FAMILY

Some of the kids at house church this morning!
The houses on the mountains that we want to know the Lord
Making crosses in class that Terry so graciously sent us.
My English class decorating for the concert.
Eating at amazing ice cream shop in Mira Flores!
Machu Pichu
More Inca Ruins
Me and Dad with some amazing milkshakes!
Miguel and I at lunch.
English Concert
Making sheep masks at the Catholic school.
Riding in a moto!
The kids at one of the public schools!
Teaching in the community!
Opening cheezits and Cheetos!
Gifts from family and friends!
Frozen Limonade! Always can count on Larry to be unhealthy with me!
All of us at Machu Pichu!
Llamas!
Suckered once again to take a cute picture with a girl and a lamb. haha
Singing at the schools!
Wow! It has been an incredible week. I have been so blessed to have my parents visit me this week and my second “grandparents” visit me. I am writing right now from the hotel room while my mom and dad are in a meeting with Miguel. I am listening to my new Steven Curtis Chapman CD. It is so nice to listen to this CD and not cry the whole way through it. I had this CD in February and I cried over and over while I listened to it in February. Then somehow in all the craziness of February, I lost it. My mom was so kind and brought it back to me. This CD reminds me of God’s faithfulness. It is so encouraging to listen to this CD and realize everything God has brought me through. Anyway, back to this week. It has been a week full of great adventures to say the least. My parents and Larry and Carol arrived late Friday night. I was so excited I could barely stand it once I got to the airport! It was such a great feeling seeing them walk through the doors. It was great to hug my Mom and Dad again. That night of course I stayed up till’ 3 am talking with them. Then the next morning we left for Cuzco.
It is so beautiful there. It was quite a change from the last time I went. I did not even have to carry a backpack! It was wonderful flying there. We had a great time just getting to look around the city of Cuzco, see Inca ruins, getting to see many llamas, alpacas etc. Machu Pichu was awesome and this time I had a tour guide so I actually knew what things were. It was such a sweet time to get to see things again that I had seen my second week here in Peru and had previously tried to explain it to my parents, but this time I got to see it with them. I have not been on a vacation with my parents in four years, so it was amazing to get to travel with them again. My parents are my best friends so it has been a huge blessing in my life to have them here. Also, my second “grandparents” Larry and Carol have been here with me and that has made this week even more fun. No one knows how to tell jokes like Larry Reynolds. Since I have known them since my birth; it makes this week even more special because we can go back and talk about so many good memories. Since, I have been in Peru, I have thought more about life. I would say I have had more time to think, but I don’t think that statement is necessarily true either. I think it was just that for a long time, I didn’t know the language so I could just think to myself in English and also for a long time not really having any friends besides Nancy gave me the opportunity to think a lot. Anyway, all of that to say, that I have thought a lot about my life while I have been here in Peru over these past 8 months. I never had time to process life before. It was really neat because my mom and I got the opportunity to sit by each other on the train from Machu Pichu and talk about life before Peru. How God is so good and worked out so many things for me to be here at this time and what God is doing in Denton as well. It was so neat how God used my mom over and over again for the calling in my life. Our stories are so woven together. Normally, my mom and I are normally involved in ministry all the time, but in separate places. We got to share some of our experiences over the last years together. The funniest one being to me, when God did a huge miracle and really expanded the bus for me at Mission Arlington. I crammed 71 people into like a 15 passenger bus. It was just a really good time for me to process with my mom the last 4 years. They have flown by and so much has happened and I am so thankful for the opportunity to talk about with my mom what has happened, what God has done. It is incredible to see the hand of God.
It was so amazing to see the creation of God in Cuzco. The Mountains were so beautiful. Everywhere you looked there was beautiful mountain with beautiful people on it. I fell in love with the people there. They are probably the cutest people I have ever seen. Every kid has bright splotched red cheeks. The women have their hair in long braids, with a big hat, and a wear a long skirt. The people are so kind and loving. All of us got suckered into paying cute kids to take pictures with them and their little lambs that they were holding etc. The people there are generally very poor. They were so excited to receive anything. I was able to give out bracelets with my mom that explained the gospel. At one place, I had kids running from all over to get them; I had several adults come to get them as well including a police officer. It was so neat that God used bracelets to share His gospel. After eating very well and seeing many neat things over three days in Cuzco, we were ready to return back to Lima. We had a slight surprise; there was a strike in Cuzco. We were all so grateful we had gone to Cuzco when we did because basically Cuzco was shut down for the rest of the week because of the strike. We were able to leave just fine, except we had to get to the airport 6 hours early. That was fine though, because it gave Larry and me a chance to eat ice cream at 7 in the morning. He ordered a banana split and I had a chocolate shake. Of course, we had 6 hours so we ate many other fun airport snacks during that time. We returned to Lima and ate some more and went and looked around the town of Mira Flores. One of my most treasured times of the week is when we got together to have Bible studies. We studied the chapter of Romans 8 this past week. It was so encouraging to have Christian fellowship again. We learned how we through Jesus are accepted into God’s family, have no more condemnation, we have no more rejection, and no more defeat. It was so uplifting. We had four Bible studies throughout the week. Then my mom and I headed back to the Community late Tuesday night. It was so neat to have my mom with me in the place where I live my life every day! She brought tons of neat supplies for us, gifts from several of our friends, really awesome snacks, CDs, and so much more. It was like Christmas in September. Then she proceeded to help us unpack everything and organize it! That was until about 4 in the morning. In the middle of all that, we had a fairly large earthquake. A lot of the children and all of the volunteers went to the basketball court for protection. Welcome to my home MOM lol! My mom is so awesome; she stayed awake with me until 5 to finish my lesson plans for the next day! The next day was so neat because finally my mom got to see what I really get to do each day. She went with me to all 3 of my classes. Then Larry, Carol, and my Dad met us for my third class. Then we went to one public school to teach. I was so thankful to have all of them there. We had about 150 kids and to say the least it was mass chaos. It was fun though. All the third and fourth graders from one of the public schools came to learn about the lost sheep. Then we wall went to the Catholic School down the road where we taught the same story, only 35 kids in each class this time. We had 6 of these classes. Larry, Carol, and my Dad stayed for one class then came back to the community for a tour and to see the kids eating lunch! My mom and Nancy stayed the whole time to finish up the classes. We even got done early because we had so much help it was great! Then one of my favorite parts of the day came. My English class has been preparing for weeks an English Christian concert for my parents and the Reynolds. They did a great job and sang about 10 songs for them, some of the songs included Mighty to Save and How Great is Our God. It was such a sweet time of worship in English. Then we all ate hamburgers, thanks to Nancy’s help (she was our caterer helping getting all of the burgers ready and bought the cake for me). Then we all went to our famous Chicken Stand to have a great meal. No one got sick, and everyone liked our Peruvian Chick-fil-a. SO MUCH FUN. Then Larry, Carol, and my Dad left, and Nancy, my mom, and I went to Medianas Bible study. Nancy did an amazing job teaching the girls a story in John. It was a great and long day! Then after talking a while, we finally went to sleep. The next day was awesome as well. My mom went to Nancy’s classes to watch her, while I taught my normal two classes in the community. Then my mom, Nancy, and I cut string faster than ever before for the high school at the Catholic school. Then my mom and I went and taught at the Catholic school for the high schoolers. At the end, about 63 people came. It was such a blessing. So many parents came, and snack vendors came. The kids and adults alike loved the bracelets. The parents were asking me when they needed to come back to show me their work etc. It was great. They even said I should have an adult meeting after school one day and teach them. Just another door that God is opening to spread His gospel. After that, my mom graciously cleaned the pharmacy where we keep a lot of our supplies. Then we all headed to check out the building we use for our house church. Then we also went to the huge market that we shop at for our supplies. My mom loved it. It is like a Walmart style market. It was so fun! I loved for my mom getting to see the things that are a part of my daily life. Then my mom and I headed back into Mira Flores to meet up again with my Dad and the Reynolds. Of course, we ate again. I am pretty sure that is the night I ate some delicious cream filled churros and dipped them in chocolate sauce. I ate so much food this week, I probably gained at least 10 pounds. The next few days in Mira Flores, we all just hung out, had a couple of Bible studies, ate a lot more, shopped in markets, and just took in the sights of Lima. One highlight was having lunch with Miguel. I had not been able to talk to him for about a month because he has been so busy; it was nice to catch up with him with my mom there as well. My mom asked me in one of the markets if I planned on staying in Peru for a long time, and my response was yes for many years. I do not ever want to make my own plans, but God is opening up too many doors for me not to stay. We will see, I am not making any promises, but God has continuing been affirming to me that this is the place I need to be in my life. One way he affirmed that was a lady I met at the phone store yesterday. I went to buy a new phone because I was robbed in August. My parents were watching the changing of the guard at the Plaza, while Nancy and I went to pick up a few things. Anyway, this girl was super nice that sold me my new phone. I told her to take my number and call me sometime. She proceeded to call me like 2 hours later saying that she wanted to come out today to the community. I have to admit I am pretty cynical and did not think she would actually come. She did! She came to our house church this morning, and then hung out with us all day at the community. It was a huge blessing! She really loved it. Then she proceeded to say that she would ask off for Mondays and Wednesdays from work to help me in the schools. Please pray for that because she could be of huge help to Nancy and I. Please pray for her. Her name is Gaby, a very sweet girl. Speaking of house church, today was phenomenal. 22 people came, and about half were new people! Nancy and I had time this morning to go up to the Mountain behind the building where we meet and invite people up there. It was incredible, it was such a steep walk, but when we got to the top we could see houses all over the mountains. We invited a lot of people but have many mountains left of people to invite. It was such a blessing to Nancy and I. The people are up there are poor physically, but I imagine they are very poor spiritually too. I am excited to see God bring these people to learn his Word. All in all, this week has been phenomenal. Probably the best week I have ever had in Peru. God is so good and faithful! I loved the times talking with my mom about ministry and actually getting to do ministry with her in the same place and joking and talking with my dad (he always knows how to make me laugh). I have so many memories of my dad this week pulling out his video cameras to take funny videos of the week. It is so awesome to have so much support from my parents, it was so neat looking over and see my dad and mom so engaged in everything I was teaching even though it was in Spanish. I have great parents. The Reynolds were such a huge source of encouragement to me as well. They really are like another set of grandparents, they have supported me thorough literally ever y phase of my life and continue to do so for that I am so grateful. As my parents and the Reynolds told me bye this morning at 3 am, I was sad to see them go but I was not in despair. My heart is here, God has called me here, and I am glad that I have the opportunity to stay here, having the chance to tell the people of Ventanilla and the surrounding areas about Jesus. All glory to God.