Thursday, May 28, 2009

La Finca

Oh, how it gives me joy to write you all. Thanks so much for the prayers, they are felt and really appreciate. It will literally take an army of prayer warriors for us to be effective this summer. we are so desperate for Gods spirit and presence. The team arrived at the camp safely monday night about 12-2 am. they came in 5 buses. they came loaded down with bags but eager from the onset. despite the fact that it was almost 2 am they all came to check and make sure they could just head to bed... they didnt want to miss anything. We got started with traing tuesday morning and it has been pretty much non stop since. We have a professor, Dr. David Sills, from Southern seminary in Louisville here with us this week doing teaching and traingin. He has taught about the missionary call- which has been so good for our group seeing as how everyong is still in college or just out and so eager to do what God has for them. They are eager to be obedient to Gods word and leading. We have also had sesssions on the world religions that are prevalent here (mormonism, adventists, catholism, withcraft, annimism) and most of the time in most villages it is a crazy blend of several. This is a oral culture so teaching with outlines and sermon style is often ineffective and definitely not reproducible when you leave. We are learning about how and why to story and have begun the task of learning bible stories in spanish to teach from. Because they are an oral culture stories are what they know and learn from and thus reproducible. I am excite about the challenge and adventure of learning how to tell the gospel through stories.

We are all anxious to get out to the villages but know that training is important. We are beginning to bond and I (of course) have LOVED meeting new people. I am sure already I have made long term friends. It is so cool to see how God has uniquely shaped our lives and shown us his grace and brought us all here for this time to labor alongside each other.

I must end now. Back to training. I miss you each so much but know that I am loving it here and cant wait to share the good news of Christ.

Continue to pray for my intimacy with Christ and our last 2 days of training. I will be back in Lima on Saturday for over night.

Trusting Him!

5 comments:

  1. Love and miss you so very much! Praying for you daily!!!!

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  2. Celeste,
    You don't know how great it is to hear from you today! It is even better to hear that you are loving it, learning, eager to work, and forming unity in the body of Christ there with lasting relationships....Sounds great! I'm also eager for you to share what you are learning with the story telling process. I heard a missionary a few months ago talking about a culture that is similar. Thanks so much for the update. I'm praying for you, and I love you very much!!!

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  3. Jim came by tonight and helped me get set up to post on your blog. We are praying for you every day and know God is going to use you in a wonderful way. Royce's surgery went great. We were home by 11:30 this morning and he is walking without crutches. He starts PT tomorrow. Know that you are in our hearts and our prayers. We really miss our girls!!
    Love you,
    Sandra

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  4. Celeste,
    We are keeping up with you posts. We would love to be in Peru with you. We had such a great time down there in December as a family. Wow, wish we could smell South America! We are praying for you and will remind the Elder's of your work tomorrow in our Elder meeting.

    Take care my friend and make disciples!

    Riley

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  5. Cecil!!!!! i'm so grateful for this post. I feel like i'm right there with you. i've thought of you and prayed for you multiple times a day, and I cannot wait for more posts. I'll send you e-mail updates if anything interesting happens on this side of the globe :) You are cherished, loved, and missed more than you know. Estoy orando por ti durante su aventura en Peru. Dios te Bendiga mi amiga...hermosa. Te amo!

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