Friday, September 25, 2015

Furlough is upon us.

The final days are upon us here in Peru before we head to the States for a time.  We are filled with mixed emotions to be sure.  While we know we need to go to the States and visit our supporters and give reports of the Lord's doings here, it is so hard to leave.  My son and I will only be there for a month and then my wife and daughters will be there into December.  As I prepare some things and get some things in order before I leave on monday, I already am missing my church and the people and our new ministry at the skatepark.  I am love my church and the people I pastor and I love what the Lord is doing and we are just torn right now but we know that it will be a blessing for us to go visit and eat some food we crave :)

Please just be praying for us and our emotions and that we would have a fruitful time in the States and pray for everyone here in Peru also.  I am so blessed by such a great group of leaders and servants who take care of the Lord's work when we are not here.  I am not worried at all for the ministry here.  We are just going to miss it and everyone.

Thanks so much for the love and support.  See you soon.

Monday, September 7, 2015

Totally blown away by the Lord's grace to us.

I wanted to share just some incredible news that has happened for us and just to show how much the Lord cares about all the little details.  I pray that it will encourage you as you read this and see just how gracious our God is.

This year I had planned on not returning to the States for furlough and my son was going to be staying in Peru with me.  My wife and my three daughters were planning on still going to the States and they were staying for two months and nine days.  There were several factors in my decision not to take a furlough this year but one of the main reasons was financial.  My wife and daughters got all their tickets and everything was set.  As time got closer and we continued to pray about this situation and we both felt uneasy and didn't think it was the best idea for our whole family to be apart for such an extended time.  We decided we have to do what it takes for my son and I to go on furlough even if it is only for a shorter time.  So we came to the conclusion that my son and I will go back for a month and that way our time apart as a family is cut in half.  We looked for tickets and there was a crazy good deal and the Lord provided so we jumped on them.  The only problem was it is on a different flight than my wife's.  The girls all fly out and go from Lima to Miami and then have a 10 hour layover and then into Los Angeles.  They arrived in Los Angeles at 7pm or something like that and the last flights to San Francisco end about that time so they ended up getting a hotel for the night and then the following morning they would fly up to SFO.  The tickets that my son and I got were from Lima to Los Angeles direct.  We arrive in Los Angeles at 7am.  So we said no big deal we will go skate a couple of the famous skateparks and wait for the girls and then we will all head up to SFO in the morning.  My son and I got a pretty good deal and my poor wife has to deal with our 2 year old by herself now and it a long layover and my oldest daughter loves to skate and so she is bummed also.  So we said lets just call the airline and see if they will change it.  Well they wouldn't, but they said if we make any changes to your itinerary you don't have to accept and then you can change all your tickets for free.  Well to make a long story short, they made some changes and so they changed all my girls to my flight for free so we all get to travel together and we all get to skate some pretty amazing skateparks!  The Lord totally worked it out for us and we are so thankful and overwhelmed by His blessing of allowing us all to be together.  He cares about all the details and I am blessed He worked it out in our favor.