SIX

I know it is completely lame, but I should probably start this post out by apologizing for my lack of blogging.

Trust me, I could make all kinds of excuses, but that would, once again, be lame.

I will just say sorry, and ask for a little blogging grace.

ONE.

I will be arriving back in the good ol' US of A this weekend to begin my three-week vacation. I can barely contain my excitement. Seriously. SO EXCITED. And yes, of course my first stop will be Chipotle. And I CAN'T WAIT. But I am also incredibly excited to see my family and friends. I will also be speaking at a few churches, and I am equally eager to share about what God has been doing here over the last year, and especially the last several months. If you would like more information about my speaking schedule, send me an email at cailyndawn@yahoo.com.

TWO.

I definitely owe you an update on my work. Things continue to progress in my three church plant sites, Lamay, Coya, and San Sebastian. I continue discipling the new believers in these areas, and they are progressing so much in their faith.

Church in Coya has continued, and I am so excited to see it grow after vacation.

In Lamay, I have the most contacts, and I believe I have a place to start meeting for church services after vacation, which will be a huge answer to prayer.

In San Sebastian, I am still working in the battered women’s shelter, which I love.

THREE.

I want to ask for prayer.

•  Prayer for my team, that vacation would be a restful and rejuvenating time so that we can all return motivated and ready to run.
• Prayer for my contacts, that they will remain motivated and in the Word even in my absence. Pray for them by name: Josefina, Aurelio, Nazaria, Pauliña, Evanelina, Nikonor, Grimanesa, Janet, Maritza, Sandra, Isabel, Marleni, Sonia, Margot, Rosa, Graciela, Taray, Damiana, Gregoria, Dolores, Claudia, Luz, Cristina, Juana, Julia, Ernesto, Eulogio, Sanayda, Maria.
• Prayer for the progress of our ministry. We are still in need of locations to start church services in several of the church plant sites.
• Prayer for my partner situation. Amy has now been my partner for several weeks, in addition to her cluster parent responsibilities. Although I love working with her, this isn’t really ideal.  So I need a solution to this situation. I believe that through it all, God has a plan. But it’d be really great to find out what his plan is…
• Prayer for my personal life and family.
• Prayer specifically for the Cusco team.
• Prayer for our Cusco mother church and pastor.
• Prayer for Extreme Nazarene and the other Extreme cities/teams.

FOUR.

I just want to share with you how great my friends/contacts are:

We basically had a couple of going-away extravaganzas, Sunday and Tuesday in Lamay. Sunday we were with Nazaria and Aurelio, two of my favorite contacts to visit. And Nazaria most definitely has the gift of hospitality. She is constantly feeding us! But Sunday, she had an extra large spread for us. Coffee, bread with butter and manjar, cookies, and some sort of fruit. Then, once we had eaten everything on the table, we did two of the discipleship lessons. Then we were served a jello-like dish called Masamorra morado. Then we helped her make crema de leche, which is basically fresh, homemade whipped cream, and ate a heaping bowl of that, too.  I seriously thought I would burst.

On Tuesday, we were invited to lunsh in Coya with Taray and Damiana, and had soup with bread there. Then we returned to Lamay to have a second lunch with Josefina and her family. We ate cuy (guinea pig),  baked banana, potato, sweet potato,  a mini omelet, rocoto relleno (stuffed spicy pepper),  plus two other dishes we couldn’t identify. We left there, once again, completely stuffed.

FIVE.

Some people are really excited about taking a break from blogging during vacation, but I am pretty excited about catching up. So keep an eye out for more updates!

SIX.

Because I pretty much owe you for my blogging silence, I’m going to give you a gift. I want to introduce you to a truly fantastic new band, and you can download their music for FREE here.

I know, I’m pretty generous. So go check out Sons & Daughters.

Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support!