Grace

Well, I am pretty much ready for summer to be over here...it's been a normal 115-120 this month everyday...

   We do things differently here in th desert that i am sure seem very strange to others...I left my brand new $2.50 big-buttoned calculator in my car accidently one afternoon, and the sun warped it completely!  My bible cover has a permanent cuvature from it's time in the sweltering heat.  When you hate to get buckled because the metal is a gazillion degrees and you are scared to death that it might sear your skin. 

    We have a swamp-cooler...joy pure joy!  For the vast majority of people that have no idea what a swamp cooler is...it's a big box, with a large squirrel cage in it...there are 3 large pads that go around it and those pads are sprayed on the inside with water, as the squirrel cage spins it pushes (what is supposed to be)  cool moist air into our home.  But seeing as how we have been having so much humidity it renders our swamper close to useless.. therefore it is normally 90-95 degrees inside our home..

   But it's good missionary training.. *smiles* 

  Life's been going pretty good here in beautiful Bullhead City.  My first attempt at teaching Spanish is almost finished...it's been a blast!  It's had it's ups and downs. but there have been about 4 diligent students and I am so blessed to be a part of it.  More people are going to join the class in a couple of weeks and I am very optomistic.

   I might be able to teach an ESL class to the parents of the Jr. High that is just down the street...so that's also exciting.  Lastly i'll be doing the water ministry on the corner where the kids get out of school.  I am excited to see what the Lord would like to do with that. 

   Please pray that the Lord will continue to provide all of my needs...He's faithful. 

 You are in my prayers as well...Grace

Where to begin?   Thank you all for your continuing prayers and support.  Please forgive me for not keeping you updated as I should.  I know that without information from me it is hard to pray specifically for what is going on. 

Well coming home from Peru was a very big culture shock, as I was expecting.  Even now 2.5 months later I miss my dear friends from Peru everyday! 

 Going from the beginning of winter to the beginning of an Arizona summer was shocking as well.  It took me about three days to be able to breath properly as in Lima it is extremely humid and in Arizona is very DRY! 

  It was a great blessing to see my mom and family and especially the people from church that I know have been so faithful throughout this past year.  

  The Lord blessed me with the opportunity to be able to share a video presentation that I made of my time in Peru with several different people and groups.  I love being able to show everyone the fruit that the Lord brought through my time in Lima, Peru . 

BECOMING A MISSIONARY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA !

  The Lord put it on my heart to return to the USA to work on starting a Christian ESL School here in Arizona just like I had done in Lima .  There is about 45% Hispanic population in Bullhead City , which is where I live, and virtually no one reaching out to this culture within our culture. 

     I have been teaching for the last 6 weeks two nights a week teaching ESL at the Community College here in my town, all of my students are women and they are all very receptive to the Lord. 

  I had no intention of teaching Spanish in coming home, but several people from church have had a desire to learn Spanish to be able to reach out to our community.  So for the past two weeks I have been teaching 13 people Spanish.  We meet twice a week, and they are learning scripture in Spanish and also worship songs in Spanish.   Two of my Mexican students from the college are even coming to the class and helping me teach.  Please pray for them their names are Silvia and Bertha.  They are here in the states for only 4 more months on working visas but are both extremely receptive to the Lord. 

  I pray that in the future we will have a Christian ESL school a Christian Spanish school,  also that we will have a Spanish Church service too.  There are limitless possibilities with our God! 

  Please pray that the Lord will give me more opportunities to reach out into the Latino community here in Bullhead, and that He will put this same desire on more people’s hearts. 

   The Living water Ministry is going great.  We have given out about 1,000 water bottles in the last 3 weeks and talked to many people about the love of Jesus.  This is also a way that the Lord is using us to reach out to the lost in Las Vegas and Laughlin, NV . 

   I am also continuing to work on making a Christian ESL Curriculum.  It is coming along really well and I am so excited to see what the Lord’s going to do with it.

  Once again thank you for your prayers and continued support.  

God bless you and keep you! 

I would love to hear about what the Lord’s doing in your lives, or if you would like to get together and fellowship.  Please write to me at gracehensley@hotmail.com

p.s.  If you are interested in supporting me as a missionary here in the USA please donate online at this site. 

http://www.sgwm.com/missionaries/php?id=143

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

December here in Peru was a very full month. The holiday season is just as rushed as it is in America. Although it is summer here in South America the stores are packed with Christmas trees, reindeers and Santas. They have very different Christmas traditions that I am used to.

I had the pleasure of being invited to spend Christmas with a Peruvian family from the church that I have become very close to. The tradition here is that they wait until midnight and open all the presents and have their huge meal with Turkey, potatoes, hot chocolate and panetone(a fruitcake bread, that absolutely everyone has for Christmas) During all of this there are so many fireworks going off that it sounded as if I was in the middle of a war zone. Even though everything was so different I was so thankful to experience this special time with them. For New Year’s Eve we had a big potluck at the Bible College Campus.

There were over 60 people and it was a great celebration we prayed and sang worship songs to bring in the new year. I have to tell you that I was a little sad even though there was celebration going on all around me. Almost all of the American Missionaries had left to go back home for the States so I was practically alone for the holidays and I missed my family very much. But I want to say thank you so much for your prayers and e-mails as they were a huge encouragement and the Christmas cards that you sent really blessed my heart. Thank you!

During the second half of December and all of the month of January the cook for the Bible College is on vacation. I love to cook and was given the opportunity to cook all of the meals for the 10-15 people that are on the campus everyday. I have learned so much. As there aren’t very many things that are packaged here mostly everything is fresh and you have to make it from scratch. So if you have any good recipes that you would like to share with me that would be awesome  I will be cooking all the meals until the end of January and then when the students come I will only be cooking breakfast.

Also the English classes just started this last week. There are about 90 students enrolled in the classes. Many more non-believers are coming so please pray that the Holy Spirit will minister to their hearts. Every class begins and ends with prayer and there are memory verses every week. I am not only having them memorize them but study them, as so many times we can repeat a verse by heart, but if someone were to ask you what does that verse mean, or how can I apply that to my life, we wouldn’t know how to respond. Something new that has started is a Conversation Club which is on Friday afternoons for 2 hours. This is an incredible platform for the students to use their English and practice how to share the gospel.

I have also moved off the Bible College campus. One of my students had an apartment that is right next to hers and was having it completely remodeled. She was asking the same price that I was paying to stay at the Bible College and it is fully furnished and only a 15 minute walk from the Bible College. I love it! I have been here for a week. I really enjoyed living at the Bible College, but there was always constant activity and at some points I felt as if I wasn’t even in Peru as there were always so many Americans around. But now I am living out in the community and have the opportunity to talk to and get to know the Peruvians here in my neighborhood. Please continue to pray for divine appointments.

Lastly this last weekend I went on the outreach to the park where we street witness to people and I met an older man named Peppy. He didn’t have a bible of his own but he wanted to know more about God and his heart was so open to the Gospel! I shared with him the truth of God’s love and gave him the bilingual bible that I had. I invited him to come to church and he came and even brought a friend. Please pray that he will continue to come and that the Lord will speak to his heart.