“But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14

This is a common passage that a lot of us have heard before, but it seems to sum things up as I begin another transition. Today is officially my last day in Cusco, Peru. I will be going back to Lima for my final month here in Peru. While it has been such a blessing to be here in Cusco, I am definitely looking forward to Lima.

This past month has been spent wrapping up things here. We tried to find someone to take over our ESL classes, but no one was available. So this past week we had our final classes and a get together for all of the people who usually attend the classes. It has been such a blessing to see all of them grow not only in their English, but more importantly in the walk with the Lord.

This next month we will be traveling to the town of Ayacucho to encourage and train some local pastors. Then we will finish up the month with a training for a group of nationals that plan on traveling to various villages for about a month or two to share the Gospel with the Quechua people.

Please be praying for the trainings with both the pastors and the national missionaries. Please be praying for our students here in Cusco that they would continue to seek to learn not only English but also the Scriptures. Also I will be coming home on Jan. 26^th. Please be praying about that transition as I begin looking for a job and planning for things back in the U.S. I hope you are all doing well and have a merry Christmas!

Hey everyone! I hope you’re all enjoying getting ready for the holidays! I just wanted to send a quick update about what all has been going on here in Cusco this month. Jim and I visited a tiny village about an hour and a half outside of the city a couple weeks ago. We were surprised to find a couple of families in the village are fairly strong believers, but there is no church and they are not meeting. The cool thing, though, is that they are so hungry for the Word! They asked us repeatedly to come back to share with them or to send some people out there to teach them. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a village where the people are so eager to learn.

We had planned to go back the next weekend. Several of the people in our ESL class volunteered to go with us, which was such a blessing because our ultimate goal is to get nationals going to the villages to teach their own people. We were very excited that one of the guys from the class was excited and eager to lead the study when we went up there, then at the last minute the night before the trip we received a call saying we couldn’t come the next day because the village was having a community assembly. Please just be praying that we have another opportunity to go out there and that the guys in our ESL class will still be eager to go.

This month we have been blessed in the fact that more new people have been coming to the ESL class on a regular basis, and they’re still just as eager to learn about Scripture as they are English. Please be praying for a guy named Eduardo that has started coming to class. He’s not a believer but is seems pretty open. Also please be praying for another guy named Ivan. He has been talking some about missions and being open to whatever God wants. We all see that God is really growing him and teaching him a lot, but right now he is in his final year of med-school. He’s trying to figure out where God’s leading him and what that’s going to look like in his life. He’s also the one who had planned on leading the study in the village we had planned to go to, so please just be praying that God will continue to guide him

One last request, Michelle, the girl who had been staying with me, Jim, who has been working here, and Ellen re all in the states or about to be in the states. I think that each of them are struggling with that in some way shape or form because it is a HUGE adjustment to go back no matter how long they’re staying, Please just be praying for each of them. Thank you guys so much for your prayers, and I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

October

Hi everyone! I know it’s been a little while since my last update. Sorry about that. The last couple of weeks have been a little hectic with my roommate Ellen’s term ending and her heading back to the states. It has also put into perspective how little time I have left here in Peru and everything that comes with that, adjusting back to the States, finding a job, all kinds of little things that I haven’t even thought of yet. In spite of all those things the Lord has blessed me with a new roommate until the end of this month, and He continually reminds me that there are still plenty of things left to do here in Cusco until January.

We are continuing with our ESL ministry, which is evolving slowly into not only an English class using Scripture but also a class where they are learning how to study the Scriptures. Our students are beginning to ask more and more in depth questions about not only what we read, but also about faith and the Bible in general. It is evident that their hearts are longing to know about what Scripture really says. I had mentioned before that most of them are already believers, but most of their knowledge is strictly based on what a pastor tells them. They have some knowledge of Scripture, but they’ve never been taught to question the significance of passages. If they are told something they believe it. We have really been encouraging them to dig a little deeper and ask questions that they typically wouldn’t ask. So not only are we trying to help them with their English, but we’re also really trying to encourage them to really think about what we’re reading and not just accept what is said by us or a pastor but to seek out the Lord to find deeper understanding. Also we have been continuing the women’s Bible study on Thursday nights where we have been trying to encourage the same thing.

This month we have some new projects we’re going to begin in order to get some more helpful information for the church teams that come down here. We will also have a couple of teams coming down for short trips to work in the villages surrounding Cusco. So hopefully it will be a fairly busy month.

I would ask that you would be praying for the ESL ministry and the Bible studies and that the people in those would grow in faith because of them. Also there is a guy named Jonatan that comes to our ESL class who is not a believer, but he seems very interested. He just recently changed jobs and has told us that he might not be able to come to class anymore, so just be praying for him and that situation. Also please be praying that I would keep my focus on things here instead of the things that I’m going to have to take care of when I get back home. That is definitely a struggle for me. Thank you guys for all of your prayers and support!!! And if any of you want to know more about what has been going on here over the last few months just shoot me an email!

This month has been a little slower than usual, but as always it’s such a blessing to see how the Lord works in all things. This past month we have continued with our ESL (English as a second language) classes. We changed locations of the class this month, but the students have faithfully continued to come. Also our women’s Bible study has continued this month. We are really trying to build strong relationships with these women, so that we can encourage them as sisters in Christ and also encourage them to bring others who may not know Christ.

This month we have also been going out to Yucay to teach English to a group of about 6 young boys. They were all so well behaved and excited to learn, which is a little unusual for the

children here. We were only able to go teach this month, but this opened a door for us to come back at Christmas. The family who had opened their home to us invited us to come to a Christmas party for just the children of the village. Hopefully this will open some more doors to share the true Christmas story with them, seeing as how most of them have never heard it.

In other news we have a trip to Lima planned for this week. We are going with our friends from here in Cusco that we’ve been trying to invest in and share with. Please be praying that this will provide more opportunities to share with them. Also one of my good friends in Lima has recently become sick and may have to have surgery. I don’t know all of the details yet, but I’m supposed to meet with her while I’m in town. She is a new believer and this could be a real test of her faith. Her name is Fiorella, so please keep her in your prayers.

Also Ellen is getting ready to return to the states within the next month, along with two other girls on our team. Please keep them in your prayers as they prepare to return home and adjust back to life in the states. As of when she leaves I will be the only girl with our team in Cusco. There will be a couple guys, but it’s still not quite the same as having another girl to work with. That situation may change, but please be praying that I will be able to finish up the last few months here strongly.

As always thank you guys so much for all of your prayers! If any of you have any other questions about what all has been going on, don’t be afraid to send me an email. And if any of you decide you want to come visit over the next few months, just let me know!

Hey everyone! I just thought I'd write a quick update of things that have been going on here over the past month or so.

Towards the end of July we went with some other missionaries that we have been working with occasionally to Yucay (the village that was devastated by flooding last year). Our mission board along with the British Baptist mission raised a significant amount of money in order to

buy seeds for the Quechua people of Yucay who lost all of their crops and many of their homes. We ended up spending the day passing out seeds to approximately 400 villagers. The goal is to have them plant the seeds and then give 10% of their harvest back to the missionaries, who will then use the crops to help out others who have lost homes and crops due to the severe floods. It ended up being a GREAT day! It really helped strengthen several of the relationships we already had, as well as opened some other doors to build relationships with a family we met a few weeks ago. They have asked us to come teach english to approximately 15 youth once a week. This may not seem like a big deal, but they have opened up their home to us and are very welcoming. We feel that they will be very open to us and to the Gospel, which is really exciting.

Another exciting thing was my time in Lima recently. I went to Lima for end of summer debriefing for the volunteer missionaries, and it was awesome to see and hear what the Lord has been doing.

I found out that one of the men, Monolo, from Cabana, where I spent about a month living in the village, h

ad come to know the Lord over the summer. Also one of my good friends in Lima who is a translator for our teams had also accepted Christ! I can't even begin to explain how exciting that was for me. Many times as missionaries we invest so much time into people and never see anyone accept Christ, so it was such an incredible blessing to see God working in these two men's lives! Also, I had the opportunity to meet up with 2 of my landlords, Abel and Laura, and their sister Marta. We have been spending time with them lately and really getting to know them and build a friendship with them. They aren't believers, so we're really hoping for opportunities to share with them. They happened to be in Lima at the same time I was, so we all went for coffee. Religion and what Ellen and I are doing here got brought up. It had been mentioned before, but this time it lead to a fairly deep conversation about what Scripture actually says versus what they have heard. They were so open and interested in hearing what I had to say. They have seen a lot of hypocrisy in the churches and people here, so they had a lot of questions. It was great because I have been praying for opportunities to start sharing with them, and that's exactly what God provided.

I have several prayer requests for the next month or so. Please be praying for the people of Yucay that God would provide for them, but also that they would begin to listen and come to know Christ as their Savior. Please be praying for my friends Monolo and Arturo who are new believers. Pray that they would hold fast to the Lord even though they will have constant opposition from friends and family around them, and please pray that their faith with be strengthened. Please also be praying for Abel, Laura, Marta, and Miguel that they would continue to ask questions and that our friendship with them would grow so that we can continue sharing Truth with them. Please pray that they will each come to know Christ as their personal Savior. Also I want to ask that you guys would be praying about the rest of my time here in Peru. My roommate is going back stateside in 2 months, and I'm not sure if I'm going to be living alone here or if I will be getting a new roommate. Please be praying that God will do what's best and that I will be able to finish out the last 6 months of my term strong.

Thank you all for all of your support and prayers! Hope you all are doing well! :-)

So the last few weeks have been CRAZY busy!! But they've been a lot of fun at the same time. Ellen and I got suckered into teaching another class this month at the institute where we have out Bible study/ ESL classes, so that has made things a lot busier. We have 5 different classes now if you count the institute, one-on-on classes, and our Bible study classes. Although it's made things a little more hectic, it's been awesome to see God working through everything. We are building some great relationships with the people here, and all of our teaching has opened the door for us to get our women's Bible study up and going.

Last week we went out to a village called Yucay to bring some food for disa

ster relief. The people have finally moved out of the tents and are starting to build homes again. We're going to try to go out there at least once a week to help with building homes, planting seed, and pretty much whatever they need us to do. Hopefully through that we'll be able to start building some strong relationships and start storying with the people there. Everyone in Yucay is always so friendly and thankful for all the help.

As well as a ton of work the past few weeks, we've had a lot of fun! This past weekend some friends came into town and we went to Machu Picchu one day. It was great minus the getting up at 3 a.m. to catch the train. And we also had a new volunteer, named

Jim, arrive to work on our team. We spent all day looking for apartments for him, and he ended up getting one in our apartment building! We've already made a deal with him that we'll cook for him, if he'll fix stuff for us! He also said he needs a running partner, so I'm super excited about that! It will be nice having him around to help out and stuff.

Anyways, that's what all has been going on here lately. Please be praying for the Bible study that we have on Mon. and Wed. nights as well as the women's study that we have on Thurs. nights. Please pray that the Lord will bring more non-believers with whom we can share. Also please be praying for Jim as he gets adjusted to Cusco. One more thing I would ask for y'all to be praying about is that many of my team members are starting to go home. I still have 6 months on the field, but since everyone else is getting ready to leave it has made me start thinking about what I'm going to do when I go back to the states. Please just pray that the Lord will give me direction in all of that and that I won't stress out about it.

I hope you all are well and thank you so much for all the prayers!!! :-)

No More Facebook!!!

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking a LOT about how I'm not really a huge fan of Facebook. It gets distracting and kind of annoying, but I've kept it because a lot of my friends and family keep up with me while I'm here in Peru through Facebook. Well, I finally decided that I would join the crowd and start a blog, and in turn, I'm getting rid of Facebook for a while. I'll start putting my updates on here too. I think overall this will be a lot easier for everyone.

Since I'm starting a blog I'll go ahead and write my first update on here. It's been a while since my last update and things have been going really well here in Peru. At the end of May, I went home for about a week and a half. My little brother graduated and my best friend got married! It was GREAT to see all of my family and friends, but by the end of my time in the states I was ready to get back to Peru and get back to work.

When Ellen and I got back we started teaching English classes every morning at 7 a.m. at one of the local institutes. In turn, they're allowing us to use one of their class rooms twice a week in the evenings to have our English Fellowship classes. Our evening classes are by far my favorite part of the ministry here in Cusco. We use Bible passages to have conversational

English classes, and usually they turn into a mini Bible study. Also we have begun teaching one of the local pastors English, and this week we are planning on starting a women's Bible study at our apartment. I'm really excited to see how the Lord uses that!

On a side note, last weekend Ellen and I decided to take a random trip down south to Lake Titicaca. It's one of the highest lakes in the world and is known for its floating islands. We left at 10 p.m Friday night, arrived in Puno at 4:30 a.m, spent all day on the lake and islands, then took the bus back to Cusco at 9:30 p.m, and arrived back at our apartment at 3:30 a.m.! Needless to say we were EXHAUSTED, but the trip was well worth it! While I was there, I lost my Peruvian I.D. and some money so please be praying that I would be able to get a new I.D. quickly.

As always, I want to thank ALL of you guys for your prayers!!

PRAYER REQUESTS:

*Please be praying that the Lord will bring the women who need to hear the truth to our Bible study on Thurs. night.

*Please be praying for the English classes that we have on Mon. and Wed. nights, and it will be an effective way of sharing the Gospel with the ppl. who come.

*Please be praying for our individual classes, as we have had several ppl ask for one-on-one classes to learn English and more about the Bible.

*Please also continue to be praying for my language acquisition.