Todo Poderoso!!

Wow! What a fabulous day we had in the Lord at SAM Academy. Today was our outreach on the plaza in town. Kenji (8th) and Jacob (12th) played guitar while the rest of us attempted to sing our hearts out. There is alot of noise around the plaza with motocars, traffic, vendors selling their wares, whistles blowing etc...but we just started singing and prayed God would bring a crowd; He did. Several students including Victoria shared about their faith and something God had taught them or brought them through. I know the kids were nervous beforehand, but you have never guessed it once they started. Even one of our new teachers shared while a student translated her testimony. We handed out our tracts and asked if there were any who had a need we could pray for or who wanted to know more about Jesus. The angels are singing in Heaven-- we have 4 new brothers in Christ (Cesar, Gender, Luis, and William). What joy has filled my heart as I witnessed and spoke with people and watched our students share with them as well. Praise God with us for His protection and watchcare and for His work in our lives and the lives of these new brothers. Please pray for them by name as they begin their walk with the Lord in a place that is not easy and full of oppression and poverty.

Earthquake

I feel the earth, move, under my feet...I feel the sky tumbling down, a tumbling down... Wow! Today, Victoria and I were in town getting something notarized so we were in a concrete 2 story building when the earth started shaking. It scared us to death needless to say. All the people began to run out of the bldg. It rocked the bldg. but everyone was safe. I cannot even imagine one that was bigger. God is our Protector; we are praising Him tonight for watching over us.

Peruvian style Birthday "13"

Victoria is 13! What a day we had. We enjoyed a quiet a.m. together having breakfast and praying (I was crying as I prayed over her),and she opened her gifts from Miss Kathy (thanks). We spent lunch with a Peruvian family who is in SAM Mission; we ate pollo a la brasa y papas fritas. The girls had made a cake for Victoria, and then we drove out of town to enjoy fresh coconuts and juice, sugarcane stalks (which you chew and suck the juice out of), and other fresh fruits at a roadside stand.

Later we went over to a friend's house who is a pastor here, and she and some of our Peruvian friends had a surprise party for Victoria. It was so sweet of them as many do not have much, but they each gave her a gift and they made a poster with birthday wishes on it. I had taken Victoria to Lima in Nov. as her gift from me, so I knew the day would not be filled with lots, but God richly blessed her through others. That is just like Him!

Christmas

We had the blessing of being able to watch another missionary's home over Christmas for almost a week. They live out of town on a lake with air conditioning and a real "American" kitchen. We cooked the turkey I bought in Lima in Nov. which I brought back in a suitcase :) ; it was delicious. We invited a friend, Jennifer, who is a pastor here of a local church to eat with us. In the a.m. we opened all the fun gifts some had sent (especially Mr. Rick and Miss Kim) and ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We had lunch with another group of missionaries who live out there, so our bellies were full by nighttime!