Final Day in Matucana

Greetings,

I can´t believe that this trip is almost over. So much has happened in one week, and so much more still needs to be done, but praise God that He will continue the good work started even before our team arrived. We have been so blessed to be a part of what God has been doing. We agree with Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 that the only reason why we are here and preaching His gospel is through His grace. God has seriously taken these earthen vessels and glorified His awesome Name by what has been accomplished.

Today we split up into a few groups again. Joel went back up to Marachanca for the day because he felt that there still needed to be work done there. From what he tells me that village is ripe for harvest and those who are believers are ready to be discipled. Joel is definitely sad to be leaving, but at the same time he is placing his trust in the Lord. The rest of us relaxed a little today; one group went to a market nearby to look for some trinkets to bring home, and the other group hiked up the mountain to see the waterfall that Matucana is so proud of. I was in the waterfall group, and it was beautiful (we have LOTS of pictures). Once everyone got back, we all went to a professional soccer game that was being hosted at the stadium right outside Matucana. We cheered and booed along with the rest of the crazy fans--it was so much fun!

Even amidst our relaxation, God was still working. Apparently on Friday night, Dan had set up a meeting with a woman for around 4:30 today to go over a Bible story. The problem was that he forgot to share what her name was and where she lived before he left last night. So Joe, Chad and I partnered with Ryan our translator went to the town square and hoped that whoever this person was would show up. After waiting about 15 minutes, she did show up and took us into her home where we met the rest of her family and relatives (8 people total). We then took the family through John 3 and guided them through the text with questions and other interaction. It was great! They were totally into studying the passage, and the entire family participated in finding out what the passage was saying. One of their first questions was, ¨What does Jesus mean by ´born again´?¨ After spending about two hours with them, we saw the entire household come to Christ. The story of Cornelius was resounding in my thoughts as this happened, and we were glad to leave them two Bibles in which they had immediately began studying and asking questions.

To quote C.S. Lewis, ¨Aslan is on the move.¨

Tomorrow morning we leave for Lima. We will be spending a few hours shopping and walking about the city. Our should leave around 11:20pm.

On a very important and urgent note, Dan´s flight was cancelled last night due to a bomb scare, so he still has not left Lima. He needs to be back in Orlando by Tuesday so that he can leave for Togo, Africa. Pray that he will be able to fly out ASAP and that there would be no further delays. He still has a little cushion timewise, but he is still under the gun. Please pray.

This will be the last post for the Peru missions trip. Everyone else is doing great and is sad to leave but excited to tell everyone all the various stories that could not be captured on a blog site. Thanks for your prayers and support! We´ll see you back home.

In Christ Alone,
John