It has been a busy few weeks for us. The Lord has opened up doors for us that we had been wanting to walk through but never had the opportunity. We were finally able to meet with the director of a state run orphanage here in Cajamarca. The Lord granted us favor in her eyes and they have opened the doors for us to come and minister to the kids and staff twice a month. We will be starting in March. They gave us 2.5 hours to come in and play with the kids and build relationships with them and teach them from the Bible. We are so excited to see how the Lord uses this for His glory.
Our English classes are progressing rapidly as well. We have on average about 30 people coming every Wednesday. We are going to be starting a kids class once the Petrik seniors return from their 5 week furlough. We started this to bless the community and get more involved with our locals. Through this we have had a few people start to attend church and women's Bible study.
Our youth group is growing as well. It is such a blessing to see the few youth that we have wanting to step out in faith and serve and be used by God. Don is doing a wonderful job with them. All of the youth that come on a regular basis have brought friends and their parents to church. Three of the girls who come, joined us one saturday up in Carhuaquero to serve. A couple want to be on the worship team as well. These are girls who had no Christian background. The Lord is doing a great work in their hearts. The youth group is also wanting to be active in street evangelism also. Don wanted to equip them in this area and has taken them out into the plaza to pass out tracts. We started a class on evangelism last week. I was blessed to teach the first class and give them an overview on what evangelism is and why we are to do it. On Tuesdays for the next month, Don will meet with them for an hour and discuss more on this. They will go and put it into practice once a month on Saturdays. I am so blessed by their hearts. They are developing a passion for the lost and a passion to serve Christ.
The Lord has also blessed us with an incredible young man. He is not only a blessing to us personally, but also to the church. His name is Gerson and be praying for him. We have been meeting every friday for close to a year now going in depth through books of the Bible. We are currently in the Gospel of John. He has such a servants heart. Whenever there is an opportunity to serve, Gerson is always stepping up. He goes faithfully to Carhuaquero. He teaches the kids in Sunday school once or twice a month. He helps out if we need it at English class and our movie nights. He plays the Cajon during worship and will help translate if we need it. He sees it as a privilege to serve the Lord (may the Lord give us all that heart). He is a full time student right now at the university. He is studying to be a architect. I see in him a passion to serve the Lord. Be praying that the Lord would guard him and continue to use him.
In April our dear friends Sean and Crissy will be returning from an extended furlough where they were blessed to go to language school. They are part of Villa Milagro, which is a Southern Baptist organization here in Cajamarca. Sean has a heart to see active discipleship taking place and equipping the local pastors to disciple their congregations. The Lord put our hearts together on this and Sean and I will be talking a step of faith to see this happen. Several pastors from the States have passed on material and wisdom to us to see this through and help us in this process. Be praying for this ministry and the logistics and that the Lord would use this to further His kingdom.
