Peru #5.

Another week has flown by my friends and I must admit that it has been one of the most encouraging yet draining weeks I’ve experienced thus far. It has been filled with preaching 3 times with 5 more to go(weds, sat, 3 times on Sunday), eating with a different family almost every meal, and some attempts at sleep. My peruvian family is amazed at how quickly i have been able to pick up a basic level of spanish as i can now have a decent conversation with them! Praise God for that. And thank you for your prayers in that. This week I feel like I’ve really been able to get a feel for how the church is wired, their strengths/weakeness and so forth. 3 weeks of observation and immersion has taught me so much about how a faith family is run, what the role of the leaders should and shouldn’t be, and throughout it all where a church finds it’s source of life, the Spirit of God. I know that no church is perfect by any means, I do know that God is transforming the church into the image of Christ when the body is passionate about the word of God and dependent upon the Spirit of God to see the Word come alive in the context of community. God is restoring his broken bride and making us beautiful in his perfect timing. I praise God for allowing me to learn what I have over this period of time and I know that it all will leave a lifelong impact upon myself and my future in ministry.

Life long memories which occurred this week…

1. On Saturday I traveled with about 30 young adults to a camp where we ended up swimming (I almost drowned a kid, full story needs to be told in person. Needless to say, it was not my finest moment haha), playing futbol, (which quickly turned into mud futbol as it rained for a solid hour and a half. This was definitely one of the funnest experiences I’ve had since arriving here. Oh and I scored 3 goals!! NBD), and just had a ton of time to hang out and play together with the young adults. I had the chance to spend a lot of time with a 20 year old named erwin. Erwin grew up in the church, “accepted” christ when he was young, and continued in casual christianity up until 4 weeks ago. He said for the first time he actually had a passion for God and a desire to know more of this God he had heard so much about for the past 20 years. He told he that Christ has transformed his entire life in the past 4 weeks as he has truly began to realize what it really means to follow christ. Once again, I am beyond thankful for the relationships God has formulated between myself and the young adult group. One aspect about the young adults i have noticed is they definitely have a lack of leadership, which I am searching out as many opportunities as God provides to help guide the potential leaders of the group with biblical wisdom. I often find myself frustrated in these moments because of the inconsistencies they exude and then I realize that they, like myself, are a work in process. I am praying for grace to lead in my every conversation with each leader.

2. Yesterday I had the opportunity to travel about 30 minutes into the jungle to spend the day and night with the yagua tribe. The group I came to Iquitos with last year got to spend a few days with the Yaguas. One day for a church service the other was for a wedding. It was the first time anyone in their tribe had ever gotten married. It was such a cool experience watching a people desire to honor God more with their lives in obedience of His word. As they desired to meet God on His terms and not on their own. All that to say, it was incredible to see some old friends. The time with the Yaguas was filled with a lot of playing and goofing around with kids, long conversations with Ricardo, (the tribe leader/pastor who got married last year), getting attacked by a bat while in the bano, preaching last night on the cost of discipleship and the great reward we have in God, and a 5 am devotional. I am excited about the contiuation of the relationship with this tribe. I was blessed to be apart of what God is doing in and through the believers amidst this group of people.

3. I have the opportunity to preach this next sunday during all 3 services at church. I am so excited about this opportunity but i am also incredibly scared of this opportunity. I trust God will show up and that His spirit will move. I am praying for His word to be stewarded well and that his word would be the foundation upon which every word that flows from my mouth. As I observe and ask people in the church I can’t help but get the feeling that some of the people have come to God on their own terms and are committed to a somewhat shallow gospel. Not most of the people, but some. And in this past week, i continue to find myself immeresed in romans 3. What God has exposed to me through romans 3 is not a shallow gospel at all. It is not just a gospel that reveals  that God loves us and has a wonderful plan for our life. It reveals that and so much more. It presents a God centered gospel that revolves around the glory of God displaying His righteousness through doing what no person ever could. The glorious impossible. In Romans 3 we see Gods grace towards humanity and justice towards sin collide on the cross and in his righteousness he justifies all who place their faith in Christ for the glory of His name. I pray we would progress in our faith as we begin again with the gospel. That we would be satisfied and sustained by the Gospel. That this community would fall more in love with the Gospel on a daily basis. Please pray along with me as God prepares me for this hefty task.

There are a number of other events that took place this week that have left me in awe of Gods goodness but at this moment in time, they are escaping me. Much love brothers and sisters. Know that I am thankful for each and every single one of you. For your prayers, letters of encouragement, and your desire to know how everything is going here. I look forward to sharing with you news about the rest of the week. Also, please pray for the second part of this journey as I head to Lima next monday to begin my travel time with Mario. Pray that God would multiply my rest and my Spanish vocabulary and more excuses as to why i don’t want a Peruvian esposa to combat all the flack I’m getting from the pastor here.

In Christ,
Bubba

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