Good to be back

       We are back home in Banos del Inca and it feels so good.  We had a really good time in Lima and were blessed with great fellowship, but there is something about the pace of life here that is just refreshing.  The state of emergency is still in effect and in Cajamarca there is a strong military presence.
        As soon as we were getting dropped off and getting our baggage out of the car our neighbors were all coming out and seeing us.  It was one of our best moments being here.  You could just see the happiness on there faces.  The following morning Nicole went across the street to buy some bread (we have a panaderia directly in front of our building).  There was a lady there who Nicole bought her bread for her a couple weeks ago because she only had 100 soles bill and they couldn't break it.  It was only like 1.00 in american money that Nicole paid and the lady was so greatful, and when she saw Nicole that morning she was so happy to see us home.  The lady then took Nicole to her house to show Nicole where she lived so she can come and talk with her.  She showed her a little area where our kids could play while they talk.  The Lord is opening doors for us.  The people at the local market where asking us where we had been and that they missed us.  The town is watching us and we are praying that the Lord continues to give us the opportunity to share Jesus.  I was just asked if I was missing the beach and ocean at all, and to be honest I had to say not that much.  While in Lima we took a cruise by the beach and the surf was looking so good and there were a few guys out and it looked fun, but the Lord has really given me grace in that area as well.  He has put such a love in our hearts for Cajamarca and the people that we couldn't imagine being anywhere else.  Our kids love the culture and the area.  For us to see how much our kids love it is a conformation to us that the Lord has brought us here.
        These past 5 months have been a real time of growth for all of us.  We have experienced Gods grace at a whole new level.  The challenges that we thought we would face haven't been such an issue and things that we never would have expected have popped up.  Through it all the Lord shows that when He calls you, He will give you the strength to get through.
        I have been given the great privilege next semester to teach a class.  I will be teaching a two week class on the gospel of Mark.  It will be at the end of february so I will be studying quite a bit until then.  One thing that I have already learned in my preparation is that the gospel of Mark is an amazing book.  Many times it is kind of looked over because it's the shortest gospel and what not, but when you crack into it, it is full and rich.  We shouldn't expect anything less from Gods Word.  I'm starting to wonder if I can get it all in with just two weeks.
        Christmas is coming and it will be our first Christmas away from the states and our families.  It will be difficult at times, but the Lord has given us a great family here and it will be a blessed time because Christmas is truly about the Lord Jesus taking on flesh and coming into the world to give us the gift of salvation for those who put their faith in Him.

Our panaderia across the street

Have a wonderful Christmas, Feliz Navidad!!!!!!
     

A few days in Lima

We were told by the U.S. Embassy that they would like us to leave Cajamarca until things cooled off so to speak.  The Peruvian government had issued a state of emergency for 60 days, which is what I would call martial law.  The military is now in charge of the city and they have full authority. The governor of the region said this decision would make things a blood bath.  We are praying that these are just empty threats.  We had tickets to come to Lima on the 6th and the airport was open so we came to Lima.  We needed to get here anyways because on the 7th we had an appointment to get our kids residency cards and praise the Lord that all went smoothy. Our original flight back to Cajamarca was for the eighth which is today, but we were able to change our tickets for a small fee for another week.  We will be heading back to Cajamarca on Dec. 15th.  It is not as long as the embassy wanted us to stay away, but we feel the Lord is wanting us to go back and remain in Cajamarca.  That is our home now and the Lord has called us there right now and He will be our shield and our protection.  When we left everything was very mellow.  The airport is completely secured by the military.  There is at least 150 soldiers on site and they are around the whole perimeter.  It actually felt very safe.  It has been a blessing to spend some time back in Lima.  Most the staff is back here and we got to spend some time with some of the students who are still here.  Please continue to pray for Cajamarca and the situation, as it could flare up at any moment.  

Cajamarca Protest Day 7

Even in the midst of all the Chaos, the Lord is working.  We have been able to evangelize and see the Lord's Spirit working in the hearts of the people.  Yesterday afternoon a few students were asking people if they would like prayer and one lady was a believer and was longing to be baptized.  While they were praying another man stopped and asked if we were Christians and he had fallen away from the Lord and wanted to return.  We got to pray with him and he showed us were he lived so we could stop by and talk with him some more.  We took the lady down to the creek by the bible college and prayed with her and then had some worship and she was baptized.  It was truly a blessing to see.  She was so full of joy and thankful to the Lord for what took place.  We then went into the plaza and some of the students performed some skits and then open air preached.  We had an audience of about 40 people.  Two younger men came to the Lord and many asked questions concerning the faith.  Through the storms is when the Lord works.

We thought maybe the strike was coming to an end, but when we saw the news this morning it certainly is not.  The airport is still closed and the food supply is running thinner by the day.  We have heard of a couple options to get to Lima so we will keep everyone posted if they pan out.  The Lord is using this situation to make His name known and He will continue to keep us safe and provide our needs.  Please pray for the people of Cajamarca as the violence is increasing.  The peoples concern regarding the mine is right on.  The lakes that the mine will destroy is their lively hood, they don't survive from the gold that comes out of the mine.  The route they are taking is causing a lot of problems.  Pray for a peaceful resolution.

Cajamarca Protest

On Thanksgiving, many locals here in Cajamarca began a protest against an expansion of the gold mine.  It is now on day six and we really don't know when it is going to stop.  All the roads out of town are barricaded, the airport was closed yesterday as the protesters were planning to take it over.  We have been told that today they are cutting the power and water.  There is a shortage on food and drinking water due to the fact that the roads are closed.  The intensity of the protesting is picking up as it goes on.  All the students are still here, please be in prayer as many have flights home in a couple of days.  We are supposed to be going to Lima on the 6th of December to get our kids residency cards.  At this point we are not sure that will happen either.  The Lord is in control and we are confident in Him.  Our friend posted this on facebook and I wanted to share it as well-

What will you do when God exhausts all of those things you call "comfort" and all of those things that give you security and puts you in a situation where you truly have to trust in Him, even for your next meal. Will you still trust Him? Or will you realize that you haven't really been?


God is the supplier of all that we need and He will sustain us.  It is a time for everyone to rely on Him.  Please pray for the people of Cajamarca and the situation here.


I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I do 


hope. -Psalm 130:5

God IS GOOD!!!

     This morning I wake up and I am thankful. My Gods mercies are new EVERY MORNING and He is so FAITHFUL. This first month and a half have been such a HUGE learning experience for me. As a wife, a mom and most of ALL a follower of Christ and the calling that He has put in our lives. Don't get me wrong, its been a rough road for me personally, with homesickness and new surroundings, it hasn't been easy. But through all of the hard days I have experienced so far, one thing I know and hold on to are His promises and the fact that I know with out a shadow if a doubt that He has called us here and it is His will.
   Funny thing is before we left the states I started a book study and it is through James.  And in the very first part of James it says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." (James 1:2-3) It is funny cause while in the states I thought I wouldn't struggle much with the trials of being down here in another country but, I was wrong. Everything here is so different, not just the fact that I am now living in a foreign country but the fact that my ENTIRE day to day life is completely changed. Homeschooling has been hard in the sense of learning patience and it says that the trials will produce patience. Annyka has been patient with me through all the, "I don't know it is because the book says so, and how can you not understand it." I am not the sharpest kitty in the litter and honestly I feel bad that she has to have me be teaching her, BUT the Lord is showing me so much in this and everyday has it's trials in homeschooling but it's a blessing. So, little by little I want to share what the Lord had been teaching me and showing me in my study through James and living here in Cajamarca by His great calling and will for our Familia. God is GOOD and I am so BLESSED that His wonderful great mercies are new every morning!! Until next time,
  Love, Nicole 

Porcon

Today we went up to Porcon which is about 10,000 feet.  It is a beautiful Christian community.  It was a day of just fellowship and sight seeing.

So we are up in Cajamarca and I got to say it is beautiful.  The sky is so crisp and the mountains are amazing.  It has been a challenging week nevertheless.  We have been adjusting to the altitude and trying to get settled into our apartment.  Classes have started and the work load is much more than I anticipated, but I am so blessed to be able to just spend time in Gods word growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ.

The first class the pastor opened up by saying that "we couldn't have come here on our own that the Lord brought us here"  How true is that.  What an encouraging thought that even though difficult times are ahead and things will be coming at us from every angle, by the Lords grace He has called us here and brought us.  All the trials that we are already facing and will continue to face is to build character and to conform us to the image of Christ.  The Lord loves an unfair fight.  When all seems against you that is when the odds are right for the Lord to show His glory.  How I long for His glory.  To see the Lord work.

The Lord has surrounded us by amazing men and women of God.  Though we miss our families and our home fellowship, the Lord is bringing alongside of us wonderful friends.  He is so faithful.  I am learning so much of the faithfulness of God.  I am experiencing it first hand.  Even when we are not faithful He is.

First week in Peru

We arrived safe and sound with all our baggage praise the Lord.  We had a couple of hiccups, but that is to be expected.  This week has been very busy.  We have been going here and there still finishing up are residency request.  We thought that it was all done, but it was just the first stage.  The Lord though has brought us favor, at Interpool earlier this week, we were granted are carnet's that we will pick up on monday and then we will start the process for our kids.  Yesterday we walked down to the cliffs and just hung out it was a very relaxing day.  We fellowshipped with the pastor, his wife and their son who is down here visiting them.  This morning we arose early and went to church.  Though I did not get much of the teaching, it was great to worship with other believers who were there for the same reason we were which is to sing praises to the Lord and hear from His word.  The kids had a good time as well even though they couldn't communicate.  Next week we will continue like I mentioned with the residency process and then on friday we will be serving at a wedding.  Even in this short week, we have seen the Lord be faithful to us.  It has been quite an adventure so far and we are looking forward to getting settled into our apartment in Cajamarca on the 21st.

In Flight in the morning

So we are heading down to Lima in the morning.  We have been extremely encouraged and blessed this week by all our friends and family.  It has been probably one of the hardest weeks of our lives yet it is also one of the greatest.  We have seen so much love from the body of Christ.  We will miss our families more than words can say, but we are doing what the Lord has called and that is where the peace is.  No matter how hard it is, when Jesus calls we need to answer.  Whatever it may be step out and do it.  He will give us the strength, if He has called, He gives the ability.  He has a calling on each one of His children and our responsibility is to obey.  Let me also say this He hasn't called everyone to go into a foreign mission field.  There is plenty of work right where you are at, but if He does say go then go.  He might be calling you to have your neighbor over for dinner so you can share the love of Christ, or that co-worker who is always down about this or that.  It may be the hardest thing you have ever done, but Christ will give you strength because in your weakness He is made strong.  Please be praying for our flight and our time in Lima.  We will be spending 11 or 12 days there before heading up 9000 feet into the Andes.

Down to the wire!

The Lord is so faithful!!!!!  We got our visas on monday.   With only 8 days left, any other hurdles would have been very hard to get over.  When going into Peru they require you to have a plane ticket back home, but we had bought one way tickets because we started the process on our visas and had hoped they would be approved before we departed.  Worse case scenario would have been we would have to buy a ticket back home once we arrived, but that would have really put a wrench into our finances.  So by faith we purchased one way tickets and the Lord showed us grace and allowed us to get our visas just in time.  Thanks for all who were praying and our friend Mesod who worked diligently on all our paper work.

On a separate note, we had a meeting last night with our care team.  It was such a blessed time of fellowship.  We are blessed with a great team who will be holding up our hands while we are away.  It is an encouraging thing to have so many behind us.  We also got to meet with a Life Group which is basically a home fellowship from our church that meets during the week.  The Lord had put us on their hearts and they invited us to share and fellowship with them.  We had a great time in His word, worship then they prayed for us.  They also will be a huge part in our ministry.  We love their hearts and their desire to come along side of us and support us.

Time is going very quickly for us.  We have 12 more days here state side.  As we are trying to get all are things in order and our last minute check list done, the Lord continues to show us His love and confirmation that He is calling us.  Yesterday we went up to the Peruvian consulate to finish up with are visas and we had a little hiccup.  We left without them, but we will go back up there on monday so please pray that there will be no more delays and that we would leave with them in hand.  We have already been approved by the government in Lima we just have a couple more minor things to take care of.

While we didn't get the visas, God was still there up holding us and though it was frustrating, it wasn't anything compared to what some face for following Christ.  Hebrews 13:3 says "Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body" though we were not mistreated in anyway, it made me think of those around the world who are simply because they name the name of Jesus.  Throughout our day lets just take the time to remember are brothers and sisters who are suffering for the sake of the gospel and intercede of their behalf.  


God Bless 

A true faith in Jesus Christ will not suffer us to be idle. No, it is an active, lively, restless principle; it fills the heart, so that it cannot be easy till it is doing something for Jesus Christ.

—George Whitefield

We leave on August 9th!!!!!!

We are leaving for Peru on August 9th.  We could not be more excited to go and see what the Lord has in store for us.  The Lord is so faithful and is continuing to confirm to us that we are following His lead.

Psalms 37:4 says "Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart."

When you read that, sometimes we take it like God will give us all that we want, all that our heart desires.  Jesus said in John 14  "whatever you ask in My name I will do" Then in John 15 Jesus said  "you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you".  See the more we have fellowship with Jesus and the more we abide in Him, as John 15 states, we will begin to have the same desires as Christ.  We will be conforming to the image of Christ, so we will be asking and desiring the things that Christ would be.  When we present our request before God they will be more inline with what Christ would be seeking.
When we "delight" ourselves with Jesus, He will "give" you your desires.  I take it like Jesus Himself with place in your heart, your desires, what you long for, what you yearn for.  Delight yourselves today in Him, open His word and let Him speak to you today.  He is so faithful.

Prayer letter

This is our prayer letter that we have sent out.  Please keeps us in your prayers.  We are planning to leave on August 11, so the time is getting close.   Check it out here-

http://public.iwork.com/document/?a=p197660524&d=Petriks_to_Peru_cajamarca.pages

As I was preparing for 1 Samuel 16, I was comforted by the fact that God didn't give Samuel all the details about what was going to take place when he got to Bethlehem.  I like to know all the details before I do anything.  That is mans way.  See God isn't going to give us the play by play before we go and He has been growing me in this area.  If God was going to show us everything that was gonna take place, maybe we wouldn't go.  The Lord wants us to be relying on Him and if we knew the out come, if we had already seen the big picture we probably wouldn't really be dependent upon Him.  When Samuel got to Jesse's house the Lord instructed Samuel what to do.  Each step of the way the Lord revealed more to Samuel, all the way up to the point when he anointed David.  Samuel really didn't know what was going to take place, not all the details, but he went any ways.  It was very encouraging for me, a very detail oriented person to see Samuel's faith and the Lord leading.  Hope it encourages you as well.

Jig Saw Puzzle

    The other day I heard a pastor speaking and he was using this analogy about jig saw puzzles.  It really made sense to me.  At this point in our lives that is where we are at.  When I do a jig saw puzzle I start with all the straight lines, the outside border and then work my way to the middle.  Fitting all the pieces together.   Right now we got the four corners out and are getting all the flat edge pieces out to start the border.  As we put the pieces together we will see the picture more clearly.

     The border for us is going to bible college and getting a firm foundation.  Getting well prepared that way we have the message to bring.   A lot of people have asked us why go to school just get out in the field.  I had struggled with that until I was sharing with a pastor and he told me a bible story.  It was when Davids son Absalom was in rebellion.  Davids men ended up killing him.  They were getting ready to send out a messenger to report to David and there was one guy who kept insisting to let him go because he was faster.  Finally they said ok go.  He ran and ran, he was much faster than the other messenger no doubt.  David saw him coming from a distance, covering a lot of ground.  David knew that he must have an important message.  As David went out to meet him the messenger was out of breath.  David said what is it?  What happened?  The messenger said " there was all kinds of dust and commotion!"  David says "AND WHAT HAPPENED?"  The messenger replies "There were many men and fighting"  David again responds "WHAT HAPPENED?"  The messenger didn't have the message.  He was there he saw it yet he couldn't deliver it.  How important is it that we have the message and are able to bring it to people so they know what that message is. After hearing that it gave us such peace that we are taking the right steps.  That is why we are going to school first.  While in school we will be learning to live cross culturally.  Learning the language and how to serve to people.  It will be an important time.
    As we get more of the pieces plugged in, we will see what the Lord has in store for us, but we are just one piece at a time.
  

Back from Peru!!!!!

We are back from our short trip to Peru.  It was such a blessed time.  The staff and the students were very welcoming.  The Lord is definitely continuing to guide us in that direction.  We foresee one of the struggles we will encounter, which is family time.  I will be very busy with school and practical ministry that we really won't have a great amount of just family time.  Please pray that we can set a schedule so that we have some quality time.  On the positive side the Peruvian culture is so warm and they love kids.  Also the school seems very kids friendly.   At this point we are starting to get everything in order so we can leave in late July or early August.

Going to "spy the land"

We are heading down to Peru today to get a feel for the area.  We will be down there for about a week checking out the school and all the ministry opportunities.  Very excited to see all that the Lord is doing in Peru.  Please pray that the Lord will gives us direction on our housing situation.