As Promised

alright friends. i am terribly sorry that this has taken so long. first i was sick and didn't want to write and now i'm just lazy! but here we go....

on January 29th i left Pucallpa on a plane for the "port town" of Atalaya. Autumn and I stayed in Atalaya over night and left the morning of the 30th for the community of Pensilvania. we weren't able to take our team boat because something has happened to it. no one can really be sure...we live in Peru.

Quilmer is our Peruvian partner that works with us on the Rivers (i think i have mentioned this before...but i'm not good at names so i like to review:) so, he and his dad and sister went with us on the boat. quilmer and his dad went to another community while autumn, myself and flor (quilmer's sister) went to Pensilvania.

the highlight of our trip was visiting in the homes of Asheninka people. typically, (as in, the way it has always been done) we have had a time at 3:00 each afternoon when the people are invited to come listen to us teach about the Bible. well, Autumn and I decided to do things a little differently and take church to the people. we still had teaching times at 3, but we also visited in the homes of sick people and hiked trails to get to their houses (huts i should say).

the second day we were there we helped Tomas and his wife cultivate (cut grass with machetes) their yard. other members of their family came also. then we ate lunch with them (or brunch i guess). we had some jungle bird (and we wonder why i have parasites right now:)

then, that same day we went and visited in the home of a sick lady. it was about a 15 minute walk. we visited her a total of about 4 times. i shared the gospel with her twice (her and her husband once). sadly, they decided to just "think about it".

another day we went about a 40 minute hike(through creeks and over logs and lots and lots of mud) to another family, including grandparents, brothers, wives...9 adults total. and i shared a creation to Christ story. the grandfather said, "no" therefore no else even considered accepting.

we repeated this in another home close to the center of the community. the teenage son in that family is already a believer, but his family is very cold. they did not accept the truth this time either.

finally, we shared with a lady and her daughter in a home close-by. i shared about God's love and what Jesus did for them on the cross. both of them accepted the truth with smiling faces. it was such a joy to lead Asheninka to Christ.

each time we went to these places Tomas (the church leader) went with us. he clarified things in the Asheninka language. i also used those opprotunites of walking to share with him that this is what the church does. i told him about the functions of the church...that its not just about Sunday's, etc. i made him share the gospel with the people we visited so it wasn't just the white missionaries doing it.

on our final day i shared the message about Jesus feeding the 5000 and how the next day they came looking for Jesus because their stomachs were filled. i encouraged them to seek Jesus for the right reasons. i encouraged them to go to their neighbors.

overall i feel the trip was very eye-opening. i learned a ton. it was hard. i felt homesick alot, but God was sufficent. i fed on His word like never before. i devoured huge chunks of the Bible. God taught me so much. i'm still processing it all really. and then i immediately got sick. He has His reasons for everything that He does. most importantly, i TRUST Him!! He is my Father and He desires to give me good gifts. and if it hurts...that's okay too...my reward is waiting for me!!

i'm still in Lima for at least another 2 weeks. God is good and i'm recovering physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

i love ya'll