Time Flies

Well this has been a long time coming. In my last post, I had just started this adventure called Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Now I've completed a whole year (and 33 credit hours) of grad school and am starting on year 2 in less than two weeks. I have definitely learned a whole lot in the past year. Some of the big things are:

1. I know a lot less, academically, than I thought I did.

I have always considered myself a pretty smart guy that just fails to apply himself all the time academically. I sped through my undergrad courses, got marginal to good grades in upper-division classes and graduated with a pretty decent GPA for the under applier that I was. Before I came to SEBTS, my study habits were pretty much non-existent. That had to change immediately. Each class requires tons of reading and studying for retention and application rather than just simple, short-term memorization.

2. I am more sinful than I have let myself believe.

I had always thought of myself as not the worst of sinners. I would generally put myself in the top 25% as far as being 'good'. That type of thinking is called prideful. Now it is alot easier for me to recognize my motives behind doing certain actions or saying certain things. And these motives are 90% of the time self-centered and self-seeking. I even tend to do the 'right' thing with the 'wrong' attitude.

3. My God loves me more than I will ever know.

When I reflect on my rebellious and sinful heart, how far it separates me from a holy and perfect God, and how great a length He went to redeem me, all I can do is be awed and grateful by His greatness and love for us.

4. My role in God's plan is larger than I thought.

For everyone that claims to be part of God's family and looks to Jesus Christ as their only Lord and Savior, you are a very important part of God's plan. Upon acknowledging your salvation through God and becoming a new creation, you are commissioned to be an ambassador of the same message to others. (Check out viewthestory.com) God has made us Plan A for the spread of his Gospel. There is no other option. Let's fulfill our duty to our great and glorious King!

And boom goes the dynamite.

Well it's been too long since my last post. After my last post, Team Chavina headed back to Lima to finish up our summer and see all of the other summer missionaries. Leaving Peru was crazy tough. All of us shed a lot of tears, but knew that God had reasons for us going back to our state-side lives. Since I got back from Peru I have been extremely busy! I moved out of my Johnson City appt., moved stuff from Dover to my new home for the next 3ish years, Wake Forest, NC for Seminary at Southeastern. I've been taking classes for the past month and a halfish. I definately miss TN alot and all of my friends there, but I'm adjusting to this new enviroment quickly and making friends.

PART - Y? Because I´m Chavinan

So this will be my last update from Chavina (well CoraCora actually) We head for Lima for our final debriefing on the 28th/29th The huge thing right now in Chavina is the party for the saints that began at 4am yesterday with a 21 gun salute followed with dancing and drinking, followed with more drinking and some more drinking just for fun. Kind of a weird way to honor religious ´saints´don´t you think? So there are TONS of new people in Chavina from all over Peru. We even met another Gringo who is from Miami named Billy who has family in Lima. So the majority of our ministry has been helping people get ready for the festival by making pansito (little pieces of bread) which we have done for hours and hours. We have been able to share bible stories and the gospel during these times, so it was all good. Our main prayer request is that we can still find ways to minister and share the gospel despite everyone being focused on the party.

Dance the Chuta Chuta!

Hey Everyone! I´m posting an update so that means that the team is visiting CoraCora on our day of rest. A lot has happened in the past week in Chavina so here comes the update! Last Saturday through Tuesday morning the Creative Ministries Team (CMT for short, a team that travels around to all of the village teams and does dramas, songs, and comedy bits that contain the gospel) visited us in Chavina! It was amazing having them there! They were able to spark some more intrest in the Gospel, espescially with the children. I got to hang out with Trey and Josh alot so that was a huge blessing. One MAJOR thing that I forgot to mention in my last update is that Chavina, they are having a HUGE festival at the end of the month (from the 22nd on) and everything that people are doing is in prepration for the festival. So everyday we see new faces coming into Chavina for the festival. So with that in mind, people are preoccupied and we have had a hard time getting people together for bible studies. So instead we have been going to people´s houses and studying the bible there (it´s harder for them to run away!) We´re not sure how our ministry will change when the festival time comes.
We have also been continuing our ministry in Santa Rosa, focusing on the youth and a woman named Senora Mecche (who calls me her Christobal and ALWAYS tells me how pretty my eyes are). Senora Mecche is a Christian and is respected in Santa Rosa greatly.
Our team is still getting along awesome! Our major prayer requests include making the most of the time (and days that most of the town will be sober) until the festival as well as growing closer to God´s word personally.

We Make Plans and God Laughs!

First off, sorry it has been so long since my last update. I´ll explain why further down in this post. There is a TON to update you on so this will probably be a long post! Since my last post, all of the Peruvian summer missionaries met in Nazca for our midsummer reflect and relax time for 2 days. It was wonderful getting to see everyone and hear about the work God has been doing all over Peru. Also it was amazing to be able to eat food other than rice and potatoes! We got to eat food like hamburgers, lasagna, pizza, and chineese! So we were in Nazca for Tuesday and Wednesday (the 29th my birthday and the 30th) and then the teams were going to head to their villages Thursday morning. Well I was all ready to head to Bella Union with my new team, when Mike Weaver (the ReapSouth jefe (boss)) pulled me, Ben (the other male on the Bella Union team) and asked if either of us would be open to a change in teams. We both said yes and Mike decided to put me on the Chavina team with Kelsey Harper (a Junior from Witchia State in Kansas) and Mercedez (a 26 year old Peruvian girl from Lima) So as Mike says, Blessed are the flexiable for they will not be bent out of shape!
So for the past week I´ve been in Chavina instead of Bella Union! WOW! Chavina reminds me of a bigger Lambrama, without the biting insects! Alot of what we have been doing in Chavina for the past week is preparing for a bible study by trying to secure a meeting place (which has been really tough!), inviting locals, and reconnecting with people from before Nazca (as well as introducing me as Christobol Colon ( Christopher Colombus)). We had our first bible study last night and had one girl show, Rosemary. The story we shared with her was the story of the Prodigal son (hijo perdido). It went well, but we are hoping for a larger turnout for our next bible study. We have also been trying to start a bible study in a small town that is 20ish minutes away called Santa Rosa. Today is our day of rest so we are in CoraCora, an hour away, visiting. Chavina doesn´t have internet so that´s why it´s been so long since my last update. So I won´t be able to update unless we come to CoraCora.
It was definately a shock finding out that I was on a new team and then leaving with them an hour later, but as the title of this post says, We Make Plans and God Laughs.

The End of a Great Month!

Well Lambrama has been a wonderful village! I know it has been a while since my last update, but we have been really busy here and the internet has been a little sketchy. Monday was a pretty relaxed day. Dino and Aida were in Lambrama for Sunday and Monday because Dino´s uncle passed away, so they weren´t there. We met with Sellia on Monday and tried to visit with other people but everybody seemed to be busy. Tuesday was some Saint´s Day so all of the village drank and carried an idol of the saint around the plaza for most of the day. Wednesday was Brittne´s birthday. So we started the day off watching the USA WIN in the 91st minute!!! Then we had lunch with Dino and Aida. That night we visited with Sellia again, Saw Victor and Ricardo before they left, and visited with Dino and Aida again that night. Thursday was some type of agricultural fair where Quechea from all over brought their produce, livestock, quilts, and other wares and had a big festival. At the festival, there was a presentation with dancing and offerings to PachiuMama (my spelling is probably pretty awful), the Peruvian Mother Earth more or less. There was also a Miss Quechea festival! Friday we visited with Dino and went with him to Abancay. Saying our goodbyes was really tough. There were pleanty of tears and ¨Stay here please¨s. We´re really going to miss Lambrama, but we are excited about next month in Bella Union (hopefully there aren´t biting insects like there are here) Bella Union is a village a lot closer to the coast, near Nazca. Katie and I will be joining Amelia and Ashley from Kentucky. Brittne is leading vision trips for church groups coming down from the USA.
So Lambrama has been amazing, but we´re hoping for an even better July!