First Peruvian Baptisms!

One of the best days that I have ever had in Peru was 3 Sundays ago, when I had the privilege of baptizing my first set of Peruvians. I baptized John, Nicchola, and Sarah. It was a beautiful day. All of them had at least one family member present, and 3 families of neighbors came to watch as well. It was so amazing because each one shared their testimony and the gospel to their non-believing family members and neighbors. They explained that only through Jesus can you be saved and that baptism is just a symbol showing what Jesus has done for them and to show others that they are followers of Him. I spoke at the beginning explaining the significance and meaning of baptism. It was such a joyous time for me to get to baptize my 3 main leaders. After that we had a small reception in my house. Unfortunately, I cannot post many pics on my blog for confidentiality reasons for John and Sarah. I will post pics of Nicchola getting baptized. It was a great day. We are hoping to baptize about 13 more this month that are new believers as well!

Some of the neighbors that were watching!

Nicchola sharing his testimony

Getting ready to be baptized

Getting baptized

Nicchola and his family and friends

God is healing Aquilino!!

As of yesterday, Aquilino’s blood count was at 7.9. Raised from being at a 5 to 7.9 in just one month. He has been on his diet for about 3 weeks now. Also, God is healing his tumor in his stomach, it is shrinking! The doctor said he doesn’t even have to have surgery!!! Also, his sister – in –law, Marta, has started to come to my house twice a week for a small salary to cook for him. I couldn’t keep up cooking for him and doing all the other things I had to do. This is helping her greatly since she is in desperate poverty. It is a blessing for us both. She and her husband and her 2 kids came to our neighborhood Bible study yesterday for the first time! God is at work! Please pray for Aquilino and all of his family to come to know Christ. Please pray that his sister-in-law’s family would come to know Christ as well. Please pray for complete healing of his leukemia. Please pray that God would continue to provide the finances for him to buy his medicines that he needs to fight his cancer. God is the ULITMATE HEALER!

Attn: We have a new neighborhood Bible study!!

This is one of the most exciting things that has been happening for the past 6 weeks. We have finally started a Bible study in the neighborhood where I live. Kids in my neighborhood have been asking for this for a long time, and we could just never get it started for some reason, but God’s timing is perfect timing. The best part about this Bible study it is all Peruvian led. I do not even teach it! My Peruvian leaders who are in my discipleship class are fully responsible for it! The first week we had 28 people attend, 7 of those being adults. After that we have been running an average of about 10 people (ranging from 3 years old to 80 years old), but we are not getting discouraged because ministry is like this in Peru. We have also had a lot of competition with other things since Sundays are the people’s only day off here in Peru, a lot of times in the summer everyone goes to the beach on Sundays. We are hoping now with school just starting that people will get more into Routine and more will come. It is so cool because the Peruvian leaders come to my house at 11 am – plan a skit together, get the songs ready, the Bible study ready, and even cook together. Then we have the Bible study at 4 pm. It really does feel like I am living the book of Acts out. We are having really good adult attendance at this Bible study which we have had trouble with in other Bible studies so that is a huge blessing.

 My next door neighbors have been coming who I am really close with. It is so neat to see them coming to learn about God. They have not had anything to do with God for a long long time. They are really interested. The mom and the teenage son have expressed interest in wanting to lead this Bible study one day. She told me the other day, she is ready to get involved in everything, and she even wants to go to other Bible studies with me. She is not a Christian, but God is definitely working on her heart. Please pray for this family specifically. I think they are the ones that God will use one day to take over this house church and lead the entire neighborhood to Christ. Other great news is at last week’s Bible study, a teenage girl named Lucero gave her life to Christ. She is a very big leader among the kids in the neighborhood, so we are thrilled about her being the first person in our neighborhood to become a Christian! Please pray for our neighbors that they will come, please pray for our leadership that they will consistently come every week and lead. It is very easy to start something and then not consistently do it, and I really want Peruvians to be the ones leading this every week!

Learning the days of creation!

Reading the story directly from the Bible

The adults learning together

Putting the Bible verse in order

The most famous gospel sharing game that even the adults love

More kids keep a comin' to Calle 10

We have been having a great time lately at Calle 10. We have met so many new kids during this summer season. For the most part, the kids that have been coming have really been listening as well. We used to have about 10 kids and a couple of times this summer we have had over 20 kids. For 2 weeks, we had water balloon fights; it was a blast. The first week we had water games, 30 kids/ teenagers showed up, plus adults were watching and participating. It was SO much Fun. Our group is becoming more and more solid. School started this week so we were a little down, but please pray that these kids who have been faithfully come this summer will continue to come during the school season. I am so excited to see what God is doing in Calle 10.

Playing "sheet water balloon volleyball"

We had so much fun on the water day!

Love these kids!

Sweet girls!

The kids absolutely love Nicchola!

Fun times with other Gringas!

Three weeks ago on my day off, I got to meet up with an IMB missionary, Mindy McCord. I had wanted to meet up with her for about 2 years. Actually when I first went to Peru someone had given me her name, and I finally got to meet her just this past month. It was such a blessing. She is such a sweet person. We went to Chili’s together which was an extra bonus. Then I got to go hang out and play some games with my good friend Amanda Wissmann in Chorillos! There is no one that likes playing games more than Amanda and I!! We get so competitive. The next week I went into town again on my day off, but this time very early in the morning. I got into Lima at 7:30 am and nothing was open, except Wongs!! This happens to be an international grocery store. It was such a blessing because Dr. Pepper was on Sale! I also got some chocolate, cheddar cheese, and taco shells. I then went to a new Starbucks to wait on Amanda! We played games for about an hour and half in Starbucks while we drank Dr. Pepper and cheddar cheese. It looked like we were having a picnic in Starbucks! Of course, we had a Starbucks drink as well! Then we headed to KFC for lunch and to a movie. It was such a great American day – I was in need of a little bit of American culture. Every time I see Amanda, I am encouraged. I am so thankful for her sweet friendship.

That's right we are in Starbucks with our own canned drinks and block of cheddar cheese!

We love playing games!

Then this past Friday, Nicchola and I were delivering food to Aquilino, and I see 4 white women walking near the orphanage. I stopped and asked if they were walking to the orphanage. Come to find out they are 4 IMB missionaries. It was such a blessing. I actually took them to my house so they could stop by and visit on another Friday. They are going to be working in the orphanage every Friday! It was such a God-send that I ran into them. 3 out of the 4 of them will be leaving by May, but one will be here until December. They were so sweet! They got my number and are going to email me with contacts of other IMB missionaries in Lima. God is so good and sovereign. One of my main personal desires of my heart has been to meet other missionaries specifically ones from the IMB. God literally placed them directly in my path. All glory to His name.

Huaral - one of my favorite campo cities

So much has been going on in Huaral lately. We took them to the beach again and this time, 30 of us went. It was beautiful because Salvia's family was in town from another town. The teenage boys and I, played in the huge waves, I helped dig a "sand pool" with the teenage girls, played in the waterfalls with the people, and best of all right there on the beach, Salvia became a Christian. It was beautiful! Salvia has been the person I have wanted to be most connected with since the beginning. There has always been something about her that I just love. She is so timid, but for the first time ever she came up to me and started pouring her heart out with a problem that she was facing. By the end of the conversation, she prayed to give her life to Christ. It was beautiful!

The crew

Love the sunset!

Bible study before we went to the beach!

Singing give me a J with the kids at Bible study!

Since it has been summer, there have been more children because more of the grandkids are visiting their grandmother. Also more family members have been in town as well. It has been a blessing to teach more people the good news about Jesus. The day we went to the beach we had 22 in Bible study at Huaral! A record for sure. We have been having really good attendance this past month. Now we have gone back down to our regular 8 or so because the kids are back in school etc.

Tomorrow, we are planning on doing a training session for the Christian adults and teenagers on how to witness, and then we will go practice by going to a few houses in the campo to share the good news with them. Please be praying for these new believers that they will want to passionately grow in Jesus. This family is just very timid in general so it has been hard for them to really be bold about Jesus, but pray for strength for them because anything is possible with Jesus.

A precious newborn baby

We are still meeting with Jackeline from Ancon and on occasion her younger daughter Geraldine. Her oldest daughter Angela, just had a baby. We had the great privilege of going to visit her with her newborn baby in the hospital. Her baby is now one month old. Please pray for Jackeline, Geraldine, and Angela and her boyfriend to come to know Christ. I know that Jackeline will make an amazing Christian leader, but she still just does not seem to understand after all these months of meeting with her. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will just reveal Himself to her and that He will explain to her salvation: that it is only by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

Jackeline and her grandbaby

Angela and her son

A great report on the work going on in the jungle

My dear friend who has been in the jungle that past 2 months, came back to Lima to gather her things because she is going to go back and live in the jungle permanently. She brought me such encouraging news, she has been teaching a group of natives from the jungle the Bible. She is learning their language and for the time being her cousin is translating for her. She meets with a group of native people every week and teaches them the Bible. She is also sharing the love of Christ with her family who are not believers. She is going to be studying in an institute preparing to enter a national university here in Peru that is located in the city of the jungle. I loaded her up with 24 Bibles to take back, tons of gospel sharing bracelets, curriculum, and coloring sheets. She is going to continue to teach the Bible to this group of natives. She said that many people were asking for her to bring back Bibles. Please pray for her to be bold. She says she does not know one other Christian where she is living. Please pray for her to at least make one other Christian friend that can be her partner in this missionary work in the jungle. We are going to start praying about taking a team of our leaders from Ventanilla to do a mission trip in her city. Please be in prayer about that as well!

Update on Fernando

2 weeks ago, we (Fernando's mom, his nephew, John, Nicchola, and myself) got to visit our dear friend after a month of him not being able to be in contact with the outside world. Fernando is in a Christian treatment center for addictions. He is doing so good. Jesus has changed his attitude night and day, and it is so cool to see how Jesus is maturing Fernando. Fernando is learning a ton about the Lord in this place, and is also learning a ton about overcoming his addictions in Christ's power and practical ways to do it! We were thrilled to see him. We have gone to visit him the past 2 Saturdays, last Saturday we got to play chicken foot with him. Please keep praying for his progress and for continued financial provision for him to be able to stay in treatment.

Fernando seeing his mom for the first time in a month.

Hangin' out!

On the way there, we found an awesome gas station with TONS of candy from the states.  God always gives me little blessings!

Discipleship!

I just wanted to give a small update on our discipleship classes that happen every Sunday night from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. This group consists of about 8 people that are Christian believers in the Ventanilla area. We are digging deeper into the Word than a normal House church Bible study. These are also my leaders/ disciples that help me teach in other places. We are studying The story (story form of the Bible’s main stories by Zondervan). If you have not heard about it you should check it out. It highlights major stories in the Bible from Genesis to Revelations, but it goes into depth. Max Lucado wrote a book that goes along with it called God’s Story, Your Story. Randy Fraze also wrote a book that goes along with it that I am using. We are really reading a ton of scripture during these classes and seeing how God used weak ordinary people to do extraordinary things for Him. We are learning the strengths and weaknesses of the main leaders in the Bible. We just finished Joseph this past Sunday, and this Sunday will be studying Moses. Please be praying for our group. Satan always loves to distract people that are truly committed to the Lord. We have been having some trouble with our attendance lately with this group. Please pray that these disciples will realize the importance of studying the Word together, and they will be faithful to come every Sunday.

A restaurant in my living room!

The land lady downstairs daughter died just a little over a year ago. Here in Catholic culture they have a service to pray for the dead a year later. Obviously I could not take a part in that, but I was invited to. It was a very tough situation because I wanted to be a help to her in her time of extreme grief, not offend her, but also stand up for what I believed. I told her that I could not go to the ceremony and the reason why, but I knew that all the family members and friends were coming over for dinner after and I offered to help cook and bring some food. It is tradition for everyone to come to the house after and eat. There is nothing done during that time that is sacrilegious, just a meal is shared together. While they were at the ceremony, Nicchola and I rapidly served 150 plates so that they would be ready to serve to all the guests after the ceremony was over. I felt like we had a mini – restaurant in my living room. It was actually so much fun getting to act like a waitress for one night. I hope that I was able to minister to my neighbor in her time of grief, and I am hoping that the Holy Spirit spoke truth into her life when I told her the reason I would not be able to attend the service. This neighbor is now like family to me; please pray for her healing process with the death of her young daughter.

Sweet Luana, her mom is the one who died last year. Please pray for her.

Peruvians LOVE mayonnaise.

Burnt pasta....but great conversation

This is just a little random post about a couple I met over a year ago now in the street and invited them to Bible study. We have kept up with them since then. They came over for dinner the other night, and we genuinely had a great time. It was so cool because Nicchola was able to be at dinner, and it was evident that God was using him to minister to Julio in a way that I couldn’t. Since this is a very sexist society, it is so neat to see God raising up Peruvian Christian men to minister to other men who are not believers. I don’t think either one of them are believers, but we got to have an awesome conversation about the gospel mainly because Julio kept bringing it up. It was so refreshing for a Peruvian to bring up the topic about Jesus instead of me bringing it up to them. We ate some semi-burnt pasta that I had made and just had a good time of fellowship together. Please pray that both Lourdes and Julio will come to know Christ.

Mail all the way to Ventanilla!!!

I got my first package from the states in February from a dear lady from Southmont, Linda Roberts. The package totally made my day. I meant to take a picture of it before I started eating the contents, but I forgot to. She sent me little Debbie snacks, pringles, skittles, starbursts, all of my favorite things! I was having a rough day, and that package totally turned my day around. It is the little things when you live in a foreign country that can bring so much encouragement. Then like the next week, I got an envelope of cards from members at Southmont – thanks so much to those of you who wrote me. It was also a great encouragement. I also got a late Christmas card from my grandpa! It was like my house was a miniature post office in the month of February.

Then leave it to my awesome parents to send me a Valentine’s package as well. My parents for as long as I have remembered have given me a Valentine’s present normally including Valentine’s pajamas and lots of candy. They proceeded to do it again this year by sending me a tiny box packed full of goodies including pajamas. Who needs a boyfriend when you have such great parents? Totally a joke! I was so encouraged by the mail I got in February. Thanks to all of you who keep up with me whether it be through mail, praying, e-mail, financial support etc. It means the world to me to know I have so many people supporting me. Thanks for all you do for me and for the kingdom!

Yep you heard right....I bought a guitar!

Hold the phone….yes Lauren Robertson now has a guitar! If any of you know me well, you know I am highly challenged when it comes to anything musical, especially if it involves any type of rhythm. I decided though, that I need to start learning guitar so that we can have praise and worship at our Bible studies. Right now we are singing some praise and worship songs at most of our Bible studies, but I want our worship experience to get deeper. One of the guys in our discipleship group knows how to play guitar, so he will play this guitar on Sunday’s for our new neighborhood Bible study as well. There are some others in our discipleship group that are pretty good as well, so I am hoping this guitar will be used for Peruvians to lead other Peruvians in a time of worshipping our Savior. Yes, it is my plan to start practicing….maybe if I have time next week!

This picture is for my brother whose name is Evan! (He loves music)

Here is my new guitar!!!

Takin' the love of the Jesus to the streets!

It was a Sunday night after our discipleship class and we were all sitting around talking about what we should do for Valentines day. We are all single with the exception of one person in our group. I said that we should go out to the movies together. We don't do that stuff together as a group hardly ever, but a girl that I will call Sarah said, "We should go out and do ministry and teach people who TRUE LOVE is, God." That was a humbling moment when one of the people in my discipleship class looked over my shallow plea to go to the movies together instead to go do ministry. I honestly did not want to do another ministry event...which is horrible to admit.....but I was so blessed by what end up happening. We decided we would go evangelize in a park and then go to the movies. Then we decided to ditch "having fun" all together and that we would go evangelize in a park and then take dinner to prostitutes that night. We only had 2 days to get everything together. We were going to use the bracelets that had arrows showing:

Jesus came
Died
Rose again
Went back to Heaven
And one day will return

The only problem is we had 3,000 of these bracelets made in Peru and they turned out terrible....so we had to convert all of them into key chains. 3 of us worked a couple of hours and converted all the "bracelets" into key chains. The next day we prepared sack dinners for 100 prostitutes.

2,700 key chains ready to be passed out, Bibles, and dinner for 100 People in the street!

This precious little boy was so interested in learning about Jesus. He totally captured my heart! My Valentine's date for the night!

Wow, what a blessing that night was. We stayed in the park about 3 hours witnessing. We all split up. I was so proud of the people in our discipleship group. They witnessed for 3 hours using the bracelets, the tracts we had made, and explained to people the good news of Jesus. One of our guys even went into a liquor store and started telling people about Jesus in there. It was one of the best nights of street evangelism that I have ever been a part of, if not the best night because the people I talked to were thoroughly interested. I probably didn't talk to more about 20 people total in the park, but I talked to families that were interested in the good news of Jesus which is a huge change. They were not just interested because I was a gringa; they actually wanted to learn about Jesus. It was a BEAUTIFUL night!

Then at about 10:30 pm we left the park to do go to downtown Lima to find prostitutes to minister to. The place they used to be at had been overtaken with police, and we did not know their new location. We found a few though here and there and gave them dinner and shared the good news of Jesus. Then the rest of the sandwiches we just gave to people in the street late at night. Couples, people selling things in the street, people just hanging out etc. We not only gave them dinner, but shared with them about the BREAD of Life which is Jesus. It was so cool watching our group reach out to these people.I was amazed when I would watch our group go up to people on their own because they felt led to share Jesus with that person! 6 of us went out to minister on Valentine's night, and I think we all left more blessed than the people we ministered to. It was such a great learning experience for our group. We got home after 3 am, but it was totally worth it! It was so much better than going to the movies. One day I will eventually learn doing God's work/ will is ALWAYS better than "other fun things."