Blow The Whistle

…and we’re off!

I’m elated about our work.  In the year that I’ve been here in Puno, I feel for the first time satisfied in our work.  It has been a constant struggle to become constantly motivated to go out and disciple and especially make new contacts.  There are several reasons why it was such a stumbling block, one being that each of my partners in the past were not self-motivated or goal-oriented folk, another being that our training left us with a drastic learning curve as we entered the field, but that is something that is being fixed for future missionaries.

On our way back from Cusco I had talked to Sammy about the possibility of leaving Juliaca if at a certain point we were not growing the way we wanted to be growing.  It pained me to talk like that about a place where we have two strong contacts.  I thought how unfair it would be to them if we left, but at the same time I was thinking about the necessity to plant churches.  That is our mission after all!  The very next day after getting back from Cusco, we started a new evangelism effort to where as a whole team we go out and make a bunch of contacts in one place for each partner once a month.  We had talked about putting on a huge event, but I felt God was telling me we needed to knock on doors.  WHAT?!  I was thinking, we can’t do that!  That’s what the Jehova’s Witness do!  People are going to think we are JW!  We did it anyway.  Usually, when we do an event we will make 20 contacts, and then it’s a challenge to find their homes, and they may not be genuinely interested.  That day we got 17 new contacts!  We haven’t met with all of them yet, but with the 6 that we have met with they are all genuinely interested and we are continuing their lessons with them.

I am so humbled to see how God is working in Juliaca.  When I was doubting Him, he was there alongside us making a miracle.  And on top of that, there is a girl that has moved from Puerto Moldinado who is already a member of the Naz Church and she wants to host a cell-group in her home.  I am rebosando with joy!!!  I am overflowing with joy!!!  God has a miraculous plan for Juliaca.  My prayer, and I ask that it be yours also, is that God does a miracle in these places.  We only have less than 7 months left, and I know God can move His powerful hand in these places to place His church.

Also, there is some exciting news that I want to share with you all, but I can’t just yet.  Just know, it has to do with my future.  At the end of February I’ll be able to share.  It’s amazing to see God’s work right now.

 

New Years Resolution

This is a post that I jotted down last night while returning back to Puno from Cusco:

Dear Supporters,

I am only going to apologize this one last time for my neglect on this blog.  It’s tradition that people make New Years Resolutions, but from a  Christian perspective, I find NYR too secular and shallow.  If something is wrong in your life it shouldn’t take a certain time fo the year to push someone into making it right.  As much as I feel this way.  I’m making a NYR only because I’ve realized my fault at this time of the year.  My NYR is to be more responsible about making regular blog entries to keep YOU better informed.

Tonight, as I’m riding back to Puno from Cusco, having had the blessing to have seen Machu Picchu (my Christmas present this year), I felt a burden for you, my supporter.  Actually, it’s been an itch in my brain-lobes for quite a while now.  You are just as involved in this mission as I am.  You may think that’s silly and that’s not true, but how couldn’t it be?  If you were not sending your prayers and money, how could I be here?  How could I be serving God?  One of the main reasons I want to write this post is again to thank you all.  In this very moment as I’m writing on a very bumpy bus and wondering how I will read this later to publish online, I am tremendously humbled by my unimportance.  I am Trevor Ruhland Allen and it is only by God’s grace that I am able to serve my Lord in Peru.  It’s quite astounding to find myself where I am.  I look behind and I see the lost pathetic man who I was.  I ask often, how is it that God would want me?  God’s grace is bigger than my insufficiency.  That’s the answer.  I am willing to serve my King humbly and He, in turn, uses me.  I thank you all for being willing to send your support which is part of your service to the Lord and then mine.  Thank you for your obedience!

continue to support me.  But I beg that you would support as much, if not more, through prayer.  The truth be told, things are not going according to plan.  Our plans as human beings are fallible and likely to change.  Sixto has gone and Sammy is now my new partner.  He is my 4th partner.  I feel that every time I’ve changed partners we have had to start over.  I believe that this is what God wanted all along.  There has been nothing that has happened through which God has not shown me His truth.  I love Christ’s statement to Pilot when He tells him his purpose on earth was to be witness to the truth (John 18:37) and He continues to do so today.  As crappy as everything seems, I know GOd has it all purpose-filled.  everything trial that I’ve had has been a blessing from God and I thank Him.  I believe Sammy is the partner I was destined to have.

There is a reason why I’m asking you for your prayers.  Even though everything seems positive at this point… and it’s another lesson that I’m learning.  I didn’t think so, but I was depending on myself or on team strategies to reach people and change their hearts.  I thought the tone of my voice or a slight brush on the arm were keys to opening these people’s hearts.  But how foolish was I!  I treated the gospel like I was selling worldly life insurance or some other product when my attitude should’ve been focused on the power of God.  He hardens and softens hearts (Romans 9:18).  It’s not my will but His.  There is nothing I can do to change the people of Puno’s hearts.  And I’m ashamed that I subconsciously thought that I could.

In the States we view fasting as maybe a dead spiritual practice.  If you don’t, then you’re part of the minority.  Here I’ve realized the amazing spiritual discipline that it is.  Instead of depending on my INterpersonal skills to reach people, I’ve refocused on God.  I’m pleading out to God in fasting a prayer weekly on Tuesdays.  We have 7 months left of work and the fruit is hard to reap in this culture of Puno.  It is a cold culture with hard hearts and any religious ties are with the Catholic Church which is laced with satanic paganism.  I wonder if you would help Sammy and me as we do all we can do… depend on God.  Esther asked the Jewish nation to fast with her as she went in to speak with the King.  I ask that you would fast with us.  Fast breakfast, lunch, something, two meals, one meal, or all day.  Fast with us on Tuesday as we search for God.  Fast with us as we plead to God His work and change in the people of Puno.  We have little time left, and humanly we would consider it a lost deal, but I have faith that God has a plan here.  If you decide to fast with us, would you please tell me?  ruhlandt@gmail.com

We are seeing some fruit.  Not all is bad.  Here’s some good stuff happening for which we are praising the Lord!

• Diana, in Juliaca, is showing spiritual maturity and asking questions I see as inspired by the Holy Spirit’s conviction in her life
• Yeny, a girl who has recently been coming to the church in Ilave, is a guitarist.  This is something we’ve been looking for as we need someone to take charge of the worship ministry in the church there once we are gone
• A group of women in Ilave with whom we have been meeting weekly to study the Bible continue to show interest and some have given their hearts over to Christ
• There is a lot of spiritual growth that we are seeing in Manuel and there is evidence of his decision effecting his family

Things You’ve Missed!

I’m not exactly hard pressed to do anything, except for maybe fashioning two pairs of cardboard angel wings, but I’m certainly not going to try wielding a sharp blade first thing in the morning before I actually finish my first cup of coffee… yes, the first, and there are ones to follow.  I figured, since I’m not too busy and Amanda and Chad aren’t back with my baking ingredients I have time to give everyone a update on what’s going on in my life and in our ministry while I melt listening to Christmas music.

What’s the newest and craziest news?  Sixto left.  New and crazy.  This happened about a month ago, now.  I suppose I won’t go into details other than to say that he was being disobedient and was dismissed.  So, I’m now on my fourth partner, Sammy.

It was pretty neat how God worked this all out.  The very moment we said good-bye to Sixto, Pastor Herman said his wife was visiting Arequipa and was coming back to Puno with a visitor… Sammy.  He had worked in Arequipa, then when his partner left, moved to Pulcalpa, and he was coming to just visit Puno, because he’d never been here.  He told me after all the stuff that he didn’t want to come work here, but God changed his heart after the offer was given to him.

I’m very happy about the change.  Sammy has a good head on his shoulders.  He is sure of what he wants from our plant areas, and has a good idea of how to get there.  This is exactly what I had been searching for and pushing to get from my past partners, ORGANIZATION.

Do I feel like we are starting over?  Yes, in some ways.  But, I have hope and faith in God that when all is said in done, I will have been obedient and things will be what they wanted them to be.  It certainly was not my plan to have had four different partners and have to change the game plan several different times.  I don’t know exactly what God’s doing in some situations, but in others I see His hand clearing moving and molding.

The upside to have had four different partners is that I’m a PRO at working with other people.  Okay, maybe not a pro because last week I did find myself almost eating my fingers when we couldn’t communicate very well.  The difference is how God has given me so much patience.

So, tomorrow, we are putting on a Christmas production in the Plaza de Armas in Ilave.  The kids in our Sunday School there are going to act out the birth of Jesus.  We have all the costumes, thank goodness to a shipment of five boxes (each weighing 425 lbs, no joke) of cloths that also included bed sheets (which are our temporary wardrobe).  Please be praying that God will use this as an opportunity to bring people into recognition of their need for Him.  These past three days have been serious partying.  I’m praying that God will allow these people who hit rock-bottom to come see this play and be reminded of the hope we find in Christ.  Please join me in prayer.

Also, be praying for Sammy and me in general.  Sammy has been feeling discouraged because this mission field is so different than anything he’s used to, in that the people are colder and more closed off.  He took it pretty hard when two people we approached on the road said they didn’t want to hear about God.  Pray that God continues to confirm his calling.  Pray that we can continue to work well in a team.  It’s been a blessing up to this point.  Pray that it continues to be a smooth ride.

 

God Is Bigger

Everything is silver.  The sky, the thin fog, the mountains.  If I were outside of this bus, I’m sure my skin would even chime in and glow a white-blue.  All around the mountains are laden with tall grass.  It’s grass that if you brush up against the wrong way it will give you a stern prick in the calf, as if to say, watch where you’re going, can’t you see I’m a plant sitting here doing planty-things?  During this time of the year it becomes so dry it starts to look like straw.  When it’s dry like this it reflects light and tonight, the poky grass is blazing white, and it looks like the mountains have been lightly brushed with a layer of snow.  It’s pretty, and it makes me feel good that I’m here.

I’m in the front-ish section of a bus/van/human-death-trap.  The seats are possibly homemade and are covered with cheap fabric tucked in at the corners willy-nilly.  Who knows who, or even what has traveled on these seats, we just passed a bus similar to the one we occupy with live sheep tied to it’s roof, there’s no doubting anything that you can pack in these babies.  The best policy is to not touch anything with a bare hand.  This particular bus may have been tailored to my very size, because my knees are pressed against the metal up-rise that separates the human-cargo area from the driver and the two passengers along-side him.  On top of the up-rise rests part of our movie equipment, and I start to get worried as I feel hot air blowing on my knees.  I then realize that the up-rise is where the motor is located.  I have to check to feel if the metal is getting too hot against the equipment and find that it will survive, so I snuggle down into it and welcome the warmth.

I look across the man to my left, who’s head is flopping around dangerously… and curiously so, at that, for that head being attached to a man that I think is still alive.  Passed said man the window yields a spectacular view of the Altiplano, that means high plains.  That’s where we are.  We’re on our way back from Ilave going to Puno but I’m in the sky, riding this feeling.  I take in the spectacle of the thin fog, otherwise invisible if the moon wasn’t present, and through that the shimmering lake, that is the Lake Titicaca.  My head swims with all the imagery and the memories of these past two days.

I have my headphones pushed tightly into my ears so I don’t have to hear the chola singing on the radio.  Rather, I’m listening to Jadon Lavik.  I’m listening to hymns.  God’s awesome power, His awesome plan, His awesomeness is awing me.  I’m thinking about yesterday.

I was in a much nicer bus than this one, but I was doing something similar to what I’m doing now… thinking.  I was thinking about how Nelson went home and how that is another person gone.  That made me think about a few days before that when Sixto and I heard Queen singing, another one bites the dust HUH! And I was also thinking about ways that I’ve grown and the future to come.   Then, rather out of nowhere, I began to feel strange.  It was a feeling I had never felt before.  My head began to feel light and my thoughts began to spread out thinly.  At the moment I was eating a piece of bread and I started to wonder if someone had drugged me.  But, the thing that got me was, I was on the edge of panicking.  I started to pray.  I asked God why He was making me feel this way.  But, then I realized this was nothing from God, this was the enemy.  Throughout this whole week, Satan has been trying to set up stumbling stones before our feet and I knew this was another.  I sent the other’s in the team a text message to get some prayer going.  When we got to Ilave, I told Sixto about my near One Flew Off The Cuckoo’s Nest episode and we prayed.

Later that day we went to the marketplace.  We had an appointment with an older lady who sells fruit.  At the time I didn’t remember her name, but we asked again.  Her name is Serafina.  Serafina has a kind and sweet heart, as sweet as the fruit that she sells in her small booth.  She has two platforms that are designed like steps so there are three different levels.  She sits between them and tends to her customers.  I’m pretty sure that she has dentures as well.  We walked up to her stand and began to chat.  Sixto then told her I had something I wanted to talk to her about.  So, I pulled out of my backpack a lesson book that we normally go through with new contacts.  The first three lessons are sin, salvation and repentence… I like to do them all in one, because that just makes sense to me.  Serafina doesn’t know how to read.  I gave her the book, but she put it aside and listened, even after I had asked her if she could read.  While I sat on a short stool talking with her many customers and even other store owners came to see what the gringuito was doing talking to Serafina.  I had a chance to show off the Aymara that I knew (that’s the local native indian language), which thrilled them all that a white boy could speak their language.  Through this one lesson with Serafina we got three other people’s names to visit and talk more with about the Bible and Serafina gave her life to Christ.

At the restaurant we frequent on Wednesdays in Ilave we also had the opportunity to talk to the lady that mans the counter.  We found out her name is Yovana.  I’m so thankful for the partner I have, because he can and will talk to just about anybody about anything.  I think he would make a good politician, actually.  But, he a while ago had mentioned to Yovana who we are and what we’re doing here.  Yesterday, we asked her to come to our church in Ilave.  She said yes, and was enthusiastic about it.

Even later that day, I had gone to Richard’s house to do a study with his family.  When I got there I found out that Manuel, his father, wasn’t home yet.  I went in anyway.  I got to meet with his mother and a relative of theirs that I never had an opportunity to really talk to.  I think she is a cousin of theirs.  She was elated that I was there and was checking the window periodically to see if her husband was arriving.  He eventually did get there, and that’s when I found out they were very interested in getting plugged into some kind of church somewhere, but didn’t know where to go.

I’m looking at the moon and I’m thinking how amazing God is.  Chris Tomlin is playing now, and his words are right in sync with my thoughts.  Lord, you are the creator of everything!  You are so amazing.  And it makes me think even more about what He is doing here in Peru!

Today is Thursday.  Today is the day we go to Juli.  There is a family that lives in Juli who amazes me everytime we go out there.  Today, Fredi, the man of the house, invited family to come to his house to meet us.  Sixto and I were not aware of this.  We walked into where we normally do our Bible study with the Viscarra family to find that Fredi had taken out one of the beds, mopped the floor, and placed stackable chairs in the room.  He had opened his home for the Lord’s work.  When people started arriving we welcomed them into the small study area.  We greeted 8 new people into Fredi’s home and had 11 in total present.  One of them was a 21 year old young man who two weeks ago had a serious accident.  He and his friends had gotten drunk and stupidly had gotten into a car.  The car rolled 3 times.  Yhon, is his name.  He had split his head open in the accident.  His life has been changed dramatically.  The left side of his face is paralyzed and he may of had some brain damage.  When Sixto had finished giving his message and asked who wanted to give their lives to the Lord, Yhon raised his hand without waiting more than a moment after the proposal.  All 8 people who came gave their lives to the Lord.

We are coming around the bend to the city.  Puno.  The city lights reflect off the lake as long lines running down deep into the ground.  It’s a pretty image to think about.  Right now, God’s joy is like rays of light shining deep down into my heart.  I don’t know if all the contacts we made these past few days are long-lasting.  I don’t know if all 8 people we met tonight in Juli are sincere in their decision for Christ.  But, what I do know is that Satan tried to pull us down hard, and he lost.

The bus wobbles as the driver’s probably woken from a quick bout of sleepiness.  I clutch a little tighter to the picture frame that’s pressed against my chest.  It’s an image of Christ.  He is hunched forward being whipped.  His skin is split open and there are cliche-drawn blood drops dripping from his body.  Around it are other little figurines.  It’s called El Señor de Huanca (The Lord of Huanca).  It’s an idol.  It comes from the Catholic Church.  Fredi gave it to us off his wall so that we could get rid of it for him.  He doesn’t want idols in his home.  It’s a reminder to me of the promising change that we are seeing in our contacts.  It’s a reminder to me that God is bigger.

Spiritual Caffeine

I am a coffee fiend, and being such there is no real chance I can make it out of the house in an appropriate mental state without my morning sludge.  Another reason I make coffee a part of my morning routine is because it keeps me regular.  But, lately, my normal coffee intake has not been sufficing my bodily needs.  My flesh is becoming immune and requiring that I up my dosage!  Monday I drank three thermoses of coffee.  And it was so good.

I may be exaggerating my coffee addiction.  I wouldn’t let myself get past drinking more than what I am now.  After all, I have to ration my Maxwell House.

This will be a shorter entry, because I’m about to leave the house, and I have yet to brush my teeth or put socks on my chilly piggies.  It is always cold in Puno, as we are coming to find out.  I thought for sure there was going to be a part of the year I could at least walk out of the house embarking on work without having to carry a lighter coat and a heavier coat, but my expectations were put to shame.  Puno is always spring weather.  If it were always fall weather I would blissfully ignore my numb finger tips and chapping lips, but it’s more like spring, bleh.

Enough with negativity!  I’m doing the Lord’s work and His work and blessings far outweigh the discomfort of poopy weather.  Besides having coffee every morning, what the Lord has been showing me in our contacts lives is what keeps me going.

Tuesday, I decided to take a day of fasting.  I had to work that day, but there was also a time that I was able to sit down by myself and pray and study.  It was a powerful time.  I’ve honestly never fasted privately and my experience was… I need to do it again.  Fasting to me had always seemed like an unnecessary ”work.”   But, I’ve come to realize that it’s more than that.  I’ll leave it at that because I’m about to leave the house!  During my prayer time I prayed for each of our contacts by name and I was encouraged in the end seeing the amount of people that we have in each place of work and how far our contacts have come.  When I sat down to pray I felt desperate and ineffective in our work, but at the end when I looked over the list of contacts I had prayed for, I was enlightened to see God’s mighty hand at work.

Over the last couple of days, God has been showing me how he is using me.  I felt really useless, seriously.  I was asking… why am I here?  But, God has been showing me what I bring to the table… and not through a lofty mentality either, but rather… maybe it would be better said that God is showing me how He can use me.  Honestly, I’m just so unqualified for this job.

Well, that gives you a quick update as to what’s what here in Puno, Peru!

Pray for:

• a man named Jaime
• a leadership course we have coming up
• all of our contacts that they continue to grow in Christ

Once Upon A Midnight Dreary

“…while I wander weak and weary” Who else is a fan of Edgar Allen Poe?  Growing up, I was convinced I was related to him… simply because he had my last name stuck somewhere in that mix.  I was really smart.  After all, in my first grade year book to answer the question, “What are you good at?” I responded, “speeling.”  This was an early sign to the future person I was to become.

But whether I belonged in a whole other class room altogether is not what I want to talk about in this post.  I know it’s been a while since I’ve written here, and I apologize every time for it, and I may even write about how I apologize about it every time as well… it’s possibly coming off as insincere, but I wish you to know, it is not.

Here’s the real issue of discussion for today.  Last Tuesday, we went to Ilave and had a pretty normal day, other than a tizzy between working mates, and later had a meeting.  We discussed how important it was that we start and end our services at rather specific times.  Something that we battle daily is the flexibility (though I’d rather say non-existence) of the hour.  We want to teach our contacts to come to church on time by starting service at a certain time and ending an hour later.  Otherwise, we are just encouraging a bad habit.  Again, this is not exactly what I want to talk about.

After our service we walked to Richard’s house.  His parent’s have recently come to know the Lord and we wanted to visit them and have a time to disciple and encourage them.  Richard’s father, Manuel, has cancer and all his life he was an atheist, but after being diagnosed with cancer he started to question things.  Then, his son, Richard, started attending our church in Ilave and he could see a change in him.  One night, Manuel was saying he just wanted it all to end, and Richard told him to not give up and to keep fighting and to give his life to Christ.  This was after we had already met with his family a couple times.  That night they all prayed and gave their lives to Christ.

We get to Richard’s house and Sixto calls his phone.  His mother picks up and tells him they are in another direction on the other side of town.  This was strange to us, considering we knew nothing about them owning another house in Ilave, though this is quite common.  It was 8:20 when we decided to go over to this other house.  I was a bit bothered because there is only transport out of Ilave to Puno til a certain time… that being 9.  I was pushing that we just went home and came back another time.  We pressed on regardless, and when we reach where we needed to start paying attention to house numbers a lady met us on the road and asked us if we were the “brothers.”  Yup!  That’s us!  She led us to a house and asked us to wait outside.  Nelson, laughing, asked Sixto who he had called.  It was in this moment that I understood something wasn’t right here.  What we came to find out was that Sixto actually called Janeth’s mother.  Oops!  Alright, we decided, we would treat it like we meant to come.

She lets us into her living room area to find Janeth’s dad and her uncle there as well.  They received us with much welcoming and said over and over how excited they were that we were there.  They had a genuine interest for us being there and asked many questions.  Listening to them talk about God and how excited they were that we were there I realized that this was a divine appointment.  Though it was a mistake, God has wanted us there.  It was awesome to see.  We did a short Bible study with them and made plans to meet with them again to continue this relationship and teaching them about God.

We did end up getting a car to Puno, but we had to pay more because it wasn’t full.  It didn’t matter though, I was thrilled about how God used us.  It wasn’t quite midnight, but it was a dreary moment for me thinking about how I just wanted to go back home.  It was certainly humbling and even terrifying to know that I could have pushed and complained to make us go home and we would have missed a beautiful opportunity to share God’s word and witness His amazing power and plan.

I Am NOT Going Home

Vacation is over.  Who likes to say those words?  There is no one on Earth that likes to say those words.  Vacation was fun.  I got to spend time with friends and family and see people I haven’t seen in forever and got to rack my brain trying to think of what their names were.  Oops.

The hardest thing was coming back.  I can’t lie.  It has been the single most hardest thing to tell my friends and family goodbye for another year and come back to a country where I had found most things get underneath my skin.  Before I left the first time round, everyone told me what a sacrifice I was giving leaving my life behind for 2 years.  At that time I thought it was silly.  I was excited out of my mind to leave the U.S. and learn about a new culture.  Now, the silver sheen has tarnished and it’s not as exciting.  It was a TRUE sacrifice to leave home this time.

Let me just say, I am not happy about people telling anyone to “not go back.”  I am blessed to have friends and family behind me that will say, “keep on going!”  This is hard work, folks.  And to even hear of someone on my team being told to not come back… it doesn’t just affect the individual, it affects the whole team.  But, I’m saying it now.  I’m NOT going home.

When I was saying goodbye to my family I stopped over at my sister’s house, Holly’s.  I got to play a little bit with Gabby-doo and when I was leaving I told her I was going back to Peru and I wouldn’t see her for a long while.  Then she said, “I’ll miss you,’ and ‘I wish you didn’t have to work in Peru.”  She’s five… and that little girl broke my heart.  I was telling Nelson, my partner, about what she said and he laughed and said, “You should have told her  ’Satan, get thee behind me!’”  But, HOW TRUE!  Reading in Ecclesisates, what is the main message.  Everything we do that is not God-centered is vanity.  I wanted so badly to stay home with little Gabby and my other nieces and nephews, but it was for selfish gain and only to appease the flesh.  It would be vanity if I stayed home.

I was talking to Kristen tonight, processing our day, when I thought about how much we were talking about going home.  We have only 11 months left.  We keep on saying that.  I told her in that moment.  We can’t be talking about going home anymore!  I can’t do that.  I will not be able to do that.

What I’ve been praying for is that God would give me some kind of sense of home here in Peru.  Give me something that would not seem so foreign.  Something I recently discovered about myself is, if I want to get in a certain mood or spirit about something, I have to put a little more work into it instead of just waiting for the feelings to come.  That’s how Christmas was for me this past year.  I had to make Christmas stockings to make it feel like Christmas.  Well, to make it feel like home, I made a lamp.  Sound silly?  I hate over head lighting, and I love reading by a lamp.  So, that’s what I did.  I made a lamp.  Something else I realized makes me feel more at home, spending more time alone.  That’s a hard one for me considering I live in a human farm.  There are people everywhere.  But, it’s something I need to do to keep myself sane.

So, there you have it.  I’m making the statement I was too scared to really say before.  I’m NOT going home.  I’m committing to this, not matter how hard it may get.  God has asked me to sacrifice my comfort and plans so, to heck with the rest.  I’m all in Lord!  To steal Kristen’s revelation, if Noah built the ark for 120 years… I’m pretty sure that I could spend 11 months in Peru.

My Friends by Song

So, here’s the deal.  The other night, I was on a bus coming back to Puno from Ilave and I had my iPod in.  Lately, I’ve been listening to Coffee Break French nearly every moment that I have an opportunity to listen to something.  Yeah, I’m moving on to my third language!  Je suis tres intelligent!  However, today I got on the bus and the last thing that I had listened to was Colbie Caillat.  I started listening to it and it amped my nostalgia to near overload!

I’m coming home in 3 DAYS!!!!!  I can’t believe how close it is now.  So, the song I was listening to made me think of a good friend I have at home and I wondered, what am I going to do when I see her in a few weeks?  Am I going to faint?

Then, I started looking for the nostalgia and I started listening to all the songs on my iPod that reminded me of friends back at home.  I was surprised to find a pretty significant amount of songs that I relate to people.  I thought, I need to make a blog of this.  So, here’s my Friends by Song List.

1.) Sarah Zajac (n. Allen)

Yea, do you remember Zoog Disney?  I can remember watching this video at the old house in between shows like “So Weird” or “Flash Forward.”  There’s another song that reminds me of Sarah hardcore, but I won’t put the video on here, you can look it up on youtube or something, “These Are Not My Pants.”  Pretty much anything ska reminds me of Sarah when we were younger!

2.) Sarah Mindek

There are many songs that remind me of Sarah.  One song that I will forever remember her for is the following:

What makes me remember this song so much was the fact Sarah told me she listened to this song when I broke up with her way back in 9th grade!  I guess she thought I was a man but I was just a little boy… true.  Ha!  There’s another song that reminds me of Sarah and that would be “Take Me Away”by Fefe Dobson.

3.) Claudia Claxon

Pretty much the whole first album of Colbie freminds me of Clau.  But, for some reason this is the song that really makes me think of her.  This is the music we used to drive around town to.  Colbie also reminds me a lot about Costa Rica, because that is the newest music that I had put on my mp3 player before leaving the country, and Clau was on that trip as well so she’s just stuck in the whole Colbie mix!

4.) Lindsay Knotts

I think Lindsay has one of the coolest tastes in music.  We really started hanging out my junior year of college.  I can remember going over and knocking on that door in… I can’t remember the name of the apartment complex on campus!  Haha, it was some tree name!  But, this song was her ringtone for a long time.

5.) Kayla Stevely

Oh, this reminds me of Kayla Stevely because I had learned this song on the guitar and then drove over to her apartment and played it for her and their apartment.  Then, we went online and looked up tickets to her show in Columbus… which was only $20 a TICKET!  I still regret not going…

6.) Maggie Smith (n. Tracy)

This is one of my favorite songs and the reason why it reminds me of Maggie is because I was supposed to sing it at her wedding.  I was excited because it was going to be my first friends wedding I was going to go to, and I was singing in it.  But then, Extreme rolled along and I had to tell Maggie I was going to be able to sing at her wedding.  I don’t think any girl wants to be told that… especially when she’s had a rough day and when she’s in the middle of a rush at Bob Evan’s… yea, I did that.  She cried and I felt like an idiot.

7.) Dad

I don’t know if my sister will remember this, but I can remember when this song was on the top playing charts on the radio.  My dad would be driving us and this song would come on and when she would sing “I wanna come over” by Dad would belt out, “NO!” along with the tune.  My sister and I used to get such a kick out of this and we would join along with him.

8.) Mom

Hahhaha!  My mom LOVED this song!  And it used to freak me out as a kid, but then she told us that the part when the spider talks was a guitar talking I thought it was awesome.  Listening to it again though, I don’t know if it was a guitar!  Hahahah

SEE EVERYONE SOOOOON!

From the Book Of the Teacher

What’s the Book Of the Teacher?  Ecclesiastes.  Found that on Wikipedia, so you know that’s right.

I’ve lately finished reading Proverbs, and I’m stunned.  I’m seriously shaken by the book and the amount of practical/poetic/relevant passages I read.  Wisdom is a timeless gift.  In Proverbs, I was struck most by how exactly opposite the U.S.A. is in character.  Solomon, the author of Proverbs, repeats time and time again illustrations of the wise vs. fools, and it seems that the U.S.A. has undertaken the role of the fool.  If you want read this, it’s a note that I wrote on Facebook about wisdom in America… or rather the lack of it.

Now that I’m done with Proverbs I’ve moved on to Ecclesiastes, the book with follows.  The very first chapter sent me into awe.  Here’s the main verse that I think the whole chapter revolves around.

“I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. ” – Ecclesiastes 1:14

Solomon nailed it right on the head, but you might be thinking… this is depressing!  If you read the end of Ecclesiastes (the conclusion) you’ll find that Solomon is saying that our works are “grasping for the wind” when we set ourselves up for self-gratification in these works, rather than making for God.

Our names and our works are going to fade from earth, whether we make a impression on society or not.  Have you tried asking a 10 year old who Nat King Cole is?  I’m sure he/she would draw a blank.  Our works come and go like the passing wind… humbling isn’t it?

Instead of putting stock in our works and being prideful in the temporal things coming from our own hands, it’s time to place our priorities in God.  Literally, everything that we do ought to be for God’s sake.  There are times I listen to music and I have a renewed fire to start writing again and want to perform, but am I ready to do it for God, or will it end in vanity.  I do the same with drawing.  I’ve always wanted to take up dance when I was a kid and sometimes I think… it’s not too late!  But, would I do it to glorify God or me?  We can enjoy in our labor, but when it ultimately is giving back to God.  There are things we have to give up, even if we don’t want to, to keep our attitude right and our relationship intimate with God if we are possibly raising ourselves up higher than Him.

So, where are your priorities?  Are you grasping for the wind?  Or are you doing all for God’s sake, whether it be typing data in a computer all day or signing a peace treaty?

Haven’t Got a Post Name…

Greetings you readers.  After a days work and partying at the church with a bonfire and a short worship service I am happy to be home with my pup on my lap ready to take this day apart and let it go as I close my eyes go to sleep.  It hasn’t been a long day, but it has been a long week.

Since working with Nelson and Sixto we have not been getting back to the house til 10 at night when we go to out places like Ilave and Juliaca.  So, that results and a tired me as I return home and a frustrated me when I realize… I’ve had no time to just sit down and rest.  But, that is the cost of this job.  I would not replace it.

Last week we ran into this guy, Franco.  He’s not the kind of guy you would think would smell good just looking at him.  He’s got rather strange nappy hair that you can’t quite figure out.  Is it dreaded?  or just dirty?  How long is it really?  And he’s rather lanky and awkward.  His occupation is almost as shocking as his appearance.  Though he may seem like a quite pot-smoker, he’s actually a public comedian.  In the States, if you saw a man in a park screaming for people to come ’round him you would probably do just the opposite of that, but in Peru it’s common and a main source of entertainment to gather around and listen to a amateur comedian make fun of… you.  Well, one day when Joel was still here we went down to Parque Pino and we saw a group of people standing round.  We went over, and who do you think stuck out like a sore thumb?  You’re right.  ME.  I got called into the center of the circle where I was interviewed and promptly danced with… while this man was dressed like a woman.  Then, I helped him beat his lady friend with a whip.  It’s part of the show… and I actually didn’t whip anyone.  Come to find out his name is Franco and we run into him again this past week while in Ilave.  He was just closing a show and we were just heading home.  I went over and surprised him and asked him if he remembered me.  OF COURSE, he said.  He asked me what I was doing here and I told him I was a missionary (not Jehovah’s Witness or Mormon, because those are always the first two things they ask).  Evangelical!  ”Oh, I’m evangelical too,” he says.  WHOA.  So, we invited him to church and talked a little more about our work and what we’re doing.  It was cool to see how God took an extremely embarrassing moment for me and made it perfect to His will.  Whether we actually see this guy again or not, the fact still remains, God was making a connection there to get my attention.

Lately, America has been heavy on my heart.  My big dream is to go to France, and I believe God has called me there and that I will end up there sometime in the future.  However, while I’m home in the U.S.A. I think God is calling me to bring truth to the surface.  Every country has it’s problems… but I think America’s are malignant and we’re not going to realize it and reach for change until we are on our death bed breathing our last breath.

Other than that, I feel that my work here has finally picked up.  I feel as though I have finally started.  It feels filled with purpose.  The Lord is good.