Grace

"For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. " Isaiah 61:11

During the month of October I was blessed with the opportunity to join a group of students from the Calvary Chapel Bible College on a mission trip to a town called Canete. This town was badly hit by the earthquake which happened on August 15th. 

                                                         


We were in Canete and the surrounding area for a week where we helped about 10 families by tearing down walls, moving huge mounds of dirt, doing puppet shows for the kids, and dramas as well as giving out food to hungry families.

The Lord opened the door for us to not only tell those precious people about His love, but show them with every shovel full of dirt that we moved and every hug that was given that He had not forgotten them. 
                                                                       
Upon returning to Lima the Lord blessed me with an opportunity to tutor a lady named Rosy. She was wanting a promotionat work and the interview that she would have to take would be in English. Although this meant that I would be teaching 8 hours a day and then tutoring her for 2 hours after that the Lord gave me the strength.

The second session she told me that she was a Catholic. So I didn't push anything I just taught her English and was friendly. After coming to the Bible College for about 4 days she started asking questions about what we were doing here and why was in Peru. I would answer her questions and we would continue with our classes.

On November 8th I asked her if she would like to read in English from the Bible. She said she would like to. Then she started asking me questions about the Bible and Mary and if I would explain the trinity to her and why do Catholics worship saints.

The Lord is amazing as He gave me every answer to her questions in His Word. And I saw a change in her...she understood and believed in what Jesus had acomplished for her, and that He wasn't on the cross anymore, but alive in her heart.

She now is coming to church and would like to take some classes at the Bible College. Praise the Lord!!

(I don't have a picture of her and I but this her mother and her mother's friend who were part of my English classes this semester.)

This last week many of my students graduated as they completed the first level of English classes. I have seen such amazing growth in each of them and am so blessed to have each of them as students and friends.

It was also my birthday on November 28th and so my students threw me several parties, as I teach six different classes. The last day of class fell on my birthday which worked out great because we had a double celebration. I have never felt so loved! They are all amazing people and I can do nothing but praise God for this opportunity.

                                                              


Evangelism here in Peru is amazingly easy. People already believe in God because of their strong Catholic base, but most don't go to church nor do they even understand what they profess to be.

For the last month or so a group of about 15 of us from the Bible College have been going to a huge park in a nicer part of Lima. There are always a huge amount of people. I have personally seen people on the brink of tears at the truth that we have shared with them from the Word. There are so many people just dying to have life!




Things coming up-

I will be leaving for Chile on December 13th-19th to renew my visa. I will be going with 3 other people and none of them know Spanish so I will be the only translator please pray for that. Also it is an 18 hour bus ride. Pray that the Lord will give us many opportunities to share with people.

The Lord is expanding the English classes as I was able to give the curriculum to a missionary in Bethlehem, Israel who will be starting a Christian based English school reaching out to Palestinians. Also there will be another missionary here in Peru that will start teaching using this curriculum within the next month.

Also one of my students that just graduated from the highest level will start teaching this coming semester. Her name is Llubitza and she would like to be a missionary in the future and so she will be able to use teaching ESL as a tool.

Please pray that the Lord will use this time of Christmas to open the hearts of the people here even more to the truth of our Savior Jesus Christ!

 Love to you all in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 Grace

"I will love You, O LORD my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." Psalm 18:1-3

I have seen the Lord give me His strength this month as I have seen such devastation and at many times felt so helpless.

First as all of you know there was a huge earthquake here. I canceled all of my classes for a week and teams were sent out everyday to different villages and towns that have been badly affected by the earthquake. Entire communities are now living in the streets as they are scared to death to go into what is left of their homes. We have given food to thousands of people, and blessed people with blankets and water and helped take down and build up where possible. Sometimes the only thing that they need is just someone to be there and hold their hand while they cry. I can't even imagine the despair that so many of these people must feel as they have lost their homes, their loved ones and virtually there very existence. But praise the Lord as we had great news to share with them. That they can have a sure foundation in Jesus Christ, and that He will be their stronghold when everything else has crumbled He will always be faithful.

Secondly all of the Bible College Students arrived this last week...almost 40 of them! It has been great getting to know them and see what the Lord is going to be doing in their lives. One of them even asked me about the ESL class as she would like to teach ESL in the future.

My ESL classes are going well. I give all of the students a verse that they have to memorize each week and the majority of them had it memorized. It was such a joy for me to hear them using the word of God as a tool to learn English. I am teaching 4 days a week from 10:00- 6:30, there are five different levels. Each level has two parts that are 8 weeks long. In only five weeks the first part of the levels will be completed and many of the students will move to the next level. Please pray that the Lord will provide someone to come alongside and teach as right now I don't have the time or energy to create a place for these upcoming classes by myself.

I am also enjoying the blessing of cooking breakfast each morning for the Bible college students. This weekend I will be joining all of the girls from the Bible College as we go for a retreat. Please pray that the Lord will speak to me personally and also that He will use me as a blessing to these girls.

Prayer Requests...

- Please keep the people who have lost their homes and loved ones lifted up
- That the Lord would minister to the Arab families in Israel that I was sharing with before coming to Peru
- That He would give me His strength and patience to teach English

Praises

- That I will be able to spend this coming weekend at the feet of Jesus
- That my mom is home safe and sound in Arizona
- That there are people praying for me and supporting me.
- That God is always faithful to keep His promises
- That i was able to speak to and see my whole church in Arizona through the webcam this last Sunday

May the Lord continue to bless you and keep you, I miss you!

Love in Him, Grace

Dear Friends and Family…

 

 

   Thank you so much for your prayers over the last couple of days.  Peru is in an aftershock in everyway imaginable…

 

 

     It happened at about 6:40 pm on Wednesday, I was just finishing up my last English class of the day when the whole building started to shake.  I was thankfully on the bottom floor and so I walked out into the parking lot that is in the middle of the Bible College .   Everyone thought that it would quickly pass, but it just kept getting stronger.  Within a couple of seconds all of us were huddled together in the parking lot. 

 

 

 

     It was an awe inspiring experience to feel the very earth sway under our feet…like riding some sort of wave.  We all grabbed hands and started to pray…then there was a huge flash of light and all of the power went out. 

 

 

 

     We found a radio and heard that the earthquake had hit off the coast and the center was only ninety miles south of Lima .  We felt the earthquake for an entire two minutes.  And praise the Lord we only lost power and water for a day and a half.  But there wasn’t any damage to the Bible College .

 

 

    “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who trust in Him.”  Nahum 1:7

 

 

    There are several villages that were brutally hit and devastated by the earthquake, but haven’t been seen on the news.  One of these was the village called Canete.  Yesterday we had the opportunity to go and help the people of this village. 

 

      Their living situation without this terrible earthquake is far from “adequate”.  Their homes are made of sand blocks which crumble very easily, also very few of their homes have foundations, and therefore when shaken so fiercely just crumbled like a house of cards.  They are so poor though that they can’t afford anything better than this, and now what little they had is all gone. 

 

 

 

  All of the people are now camping out in the streets at night for fear of another aftershock bringing the walls of their houses crashing down upon them.  Remember that it is winter here in Peru , and therefore it is very, very cold at night and they don’t have adequate shelter or blankets. 

 

 

    We were able to bless several families with tents, and also help build up walls that had fallen down, and tear down walls that had been destroyed. 

 

 

 

    I was able to meet a woman and she asked me to come into her house.  She shared with me and we talked about the earthquake and how it has affected her and her family…she was very sweet and I was able to share how our foundation is in Christ alone. 

 

 

 

     We are going back to Canete Sunday after church, please pray that the Lord uses us once again to bless the people there and share with them the practical love of Jesus.  There is a lot of need here if you feel led to give I will use whatever is given bless these families.  

 

 

I will continue to keep you updated…if you would like to give go to  www.sgwm.com  you can find me under Latin America .

 

 

God bless you and keep you all!! 

 

 

Love Grace

 

 

 

I will continue to keep you updated…if you would like to give go to  www.sgwm.com  you can find me under Latin America . God bless you and keep you all!!  Love Grace