¡¡Hay monos locos en nuestra casa!!

First, a story. This is a story that has been told many times in the last week, as well as is referenced many more times. So in order for you to understand how my trip has been, you first need to understand this story. Sunday night I was talking with Joseph over skype. I was in my room, with my door shut, just chatting away when all of a sudden, my door swings open and Rob, Paul, and Isaac (all members of the YMI team that was here when I arrived) came running into my room, jumping around like they were monkeys, and making monkey noises at the top of their lungs! Ever since then, we have been referencing the crazy monkeys that live in the Serrano's house. And this was my welcome to Peru :)

I arrived in Peru around 9 am on Sunday! After about 19 hours of traveling, I was glad to be off the plane. I was met by Rosario Serrano at the airport and we drove from the airport in Lima to their house about 20 minutes north. First impressions? I love Lima :) There are so many colors, so many people, so much going on. You drive more with your horn than laws, and go wherever your car can fit.

First look at Lima, I love the mountains!

So colorful :)

Sunday and Monday I spent with the team. We went shopping on Monday, it was such a relief to not have to buy things and just look around/help the team when they needed it. I realized quickly my Spanish was lacking, but was able to communicate a little bit. The team left for home on Monday night. It was weird for them to be leaving, because everyone was saying goodbye to the American's and I felt like I should be leaving with them.

Tuesday morning, we cleaned all morning and then just hung out for the afternoon. I talked quite a bit with Pastor Julio on Tuesday about what I am going to be teaching. I am using a program called SEEDS (Simple English for Every Day Situations) to teach English to the students in Pastor Julio's church here, as a part of a program called Jumping that is already established in the church. SEEDS is a curriculum resource to teach the gospel through English. We will be telling bible stories, singing songs, and doing skits all with the message of the Bible, as well as teaching basic English words and concepts to the children. I will be training the teachers next week on SEEDS, and then we begin teaching the students the following week. We will have classes on Tuesdays and Saturdays for three hours a day, then a couple more hours for preparation with the teachers. I am excited to see what God is going to do through this program. I am also going to meet with the youth pastor of the church tonight about getting involved with youth at the church.

The church where I will be working

I have loved getting to know Pastor Julio and Rosario, and their two sons Daniel and Julio. Rosario is teaching me how to cook Peruvian food, which is ALWAYS delicious (or as Pastor Julio would say, richichichichichisimo!). I have had a lot of time to spend time with them, talk with them, and get to know them. They are very patient with me and my Spanish, and I have actually noticed quite a bit of improvement even over the last few days as I am able to understand a lot more and follow conversations better.

I also have seen God show up in so many ways. The first night I was here, I slept on my back wrong and it was sore for a couple days. But it has begun to get better, which is a huge answer to prayer and I am so thankful to the Lord. I also have had a crazy amount of energy, which is a blessing and has given me so much more time to spend with people.

That being said, I would like to ask for prayer for the ministry down here and for the training next week, just that God will use this ministry in mighty ways in the lives of the children and their families as well. I also would like prayer for a flexible spirit, as many times my plans change throughout the day. This is an area the Lord has been stretching me in for a while, and I know that He is continuing to do so. And finally, prayer for Pastor Julio and his family, that the Lord will bless them and their ministry to the people of Peru.

Here are some more pictures:

Julio Jr., Daniel, Rosario, and Pastor Julio

The City of Lima

Oh, a Starbucks run is always important!

Well, I shall write more soon. For now I am off to prepare for the training next week! Thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts, and I hope you are all doing well :) As the Peruvians would say, bendicciones a ti! Chau!

Peru!

Currently, I am sitting in the Los Angeles International Airport, waiting to board my flight to Lima, Peru in about an hour. I can't believe it's finally here...it still seems a bit surreal.

I spent Monday and Tuesday this week working, then spent the day on Wednesday packing, I spent Thursday with Joseph (we went paddleboating), and then came Friday. First of all, I honestly think it is humanly impossible to pack a bag under 50 pounds for two months. I spent almost four hours on Friday trying to get my bag under 50 pounds, and only by a miracle of God did it somehow get there. I'm not going to lie, I was slightly frustrated. BUT. It made it :) I had a final farewell dinner with my family, and then arrived at the Youth Missions International office in Tacoma at 9 pm to have some preparation time before leaving for San Francisco at 2pm today. And now, the long awaited final flight to Peru is here!

I am so excited to go and see how God is working in Peru, and help in any way that I can and that He allows me to :) I praise the Lord for my travel safety thus far, I have had very minimal flight issues, and found all of my flights (though I was slightly lost in San Francisco, but thankfully found my flight 15 minutes before it took off). I am so thankful for this opportunity and how the Lord has provided for me. I have been blown away by the prayer support from my family, friends, and church, and I am SO very thankful that I have such a family behind me. I know God is going to do mighty things through the next few months, and I cannot wait.

I would just like to ask for prayer for continued safety until I reach Peru, as well as during my stay in Peru. Also, just prayer for the ministry of YMI Peru and that God will bless their efforts as they seek Him and His glory, and purpose to make that known. Thank you so much for supporting me through this, and I will try to keep this blog updated as often as possible.

And I will leave you with this: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses in both Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" Acts 1:8

Hasta Luego!

johnthirteen

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" John 13:34-35, ESV

We all know what the first and greatest commandment is: to love the Lord with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds. This is what we are to spend our lives doing, purely loving the Lord. However, it isn't left at just this first commandment...there is a second one. One not as important as the first one, but pretty important all the same: and that is to love one another.

Now you would think: love God, love others. Pretty simple, ya? It shouldn't be that hard to live out. Wrong. If you've ever read 1 Corinthians 13, you know that love isn't something small. In fact, there are many aspects of love.

"love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; 

it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; 

it is not irritable  or resentful; 

it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 

Love bears all things, believes all things,

hopes all things, endures  all things. 

Love never ends."

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Now, if anyone thinks that all of that is completely and totally manageable on their own strength, then stop reading right now. Seriously. 

However, here's the deal with love. It's so big, it cannot be done completely or totally by us on our own strength ever. The only way that someone can be completely and totally loved is through the strength and grace of Christ, and only through Him. This side of heaven, we can try all we want to fully love people but we will fail every time because we are sinful human beings. Christ is the only true source of love. 

And then there's another completely different aspect of love. First, perfect complete love is all of those things mentioned above. All of them...all the time. 

Have you ever heard of the concept of a love language? Gary Chapman wrote a book about it, which I've never read. But I think that's where the idea came from. Anyhow, it's the idea that we each give love and feel loved in different ways. I think according to Chapman, the five love languages are 1) words of affirmation, 2) quality time, 3) gifts, 4) acts of service, and 5) physical touch. So the idea is that each of us feel loved or give love in different ways. For example, I definitely tend to feel love through words of affirmation, quality time, or physical touch. I also tend to give love through words of affirmation or physical touch. However my brother does not feel as loved through physical touch or words of affirmation as I do. To him, I would say that he feels more loved through quality time. I hope this isn't confusing. But what I am trying to get at is that everyone feels love and gives love differently. What is love to you may not be to someone else. 

There are two ways I learned to understand this this week. 

First, I learned that in order to fully love other people, I need to try to understand how they feel loved and try to love them in that way. This is a form of selfless love, purposing and trying to share the love of Jesus with others in a way that sometimes may not be comfortable or easy for me. And it's not an easy thing to do, it takes work. Now obviously, you cannot love every single person like this...you don't know every single person. And there are times you are going to fail, we all do. However, if we ask for the strength and wisdom to love others the way that Jesus loves them and the way they need to be loved, then He will equip us to do that. 

Second, I learned that often people love me in a way that I don't feel loved, but they do and so that is their way of showing their love and care to me. I remember many times in JH and HS being frustrated because I didn't think that certain people cared for me because they didn't do such-and-such. But looking back, I can see how they did care, they just were showing it in their own language and not in mine. It just looked different. 

However, when it comes down to the end, we cannot fully love others without Christ. He is the one who loves them through us, and equips us to help share His love and glory with them. I just encourage you to take this idea of loving others in their own language, and try it out. It has really helped me as I seek to know Him better and to become more like Him, and by living in relationship with His people.