A couple of weekends ago there was an AFC reunion that would have been a lot of fun to go to. We missed hanging out in Aggieland and seeing old friends. At the reunion there was a display of pictures and updates of all the Aggies who are currently serving in missions. We wrote a couple of updates for the display, so I thought we would share them here.
Family Update
We have lived in Lima for almost 3 years now and as a family we have adjusted really well. We praise God for the health of our family, both physically and emotionally, and don’t take that for granted! In our short time here we have watched our youngest, Derek, grow from a 13 month old baby to a wrestling machine of a 3 year old who loves animals and can say the names of dinosaurs that his mother has never even heard of! And we have been delighted to watch our oldest boy, Jakob, go from a wide-eyed 3 and a half year old to an even more wide-eyed 6 year old who is an incredibly intelligent Kindergartner, bubbling with life and energy that is contagious to everyone around him! We are so blessed, love being married, love having 2 amazing boys to raise up in Christ, and are enjoying life here in Peru. Challenges and obstacles are frequent, but with every bump in the road we also experience victories and the reminder of the presence of God’s Holy Spirit. Last August, Wes and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. One of the things we were celebrating the most at that time was the fact that we weren’t moving! We have been through so many transitions over the years that we have moved into 12 different houses! It took 9 years to get here, and by God’s mercy and grace we’ll be here for years to come!
Ministry Update
Our team is one that has Aggies for Christ roots that run as deep as they come. Of the five families that came together 6 years ago with the dream of serving the Lord in South America, four of us have a history with and close ties to the AFC. Each of our families made the move to Lima, Peru some time between January and November of 2009. While we’ve now been on the field for roughly three years, in many ways it seems like we’re just getting started.
As God called us to join him in his work in Peru, he put on all of our hearts to do more than plant a church. He called us to make disciples. We set out from the beginning doing what we call relational evangelism. We have poured our hearts and our lives out into making friends, first of all building meaningful relationships with our new Peruvian neighbors. Building meaningful relationships as a foundation for sharing your faith is not always the fastest way to get things done. But we began with the idea and have seen come to fruition that it does lead to a healthy faith community and deep love for the Lord.
We are at a stage in our ministry where we have a great deal going on. We spend a lot our time and energy living alongside our Peruvian friends, sharing meals, playing together and serving together. We have half a dozen small groups meeting in homes on a weekly basis. We spend a lot of time in discipling relationships and individual Bible studies. We have begun a season of dynamic weekly church gatherings exploring what it means to be a church family.
We don’t know exactly what God has in store for us as a team. Only he knows what his plans are for this young community of believers. But, we do know that he is working out his plan that he’s had since the beginning. What could be better than that?
Needs
Prayer partners. People committed to praying regularly for our family and our work.
Personally and as a team, we might be really blessed by some missionary care… people with the gifts and abilities to come and tend to the spiritual needs of our missionary couples and families
Above and beyond our regular financial needs (which have been faithfully provided for) we face the financial challenges of the cost of travel. This has greatly limited our ability to see our family either here in Lima or back in Texas.
