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!