Home, Sweet Home

I've been having so much fun and staying so busy lately, updating my blog hasn't even crossed my mind!  I can't believe a month has gone by since my last update...it feels like days! 

I have never ceased enjoying my time here from the moment I open my eyes at the 5:30am sunrise to the moment my head hits the pillow and I'm out like a light every single day.  I've truly come to love Peru: the people, the place and even the daily life (inconvenient as it may seem at times).  Peru has truly become my home.  I don't say that to upset my family and friends I left behind in the States, but to encourage and comfort you that I am certainly not suffering here.  I do miss you all!

But I am gaining a spot in the SAM Family here as well.  I was really nervous at Thanksgiving because I've never spent a Thanksgiving away from family and especially not away from the United States.  I wasn't sure how it was going to go down, but it turned out to be great!  I could have been in South Carolina if I didn't know any better!  We had a huge cook-out feast of the holiday essentials: turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce.  There were about 70 missionaries who came out to join in the festivities: the meal, the prayer, the going around and announcing what you're thankful for, the NFL game on TV, and the football game in the front yard.   Below is a picture of the whole group who made an appearance at the Thanksgiving celebration and also a picture at the Boqueron (a waterfall out in the jungle) where a group of us visited the day after Thanksgiving.  It was an awesome time of fellowship and, I think, a turning point for me in my time here.  Peru is my home!

The question of how long Peru will be my home is still up in the air, but, for those of you who have not heard, I am officially announcing that I will be returning for at least a second year.  There will be plenty of ministry for me to do here with continuing to teach at SAM Academy, getting more into the work at Latidos de Esperanza (the crisis pregnancy center) as my Spanish continues to improve, and even getting involved in the building of a retreat/recreation center on the Cashibo Lake that will be used by churches in the Pucallpa area.

If any of you are inspired by my updates and of hearing about the amazing work the Lord is doing here, and think you'd like to come check it out, please let me know!  We can arrange a short-term trip, OR if you'd like to teach at SAM Academy, we're losing 3 of our teachers next year and are desperately in need of elementary and high school teachers.  What's a 10 month commitment out of lifetime of decades?  Come on down! :) 

I hope to see many of you soon as I'm going back to SC for a week-short visit at Christmas.  I love you all and thank you so much for the blessing you've been in my life!  Merry Christmas and God bless!  (Picture is of me with Mimi and Tashi, two 7th graders at SAM Academy who helped me decorate my Christmas tree.)

The goings-on...

I apologize that it's been so long since I've updated.  It's been so busy here, the seconds go by faster than I can count them.  So let me explain what has been going on..."no, there is too much to explain.  Let me sum up."

MINISTRY TO PERUVIANS
In the last blog I posted I said I had been reading Redeeming Love.  Well, I finished it and it was awesome!  Ironically, however, I have since pulled away from doing the children's ministry at TEC.  They didn't really need me there and, although I have a natural  Christian love for those children, I have never felt called to do children's ministry.  I have, however, attended a meeting at the crisis pregnancy center and have had two appointments to begin training and working there.  I showed up early both times and waited 30 minutes, but, for various reasons, the lady who was supposed to come work with me did not show up, so I have not yet done that.  But I'm praying that this Tuesday, when I go again, it will finally work out.

I've been praying a lot about how the Lord would use me to do ministry among Peruvians.  For a couple of months I've been thinking more and more about turning the apartment into a more visitor/guest friendly environment to host the many Peruvian friends I and the other singles who live in the apartment with me have been making.  This week, as I was praying, a devotional suggested Romans 8:13 for further reading.  I read it: "Practice hospitality."  Couldn't be plainer.  So, a day later, I did just that, hosting 15 people (half missionaries, half Peruvians) for a Taco salad dinner and a movie.  It was awesome!  I want to do it more regularly so some of my apartment-mates and I have agreed to do what it takes to save money to get the needed things (more couches, a big table, more dishes, etc.) so we can host our friends more often and hopefully be models of Christ to them as we deepen our relationships with them.   

MINISTRY TO MK'S
As always, I'm still working a lot with the MKs, teaching at the school, playing with them outside of school, and participating in activities with them.  We've recently had a Fall Festival and gone to a Christian concert (a rare thing in Pucallpa!).  We also continue to do things on a daily basis, such as play frisbee, plug in the stereo system and dance in the cafeteria, challenge each other in Dance Dance Revolution (like Guitar Hero, but with dancing), and spontaneous activities, such as "stealing" other teachers' sacred items such as a hair brush or ball cap, hiding them and turning it into a scavengar hunt.  Good times!  And, of course, we are still leading Wednesday night Bible study for the youth group-aged kids. 

EXTRAS
Other things I've done recently are participate in a missionary women's retreat where I helped lead worship, go water skiing and tubing on the lake at the missionary base 10 km away, and puppy/kid/house-sit for a family who had to go to Lima to get some paperwork done.  I stayed with their 12-year old daughter and 5 week old puppy, just as a nice gesture, but they decided to pay me anyway...with 2 bags of shredded cheddar cheese from Lima!!!  That's something you won't find in Pucallpa.  I've been savoring every tiny mosel!  :) 

I tried to upload some pictures for you all, but my connection has been pretty weak today.  I will try to put some up later.  Happy Fall, everyone!  God bless!

Redeeming Love

Last night I was going to go to bed early, so I started reading this book I checked out from the library, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.  It's basically the story of Hosea, only from the prostitute's perspective and it takes place in the 1830's in the U.S.  Well, I thought I'd read maybe 5 pages and be out, but instead I read the whole prologue.  As soon as I finished it, I started crying, sobbing.  The whole prologue is about this little girl and how, due to a lack of love and people who cared about her in her life, she was forced into prostitution...at the age of eight!!!  It made me think about the kids I see every Tuesday when I go to do the children's ministry at TEC.  It totally broke my heart on a new level for, not just these kids, but all kids who don't have someone to show them what real love is, and that they are worth being loved.  Sometimes I feel like I have so much love in my heart that I have to give away in order to be happy, I have to have someone to serve or to give to.  This book helped me realize what a lack of love there is in the world.  I should never feel like there is no one for me to love, because the world is full of people who are literally dying (physically and spiritually) to be loved.  I feel like I've been kind of naive to that.  Even though I've gone a lot of places and seen a lot of things, I feel like it's never really sunk in how much of a REAL need there is in the world, not for food, not for shelter, but for love. 

There's a 17 year-old girl here who is a friend of Patricia (the German girl I work with) and comes over sometimes for dinner or to hang out with us.  She has this "god-father" who is with her ALL the time.  It's really weird how he unceasingly hovers over her...long story short, we think she is being sexually abused by him.  Patricia talked with one of the experienced missionaries here about it and she said, unfortunately, it's very likely that that's what's happening.  She said it's pretty normal here.  NORMAL?!?!?!  That's just not right!  Also, I've been told that the majority of the kids who come through the kids' ministry I'm involved in on Tuesday afternoons are being sexually abused at home by their fathers and brothers as well.  I can't stand it but I don't know what I can do about it. 

Please pray for me, that God would open up my eyes more and more to the need for love and give me wisdom in how to show that love.  Continue to pray for safety, as I am living in a very different world here.  And most of all, please pray for the kids of Pucallpa and all the kids all over the world who feel worthless and unloved, that God would bring someone into their lives to share Christ and His love with them, the only love that truly satisfies.  We can't go into their pasts and erase the terrible things they've had to experience and endure, but we can at least show them God's love...a Redeeming Love.   I John 4:10-12

Photo Blog :)

As always, a lot has been happening, so this time, I thought I'd sum it all up in pictures...

Every Tuesday afternoon I go to TEC, another mission agency in the more rural town of San Jose, outside of Pucallpa, where they do OANSA (Spanish AWANA) with the local kids.  Here's a picture of one of the competetive games we played with the kids recently.

SAM Academy strives to provide their students with the best possible education and social experience.  So we have adopted the American tradition of School Spirit Week.  Here is my class on "Crazy Hair Day".

I've been getting requests for pictures of the food I'm eating, so here ya go!  This is fish with white rice and tomatoes and avacado.  Doesn't seem very exciting, but it's all quite tasty.  The only thing missing from this meal is fried yuca or banana. Mmmmm....

Down the street from the mission base is a statue that is referred to by the missionaries as the "Banana Man"...probably because he's got a huge bunch of bananas slung on his back :)  But it represents the hard-working jungle people and the troubles they have had to endure.  Here's a cool silhouetted picture from behind that I took at sunset the other day.

Next to the "Banana Man" is a cemetary.  Halie and I went inside to check it out.  That's where we found this awesome picture of Peruvian Jesus painted on the wall of a building!  The coolest thing about it is that his robe is painted with a typical Shipibo Indian design.  Our God is the God of the Peruvian Jungle people too!

As I've mentioned, Patricia and I are now alternating leading Wednesday night youth group for the girls.  Here's a picture from my latest lesson.  The lesson was on Rebekah and how God had revealed his plan to her, but instead of trusting Him and letting him do it his way, she took the reigns and made it happen herself.  I blind-folded the girls and had all but one walk down the booby-tapped hallway themselves.  The last girl I guided, moving some of the obstacles out of her way.  You may still reach the end goal if you take matters into your own hands, but you end up with a lot less bruises if you just let God take the reigns. 

Here's a picture of me on Pirate Day for School Spirit Week.

Aaarrrrrgghhhh!!!  The elementary kids posing in all their fierce pirat-iness.  And yes that's an older sister putting the sword to her little brother on the right. 

Satruday morning I invited the middle school girls to come over and bake cookies.  This is Tashi and me doing all the work while Mimi and Kerstin licked the beaters and cleaned out the bowl later on :)

The kids got so into Pirate Day on Thursday that we decided to have a Pirates of the Caribbean Movie Marathon!  Here's a picture of all of the middle and high schoolers mindlessly gnawing on cookies while being hypnotized by the constant swaying of Captain Jack Sparrow.  So much fun!

Pride Rating: 0

This year, in the process of getting to Peru and then finally arriving and working here, I have taken a big hit to my pride.  As you may recall, my original plan was to come for two years to teach abstinence to teenagers out in the city.  But, as you have probably noticed, I'm not actually doing a whole lot of that.  Not to mention that my current commitment is fourteen months shorter than I had hoped it would be.  At first this was really difficult stuff for me to take in.  It didn't seem good enough for me to come for ten months and teach MKs (missionary kids) in English in the gated, secure base.  It wasn't adventerous enough to be a "real" missionary job.  But, as I've come to find over the seven weeks that I've been here, it is not only a real ministry, it is a much needed one, and I feel like it was no mistake that this is where God has placed me for now. 

It's amazing how I'm not only acting as a teacher for these kids, but as a discipler and friend.  As soon as that bell rings at the end of the schoolday I go from "Miss Ashley" and "Ma'am" to "Hey Ash!"  It's the same for the other young single missionaries here, too (Patricia, Halie, and Micah).  The kids love us!  It's great when I'm sitting in my room, planning lessons or working on some project, and I here a little tapping on my door, open it up, and find a few middle school and elementary girls standing there with puppy dog eyes, saying, "Ashley, we're bored.  Will you come play with us?" or, "We need help with a prank!"  Some of the ministries we do with the MK's other than school are Wednesday night youth group, afternoon and weekend activities (Ultimate Frisbee, Dodge Ball, Capture the Flag, you name it...), and sleep-overs and outings.  Below are some pictures of me with the girls.

I've been having a ton of fun and accomplishing a lot of work, but, unfortunately, because of the non-stop action, my personal spiritual growth had kind of taken the back-burner for a while.  But I'm so excited that I am finally seeking out the tools I need to continue to grow in my relationship with the Lord.  The single missionaries have just started a Bible study together, going through the book of Joshua.  I've also found a website that can send a daily devotion directly to my e-mail inbox!  http://www.crosswalk.com/ has a TON of different daily and weekly devotions and sermons as well as podcasts that you can subscribe to.  Also, this week I'm gonig to seek out a prayer/accountability partner in the missions community to meet with me weekly.  Please pray that I'll be disciplined in doing that.  One of the things that I think will help me most in my walk is that I have finally found a church to plug into.  Mil Palmeras is the church on the missions base and the pastor, Julio Chiang, a missionary with SAM, but also a born-and-raised Peruvian, is an awesome speaker!  There are also small group Bible studies I can go to in the Sunday school hour before the service begins, where I am beginning to build friendships with Peruvian women.  I'm also building friendships with others close to my age in the youth group at the church (youth group here is ages 18-23).  Below is a picture of a group of us (including Micah and Patricia) last week when we had dinner at the youth pastor's house.

There are a lot more things I could talk about, but they are all still developing ministries, so I will wait until they're officially taking off to share about them.  But just so you can know what to pray for, the ministries that I am beginning to get involved in include the children and teen ministry at TEC (another mission agency outside of Pucallpa) and the crisis pregnancy center, and I will be personally taking on a hospitality ministry.

Thanks so much for reading.  Have a blessed week!

A day shall be as a thousand years...

That's how I feel here!  It seems like I could do 1000 years-worth of things in one-day's time.  But then time goes by so fast it feels like 1000 years would go by as quickly as a day.  Even though I haven't written an update for over two weeks, it doesn't seem like it's been that long.  A lot has been happening to keep me busy...

1.  I decided that I didn't like the Bible cirriculum I was given for either my middle school or high school Bible class, so I have decided to make my own.  This takes up many, many hours a week as I research, plan, and make my own notes and charts and graphs to pass out to the class.  It's definitely proving to be a worthwhile decision, though.  Below are some pictures of my high schoolers presenting their SIPs (Special Interest Projects) today.  We can only cover so much material in class, so if a question of interest is raised that they would like to know more about, it is up to them to do further research and present it to the class.  All four of my high schoolers did a fantastic job with their first SIP!  I'm so proud of how they are using the minds that God gave them to think and research and come up with answers for themselves! 

Tanya, comparing and contrasting the creation story in Genesis with other religions' creation stories

Kenji, showing locations archaeologists have considered for the landing site of Noah's Ark

Oli, demonstrating the dimensions of Noah's Ark in relation to the SAM base

Andrew, explaining different dinosaur extinction theories, including his own

2.  Another single missionary, Patricia, and I have decided to do youth group for the MK (missionary kid) girls on Wednesday nights when the adults are in prayer meeting.  Tonight was our first night and it went really well.  I didn't realize how much I've come to love (and now miss!) youth ministry.  I felt right at home and am looking forward to doing it again each week!

3.  I'm continuing to teach Middle School Language Arts and Geography  for now (although the other teacher will be here to take those over next semester).

4.  I'm also trying to get involved with working with Kids Alive in the more rural town of San Jose, right outside of Pucallpa.  They have a teen girls' club on Tuesday mornings and on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon they do Awana for the kids.  So far I've only gotten to visit and observe, but they would like me to teach one of the Awana groups each week (in Spanish!).

5.  Speaking of Spanish...I'm also getting tutored in Spanish, for an hour and a half, twice a week.  It's coming along really well and my tutor has already said he definitely considers me bilingual!

6.  I am also responsible for helping to get music together and to practice singing with another missionary to lead worship at a missionary women's conference that's coming up in Pucallpa at the end of October.

7.  I am aware that I do need to take a break every once and a while, so I make sure to have some fun and get some physical activity by playing volleyball and ultimate frisbee with some other missionaries and Peruvian nationals each week.  I also get together with the other single missionaries once a week to have dinner and hang out.  Here's a picture from our most recent dinner, last Friday (I'm in the middle):

That was definitely the shortened version, but hopefully you are all satisfied in knowing that I am staying busy and loving every minute of it!  Thank you all so much for your prayers and support that got me here!  Keep it comin'!  God bless!

 

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Hello again!

So it's easy to "tough it out" when you have to deal with little inconveniences for a short period of time, but recently it's been hitting me that these things I'm dealing with are not for a short time, but for 10 months!  For example, I just realized the other day that I have been here for going on three weeks and I haven't really had a chance to sing the whole time!  At home in the States I can belt it out whenever I feel like it, but here, that would be disruptive to everyone around me since there's really no privacy.  I didn't realize how much that would effect me, but it really got me down.  So I prayed for the Lord to give me an outlet to sing.  Within 5 minutes another missionary approached me asking if I could help her to lead worship at a missionary women's conference that's coming up!!!  How awesome is God that He doesn't just answer our "big" prayers, but that He cares so much and so personally for us, He takes care of our little needs as well?!  I'm hoping and praying that this opportunity to sing will help draw me closer to Him and be a comfort to me in this time of confusion and adjusting. 

Although there are some things I'm still getting used to, life here moves too fast to spend much time thinking about it.  SAM Academy has been keeping me busy with planning lessons, creating and grading tests, and coming up with projects and assigments for the kiddos (below is a picture of the classroom where I teach). 

Now that I've kind of got a handle on a teaching and the daily expectations at the school, I'm already adding more to my plate!  Next week I'll begin meeting with a Spanish tutor to help me regain what I've lost of the Spanish language and to learn even more.  My goal is to be able to say with confidence by the time I leave Peru that I can speak Spanish fluently.

Next week I'll also get an introduction to Latidos de Esperanza (Heartbeats of Hope), the crisis pregnancy center.  I'm planning to spend some time in the center as well as sitting in on an abstinence class that one of our missionaries teaches at the local public school.

There are two youth ministries I'm considering joining and both meet on Saturdays.  I've only attended one so far, but tomorrow I'll be checking out the other one.  I'm hoping to get plugged in as soon as possible, though, so hopefully after this weekend I'll know for sure which one to dedicate my Saturdays to.

Anyway, I'm very excited about getting involved in different ministries, just please keep me in your prayers that I don't do as I often tend to do and spread myself too thin.  Everything's just so exciting, I want to be a part of it all!  (I do understand the importance of a Day of Rest, though, so Tuesdays are my "nothing days".)

If you'd like to see some pictures of Pucallpa, I've recently put some up on my Facebook.  Thanks for reading and have a blessed week!

A Good Source of Protein

Saturday night around 12:30am I awoke to the sound of a blood-curtling screem on the other side of my bedroom wall.  Startled at the noise and terrified of what may be going on in the room beside mine, my heart froze.  But after a moment I was able to take a deep breath of relief and fall back asleep when I realized what was going on...

Halie, another single female missionary who lives in the dorm/apartment with me and the other single missionaries, had spotted something in her bed.  Not a blanket or a pillow or any ordinary bedtime comfort article, but a large, brown, tentacly cockroach!  This was not the first insect siting that had been made in my first week here.  I'd already killed a hairy black and white spider and a mid-sized cockroach in my bedroom, not to mention the swarms of tiny black ants that march through kitchen daily.  Bugs are becoming a norm around here.  So much so that when Halie and I sat down to enjoy a movie together with a bowl of maccaroni and cheese, it did not phase either of us when we spotted a few shiny black insects lodged snuggly inside the occasional noodle.  We simply removed those noodles from the feast and continued chowing down.  Halie is much more cautious than I since she is a vegetarian, but we agree that a little extra protein never hurt anyone. 

Bugs are just one of the few little inconveniences I've had to get used to since arriving.  Other things include being hot and sweaty ALL OF THE TIME (although we did have cold front come through this weekend, cooling it down some), throwing toilet paper in the trash instead of the toilet (but at least they have scented toilet paper so it doesn't smell too bad), always feeling dirty and having my eyes irritated from the dust in the air (however, that should calm down in the rainy season), and not having any privacy (at least I get my own room, though...even if there are only screens for windows and the wall does not reach the ceiling). 

Since I arrived last Monday, it has been a non-stop adventure.  Upon placing my bags in my room I was immediately whisked away into town where I spent the entire afternoon and evening shopping for things to set up my new home.  The next morning I had to go through orientation for new teachers at SAM Academy and I got to see the text books I'll be working from for the first time.  And then school started not even twenty-four hours later.  It was slow-moving the first few days but I finally feel like I'm getting into the swing of things.  I'm teaching the middle school and high school Bible classes as well as middle school Geography and Language Arts.  I'm struggling a little with the last two subjects since I'm not qualified to teach them (another teacher will be taking those classes over when she raises enough financial support to get here), but I'm praying my way through them and God is really coming through.  The kids are very encouraging and seem to enjoy my teaching style.  I've also been able to connect with another missionary who was a school teacher for several years before moving to the field.  She's been praying with and encouraging me as well as giving me tips on lesson planning and material to help me through the classes.  Praise God!  I'm teaching the children of American, German and Peruvian missionaries.  They all speak English, but for many of them it is their second language (and Spanish their third!). 

As for my language skills, I still do not consider myself fluent in Spanish, but I am very thankful for the amount that I can communicate and can already tell I'll be learning more and more each day.  There are also several other ministries I may be able to get involved in where I will need to use Spanish and hopefully increase my speaking abilities.  I will write more when that all happens :)  I'm sorry this post is so long and that there are no pictures, but I'll be sure to upload some for you all when I get a chance. Thanks for reading.  Keep me in your prayers!  God bless!   

5 Days and Counting

Yep, five more days and I'll be on a plane heading for Peru!  These last two weeks have been a whirlwind and it's not getting any slower.  I've been closing out my time back home with lots of visits and activities.  Last week I had my yard sale and my McAlister's fundraiser, both of which allowed me to visit with many friends and church family.  And I just got back from visiting my family and a supporting church in Pennsylvania this weekend.  Below you'll see a picture of me with Scott Carroll, the youth director at West End Baptist Church in Rock Hill who I've been interning with, and his wife, Cindy.  I just said good-bye to them last Wednesday before they headed out on a 10-day motorcylce ministry trip to Sturgis, South Dakota.  And below that is a picture of me with part of the congregation of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Troy, PA, whom I visited this Sunday.  I'm so glad I got the opportunity to visit with them since they have been so faithful to keep me in their prayers and support me in all ways, even though I'm not constantly there to remind them of my ministry needs.  I was also surprised when, during my visit to Pennsylvania, my best friend from PA, Anna (who is seen with me in the bottom picture), drove four and a half hours from Pittsburgh just to spend an afternoon with me before I left!  I can't believe how blessed I am to have such an awesome and supportive group of people surrounding me!
          

Well, it's all shopping and packing this week.  Thank you to everyone who has given of your time or financially to help my preparation time go more smoothly!  I appreciate all the help I can get and, fortunately, everyone has really been coming through for me, constantly blessing me with assistance, prayer, and words of encouragement.  It's a great reminder to me and, hopefully to all of you, that this ministry I am doing could not be accomplished without you, my loving supporters, committing to partnering with me.  You have clearly demonstrated your mutual passion for the mission to see Kingdom growth. 

If you still haven't gotten a chance to see me recently and would like to, I'll be at Bethel Baptist Church tomorrow (Wed, Aug. 10) for the 7:00pm service.  Then I'll have an open house at my dad's from 5pm-10pm on Friday, Aug. 12 (609 Atherton Way, Rock Hill, SC).  I'll also be at Glenrock Baptist Church at 11:00am for the Sunday morning service (Aug. 14).

If you're interested in giving financially to my ministry you can make checks payable to South America Mission and mail them to the SAM home office (1021 Maxwell Mill Rd, Suite B, Fort Mill, SC 29708) or you can give online HERE.  If you'd like to receive my weekly prayer e-mails and blog updates, e-mail me at awaldmeyer@southamericamission.org to let me know.  Thanks again to everyone for your constant and much-needed support.  I love you all!  God bless!  

I'M OUTA HERE!

Two weeks ago, I was feeling to desperate to get to the field and now, I have a flight out of here for Sunday, August 14--just under three weeks away!  Praise the Lord!  I will definitely miss all of my friends and family and church family that I will be leaving back home, but I know that this is God's plan for me right now and I'm glad to finally see it happening.  When I arrive, my first task will be to fill the need at SAM Academy, the school for the missionary kids, as a teacher.  I will be teaching Bible classes and possibly other courses as well until more permanent teachers are able to come to the field.  But once I get settled in, I will still hopefully have the time to get involved in the ministries I had planned to do, with the youth in the city and the crisis pregnancy center.

I do not actually have all the funds I need to stay two years, so they re-budgeted and are allowing me to go down for 10 months with the potential to stay longer should the funding come in.  But I'm still $5000 short to stay even for the 10 month period we're planning on.  If you'd be interested in contributing to help me reach this financial goal, you can GIVE ONLINE BY CREDIT CARD by clicking the DONATE button on the page that the link brings you to, or you can send a check to

South America Mission
1021 Maxwell Mill Rd., Suite B
Fort Mill, SC 29708

Make checks payable to South America Mission and write 10444 in the memo line. 

Please make sure I get a chance to visit with you before I go!  Below are some dates I will be around.  I hope you can find one that fits with your schedule.  Thanks for all of your love and support.  God bless!

July 30: Yard Sale at Glenrock Baptist Church in Fort Mill, SC, 7am-1pm
July 31: Sunday morning and evening services at West End Baptist Church in Rock Hill, SC
August 3:  Benefit Dinner at McAlister's Deli off Dave Lyle Blvd. in Rock Hill, SC, 5pm-9pm
August 7: Sunday morning service at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Troy, PA
August 10: Wednesday evening service at Bethel Baptist Church in York, SC
August 12: Farewell Open House at 609 Atherton Way, Rock Hill, SC, drop in 5pm-10pm
August 14: Sunday morning service at Glenrock Baptist Church in Fort Mill, SC

Departure Date!!!!

Hello everyone!  I apologize for not keeping you all better-informed this past month.  Life has been very hectic!  I'm loving my youth internship at West End Baptist Church in Rock Hill!  The kids are great, the staff is great, everything is great!  I've already participated in several outings with the kids and got a chance to bond with them at Summer Salt Youth Camp and will be doing VBS for the teenagers all this week (July 11-15).  Below are some pictures of me with some of the youth at a recent service project we did.

But with all the excitement, I have not lost sight of Peru.  I admit that the time I was investing in support raising for Peru and working the youth internship has not been balanced, but I still am aware of where God is taking me.  I've been in correspondence with South America Mission about a departure date and, while one is still not set, they are very certain that they would like me there by the time school starts on August 17.  I do not have all the funds I need to go for a full two years, but they are working on crunching the numbers and finding out how long I can stay with the funds that I have.  We are spending a lot of time in prayer about this and Friday, July 15, we should have answers.  I will be sure to keep you all informed.  All I ask is that you stay in prayer with me that the Lord's will would happen in His way and in His timing.

I have no idea why, if the Lord has been so clear with me about His wil for me to go to Peru, it has been so difficult to raise the funds.  All I know is that His hand is on this and all I can do is trust.  Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." 

I don't know why you do what you do, Lord, all I know is that it is good and that there is a purpose.  Just use me how you see fit.  Thank you for allowing me to bless you by being a blessing to others.  I pray that whatever happens in my life, whether it's what I expected or not, I can bless Your Name and bring glory to the Father.  Amen

What's Your Story?

Hello everyone!

Last week, as you know, I had my McAlister's benefit dinner, where 10% of all sales went toward my mission funds.  I don't yet know how much money was raised that night, but I do know that the support I felt from all of my friends who traveled out to be there was overwhealming!  It was also a great opportunity to mingle with the other customers I didn't know and get a chance to tell them about what the Lord is doing and will be doing in my life.  Several were interested in my ministry and some even asked about how they could send in donations!  The manager was also great, encouraging me to come back and do another dinner in July.  So keep your eye out for another McAlister's invite.  If you didn't get to come last time, you may get another chance :) 

A few days after I got back from Nashville, the Lord blessed me with the perfect job as a summer youth ministry intern for a large, local church.  I'm working with another intern, Ronnie, and our first big assignment is to come up with high school cirriculum for the entire week of VBS.  After a whole day of reading tons of awesome passages and stories from the Bible, we finally decided on the theme of "God's Story for Your Life".  We're taking the stories of biblical characters such as Esther and Gideon and Jonah, who were all faced with a choice of being obedient to God's plan for them or shrinking back in disobedience.  We'll look at how each of these characters reacted and the things in their lives that did or could have held them back.  The challenge will be for the kids to ask God what His story is for their lives and what things they may have in their lives that could hinder them from being obedient to His will.  So I challenge you, now, to do the same.  Have a blessed week!

Pleasing God

I was just blessed to have a fantastic and much-needed visit with my sister and her family out in Nahsville for Memorial Day weekend!  We went to her friend's church on Sunday night and for about 30 seconds during worship, I remember feeling so at peace!  It was a moment when I could genuinely say that I wanted nothing else in the world but Christ!  I thought I had experienced that feeling before, but now I'm not really sure that I had.  I cannot even describe to you the overwealming feeling of comfort and satisfaction to truly, deeply understand that Christ is all that matters.  I hope you all get a chance to experience that sometime as well.  A recurring theme in the sermon that night, as well as in my life lately, was finding your validation in Christ and not in man.  That is something that I have definitely struggled with throughout the years, being annoyingly good at people-pleasing.  I have always done my best to please everyone throughout my life--conflict and confrontation make me quite uneasy.  But I've come to the realization that that's just not a practical way to live.  No one person can make decisions that will make everyone happy.  I need to learn to live my life concerned only with pleasing the Lord.  I know there are some who would prefer me to not go to Peru, for various reasons (usuallly selfish ones).  But I can't not go to Peru because some people don't want me to.  However, neither can I go just to satisfy others' expectations.  So why am I going?  I've been re-evaluating everything just to make sure I'm in the right place and I can honestly say the reason I am going to Peru because it's what the Lord wills for my life at this time.  It pleases the Lord that I am obedient to Him and it pleases me to please Him :)  I encourage you to watch the video below and take a moment to "get lost" in God.  It'll be the best 5 minutes of your day, I promise!

Things are still going well as far as preparations are concerned.  Just after I wrote my last blog post, another church donated $1200 to my ministry in Peru!  That's another $50/month for two years!  I'm still at just above 50% of my monthly support goal, but it is creeping up a little at a time. 

For all who are curious, the yard sale on May 21 went really well!  Thanks to everyone who came out and helped set up, sell, and take down, and to all those who donated and purchased items!  It was a great success, increasing my mission funds by $752.35!!!

And just a reminder that I have my McAlister's fundraiser coming up this Monday, June 6, between 5pm and 9pm.  I hope to see many of you there!  Click HERE to see the Facebook event page with more details.

Thanks everyone for your love and support!  I will be keeping you in my prayers as you keep me in yours.  God bless!

Answered Prayers

When I wrote my last blog about a month ago, I was feeling pretty confused and discouraged about going to Peru, not because I wasn't sure if God was calling me to go, but because I was so sure He was that I didn't understand why the support was coming in so slowly.  In fact, for the month and a half before I wrote that last blog my funds had increased by 0%.  Not good. 

Well, after spending some time in the Word and prayer with the Lord, I gained some refreshment and determination.  I've been staying busy setting up fundraisers which I'm hoping will boost my funds and also help promote my ministry to get the attention of other potential supporters.  Tomorrow (Sat, May 21) I'll be having a yard sale/bake sale/car wash at Bethel Baptist Church where 100% of the profit will go toward my missions funds and on Monday, June 6 between 5pm and 9pm I'll be having a benefit dinner at McAlister's Deli in Rock Hill (off Dave Lyle Blvd.) where 10% of your total will go toward my missions funds if you mention my name at the register.  Feel free to check out the Facebook pages: Yard Sale and McAlister's

And although I'm a firm believer that "God helps those who help themselves", He has been doing some things on His own too, to remind me that He is the all-powerful God who is control, I suppose.  He wants me to work for my goals, but He's also capable of making things happen without my efforts.  He showed me this when, out of the blue, within only a few hours of each other, I got two calls from friends of mine who committed to pledge monthly support, which brought me from the 39% support that I had been stuck at for so long up to 50% of my monthly support!!!  What a blessing and encouragement to know that God answers prayers and is constantly working, even when we may not see it.  But that is faith--being able to trust in the Lord when you can't rely on anything else.  So I leave you with the Scripture passages that have helped to comfort and encourage me these last two months: Matthew 6:25-34 and Matthew 7:9-11. 

Thanks for reading and have a blessed day!

Great Unexpectations

These last two weeks have been interesting ones.  I've been doing a lot of thinking and praying and am finding myself in a fairly ambiguous time right now.  God's presented me with some new options recently that I was not expecting.  The big one that has been weighing on my heart is the question of the amount of time I will be staying in Peru. 

I've been telling everyone that I'm going for two years.  This may still be true, but only if I can discern that that is God's will, and to be honest I'm not sure right now.  I've been thinking about how I arrived at the decision to go for two years, and I feel like it was my own pride.  The mission agency originally suggested going for one year to see what it was like and then I could decide if I wanted to stay longer, but I brushed that off immediately, claiming that anything less than two years was not worth it, as it takes at least one year to get acquainted and comfortable with the culture.  And I'm ashamed to admit that my attitude toward other missionaries who only went for one year before coming back to the States and settling down was that it was not a true missions experience.  Wow!  What a jerk I've been!  I realize now that wheather someone goes for one year or twenty years, as long as they are obeying the Lord's personal calling on their lives, their missions efforts are not only genuine, but effective. 

I want to have a genuine missions experience too.  I want to do the Lord's will and have the most effective ministry possible.  Please keep me in your prayers that I will be sensative to hear what God is asking of me and to be obedient to His will.  Thanks.

Weapons, Work & Monkeys

Just to give an overview of everything that's been going on:

This is my last week of self defense training...watch out bad guys!  You don't want to mess with this girl!  If anyone's interested in getting some great self-defense weapons, some that were recommended to me were the Hideaway Knife and this cool Tactical Flashlight!

There was recently a SAM missions conference in Peru.  I was unable to go but some of the people from the home office who were able to go re-assessed the needs on the field and my new "job description" is actually a variety of jobs: Bible and P.E. teacher at missionary kid school, abstinence teacher through Latidos de Esperanza (the crisis pregnancy center), and, still, outreach and discipleship ministry to the youth through the development of a community recreation center.  I've been informed that I will have very little free time, but that's ok.  They don't call it the Lord's "work" because it's easy. 

To make some money until I leave, I've been working part time at the SAM home office in Fort Mill, SC, and doing some yard work and cleaning jobs on the side. 

Also, I've gotten to talk a little with the two other single women I'll be rooming with when I get to Peru.  One of the women blessed me so much this week by praying for me continually and then pledging $50/month for a year to my mission fund just to help get me down there sooner!  Yeah, that's right...another missionary is pledging money to me out of the little savings that she has!  Incredible!  The other woman also is a blessing to me as I keep hearing about her contagious happy spirit and energy.  Below is a picture of a baby monkey she saved and is now keeping as a pet.  His name is Scott Sawyer :)

Thanks for reading, everyone, and please keep me in your prayers as I continue to prepare in faith to head to Peru very soon!  God bless!

The Art of Jeet Kune Do

So the ministry I'm planning to do in Peru may not seem dangerous, but actually it's quite risky business. 

Where I'm going, the concept of male domination (commonly referred to as "machismo"), has been severely twisted, to the point where women do not only submit to their fathers and husbands, but to all men.  The men have taken advantage of this and as a result it is common for boys, upon reaching puberty, to be taught that if they don't begin to regularly engage in sexual activity, they will stop growing and will actually begin to lose their health!!!  Now, we have 13 year old boys getting 12- and 13- year old girls pregnant.  These girls, then, get abortions.  However, due to the unsanitary conditions, 17% of the abortions result in the death of the mother as well as the child!!!

One of the questions I asked the field director in Peru when I found this information out was, how is this teen pregnancy issue in Peru any different from the issue in the U.S.?  He told me the difference is expectation.  These kids are not sneaking around their parents' backs to engage in this promiscuous behavior, it's expected.  Just as it is expected that the women submit to men.

Being that I am a single, white American, adult woman who is a virgin and will be teaching Peruvian girls that purity is something to strive for, I am definitely putting myself at risk.  I am going to be a target.  But the good news is, I don't plan to be an easy target. 

In fact, for the last two weeks I have actually been taking self defense classes at a place in Charlotte called Hard Target.  They teach you how to defend yourself in gun fights, knife fights, empty hand attacks and in confined spaces.  The primary idea behind their teaching is the art of Jeet Kune Do, developed by Bruce Lee.  So far I have practiced fighting and defending with knives, sticks, machetes and boxing gloves.  It's pretty awesome to know that the ability to defend yourself does not depend on your size or strength but on your knowledge of how to manipulate a person's body and use proper leverage. 

Check out this video to see Bruce Lee explain and demonstrate a little more about Jeet Kune Do:

What is ICC anyway?

As you may have heard, I just completed an intercultural communication course (ICC) where the focus was on ministering effectively in a cross-cultural setting and building and working with teams of people from different cultural backgrounds.  I and the other thirteen students in this course also learned about different world views, personality types and the importance of understanding the culture you’re living in.  We studied the Incarnation Model of ministry which uses Christ as the perfect model of a missionary, having come to the culture he was ministering to and learning from them the language(s), culture and customs in order to minister most effectively to them.  In preparation for the course, we read Duane Elmer’s book Cross-Cultural Servanthood, which expounded on the Incarnation model, demonstrating that to truly be Christ-like and minister as he did, one must become a servant to the people he is ministering to.  We also memorized Philippians 2:1-11, which speaks of Christ’s humility and how we are to be imitators in that way.  If you’re not familiar with this passage of Scripture, you should check it out or quiz me the next time you see me! 

The whole course is very interactive and we did a ton of activities and role playing that I would spend way too much time talking about if I attempted to explain it all on here.  So if you’re interested in more details, just ask me!  You all know how much I love to tell a good story…  But to at least give you an idea, I’ve included a few pictures here for you all to savor.  No captions.  If you want to know, you’ve gotta ask!  Thanks for reading and God bless!