Update, 6/5/09

Hey guys, we just wanted to keep you updated with some pictures and some posts to tell you about readers we are spending time with. Today Daniel and Mindy share their stories of time they spent with readers this week:

From Mindy: Of the many people I have gotten the chance to sit down and read with, one sticks out in my mind. This young woman came to our information meeting and sat down at my table. We visited for a couple hours and set up a time for the next day…she hasn’t missed a day yet. She doesn’t have much of a religious background, and even told me that the story of the virgin conception was hard for her to believe, but she comes every day with a smile and an eagerness to sit down and read. An important aspect in this culture is to form and maintain relationships, and she definitely has with me. One evening she came and told me that one of her best friends had just returned to Lima for the first time in two years and had stopped by to say hello to her. He invited her to go out with him but she told him that she had to come to the church because she had promised her new friends that she would be there. We’ve made plans this weekend to play some volleyball and I’m excited to see God’s plan for this woman he has placed in my life!

From Daniel: The reader who sticks out to me the most is Paola. Paola walked in off of the street five days ago. She came to the church building with her two friends. All three of them are studying English at a local institute; Paola’s friends are Christians (of some denomination), but she has very little Christian background. One of the questions on the LST form is “Religion.” When I asked what religion she was, she replied, “Umm… Catholic, I think…” She kinda believes in God, but isn’t sure about the Christianity thing. We have only read for three days, but she has had great insights into the story. When we were talking about the Virgin Birth, and I asked what two impossible things happen in that story. (#1: A virgin becomes pregnant. #2: An old woman becomes pregnant.) When I asked her how these things could happen, she quickly replied, “Because God can do anything he wants!” I was so excited to hear this answer from someone who isn’t sure what they believe about God, Jesus, and the Bible! Please keep us in your prayers as we continue our conversations!
God bless you guys! Thanks for the prayers!

Just a few pictures so that you can see our lives in Peru! God bless you today!

Seven Days Down, and a Short Reflection

Hey guys, I hope everyone in America is doing well! Actually, I have been told (multiple times) that I am not an American. I am actually a Estadios Unidenses (a “United States-zian”). I am not sure how that works, exactly, but whatever; it makes them happy here.

Things are going really well. We have been here for exactly one week now, and things are moving right along. Each of us has a pretty packed schedule. Most of us have 8-10 readers now, and all of our time slots throughout the day are filled. LST wants us to have 15 apiece, but that is difficult when we will only be here for three weeks and we hope to make a lasting impact with those that we do see.

But things seem to be going well so far. We have had a lot of interest in conversation. People often walk into the church from off of the street asking to read. Unfortunately, with the way Peru works, they want to read right then. If we are full of readers they say they will return but often do not. We have probably signed up enough readers to fill three schedules apiece, but many people commit to things here and never come back.

But please don’t think we are discouraged. Far from it. Things seem to be going well. I have had a number of great conversations with readers since I have been here. I have heard all sorts of stories: stories of personal loss, personal growth, the loss of family members, the deaths of friends, the challenges of living in Peru… Yet most of my readers have a deep love for God. Out of all of my readers only one isn’t a Christian of some sort. He is a 16 year old kid who believes but has never really had a Christian experience outside of LST. The other day he talked about how he prays many nights before he goes to bed, even though his family does not attend church, but he was afraid he didn’t believe in God enough because he often fell asleep while he was praying. I told him that if that was a mark of our belief in God then ALL of us fail! Tonight we talked about how we could follow Jesus this week, and he told me that he wants to pray with his family and try to learn more about Jesus! What an awesome blessing!

I want to include some pictures from this last week in LST. So here they go!

Also, we will focus one blog on the party we held on Saturday. Look for that manana.

Vaya con Dios, mi hermanos en Cristo!

Hello!

Greetings from Peru, dear family and friends! We made it safe and sound and we are already working away. The following blog is from Josh:

Hello from Peru!!! I am finally getting a chance to write to you after being here a few days. We have been here since Monday night/Tuesday morning at 12:30 or so. Needless to say we did not get to bed till about 2. But it was still good to finally to rest in a bed. Then on Tuesday we went and found all the supermarkets and the bakery for our food supplies. Then we rested finally. Tuesday night we had a meeting to get our readers to sign up. However the number was a little lower than expected it was still a good turnout. We each have about 3, 4, or 5 readers. After the meeting we sat around and talked about the meeting and then went to bed to rest up for our first day of reading. It was a little rough for me to get up at seven in the morning to get ready and eat breakfast because being a college student, I am used to sleeping in till y classes at about 10. Therefore I would get up at 9:50 and still be on time. But here I force myself to get up because I need to be awake and alert so I can understand my reader. I have my first one at nine and he is actually very good with his English. The others not so good. But that is fine I am here to assist with that. Now that I have done this a few times I am getting more and more comfortable with being here and talking to the people. I am actually remembering a lot of Spanish from when I took it in high school my freshman year. I think its because I am around it all the time. But I have now started to speak “spanglish” and I like it. But I have also started to develop a Spanish accent with my English words and it just sounds weird and I catch it after the fact that I do it. But I guess that is the joy of living in another country. So far we are all having a good time and are eager for the next two weeks to come. I will try to report something about every other day or so to let you guys know how we are doing and what we have done. I may also ask Vern, Daniel, or Mindy to write something to you as well like one of their experiences or favorite moment. But that is all for now so I hope you will follow up on us and pray for us. We thank you all for caring and we love you. God Bless!!!! =)

Acts 14-16

Acts 14
Acts 14 opens with Paul and Barnabas in the midst of their first missionary journey. In Acts 13 we find Paul having his first confrontation with Jews who refuse to listen to Jesus. In Acts 14 we find the Jews again refusing to listen, but they also go one step further: "[they] stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers." In the midst of their opposition Paul and Barnabas spend a considerable amount of time there teaching about the grace of God. The opposition didn't let up, however, and Paul and Barnabas had to leave to save their lives.

Acts 14 also shares an incredible story where the people believe Paul and Barnabas are Greek gods. They are dismayed and they use it as an opportunity to correct and teach them about God; unfortunately, Paul is stoned for his effort!

In the midst of all of the difficult circumstances that Paul and Barnabas encountered, here's how they respond when they return to their sending church in Antioch: "They gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles" (14:27)

Wow! I am amazed by their dedication, and I hope that I can respond in the same way in difficult circumstances.

Acts 15
The question that always faced the early church was who was in and who was out. In Acts 15 the Jew/Gentile conflict comes to a head. The Jewish Christians thought of Christianity as a sect of Judaism. Thus, converts to Christianity had to become Jewish (i.e. through circumcision) in order to be good followers of Christ.

Paul takes the issue up before the disciples in Jerusalem. Peter also speaks up on behalf of the Gentiles. Finally, James the brother of Jesus spoke, and the church decided there were only four requirements:

1. Abstain from food sacrificed to idols
2. Abstain from food with blood still in it: this was to allow Jewish background and Gentile background Christians to eat together. Jews let all of the blood out of their meat before they ate; the Gentiles would often cook the meat with all of the blood still in it.
3. Abstain from the meat of strangled animals: This really flows from the first two; Gentile sacrifices were then sold in the butcher shop. The way you sacrificed to the Greco-Roman gods was to twist the neck of the animal and then offer it as a sacrifice. Thus, this retains the blood in the animal. All of these are tied together.
4. Abstain from sexual immorality

Thus, they decided that Christians don't have to become Jews to be followers of Christ.

How does this apply to us today? Well, in some ways it doesn't. But I do think the IDEA applies today. So often we bind things on people that they must do: they must have their lives together to be a follower of Christ. They must not do anything wrong. They must look perfect. I think this tells us that we DON'T have to have it all together; we simply have to follow Christ and his commandments.

What are your thoughts?

Acts 16
I am always amazed by the role the Holy Spirit plays throughout the book of Acts. We find the Holy Spirit calling people to ministry (Acts 13), falling on the disciples and empowering them (Acts 2ff), falling on Gentiles before they were converted (Acts 10), etc. Now we find the Holy Spirit NOT allowing Paul to go into upper Asia Minor. Instead, the Holy Spirit directs Paul to Europe, to the area of Macedonia and Greece, where Paul makes his first European convert.

What we find is the story of two conversions:
First, Lydia is converted (and probably becomes a prominent member of the church that begins to meet.)

Second, Paul converts his jailer after God releases him from prison. (More on this tomorrow.) But here is his conversion story. The jailer is amazed by Paul and Silas, and asks them "What must I do to be saved?" Paul tells him to believe, then he immediately takes him and baptizes his whole household. Throughout the book of Acts salvation is tied to both faith and baptism.

We will discuss this story more later, but I love his humble response. God shakes up his world, and immediately he looks for salvation. I think that is the story of so many in our community. God is constantly working in their lives in amazing ways, and we must be on the lookout for those that God is touching.

What are your thoughts on these chapters?

Acts 11-13

Hey guys, sorry it has been so long. I am posting 11-13 here, and 14 and 15 tomorrow, then we will be caught up. Again, sorry about the delay. Hope you are keeping up with your reading.

Acts 11:
I love the story of Barnabas, "The Son of Encouragement." Barnabas seems to have the gift of discernment and encouragement; he always seems to know those who have the best hearts and those who are truly seeking to follow God. Here's what we know about him: "He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord." What an amazing thought! Barnabas was the one who spoke up for Paul before the disciples; he was the one sent to Antioch to encourage the new Christians and to teach them in their faith. And he was the one who brought Paul to Antioch to minister to the people there.

I hope I can be a Barnabas in the lives of other people.

Acts 12:
During this time we begin to see the church being truly persecuted. Herod gets in on the action, having the apostle James killed for his faith and jailing Peter. He surrounded him with soldiers, and yet God STILL managed to pull of a miraculous escape.

One of the things that always sticks out to me about this story is the actions of the church. Luke tells us that the church is gathered together praying for Peter's release. Yet when Peter shows up they are sure that he had died! Rather than believing their prayers worked, they instead think that the worst has happened!

Don't we sometimes pray like that too? I know I do. I pray that God will act, but then I try to explain it away when he actually does. It seems like I could have been an integral part of this church's ministry!

Acts 13:
How do you make decisions in your own life? How did you decide to go to KU? How did you decide what to major in? How do you know what God wants you to do in your life?

These are important questions to consider.

In Acts 13 we find the church in Antioch engaged in worship and fasting. It seems like this is a typical part of their practice. In the midst of their worship the Holy Spirit told them to send Paul and Barnabas out on a trip to spread the Gospel.

It doesn't seem like Paul and Barnabas are looking to leave; it doesn't even seem like the church is looking to send people out as missionaries. However, when the Holy Spirit speaks, they listen!

What do they do next? They continue to do what they were doing before! They continued to fast and pray about the Lord's decision, then they decided to obey. They blessed Paul and Barnabas and then sent them out to do the Lord's work.

I sometimes think that I refuse to listen to God's leading in my life. Sometimes I spend all of my time praying about the future and forget to listen for God to lead me!

Ultimately, however, I think God's guidance comes from a life of worship, fasting, and prayer. These practices don't seem to be new for the church; rather, they seem to be a part of their system of worship. I believe that our hearts become attuned to the heart of God as we worship him and seek to honor and glorify him.

What are your thoughts on our passages?

Acts 9-10

Imagine a complete transformation, where God totally makes a person turn 180 degrees from the way they were going.

Jeffrey Dahmer was a mass murderer, killing (and eating) 17 boys over 13 years. (Sorry to be graphic.) Dahmer was convicted and sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences (totaling over 900 years). While in prison God changed the heart of Dahmer; he began to read and study the Bible and came to faith in Christ. He repented of his sins and was baptized by a local Church of Christ minister in 1994. What an amazing story! God's transforming power is for ALL people, not just those who the world thinks of as "good." No one would have ever imagined that Dahmer would feel sorry for what he'd done, let alone become a follower of Christ. God truly works in amazing ways.

2000 years ago we would have encountered another murderer. This man took pride in dragging people out of their homes and throwing them in prison, even in having them killed! Yet on the road to Damascus God caused Saul to have a transformational experience. Jesus blinded Saul (aka Paul) in order that he might truly SEE God. Ananias baptized him into Christ three days later. From that moment on Paul becomes passionate about the Gospel of Jesus. God caused him to have a transformational experience that transformed not only HIS life, but the history of the entire world.

Isn't God good! What did you learn?
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Who's in and who's out? That's the real question in Acts 10. Before this most Christians had been former Jews or God-fearers (people who believe in God but didn't take the drastic circumcision step.) In Acts 10 God tells Peter to stop trying to decide who is in and who is out of the church. God sent Jesus to save everyone who believes and chooses him as their LORD and Savior. Peter sees the Holy Spirit poured out on these Gentiles and he baptizes them on the spot!

We so often decide who can and can't come to church based on their outward appearance or their background. Maybe we should trust that God's Spirit is at work in the world in the lives of those TOTALLY unlike us and look to see where God is moving. Just a thought.

What do you think about these two chapters?