More news from Peru

Here's the latest from Melissa, who tells me she's able to read all your comments from Peru, so be sure you leave some encouraging comments for her...

It's been a full, wonderful day. We started out by going to a couple of soup kitchens, which were really just shacks. I have lots of pictures. The ladies hugged us because we brought them rice & oil. Then we went to a school to share our testimonies again. I went into 6th grade classes. We had one teacher who told us that he always tells his students to put God first & help people. We had another teacher get saved, and many of the kids said they did, too. It's different here, though...so it's hard to know if they really did, but we could look at some of the kids and just tell that they did.

Then we went to a military training center. And guess what I did...I did a parachute training jump from a 5-story tower! I think there were 21 of us who did it. It was so much fun! We jumped down and it was sort of like a bungee jump, then it caught us and it was a zip line down. You should have seen us! But the best part was seeing these men get saved, and the commander crying when we gave him some money to meet the needs of his troop. They invited us back, so we're going Tuesday. They want us to see their museum and visit their store. I've got to make sure I get a souvenir from there. I have pictures to prove what I did!

Please keep praying for our parachute-jumping-gospel-preaching-mission-going friend!
~His Girl Amber

Peru, Day Three

Ahoy, Mateys! It's His Girl, the Bloggy Pirate, here to update you on Melissa's mission trip to Peru! I was so excited to hear today's update. It sounds like she's having an incredible time, learning, loving, and leaning on God. These are so much fun to read and I bet you'll think so too- keep praying!

Today was AMAZING! We actually were able to go into a public school and share Jesus in the classrooms! I can't imagine ever doing that in America, but they welcomed us. I was able to share my testimony with a group of kids in 6th & 7th grade, and saw many professions of faith. Later we went to one of the many shanty towns and shared. We only got 1 block in an hour, because we were stopping to share with so many. I had 3 young girls (ages 11, 12, and 14) that drew my attention, and I witnessed to them. All 3 accepted Christ, and they say they're coming to church Sunday. I asked them to sit with me, and I hope I see them.

This country is so receptive to the gospel, but there are SO MANY people to reach. It's a gigantic work, but we have a gigantic God!

I have devotions tonight, and am praying that our team will have a wonderful time of sharing. I'm sharing the PERU acronym with them. I can't wait!

Day 2 in Peru

hi guys, it's the bloggy pirate, His Girl, here... Melissa asked me to post this for you~ please remember to continue to pray for our friend...

Day Two of our time here in Peru has been full of activity and emotion. After a good night’s sleep and morning devotions, we said goodbye to our youth team led by Beverly and Jerry. They’ll be away from us until Monday, and we’re looking forward to hearing how God works through them. We loaded the bus to travel to Gamarrah and hand out tracts & Bibles. I was listening to worship music on my iPod and looking at the Andes Mountains through the window. We hadn’t gotten very far on our journey when I heard a song with the line I will lift my eyes to the Maker of the mountains I can’t climb. I wrote in my journal, God, 14 million people in this place among the mountains – it’s a mountain I can’t climb, but YOU can!
As we went into Gamarrah, I was completely overwhelmed by the number of people. Dirty people. Hopeless people. Hungry people. Never in my life has anyone chased me across the street to get a Bible. The tracts and Bibles we had in our hands were like a treasure to them. Something valuable that they wanted to make sure they had. Between yesterday & today, we’ve handed out over 10,000 tracts and Bibles. Noone on our team has seen anyone throw it away. In fact, we see them reading it immediately…and in those times when we can’t find one of our interpreters, we feel completely hopeless to help. A mountain we can’t climb. Yet God is climbing it. The tracts we are handing out have the phone number of the printing company on the back. That company received approximately 15 phone calls today, asking for directions to the church.
After lunch, we stopped for Brother Mike and Pastor Rob to buy provisions for one of the holding tanks. We went to the tank, expecting to find many abandoned babies and to have a chance to love on them. God had other plans. The babies and toddlers had been moved out because of the flu, so we played volleyball with the young girls there. Their laughter was beautiful. After the game, Jasmine shared her testimony. I watched as some of the girls snickered and paid little attention. But there were some who were desperate, who hung on every word. Their faces revealed lives tougher than any of us could ever imagine, empty hearts who need the love of Jesus. After Pastor Rob explained how they could be saved and led them in a prayer, many of them said they’d prayed with him. Of course, we don’t know…but we are trusting God for the harvest.
Yes, the mountains here are large, but they are not bigger than the Maker. May He continue to move those mountains…not in our time or in our way, but in His.