Christianity Oasis Forum

[splash]

Greetings in the name of Jesus! The people of the church of Peru send their love!

Many have been asking me to share about my mission trip to Peru and I thought this might be the appropriate forum to post in. There are a few pictures on my Cool Space if you'd like a visual.

I want to tell you all how much I appreciate your prayers. I heard you laugh behind your hand when I asked prayer for a quiet, humble, gentle spirit and a servant's heart but i know that your prayers made a big difference! Many on the trip suffered illnesses and I stayed strong and healthy.

We went there primarily to be an encouragement to a missionary family who has moved there following the Lord's call to bring the gospel to a beautiful people. Most of the people there would tell you that they are catholic... the result of the Spanish having invaded and threatening the Incan natives with death if they didn't convert from their worship of the goddess of mother earth and other pagan gods.

Therefore there is a strange mixture of catholicism and paganism. Most of heir statues of the virgin Mary have triangular dresses and instead of the traditional halo over her head they have a circle of moon and stars. The dress respresents the mountains and the "virgin" is really the mother earth goddess. This is what happens when people are threatened with death to convert. An outward change but no inner heart change. They need the kind of relationship with Jesus Christ that He speaks of in the Bible ... the devoted love that's exists between bride and groom.

We stayed at the church in Lima which is a large house which houses the church, the dining hall, a few kitchens and dorm rooms. The building was once a rooming house and well suited for housing mission teams. Praise the Lord for his provion there.

Daily we would board mini vans for the 1 1/2 hour drive through Lima's city traffic. Driving is an experience not to be forgotten... the streets actually have liines but they are merely suggestions which few adhere to. Horns blare consistently and nobody slows down before stopping, and being cut-off in traffic is just the way they drive. It's all for one and one for all but to be honest I didn't see many accidents. That's because they all drive the same. It's not the same in Florida... we have our senior population which drives ten miles under the limit and the rest of the population which drives ten miles over and I wish i could say that never the two shall meet but often they do and it almost always involves broken glass and sirens.

The trip would take us out to the desert where there aren't any paved roads.. you just pick your way between houses and stores to get to the church they're building. Originally they were meeting in a school building but a man from Brazil came to them and said he'd had a vision in a dream that he was to help build a church in that village and he gave them money to buy four lots. So they've been building the church as money and labor presents itself... several other teams such as mine have gone there to help.

As you'll see in the pictures, the lack of a floor or roof hasn't stopped the church from meeting... they just circle around on the dirt floor and enjoy the fresh air. One day that will be a two story building with housing for mission teams so that they can come and (perhaps) begin to build another church further out.

I couldn't get over how God had prepared each person for this trip in different ways. As i was shoveling dirt and gravel and pushing it in wheelbarrows I was thanking God that I'd been working out at the gym! As I climbed the rickety ladder to sit on the "roof" (well really just a board propped up there to sit on over the open air)... I was finally realizing why God had me lifeguarding in the hot sun last summer. Perhaps all the typing helped hone my fingers for tying rebar I'm not sure about that.

I'm sure that the time I spent at my sister's deathbed prepared my heart for service, and certainly the funds that paid for the trip were made possible by her passing.

One evening after an especially gruelling day of construction work, my pastor asked me if my husband knows what a hard worker I am. I said, "No, he thinks I'm a lazy bum". The truth is when I was there I constantly sought ways to serve. When I'm at home,I'd rather be chatting then washing dishes or filing papers.

As i mulled that over in my mind I rephrased the question in other ways. I wanted so much for those kids in the village to know that I love them and that Jesus loves them. "Do the children in my own neighborhood know how much Jesus loves them?"

I walked up to strangers whose language i cannot even speak, and read to them John 3:16 from a spanish tract I had, and gave it to them. (Those years of spanish i took in high school enable me to read what I don't understand). "Do the people where I work know how Jesus has changed me and given me eternal life?

I have spent years inwardly whining because God called me to be a missionary and "mistakenly" forgot to call my husband. My husband says he'll never leave the country. Well now I have answered the call and I'm a fulltime "missionary" wherever I am. I'm trying to serve God in all that I do. Everything I do has to be a calling from God. Sometimes I get paid for it, like teaching swimlessons and coaching special olympics. Often I don't like when I'm counseling or teaching parenting classes at the pregnancy center or writing letters for prison ministry or sharing God's truths in Oasis.

My husband is still a little baffled by the money thing, and I try to be sensitive to that. And I'm still praying that God will give me more of a servant's heart in my home. Certainly He's blessed me with the most wonderful husband and kids on the face of the earth and I can't stop singing His praises for that.

Ok this is too long... I really don't like long posts so if you want to read it over the course of a couple weeks or months that is fine but I did my part and shared my testimony of how God is working in my heart and my life.

Now i'm ready to hear what God is doing in YOUR life! Who is next?

Lovin Christ,

Splashi

[mlg]

Splash God is smiling on you sis. He is so happy you heard His call and chose to do His work and share Him with those that need to Hear Him. What an awesome experience, the sharing of John3:16 in Spanish. Words you had never spoken to be shared in Jesus name. God gave you a gift of tounges, in that he provided you the ability to say that verse in another language. What a blessing. I wish I could have been right there with you.

Thank God you are a willing servant.

luv ya splashie

[splash]

Wow Gabby, that is so cool. Maybe it is the same church that little village where the church is has a few different names people call it. Did you see the pictures of it on my cool space?

Splashi