La Paz, Lima

Today i think ( maybe ) is going to be the last post, for this specific mission trip. 
Right now we are in Puno, we are taking a bus to go back to Lima, we just spend a night here ( close to the titicaca Lake ).

Last Week we were at La Paz, a beautiful place. Pastor Alejandro ( from Montevideo ) made all the arrangements to go to different chruches, we start the ministry on tuesday, we attend to a women fellowship, it was so beautiful how Leona was able to share with the ladies, as well on thursday with other group ( bigger one ), because they are ready for a festival called "Esperanza", they have been praying for about 10 people each that do not know the Lord, and they are going to take this people to this festival, it will last 3 nights. 
So Leona shared with them, how our feelings and problems in our personality can hinder the Gospel, and also she taught through the book Jonas, how they can have a heart for the lost. 

On Friday, we visit the youth group, it was beautiful how young people was so open to learn, and to know more things about the Faithfulness of God. Leona shared her experiences in the mission field, it was intense.
Finally on Sunday, we perform the drama of Judas for the last time in this mission trip, and Leona shared about palm sunday. How some times we have expectations that are not God's plans. That Was a powerful message. In the afternoon Carlos and Jenny taught about the children ministry with sunday school teachers, and the parents also. The amazing thing, is that the Pastor told everyone who was in the children ministry class, that they have as a task to apply what they learnt to a real situation in their homes as well at church.

Praise the Lord for all things that he has been doing.

Thank you all for your prayers.

Thank God for taking care, and teaching me all this time.

Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

We left Santa Cruz yesterday sunday. we have spent 8 days there.
When we arrived it was carnaval. Here Carnaval is celebrated from Sunday ( right after we arrived ) until Tuesday, therefore, we were not able to go out after 2:00 p.m. because they use painting to play, not just water, they have music, and bands, but all of that is to prais some kind of god. And they do that to finish right on Ashes' Wednesday, so they can go and ask for forgivness of all things they did during the carnaval. This can give you an idea of the things that they do. During those days, the churches in general go to different camps, or just go outside of the city. So we were in the morning to do shopping for lunch, and afternoons we stayed at the hotel.
So on Wednesday we started to do outreaches in the plaza, and the Lord gave us the opportunity to see people coming to the Lord, 5 that first day, at night we were able to go to church for prayer meeting, it was a very good time, and it was full of young people. 
On Thursday,  some of this young people that is working with kids came to our hotel to talk and learn a little bit about kids ministry. It was a good time, and they where so thrill about it, that they ( the young people ) organize a meeting at their church for Friday  to have couple hours of introduction/training about children ministry. 
On Friday, we went again to do some outreach, and again the Lord kept surprising us for the openness of the people to listening the Gospel. And people accepting the Lord. Afternoon we went to church, and we spend couple hours explaining Children Ministry, it was such a good time.
On Saturday  we went out for an outreach, and we found such interesting people this time, for example Jenny talk to a girl who is "hare Krishna" , and her boyfriend thinks that he is god. But again the people was open to listen the Gospel. The seeds of the word of God, were planted. At night we attended to the youth meeting, more than 50 ( i think way more ) young people came to this "small church" and they were so excited listening the stories of God Faithfulness in Leona's life. An interesting thing is that seems that at least the third of the church speak english. 
Yesterday, Sunday, we went to church. Leona share about palm Sunday. It was very good, a lot of people, the church was full, and can you imagine, there was a lot of people who spoke English. At the end, I didn't need to translate for most of the people, they were able to talk straight with Leona, and I found Christy Holcomb at this church, we were able to talk a little bit, it was very nice. At church there was a couple, there were tourists, they spoke just English, so there were happy to be able to listen a message in English. Such a blessing.

We left Santa Cruz at 5:30pm, and now we are in La Paz, waiting for what the Lord has for us.

Asuncion, Paraguay, Bus Terminal

Today, we are leaving Asuncion, it has been such an incredible experience. 

When we arrived, we realized that the hostal where we were thinking to go, was 10 km ( 6 miles ) from the bus terminal, so we decided to stay in a hotel close to the bus terminal. After we settle in the hotel, we were informed that downtown was very far from here. So we just visit downtown 2 times, because the Lord had other plans for us. We decided to go to the bus terminal, to share with the people, and we had so many divine appointments.

An old man, who ended asking to have what the Lord can give him, and he prayed for the Lord to change his life. A woman whose things were stolen, and had anger in that moment, other woman, she is a christian woman, asking for prayer for her son who has HIV, other woman who recently lost her father and brother, and the other brother is sick, and a young man who took the step to start walking in the Lords path. 

And so many more stories.

I am not a writer, but i could talk about those encounters for hours i guess. Just can say that the Lord stopped us to be in downtown of Asuncion, and He placed us in this place, that the people say is dangerous, to reach these people. He really knows how we are, and that sometimes we want to do the things in our way, but He knows us perfectly to engineer the situation for his will to be done.

PRAISE DE LORD

Montevideo, Uruguay

Today Sunday is our last full day here. So i will try to summarize everything that happened since our arrival.
The trip from Mendoza to Montevideo was very good and comfortable, the bus was a little bit old, but the service was very good, one of the best so far. You know, God is faithful in those little details.
When we arrived Laura ( who is the pastor's sister ) was waiting for us with one of the youth of the church. They took us to the Hotel. We arrived to early so the rooms were not ready yet. But finally we were able to get our rooms. it was good and nice, though there was no air condition, and for whoever don't Montevideo is HOT, and we arrived during the HOTTEST days.
The next day, we had to do some paper work ( getting visas ), and also we were able to see the city, It is a beautiful city. 
On Wednesday in the morning, we presented Judas drama in the plaza Independencia, people walking, few people just resting, but there were some Peruvians ( they work in the ships ), and also some construction workers, they do not have a house. We were able to talk at the end with one of them, his name was Marcelo, Leona share the Gospel with him, it was very nice to see the seed being planted in his heart. So pray for him, that more witnesses come to his life.
At night we started the session of teaching about Christian Counseling. There was not many people, but God knew who needed to be there.
On Thursday we went to a Park, a beautiful park with a lot of people, and kids waiting to play soccer others waiting for the swimming pool. And we use a questioner to approach people and then open doors to share with them. We put on our costumes and then we started the drama, it was good, the kids observed, and the adults from a distance were observing too, because kids were around, Leona asked me to share a bible story, and because of the short notice, the first bible story that came to my mind was about the vision of Isaiah, I told them, the kids learned it, and at the end they decided to do the same as Isaiah, "to go" to others to tell them the bible story.
At night there were more people at church for the teaching, and the work of the Holy Spirit trough the teaching became more obvious, the reaction of the people showed that.

The next morning, we went to a corner, to keep doing street evangelism, there was a lot of people but they were walking fast, rushing. Carlos and me were able to approach a young guy, who declare that he haven't ever told a lie in his life, neither stolen. He presented himself as righteous. We know that there is no one righteous. It was a short conversation, but after that, we saw a woman sit on a stair, we were led to her to talk, and it was incredible, She shared with us her life, how she was in depression, the diagnosis of the psychologist and  and psychiatrist, how she can not see her grandchild, and how she is dealing with pain, and forgiveness.
In the Christian Counseling, I learn, that many times christian people do not understand the problem or the root of the problems, but try to give answers, and We do have the truth as an answer, but if we do not know the problem we can not deliver the truth in a proper way, so I was able to just say, can i pray with you. It was a goon encounter, I hope to see her today at church. 
At night were more people, and was the last session of the Christian Counseling, they prayed a lot, it was so good, at the end we heard testimonies, and difficult situations. 

On the next day ( this is Saturday ) we went to a supermarket to invite people and pass tracts, we were able to talk with a young woman who was drinking her "mate" She was waiting i guess for the bus or something else. We talk about the mate and the customs of the people in Uruguay and Peru, after that, we talked about life and death, and if anyone is good or not. She started thinking that she was a good person, but after showing her some of the commandments she started to rethink that, she realized that no one is good. Sadly we couldn't finish the conversation, but we pray that God put some other witnesses in her life.

That evening we talk with the youth, they had their youth group, it was very nice to see young people together, and Leona was invited to talk about missions. She shared her testimony and the Faithfulness of God during her years on the mission field. I saw how that touch their lives, now they are having that in their minds, that thought "am i called to missions?".

On Sunday Leona taught about Rut, it was a beautiful message, I could see how God was touching the life of the people there. And after that we said bye to all of them. A very sweet group of people. A very nice time. A powerful God working.

 The Lord knew why He brought us, The Lord is in control, The Lord planned it from the beginning. So, Praise the Lord.

Mendoza, Argentina

When we arrived there was very nice people waiting for us. And you know that they are very nice people because since the beginning... they were waiting until 3 a.m. 

Let me explain why the bus arrived late, so late.

First, We thought the bus was leaving at 11 am, what end up being the wrong information, it was leaving ( on the ticket said that ) at 8.40 am, so, the first reaction was, "We miss the bus!!" then we ran to the man in the information area, and he said, "i think that bus was canceled and replaced by one leaving at 5:00 pm", immediately we went to a lady, that told us that the road was under construction, so in the mornings no transportation was allow to go trough. We wait in the bus station until the time came to jump on the bus, it was not a bad bus, but we reach the point were the traffic was stopped. We stay there for couple hours, until slowly the this long line start moving, finally when was dark we made it to the border.

In the border, again, it was a line to do all the paper work for the visa, and we face a problem, it was needed for the people from U.S. to pay a fee to cross the border, that is valid for 10 years, but we didn't know that. It was pretty expensive. After going trough we made it to Mendoza.

So we arrived on Tuesday, we were able to rest a little bit that day, on Wednesday in the morning we were able to visit Mendoza downtown, it was a beautiful walk, we saw the main plaza which is beautiful. In the evening we started the teaching that lasted 4 nights, it was a powerful teaching, Leona taught about Christian Counseling, it was a huge blessing for the church, but also, it was such a blessing for the translator ( that one is me ), I learned the theory of how to deal with pain, in general, now i am trying to apply it. The Lord is destroying some of the faulty walls i have in my life... I praise the Lord for that. Ezekiel 13, is the chapter, how God destroy the walls, It was God.

Also in Mendoza we did some street evangelism, it was good, we showed the Drama "Judas", and also we were walking around in the plaza, telling bible stories to some young people in the plazas. We had also a good time with Damian, we talk a lot about bible stories, and how can they use them to plant new churches. And guess what? The church in Mendoza is planning to start new churches in different areas.

On Saturday, the church had an special treat for us, stake!!, the famous Argentinian stake, they came to the pastoral house, where we stayed, one of the brothers of the church, who is an Artist of the Asado, cooked the stake, it was so delicious, but something else happened, a truck crash the Pastor's Car, it was a difficult time for everyone. Pastor Leo, arrived minutes earlier, and he was in the pastoral house with us, when this happened. It was such a blessing how a man of God was able to deal with his situation. Please pray for him, now he does not have a car, and he has a family to take care of, the pastor is bi-vocational. 

It was a blessed time, I praise the Lord for that. Without Him, we are really nothing.

Leaving Santiago

( This part was writen yesterday )
We are in the last days here in Santiago, today is Saturday (I hope I am able to send this today), it is about noon, we didn't have much access to internet, as we did in Lican Ray, but it was a very good time, we enjoy the time with Jorge and Flor, they are a great family, they allowed us to stay with them, I have learned a lot with them, they shared with us about their lifes. Today We are going to Jose Luis'house ( pastor of Calvary Chapel Maipu ), We met them at Lican Ray, and over there I had a very good conversation with Christan, Jose Luis' son, we talk about missions, and how to use the bible stories as a missionary approach, He told me that they have the dissire to visit calvary in Lima, and that is so cool. And we agreed to have some on line training for ST4T, that is exciting.
Leona has been teaching History and Geography, it has been a little bit difficult for me, a lot of names to translate, but I have learned from Leona, that the names are transliterated, so they do not need to be translated, so that made it easier. Though I have been study the history in my bible to be able to know a general picture of the lessons. It is a good time for me, because I am learning so much, in the same way I think the students are learning a lot. Though it is an avalanch of information.
Carlos and Jenny were teaching all this week to the sunday school teachers, they shared with us that it was a blessing for the teachers, God was working in their lifes during the workshops.

(Today Sunday)

Yesteday we spend a great time with the pastor of Maipu, we build good relationships, we enjoy a good grilled meat, but more important we were talking about the calling, from the Lord for each of us.
And today in the morning the devotional at church was led by Leona, very good one and convicting.

Pray please for the health of all of us. So we can keep doing the will of God.
On monday we are going to Mendoza, Argentina, that is going to be a new experience.

Lican Ray

Today, we are leaving Lican Ray, going to Santiago de Chile, it is a time to say good bye to this wonderful people from the Calvary Chapels on Chile meeting here. 

This last 3 days we spend a very very good time sharing with the people. Let me tell you a little bit about it.

First day, we arrived very early, so we were hungry, and we needed to set up things, go to our rooms and EAT... so everything was ready around 4:00 pm. We were in beautiful cabins. For the ones who know me, know that i am not use to much luxury when I am in a mission trip, this days were incredible, because the facilities here. But at night, when we went to our rooms to rest, after a beautiful service, around 9:00pm there was sun light, I am not use to that, the sun light is until around 10:00 pm, so the youth, stayed up until very late, in my cabin, there were very nice, they shared their "once", what is a tea time meal, and we started to talk, and we came to talk about bible stories, go figure why, again who knows me know that I use a bible story for almost whatever thing I have to share. We were talking about bible stories, I told a couple bible stories, and we talk about it uses, and many more things about the applications of the bible stories.

The next day we taught about confident kids program, it went very well. After that we had opportunity to talk and keep building friendships with different people in the camp, it was nice listen how God works in the life of people in other countries.

That night, very late, we went out to buy potatoes to make french fries, and we spend a good time around a bonfire singing, and talking, still about bible stories, and even how to use bible stories to teach theology and apologetic.

Today we taught new believer kids program, it went very well too, a lot of people were interested on it.

Thank you for Your prayers.

Shall God be glorified in every action.

Iquique, first and second day in

You know, sometimes there are long trips by bus, and sometimes there are short trips, but sometimes there are trips that are mixed, long, short, and medium trips, this was one of those were everything is mixed, 19 hours from Lima to Tacna, then 1 hour from Tacna to Arica, then waiting for couple hours in Arica, where my sense of time was little bit confused, because there is a 2 hours difference between their time and our time, after that we travel to iquique for 4 hours.

We were received warmly by the church in iquique, it was nice for me to meet the person that i have been communicating for the late months and meet the pastor here in Iquique.

Since the beginning We have been so blessed here in Iquique, 2 families came to pick us up from the bus terminal. So we have a good meeting with them, a time of fellowship, meeting each other.

And then a good rest.

Next day (Friday) we woke up not too early, but enough to start our first day of ministry we were getting ready to perform Judas drama, because the goal was going out to the streets to present the drama, and use it to open conversations with the people.

We meet with the youth Pastor, and a group of the youth of the church and went to the beach area, were the people were enjoying the sun the sand and the beach. Then I asked some families that where there with their kids, if they could help us, becoming our audience, they accepted, so we performed for them and more people stopped to observe and it turned out very well, at the end we have the opportunity to talk with the families, and share with them.

We did this 2 times, and this second time, even more people stopped and watch the drama in the streets. Then night came, here is still sunlight until 8:30pm.

The next day (Saturday ) we got ready to teach, History and Geography, also something about Jewish traditions and festivities.

Translating this kind of topics for me was such an experience  I was able to learn so much Interpreting for Leona, all the information that came to my mind to translate was not just translated to Spanish  but also processed in my mind and helped me to link and understand deeper the bible.

My main difficulty was getting the names of the places, in Spanish, because I know those names because Rick ( pastor of ccesl ) thought us those things, but it means I know the names in just English. It was a huge blessing this Saturday.

At the end we were invited to go to other church that is very mission oriented, to teach about Passover  so on Sunday we are going to have again a full day.

So praise the Lord because He has giving us the opportunity to share with people in the streets, in the church, and going to other church, totally unexpected. And also, because He helped me to learn about this things, today. Such a faithfulness.

Pray so we can keep ourselves healthy, and focus during the teachings so we can hear the Lord leading us in every step.

On our last full day, Sunday, we went in the morning to teach at Calvary Chapel again for an hour. We use the first 20 minutes to present the drama Judas, it was very good, we presented this to all the church. After that the teaching started, The thing that stick in my mind was about the Palm Friday, and the Blood sacrifice ( a lamb sacrifice ), Interpreting this things helped me to understand how this happened and observe things in a different perspective.

On the evening we visited the church that invited us, Jesucristo Vive, is the name of the church.
This church is a very loving church, everyone hug us, and greet us. This is a mission oriented church, they are sending a missionary for a year to the jungle of Bolivia. And they encourage his people to take seriously the missions to the inner areas of Chile.
At the end of the service, a lady came in, this woman haven't ever been in church before, and she came saying, "in some way I know that is wrong but my husband's family wants me to abort, and I want to know what the bible says about it." at the very moment we were able to introduce her to the Pastor's wife.
God blessed us allowing this to happen.
Beautiful Church.

We are going to leave for Lican Ray in some hours, we were packing, and getting ready.

I updated the google maps of this trip.
God Bless ya'll.

Departure

The Lord has been good to me. As a Fact, He is Good, always. Some months ago, a friend named Leona Karni asked me if i would be interested to go with her in a mission trip, to some countries in South America for two, so i thought that it would be very difficult, because I was ready thinking in going to the villages and towns in different places of Peru with the teams from U.S., then she said that this trip would be  for the months of Jan and Feb, and, as many of you know, this months are the rainy season, therefore no teams are coming from U.S. or at least very few, so that door was open, and I accepted. The next months we started making the arrangements for this trip, emails coming and going, praying a lot to know what is the will of God, and His direction, finally the time has come. 

Church Sending Us

Yesterday i was packing, and while I was packing, I was thinking about the trips, in this last almost 5 years. Since my first time, my first team, my first mission. How I met so many goodly people that was trying to share the Gospel with me, for so many years, and I traveled with them, I have been traveling with McGregor church almost since the beginning, since I started to go in mission tirps, I learn a lot from them, Rocket Stoves, Farming God's Way, Water Filters, Bible Stories, etc..., but the most important thing, I learn the Gospel, and God worked his way to break my harden heart, to change it into a heart of flesh, God knew how argumentative I am, and also Ya'll know that I guess if You have traveled with me, but translating I was not able to argue, just to listen, understand, and then interpret it to make it simple for the people to understand the message, God knew that that was the way to capture me. And He did all the work. I kept thinking in the later mission trips, the ones with my church, Calvary Chapel English Service Lima, such a privilege be able to serve with my local church, my home church. 



Today We are leaving, I do not know what is waiting for us, many countries, lots of lost people, visiting some churches, one Body, One Godhead. I am 100% sure, God is in control, He has shown that to me, always, everyday, every time  since I see the sun coming out in the morning, until I close my eyes to sleep. God never fails, He has shown that to me, He took me in his hands, and even, sometimes I want to run away, He has new mercy every day ( I think that is part of a song ). God always corrects, He has shown that to me, when I do what He told me not to do, He, as a loving Father, corrects me sometimes it hurts but I can feel His Love in His Correction.
So I pray that God will show himself as He does always, and I pray that He does not allow me to miss that miracle "Showing Himself", such a miracle, such an everyday miracle, and such a creative God, He will keep surprising me, and I hope that trough this Blog You Will be encourage and we can be surprised by God together. 

Pray for Us, right now just for the trip. Later will come more specific requests.
Grace and Peace.
God Bless You