The end of one chapter and the beginning of another. We had our DTS graduation last night and I’d have to say that it was really bittersweet. Our entire team had been really looking forward to finishing well and being able to go back home with everything that we’ve learnt, but there is also the reality that lots of us won’t see each other again. Saying goodbye is hard.
Our last two ministry weeks together were really amazing. Our second last week we spent in Cusco which is an absolutely beautiful (and touristy) city. We spent a few days near the center of town and we decided as a team that we were going to pass out bread to those in need and just spend time getting to know the people. At one point during the day we prayed for a lady and her paint shop, and another lady who had walked in then asked us if we could go to restaurant to pray for them as well….surprises like this were always a blessing. We then spent three days in Huancarani which is an hour and a half from Cusco – up in the mountains. Besides thinking that we were probably going to drive off a cliff both there and back, it was SUCH a blessing to be able to go into this community. The way of living in community reminded me a lot of when I was living in the jungle. The people were very friendly and because not a lot of white people visit that way up the mountain, we also were not really treated as tourists – just as very interesting people. The last day that we spent there we were able to see two weddings and the colors were absolutely vibrant – it was such a great way to end our time there. Out of all the places that we visited, Huancarani and Nuevo York in the jungle were my two favourite places because of the people we met and the time that we were able to spend directly with the people and their families.
Our last stop on outreach was to Lima (or so my team thought). After taking a 22 hour bus ride from Cusco to Lima we found out that the orange team was getting right back on a bus to go to a district of Lima called Huacho which was three hours from Lima! Huacho is right on the coast so some people on my team went swimming (the boys) and we had a very beautiful view. We had a really good week there but it was also hard for some people because with only one week left some people were getting anxious to go back home and see their friends and family. We did a lot of walking with the Pastor which helped keep us in shape as we ate MOUNTAINS of food prepared by some of the ladies from the church. We did an impact in their new shopping mall and a lot of people were watching….from everywhere…above us..in front of us..behind of us… we were surrounded by people who were interested in who we were and the message that we had. It was really cool. But all good things must come to an end, right? The week ended and so did the outreach portion of our DTS.
When I got back to Iquitos, my parents and my aunt and uncle were already in the city waiting for me to get back. It was really special to be able to show them around the city that I had been living in and make them try my favourite foods and see all the places that we would hang out. I saw some things that I probably wouldn’t have seen if they hadn’t of come. One day we went to a butterfly museum/animal rescue shelter and I finally got to see some sloths! They were only babies so I couldn’t hold them but they were SO cute. They looked like they were slightly drunk because they had funny little smiles on their faces. I wanted to take one home. I also saw some dolphins but none of the pink dolphins that are unique to the Amazon.
The last thing that my team did together was have our graduation. It was fun because we all dressed up and everything was decorated very nicely. My parents and auntie and uncle came and it was really special that they were able to come support me in what I’ve been here doing. All of us had the chance to go up and accept our diploma from the University of the Nations and had time to share a memory or something that we had learnt during the school. I didn’t cry so I was pretty proud of myself – though that didn’t last when people started leaving the next morning. Some of my friends started leaving at 4 am and will be continuing to fly out from Iquitos until Monday. I leave tomorrow morning (Sunday the 7th) and like I said..it is bittersweet. It is weird to see beds empty and people talking about what they’re going to do at home in a few days. I really love my team here in Peru and I will be sad to leave them after spending so much time with them. We’ve come to know each others weaknesses..strengths…joys..like I said, it is hard to say goodbye. I know that I will see some of them again for sure and I am so glad to see just the amazing way that God and friendship transcends cultures, age, financial situation…God has been so good to me and I am so happy that He called me to give these six months to Him completely.
AND NOW it is time to look forward. I will be flying back home to Canada in three weeks and until then I will be spending some time in Lima with some of my friends from there and I will also be going back to Cusco to see Machu Picchu. I have to say that I am stoked for this! Once I get back home I will be going to a friend’s wedding (the day after I get home!) and then I will be back in University a week later. I am really looking forward to what is going to happen in the next year… I am expecting great things. God has given me dreams for my future while I’ve been here and I am really anxious to actually ACT on those dreams.
I want to thank everyone who has been reading my blog and supporting me either with your prayers or financially. It has been such a blessing to have people in my life who are excited to see how God is moving in my life and what He has been able to do through our team. Thank you and God bless (Dios te Bendiga). See you at the end of August!!
With lots of love from Peru,
Janine
Hola todos!
After three weeks of crossing Peruvian, Chilean, and Bolivian borders numerous times..I am now back in Peru. I definitely missed being in Peru, but the time that my team spent in the two other countries won’t be forgotten!
After a few complications crossing the Peruvian-Chilean border we stopped in Arica, Chile to change buses before going into Bolivia. We had no tickets and no food, but a couple out of nowhere came up to us and asked if we were YWAMers and then proceeded to help us find everything that we needed. At the time this seemed like a lucky coincidence but later on it turned out to be more than only that. We then made our way to Cochabamba, Bolivia where our teams split in two. My team worked with a very youth orientated church and it was such an awesome experience to help them out with all the things that they were in the process of doing. They were really good at taking the initiative and we were wanting to learn different outreach techniques so we were able to do a drama class with them. We helped them put on an evening of outreach in their church where they could invite all of their friends, and it was a lot of fun! On our free day we went around the city and went up a gondola to see the Big Jesus.
The next city that we stayed at was Santa Cruz, Bolivia and I think my whole team would say that it was a very special week for all of us. My team stayed with a missions church and it was a different experience for all of us because we didn’t end up staying in the same place…we all stayed with different families and it was an amazing experience! Myself and two other girls on my team stayed with a missionary family; Amy, the wife, was from the states and her husband, David, was from Peru and they have three children, Isaiah, Lilly, and their adopted son from Ethiopia, Asher. They welcomed us right into their family and were so excited to show us their favorite places in the city. In the church we helped with some practical stuff (hauling bricks, pulling out trees, deep cleaning some of the rooms) and we also do workshops with the youth. While I was in Santa Cruz, I was able to visit two different orphanages run by Christians and see the different volunteers that are working there full-time or only for short term projects. It made me realize that one of my dreams would be to lead youth groups from back home to places like this. One day! Santa Cruz really is a pretty city and I hope that I can go back one day to visit the awesome people that I met when I was there.
So this is the part that is pretty cool. For the next week, we were supposed to going to La Paz but all of the contacts that we had their fell through at the last minute. For a while that might seem kind of scary because that meant that we had no place to stay…no where to go… But God always provides in these situations. The couple that we met in the train station in Chile asked us if we would go to their church - so that is what we did. We got on a bus and went back to Arica, Chile and got their at 1 am. For some reason we weren’t able to contact them, and we couldn’t wait inside the bus station so we waited outside. It was an adventure, but we finally made it to the church. Arica is really a beautiful city and I enjoyed staying there. We did different things for the church while we were there but the thing that stuck out the most to me was when we went to visit the University there. Right now in Chile there is a national strike put on by students for all Universities and lots of high schools as well. The Universities have been shut down for two months now because the students want free education. When we went to the University we had do sign in with the students keeping guard of it…we simply went there to help them with anything they needed - we ended up cleaning different areas of the school and chatting with the students. It was really cool to be able to understand more about the politics in Chile and the reality of what lots of the students are going through right now. I’m definitely going to stay posted on what happens/is going on in Chile.
After making it back to Peru (I just arrived in Cusco today) I can say that I am pretty exhausted from all the work and travelling that we’ve been doing. Everything that we did in the past three weeks has really confirmed to myself just how much I love travelling to learn about history and cultures, and how much I love working with young adults/youth. I also was able to learn about so many different mission organizations and opportunities that there are all over South America to work in area that you have a passion for. I have met some incredible people that I plan on staying in contact with and hopefully able to visit in the future! It is pretty crazy to believe that in two weeks I will be back in Iquitos for my last week of my DTS…even just being in Cusco I am experiencing a bit of culture shock by all the tourists that are here. - Going back home to Canada will be even crazier.
Talk to you in a couple of weeks!
(If you’ve been to Cusco or Lima and have any suggestions for things that I shouldn’t miss while I’m here - let me know!)
Con Amor,
Janine
Greetings from Bolivia!
It honestly feels like months since I was last able to write an entry here. I really do feel as though I am in a time warp right now. I am really living in the moment here so I feel like I have been on outreach for ages, but at the same time it is going by so quickly! In the past three weeks I have done a week of outreach in Iquitos, in Chimbote and in Arequipa. All three places were completely unique from eachother and the churches that we worked with were also very distinct.
In Iquitos we worked with a Pastora who really opened up her home to us. At her house I had my first hot shower that I’ve had since being here and it was wonderful! The Pastora was also the principle of a Christian school so we spent lots of the week helping and puting programs on at the school. We were able to take time to counsel some of the children who have been through distressing situations in their life and some of my team members were also able to help start the process of getting a girl out of the abusive household that she was living in. During the week my team also was able to visit a woman’s prison a couple of times and this was probably the most impactful thing for me during the week. Taking time with these women was just absolutely incredible. They were so open and just so happy to receive us that it really encouraged me to be there with them. These women have families outside of the jail and they have hopes and dreams for the future and I really just felt so honored that they were willing to open up to us about their personal lives. It was my first time in a prison and I have to say I really enjoyed it! This week in Iquitos was the first week that my team spent together so there was a lot of adjusting to do and a lot of getting to know eachother since there was so many less of us working together. Because of different circumstances, two people who were supposed to be on my team ended up staying behind at the base to work with the river ministry. Since there was now only 8 of us on the team, some of us had to quickly learn new parts for the dramas - but everyone really stepped up and we had no problems with this!
After a day of rest we flyed to Lima and spent a day there before taking a night bus to Chimbote (the other two teams went to Chiclayo). In terms of climate, Chimbote was a huge change for my team after spending three and a half months in the jungle! Chimbote is a very dry place and I actually had to wear a sweater on some occasions! The city smells very strongly of fish (or as the Pastor said ‘it smells like money’) because Chimbote has the oldest and most influential port in Peru. We stayed in Neuvo Chimbote which is the newer part of town that started being constructed after an earthquake ruined a lot of the unstable buildings in the city. Our week with Pastor Oscar was very structured and busy and we visited loads of different schools and churches. My favorite thing that we did was working with a Christian rehab center because we were really able to help people in need. The family that runs the center is so dedicated and they have such an awesome program put in place for the recovering drug addicts. Lots of the former drug addicts that have now completely conquered their addictions are now working at the center - amazing people. On our last day in Chimbote my team went to the port and took a quick boat ride (even though at first they insisted the waters were to strong that day).
All the teams took a bus ride back to Lima where we got more hard news - two people from one of the other teams had decided to go home. The circumstances for both girls were different but regardless it was really hard to see them leave after having been a family with them for the past 4 months. After saying goodbye the rest of the teams made our way back to the bus station to head in the opposite direction of Chimbote to Arequipa. After a long bus ride my team was picked up by the Pastor that would be hosting us and he took us to the outskirts of the city where he lives. We stayed in the tiny one roomed church which was a big change after being spoiled for two weeks in compartively luxurious homes. The bathroom was in the living room and covered only by a curtain - not much privacy. (Some of us were walked in on….) The water for the shower was so cold that you would almost get an instant brain freeze so needless to say… I definitely did not take a shower everyday. The temperature in Arequipa varied a lot during the day because the morning and evenings were very very cold but midday was beautiful. We got used to putting on and taking off layers of clothing. I absolutely adored the children in Arequipa - their rosy, round cheeks and their cute alpaca toques and sweaters. The people from the church were so good to us and always trying to make us more comfortable - such a blessing. During free time we went into the center of the city and you can REALLY see the difference between the economic classes. The center of Arequipa has beautiful colonial buildings and churches as well as A LOT of tourists! The stone streets were very different from the the sandy desert streets that we were living in.
I have a few prayers requests again. This is still even hard for me to believe, but this week another two people went home. Ali, who got dengue a few months ago wasn’t able to completely recooperate because of some complications with athritis setting in because of the dengue - so her and her husband Phil finally had to make the decision to go back home to really take care of it before it gets worse then it is. So please keep them and her recovery in your prayers. Also, two Peruvians on my team were not able to come into Bolivia because their papers did not come through so they will be spending three weeks in Arequipa and we will be meeting up with them again when we return to Peru. Because of all of these unforseen circumstances we have had to do some major adjusting and had to be very open and flexible. Team red and team yellow (my team) has each lost quite a few people so for the three weeks in Bolivia we are officially being combined to make the orange team! Please pray for the moral of all the people here in your prayers. One of the guys on my team had his laptop, passport and camera all stolen two days ago and another girl on my team had her purse stolen and another her ipod, and quite a few people have been getting sick because of the change in altitude (including me) and we’re going to be going even higher in the next couple of weeks in Bolivia. One last thing that needs prayers: The border town between Peru and Bolivia (Punto) has been having riots and people have been dying there because of them, so my team had to cross into Chile and then into Bolivia and there was a lot of complications getting into Chile (they didn’t want to let some of the Peruvians and Colombians into the country) but luckily we all made it in safely. Please pray that the riots will die down so that we can get back safely over the border in three weeks and that that the team going to Juliaca in three weeks will be able to go there!
I hope I didn’t lose you somewhere in the first paragraph… it is hard to really put my experiences down when I have so many things to say. I will try and put up a few pictures from the places that we were over the past three weeks! I’ll write you again when we’re leaving Bolivia!
God Bless!
Janine
Sunset in Nuevo York
“By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5)
The morning that we left for our two weeks in the jungle, I reflected on this verse in 1 Peter. It really hit me in that moment and it gave me strength throughout the two weeks when I thought about how this verse says that we’ve been given new birth. God isn’t picking up the pieces of our past life because He has given us a NEW one. He has made us co-heirs to the throne and our inheritance will not fade away or become old or be taken from us. It was so important for me to really understand this before I started on outreach because He was telling me, “Hey Janine, all those boxes that you used to put yourself in don’t exist. You’re starting fresh and you can do whatever you want to do. I don’t want you to think about your weaknesses anymore because now you have a chance to make them your strengths.”
The first 4 days of our outreach we spent in the town of Nauta which is the only other town that you can drive to from Iquitos. We stayed at a kid’s camp outside of the town where they also have schooling for young children. Something that I noticed right away was that Nauta was HOT and very dry. We put on lots of kids programs outside and it was very exhausting and for this reason it was really important to take very good care to ration our water. We had water fill up about three times a day, and four if it was really necessary but we only had so much water for the whole two weeks. In Nauta, we also had our first chance of having all of the responsibility of making the programs and organizing who would do the sermons and the work duties. It was a really good chance to get a feel for the roles that we would start having for the next two months. On a different topic one thing that we experienced was cutting grass by hand! It was hard work to cut a huge field of shrubs and grass with only machetes but it definitely was interesting to see how it is done here. God really showed me the value of pushing through situations that might be uncomfortable because of exhaustion and heat. We’re working for something so much bigger than a few hours of hard work.
We left Nauta early Friday morning to go to the river community of Nuevo York (New York) on the Tigre River which eventually connects with the Amazon. It took a 7 hours boat ride to get us there and the whole way there was just amazing scenery. When we arrived it was pouring rain so we had to run all of our stuff quickly into the houses where we were staying. It’s hard to express how I feel now that I am back at the base – I had an incredible experience. I can honestly say that I did not want to come back. The people at Nuevo York were so welcoming to me and my group, and they went out of their way to teach us whatever we wanted to learn. It’s funny when you think that you are going somewhere to serve the people, but then looking back you realize just how much they were the ones doing the serving. My favourite memories from Nuevo York are ones when I had time to just spend with the people. I got really close to lots of the kids in the community and they took me fishing, swimming, and on boat rides. By the end I was able to properly put a worm onto a hook without help but I think the best part of fishing with the boys was helping them with their English. I was so amazed by how excited they were to learn about me and my country. I also spent time with the women there and we had fun making bracelets with the string I brought and they really opened up to me about their lives and their dreams. One morning I also was invited to go make bread at the governor’s house and it was so fascinating to see how they prepared the dough and shaped it. I was determined to not let any language barriers discourage me and I purposely would go by myself to talk with people so that I had no way around speaking Spanish – and it worked. I’m really happy to say that my Spanish skills have improved a lot over the past month and I know that it will just continue to get easier from this point on.
One thing that I did not expect when I arrived in Nuevo York was how much it seemed to be developed. The Peruvian government pays for lots of the river communities to have some sidewalks put in between the river and the houses and it also pays for the school to have some computers. The thing that I realized though is that those things are great, but it can’t replace the fact that they don’t have any clean water to drink and lots of them don’t have enough food either. My team was able to dig them their first well and hopefully it won’t be the last one to be built there. It is so important to have fresh water and I am just so happy that my team was able to provide that for them. Another thing that we talked to them about was keeping the river clean by burning their trash instead of throwing into the water. The only way to bathe in that community is to go into the river and I had the opportunity to do that every day! It definitely was an experience to go swimming with piranhas, alligators, giant sting rays, anacondas, and whatever garbage has been thrown in there. All I could do was try not to think about it, and jump in! (But not too far in because the current was VERY strong) By the end of the week it was the funnest thing to jump in off the sand banks with the kids. During the last week there, we started to have some difficulty in our group for a few different reasons, but I did my best to guard my heart from it and always keep in mind why I was there. God has really blessed me by allowing me to go to Nuevo York, and it is a time that I will never forget. I could really see myself living in a place like that for a while, but I know that God has a plan for me and if He wants me to go back then one day I will!
While I was in the jungle there were times where I was completely exhausted and burnt out but God really filled me with energy whenever I asked Him to. One day I was reading my daily devotion and this verse in Ezekiel really spoke strongly to me: “Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.” (Ezekiel 37:5) My father is continuously breathing life into me when I’m down or tired or just plain frustrated. He sees it all, and He is just waiting for me to invite Him into my thoughts and into my body. There were times that I would look up at the stars and just be so consumed by the beauty of it all that I had to throw up my hands and just worship God for all of His creation; it’s all around me and it was so obvious to me in those moments. I saw the Southern Cross for the first time (a constellation that can only be seen from the Southern Hemisphere) and it really got me thinking about just how amazing the Universe really is and we’re living in it. There were days in Nuevo York when we would see thousands of yellow butterflies and I felt like a little girl again, just chasing them around. So all I can say after these two weeks is: Thank you Jesus for Your creation and for giving me the opportunity to experience part of it! Thank you for adventures, friendships and new life lessons! Thank you for the breathtaking beauty that You have surrounded me with! Thank you!
Con Amor,
Janine
(Us and the Korean group from Toronto)
Hello everyone! Long time no see! I am now officially done the lecture phase of my DTS, and boy am I ready to leave on our outreach! My time here in Iquitos has helped me to grow in so many areas of my life and I am so grateful for the time that I have been able to spend here with my team. This time has really prepared me to go out into the ‘real world’ and really live a life that brings glory to my Father in Heaven.
Since you’ve heard from me last, a few really cool things have happened at the base. Firstly, we’ve been meeting lots of new people around here lately! We had a Canadian-Korean team come to visit us here from the University of Toronto, who were doing a summer outreach trip to Peru. It was really awesome to be able to talk with them and to see the different ways that they praise the Lord. We also met a team that did their DTS in Costa Rica and they were just finishing up their outreach. It was encouraging to talk with them and see how they were able to really pull together as a family for the 3 months that they were together. Last week, we were also lucky enough to be here for the first national YWAM conference here in Peru. The staff from all the bases in Peru came here to Iquitos, as well as the DTS that is in progress right now in Lima. The week was really awesome for me because I really got to see and speak with people who have been just doing amazing things for the people in this country, and they have all been led here by God. Lots of the bases in Peru are just in the process of being established so it was so inspirational to talk about the dreams that they have and the hopes they have for the next years to come. Laura and Bud, a couple that I met at the conference, have been living in Cusco for over ten years now and I just absolutely loved hearing about what they have been doing. They run an orphanage for about 50 kids now but it is more like a big family. The children are taken in from abusive situations and are able to just be children. They take music lessons, they are learning a second language and they are able to really be surrounded by people who love them. At the end of my trip I am going to be going to Cusco to go visit them and to see the orphanage for myself. I am really excited!
This last week of classes was bittersweet because we all are very aware of the fact that once we get back from the jungle we will be divided into our three outreach teams. We finished our lecture phase by having more classes on relationships, but this time it was really geared towards relationships within the family. We talked a lot about marriage and the things that you should be considering when you’re ready to get married. I started to realize how important it is to know what your dreams are before you get into a relationship because your spouse should have those in common with you. In your marriage there should be you, your husband AND God. It is so important for parents to have a healthy relationship because this is where the future generation learns how to love, respect and live in harmony with one another. I took a lot away from this last week and I really feel as though God wants me to share some of these truths with young girls because so many of us were told lies by people around us. Lies like: we’re not enough, we don’t deserve respect or we’ll only be loved for one thing. This isn’t true, but so many people believe this! We are daughters of the King and we do NOT need to compromise. Shame is something that I’ve grown used to living with, but this week God showed me how He sees me. He showed me a vision of when I was a little girl….running and twirling in a field…wearing a beautiful white dress. I am His little girl and nothing that I’ve done or will do, could ever change the way that He sees me. He is patient with me and welcomes me back with open arms every time that I screw up. He is hurting when He sees me hurting. He wants me to respect myself because I am His little girl. I was able to take time with Him this week and just lay everything down before Him; things that still hurt me, things that make me feel unworthy of love. Through it all, He is there. It was a really good way to end our last week at the base.
NOW, it’s the time we’ve all been waiting for! OUTREACH. Everyone at the base had made bets on who was going to be on who’s team. It was pretty funny to see people get really impatient to know the teams. Finally this past week on Monday we were told! I am SO excited about my team! I know that the ten of us are going to experience so many amazing things together. We will be travelling around Peru and Bolivia for the next two and a half months so we are going to need to be completely united if we are really going to carry out God’s purpose for us here. Right now, there are quite a few people who are mildly and severely sick, as well as some people who are just mentally and physically exhausted. Please pray for a quick recovery for those in my team who are not feeling 100%. We are leaving on Monday morning to go to the jungle for two weeks, and we would love for everyone to be able to come but right now it looks like two people might have to stay behind. We will not have any outside contact once we leave on Monday so please pray for the safety of my team as we stay in the jungle communities and also those of the people that we are going to visit! We want to see God’s mighty works while we are there, we are simply His hands and feet!
Talk to you in a couple of weeks,
Janine
(PS I was told my blogs were a little long – tried to shorten it a bit this time round haha *ahem Kaitlynd*)
My mini outreach team!
Hola chicos! For all the people who passionately follow my blog (haha) I’m sorry that I haven’t written in three weeks! Life at the base has been pretty full lately especially after having our second mini outreach this past weekend. We have been really growing together as a team and every single person here brings something amazing to the group! It has been raining A LOT here. I have never experienced so much water before! The ground floor at the base regularly floods, so we have to sweep it all out but when everyone works together it goes pretty fast. The bugs are still chomping away and I am still struggling with the amount that I scratch the bites. I had to go see a doctor about my shoulder last week (nothing serious) and he ended up also prescribing me some medicated cream for my legs. I’m hoping the scars will be limited…..must….stop….scratching…. Oh and I’m not sure if I mentioned this before, but a few weeks ago a guy on my team had a worm pop out of his leg! One of his mosquito bites got infected which led to a worm growing in his leg for over a month. This definitely has helped motivate me to stop scratching. I’m going to give a quick recap of the teachings that we had over the past three weeks.. hope you enjoy!
For one week we had classes taught by Clark Barnard, the base director, and the topic that he talked about was interpersonal relationships. At this point in our journey together it was definitely a topic that needed great attention. Depending on the type of tongue that we use when we are around people, it could be the difference between building someone up and tearing them down. Most the tongues that we talked about were tongues that really hurt the people around us: the slandering tongue, the deceitful tongue, the silent tongue, the gossiping tongue, etc. One tongue that I realized that I use a lot is the self-deprecating tongue which is one that is used to speak negatively against ourselves and is usually associated with past experiences that have made you define yourself in a shameful way. Another type of tongue we looked at was the forgiving tongue. Here’s a quote from a book called The Shack, “Forgiveness is not about forgetting, Mack. It is about letting go of another person’s throat.” Forgiveness is not about approving of what a person did or pardoning their sin (that’s Gods job) but instead it’s about CHOOSING to refuse to punish the other person and live in the absence of bitterness. This week really gave me the opportunity to evaluate not only my relationship with the Lord but also how God’s love for me affects the way that I treat others. God clearly pointed out areas in my character that He wants me to work on so that I can truly be an example of His love to all the people around me. I’ve realized how even just the way that you carry yourself can lend someone the support that they need. The important thing is not what you’ve actually said but how the other person perceives it!
The following week we had Pastor Felix Gil come and do a week on leadership. Felix is the pastor of Cuadriangular church – which is the one that I go to on Sundays. On the very first day he wrote out a list of five excuses that people use to explain why they can’t be a leader and I definitely could relate to a lot of the excuses that he gave. One that I want to talk about is excuse number five: the idea that someone else would be better equipped to do the job. I have often used this excuse to justify why I shouldn’t have to do something – but I am starting to see just how important it is to step out of your comfort zone in terms of leadership. God has been teaching me so much in terms of being confident in the gifts that He has given me. At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter who I am or the abilities that I have, the important thing is who HE is and the plans that He wants me to help with. I don’t need to compare my abilities to those of the people around me because I am created exactly as I should be and God has been equipping me every day of my life for what the future has in store for me. I can go forth as a confident leader because I know that God has given His children authority and purpose! Pastor Felix really made sure that we understood the importance that relationships and direction influences the effectiveness with which someone can lead. This week encouraged me to really think about what I am going to do with my future. Do I want to be a leader? Yes, my whole perspective on this has definitely changed. For a long time I would do almost anything to not have to make little decisions like what movie I was going to see with my friends, never mind big decisions that will really impact people’s lives. I see now that I am called to be a leader because I want to make a difference in the world and I know that I don’t have to do it alone!
Now on to this past week… We had a speaker come here from the United States named Joseph Watson and the week as a whole had a massive impact on me. Joseph is a man who lives by faith and the fact that he is booked to speak at YWAM bases literally all over the world more than a year in advance really testifies to how much of an amazing man and speaker that he is. First thing Monday morning he had us all go outside and get into a big group huddle to pray for the coming week – a minute later we were soaked! He threatened to do it again to any one of us if we weren’t participating in class – let me tell you, it worked! Joseph talked to us about identity in a way that I had never really heard before. He talked about the boxes that Satan gives us such as the importance of what we know, what we own, how we look or what we do. These things DO NOT make us who we are. God doesn’t see the labels that man likes to put on things. The highest calling that I have as a Christian on my life is to let God love me so that I can love myself! How can you really care about other people if you don’t love yourself? You can only give what you already have. I don’t want to be put inside these tiny little boxes anymore because they aren’t real – they are lies. There are some things in our lives that do make us who we are that cannot be changed and it’s these things that we really need to learn to accept. One thing that God has given to each person is their nationality. Every nation has a different facet of God that is unique to their country and the glory of God in each nation is eternal! “After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.” (Revelation 7:9) It is so important that we love the people around us as we love ourselves and that includes other nations. Something that I learnt this week is that if you criticize a person’s country, you can really hurt them because a person’s nationality is part of their identity. We should be wrestling with authorities, power and principalities and NOT with flesh and blood.
This past weekend we had our second mini outreach which was completely different from the first one that we went on. There were two main differences: in this outreach the team got split in half and secondly we weren’t on the river, we stayed in Iquitos. My team spent the weekend at Iglesia Bautista Horeb where we helped run different children, youth and adult programs. It’s amazing how different the atmosphere of a group is when you’re with 15 people instead of all 30. During this weekend the whole team really came together and was united even as we were completely exhausted from very early mornings and late nights, and lots of work in hot weather. The first thing we did when we got to the church was to help them seal the floor on the second floor. The involved a lot of sweeping and mopping, as well as actually going over the whole floor with the red sealant. Over the weekend we were finally able to perform all of the dramas that we have been learning as well as step out in ways that might make us slightly (or very) uncomfortable. I was chosen to share my testimony one night with a group of young adults and I have to say that I actually enjoyed the time that I had with them when I was able to share a bit of my heart. God was keeping me protected during this time and He completely just poured confidence over me. Everyone did such amazing jobs with teaching the lessons, and giving their testimonies or leading worship! Overall the weekend was just an amazing experience and a taste for what is going to be our life for about two months once we leave the base at the end of May. Now I DO have some prayer requests. Firstly Colton, a guy on our team, broke his toe while playing soccer at the tournament for the youth. He was a major champ about it though and he didn’t let it stop him from performing his part in the dramas or participating in the church services. Secondly, our leader Wilson got very sick over the weekend and had to leave for the hospital and it’s now been confirmed that he has dengue. He is the second person on our team to get dengue since we’ve been here and the next week for him will be especially hard. Please pray for his quick healing! He is such an amazing leader and I know that he wants to be up helping us prepare for our big outreach. We had seen God’s healing power in big ways since we’ve been here so please pray for him! We ended the outreach on Sunday night after the service, and the pastor from Iglesia Horeb took us out to eat dinner and it was delicious! The fun thing about eating here is that you don’t always know what it is, so it’s always a surprise! When we got back to the base at about 11:30pm on Sunday night the two teams were reunited and it felt like we hadn’t seen each other in weeks! Everyone was happy to be together again and we had many stories to exchange!
This past week I was able to go with my friend Melissa to her mother’s house who lives in Iquitos. It was such a neat experience because her house floats for half the year when there is high tide, and for the other half there is no water underneath of it. To get there we had to walk over a bridge that was made of wood planks until they couldn’t go any further. Then we took a small boat to go the rest of the way. Peruvian people are just so welcoming that I just jump at any opportunity to go visit someone’s house! I experience new things everyday while I’m here and I really wish that I could blog about it all. I am just enjoying every moment as it comes and I’m trying not to think too much about when I’ll be coming home at the end of August. I am happy being here for any amount of time that God would have me be here. I really feel like I am living right now the way that I’ve always wanted to live: in the moment. I hope that wherever you are, life is treating you well and you are happy. I hope that if you take anything away from my blog that it is the following: that life is sweet and God is good.
Con todo mi amor,
Janine
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