Prayer letter

I am writing to you because I want to share what God has been doing, knowing that you will rejoice and pray with me. As you know by now I have been serving in Peru for the last 6 months and what a wonderful journey it has been. 

At the beginning of my trip, I had no idea of what the Lord would take me through nor what He had in store for me. There have been hard times, like when I had a terrible flu for 2 weeks or when there was a 2 week strike and we had to hide in the house from the mobs. There have also been good times, being surrounded by believers at a tribe in the jungle singing our hearts out to God and when we had a medical team visit and had a week long campaign. There are many more events that occurred in which I could share with you and I’d love to, but I would have to write a book to share all that, haha. 

The point being that I have been overwhelmed with the opportunities that I have been given here on my visit and my spiritual walk with the Lord has grown tremendously. I came here with pride, attitude, and was on the verge of rebellion. I came here thinking I would be judged by my aunt and uncle. I expected lectures and the end of fingers pointed at me. I knew I was living my life on the edge and that I was experimenting with just how much I could get away with while still not crossing the line. Little did I know that my aunt and uncle would be used by God to humble me and convict me, and all by their actions. The situations in which I witnessed them go through and the faith in which they have here in the mission field. The trials that were thrown at them and how they played the role of James and stayed faithful to God through it all. What a privilege it has been to work alongside them and have an example of what it is to serve God and obey Him with your life.

I have been mentored by my uncle and have been involved in many studies and biblical courses that have been the water to which has helped my fruit in the spirit grow. I have made true friendships, the kinds that are going to lasts for years to come. I have learned more and more that the friendships between believers are the most sincere, when together and when fellowshipping, we are church! The church should be together as much as they can be, encouraging each other constantly. I have learned through the ministry here that God cannot be placed in a box. I used to have the mindset that if I was reading the word once a day and participating at church Sunday and Wednesday, that was enough. It isn’t!! One day you may need to pray more than the day before, you may need to read the word for hours at a time depending on the trial before you or the blessings. I have been encouraged to seek God more and pray seasonally each day. My time here has not been in vain and I praise God for the many things He has revealed to me including what it is that I should pursue as a career. Through much prayer I have felt led to be a full-time missionary and serve God(Lord willing) in Peru. I will be attending BJU for my biblical training in a few days, January 11th. 

Here is where I am in need of prayers…

I need $1,000 by the 11th in order to attend school and a total of 4,500 for the semester. I realize that there aren’t many days to raise the money, but I serve a God who made the world on 7 days! Therefore I ask you to pray and if the Lord has you to be a part of this miracle please call (1864) 241-3020 my ID# is 552333. 

1 Corinthians 12:26 “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” Thank you for prayer and love!

In love, Angel

Excuses...

Excuses, we make them all the time.

We often make attempts to absolve or justify the fact that we are not willing to be responsible. We lie to ourselves and others in order to condone what we know to be wrong. It's an act of laziness and unwillingness to accept a responsibility.

We all do this daily, multiple times even. I do it as well and regret usually follows. 

I can vividly recall the time I made excuses with the endeavor to avoid an opportunity God had clearly put in front of me. I made an effort to do this, but God did not allow me to and was very persistent. 

I was on a train headed to Machu Picchu. The day before I had been traveling all day and at this point in the trip was very tired. Upon boarding the train I found that the seat I was assigned to was facing the back of another seat and a table in front of that. I placed my belongings under my seat, placed my phone on the table and inserted my earphones. I sat and got myself situated with the intentions to sleep the entire 2 hours ride, but the Lord had other plans for me.

The person with the assigned seat next to me came a little later. He sat, didn't say a word, and closed his eyes. Usually I would greet the person sitting beside me and mingle, but I wanted to rest and it looked as if he wanted to do the same. So I proceeded to get nice and comfortable as we sat beside each other in silence, not a word was said.

About 10 minutes later a waiter came to us and cleared his throat with the intention to wake us up; it worked. Now with our full attention he offered us beverages and snacks. I wasn't in the mood for the a drink or snack, but then he mentioned he had coffee, free coffee, Haha. I couldn't say no to freshly brewed coffee especially if it's free! So I asked for a cup and the man beside me did too. Now that I was caffeinated I lost the desire to sleep and it seemed to be the case for my acquaintance as well.

Awake and alert I sat there not having much to do and a thought hit me, one that quickly became an impulse, an itch. I had the sudden urge to evangelize to the dude. I didn't want to talk before at all due to being tired, but now I had no excuse... thanks to the cup of joe. I quickly ignored this urge and continued to sit there and popped in my earphones again.

I pressed play. I had my songs on shuffle and was listening to my playlist that I had labeled "encouraging". Little did I know that I would literally be encouraged and in such a clear way. The song that played was " Follow you" by Leeland. This is the first verse:

"You live among the least of these, the weary and the weak

And it would be a tragedy for me to turn away

All my needs You have supplied

When I was dead You gave me life

How could I not give it away so freely?"

I couldn't finish the song! I was about to break out in tears from all the emotion.  I couldn't believe how stubborn I was being. Overwhelmed in that moment with how clear God was being I understood that I had to talk with this man and share what was given to me so freely. As all of this was going through my mind the dude taps my shoulder and greets me. I didn't even have to start the conversation. God was working it all out for me to reach out to this man.

We begin talking and we exchanged information on where we were from, why we were in Peru, and how we ended up on a train to see one of the wonders of the world. We mainly started with little talk but we eventually hit the topic of religion. He told me of how his family was catholic and how he was considered a black sheep in his house due to not partaking in their religion. I told him that I didn't know much about catholicism, but knew how it was a popuIar and traditional religion for hispanics especially in latin countries. He told me how he wasn't a part of any religion, but had been researching and looking into different religions in hopes of finding one where he could know God and find peace. I told him that I wasn't exactly part of a religion either, but that I have a relationship with God that was personal and that there is where I found peace.

He was confused. He wanted to know what religion I belonged to and how I could possibly know and have a relationship with Christ that was personal. I explained how I was a christian and that the world places me and others who follow God into the religion category, but that what I have and other christians  have is not a religion but is a relationship with God. He was so interested at this point that he shifted in his seat to face me directly. 

Our conversation continued with him asking question after question. The Lord allowed me to have the responses. I told him my testimony and explained how the Lord has changed me and was still constantly changing my life. I was quoting verses from Romans and John, but I wanted him to see the verses from the bible itself. Unfortunately I had only brought my iPad which has the bible app, but needs wifi. I attempted to open the bible app, nonetheless it did not work. I went to place my iPad back into my backpack and found a pocket bible and tracts! A friend from Cusco had given me her backpack for my hike to Machu Picchu and had thrown in a bible and tracts too(along with a poncho). So I was able to read through the verses with him and write down some passages for him to read through later. 

About 2 hours had passed and our train ride had ended, with it our conversation did too. Before we parted ways I prayed for him and handed him a tract. As I handed him the tract I told him one last thing, I told him that we didn't meet by coincidence and that now he had no excuse for not knowing how to know and follow God. He had been looking for the Lord and now he has found the truth and way to knowing him, all he had to do was accept the free gift. 

Don't run from an opportunity to share the gospel. Don't make excuses.

 

                        Took a quick photo with José. Same name and he was Costa Rican too!

Honey

Honey. Honey with a little bit of natural protein to go with it.

I love coffee and hot tea. I enjoy my coffee black, but some days call for some creamer and sugar.

Well here in Peru you have two available sweeteners, Brown sugar & Honey.

The brown sugar is great, but of the two honey is the healthier choice.

Honey here comes with additional protein that is all-natural, ahah. Ants.

All of the black dots you see in the container are the ants. I am not Timon nor Pumba and I rather have my ants and honey apart from each other.

It is what is though and this is the jungle, haha. Oh well,

Hakuna Matata!

I realize that I haven't been posting much on here and I apologize for that. I have been incredibly busy here and this past month has been jam packed with work. Due to how busy I have been and will be, I will be posting photos and writing small descriptions to go along with them.

This is a children's tract. This tract means a lot to me. This was the same tract that my aunt Loren used to lead me to the Lord when I was just a wee lad. I would have never guessed that I would be teaching an english class to kiddos and using the same tracts to minister to them. God is good and has a reason for everything that He does.

The book of many colors

These are verses that I desire to live by. I want to grow everyday more and more like Christ and through that know Him more.

About a month has passed since I've been here in Peru and in the short time I've been here the Lord has opened my heart to new desires and reminded of some old ones too. I've been blessed with the opportunity to live with and work alongside my Aunt and Uncle in their hectic, but beautiful missionary life here in Puerto Maldonado, Peru. I've been able to visit tribes in the jungles, minister to nearby humble villages, and evangelize to those here in the city of the jungle. Recently, I had a precious experience that touched my heart and it's been a huge answer to my prayers. 

When I was a young lad (long ago;) ) I had shared with my mother a dream and deep desire. The dream went something like this... A bus filled with wordless books and me at the wheel driving around the world sharing God's word with children everywhere.

This desire/dream with time was forgotten and became nothing more than a childish dream that little me would never pursue....until now.

As I've been here the Lord has blessed me with many opportunities to minister to the lost whether it has been through a deep theological conversation or to simply hand someone a gospel tract.

 Tracts...we hold stacks in our backpacks and pockets to hand out to those we encounter. For the adults we hand out little booklets with the Romans road inside. For the children, Wordless books. Yes, wordless books! I haven't seen or used those simple, miniature, colorful books since I was a child, but the Lord in his perfect timing allowed them to re-enter my life.

One afternoon after having been out evangelizing for sometime I encountered a child and handed him the little color-filled booklet. I explained to him the meaning behind the colored pages and the gospel through the simplistic blank pages, he didn't say much but accepted the gift and cracked a smile. In that moment, the small kind gesture that the boy directed towards me, reminded of that list dream. I went back to when I was younger and had shared the desire I had with my mother. I had the same warm feeling, the same desire and fire to pursue it.

My desire to pursue a seminary education
I want to learn more of God’s word and be taught on how to study and share His word more effectively. I  believe it is God’s will for me to one day minister in a foreign country. At this time I am still praying about where and when. I am blessed beyond measure to be in a 6 month internship with missionaries here in Puerto Maldonado, Peru where I am using God’s gifts to reach the unreached for His kingdom. I am working alongside his choice servants while learning and growing a ton. My goal is to expand my biblical education in order to better equip myself to serve Christ in the mission field.

Therefore I plead for your prayers as I take this leap of faith. I am applying to study online while serving here in Peru.

Pray for funds as each credit hour is at least $300, which means it's about $3500 a semester.

   - Praising God for the donation I have already received that helps partially pay for my first class.

Pray that I won't grow weary in well doing.
Pray for wisdom to use what I learn while I'm serving here.

Thank you in advance for playing a vital role in furthering His kingdom.

When I played for the "Chief"

Yesterday I was blessed with the opportunity to visit the tribe of Boca Inambari, Peru. I traveled with Pastor Dan and my fellow Intern, Alex. We traveled by van to the boat port and then by boat to the tribe. The boat ride was incredible! We passed by smaller villages and waved as we passed.

We played guitar and wrote in our journals too being that the ride was almost an hour long. Once we arrived at the tribe we were greeted by the chief and the rest of the tribe with friendly faces and smiles pasted on them. We told them of the bread we brought for them as gifts and how we brought God's word to preach to them as well. They were excited about the bread, but were so eager to hear God's word that they immediately lead us to a hut and cleared the space for us to set up. The hut flooded with villagers and the chief continued to call others to join us, everything happened so quickly. Once everyone was there Pastor Dan presented the message to them. Once the message was over Pastor Dan began to pray, then the coolest thing happened. They all began to pray with him! They began to whisper confessions, apologies, Praises, and even some cried by how moved they were by the word. Chills came over my body as my emotions were rising quickly, I was so moved by the hunger they had for the scriptures. Afterwards we sang songs on the guitar and I was even blessed with the opportunity to sing with the chief. I sat in front of him with guitar in hand and as I played he began to clap and sing "Jesus loves me" in his tribal language. It was so moving and beautiful to see how excited he was to sing those words. His eyes were lit up and he clapped and rocked back in forth in his seat just crying out to the Lord in song. It was such a sweet moment for me to play for him as I watched him pour his heart out. Later that night he even allowed us to stay in his hut for the night. I'll never forget this experience and trip.