouraged. Then we say another truck and Pepe and Caesar approached the driver. The driver was moved by our desire to help the people. He agreed to take water to the communities and only charge $16 dollars for over 5000 gallons of water. Only God can make that happen! We left money with Cesar to take 6 loads of water to the communities in the next several days. We need to return to these two communities to provide food and shelter.

In these two communities in Chincha (really, all of Chincha), the markets had closed because of looting. The small stores that were still selling food had raised the price to as much as 3 times the normal cost. The people who had a little money were not able to get it since it was under the rubble of their homes. Due to the disaster the town has virtually stopped functioning. There was no work and most people live day to day, buying food with the money they earn in that same day.

I will also add that when we were leaving the community Húsare de Junin, we made a wrong turn and entered another community. Several hundred people approached our vehicle asking for help. The people were somewhat upset that we were able to help them. They were yelling things like, we need water, we need food. We left this area with several people running after our vehicle. While the people did not harm us or the vehicle, we understand how volatile the situation is. The people are desperate. In several occasions when we were talking to the people, they expressed their frustration that no help is arriving. They would often say, If you cannot give food to all of us, please give some food to the children.

When we left Chincha, we went toward Pisco. This town is one that has made much of the headlines. Most of the deaths had occurred in Pisco. It took several hours to get to Pisco because of the damage done to the roads. There were places that the asphalt road had been lifted or dropped 4 feet. Some parts of the road had slid off the cliff on the side to the ocean. Another difficult part of the stretch of road was damage done to a bridge. We waited over 2 ½ hours to cross the bridge. They would only let a few cars cross at a time. While we were waiting in line, looters were assaulting the vehicles that had supplies. There were some military soldiers who would shoot in the air and run off the looters. However, when the soldiers were some distance away, the looters would return. Some of them were able to open the back of one of our trucks and take several items. We were finally able to get the attention of one of the police who chased the looters off. This type of looting was happening all along the road from Chincha to Pisco, to Ica. When we approached Pisco, we decided not to enter the town for several reasons. One was that we did not have a contact in that town. Another reason was that our trucks were loaded with supplies that were headed for Ica and we felt that we could be at risk for looters. When we returned to Lima we would go through Pisco with the trucks empty.

We continued to Ica. We have a Baptist church in Ica. The Pastor of the church is named Daniel Terrones. When we arrived at the church, we had to unload the supplies quickly. There was a lot of looting taking place in Ica. The day before, the main market was closed due to looting. The church was completely destroyed. The front wall is leaning forward to the point that is will fall at any minute. Since no one can enter through the front door, the only access to the church is climbing on the roof of the property next door and going down a stairway to the pastor’s house that is connect to the church. The church is about 30 by 60 feet with a metal roof structure. The columns on one side of the church collapsed causing the roof structure to fall.

That evening, I went with the pastor of the church and Pepe Flores to a community called, Los Pollitos. This community is a squatters area. There are over 300 families in this community. It was dark when we arrived in the community. However, I could tell that most of the houses were completely destroyed. We talked to the people and asked them to prepare a list of every family. The community did not have water so we said that we would return the next day to talk about how to get water to them. Like all communities, we prayed for their needs and thanked God for sparing their lives. of their homes. In this area, like most of the areas we visited, the evenings drop into the 40s° with heavy mist.

There is a small school beside the church property. The guard of the school agreed to allow us to park our trucks in the school, on the courtyard. This was another work of God. The town of Ica is not safe and I was concerned about where to park our vehicles. The guard said that as long we were gone before the administrator of the school arrived at 8:00, we could stay. Several of the missionaries slept in the vehicles while others slept on the floor in a school room. Throughout the night we heard gun shots, police whistles and people shouting. Since the community had not electricity, there was looting most of the night. Several of the looters would approach a house with guns. They would enter the house and rob what they could. At times, people would bang on the metal gate that led into the school parking lot. I stayed awake most of the night walking around the vehicles. At one point in the night, we had two significant tremors. We could hear a lot of people screaming. They were running into the streets, thinking that another earthquake was happening. The people in the area are very traumatized.

The next day, we returned to the community, we found that they had water. Since this community is near more developed residential housing, they have access to several water faucets. We mentioned to them that God had heard our prayers and had help restore the water. However, as we looked at the houses, every house was damaged. Most were completely destroyed. The needs were similar, food, blankets and shelter. They also asked for flashlights since at nights, looters would come in and carry off any item they had that had survived the earthquake. Most of the people were sleeping in the streets, in front of the rubble of their homes. In this area, like most of the areas we visited, the evenings drop into the 40s° with heavy mist. The needs were obvious. While there were over 100 people around us, we were able to talk to the four community leaders. They presented a list of all families living in the fours sectors of the community. We told that we would plan to return with food and plastic to help them have temporary shelter. While we were talking with them, two other communities came to use with the list of their families. We quickly toured their communities, noting similar situations. We told the people that our contact was pastor Daniel.

When we returned to the church decided on a plan to distribute the water, blankets, and hygiene kits. The pastor would work with the community leaders to decide who has the greatest need at this moment. He would rent a taxi to take the materials to them. The pastor also mentioned several church members than needed some of the supplies. We had originally planned on giving out the supplies while we were in Ica but due to great number of people who where in need and the problems of looting, we decided it would be best for the pastor to give out these items on a personal basis. One idea he is going to do is to give each church member several of the hygiene bags. They are to find people in need and use the bags as a witnessing tool.

After we met with the pastor we began our trip home. The traffic around the difficult parts in the road had increased. In fact we passed about 16 miles of stopped cars and trucks going in the opposite direction. I know that many of these vehicles will not make it past the difficult areas of the road until tomorrow. On the way home we went to another town called Paracas. This town is directly on the ocean. When the earthquake hit, the large waves entered all the houses. While it did not demolish the houses, it did do damage. However, the houses are still livable, once the mud is cleaned out. We talked with a volunteer groups from the Civil Defense of Columbia. They mentioned that the 200 to 300 people would not return to their homes. They were living on a large sand dune. They were afraid to return to their homes. The problem is that they are out in the open without any shelter. The volunteer group has met many of the immediate medical needs of the people. They did share with us that they were low on medical supplies. They shared with us the most common medicines used in their disaster relief response. This list will assist us in the future. We may purchase some medicines to help this volunteer group. We don´t feel that we need to give anything to the people at this time but we could help in the cleanup.

From Paracas we went through parts of Pisco, the town we had bypassed earlier. There is considerable damage in this town. We later found out that one of the members of the church where Debbie and I attend has family in Pisco. This person may be a good contact for us. We should know more about this person this next week.

We arrive in Lima around 6:00 this evening. The return trip took about 9 hours. It typically takes 4 hours for us to make the same trip.

We found the people to be very responsive to our help and open to talk about God. Several times Pepe Flores mentioned to the people that they were blessed because they were still alive. They openly agreed with him. Pepe led the large groups in prayer, asking for Gods protection, provision, and forgiveness for not always following him. It was incredible to hear several hundred people repeating the prayer that Pepe was leading. This prayer will lead many toward a saving knowledge of Jesus. It was also so encouraging to hear Pepe and the local pastors talk about how they could start new churches and cell groups among the communities we are going to help.

Almost home!!

2007-07-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I´m less than 2 weeks from home. We just left our last village, Nuñoa, and are now in Puno for the night in hopes to see Titicaca tomorrow morning before heading back to Lima. After leaving Nazca, we haven´t had any more problems with the strike. We got to spend a little bit of time in Bolivia though, our bus got rerouted and we were basically dropped off in Desaguadero, Peru...which is a bridge away from Desaguadero, Bolivia... so after a night in the Peru side, we walked over to Bolivia before returning to catch a bus to Puno, then to Juliaca, then to Lampa...total time on a bus after leaving Nazca was over 24 hours, then we had a night in a hostel before getting back on a bus for another...ummm, maybe 4 hours, I don´t remember, they´re all running together now.
We spent a few days in Lampa with Brad, a Journeyman. This village is like the athletic capital of Peru, seriously...they played soccer, basketball, tennis, ping pong, and pool. We were able to minister with Brad and meet some of the local Christians. The Barnabas team was also able to meet up with us in Lampa, so it was really refreshing and fun to be off of a bus.
Then headed to Nuñoa for our final visit with a village team. This is going to be a super short blog because I`m sure you´re tired of reading them and I don´t have a lot of time. We didn´t get to do a lot of one-on-one ministry with the people of Nuñoa because it was the last few days of the village team´s time there. We performed at the church for their church meeting, then on Sunday we led Children´s church and performed again for the congregation. Afterwards, we went to the market and saw one of the believers from Cusicancha, Margaritha. It was very exciting because we prayed for her salvation while we were there, and during our midsummer break we found out she accepted Christ!! This morning we performed at the private high school (because everyone else is still striking).

Tomorrow we´re going to do a floating island tour at Lake Titicaca then head back to Lima for debriefing!! See you on August 4th!!

Severe sugar high for Jesus!!!

2007-07-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

Well as you know we got rerouted to Nazca again and then got stuck here because of the crazy strikes. We hoped to leave Nazca yesterday because of our crazy travel schedule being a week behind, but the buses that were leaving were all full. Yesterday during our team Bible study and prayer time, we decided that we didn´t want to look back on our time here with regrets like King Solomon did at the end of his life and that we wanted to take every opportunity to build relationships. Since Nazca is the only place that we have visited more than once for any period of time, this feels kinda like our home. John and Solomon were able to share yesterday with a guy who they met on our bus to Bella Union about 3 weeks ago. They shared with him that time and then saw him on our way back to Nazca before debriefing, but didn´t really get into the personal relationship with Christ. John had been praying to see him again and to have another opportunity, and sure enough, yesterday they were able to talk to Carlos and he accepted Christ!!! Not that anything could get better than that, but Brian, Kathy and I had people we wanted to talk to as well. Brian is a coffee addict and there is no good coffee here, but this new restaurant Coffee Break is his favorite place...and has the best coffee around. He met them the first time we were here then we basically went every day during midsummer break. I´m sure many people left them tracts and whatnot, but relationships are important to us, so we hung out with them and loved on the family. It is owned by Julio and his sister Damaris. They´re other sister and brother who are in high school work there too, especially during the strikes. Well we ate dessert last night and Kathy wanted to find out if we could help them out today and learn to bake, so sure enough they said yes.
Brian, Kathy and I got to the restaurant at 8:00am and started baking a little bit later...I think in total we made batter for 6 cakes and then decorated another 3 or 4. It was an incredible time of laughter and fun as they made helped us make the cakes for the day. We knew we wanted to present the Gospel, but didn´t feel like the Holy Spirit was leading us there yet. The relationship that we built with that family was super important. Kathy and I had our hands at waiting tables and we all chatted it up with the guests as they waited for their food. We left for lunch and came back to enjoy our creation (well...we ate yesterday´s cake, but it was still super good). After the rush was over and Julio left for his other work, we were able to sit down and talk with Damaris. Long LONG story short, Damiris has a little girl who is 3, and the father was abusive to Damaris so she holds a lot of hurt in her heart. We shared with her for a long time about God´s plan and His love. It was total team work as I talked to her and Brian and Kathy passed verses to me. After a little while and lots of questions later I asked if Damaris if she wanted to accept Christ as her savior she said PORQUE NO? (why not?) it was so exciting!! We are going back tonight to take her a Bible and then we´re on a bus to Juliaca. Thanks for the prayers everyone. God sure does know what He´s doing...now 2 more people have a personal relationship with Him!!

Nomads living in limbo

2007-07-12T07:25:00.000-07:00

Well, we have had an interesting few days since the last post that said we were going to Pomacanchi. We left Marcabamba and got stuck in Pausa because no busses were going to direction we needed. We finally got a bus on Tuesday morning that would take us all of the way to Puquio, which is the city we needed to get to in order to catch a bus to Cusco. Our plans were get to Puquio, get on an overnight bus to Cusco then catch a ride to Pomacanchi, stay there overnight and perform with the village team, then head to our next location on Friday. When we got to Puquio and met up with the Barnabas and Research teams we found out that there was a transportation strike or something like that and no buses would be going to Cusco. That put us 4 days behind and meant that we had to go back to Nazca for the 3rd time and try to get a bus from there to Puno so we could get to Chupa to serve with the team there. We knew that the busses to Nazca wouldn't be leaving until the next night, so Wednesday afternoon we found a taxi and fit all 5 of us (plus a driver) with all 8 of our bags in this station wagon taxi for 3 hours back to Nazca. Well...we get to Nazca only to find out there is no one leaving from here either...so we are stuck, again. This nomad business is getting old fast. Solomon has family in Nazca, so instead of having to pay for a hostel, we bunked on the floor last night. Right now we are just chilling in Nazca and trying to use our time to effectively minister to some people we met the last time we were here. We find out at noon if the busses will be leaving tonight to go to Puno. The plan is Chupa until Monday, the Lampa until Friday, then Nunoa until they leave...then we're hitting up Cusco and maybe even Machu Pichu while we catch a flight back to Lima for debriefing. Please pray for our safety because things are super crazy as Peru is falling apart around us. Someone told us to say we are from Canada and not the U.S....which makes for a funny story because now whenever anyone asks us where we are from we just look around at eachother waiting for someone else to say it first. Also another crazy story, we were supposed to be headed to Cusco on Monday, but we were stuck in Pausa. We found out in Puquio that a bus headed to Cusco went off a cliff because the rioters left rocks in the road. The Lord guards our path and like Jeremiah 32:17 says "Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you." He can handle it and we're trusting in His plan. For now we are just living like nomads and trying to enjoy the adventures.

Marcabamba

2007-07-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

What an amazing week of God´s provisions and blessings!!! I think the Lord was talking directly to me when He said in Matthew 17:20 that His disciples had little faith. God has worked and moved in ways this summer that have continued to amaze me, and His plan and path have never failed...but in my human limitations I try and plan things and worry about things when they aren´t working out like I think they should.
After our meeting during midsummer debriefing, my team and I decided to change our discussions during our presentations to lay the Gospel out a little more than we had been. We also talked about our slight discouragement that since we do not stay in once place for very long, we haven´t seen a lot of the fruits of the Gospel and the people we have shared with. We heard in Nazca that one of the ladies Kathy and the Cusicancha team had the opportunity to share with while we were there had become a Christian. I started praying that the Lord would continue to use our actions to present the Gospel and see people come to know Christ.
We left Incuyo on the 4th of July and had a quick visit with Cindy, one of the missionaries on site in Pausa. She made us some delicious pancakes before we hopped back on our bus to head to Marcabamba. While in Marcabamba we served with Derek Pirtle and Jacob Moore, 2 summer missionaries working in this village in addition to a handful of others. On our second day there, the nationwide education strike began. Since the team had set up performances for us, we were told to get there early so the students would still be in school. In Peru there is no such thing as teachers´unions or doing things for the benefit of the people...I don´t understand, but somehow they can justify an indefinite, nationwide strike for all teachers. It sounds like every kids dream ¨I may never have to go back to school!!!¨ Well, we got to the high school early for our first performance and there were a lot of students there, so we performed and presented the Gospel. About halfway through the presentation, I noticed that there were a lot of elementary students standing at the gate watching us. We were afraid the elementary school was going to be empty by the time we finished with the high school, but the students followed us back to the elementary school and despite a couple of issues with the teachers, we were able to present to a very attentive group of students. The kids from the elementary school followed us back to the hostel, and Brian had the incredible opportunity to capture some amazing photos of the children. A few of the girls hung around even longer and asked if we would have a Bible study with them, so Kathy and I set up a time and Brian decided to share his photos of the kids before our time with them. The first day we had a great time of Bible study and the children were very interested and actually knew a WHOLE LOT about the Bible, apparently their religion teacher does her job. They wanted to have it the next day too, so we decided on a time and had it again. The next day, inspired by their favorite song 'Padre Abraham' (Father Abraham) we talked about the promises of God and how the answer to our problem of sin was Jesus. We shared the Gospel and asked the girls if they had a personal relationship with Christ...first they answered really quickly together, but then as Kathy and I broke it down, the girls decided they did not know where they would spend eternity and that they knew they needed forgiveness for their sins. It was amazing, 5 of the 6 girls decided they wanted to accept a personal relationship with Christ!!! Please pray for Ritha, Jaselyn, Alexandra, Margareth, and Nataly as they grow in their new faith and relationship with Christ. We had another Bible study with the girls the next day and Kathy taught them how to find things in the Bible. Bless their hearts, we gave one of the new Christians, Ritha, her first Bible and told her that we really liked the book of Juan (John). When she brought it back to the next Bible study she was sad because she couldn´t find it and thought that she was missing part of her Bible, of course by the end of the night Kathy taught them how to find stuff in their Bibles and we told them that after we left they should all read it together. It was really exciting to see how excited the girls were...they even brought their Bibles to our 3rd Bible study.
On the night before our last night there we were able to present in the comedor for around 75 people...about half of them were watching through the window, but the good thing about mimes is that you don´t have to hear them to hear the message in your heart. We were also able to share in a wonderful time of worship with the local house church under the leadership of Pastor Antonio, a Peruvian missionary who travels to Marcabamba once a week.
On Saturday we got on a bus at 5am with James, a local friend of the village team, and he took us to the hot springs, or baños termals. It was a wonderful time of relaxation and refreshment...and James isn´t a Christian, so Jacob and Derek as well as our guys were able to sit down with James and share the Gospel with him. He wasn´t ready to accept Christ, but he is so close. After we left the hot springs, we had to hike up the road a bit until a combi (van thing) passed to take us back. Some of the guys stayed with James because he wanted them to share with his family about Christ, but Kathy, Brian, and I went back to get ready for the Bible study. I don´t remember how many they said, but part of James´ family accepted Christ last night!!!
Now we are in Pausa waiting until the morning because we couldn´t get transporation anywhere we needed to go today...but that´s ok. Jesus said with faith the size of a mustard seed the mountains would move...and if we are stuck here for an extra day, I know there´s a reason why. The Lord hasn´t let us down yet, and I know He is watching over us and guarding our journey.
Please pray for the new Christians in Marcabamba as well as Fanny, one of the church leaders. Thanks for everything. We are headed for Pomacanchi, Cusco next then only 3 more villages until returning to Lima.

I miss everyone and love you all!!!

Nazca midsummer and catching up

2007-07-03T18:37:00.000-07:00

We are currently in Incuyo after leaving midsummer briefing in Nazca. Our midsummer break was amazing and we were able to share in the continuing ministry of the village teams we have visited. One of the ladies that we have been praying for in Cusicancha accepted Christ and other villages have started more Bible studies and done some other pretty exciting things. Since we only stay in one village for 4 days and then we´re gone, so we don´t get to see many fruits from the work we´ve done. It was very encouraging to spend times with the teams from first half and hear about the wonderful things the Lord is doing in their villages.
Midsummer break was also a good time of rest and refreshing. I went with Hagan and the new Bella Union girls and Shannon to fly over the Nazca Lines. It was pretty interesting and perfect for the South America studies nerd in me.
After midsummer briefing was over, we headed to Incuyo, Ayacucho. It was about a 12 hour bus trip from Nazca, and we arrived at 4am to no hostel. Due to some problems in the village, they had locked the village team out of the hostel...luckily this village has a handful of hostels to choose from and we were able to quickly find an alternative and get some sleep. After catching up on our sleep, the Lord walked Kathy, Brandy and I into a teachers´ meeting and instead of wasting a day to set up performance times, we were able to set 2 up on Sunday for Monday and Tuesday. The performances went wonderfully and overall the children were very receptive.
An amazing thing about this village is that over 65 people have come to know Christ since the beginning of the summer. Right now the village team is working on discipling the Christians and trying to plant a church. Tonight we had a Bible study with about 20 adults, children, and youth. Please be in prayer for Ronald, Ronnie, Michael- they are the youth who will be continuing the church when the village team leaves. Please pray for Raul, the cook at the hostel, to open his heart to Christ. The village team will be here for another 10 days, so continue to pray for the team as they share the Love of Christ.
Right now there is a transportation strike in Peru, but we are hoping to be on a bus at 3am to head to our next village, Marcabamba. Please continue to pray for safe travels.
Happy 4th of July!!!

Just another day in Paradise

2007-06-28T11:28:00.000-07:00

We are now resting in Nazca after our week in Bella Union. We stayed at Hostel Paraiso (Paradise) for a week with an incredible family and an amazing village team. We left Ica to head to Nazca in order to catch a little bus to Bella Union on Friday and arrived there early evening. We had no idea where we were going, but the good thing about being "gringos" is everyone knows where to find them. Our bus driver said he saw some in one of the hostels so he would stop there for us...as soon as the bus pulled up Jennifer walks out the front door to go to the store and we see her, so we were in the right spot. YAY. One of the first things we noticed about this village is that it is only about 2 block wide, but went on as far as we could see in both directions, and come to find out the village team had walked both lengths.

Hagan, Jennifer, and DeAnna were the village team and they were by far the most prepared for us to come and participate in the work the Lord was doing there. Hagan's church from Kentucky has been working in Bella Union for about 2 years and unlike a lot of villages there is an evangelical church in the area and a good amount of Christian hermanos (Christian brothers and sisters). Kathy and I were a little bit sick the first morning, so instead of performing in the plaza in Saturday, the girls decided to go check out the other town of Acari in order to find some fruit that isn't sold in Bella Union. We get to Acari walk around a little bit, start feeling better, and decided to try and climb the sand dunes (FYI we're out of the mountains for a few days and this is now the desert). Well, a little bit up the rocky part I start feeling bad again, and I'm wearing flip flops, so I decide to wait on DeAnna, Kathy, and Jennifer. Within the next 20 minutes they come back with the story of almost dying while hanging off the side of this rocky dune...I don't know all of the details, but thank the Lord that they made it back safely.

Fast forward and skip a million stories, but God is definitely moving among the people in Bella Union. The village team has met a lot of Christians and were doing a dozen Bible studies and kids' programs a week, so it was really great to see/hear everything they were doing all summer. On the night we got back from their near death experience, the guys left to go climb another sand dune...so we were left sin (without) a translator besides us using our own broken Spanish. Well, DeAnna and Jennifer asked me if I would translate their entire Bible study for them because they didn´t feel they could teach and try and translate at the same time...I was a little (or well, a lot) concerned, but I figure 15-20 minutes, no big deal, we could all figure it out together. Her house took about 20 minutes to walk to, so during that time I was praying like crazy for God to use my weakness and speak His words through what was being said. We get to Julia´s salon (it is with her house, but she was working so that´s where she was), and we started Bible study. We started reading the scripture and were almost immediately interrupted by these two teenagers who came in to get a haircut. I invited them to join us after she finished and so began the most amazing hour and a half I have had the opportunity to participate in with the Lord. DeAnna and Jennifer were teaching from the scripture about Jesus being the vine and us as the branches and God was just providing the words to explain it directly from their mouths with my Spanish...and thank God it wasn´t even really broken Spanish, for the most part it was clear Spanish. Then the teenagers started asking questions, Dante said that he had been a good person and went to Catholic mass but talked about works, so God kept popping out scriptures right and left for us to use, and I kept on going with the occasional guided words with my lack of Spanish vocabulary. The boys had a lot of questions, and we showed them answers from the Bible. After everything was over, DeAnna and Jennifer were raving about how well the translating went and all I could say was that I had nothing to do with it. It was an incredibly humbling experience because it was amazing, but it wasn´t me...it was ALL God. I don´t want any of the glory and would have been completly fine sitting back and listening to the Bible study...but He needed to use me to get the Word to the people. No matter how badly I could´ve messed up, Philippians and many other places talks about the POWER of the Word of God and that when the Word goes out, it touches hearts and changes lives despite the messange. Afterwards, we invited the guys to come and visit with our guys to learn more and we saw them Sunday in the Acari for our performance, so the seeds were planted.

Hagan and 2 more girls (Laura and Allie) will be returning to Bella Union to continue the work there after Nazca break this week so please pray for them as they return without a Peruvian translator and pray for Laura as she takes on the role as the translator and learns Peruvian culture.

We performed at the primary school and the colegio on Monday and hung out with the kids on Tuesday and went to another village to perform. Earlier in the week we realized that only 2 cambies went to Otapara (the village where we were supposed to perform), one at 7 am and one at 11...the time we were supposed to perform. So we prayed about it and waited on a cambie at 9am hoping to get to Acari and find a way there early, or just get on the cambie at 11 and be late to the school. While we were waiting on the cambie to Acari, Max, the man that owned the restaurant by our hostel (and who´s grandmother owned the hostel), came out and told us that he reserved a cambie for us for 50 soles to take us to Otapara and wait on us and bring us back. That was totally a God thing, so we took our cambie to Otapara and got to the school only to realize that the strike we noticed on the way there, with the teachers marching through the streets...meant there were no kids IN school...and apparently the kids in Otapara don´t play outside when there´s not school. Since we were there, we decided to knock on doors and announce over the loudspeaker about our presentation. We started a little after 11 knowing that we had to get back on the cambie at 11:45 or we would get charged more for renting it longer. We started with 4 kids and ended up with about 15 kids and 5 adults that watched the puppets from a distance. I hated that we couldn´t hang out with the kids, but we were able to share God´s love with that many more people and our puppet skits clearly present the gospel, so again, despite our time constraints, the POWER of His Word will not return void.

This is Julia, she is the owner of Hostel Paraiso! We got to party with her and her friends on her 74th birthday. It was the nicest thing because they allowed 7 gringos and 2 Peruvians to crash their party, and we all danced the night away (well...she´s 74 and so were her friends so it wasn´t really a long night) but we had a blast...and enjoyed yummy food and cake too!

Santiago de Chocorvos

2007-06-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Ica once more.
I want to start this off by saying thank you so much to my church. I love and miss everyone at Sharon Heights Baptist Church. I miss my GAs so much and can´t wait to share with everyone once I get home. I´ve been told that Bro. Jason reads these blogs to the church, so thank you so much for your love and prayers and support. I receive all of the prayer requests that go through the e-mails, so know that as you pray for me, I am praying for all of you.

We have been serving in Santiago de Chocorvos this week with a team of 6 summer missionaries. The only way to get to the village is on a truck that has been converted into a bus/cattle truck...which basically looks a little like something the circus would bring into town. John and Solomon rode up top to watch our stuff and Kathy, Brian and I rode in the cab that holds around 24 people in the 4 rows. It was a 6-7 hour trip, I don´t remember.
When we got there, the village team was away ministering in another one of their villages, so we took a day of rest while we waited on them to return. It has been pretty great, but God is helping us not wear ourselves too thin by providing us a chance to refresh every other village.
Well, the next day the village team still wasn´t back, so we went to the kindergarten to present our puppets and then to the elementary and high schools to set up times to present the next day. After lunch, the village team was back and we spent the afternoon/evening hanging out before half of the team had to rush off to another village again. These guys are super hard core. I didn´t know this, but Santiago is their ¨home base¨and they are actually hiking 2-8 hours to surrounding villages, sleeping in tents, and trying to find believers that can help start churches there. And I complained about not getting a bath in 4 days... WOW. Two of the girls on the team stayed behind to hang out with us while we were in the village. We wanted to be able to go with them, but with our crazy schedule we had to plan to leave a day early in order to get to Bella Union in time to be there and leave for Nazca.
We had an awesome blessing of meeting some super awesome kids. Emerson was 9 (i think) and this kid had a HUNGER for God´s word. He was so intent and excited to talk to John about the Bible one afternoon after soccer. His older brother saw our presentation at the high school and talked to me about it afterwards, and this kid totally gets it too. Please pray for them and their family. The parents are ones the church has tried to encourage to start a Bible study there, but they have had some problems and need prayer for encouragement.
Brian met one of the shop owners, Gisella, and she instantly became our buddy. She was the greatest cook too. She is 27 years old, and I had the incredible opportunity to chat with her about God and the Bible for about an hour after everyone left from dinner one night. It just shows me to not have my own agenda. I was telling her goodnight and thanks for dinner, and I ended up sitting down and bringing out the Bible after awhile and talking about God and forgiveness, and idolitry.
We did a whole lot more, and there´s of course a zillion things more to write about, but I will run out of time and space. Before we left this morning, we went to the primary school to wait to say bye to Emerson, and one of the professors invited us inside to give us a formal goodbye, it was really sweet and definitely the first time that had happened.
So, since the only way into the village is on a circus truck...that´s the way out as well. Being the hardcore ¨Peruvians¨that we are trying to be, we decided to ride up top instead of in the cab...this is like on the top of a dump truck. It seemed like it would be a pretty comfortable ride and after waiting for an hour, we finally started moving...only a hundred yards...backwards. We weren´t really sure what was going on, but soon realized it as they started herding goats toward the truck...then cows...then the goats got out, and they had to chase 2 cows around b/c they got loose...then they carried the biggest sheep I´ve ever seen and put it on the truck. Let me paint this picture. 4 gringos, a dozen plus Peruvians sitting on planks on the top of this truck with 5 cows, 5 goats, 2 giant sheep...and a box of guinea pigs under our feet...oh and the huge crate of cheese that the cows peed on (FYI, don´t buy cheese in Peru). It was a truly beautiful trip though, and they kept trying to talk us into going into the cab...I bet it was the first time a lot of them saw gringos (meaning white people) toughing it out like the Peruvians. It only took us about 5 hours to get back to Ica, where we are staying the night before heading to Bella Union in the morning.

I am constantly amazed at the things the Lord is allowing me to do here. Today on the open air truck/bus, I just looked around and thought... ¨WOW, I´m in Peru, for the 2nd time in my life. Millions of people NEVER see Peru, and God has allowed me to be a part of His work here, not just once, but TWO times¨why me, what have I done to deserve this incredible blessing. I was talking to this man on the bus today and he was asking me about my life back home and he said something about someone having my heart and I answered yes because I thought he asked me something else. After going through Solomon to make sure I had the question right, which I didn´t, it got me thinking... He was talking about having a boyfriend or someone back home and if someone had my heart and that´s why I´ve stuck to my goals (or at least that´s what I think he was talking about...he lost me somewhere). But I do know who my heart belongs to, God.
He has given me a desire for the nations and a heart for His people and I am so excited I get to live this adventure twice in my life. I am so excited and in love with my Lord!!! He has given me a heart for His wild adventure, and I am so blessed to be a part of it. I didn´t think I´d be so comfortable (or at least ok) riding on top of a cattle/circus truck off the side of a mountain, but it was almost enjoyable... and I love everything else He has allowed me to be a part of.

Oh, so more about me developing my hardcore adventorous side...Kathy and I used the bathroom in between to buildings today, outside, no door...no toilet or anything else either. She has a picture of where it was, I´m going to have to borrow it to share it with everyone.
It´s been 4 days since a shower, but I actually washed my hair in the freezing ice cold sink this week. I haven´t taken off this shirt since Sunday, and I´m still wearing the same pants I have worn since then, except to sleep in. Tonight is shower night, so I get to change into clean clothes that I´ll wear this whole next week and then I have one more outfit to wear in Nazca while I do laundry. I LOVE THIS!!!

I love you Mom and Jeff and I miss ya´ll so much!!!!

Huancapi and Cusicancha

2007-06-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

I didn´t realize how behind I was at blogging so please forgive me (and check out my teammates´blogs for better updates). The Lord has been doing amazing things with our teams and it is such a blessing to be in Peru doing what I love with the people of Peru that I love.
We were in Huancapi from the 8-11 with Tyler, Glenn and Suzanne. They left on Friday, so it was pretty interesting being the new gringos in town. The hostel we stayed in had running water that they NEVER turned on, we cooked our own trucha frita and boiled potatoes on a fire outside by the river, and had an awesome time with the pastor and his family. It was a little rocky at first, but the Lord knows what He is doing much better than us. We met with the pastor on Saturday befor their church service and he completely turned it over to us. We performed some as our way of sharing the message and used scripture from Romans with our dramas. Then they invited us to lunch the next day (this time they said they were preparing for us). It took 3 1/2 hours to eat the next day, but the food was amazing. That night they had another church service that we helped at and then that night we went out to the river to look at the stars and WOW, talk about amazing...it looked like the Milky Way stretched from one mountain to the next...it´s pretty amazing b/c stars are just decorations in the sky for us, little gifts in the sky straight from God, and wow...they sure are different when you get away from the city lights.
On Monday morning we went to 3 different schools to perform our puppets, and for the sake of not running up my internet bill...it went really well. Then we caught a bus to Ayacucho to stay the night before heading to Cusichancha. For everyone who got my e-mail prayer request about Brian´s friend, Matt, thanks for praying. Matt went to be with the Lord so please keep his friends and family in your prayers.

Not to play favorites or anything, but Cusicancha was my favorite place so far. We got there on Tuesday and were met in the Plaza by the village team, Audra, Leslie, Josh and Joseph. The village was basically deserted because a neighboring village was having their fiesta, but that didn´t stop us. Wednesday we joined the fiesta to watch the kids march around and perform with their schools. I was pretty sick that day, so when everyone decided to take a hike to the top of the mountain, I decided not to go. We came back early for church, but the pastor decided not to show up...funny isn´t it? We´ll God doesn´t work on time frames and doesn´t need the pastor to be at church to show up without him (no offense Bro. Jason, I miss your preaching like CRAZY and know the Lord works through you) but the village team led the Bible study and we led worship for church, and it was definitely great. It was in a little one room hut with one light bulb and it was really cold.Thursday morning we presented at a kindergarten and set up times for the colegios on Friday.
Friday morning we went to present at the primary school, but again, bc of the fiesta, the teachers weren´t there when it was supposed to start at 9. We ended up setting up and doing our puppet skits outside while the kids waited for their teachers. At 11 we went to present at the high school. God totally orchestrated this one, b/c the school was having a special Father´s Day presentation and we were able to present the gospel with many of the parents that were there...in addition to the students. WOW, thanks God!!! A couple of the ladies we had made friends with missed our dramas, so they asked if we would do them again. We set up a time at 8:00 that night for the plaza, but only half expected them to show up. For the rest of the day we waited for ladies who were supposed to come to Bible study, but they didn´t show up because they both ended up working. After dinner it was REALLY cold, but we took our stuff to the plaza to perform. At 8:00 only one lady was there...at 8:15 there were about 15-20 (i think, i could be wrong about how many) but the people definitely showed up. We presented out dramas and shared the gospel and talked about the Bible studies the village team had going.
The people in this village were AMAZING and I will definitely miss working with the village team there. God is working through the people there and I can´t wait to see what else God has going there. It´s really interesting, but this is by far the SMALLEST place I have been. They didn´t even have a Catholic church there, which made it easier to get into the schools and get to the people. Unlike many of the villages, the Catholic stronghold isn´t that overpowering there and there is an evangelical church.
There were no restaurants, no panderias (bread stores), and about 4 tiendas (that were all closed for the fiesta). The people were so receptive and we built relationships fast. The village team cooked eggs for us every morning and we even had spaghetti one night. YUMMM!!

Next is Santiago de Chocorvos. Don´t expect an update until next week when I´ll be in Nazca for my mid summer break. Thanks for the prayers!!!!

Happy Father´s Day Jeff--I MISS YOU
Mom- I MISS YOU SO MUCH TOO. Don´t think I´m lying at all...I want to call you so bad

Oh...and if you leave me a comment as anonomyous, please put your name in it so I know who you are :-)

Where I'm going for the weeks ahead

2007-06-07T18:02:00.000-07:00

This is a rough schedule of where I'll be for the next few weeks. If you see a few day break between the dates, that means its a really long bus trip. Keep us in your prayers, and check my teammate's blogs too. Please pray for all summer missionaries, Satan is definitely attacking right now. I will be e-mail a link to everyone soon for pictures and I probably won't have net access very often. Thanks and love you all

June 8-11--Fajardo (on the map as Huancapi)
June 13-16-- Cusicancha
June 18-21-- Santiago de Chocorvos
June 23-26--Bella Union
June 27-29--Mid Summer Break in Nazca
July 1-4-- Chumpi, Ayacucho
July 5-7-- Pausa, Ayacucho
July 8-11-- Marcabamba, Ayacucho
July 13-15--Pomacanchi, Cusco
July 16-18--Nunoa, Puno
July 20-22--Chupa, Puno
July 23-25--Lampa, Puno
July 26--Lima for debriefing

Adventures in Huarochiri

2007-06-07T11:31:00.001-07:00

After an interesting turn of events of missing one bus and having to spend the night in a sketchy part of town (El Augustino). It was interesting, we hung out and took a nap before we went back to Lima for a service with Solomon's church. It was super long but pretty cool and we met Solomon's mom and some youth from his church. We caught a taxi back to El Augustino and went to bed...it was the LOUDEST hostel I've ever stayed in, so needless to say Kathy and I didn't sleep that well. Our bus left at 9:30 the next morning (which means maybe 10:30 in Peru) and we started a 7 1/2 hour bus trip up the mountains to Huarochiri. I used my first squatty on the road (a hole in the ground with a door in the front of it for a bathroom). It was an incredibly beautiful bus trip as we ascended into the Andes mountains. I'm constantly reminded how awesome our God is. I'm working on getting pictures posted on my wolfcamera account, but right now I'll just have to stick with facebook.
The team we worked with in Huarochiri was Blake and Anibal. This area has had a difficult history with evangelical churches as the loved pastor left for Lima, the next pastor stole money from the town, and the most recent pastor blasted the Catholic church via the town loudspeaker. Needless to say they are pretty skeptical of Christian missionaries coming into the town, so Blake and Anibal have had a difficult time starting Bible studies.
We had an incredible time and met some of the most amazing children. There are numerous stories but I'll share a few.
The kids Leonella and Janella were these amazing twin 9 year olds. They were the sweetest kids and followed us around constantly. Janette was 8 I think and had a 3 year old brother named Alan. This kid was super bossy, but really cute. They loved having their pictures taken. Since Blake and Anibal were having a hard time building bridges, we really dove into working with the kids and building relationships that way. One of the mothers invited us into her store and gave us some delicious apples (that we took home and soaked in Kilol so we could eat them) and we took some more pictures and talked with her a little bit.
On Monday we went around the village to try and build relationships and work out stuff for us to do on Tuesday. Funny thing about the people here is that they don't want to disappoint you, so everything happens "manana" (tomorrow). We set up some times to work with the elementary school and high school, so that was really cool. Tuesday we went to the high school in attempts to work with the art class there, the principal basically ignored us, but eventually a teacher came out and took us to a classroom. We performed for that class, then the priest invited us to come into his religion class. It was an incredible blessing to build bridges in that way, then we played volleyball and futbol with the class (have you ever seen a priest in sweats and a t-shirt helping the gringos beat the students in soccer?) it was funny, i have pictures.
Then we went back to town, skipping lunch, and set up for our elementary school performance. About 150 kids came out and enjoyed the puppets and songs. Later that night we were hanging out in the plaza and the kids kept singing them with us.
We left Huarochiri at 8:30 and got back to Lima 1.5 hours earlier than we were supposed to...so bus driver was literally flying down the mountain. We got back to Lima and started working on getting ready to leave today.
God is already doing amazing works in Peru, and Satan is feeling the pressure. Please keep our team in your prayers as we continue the work of the Lord. We are traveling to 11 more places in the next 8 weeks, and mountain roads can be dangerous, so keep praying. We leave for Ayacucho tonight at 10:05pm and will hopefully be there somewhere around tomorrow morning. We will be working with a team in Huancapi until Monday when we head to Huaytara.
I'll keep you updated as much as I can, but internet in the towns is a little slow and hard to get onto. Keep us in your prayer and keep praying for Kathy's sister. I'll post pictures when I can. E-MAIL ME!!!! I need a connection to home, so e-mail me about what God is doing in your life. My e-mail is doodlebug_lms@hotmail.com Love and prayers!!!
Vaya con Dios!!

Moving out

2007-05-31T16:38:00.000-07:00

Things have been pretty busy in Lima...make that very busy. We have been working on learning songs and skits for the next 8 weeks. It is really incredible how this team was knit together. We all bring special gifts and things to the group that make it a special creative ministry team. This week we have learned 6 unspoken dramas, 4 puppet skits, 5 children's songs, and about 7 Spanish hymns. It has been a lot of work and I'm pretty sure we are all just ready to be done so we can start interacting with the people.

After lunch today, Stephen took us to a boy's orphanage today so we could set up something for tomorrow. It was really incredible, I didn't see very much of it, but it really broke my heart. Tomorrow we are going back after lunchtime to play with them and perform some songs and puppet shows. Tomorrow morning we are going to a school in the area to perform. Finally, its all getting close to the real performances. We are really excited and I'm sure we'll be nervous, but it hasn't really sunk in yet.

So we have a schedule and a map, Saturday morning we leave for Huarochiri, we will be staying in the capital of the city and working with the summer missionaries there.

Then probably next Thursday we will leave for Huayatra and stay there for about 10 days, then we will be in Fajardo, then our midsummer break in Nazca, then we are traveling to Bella Union. I'm so excited.

Keep us in your prayers!!

Inca Kola!! La bebida del Peru

Check out more pictures at http://uab.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044356&l=3bb62&id=20500717

Back in Lima

2007-05-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I am back in Lima now. Training is over and the majority of the teams have left for the villages. My team and I, which now consists of Brian Tropiano, John Green, Kathy Coleman, and Salomon Grados, are staying in Lima for training. Check out the links to their pages b/c they will be posting stuff...Kathy is very descriptive and Brian is a total photography pro. This team was definitely knit together by God, they are incredible and I totally enjoy spending time with them...which is good b/c we'll be together for almost 24 hours a day and definitely 7 days a week. It is really hard for me to keep my attention focused long enough to write about what has been going on so far...but I will try.

When we got back from training we went to Mike Weaver's house and had an incredible Thanksgiving dinner prepared by his wonderful wife. Mike and Kathy are 2 of the ReapSouth Missionaries that I am working with this summer. It was wonderful!!! Then we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean, it was ok, but it was the 11 showing, so I was so tired (and the CMT guys fell asleep) (CMT being Creative Ministry Team). Then we had to wake up and be at worship on Saturday morning to see the rest of the teams off at 7am. Daniel Park has been leading our worship, he is an awesome guy from Korea with a great heart for God. It's really cool that the mission experience is shared across the world.
Today we went to church at a movie theater, it is a church plant from Flamingo Road Baptist Church in Miami. It was great to worship with other believers, and it was in English so everyone wanted to talk to you...in ENGLISH so they could practice. Speaking of language barriers, I am amazed at the gift that God has provided to me. My Spanish is terrible and 2 weeks ago I was freaking out in my head thinking that I couldn't do this (Satan was reminding me of my inadequacies). Well, I get here and I am not having terrible problems at all, its actually going quite well. I know its not me doing it and I'm not bragging, but it makes me very excited and I give all of the glory to God.
We will continue training and practicing this week and then go and perform on Friday at a neighboring city before hitting the road.

Prayer Requests:
John Green- My teammate- He is sick today with somewhat of a head cold and rough congestion, which we all kinda have right now. Please pray for his health
Brian's (my teammate) Brother- He is having some problems right now and is about to go into the Marines so please pray for the problems to work out for the best and for Brian's mom to have peace and patience.
Kathy's Sister (my teammate)- Kathy's sister has a terrible eating disorder and Kathy is very worried that she won't make it through the summer. Please pray for her sister to see how beautiful she is to Christ and that she will take care of herself and be healed.
Shannon- One of the village team sm- She broke her fibula the first night of training and is going to have to have surgery, but being the trooper she is, wants to have it in Lima so she can go to the field.
Jenna- Problems with her wisdom teeth she just had taken out before she came

To everyone back home: I am praying for you and my team and I share prayer requests so if you have anything, leave me a comment and we will lift it to the Lord. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. I love and miss all of you!!
I am so excited to see where God is going to take us this summer and I can't wait to share it with everyone. The computer is VERY slow, so I'm working on pictures.

I´m home, I mean here!!

2007-05-23T18:35:00.001-07:00

Well, I am now safe and sound in a baptist mission camp outside Chosita, Peru, which is outside of Lima. We had an incredible day and God is already showing me this is the place I´m supposed to be. We will be in training for a few days here before returning to Lima. Yesterday I flew out of Birmingham and into Lima...barely making it to the gate as the plane loaded b-c if you ever flown out of Birmingham you know they never leave on time... I made it through customs with no problems...except i already have a broken bag...working on that one. I met my team in the airport in Atlanta and we immediately recognized each other, it was incredible to put faces to names and conversations. John Green and Kathy Coleman are my teammates along with Solomon Grados a Peruvian believer. We were supposed to meet our translators to help us get out of the airport and into the city, well i didn´t see my name but I saw our group so i went that direction and saw Mijail, an old friend, come to find out he was my translator. To make a really long story short, 2 summers ago Mijail traveled with the soccer team that worked along with the group I was with. His brother was the soccer coach and worked for the missionaries, but Mijail was not a Christian, so we prayed all summer for him and he accepted Christ and was baptiized before we left. Seeing him yesterday and spending all day with him today really concreted that I´m supposed to be here. His english is great now and he´s translating and working with reapsouth team full time now along with going to school. Seeing how his walk with God is real is why I am here, to see that spread to others. I am so excited and can´t wait to show you pictures. I drank frog juice today...I´ll upload pics and a video later...once I buy a connector b-c i left that at home. Love you all!!!For His Glory!--Lindsay

I´m home, I mean here!!

2007-05-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving on a jetplane...

2007-05-22T04:47:00.001-07:00

This won't be long b/c after only a few hours of sleep I don't think I have the attention span right now to formulate any profound thoughts. I leave today at 2:11pm, I have to be at the airport around noon. I am so excited and can't wait to meet my team. We will all be on the same flight from Atlanta, so it will be fun getting to meet everyone. I just hope all of our flights are on time! I can't wait to see what the Lord is going to do through us this summer. I'm so glad He has decided to use me as a part of His story. I love you all and will miss you. Please leave comments here at any time...It'll make me feel special. Pray that I can sleep on the airplane and get through Lima airport without having to unpack for customs (it would be a mess). Love ya'll!!!

Hola Peru in under 3 days!!!

2007-05-19T15:24:00.000-07:00

I leave for Peru on Tuesday. I am so excited, but still feel very unprepared. I have this list of stuff I need to do before then...but the important stuff will get done and the not important stuff will have to wait. I can't wait to experience the wonderful things the Lord has planned for me this summer. To find out some information about Peru and the mission work there, check out http://southamerica.imb.org/Country_Profile/peru.htm#team_peru. I'll be working with the Reap South group and there is a link to them on that website. My teammates are Kathy Coleman, John Green, and Solomon Grados (he's a bilingual Peruvian who is an incredible blessing to our team b/c hopefully now we won't get lost and be able to communicate with the people better...and I hear he can play the guitar and does some worship leading YAY). Please keep them in your prayers. Thanks and blessings to all of you!!!
~For His Glory
><>Lindsay

P.S. You don't have to have a blog account to leave me a comment so please, comment away, tell me how much you miss me and how much you love me :-) Please put your name on there though b/c if you don't have an account it comes up as anonymous and I won't know who you are. Much love!!

I don't know, and I'm ok with that

2007-05-06T22:13:00.001-07:00

I’m learning, I’m trying, and the Lord is changing me...but there is still a long way to go. I plan and wonder too much.
What am I supposed to do with my life? What am I going to do after I graduate in a year? Am I supposed to do foreign missions? Am I supposed to do home missions? This is only a handful of the hundreds of questions that I am considering in my life right now. I graduate in a year…ONE YEAR! I’ve been in school for 16 some odd years, and it comes down to next year…and what’s after that? I have no idea, and that’s getting kinda scary. I started UAB with a clear picture, I wanted to be a doctor and a Spanish major…somewhere in the first 2 semesters I realized I didn’t really like blood or science, so much for medicine J. Then I switched my major to Spanish and later added a double major of International Studies. Everyone keeps saying everything I could do with Spanish, but nothing really appeals. I could do education; I love kids, so why not…I would love to do non-profit and development work for an international organization…but who knows.
Well I know who knows, God. He’s got a grand plan for me, that’s why He created me. See, I may not have it all figured out, but I know Who does, He does.
There’s so much uncertainty in my life right now…but one thing is certain, I know to trust God with my everything. I no longer worry about the future, well, I wonder about it, but I trust that God has me in the palm of His hand. I know that God has the absolute greatest things in store for my future. No matter what I can plan for my own life, I couldn’t even come close to the great mysteries that God has in store for me. So I wonder why I’ve been single ages, why I can’t seem to get a clear picture of what I want to do with my life, when I’ll meet the one God created to share with me, what I’ll be doing post graduation, and why I’m here…but I KNOW that God has a perfect plan, a perfect path, and the perfect way to carry it out. I know that at the exact moment, if I am in His Word and focusing on His will, God will unravel the things I’m supposed to know…but I’m not meant to know everything, then what would be the point of having faith? See, instead of focusing on what I’m supposed to do, I need to focus on what I’m doing right now. I need to continue to immerse myself in the Word of God and following His guidance through prayer and spending time in His Word. I need to continue to delight myself in the Lord, then my hearts desires will be the things that He wants for me, and those are the things that I will have. So I’m enjoying meeting incredible people, experience great adventures as a single woman of God, sharing the Word and Hope of God with the nations, and serving my Great Savior today. And when tomorrow is today, I’ll do the same again, and again, and again...My heart’s desire is to be like Christ, to see people come to know Christ, and to meet the physical needs of people in showing the love of Christ. I can’t wait to see what He has planned for me.

One month one day...who's counting?

2007-04-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog everyone. I leave for Peru in one month and one day...we're down to the wire. So I know that over the next few weeks lots more of you will be logging on to check out my blog so I thought I would take a quick chance to tell you a tad about my life and my calling.
I accepted Christ the summer before I entered the 7th grade, so I think I was 12. Within the next few years, I felt a passion for people and felt like God had called me into the ministry or missions. After that, I just immersed myself in the Word and grew in Christ and tried to learn and live in Him. For years I just knew that God had called me into missions, but had no idea how and what I would be doing...well I still don't. Everyone always asks after I get back from something "So what's next" I don't even pretend to know God's plan for my life, and now I'm always just excited to find out what's next and how I fit into His story.
I KNOW that I am called into the mission field, but doesn't Christ command us all to be missionaries? I don't know if God has called me to foreign soil or the homeland, but I know I have a heart for people, all peoples of the world. My heart is in Peru, my heart is in Africa, and Asia, Europe, and yes, Alabama. My heart is with the Acholi people of Uganda, the Quechua people of Peru, the Yaguas of the Amazon...and the rest of the people of the world. Everyone needs to hear about Christ. My heart is with them, my home is in heaven. I am incredibly excited about joining my team in the mission field this summer. What will happen next? Well...first I'm going to finish my undergraduate education...which I am very VERY ready to finish. I would love to go to graduate school and study something that involves non-profit, social change, and development work...or education so I can teach Spanish. I really want to go to Journeyman after I graduate, and that means 2 years doing mission work abroad for 2 years after I graduate.
But right now I'm just trusting God and looking forward to serving Him every day. There's no reason to worry about the future because I know that God has total control. It is up to me to immerse myself in Him and stay in Him so that I don't miss what's next. As long as I delight myself in Him, my hearts desires will be His.
So welcome and enjoy my trip this summer, I will post when I can while I am gone. Leave me messages, I set it to where you don't have to have an account. Check out the blogs my teammates made, the link is on the right. Send me e-mails at doodlebug_lms@hotmail.com
and please pray for us. Thanks!!!
One month and counting

Longer than I meant it to be

2007-02-22T22:19:00.000-08:00

So I realized sometime yesterday afternoon that I leave in 3 months...3 MONTHS. The last time I went to Peru, I knew that I was going in October, so I had PLENTY of time to do everything I needed to prepare. Well, this time is going to be a different story completely. I am so excited and I can't wait. I want my heart to be ready to cast aside my nets as soon and Jesus calls me out of the boat. I'm working on getting there, I want to be there. I was talking about this today, about how our hearts need to always be ready to follow Jesus whenever He calls us out. My brain thinks about missions, and I think well yeah, I want to be ready to go when God calls me to go...but this applies to everyone.
We like to make excuses (myself included) about excuses for not doing something God calls us to...whether that be sharing Christ with someone, stepping out of our comfort zone for a friend, teaching a class, speaking to a group, leading a study, preaching, or getting on an airplane to serve as His hands and feet on foreign soil. We use our families, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, kids, time commitments, financial issues, pride, selfishness, and even our own timidity as an excuse for why we can't follow God. They did it in the Bible, so this isn't a new thing and we're not alone. Moses said he couldn’t speak in public when God called him to free Israel, Jeremiah said he was too young. When Jesus called people to follow him many wanted to go home and get their lives in order before they left. There was the man who wanted to bury his father...although it could mean that his father had just died, most likely it meant that this man was planning on hanging at his house until his father passed away (years later), then the other man wanted to say good-bye to his family. The majority of the time, when we are responding to Christ’s call on our lives, it isn’t this extreme. It’s about everyday stuff, about us being available to put Him first above ALL else. It’s about stepping out of the boat and trusting in Him to fulfill our every need and give us strength and words to share Christ.
But when it comes to excuses, I can totally relate b/c here I am stressing out about only having 3 months to prepare for a 10 week trip to Peru…how will I get everything I need, the money I need, the spiritual preparation... Well, God does not call the equipped, He equips the called.
I had all of these excuses, and almost missed the incredible blessings the Lord has ready for me. I had a plan, an educational plan that I was going to find an internship this summer or study abroad. For some reason (DUH) I couldn’t find either…and I kept looking. God kept sending me simple reminders of the fact that He was calling me, not pressuring me, but calling me. FINALLY I listened and KNEW that He was trying to get my attention, I got the application to summer missions a week before it was due, finished it in 3 days and got my recommendations in…and turned it in with time to spare. So no more excuses Lord, at least I’m going to try…but you’re making me into who I need to be in You and I’m glad You’re not done with me yet.

3 months from today...

2007-02-22T21:08:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to be posting much for awhile, but I wanted to go ahead and create the blog so that it is here for when I got to Peru. so keep in touch...feel free to email me at lindsaymarieswain@gmail.com or check me out on facebook/myspace "Lindsay Swain)
I'm leaving for Peru on May 22!!! I'll let you know when I know more.