Omega Acústico

All I can say is what a night and what a great God we serve!

Tonight we had a special music service at Omega Baptist Church. The church, which is only a few months old, had 100 in attendance and the presence of God was evident. I truly believe that God was honored and praised in that place tonight. David Gardner and the musicians did an amazing job with the music and the entire service. And on top of that, he was able to baptize his first disciple since being here at Omega. It was an awesome night!

Again, it is just great to see leaders being trained to serve the Lord and do it with a heart for God. It is clear to see that God is moving in this place. We are very blessed to be in the midst of such great things!

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Arequipa Update

We are mid-way through our fourth week on the field and are having an absolutely amazing time. We are really getting to experience much of the day to day operations of what it takes to live on the mission field and be a part of a thriving ministry.

We already feel very much at home here and have been welcomed by everyone we meet. One major difference I notice between here and the States is how friendly so many people are around the city (except when they are driving!)

The Bible College started back a couple weeks ago and things have really picked up in volume here. With the students now here, we have even more people to talk with and make lasting relationships. Each student that is here represents a life that was changed by the power of the Gospel; what a great God we serve!

The church that was recently planted, Omega Baptist Church, will officially be organized in just a couple of weeks. In only a short few months, the Lord has already grown the church to nearly 100 in attendance each week. It is overwhelming to see all the effort that goes in to making a ministry like this one happen. It is not done by just one person or a group of Americans, but rather collectively through the training of men and women that God has allowed them to work with here in Peru. You are able to see man wrapped up in the world turn to Jesus and watch the transformation of his life in real time. Then be allowed to grow and serve in a local church. That is what it is all about. It is certainly not an overnight thing, but rather years of life on life discipleship and growing in the Lord.

Language school is going good and we are learning a ton. Even the kids are already picking up a few words. I am so thankful to be able to give my kids this kind of opportunity. Sherry is doing great with the language and is adapting very well.

The missionaries are doing a great work here in Peru and the power of God is evident in their lives.

Well, off to church planting class and language school. Check in for more updates later!

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Multiplication Is Better Than Addition!

Friday night I was able to attend the ordination of a Peruvian man, Renzo Zuñiga, that is on his way to North Africa as a missionary. This was a very special time for he and his wife, and a huge learning experience for me. Renzo has an amazing testimony and a great passion for the Lord and lost souls.

The normal American mentality is that everything “Christian” comes from America. Typically when most people think of a missionary, they think of a white skinned family who goes to a third world country to start a church. The truth is, Christianity was not born in America, and is certainly not limited to Americans. What was so awesome to see was the result of many years of a ministry multiplying itself. A man started a ministry, won people to Christ, discipled them, and now they are going out and doing the same. If we are to get the Gospel message to the world, it will be done through the multiplication of men of God rather than one white American at a time.

What a great thing to see, not just in theory and in books, but really see first hand, fruit develop, grow, mature and then multiply! Please pray for this for the work that is being done here and around the world that God would bless and use these men in a mighty way.

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Our Apartment

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Escuela de Idioma

Our first spanish memory verse!

Romanos 3:10 “Como esta escrito: No hay justo, ni aun uno”

Today we officially started language school at the Bible college. Language school is four hours a day, five days a week. The first hour begins all together reading from the Bible in spanish and practicing different memory verses. From there we go into another class where we are taught phonetics for an hour. Then comes the fun stuff; one on one teaching from a Peruvian who does not speak English. It is either sink or swim!

Today was a great day. We learned so much already and have already memorized the names of the first five books of the Bible and one Bible verse, not to mention several vocab words. The really neat thing is about being here is that language school does not just end at one o’clock, it is an all day learning experience since we are constantly with Peruvians.

After school I was able to sit in on a few meetings, all in Spanish of course, so again I am still picking up words here and there. Tonight I went out with the guys to the church to be a part of the teaching English class and had a great time.

The people here are so friendly. So many are here to serve and have such a good attitude about it. You can really see the life on life discipleship at work here. Looking forward to another great day tomorrow.

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Our First Day

Today has been very busy but very productive. The Halls took us out all over the city to get the rest of things for our home. We got everything from clothes hampers and trashcans to cereal and milk. It was neat to get around and see so much of the Peruvian culture and way of life. There are so many things that are about the same as back home but much of it is quite different.

Getting around is an adventure all in itself. If you think driving in Atlanta is crazy, you haven’t seen anything! There are very few traffic lights and even those are rarely obeyed. Basically, take the nervousness you had the very first time you tried to merge in on a busy expressway and multiply it by ten; that is feeling you get driving around. It sure makes for a fun day though.

Tonight we enjoyed a great meal and fellowship with Jeremy and Rebecca. They have been great hosts so far and have treated us very well. Everything that we have experienced in Peru thus far has been phenomenal.

Tomorrow we will start language school here at the Bible College. We are very excited about learning a new language. Please pray that we will learn it quickly and be able to be more of an asset while we are here for such a short time. We will leave our kids with a young lady from the Bible College who will watch them in our home while we are at school. She does not speak English and obviously our kids do not speak Spanish…this should be a lot of fun for her I am sure.

Speaking of the kids, there are having a blast. They are seeing new things and have already made several new friends. What an honor it is to raise our children this way, I would want it no other way.

Thank you so much for all those who have supported us and are praying for us. We can already begin to see what great things God can do in our lives while we are here. Please continue to pray for us and this ministry that God has allowed us to be a part of and learn from.

We Have Arrived

Well, it took 24 hrs and three airports, but we have finally arrived in Arequipa, Peru. The kids did great with all the traveling, and seem to be liking Peru already. It will be amazing to see how long before they start spitting out the spanish. Im sure they will learn it quicker than we will.

Special thanks goes out to Felix with Peruvian Airlines. While American Airlines allows two bags for free for international flights, Peruvian does not share the same standards with domestics flights. But Felix came through for us and let us check them anyway for no extra charge. I was however warned that we may not get the same treatment on our return flight. So we will see!

It has been extremely cold in Atlanta this winter so it was a nice change to walk out of the airport in very nice weather. Sorry to rub it in to those back home.

Today we will get settled in to what will be our home for the next six months and try to get a handle on what our day to day will be like. They say culture shock is something that all people deal with, so hopefully we will get through it and loose our Americanisms for a few months.

Tomorrow we will spend the day getting settled in and picking up anything we may need for the house. Tuesday we will start language school. What an amazing opportunity we have to be in a place where God is doing great things. The Lord is blessing the ministries all around this place and will be great to be a part of it.

We are very excited to be here and see what the Lord has for us. Lord willing, we will be sharing with you each step of our journey here and keep you as up to date as possible.

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What A Blessing

This past Sunday we were greatly honored at Victory Baptist Church. We were able to present to the church our trip to Peru and give a report of all the Lord is doing in our lives. We heard a challenging message from our pastor Derik Lawrence and received and overwhelming response of prayers, encouragement, and gifts. The Lord truly blessed.

I would like to thank Victory Baptist Church and all those who gave. The money that came in nearly covered the entire cost of our airfare to and from Peru! Our children were given portable dvd players with all the accessories and were showered with love from everyone from Sunday School teachers to long time friends. I would also like to thank Victory Baptist in Charleston S.C. and pastor Tim Butler for a very generous gift. We are just so thankful for the wonderful people that God has put in our lives! You are all very precious to us.

Continue to pray for as we are on our way down to Arequipa, Peru. We will give updates on each part of our trip so that you all can be involved in what the Lord is teaching us.

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3 More Weeks!

We are down to our last three weeks before we leave for our six month stay in Arequipa, Peru. We are getting very excited about our trip and cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for us. We are really asking God to do a great work in our lives while we are there.

We have all of our passports, the bags are ready to be packed, we have most of our support raised and saved up and we are ready to go. All that is left to do is move out of the house we are in and pack our bags. The Lord has really blessed us with such a great opportunity to take our family to the mission field to get the best on-the-job-training that we could get in preparation for missions work. It has been such a tremendous blessing to be a part of the Victory Baptist Training Center for the last six months, and I have learned so much from my Pastor, Derik Lawrence and his staff.

I would ask that you would continue to pray for us in several areas as we are gone:

1. Pray that we would allow God to work in our hearts

2. Pray that we would be a blessing and not a burden to those we will be with

3. Pray that we adapt to the culture and do not allow new things to distract us from our mission

4. Pray that we would get a greater burden for the world

5. Pray that we would learn the language quickly

6. Pray for our children…or maybe you should pray for those who will be watching our children during the day

7. Pray that we would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance in our lives

8. Pray that we would gain a greater knowledge of what it means to be a missionary

9. Pray that we would remain teachable and leave our Americanisms at the airport

10. Pray that we would grow closer to God than ever before

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Getting A Burden For The World Part 4

Have you ever been to another part of the world besides just on a family vacation? Another great way to get a burden for the world is to see the world. I do not mean just look at a map of the world, but actually go out and see it for yourself.

I would encourage everyone to take a trip to a foreign mission field. There is nothing more heartbreaking than traveling for hours upon hours to arrive to a place with no Gospel presence. We get so used to living in the Bible belt of America, where you could go to a different church every Sunday for a year and never leave your own county. Think about going to a place where there are no churches. Think about going to a place where the name of Jesus is not preached every week.

The commercial on t.v. loves to draw us into feeling sorrow about starving puppies in Africa, and thousands of dollars pour in. Think of what could happen to your heart if you were to see the great need for the lost souls of millions of people half a world away. Do not get caught in the trap of thinking only of the needs of this country, learn to have a world vision.

Think of this; if you were to meet every single person in America, you would have only meet 4% of the world’s population. There is a whole big world out there, get out and see the other 96% of it!

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