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! 

The Desert Song

This is my prayer in the desert
And all that's within me feels dry
This is my prayer in the hunger in me
My God is a God who provides

And this is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved
Of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flames

And I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon forged against me shall remain
I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here

And this is my prayer in the battle
And triumph is still on it's way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
So firm on His promise I'll stand

All of my life
In every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship

This is my prayer in the harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I'm filled to be empited again
The seed I've recieved I will sow


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


This song has gotten in my head lately. But I think it articulates well what I have been going through. I truly believe that God has finally led me out of the desert, which was my home for far too long. I have turned a corner, and am now in a place of joy, having found the secret to being content in all situations. And now it is time to "know I'm filled to be emptied again. The seed I've received I will sow."


Here's the thing:


God is always good, and I am always loved.


And if I can remember to give thanks in all situations, I can be joyful. I can be filled with a joy that defies understanding, joy unrelated to the situation, joy flowing from the Holy Spirit and spilling out to others.

Gone

We have now been living in Cusco for six months.

SIX MONTHS!

That means that one third of our time is already gone.

GONE.

But God has already moved and worked so much, not just through us, but also in each one of us. We are privileged to be here, to be called, to be used. It is a privilege. And I am thankful.

But like I said, God has been working, a ton. As of next week, we will have started services, with places to meet, in three of the nine church plant sites! This is HUGE! Our goal is to get church services going in all of the sites before we leave for vacation, which is just a month away.

This is a big prayer request for us right now. We have contacts in all of our places, and are discipling people in all nine places, we just need places to join them together to meet weekly. So pray specifically for continued growth and a place to meet in San Sebastian, Lamay; Kathy and Emily's places Santiago, Poroy, and Anta; and Alex and Eli's last place Urcos.

I want to stress again how important prayer is for this work. We are literally ineffective without prayer. So pray for us. Pray for our places. Pray for our contacts. Pray for our partnerships. Pray for our mother church. Pray for our pastor and Extreme leadership. Please pray.

In other news, I have been continuing to work in San Sebastian. For us, the people out in the country tend to be more receptive to the gospel. But people in the city, like San Sebastian, don't think they have time for church/God/the Bible. So the work has been slow.

But I am still working in the battered women's shelter, Casa de Acogida. Through this opportunity, I have now met many different women (around twelve different women who have stayed for a short period of time). I have been able to play with the kids and teach them Bible lessons, and work with the women as well, sharing about the love of God. I have also shown a movie there, Magdelena (the Jesus Film from a woman's perspective), the week before Easter. The women here have been very receptive, and take time out of their busy Saturday mornings to hear what I have come to share with them. And everytime we arrive, the kids shout, "LA GRINGITA!!!" Continue to pray for this ministry as well.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

For more information about the goings-on in the communities where we are working, visit our community blogs (see left sidebar).

The Church of Oropesa

Check out the video for Alex and Eli's church plant in Oropesa, and remember to pray for Alex and Eli in Saylla, Oropesa, and Urcos, and Kathy and Emily in Santiago, Poroy, and Anta.

Also pray for me in Lamay, Coya, and San Sebastian.

He is Risen Indeed

A follow-up from Easter:

We truly had a wonderful day, celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior.

It began waking up shortly before four am to get ready and head out for a sunrise service in the Plaza San Blas, downtown Cusco. We were able to worship at literally the crack of dawn, and in our first language. It was a beautiful time, followed by cinnamon rolls (homemade by Amy) in our house. I then began cooking my speciality, sweet potato casserole for our lunch. We heard a little bit of Amy's dad's Easter message online, and then chowed down on a spectacular feast, curtesy of Amy and Tyler. We were able to celebrate as a family during this time.

And Easter Sunday was a rare occasion where all of the 40/40s were in church, which never happens because we work in our church plant sites on Sundays and never make it back for service. But we invited our contacts to come to church, and all made a point of being there. Alex and Eli ended up bringing sixteen of their contacts to church.

Pastor taught Sunday school, and then turned the service over to us. Eli and Kathy directed the service, and after prayer, we started with a special music, performed by Alex and myself. I sang "How He Loves," in Spanish with Alex accompanying on guitar. I remember while I was still talking about God's love for us while introducing the song, seeing one of the women from church tear up.

Afterwards, Amy read Scripture, reading the crucification and resurrection account as told to us in John. We then had worship time, which went amazing! Seriously, the best worship we've had at church in Cusco. Pastor was then introduced to serve communion, which we took as a church family.

And then it was my turn to preach. I still have no idea why Pastor asked me to preach, but I was willing, and was really glad that I did. I just prayed for God to speak through me, and I barely used my notes (which is huge for me!). I shared, obviously, the story of Jesus' death and resurrection, and the reason we celebrate. I mostly focused on the good news of grace, which is a message not generally proclaimed here. Man, it went really well.

Afterward, we had refreshments to continue celebrating as a church family. This whole celebration thing is a big deal here because for most people in Cusco, the festivities happen on Friday, which is the main holiday, and Sunday is treated like just another day. They remember his death, but not his resurrection.

But we were all really grateful for the opportunity to share the reason for our joy: our Risen Lord.

All glory to his name.

Extreme Peru Vlog #9 One Year

February 5, 2011 we celebrated one year in Peru

Exciting News!

Tomorrow night, Friday, 29 April, I will be holding our first ever church service in Coya. I have a contact who is allowing me to use his house, so I will be inviting all of my contacts as well as all the neighbors to come to church.

Keep in mind that the ONLY other church in Coya is the Catholic church in the plaza. Everyone says that they are Catholic, and are very skeptical of other religions/churches/etc. But once you reassure them that you don't really want to change their religion, you just want them to know God, then they are more receptive.

I don't know how this will go. I've already been working there for about six months. But I know that this is where God has called me to preach the gospel, and that is always an exciting thing.

So pray, pray, PRAY! It is necessary, and it works. So pray!

I'll take pictures, and let you all see and hear what happened next week!