Cocaine Fields, Bullet Ants, Snowden & Saltañas

            I have a difficult task ahead of me to describe the whirlwind that took place in June and July. We spent June in two locations and July in three. I’m going to start with the first three and write a second blog soon with the second half. I will do my best for the testimony of His glory. Some of you may soon receive my update in the mail. It, however, will be quite brief and these two blogs will elaborate on just some of the amazing experiences my team had this summer. First, you must know that in this time the Lord continued to press on my heart various places in the world, as He does now. Details are slim, but I can tell you I’ve decided to continue on the mission field. The brings a load of new challenges, so I ask for your prayers and continued support.

            TINGO MARIA

Interesting climate between the mountains and the jungle.

            Tingo Maria was our first location and what a kickstart it was! Tingo Maria is most famous for housing quite a bit of crime years back when the Communist militia, the Shining Path, tore threw it. If my history proves correct, afterword, the government cracked down on cocaine farming and along with US Aid, had the farmers plant other crops. Now, however, the youth still encounter a lot of drug problems, early pregnancies and the farmers make very little money. We were highly encouraged not to be out late at night there and to stay close together at all times. The team struggled with this and so one morning, we woke them up early and had them do a bit of a boot camp full with exercises of all sorts of possibility, the most obvious of which was robbery. (Unfortunately, this still happened to a few people on our journey.)

           

            In Tingo Maria, we stayed at and worked with the church Iglesia Evangelica Peruana ‘Ebenezer’ with Pastor Noé and the other sister churches. We slept on the floor in the church, ate our meals wherever we were, in the church, in homes, in other churches... the people were very generous although they had very little. We had to remember that, whether we liked what they gave us or not, it might be their only food for the next few days. (So, chicken feet soup and rotten potato drink it was!)

            While other places had a focus, Tingo really didn’t. We were doing all sorts of stuff and it was great to iron out kinks in the armor. We were asked to participate or run services for kids, youth, families, in churches, in plazas, even in the streets. We worked with a network of sister churches, taught a drama to the youth, even went to a church in the mountain community Santa Rosa.

            Being in Tingo Maria really prepared the team for just about anything, as we were met with something that, culturally, takes some getting used to: Plans changing. Now, in most cases, this is normal and happens from time to time in cold-climate cultures. We sometimes are disappointed, but generally deal with it quite well. Here, however, it was rather difficult, even for the Latinos on the team. Our programmers would set up an hour or two of choreography, dramas, testimonies or preaching and prepare the whole team only to have it change multiple times from different desires of the pastors. At times, I think it was simply that the pastors at different churches didn’t know our capabilities and thus, once they found out we were bilingual for example or could do choreography, they wanted us to add more. Often, however, it was asking for someone to preach at the last minute or adding or taking away dramas when we had already gotten set-up for the others. This happened to some degree in every location we were in, minus the jungle which was ran by American’s, so I’m not singling out Tingo Maria by any means. In Tingo specifically, we were working with a network of sister churches, and therefore, it felt like a circus on days where we were in 2 or 3 different locations. It definitely was preparing us for the rest of the journey.

Moises & myself outside the church.

Highlights:

            In Santa Rosa, we went in groups, door to door... one of the groups brought a girl of about 18 years old back to the service in the evening. Before commencing, we were informed as a group as to why this girl was sweating profusely: she had Yellow Fever. She had heard about Christ and why we were there... we not only prayed for her health, but for her to start on a new journey as a Christian. Very cool moment.

            We did a program in a Plaza one evening. As we entered to set up, we interrupted a secluded light-up session and the youth scattered leaving a lingering stench of marijuana. Unfortunately most scattered and didn’t return. There was a delay in starting with finding electricity, but eventually we got underway. Honestly, it wasn’t a very good program in the scope of things. I think it’s remembered for one of the teammates running around in a tiger suit with the kids and the lack of people there. At one moment, however, I noticed a young man watching from faraway and sent one of my guys over to practice his Español. He accepted the invitation and may have been the one lost sheep that night that Jesus went after through our preaching and drama. He had walked away from the Lord, but regretted this and accepted His mercy and forgiveness. He was a good friend to our team from then on, joining us on a few events and opening up with some of the Latin guys.

FAVORITE PART of Tingo Maria

I have two favorite parts and the reason would be because they both involve children.

1)  One crazy day, I had another instance of déjà vu. We went to a different church, participated in the services, had meals en un restauranté, did a short plaza program, etc. Amidst all of this, we were brought to a school where we quickly became famous.

           

            We split into three groups and I imagine were in front of 500-700 kids. My team went to six classes in the morning and five in the afternoon. In my journal, I wrote:

           

            “The kids were the highlight of my day. The faces - the excitement - we didn’t put smiles on one face, but hundreds! I remembered [a vision I once had] and teared up. I pondered on the triumphs and difficulties of being a teacher.”

The classroom in Tingo Maria.

2)  On Father’s Day, we went up to a different church and I was up to share my testimony. I thought I was sharing to just the adults, while the children had their dismissal for sunday school, but that wasn’t to be the case. I shared with everyone! I touched on the fears that develop within someone who grows up (even part of their life) without a father (fear of rejection, failure, etc.) and how God has freed me from those things thru being my Father. Romans 8 says we are no longer slaves to fear, but we have a spirit of adoption and are CO-HEIRs with Christ. That’s a big statement! My journal concludes:

“I told the kids to give their fathers an extra hug and the fathers to realize how important of a role they play in their kid’s lives. ... We finished the service by praying for each of the fathers.

...

Afterwords at lunch, I saw all the kids sitting by themselves. I had one chance to talk to them and obviously the Holy Spirit drew me over there. The 3rd table was all boys and we talked in broken Spanish and a 10 year old boy shared with me that he is growing up without a father. I encouraged him that ‘Dios es tu Padre’ and he agreed. I told him other adults will teach and mentor him as well. We talked about family, numbers in English, the USA, etc. It was another simple, yet precious moment, that confirmed I was to be here. The other little boy hugged me and chased me out of the door as I left.”

The Owl Cave in Tingo Maria

            

PUERTO MALDONALO

            Puerto is a jungle city on the south eastern side of Peru. Apparently, it’s famous for bird watchers because I met a huge group of teachers on a plane that were all there simply for this reason. The jungle is also a bittersweet place for me to be in. I went, on my tab, to my best friend’s wedding and after traveling almost non-stop for a week between Tingo Maria, Puerto, Cuzco, Lima, Ft. Lauderdale and North Carolina, I was done. I crashed on the floor and slept for 14 hours. I woke up feeling pretty bad, old injuries aggravated, etc. The bugs and climate were not as bad here as they were in the Amazon, although a few people got bit by bullet ants, which are rather painful for your nervous system.

The kitchen.

            Living there is a totally different way of life. We were there to help the family of my co-staff. They are in the middle of preparing the land to house a full orphanage. The kids are all in process in Cuzco, paperwork, government stuff... What we did there, along with a team from Texas, was to prepare the land. There were a few projects, but the majority of the work was spent on the banana and orange trees in the crop fields.

            The jungle IS a blessing. The difficulties force you to dig deep, to silence your flesh, to check your attitude and your weaknesses in character (especially as a leader), and also to lay down your rights - health, personal time, comfort, etc. This is the life of a missionary.

The entire team with the Lenz family in Puerto.

FAVORITE PART of Puerto

            Besides living with a pet pig and monkey that peed on our clothes, or eating slightly American food, my favorite parts here were simple. I got to see my roommates family, was inspired by their tenacity to build all they had in the middle of the jungle while their own family is spread throughout Peru. My prayers are with them and I’m excited for the day they all join together again.

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia

The beautiful landscape that is Cochabamba.

            Crossing into Bolivia was talked about amongst our team for a few days. Our bus was stopped due to a minor’s strike. There were fires in the road and police barricades, we didn’t think we were getting passed. Then, getting through customs took a lot longer than expected. The descent into La Paz (passing through) was one of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen. No photo does it justice. We later found out as well that the Bolivian president had been refused permission by multiple European nations to land in their airspace to refuel. He blamed the United States, as he had previously offered asylum to Snowden in Bolivia and had been ‘visiting’ Moscow.

            Cochabamba was a cool city and we were met with open arms, a different climate and a more manageable schedule which was a nice change of pace for our team. Not everything was easy, we had a difficult time going door-to-door as everyone was busy or seemed disinterested.

We also got to do services in a plaza with a Homeless Ministry.

            Most of our time was spent assisting with activities already happening in the church. I think this is one of the best ways to utilize a missions team. We assisted with the Vacation Bible School with the children and simply incorporated our material into theirs. Two of my female students and I got to run a puppet show and teaching on forgiveness. It was interesting as my Dutch counterpart and I knew probably the least Español of any of the team members at this point, yet were speaking broken Spanglish.

            I think our best connection was with the youth group as we held teachings every night of the week with them. We incorporated into the worship teams (which was again,  totally different than a US team) and all the services.

FAVORITE PART of Cocha

            This time was great for our team as we were able to really dig deep TOGETHER spiritually. I was able to have one-on-ones, which anyone that knows me, knows are my favorite way to connect. My favorite part, however, is without a doubt the hospitality of Bolivians. Tingo Maria was one thing, but they took it to a new level here. It was REALLY encouraging but also really CHALLENGING. Just about every day we had a person offer to come in and make a meal for us, we were invited to houses, we even ate saltañas in a famous Bolivian chain restaurant for free. Everyone wanted to share their stories with us, their insight and advice. I think Bolivia is a really overlooked country by missionaries, but it needs your prayer as it is experiencing a lot of persecution by it’s government who are starting to force Andean teachings on the churches. We were often compared to angels, which was difficult to know how to receive, but it was a beautiful reception and I can only hope that I half-heartedly match it with others in the future. ¡GRACIAS A TODOS EN BOLIVIA!

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

            Jump forward to September, what a crazy time it’s been. I’m currently living with the kids ministry family in Iquitos, Peru and we are working on something just about every day. Updates and prayer requests...

- Blessings - The last few weeks, I’ve been blessed to use my filmmaking skills to make three videos. One was used at a successful concert here for the Grammy nominated Latin band, ROJO, which I was the official photographer for! (The Lord is building my resumé even on the mission field, haha.) We also held Women’s Camp for women at risk. I had the privilege of doing an interview with a woman with an amazing testimony of the transformation of her life thru Christ and reconcile with her husband. In the meantime, I participated for 4 days in working with the kids of the women at the camp. They were all five years old and under, which was very... interesting. Haha.

-  My Spanish - Being in meetings with countless pastors, teachers, leaders, etc. on the outreach in Peru and Bolivia definitely helped my Español. Sometimes I feel frustrated in this area because there is so much to learn, but others I’m surprised at my level of ability in conversation and being able to understand teachings or other things. I have started classes again and am living in a house that only speaks Español. I’m starting to think, just like tattoos, once you know another language, you want to know more.

-  My Finances & Future. I came here partially raised, in faith on the testimony of the vision God has given me. He has proven faithful. My trip seems to be fully raised. Thank you so very much to you all that have been greatly generous. My trip here is over half over already and I’m seeking direction from God on my future. I have decided, in uncertain terms, to continue on the mission field. Prayer for direction and monthly (or one-time support) are always on a missionary’s prayer list! :) For those that prefer PayPal, my email address is stbtome@msn.com. You can still buy the Duets for Peru Project for a donation as well. http://duetsforperu.bandcamp.com

- VISA Renewal - I was only given 60 days at the border in July and I need another 2.5 months approved when I leave next week. Im hoping if I show my return ticket to MN they will approve this as I’m incurring extra fees and time away from my ministry.

- My Transition & Continued Success- A week ago, I MOVED out of the YWAM base to the Construyendo Sueños home. (The Building Dreams Children’s Ministry) This will not only make it easier for me to do ministry during the week, but will give me opportunity to be creative in my goals with the children and families. It will also allow me to really get to know the various people that work in the ministry as they all live in the home. Upon my return, I will set-up to start teaching English & Photography in October. Pray the Lord will guide me in the teaching, as well as speak to me about my future in this time.

- DECEMBER KIDS CAMP - December is the climax of the ministry with the kids each year. It’s also the end of my journey here. We will be having a 4 day camp for kids at risk. We are raising money here in Peru, for ONLY $30 you can cover one child IN FULL - food, clothes, etc. If you are interested, please send me the donation and note what it is for. A BIG THANK YOU comes from my team here and I will be sure to send you a photo of your kid(s) at camp!

As always, PLEASE send me your prayer requests. I will be writing up two blogs summarizing the amazing July we had in the mountains of La Paz and the difficult times in the Quechuan communities in the Andes! The second will be about August’s concert, the Women’s camp and my transition here into the kids ministry. Keep a look out.

The Journey Continues! ¡Bendiciones en Cristo!

Sam

[UNEDITED] Journal Entries AND VIDEOS from an Amazonian Frontier Missionary

Am I really here in the AMAZON?

One week ago we returned from an intense two weeks in the jungle of the Amazon. From the base in Iquitos, it’s about an hour by bus to Nalta, where we got back into the Logos boat that previously took us to the ‘farm’ for a jungle initiation of sorts. This time, however, we had two missions:

Week 1 - We had a lecture from a Japanese-Canadian pastor named Ryoichi (ee-o-chi) that was hard hitting, questioning the Christian church cultures we have created in the Modern Era and in our respective cultures of North America, Latin America and Europe. We were able to work on the property of the YWAM jungle ministry by helping reenforce a fish farm with massive bags full of dirt and reconstruct over half of the wearing barbed wire fence surrounding the property. (I got to chop down a tree with a machete!)

Week 2 - We had a interim week of outreach to 6 communities in 5 days. It was a huge blessing and joy to see God open doors in each community Monday thru Friday and even one extra! We’d boat up early in the morning and meet with the leaders and a typical day involved going door to door, sometimes to evangelize, followed by a kids program in the afternoon and an adults program in the evening. Sam was a proud leader as he was able to see his students engage the children in games, skits and puppet shows. I was involved in many activities as well from on stage to audio tech. In the evening we typically shared testimonies, did dramas (which draw huge crowds here) and had calls to salvation. I would estimate in total we probably interacted with 500-600 people in those 5 days. :)

Without further a do... I want to share with you some of my journal entries. I journaled almost every day because the details are easily forgotten and I wanted to remember each place as the unique community that it is. I call this unedited because it’s not all the glitz and glamour of the missions life. I am sharing candid thoughts, some of which are brutally honest.

Here are some [UNEDITED] Journal Entries...

The very boats I saw in my vision last year.

The Farm-

“Hard to believe I’ve spent one full week in the jungle. I’m starting to get used to always having at least 3 different kind of bites on my body, my feet being devoured by chiggers and my elbows always being raw with mosquito bites.

...

I really do not like the jungle. Last night was one of the worst nights ever trying to sleep in my life. I had at least 6 things keeping me awake. 1) The ungodly heat. 2) Being wet and sweaty. (in my musty, smelly sleeping bag) 3) Itching 4) Swatting bugs 5) Uncomfortability and neck pain 6) Noodle’s snoring! [Love you, Newell!]

That being said I am trying to maintain the best attitude I can considering this is one of those ‘Once in a Lifetime’ Opportunities.

We went on a hike yesterday [INTO the jungle], roughly two miles to a creek. Risto shared some cool facts, but overall it was not far from a hot and humid hike in Minnesota summers. I guess my highlight was finally seeing bullet ants and getting to chase them around with my telephoto lens. I checked my feet frequently because although Caleb said their bites effect people differently, once they discover your presence, they are pretty vicious.

... [skipping an uneventful monkey hunting experience]

It’s amazing all the daily “conveniences” of the modern world we are living without. I really miss a washer and dryer. Things get much dirtier and mustier here. You clothes are never truly dry. They always smell. I don’t think I’ll ever take clean water for granted again. (which we are close to rationing) I still look out at the river and think to myself, “Am I really LIVING in the Amazon?”

For only being 24 years old and having done this before, I’m pretty set in my ways and I think every person should live in a completely different culture at some point in their lives. It really grows you in maturity and in spirit if you allow it.”

Buen Pastor & Canaan-

“Today was Day One. I think it’s safe to say today was my favorite day of the entire trip thus far and if it was all over tomorrow I would be satisfied. Seeing a child smile is such an awesome thing, I can’t explain it. So simple, but so gratifying. Today I saw my vision FOUR different times. [God gave me a vision of the Amazon involving children on the bank watching the boat I was in. This was March 2012.] We boated up to the first community Buen Pastor. [Good Shepherd]

(click to see full size...) The kids in Buen Pastor couldn´t sit still. They had visitors!

My reaction was ‘Wow! Am I really doing this? Never thought in a million years this would be my life!’ Buen Pastor is known for Francisco de la Cruz, the Brazillian missionary who came and spread magic and a cult called the Fellowship of the Cross. This community has recieved extra prayer from the team.

It rained all morning after half an hour on the river, we boated up to shore. Pepe, Caleb, Risto, Magly y [and] Katie went to meet the ‘heffe’ or leader. [1] All the kids ran out of the school, waved, smiled and stared. We were the first YWAM group to visit and there is no evangelical church in the village. They [were timid and] did not grant us a full day in the community but allowed us to invite people to the school by going door-to-door. Renita, Lydia and I went too far and invited people from the neighbor community, Canaan. We changed into our [costumes and clothes] in some random person’s house and set up in the school. We did a kids program and two dramas. Rey de Corazones y Familia. [King of Hearts and Family.] Newell gave his testimony. People from Canaan sat outside the school door. One had a machete.

The leaders and teachers were so ecstatic. They said we could come back anytime, that they ‘need more of the Word.’ Praise the Lord! [2] From the boat, the kids played and waved good bye on shore.

One of our kids shows...

The place definitely had a weird spiritual atmosphere in it, but we Korean styled-it-up in victory for Jesus! [Korean style prayer is where everyone prays aloud at once.] The most noticeable place was the church (or temple?). It eerily stood, greyish-blue, atop the hill always surrounded by storm clouds. It said “La Nueva Jerusalen Celestial Moccae”. We didn’t know what it means, but upon further inspection of the place, it has upside down stars adorned above the doorways. [This is a demonic symbol.]

The eery building.

We had lunch and left... to Canaan. We got to do a much more well rounded program. The kids were much more receptive and warm, they were not reserved or in uniforms. They greated us [3] on shore and asked questions of Joanna and I as we did dishes.  Angelo and the other kids thought it was so funny when one of them got up the nerve to give me a high-five!

Canaan was definitely the highlight of the day as we had what must’ve been the entire community (roughly 150) watching us. The kids were fully interactive in the songs. Sofia gave a testimony. Moises & David did ‘David and Goliath’.

...

Not being able to tell the kids in Espanol about Jesus is frustrating. God must’ve heard my heart because not only did Edu preach a salvation message, but he talked to the random group of kids I was with. This little kids started poking me in the ear with blades of grass. This lead to a massive fight with cattail-like weeds. 50-60 kids chased Noodles, Jessica and I all over.

[4] As we began to sail away, the kids not only lined the shore, they were crawling IN the boat, jumping OFF the boat and swimming after us. I teared up in greatfulness one last time today. I felt a sense of confirmation. How could I do anything else with my life but work with kids?! They bring me joy like nothing else! And here we are...doing a portion of what I believe I came here to do. ¡Gloria a Dios! [Glory to God!]

Sante Fe-

“We had more freedom in Sante Fe, but it still amazes me that a village like this one, that isn’t 5 or 6 hours down river, but one, by and large is not being reached.

Lydia, Renita and I went to four homes. In 3 of them, when I asked if they had a church, mentioned Buen Pastor and Francisco de la Cruz. They didn’t seem to have a good impression and Lydia did a great job of communicating what it means to have a relationship with Jesus over religion. It’s unclear but we believe their evangelical church is old and abandoned. There may be a Catholic church but none of the people I met attended. The people asked for a pastor to come. These places are so simple and they need such basic things we take for granted.

The community does not have electricity. They light their homes by candle at night. Most people here have not spent much, if any, time out of their community and only one lady I met had lived in Iquitos previously.

A casa Renita, Lydia and myself visited.

We prayed for healing of children and for Christ to impact their lives in new ways with an emphasis on Jesus. We also met a blind girl and took her to the river to help her with her laundry.

...

Getting the generator and lights set up for the adults program at night was interesting. It was the only light source and it wrapped around the basketball posts. The bug storm that ensued was disgusting and having them crawling in all parts of your clothing and in each crevis is something I won’t forget. I will never complain in MN again!!! It was raining june bugs and they would swoop down and whip you in the face! The bats, however, were having quite the fiesta!

Unfortunately, it started to rain, so we pulled all the electronics into a room and dried out what we could. We were set up in a community center. We got a few cables dry and used the speaker and iPod. It was pretty epic, especially El Campeon [The Champion] drama in the dark with our torch lights to illuminate the angels and demons.

Moises got to preach salvation and the Prodigal Son. It was awesome! I pray they will receive a pastor and that more people will rise up in the giftings!”

A common view from the Logos boat.

Oliyah-

“We continue to see crosses worn around the necks of the people. I asked the first lady, “¿Porque tu tienes la cruz aqui?” (Why do you have this cross here?) Bielgui helped ask, “Why is it important to you?” Bielgui later asked tough questions such as how she knew she was going to cielo? (heaven) Same vague answer, ‘I don’t know’ followed by an explanation of doing good work and hardly sinning.

The highlight of the day was the service at the church. We’ve gotten used to the bugs being a thick cloud, whipping us in the face, etc. The 3 dramas all went very well, the best I`ve seen in public so far and no one flinched from the bugs! Annelies preached on what the Kingdom of God IS and HOW you enter it, NOT by good works, etc. Risto followed up with an altar call and the Holy Spirit was moving.

I had connected with a group of boys ranging 5 years to 12 or 13 years old. I asked a few questions and told them a bit about Minnesota. The hit of the night was, “¿Té gusta zancudos en tú boca? ... ¡Mas zancudos en mi boca, por favor!” (‘Do you like mosquitos in your mouth? More mosquitos in my mouth, please!’)

At the altar call people began to go up and pray. Despite the language barrier, I knew I had to move. I looked at the boys. A 10 or 11 year old looked right at me. It was an obvious deer-in-the-headlights look the other didn’t have. A desire for more. I asked in Español if he wanted to pray. He said si and we went to the altar. I prayed all I knew in Español:

‘Thank you Father for entering his heart, for unconditional love and for a new life...’

I asked the boy, Secundo, if he understood. He said yes and then Edu clarified with him. It was an awesome moment! [PLEASE PRAY FOR SECUNDO.]

I told him later that I will always pray for him. I told him to read his Bible with his friends. (Very few people in these villages have Bibles. We even found out the Assemblies of God and Methodist churches have abandoned the native missionary pastors here.) His favorite books are San Juan and San Mateo. [John & Matthew] I told him a bit about my testimony and to read Romans 8. In Espanol I told him, “Dios es mi Padre!” (“God is my Father!”)”


9th de Octubre-

I hope amidst the pictures and videos (if they worked) you have picked up a small glimpse of what we were able to do in two weeks. Hard to imagine we are about to embark on 2 months in 6 different cities/jungles. I hope you enjoyed some of the insights. You may have questions... feel free to write and ask. I skipped a few parts, such as ‘We have now lived through one of Israel’s seven plagues. The plague of grasshoppers!’ They even popped about 75% of the Mother’s Day balloons. :-/

Locust Plague - Night 5 in 9th de Octubre

I thank you all for embarking on this journey with me. We leave for Lima in 2 weeks, so this is likely my last official blog from the lecture phase of the Discipleship School. All of us guys just threw the girls a Girl’s Night with awards and flowers and dinner JUST for them. They loved it!

We leave June 5th. I, however, am going to leave you with some prayer requests. PLEASE send yours along to me as well and I will respond and update my blog as I am able throughout Peru and Bolivia!

 

The Tranquility was a bonus.

-   My Health - Unfortunately, this is still on the prayer roster. I had a fever Wednesday and felt pretty crummy some of the week. My feet are finally healing, maybe because I distracted by a different rash on my legs. (On the bright side this has incited some good conversation on healing scriptures.) I have decided to do a special fast this week. Please pray if there are any foreign parasites living in my body they would be flushed away. It does appear to be most of the gringos that are getting sick. Please don’t pray for only me.

-   Jungle Weeks - You just read about this. Please pray for God to continue His work in glorifying Himself through healing, salvations and discipleship to be abundant and bottom line, that glory upon glory will bless the communities! The Pastors (where they have them) need serious prayer against evil twisted versions of Catholicism/Fellowship of the Cross and works based worldviews. There are some twisted superstitions out there.

-   My Spanish - Being in the communities has helped and I’m eager to get back to the classroom because I am unable to full evangelize on my own. I need to be able to capitalize on sharing my testimony.

-   My Finances - I came here partially raised, in faith on the testimony of the vision God has given me. If you feel lead to give, there is a link above straight to PayPal. My email address is stbtome@msn.com. If you would like a tax deductible option, please send me a message.

-   Preparation for Outreach- In June we leave for 4 locations in Peru and 2 in Bolivia where we will spend one-to-two weeks in each place doing an expanded version of what we just did in the communities in the jungle here. Pray God will soften the ground and prepare the hearts of the people in those places.

The Journey Continues! In Christ,

Sam

Injusticias del Pasado (or How Chiang Mai Met Iquitos)

sabbath |ˈsabəθ|

ORIGIN Old English , from Latin sabbatum,

via Greek from Hebrew šabbā t , from šā b a t ‘to rest.’

I want to take a moment to interject a muay importante lesson I am learning while in the middle of one of the busiest times of my life. As staff, we are reading through a book I highly recommend. I’m planning to read it a second time and following the Biblical principles in it may change your life.

As we have prayed over our schedule and given the students a little extra time to develop their talents, prepare for the outreach and process through all they are learning, my heart is reinforced by the fact that our Sabbaths are vital to our life. God modeled a Sabbath in the creation and it’s a known fact in things such as weight training that your body BENEFITS through rest and performs better after time off. Here is an excerpt:

“Many of us have lost our way, spiritually, in the whiteout of the blizzard swirling around us. Blizzards begin when we say yes to too many things. Between demands from work and family, our lives fall somewhere between full and overflowing. We multitask, so much so that we are unaware we are doing three things at once. We admire people who are able to accomplish so much in so little time. They are our role models.

At the same time many of us are overscheduled, tense, addicted to hurry, frantic, preoccupied, fatigued, and starved for time. Cramming as much as possible into our Blackberries and Palm Pilots, day planners and to-do lists,we battle life to make the best use of every spare minute we have.

Yet not much changes. Our overproductivity becomes counterproductive. We end our days exhausted from work and raising children. And then our ‘free time’ on weekends becomes filled with more demands in an already-overburdened life.

We listen to sermons and read books about slowing down and creating margin in our lives. We read about the need to rest and recharge our batteries. Our workplaces offer seminars on increased productivity through replenishing ourselves.

But we can’t stop. And if we aren’t busy, we feel guilty that we waste time and are not productive.

...

Add to this the storms and trials of life that blow into our lives unexpectedly and catch us off guard, and we wonder why so many of us are disoriented and confused.

We need a rope to lead us home.”

Scazzero, Peter (2006) Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Unleash a Revolution in Your Life In Christ

He goes on to say, don’t just rest on Sunday (if that is your chosen Sabbath day)...

STOP everything you have planned and trust God is bigger than it all.

Truly REST, this doesn’t mean ‘catch up on things around the house.

DELIGHT in the little details of creation and have fun!

Take time out to CONTEMPLATE the love of God in our lives.

Evangelism on the Amazon

Last week, my work group in the discipleship school got to join a local church and go down to the most dangerous and impovershed part of Iquitos - Lower Belen (bay-lin). A lot of the injustices of addiction, poverty and sexual abuse are central to Belen and the further and lower (toward the River) you go, the more dangerous...

Click to enlarge. The view from inside a home.

The planks common to Minnesota hiking trails are better equiped than the wobbly irregular boards we walked on above the floating sewer beneath. The uncomfortability was only a motivator to me. My Español is not proper enough yet to preach the gospel or a testimony (but my next language class assignment is to tell my story in my limited Spanish vocabulary) so a pastor did most of the talking. There were four of us being invited into four or five different homes. A young student from Columbia did most of the translation.

I realized my weakest link in the Christian skill set is evangelism. I tend to stick away from the “Christ died for your sins” shtick and simply tell how He has impacted my life through forgiveness, transformation and overcoming pain and fears.

I was conflicted out there, just to be honest, as I felt some people went along for the ride simply because they felt they had to be respectful of a pastor and, dare I say, white gringo missionaries. If one’s heart is not receptive to the fact that someone died for them and they have been given forgiveness, it’s an uncomfortable moment. As a counselor, I would rather talk through how they’ve been hurt, why they are stuck, or what they don’t understand.

An old lady we met, for privacy I will call her Rose, was the most heartfelt encounter. She had known God and walked with Him for years, but recently there had been financial problems and even death in the family. We were able to pray with her and her grandson (whose parents had been killed). In the first house, another mother repented for walking away from God and into sin. If her forgiveness could be measured in tears, His mercy was limitless.

Lastly, I asked each person in Spanish if they had Bibles. What’s a one time conversion or rededication without a source of encouragement and TRUTH? The pastor assured us he would be following up on Wednesday with Bibles and more counsel. I’d say, overall, it was a fruit bearing trip.

The sights and smells of a river of sewage beneath us triggered thoughts of the Land of Smiles.

Plaza de Armas

It’s been one of those moments that brings things full circle for you in a way. Three times now I have been out to the plaza here for prostitution ministry. I made mention of it in my last blog, but these last two trips have a bit more to tell.

I will start with a few weeks ago. I had the privilege of teaching a class on Human Trafficking with the leader of Hefzi-Ba, a women’s ministry that does outreach to women on the streets. We looked at the global impacts as well as the local impacts here in Peru. It is not uncommon for one of the children that sell items on the streets to be trafficked away. One of my co-staff has been confronted by this fear a few times. Some of them she has searched and found the children in another part of Iquitos, some she has never found them at all. Vulnerability and geography make this a great place for predators.

As for the women in the plaza (and the many men that are transvestites), there are a few differences between this and Thailand. One major one is Peru is a Catholic nation, unlike Thailand which is a Buddhist nation, so if you pronounce you are a Christian, generally the girls here are respectful of your ‘bubble’ and your personal space. In Thailand, knowing you were a Christian simply meant you were just like every other white guy who was in it for himself. Another is that the girls here aren’t under lock and key by their bar owners. They don’t work in a bar, they work for a pimp, and so if they wish to not go to work, they can stay at home with their significant other and/or children. (very common) Although there is obviously a pressure to make money. Prostitution, unlike Thailand, IS legal here. It is regulated however as the girls must for in for a health certificate and document their health ever so often.

Last week we went out as a staff team to prepare the waters for the students this week. The nerves of nostalgia weren’t as intense this time, but that feeling of riding in the moto-taxi on the way to the plaza brings me right back to the tuktuks of Chiang Mai. There’s nothing quite like the heightened sense of spiritual warfare that comes along with this kind of ministry. The only comparable atmosphere I have been was that of in the heart of the drug infested area of California known as Skidrow.

This particular night I was able to meet a few of the girls. I asked a few basic questions in my broken Spanglish such as, “Do you have kids?” or “How is your family?”

Some girls are more comfortable than others with the guys, even if we are labeled a ‘brother’. The girls on my team split off to talk to a girl that is a bit closed off and so I sat on a bench to pray. As I was praying, a pair of “women” came up to me. They stood on either side of me.

“Hola! Como estas?” I said. They responded in action instead by sitting next to me. Knowing their intentions, I quickly stood up and pointed at my co-staff. “Mi hermanas!” (“My sisters!”) Even with the familiar faces of my female friends, the man was persistent in his efforts. Once I felt safe to sit back on the bench, he tried to sit on my lap!

In Espanol my co-staff asked him to ‘respect my brother, please!’ The stench of alcohol let me know there were other reasons resulting in such behavior as well. Matter of fact, one of the “girls” was very belligerent and subsequently left in the back of the Policia pickup truck.

As my friend said, “It was a night of firsts.”

I don’t want to end this story on such a silly note, however. This past week I was able to show pieces of my Thailand videos... (which if you never got to see them, please do!)

http://www.youtube.com/stbtome

...as well as the documentary Nefarious.

If you have never seen it, I highly recommend it. Within the limits of good taste, it tells the story of trafficking and prostitution around the world. About half of my students witnessed the film, even some who do not understand English very well. Everyone had a deeply profound reaction to the film and we had a great Spirit-filled intercession time to follow.

We then went out on Friday to physically make an act of intercession. Four of us prayer walked the perimeter of the Plaza and 5 girls performed pedicures on 7 or 8 of the women. There was a beautiful point where I just saw what was happening through Jesus’s eyes.

These complete strangers were washing the feet of prostitutes for no other reason but to show them they loved them!

Instead of being the mouth we usually are, there was not a lot of talking. What a way to be hands and feet of the Lord. This is one snapshot of why I know I was called to be here.

Prayer Requests

-   My Health - Subsided now, but last week I had 2 full days of weakness, stomach pains, bowel issues and lots of sleeping. I am unsure of if I had/have a parasite, but believing for a complete healing even now. Also, my feet need prayer. EIGHT weeks ago when we first returned from the jungle I got some sort of chigger bites and although some have healed, they are still pretty bad. I have tried prayer, lemon juice, alcohol 3x a day, menthol/VapoRub, antihistamine, anti-itch cream and Cortizone cream. It’s to the point where I’m looking at possible scarring.

-   Jungle Weeks - Sunday we leave for ‘the farm’ again. This time, there are no secret plans involved. We will be building a few buildings for the jungle ministry on their property. (possibly a classroom or a medical center or sanctuary) Our lectures will continue the first week and the second week we will have an interim week of OUTREACH to various tribes down river! Each day a team will go in and ‘embassadors’ will seek out the chief/pastor. We will assess their needs and serve them with everything God enables us to do for them! Please pray for healings, salvations and discipleship to be abundant.

-   My Spanish - Progress has slowed down, but this week we are required to write our testimonies out. It’s not easy. Not at all.

-   Our Schedule - I need to take my own advice.

-   My finances. I came here partially raised, in faith on the testimony of the vision God has given me. The Lord was faithful through Thailand and even now, so I am praying for wisdom in stewardship and trust in sustenance. I’ll be honest... I’ve rationed out what I have to live an uncomfortable 8 months. I don’t see anything Biblical about going into debt. If you trust God, you trust God. I want to remind everyone, $5 or $10 goes a VERY LONG WAY in a 3rd world country. If you’ve committed, please hold to your word. I don’t have the capabilities to send you month reminders, so my blog is the best place I can do this. If you feel lead, there is a link at the top to various options. There is also a tax deductible option, if you are interested in that, please email me. My email is: stbtome@msn.com.

THANK YOU AGAIN... ‘Til next month...

Sam