Hello from Peru!

Hello everyone!

Where do I begin? Well, I guess I’ll start with a quick recap of my trip. I arrived in Lima early Thursday morning. There were no problems at all in my travel. Thank God for His continuous provision!

During the day on Thursday we (the family I am staying with and I) visited two Christian schools in Lima. I was really glad to have these opportunities, because I am praying about whether God is going to use teaching as a platform for me in sharing the Gospel in the future.

On Friday morning we boarded a plane bound for Chiclayo. We will be staying in Chiclayo for a month while we fill in for some other missionaries who are on furlough in the U.S. The missionaries we are filling in for have a ministry to the upper-class of Chiclayo. On Wed. nights we will have a Bible study for women only and on Sun. nights we have a Bible study for everyone. 

I have been exposed to so much Spanish and so many opportunities to learn it. One of the families who lives in the same area as us have a daughter my age. She is learning English, so I help her with English and she helps me with Spanish. On Saturday night we went to her youth group and yesterday we went to church and Sunday school with her family. This morning we visited a Christian deaf school and had the opportunity to interact a bit with the children. It was awesome!

God is showing and teaching me right now that mission work is not always out there doing formal ministry. There is a lot of preparation and learning that takes place day to day. Chiclayo seems to me to be a place where God is teaching me a lot and preparing me.  I am spending a lot of time learning my Spanish and studying the Bible. God has really been using this time to reinforce to me the importance of serving Him wholly in every aspect of my life. As Christians we are His Body and witnesses to Him in everything we do – whether it is cleaning a table after lunch, encouraging someone in their walk with Christ, or sharing the Gospel.

Please pray for the people here – especially for the young people. At each of the schools we have visited, we’ve been told that there is a lot of Spiritual hardness. Pray that God would break through the hardness and that we would be obedient to be His light. Pray that I continue to grow and do not become complacent in my time here in Chiclayo. Pray that whether I’m out doing ministry or just staying at the house that my eyes would be focused on Christ. Praise Him for His guidance in going through the airports when I arrived and for His providence in guiding me to people who can help me with Spanish.

I don’t know when I’ll be updating this again, but my mom has been doing a great job. Keep following Christ and allowing Him to use you wherever you are at. Serve Him joyfully. We serve the most powerful and awesome Father!

Shirley Anne