Yes. I am alive! I have received a few emails lately from some of my followers, checking to make sure I am still alive and kicking, wanting to know updates and what has been going on in my life. Sorry I have not been able to keep up with this blog lately. Things have been super busy over the last month. I think I have talked to my parents twice in the last 3-4 weeks. Emails are backing up. But... that means I'm doing my work, right? :) Thankfully... I have a free day! So... here goes. I know it's long... but please, read to the end. There is so much to share!
LoVe ExTrEmE: Love extreme is the name of our most recent event. It encompassed three weeks in Peru in various cities. Love 1 and 2 were two different weeks set apart for different service cities. Impact events, service projects and construction all took place during these weeks. In between these weeks we had a major impact event in Arequipa. I will explain further down. This event was developed through Extreme Nazarene Ministries, and was a HUGE success in leading people to our amazing Lord and a lifetime in eternity :)
LOVE EXTREME 1
As you all know, I am assigned to the Cuzco group. We are still living in Arequipa until October, but we did get the opportunity to travel to Cuzco for the 2nd week of June, which is when Love Extreme 1 happened. The majority of our Cuzco group traveled to our future home, along with our pseudo parents and 20 short term volunteers from the States. During our time in Cuzco, we held many kids festivals in plazas or parks locally. It starts with a balloon and a microphone, shouting to anyone that can hear about the toys and fun times to be had. Kids seemed to appear from within the woodwork of this city, all anxious for attention and love. It was so good to love on these children... and it was an easy bridge to be able to talk with their parents as well. There were visits made to hospitals and nursing homes. We even had a hot chocolate night, which purely consisted of passing out hot chocolate to anyone that walked by and starting conversations with them. It was amazing to see how something as small as a cup of hot coco served as the bridge to a conversation about why we were there and what we were doing.
We were split up into small groups throughout the week, in order to do as many events as possible. So we were not all at every event. We have different favorite stories or moments from this week. One of my favorites, hands down, was getting to visit Mantay once more. For those of you that did not read my blog from earlier this year when we had visited Cuzco, I will explain Mantay. Peru is a country full of prostitution and sexual abuse, and Mantay is one of two main sources of refuge for these helpless victims. Mantay is a housing facility for girls ages 12-18 who are young mothers. These girls are either victims of sexual abuse, being sold to another family or rape. Mantay is a refuge for them and their children; a safe place for them both to grow up. We had the chance to visit these girls and do a skit, kids festival and interact with them and just try to love on them and encourage them that there are still good people in the world, even after all they have been through. This place already had my heart back in March when we visited. But this time I was able to personally participate on a deeper level. For the first time in front of a large group, I gave my testimony in front of these young mothers. This was really hard for me, and I was really emotional, since most of my family and friends don't even know everything I have been through. It was SO amazing, though, to see how God used my story to touch these girls hearts. I was looking into their eyes as I shared, and it was like I was looking into them. It was incredible, and I am so exciting to see how God will use it in the future as well. **I always knew that spiritual warfare was real, but we have all felt it and seen it SO much more than ever before since coming to Peru** After we left Mantay, I was in a taxi with three short termers when we were sideswiped by another taxi, shoved up onto the curb, then back onto the street. I was sitting in the passenger seat, and as a result was closest to where the other car hit us. Thankfully no one else had any serious injuries, and my injuries just consisted of back and neck pain. To this day, I still have that pain. But... it could have been so much worse. We were covered :) Ironically, after we returned to our hotel, and as we were walking up the hill, I twisted my ankle and fell on my ribs. I remember John, one of the short termers with me, saying (right after I fell to the ground) that Satan must think I am a pretty big threat. It was so apparent that Satan was trying to attack us and put us down. Which... just motivated me more to keep on fighting this fight in Peru!
Another cool part of our week was when we visited the construction site for our house. Our house is almost built for when we arrive in October. Every time I have seen a picture or heard a story from a volunteer that put their sweat and time into building it, it has humbled me and made me feel even that much more grateful for everything. But... to actually be able to visit our home while we were in Cuzco was SO much more than I could ever have imagined. Our house has three floors. The first floor will serve as the new location for our head church in Cuzco. The second floor is for the 40/40's (me) and the third floor is for our parents. It is SO exciting to actually look out of the window that I will soon be looking out of daily... to look onto the city I will soon be living in, serving in, fighting for.
Needless to say, Love Extreme 1 was AWESOME and I was so thankful to visit my new home once again.
LOVE EXTREME: BIG EVENT
While I was in Cuzco for Love 1, other groups stayed here in Arequipa, promoting the Big Event. Our group arrived back in Arequipa just in time to help with last minute promotion, and then the BIG day. During this day, we had kids festivals going on, men's and women's conferences with speakers from around the world!! There were different music groups from neighboring countries as well, filling the air with words of hope and how amazing God's love is. The finale for this event was speaker Nick Vujicic... a man without arms and legs, but on FIRE for God! His testimony and message was SOOOO powerful. A quote from our Extreme site...
"Nick estimated 6000 people raised their hands to accept Christ. Nick said, "There are too many people raising their hands. They don't understand. Say it again." He made the translator say "This is not a blessing, this is a commitment." . Most of the people raised their hands again. The group then was lead to speak with counselors. Not sure how many people went, but it was a HUGE crowd."
Over 10,000 people attended this event, thousands came to know Christ and so many doors were opened for the future. This day was a success. Hands down. It was so amazing to be part of loving these people, and to see how God was working.
LOVE EXTREME 2
Love 2, as well, was in several cities throughout Peru. My group stayed in Arequipa for Love 2, helping with CONSOLIDATION, which is SUCH an important part of why we are here, and how it is going to work. Consolidation involved us contact each and every single person that committed their lives to Christ, making home visits, and getting them set up with a church near by. As well, some of them volunteered their homes to be the meeting site for new churches that will be planted by 40/40's in Arequipa later this year.
Life outside of Love Extreme... what's happened since (or during)
Randomly, I have lost about 10 lbs. I have started running... or attempting to, and I guess it is working, even though my goal is just to be doing exercise, not to lose weight. I still eat like a pig, so that's good :)
After a month off, classes are getting ready to start back up this coming Monday. I have enjoyed the break, but I am looking forward to some consistency in our daily schedules. Plus... my Spanish can always use a brush up/I need to learn a lot more still LOL. So classes will push me a bit, just as Love did.
For me, the saddest part of the last few weeks is that my dear friend/sister/40/40 Brandi will not be returning to our group. If you remember from my previous blog, she had to return to the States because of back pain that had persisted for 3 months. She was able to come back down for Love, and it was SO good to see her. But, while she was here, it was decided that she had not made enough progress and there were other factors that would mean she had to leave our group for good. This sucked. Hard core. But... God gave me a peace about her leaving, because I love her. We all love her. We know that God can use Brandi in SUCH amazing ways for His glory, and we all want her to be healthy so that nothing stands in her way. I miss her like crazy already, but I know that, like with everything else, God has a plan.
Things have been crazy here. We have now been in Peru for just over 5 months. I can't believe it!! I am still in culture shock... with food, rules, missing my family, people... waking up and forgetting I am here every once in a while. Still adjusting... a staff member told me that I will never fully adjust. He meant it as comfort :) But... I'm still hoping that I will adjust more. I am excited to get back to my church here in Arequipa. We have all been so busy and helping out with things that we have not been in our own churches. Excited to get to work with the fruit of our labor efforts during Love.
Thanks for your prayers. Please keep them coming. It is SO exciting and rewarding to be here, but I would lie if I said it was easy. I get excited every time a little more of God's plan is revealed to me. I get excited when I notice changes He has made in me already, for the better. We are fighting a battle here in Peru... I have my boxing gloves on!
