Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Things Are Happening!



Okay, let me begin by telling you that we serve an awesome God!!! It is so great to see how little things add up to His great and awesome plan...for our lives AND for His people. I am so blessed to be a part of this plan. I love doing what I am doing! I can't say I love my job, because it doesn't feel like a job!

So on to what's happening...I think I have said in earlier blogs that we are working in Jhon Hocking Weeks and La Victoria simultaneously. Jhon Hocking is close to Yarinacocha, where we worked last year, and La Victoria is at KM 19, about 15 to 20 minutes outside Pucallpa.

In Jhon Hocking, we have a place to have our services, and we had electricity that Ryan had come and extended from the house we are borrowing the room from, but just this week the owner of the electricity decided that we were another lot, and wanted us or the owners of the property to pay 200 soles more to have electricity there, or he would shut off their elecity. We didn't want any trouble for them, so we have "uninstalled" the electricity, and actually used candles and flashlights in our last service. But that is unimportant; we still had 20 kids in the service. We have a great group of adolescents there, and are discipling several adults in their homes. And we have tons of kids there...20 - 30 every week in Sunday School and about half of them each week in the services, which can be good and bad (good because we love them, bad because they can be distracting). However, we are hoping that with the Easter Week activities, we will be able to have more adults begin to come.

Terry is one of my favorites. He has an older brother Andy, a younger brother Cristian, and a baby sister Rubi. Their family life is not very good, and Terry started out as a trouble maker in our classes and services. One night, when we were having a service, Empe had already "kicked out" all the kids who wanted to play and not listen, so they were running around outside making a bunch of noise. Sometimes they would run into the service, so I finally went over and stood in front of the door and wasn't letting them in. So, Terry almost got past me, but I caught him and told him he needed to stay outside. So he took off, and that is when I saw his mom coming. About five minutes later, she came back around the building, calling for Terry to come too. He said he didn't want to, and she started after him again. A couple minutes later, I heard Terry crying and screaming. It was dark outside, so I didn't see what happened, but I have witnessed her "discipline" before, so I have a good idea of what was happening. However, since that night, Terry has come to every service and been an angel. I think he has found that the little building where we have services is a safe place and that Empe and I love him and want the best for him. He sits on his stool and is a perfect little boy.


In La Victoria, we are using the "community building" to have our Sunday School classes. Let me clarify...the community building is a picnic shelter with a concrete floor in half of it, and bleacher like benches built down each side. We have the kids sit on the bottom bench and use the top bench for a table, so it actually works out really well. But, the really great news is WE HAVE PROPERTY!!! Yes! We have property in La Victoria! We were able to get two lots, on the corner of a "street", actually two corners, because the blocks are two lots by three lots, and we got two lots on the end of a block, so "street front" property! However, the pictures show there is still a lot of work to do. We need to rake all the stuff up and burn it that was chopped down. The picture with my shadow shows the "street front" on the right. Yep, that is the street, just a bunch of brush. But the property is large...about 16.5 yards by 63.5 yards, and we only paid a S/.200 inscription fee to put our name on it! That is about $75. What a blessing! Now we just need some type of structure on the property so that we can begin having services there. We are so excited about what is happening in La Victoria! We are also discipling several adults there. God is doing great things there!

Praise the Lord for all he is doing with His work here in the "Greater Pucallpa Area"!