a perfect ending

Some members of the team doing a Bible Study with some ladies

A young kid who studied with us for our cell group training. His parents and him will be leading cell groups.

This was us after a nice and sweaty hike in the jungle

Arnaldo is cutting us sugar cane to eat out in his cane fields.

It´s over. Hard to believe, but we are finished and going home tomorrow (11-10). I wish that I had more pictures and lot´s of time to tell you about this last trip, but there´s no way to summarize the incredible time we had.

How can I describe what happened on this trip? I guess that God captured our hearts by the people in the Amazon and this did something in all of us that changed us. Why do I say this now? I know, we have been doing quite a few river trips, you would think we would have gotten this before, but something changed in us. We began to step out of our comforts and really make an effort in getting to know the people, caring for them, sharing our heart for them. What an amazing experience.

The first community we were in was amazing, Monte Verde. The church had already many members who were actively going to each house in their community to share Jesus with their neighbors. When we taught the "Si Podemos" (Yes! We Can!) cell group training they told us that we were an answer to their prayers and that this training came just in time. Their heart is to see their whole community of 200 come to know Jesus. They really believed that these cell groups are going to be a great tool to use in the homes and that studying the Word together with the people with the method we taught them will open huge doors for people to really understand the Gospel. During the daytime and mornings in Monte Verde we had incredible times visiting homes, reading the Bible with people, answering their questions. Many did not have Bible´s and had such a huge desire to read the Word. What a privaledge it was to give them their first Bible.

The last village we went to was such a huge surprise. The village´s name is Piura. We had gone there the last time we were here in February for only a day, and even then we saw such a great hunger for God in the community. This time we came with Bibles and our "Si Podemos" training. It was incredible. The people in the church had hardly any knowledge at all about basic things in the Bible, even some of the leaders. Our 5 days of training turned into day long seminars of basic Christianity along with training on how to do the cell groups. We talked about very basic things like baptism, communion, prayer, discipleship, evangelism, etc. Things that we take for granted that these people didn´t know hardly anything about. They too kept thanking us for coming and said we were such a huge blessing in teaching them God´s Word. We were amazed at the hunger in that community. Almost every house we would visit was hungry to know more about God. Many people gave their lives to Christ. A woman named Andrea who had an abusive alcoholic husband wept as she recieved Jesus and began to see things differently. I was in a group where we had this amazing opportunity to share with a man named Polito. His wife was a Christian but he didn´t want to have anything to do with Christ or the church. I can´t explain it to you enough in words, but something happened as we sat there and talked with the man...intense compassion filled us. We all felt God began to speak through us to Polito and we could tell something was happening. I almost began to weep as I felt my heart literally swelling with love for this man who in my heart I knew was hurting. I can´t even express what it felt like to be God´s mouth in speaking the truth of His intense love for this man, that he is forgiven. Still, I get emotional thinking about it.

I could go on with story after story about how God did something in all of our hearts on this trip. We in even newer ways saw Jesus in these people and had the amazing priveledge of being able to tell them about His love for them. Wow, what an amazing blessing.

As far as our team, everyone is doing good. We had one person on our team get Malaria, but God took care of him and we got him medicine on time, and he is doing much better. It´s funny, Malaria here is like the flu and they know how to treat it really well here. His treatment was even free! God just really looked out for our team.

Again, thank you all for your amazing prayer and support. This trip has changed me, NO, wait, God changed something in me on this trip. As most of you know, I am done with YWAM after this trip, but I couldn´t have asked for a better end with a better group of people. I am totally in awe of the goodness of my Jesus. Hmmmm...knowing Him is the best thing I could have ever hoped for.

Love you all. We fly home tomorrow, Nov. 10 and will be arriving in the afternoon on Sunday in Minneapolis. Sarah and Terra already headed home today. See many of you soon.

May God bless you all...may we bless Him as well.

Our first river trip

I guess the pictures tell so much! As you can see we did a lot and had such an amazing time this last river trip. I would have to say that it was one of the best trips that I have done on the river all the times I´v gone out. I think that the difference was that we really asked God how we could get out and interact with the community, and it was so rewarding.

We went to 3 different locations. In each place we did a seminar on the "Yes We Can" cell group training. Many people didn´t have Bibles and were hungry for the Word, and it was so awesome to be able to go to their homes with the people from the church, and teach them the Bible, then leave them a Bible to keep so they could study it on their own. It was challenging to work with pastors and leaders cross culturally as a group, but we really believe that God used our time there and we also learned a lot. Please pray that the cell groups that were started in these communities would continue and that the people that don´t know Jesus would in time come to a saving knowledge of Him, and be firm in their faith. We really believe this could be a key tool to discipling these communities.

We have been so blessed to pass out these Bibles. To the many people who gave- there are many people in the Amazon that now have the Word of God in their own home, when before were not able to. We were able to pass out reading glasses to those who couldn´t read as well, and it was so cool to see their faces when they could actually read the words :)

Not only did we have a good time teaching, we had an amazing time just spending time with the people in the community. Some of the team was able to help ladies in the villages cook, we went fishing with nets and poles, we were able to watch men cut wood and help them carry it to finish building a church and benches church. One day a bunch of us cooked up fried fish and gave them to the pastors and leaders and their families. We had a blast playing with the kids on the river beaches, visiting people in their homes and having our own Bible studies with them. I had the opportunity to read to 3 young girls in their home the creation story, which none of them had heard before. It was amazing. God showed us Jesus in these people, and it was very rewarding. Not only did we leave some teachings and Bibles, but we left some friends that many of us will be praying for, friends which have marked our lives, friends that have taught us about the joy of a simple life, and the beauty of discovering new things in His Word for the first time. We will miss these people.

We are leaving Friday the 26th for our next river trip. We will be gone until the 8th of November. We will be visiting 2 different communities, training more people to hold cell groups, passing out Bibles, and spending time visiting the people in the community, doing kids programs, and teaching in their churches. God has been so faithful in keeping us all well, with only a few days last trip of people getting sick. Please continue to pray that God would keep us safe and healthy and that we would give our all for this last 2 weeks.

We will be flying back to MN on Nov. 10. I will try and post a blog before we fly home.

God bless.

taking off to the amazon

We arrived in Iquitos on September 23. It was so good to see familiar faces again! We finally got some rest from the quick paced 10 days in the earthquake areas. We are getting ready to go out on our first river trip which will be the longest any of us have been on yet, 25 days! We are leaving this Thursday evening (September 27) and will be returning on October 22nd. We will be doing our Bible Study ¨Yes We Can¨, training for the pastors and leaders there and giving out Bibles. We will be traveling down the Marañon river first to San Jose, then to Leoncio Prado, and last Aollata. Please pray for our safety and health and God´s direction. We won´t be able to contact home while we are out there because of lack of phone and internet communication, but we will give an update as soon as we return.

Blessings!

a broken place

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to lose everything? Your home, your job, the school your kids go to? This is the reality of hundreds of thousands of people in SW Peru. A reality that I hope no one ever has to know again.

We traveled to 4 cities south of Lima. We saw pictures of what the earthquake had done, but there is no way to describe what we saw. Churches, huge in splendor, now look like they were taken out by war. Home after home after home, sitting in remains of rubble. They are desperate but don´t know what to do next. Unsure of building for fear of another eartquake, they move blocks out of what used to be their living quarters in hopes that they will be next to recieve help from the government or NGO groups. People have had to make their homes out of tents, bamboo walls, tarp and cardboard and cold nights are a threat to these people without many warm blankets. A middle class family, now has to stand in line for food and clothing amongst hundreds of their neighbors.

As a team of 11 we went down there with an earthquake fund to help the people in the most need and serve them as much as possible. We bought groceries and handed them out in many communities where not one house was standing. We teamed up with churches and handed out clothes and parasite medicine. We cleaned up rubble, broke down walls of destroyed homes and helped build small huts out of bamboo sheets and tarps for families. In Ica we helped build a hut for a pastors Mother. Megan and I helped tie cardboard onto the inside of the walls to keep the cold from coming in. The truth is, it felt like I was building a kids play house. I began to think, what if I was building this for my mom? Nothing but thin walls, dirt floors, and a tarped roof.

Along with helping we did many outdoor services for the people. We did programs for kids and adults with dramas, testimonies and preaching. We had many opportunities to share the Gospel with these desperate people and many recieved Jesus. We had opportunities to go door to door, listen to their stories and pray for them. We also dressed up as clowns and played and danced with the children, which many parents said was a blessing because it took their kids minds of their circummstances and brought joy into their day.

One thing that was awesome was that my Dad and our good family friend Jerry Showalter came with us on the earthquake side of the trip. They were such a blessing to have around and a huge help in so many ways. It was a blast to see my Dad play with the little kids and make the people laugh with his silly sense of humor.

I look back and can´t believe that we saw and did what we did. Please, please pray for the people of the affacted earthquake area. They are in desperate need of shelter, food, water, clothes, and most of all JESUS.

Thank you for your prayers. God took care of us and we thank God for all that He did during out time in the disaster areas.

God bless.

Back to Peru

To PERU September 2007

(Left to right) Back: Terra- U.S., Luke-U.S., Nathan-Canada, Kevin-France, Jake- U.S., Yveto-Haiti, Amy (leader)- U.S

Front: Cristal-Panama, Megan-U.S., Sara-U.S., Lisa-U.S., Katie-U.S., Rachael (leader) U.S.

Believe it or not, I will be making my 3rd trip to Peru this year in less than 3 days. I will be co-leading with Amy again a team of 11 students, many of whom I took to the Amazon earlier this year with. Though, this trip is going to look different than the last trips, and all of us are going to be able to do something we have never dreamed of being able to do.

Our trip is going to be on September 12- November 11.


Earthquake Disaster Relief

As many of you have heard, As many of you know, a few weeks ago, on August 15, an earthquake of 8.0 magnitude struck the coast of Peru, south of Lima the capitol. In Pisco, 80% of the city has been destroyed and many other surrounding cities and villages have suffered great loss. This is what IMCWORLDWIDE.ORG reported: “The disaster killed over 500 people and left tens of thousands homeless. In a vast disaster area surrounding the cities of Pisco and Ica, the survivors, many of them living on the streets, are now desperately waiting for help. More than 56,000 homes were destroyed and several powerful aftershocks…." Tragically this earthquake happened on a Wednesday evening when a Catholic Church full of people were attending mass. The roof collapsed in and at least 200 people were buried under the rubble of the church. The people in these cities do not have home owners insurance, so rebuilding is very difficult. Food and water are huge needs that are leaving people desperate. Nights are cold, and many people are sleeping on the streets with only blankets.

As a team we prayed about whether we were supposed to go help in any way possible, since we are already going down to Peru. We all felt God directing us to go. Right after we decided to go, an anonymous person donated $10,000 for us to use for disaster relief work there. Our plan is to spend 10 days there before we head to the Amazon. We could be doing anything from cleaning up destroyed homes and rebuilding, to passing out groceries, clothes, tents and blankets. Please pray for our team. This is an incredible opportunity to meet a very practical need of those people right now. Our heart is to love them by serving them, listening to them, and sharing with them the hope that Christ gives. Many people are hurting and they are even angry at God. We need a lot of wisdom, guidance, and strength for the things that we will be facing. Most of all, we ask that you would join us in praying for the hurting people who were affected by this disaster.

TAKING BIBLES TO THE AMAZON


Our trip last Dec-Feb to the Amazon our whole team saw how much the people in the jungle needed Bibles. This time around, we decided we would do something about that. We started a fundraiser to raise $10,000 to bring Bibles down to Peru, and amazingly, God brought in every penny using so many different individuals and churches. We are so pumped for this trip to be able to bring Bibles to people who have a huge desire to read them, but lack the recources to buy their own.


It is so cool how God has brought this team together. We are a team of 13 people from 5 different nations: France, Canada, Haiti, Panama, and the U.S. I am excited to see how God uses this team, because each of them have so much to offer.


I will do my best to keep you updated on our trip with stories and pictures. We ask that everyone would really pray for our safety. That God would work through us and recieve the glory. That we would be sensitive to Him. We just really need your prayers!


Thank you all and God bless.

in Christ,

Rachael