Spiritual Warefare

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

How many of you as you read these verses above did not even feel the need to continue reading them  through because you have all but memorized them? They are very familiar to all of those who have spent any time in a church but how real are they to us? Do we truly understand that we stand in an actual battle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness? Yes, of course we do you say, who doesn't? I'll ask again, do we truly understand?

If we did, and I know I don't, we would live our lives so much differently. We would react to situations differently and most of all we would PRAY differently.

As of late the Lord has gently been directing us to open our eyes to this realm, to understand that we have not only been walking in the midst of a battle but that the one we are about to enter will be intense. It is our desire to learn and live the principles the Lord has set for us here in Ephesians chapter 6 in order to be equipped, not just for the mission field but for daily life. There is a presence out there that we have long ignored. We have known it existed in word only and we have been ill prepared for the attacks of this enemy. It is our desire to know more, to learn more and walk daily with the entire armor of God in place recognizing just who our enemy is and that his intent is only to tear down and destroy.

Please pray for us as we continue preparing our hearts and lives for the mission the Lord has called us to. We have sensed the Lord's direction in many ways but most of all with regard to how we should prepare ourselves spiritually. The above commentary is just one of the areas in which we feel the Lord challenging us grow in. PRAY THAT WE DO!

We continue on in the everyday preparations, work on the house and sales of the unneeded items. As the weather breaks we will plan a work day here on the house and yard sales to sell off the remaining items that we will not be able to move. We have come to the conclusion that we will be selling our house, thank you for your prayers, the Lord has spoken clearly to us with regard to this decision.

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

We would also like to have Eddy posting here more often in Spanish for those of you who are following and would like to hear a bit more from his perspective. Please be patient with us. Continue to pray that the Lord will strengthen us and speak to us continually especially giving attention as to when we will leave for Peru. One specific request that we have is for favor with the Peruvian Embassy here in New York. Eddy has tried without fail to contact them in order to apply for the children's passports. Once he does get through we will have some other fairly high hurdles to jump but nothing too big for our God, please pray for favor here. Myself (Lisa) will have to wait until we arrive to Peru and at some point it seems I can apply for residency but I am not sure how long that will take. Finally we ask you to begin praying for God's provision for this mission. He has already settled our hearts to know that not one thing will be overlooked, nothing will go without notice.

"And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things."But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."

Finally brethren, pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints--and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel

Initial Preparations

After nine months of serving the people in Lima Peru, three months more than we had expected, we returned home to continue seeking the Lord's will for our lives with respect to Peru. In the last three months that we spent serving in Lima, the Lord opened many doors for us and knit our hearts together with the people there. When the day came for us to finally say goodbye, we did so with hesitancy. On the one hand we felt the Lord's perfect peace about leaving at that particular point in time but on the other hand we felt drawn to stay, to continue on in the work that had begun to bloosom. Ultimately we followed the Lord's direction and returned home to seek Him more diligently concerning His will for us. There were so many unknowns, but one thing was for certain, we desired to return.

For months we have saught the Lord and struggled against our own wills. We have questioned the timing, the provision and an assorted number of other factors with regard to returning to the mission field. All along the Lord continued to speak to our hearts and keep His vision within reach.

As we approach our tenth month here in the States we feel the Lord calling upon us more earnestly to take heed unto His call. We can now say that we are confident that the Lord has called us to return to Peru and to continue in the work that was begun, to build upon that foundation which was laid. The Lord has clearly showed us to commit our works unto Him and that He will direct each and every one of our steps. We are now in the initial stages of preparation and are proceeding with the intent that we must be ready to leave as soon as the Lord provides the green light, at this point it seems to us that it will be circumstantally as soon as we are financially able to do so.

One of the largest decisions we must make will be in respect to our house. Eddy is working very hard to either have it ready to rent, or put up on the market. Please pray for us to have wisdom in this area and to be obedient in whatever the Lord shows us. We ask you to continue to pray for us, that we will be completely obedient to the Lord, even when the directions are difficult to step into.

We anticipate this journey to be one of faith... please continue to ask the Father for increased faith on our part, for we have come to know that without it we can do nothing. We want to see the Lord provide each and every step of the way, we desire that He receive all of the Glory, Honor & Praise!

The Preparation of the House

Commit your works to the LORD, And your thoughts will be established.

Tuning Into God's Will

You may have noticed that this website looks a bit different, we thought it was time for a change. We also thought that it was high time to update all of our followers, that is to say if we have any left. We know it has been nearly nine months since our last post, nine months since we left Peru. We have spent our time praying and wrestling with the Lord for direction and we think the moment has finally come to update you all... stay tuned...

Our Initial Goodbyes

Tonight was our last bible study with our little group so we did something a bit special for them. Unfortunately a few people were not able to join us due to their work and sick children but one of the ladies brought a friend. Her name is Esperanza and she really liked the study, she was planning to come every Wednesday not realizing that this was our last meeting. The study was especially long with many questions. We carried them over into our time of fellowship and carried on until well after 10 PM. We made bocaditos (mini sandwiches) and ordered a nice cake from Torta's Gaby (our favorite postre shop) to enjoy with the group. We are very reluctant to leave this little flock as we see their hearts so eager to receive the word and with so many questions. We have been meeting with them one on one to disciple them and try to ensure they have a place or person to fellowship with after we leave. It truly is our desire to stay here and minister to them but it seems that the Lord is not leading us to do this at this time, maybe in the future?

Marisol, Blanca (behind Marisol), Esperanza, Silvana, Jesusa and Eddy.

Josiah playing with one of the few toys left in his room. We've begun sorting, selling and giving away stuff in preparation for the big pack. This time next week we will be headed for Miami were we will visit with family for a few days before heading on to Rochester. Until then, please continue to pray for us here and the sheep we are ministering to.

Visitors, visitors, visitors!

We had our fourth visitor leave this past week, Grampie. My father (Lisa) came just in time for Hadassah's third birthday, what a nice present it was for her to reunite with her Grandpa.

The first morning he was here he was able to join Hadassah and her classmates as they sang Happy Birthday to her. It was her last day of school as they were entering into vacation for a few weeks and we will be returning home now in another week and a half. Hadassah did not want to leave Grandpa's side for the first day or so.

Another blessing for Grampie was that he was able to see Hadassah dance in her school the second day he was here. She was such a doll, as were all of the little girls dressed as mermaids.

The first three days of Grampie's trip were busy, the third one was the actual day of her birthday and we had a party here in the house for her.

We asked a girl from church to help us make a cake, it was so cute. We had a lot of the family and our friends help us out with the preparations for the party, it turn out so nice.

Hadassah with her gifts and the "two Lucianas."

When I asked Hadassah the next day what her favorite part of the party was she replied "Luciana."

A visit from "Barnabas."

Who when he came and had seen the grace of God, was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.

This past week we said good-bye to our pastor as he returned home to the States. Although he spent just a handful of days with us here in Peru, we were extremely blessed and encouraged by the time we were able to spend with him. He challenged and exhorted us and left us to remember that we should cleave all the more unto the Lord our God.

Pastor Mark & Eddy in a very dense fog at Larco Mar.

It was great for us to be able to introduce him to the people whom we have been ministering with and to. He was able to share a few times with the people here and they were deeply touched by his testimony and passion for the Lord. He and Eddy told me that there did not seem to be a dry eye in the church at Santa Rosa the Sunday he shared with the people there. Pastor Mark was also able to join Eddy and Americo as they ministered to the inmates in the prison this past Tuesday as well.

Pastor Mark and Brian, Sunday morning service at Iglesia Cristiana Koinonia - SURCO.

I was especially blessed by Pastor Mark's opportunity to teach Sunday morning. After eight months of messages in only Spanish it was nice to be able to just relax and listen freely without my brain working extra hard to understand every detail. The body in Surco was equally blessed by the profound message he gave on prayer.

The church at Santa Rosa.

Santa Rosa is a village about an hour and a half from Surco. Eddy has been preaching there every Sunday afternoon now for about four months. The congregation seems to be growing every week and Eddy has become quite attached to this little flock. Almost every family there is affected by drugs and alcohol and often times share their struggles with him. After Eddy taught on Sunday afternoon he let Mark share what was on his heart. Mark sensed the leading of the Holy Spirit to share his own personal testimony and the hearts of the people were extremely touched. One young man who is addicted to drugs had been invited week after week to join the service but he never made it. Eddy gave him a special personal invitation this week and he not only came but after the service shared with Eddy that he needs to have the Lord in his life, please keep him in your prayers.

We ended the week with our home bible study. We were very excited that Pastor Mark was able to join us for this ministry. In the short time that our Pastor visited with us he touched the lives of the people here, as did his daughter and another friend, who visited us in the prior weeks. We thank them for taking the time out of their busy lives to come and minister to the flocks here and to reinforce what we have shared with the people here.

We are grateful to the Lord to allow us this opportunity to come and know His heart for the people of Peru. We continue to pray and seek Him for vision as to our future here in this country. We are very reluctant to go but at this time it seems like we should return home to continue in prayer with regard to this matter. Pray for the disciples that have been made here and for others to come in and take our place to continue in the work.

"Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."

Last night we paused in our study of the gospel of John to show the video Countdown to Eternity (watch it for yourself: http://www.creationists.org/countdown_to_eternity/english.html.) A few months ago we had a conversation about the last days and the signs of the second coming of Jesus with some of the people attending the bible study. Thanks to a few of you out there we were able to get this DVD to show to the people here. We made some fliers and passed them out to the people working in the near by market as well as to a few ladies in the park. Many of the people who have begun to come faithfully to the study also brought friends and family. In total we had eighteen visitors in our living room.

A couple that we have been getting to know over these past seven moths offered to help us set up and minister to the people. We made a lot of popcorn and arranged our living room into a small theatre. Eddy's brother let us borrow a bigger TV (we have just a small one that his other brother has let us borrow for the kids) and the neighbor downstairs (who has now become a regular) lent us her chairs. We were extremely blessed to see all the people file into our home last night. Three people whom we had never met came as a result of the fliers. Blanca, the lady Eddy met in the Internet location, returned again and brought a friend too. We have decided to continue showing other various Christan movies every other Friday night for the remainder of our time here. We are very excited about the next one which will be Fireproof.

After the movie we had a great time of questions and answers. We thank the Lord for bringing along Americo and Lucho to help out.

Another exciting development is that we are praying about adding an additional bible study on Saturday nights. As it stands right now many people are having difficulty making it by 7:30 PM on Wednesday nights due to work. We also would like to invest as much time as we can into these young sheep before we leave. Please pray with us for the Lord to raise up a man to stand in our place while we are away. As the time draws nigh for our departure we are beginning to see into our future and understand what the Lord has for us but continue to seek Him for all of the details. We know that He is working everything out according to His perfect plan and we are just waiting patiently on Him.

Please also pray for Eddy as he and Americo have begun witnessing in one of the prisons here. Americo had been going for about a month by himself and realized the need for an English speaking partner to share with the international prisoners. He asked Eddy to pray about joining him and the following week Eddy did so. It has been on Eddy's to take part in these kinds of ministries such as prisons or hospitals since we arrived and we are very glad that the Lord has provided an opportunity for him to take part. The day is a long one for the guys but they have had great fellowship thus far and are being thoroughly blessed by the ministry there in the prison. Two weeks from now our pastor will arrive to visit and Eddy has asked permission for him to be able to minister in the prison as well. When the sister they are working with heard this she arranged for a special meeting for them in an auditorium, so they are going to have the chance to share with the international prisoners for three hours!

Eddy asks you to pray for Christopher and Bill, they both accepted the Lord during Eddy's first visit to the prison and he was very touched by the time he spent with them.

We have felt so blessed lately as we look around and see all the Lord is accomplishing through us here in Peru. Of course with great blessings also come great trials. Please continue to pray for us for strength and wisdom.

Josiah and Hadassah testing out the new movie theatre.

Americo and Oninxha

The refreshment table, makeshift but you would never know it!

Unfortunately I could not capture all of the guests in one photo.

Yes I know, this one has nothing to do with the movie but it is a great picture of the kids playing with their friend Joshua. They were all screaming at the very top of their lungs in the stairwell, our poor neighbors, it is a wonder they still talk to us.

I missed a few weeks worth of updates but I do hope I can get back on and post about our friend Crystal's visit last week. Even more stories of how our Lord is moving in the lives of the people here. I also sent an email to some of you about sending us any used Christian or children's DVD's to bless the people here with. We can easily see from last night that the people are hungry to learn more and these materials could be put to good use. Let us know if you have anything to donate and we will arrange to have it brought to us in the next few weeks. Thank you all for your prayers and dedication to lifting this ministry up.