As you can imagine things have been pretty busy!
Since the last blog I continued helping out with the ESL classes with the responsibility of recruiting more people to attend, and choosing the worship music for each night. Also my brother Lidman and I were asked to put together a retreat for any and all who wanted to come.
During the month of December Lidman and I put together the weekend retreat. With a bit of inspiration from the Fellowship of Christians we decided to call the retreat “Transformed” and base the weekend on the passage from Romans 12:1-2. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Here is a brief look at our schedule of the weekend:
Friday Night Jan 7th:
4:30 pm Meet at REAP House
5:30 pm Leave for Chosica
7:30 pm Arrive in Chosica
8:00 pm Camp Introduction: Transformed Life & Division of Teams
8:30 pm Worship
9:00 pm Bible Games
9:15 pm Message 1: Lidman – The Gospel!!
10:00 pm Worship
10:05 pm Fellowship & Snack
11:00 pm Lights Out!
Saturday Jan 8th:
6:30 am Devotionals
7:00 am Get Ready
7:30 am Breakfast
8:00 am Worship
8:30 am Bible Games
8:45 am Message 2: Mike Weaver – What Does a Transformed Life Look Like Day to Day?
9:45 am Break
10:00 am Message 3: Arnold Austin – What Does a Transformed Life Look Like at Work Pt. 1
10:30 am Break
10:45 am Message 4: Arnold Austin – What Does a Transformed Life Look Like at Work Pt. 2
11:15 am Questions & Answer
12:30 pm Lunch
2:00 – 5:00 pm Sports/Competition
5:30 pm Clean-Up
6:30 pm Supper
7:30 pm Worship
8:00 pm Bible Games
8:15 pm Message 5: Lidman – Testimony of Peter
9:00 pm Finalize Skits
9:30 pm Skits
10:30 pm Campfire & Testimonies
12:00 am Lights Out!
Sunday 9th:
6:30 am Devotionals
7:00 am Get Ready
7:30 am Breakfast
8:00 am Worship
8:30 am Bible Games
8:45 am Message 6: Michael Constante – What Does a Transformed Life Look Like Concerning Friends & Family.
9:45 am Awards Ceremony & Pictures
11:30 pm Lunch
12:30 pm Leave for Lima
As you can see we had a very busy schedule with a lot of challenging messages and sweet memories of worshiping our God in all aspects of our life... starting with our quiet times in the morning, with our music, with our sports/activities, and in our conversations during our free time.
I was actually blessed with the opportunity to sneak home for Christmas, which was not part of the original plan. But it was a sweet sweet blessing. After having told only 3 people about my visit including one of my best friends and husband, who picked me up from the airport, I was able to surprise everyone in my family including my mom and dad and sisters…everyone! It was especially sweet to be home because my cousin Adam proposed to his girlfriend Ashlee…AND my sister Bailey’s boyfriend Mark proposed to her the night before Christmas Eve!!!! Please be praying for them as they plan their Big Day for November 19th, if you cannot tell by all my exclamation marks I am very excited for all 4 of them! :D
After returning to Lima we started training for our Enhancement teams. We will be traveling in groups of 3 to smaller villages around Lima to evangelize to the people, disciple the believers, and basically help support and establish the church in the village(s). I will be traveling with Solomon Grados and Andrea Gave to the village of Lahuaytambo. We have 2 other teams traveling out, including Lidman Presentacion, and Candi Mendoza, Arturo Tovar, MariaPatricia Arroyo, & Jim Wells and possibly a late addition Ana :D. My team leaves tomorrow morning at 9:30am and will have anywhere between 3 and 6 hours of travel depending on traffic and such. The other teams will be leave Sunday and Monday. – If you could be praying for us all we would REALLY appreciate it; passion for the Gospel, compassion for the people, pray that we will walk with the boldness and strength but also the humility and gentleness of Christ. That we would walk with Christ presenting His Love and Truth to the people. Also pray for the people in the villages that God would prepare their hearts to be soft and receptive to us. I am so very excited!!!! At the same time I do have one particular concern which I am praying about and am receiving peace about. However, I would still appreciate any and all prayers! Please pray that my Spanish will be sufficient to communicate with the people clearly; I know God will help!
It is rainy season please pray for safety. It will be warm in the mornings and chilly to cold in the evenings, probably nothing compared to Nebraska right?? ;) haha. We will be returning Feb. 28th and will have limited communication with anyone outside of the village.
As for my spiritual walk…God has been doing some really awesome work on my heart. Teaching me how much He loves me and desires to have an intimate relationship with me. He wants to be the first one I talk to in the morning and the last one I talk to at night. Even though He already knows everything about me inside and out, He wants me to tell Him all about my thoughts, my feelings, and to be entirely open and honest with Him (I can’t lie or hide, He already knows :D). Furthermore, He wants Me to know Him, He wants to share His life with me. And it is this love relationship I must first fully accept and experience before I can love anyone else with a true, honest, steadfast, unending love. (A thank you to Mary Carol for giving me Leslie Ludy’s book “Authentic Beauty”, it has been an eye-opening read for me and a blessing for my walk, thank you Leslie for sharing your testimony).
Thank you all for your thoughts and all your prayers!
Love & Blessings!
dani
