OMPC Vision Trip

June 21-24, I had a wonderful taste from home, from my OMPC home. Mark Hunter, Octavio Samper, and Randy Gilbert were on a vision trip here in Peru and spent some time with me and my team here in Lima. I was their guide, essentially, and took them around, mostly to activities here in Salamanca where we are focusing our ministry right now. It was a great time of fellowship, fun, and food. Its been a while since I've eated that much and that good!!

It was such a blessing to have them here. I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did!

8 Months and what that means

So its so hard to believe that I have about 8 months left. Didn't I just arrive?!?!? It will be a very busy and fun time! Here is what it looks like, ministry and fun stuff included......

This month Oak Mountain is sending a group of 3 men down for a vision trip. I am excited to share part of my ministry with people from my home church in Birmingham. Later this month I'll be heading down to Arequipa to spend a few days with my host family from my time in language school and some other good friends there.

Early July I'll be participating in a Sunday School training, then later I'll be going for a few days to Paracas, which is also called the "Poor Man's Galapagos", and fortunatly it is only a few hours south of here. At the end of July to early August a group is coming from Nashville to do an Art's Camp here in Salamanca.

(Since there aren't a lot of set ministry dates beyond August, the rest of this will be some of my outing plans.....)

In September I'll be taking a trip with a few friends to hike the Inca Trail. The more I read about it, the more excited I get. Its a 4-5 day hiking trip in the Andes which we'll be going through many incan ruins along the trail, and ending on the last day seeing the sun rise at Machu Picchu. My breath is already taken away at that thought. I visited Machu Picchu 3 years ago, and it will be so great to see it again like this!! Late September my parents will be down to visit. It'll be my first visit from anyone back home and I am so excited! I can't wait to share with someone from home my life here! Dad will be teaching a spiritual warfare seminar for a week here here in Lima, after that we'll travel a bit as well.

After Christmas, my dear friend who is more like a sister, Sarah Nell will be coming to visit me. That will be a very special time, and will be the best way to bring in a New Year!

I am still left with some vacation days that I was holding aside from another person that will not be coming after all, so I am eager to use that time to go to other parts of Peru that I haven't seen yet.

Ministry in the meantime of all these outtings will include discipleship, deeping and developing relationships, children's ministries, Salamanca health ministry within the church plant, possible street kids ministry, and worship team ministry. The time will be full, and very good.

Next February I'll be back to my home in the States....... by now, I have several places that I call home, and no doubt, Peru is a place that I consider one of my homes.

Locked Out and In

A very humorous thing happened to me this afternoon..... I'm in a blogging mood, so I thought I'd share it with you. First, to explain how many homes work here in Peru, there is the front door that is attached to the house, but there is also (typically in safer neighborhoods) an outside wall or gate, which also has a door. We were heading out to a neighborhood park for the afternoon Sunday school that we hold there. I was running a bit late, so the girls went on with out me. A few minutes later I was looking for my keys, but being that I was running late, I decided to go on knowing that the girls had their keys with them, and I could just close the doors behind me.

So I run out, slamming the house front door, and stop dead in my tracks seeing that the outer wall door had been locked (unlockable only with a key). So I was not only locked out of my house, but I was locked out of the street. Locked in my front yard. I had my Sunday school lessons and materials. I knew 2 possibilities would happen. 1-They'd realize I wasn't there after a while, and someone would come for me, so I'd get about 10-15 minutes worth of a nap in the cold, on the cold ground while waiting or 2-due to a recent event they might think I had a weak pathetic moment and wasn't coming, so they'd not show up until after Sunday school was over, which would be 1 1/2 hours later, and my cold nap would be longer. Either way, I'd get a few minutes of much needed rest.

Laura came to my rescue, thinking I'd hurt myself (we have very slippery stairs and floors, that really I'm surprised that I'm still in one piece), so I was able to make it to Sunday School and teach my kids! And let me tell you that when you've had a rough day, hugs from these little kids go a long way!

Moral of the story... look for your keys in Peru or you'll be taking a cold nap!

New Beginnings

I am excited to share about our new church plant here in Salamanca, "Iglesia Presbyteriana Luz De Vida". No lie, it is right down the street from my house. Its quite convenient! June 3rd was our first service, and there were about 85+ people there! It was great! I helped with vocals in the worship service, that definetly isn't the first gift God gave me to use for His glory, but a decent enough gift.

Our ministry is being focused right now in Salamanca as there is a lot to do. I would like to eventually start a health ministry here too, but it would look a lot different. Please pray for that with me. For my last short 8 months more of my ministry will be with the church plant here in Salamanca.

Here are some pictures from the first Sunday service.