Update

Dear brothers and sisters,

Here a daily account on the things we have experienced this week.

Sunday November 25th 2012

We arrived into Pauza after a sweet long bus ride. We had bought our
tickets for Marcabamba so our two bigger backpacks continued traveling
on their own. Went to Pastor Antonio's house. Knocked on his door and
he warmly received us. There he was having breakfast with a sister
from one of the villages he goes to minister.

He treated us some food and we informed him of our plan for the next
weeks. He was glad to hear we would be in the area.
After that we decided to stick around for the meeting with children at
church. On our way there we ran into Kemi, from Marcabamba, she is one
the teenagers Fanny has been trying to minister.
We talked for a little bit. She had come to Pauza to talk at her radio
program. She is very intelligent and open to talk about all kinds of
topics. I was surprised to see her openness.

We were just about to walk through the small church's door when I saw
Gilbert from Ushua. I told him we should be in Ushua in the next few
days. Then walked in church where Pastor Antonio and His wife plus ten
kids were gathered. They sang songs, played games, Pastor Antonio told
a Jesus story and they tried to memorize a Bible verse. I failed at
memorizing it.

After church we went back to his place and he gave us some names to do
follow-up with. We fare-welled and off we were on the streets looking
for a combi. It did not take long to find one.

We arrived into Marcabamba. Went to the Bus stop and there were our
backs. Went to Fanny's and she was not home. Walked back to the
restaurant and had lunch. Then as we were coming out we ran into Fanny
and she took us to her garden and gave us some avocados and pears.
We asked her if she would be willing to help us connect with teenagers
in the area to have a simple a talk/Bible story time. She was not
hesitant towards that idea.

As we were walking on the streets we ran into Sra Domitila from
Huataca. She asked if we were going to visit them. I said I was not
sure and asked her phone number. I said I would give her a call if we
did.

In the afternoon we played soccer with the local men. It was a good
time to realize we were very extremely tired from the long trip. Not
only that, Pedro fell while playing and hurt his left hand.

At night time we visited Ruth. She was sitting by a fire-wood stove
where she was cooking mazamorra de calabaza, its something like
pumpkin pudding but she had added more items in it.
There we sat around the fire and talked to her about life and God.
We shared with her the demon-possessed man and after that we asked her
what the meaning of life was and right after that Peter asked if she
died and had to face the Lord's presence where He asked her why He
should let her into heaven what her response would be. She only held a
soundless time.
Her husband Miguel was there plus her two daughters,Cyndi and Hirka.
Then we went inside and sat at the table, had dinner as we talked lots
about their family doings and their lives.
One of the most important topics we talked about he mine Luicho where
he works at. How this attracts many young people, men and women, even
some go work there right after high school, get together as couple
then have kids, live very promiscuous and wasted lives.

We left with a happy belly and crashed in bed.


Monday November 26th 2012

Most of the morning was spent going through all the papers, materials
given to us by those who are overseeing and watching over our ministry
here.
We went out for a breakfast and as we were coming out of the breakfast
place we saw Fanny. She shared with us about the high school
student's situation. She also said that we would have a hard time
trying to see teenagers since this is the last month of the year, they
are trying to get rid of school as soon as possible, kids can not wait
to get out and this causes lots of movement in town. Most of the
students do not belong to Marcabamba. They will most likely go back to
their own places or bigger cities in search for jobs.

According to our set plan we were supposed to leave for Ushua today
early in the morning but since we arrived only one day ago we decided
to leave tomorrow so that we would have a little more rest and would
also spend more time in Marcabamba.

We went to see Fanny for lunch and she treated traditional meals. They
were very healthy, almost no fat in them. She is a health nut for
sure.
After lunch we spend the afternoon talking to her about our lives and
our struggles. It was neat getting to spend this much time with her
getting to know our sister whom our relationship has been developing
since 2011 for me, but she has known the church coming to the area for
many many years now.

She did some psychological counseling and testing on us. I did not
know she had these skills in her. Very neat.

We visited Ruth at dinner time, she had asked us to come, now we took
some little gifts as a way to show our gratitude towards her. But when
we were leaving her place she said we did not need to bring anything
and that they would share with us what they had.

After this we went to sleep since we were going to get up very early
next morning.





Tuesday November 27th 2012

Got up when it was still dark. And got into a vehicle with lots of
people. There I saw very, very familiar faces from Ushua, Colta and
Corculla. Too bad riding this early and this conditions do not set the
best environment to open a dialogue when your brain is half asleep.

We made it to Ushua and walked straight to Mr Adalberto and Mrs
Florencia. They like all the time were super very welcoming and let us
in her very humble house. We had breakfast and like every single time
there is a very good chance to bring up Christ topic to the table.
Please, please pray for this couple. They are , I should dare say
though it might sound weird, a very godly catholic couple. There is
that connection between religions that relate us. Since Christianity
has been so distorted, I feel like they open themselves towards us due
to their understanding that God is a little bit more that mere
traditions.

There we met Mrs Justa, she is Mrs Florencia's sister. She calls
herself a christian and when in Lima she goes to a Christian Alliance
and Missionary church. She shared with us some of her testimony and
shared very unexpected news.
It turns out that Mrs Justa works at the Luicho mine. She takes her
son with her so he is not attending school. She gave us the news that
in Luicho there are believers from many, many backgrounds and that
sometimes they get together to pray since that is all they can get.
This was very intense since, living at that mine is so tense. A
christian there has to do things that for other Christians with
different backgrounds might look at it as complete sin.

I saw that in Mrs Justa herself. She still drags lots and lots of
animism from her many, many years of life influence. She talked lost
about her life in the mine.
She works like any other man. She earns money as any other man and even more.

After breakfast, we went to settle and drop off our stuff at Juan
Frias' house. There we rested a little and planned some on things.

Later, we went to Mrs Lucy and got a hair cut for 2 soles. There we
used the time to evangelize with the Demon-possessed man story and we
were even able to explain and guide through the immediate follow-up
questions.
I am pretty sure her brain got destroyed with the questions. She is
open very often toward us. Please that we would be very intentional
when we go see her this next weeks. Pray that the Lord would use these
stories so that she can come to a putting her faith in Christ.

In the afternoon, we walked to Pampachacra. This is not to extremely
far away. Its only about 30 to 35 min walk. We went and looked for Mrs
Yeny and Maria whom we had promised we would come back to follow up
on them. We found Mrs Yeny. She was just about to leave for a meeting
but still she took her time to talk with us some. Please pray that the
Lord would burden her life with a desire to know more of him through
His scriptures. She shared with us how hard life is, working all day
long, how routine is terrible and chores consume hers and her husbands
lives, it becomes to monotonous and boring and forget to work more on
the spiritual side of their lives.
We agreed that we would meet every single Tuesday afternoon to read
scriptures, pray and share. Please do pray that this would actually
take place and that if we do it would be His very Holy Word either
through reading or hearing stories.

The walk back to Ushua is in fact outstanding. Crossing those endless
green fields in these season of the year reminds me lots of God's
creation.

At night time we visited Mrs Euphemia, a lady whom we have developed a
relationship over the year. She is very catholic. She sells tons of
beers and alcohol. Still she has come to care and appreciate us that
every single time we go she is kind to us. This time we were able to
actually sit down longer and pray for her requests. Her parents are
very, very old. They live in Oyolo, so we prayed for them.

At dinner time we shared the table with Mrs Florencia and Mr
Adalberto. Continue to pray for them. Sometimes I feel like I can not
cross the barriers, some other times, I can sense their hardening of
their hearts towards God. Mrs Florencia does have very ancient
believes even on how she was born. She said she was created on a small
creek up the road.

Wednesday November 28th

Day started with time in scriptures and a dialogue with the Giver of
life. Followed we had breakfast with Mr Adalberto and family.

Then off we were looking for people to spend time with. Walked to
Ronald's house. There he was and he asked us if we wanted to walk with
him to Pampachacra to see his corn fields. We so accepted and found
ourselves walking with him. There we talked about many things. I found
it a bit weird at times, running in my head what things to say, what
things we could talk about. Ronald is 36 years old. He is definitely
not a child anymore and so we can hold more adult like conversations.

This is something that I have had to ask the Lord's help these days. I
do have a sincere desire to share God. But this the evil one is trying
to use to put in me restlessness so that I even despair when I do not
have any Bible verses or stories to tell. I have had to ask the Lord's
peace to simply let things happen and allow Him take control of
things. See how manipulative I can be. A sin that the Lord has been
teaching me about this time.

Right in the middle of the fields, there is an open area the
government has bought to build an orphanage place. They are waiting to
get more construction components to keep on building it.
So on our way back we sat at a place called " 5 esquinas" translates
to 5 corners, I think.
There happened what I had been praying all along. We were able to open
up the scriptures and in the middle of the street share from Psalms
and encourage Him towards seeking Christ. I can see there is lots of
guilt Ronald drags from what he has shared with us about his life.
Please pray that the Lord would drill in Ronald's heart a destroying
desire to seek Him in prayer and if possible through His Word, we gave
him a Bible last year on his b-day.

Lunch time was again spent with Mr Adalberto and Mrs Florencia. Then
Pedro and I decided to go help Mr Adalberto who had been working at
his potato fields. Walked there and we found Immanuel ( Manuel)
cultivating the plants with Mr Adalberto. We helped him a little bit.
I am so out of shape on my farming skills.

After this we visited Ronald's family again. When they opened their
wooden door we saw some peeps. There were Bill, Manuel, Ronald, his
wife, other kids and other adults. They were all looking a teacher try
to fix Ronald's 2-wheeled motorbike. There we hung out with them till
the sun set.


Before dinner time, we visited Teacher Nancy. She did not come out,
instead her husband did. We asked them if they would be interested on
having a small Bible Study with them. They agreed to meet on
Wednesdays evenings. Again, please this actually takes place. I do not
know this couple very well so pray that we would love on them by
sharing with them Christ.

Thursday November 29th 2012

This time we were able to get up a bit later. So we were at the plaza
at 4:45am waiting on the van to pass by. Not too long afterward it
showed up, we got on and very soon the road changed into an uphill
mode. People from Ushua say they do not like Oyolo because its very
cold. I agree with them.
Following our given schedule we were supposed to be back in Marcabamba
on Thursday morning so that we would connect with Brother Antonio and
support him with our presence on his meeting in the evening. Our
brains were set on this goal and nothing was going to change that. So,
upon our arrival to Oyolo, we got off the van and walked to the public
restrooms. We walked back and the driver said that there were two
people who had bought tickets in Oyolo and that no one had told him to
lock in two seats in Ushua for us. So in other words we got kicked out
of the van and were left in Oyolo. Now listen, I was not mad AT ALL. I
was laughing very hard as we walked down to see Francisco and Sara. In
my mind I thought, God, what are you trying to teach us here?

We opened the wooden door, walked in and I yelled for Sister Sara. She
said, brothers come in please.
Pedro and I walked in. She very warmly welcomed us and treated us a
big, I mean big breakfast. Quaker, toasted corn, fruit bread, boiled
potatoes, fresh cheese.

We talked some, we zoned out some, we prayed and encouraged. She
offered us to stay at their house over the night.

This day was filled of some learning experiences. We went walking all
over trying to see people and visit. First thing we did was to go see
Teresa. There she was not at her store. This felt weird since we are
just used to seeing her right there cooking and running her store.
Instead we found Liset, her daughter, she looks just like her. She
informed us that her mom has been working at the fields. That since
her fields are far away she has been staying over there.

After that, we went to see Liz, the town's secretary. She was busy at
a meeting and asked us to come later in the afternoon.

Then we went and bought Phone cards. I called home my mother to see
how bringing Mercedez and Jacky plans are going. We talked about some
more details for the trip. Please continue to pray for them both.
Right in this moment Mercedez is in Cusco, another big chunk of
mountains in the country meeting with some church's leaders
coordinating the continued ministry with young peeps.
Whereas Jacky if working 29 hours a day, 9 days a week ( Emphasis
added). Pray that the Lord would be preparing them for their trip
here, for their hearts to serve, for their huge help and blessing as
they come to barnabas ( encourage) us for about 10 days ( Including
traveling days). Pray that the Lord would also provide for all the
needs as its mostly transportation and meals and little extras.

After this we went to the primary school. There we played a little
volleyball with the kids. Pedro's hand was getting better and playing
volleyball with a hurt hand was not the best idea. A teacher whom I
met last year asked me if I wanted to come in and share something. I
felt like, oh crap, I should be better prepared all the time. So went
in and shared Creation to Church story. Asking questions and adapting
them to their culture-environment so they can relate better to the
story.
We played a single game, and when they asked us to sing, we went
blank! But instead we suggested they should sing a song in Quechua.
They did sing a very well known Peruvian song for kids in the quechua
version.

These kids are in 6th grade. So here in Peru it means they are leaving
Primary school and the following year they will be in High school. The
teacher asked us to think if by any means we could give a little gift
with the kids. My public response was :"We will talk about it" Which
in our culture might very well mean, we are not bringing anything. But
right there I thought on Bibles. We do have several Bibles that we
could donate. I wonder what Pastor Daryl would think about that? They
are only 12 students total.

We had a good talk with the principal of the school. I apologized for
not coming first to him when we entered the school. He asked us why we
were here and he seemed satisfied after we responded accordingly.
Left the school and walked to the hospital ( health-center). We walked
in and there seemed to be no one alive, when a voice responded and
walked in. There was the new doctor! Her name is Anita. She told us no
one was there. We tried to spend some time with her. We found out she
has some 7th Adventist influences. So we asked her how we could pray
for her. She seemed to be very warm and kind towards us, inviting us
to come back and visit.

At lunch time, I wrote a letter of encouragement to leave with Liz.
Since she had told us she felt tired and sick of her job. She wanted
to leave Oyolo.

After lunch we visited the High school and saw familiar faces doing
some quick follow up on those we knew. Surprise was that a teacher
from Ushua was now teaching there and asked us to come and teach
"religion" to her students, like we used to in 2011.

As we left the school and were walking aimlessly, we ran into Mrs
Silvia, whose son Christian had become a very good friend of mine last
year. Sadly he is no longer in Oyolo.
She as usual, was selling fresh fried trout, and I treated Pedro a
meal. What was cool about this time is that there was a very young boy
named Javier, maybe 7 years old. He was very dirty and playing with a
very small stuffed animal. He supposedly needed to be in school by
this time, after I tried in many ways to have him respond why he
wasn't in school I stopped and started teaching the numbers and adding
using my fingers. Then I pulled out my notebook and taught him the
numbers 0 to 20.
Why this happened? Only God knows.

We were still talking when a bus showed up!! I was like what the heck
is this!!!! A bus in Oyolo!!!
Last year we had to walk from a place called the cut, it was about 1
or 2 hours hike up the hill! Now my eyes were looking at a bus! Maybe
30 passengers big.
Things are definitely changing in this little region. You can
send/ship a letter or a box with goodies for 20 soles now, all the way
from Lima.

After this we ran into high school students and went down to the court
to play soccer. There we met with some whom we taught English and
Religion in 2011.
There is a guy who is like 17 years old. He is still missing like 3
years of school to be get out. I encouraged him not to give up but to
endure. Three years will fly by in a blink of an eye.

Walked back to town and sought after Liz. She had been looking for us
as well and we decided to call a friend in common name Rosabel ( An
obstetrician whom we spent lots of time with last year) She is no
longer living in Oyolo but we gave her a call to do a quick follow up.
It was very neat getting to hear from her and we shared some on what
is going on in our lives. We encouraged her to look to cross of Christ
where all sins were paid, since she shared with us her spiritual
struggles.

Said by to Liz, delivered the letter and walked back to Francisco's
who was waiting with supper ready.
There at his house we shared our plans for the month of December. His
countenance showed sadness when he heard that our focus was not going
to be Oyolo. Still he was very grateful for our unexpected visit. He
said again and again that we should stay one or two weeks in Oyolo.

Friday November 30th 2012

It is always very difficult to sleep the night before the
traveling-day. Still it was not too bad since our van would leave at
6am.
We had a very neat time praying early morning with Francisco and Sara.
Today is Sara's birthday. We treated her two sublimes. She said she
was not going to share any with anyone!
Had breakfast and walked to the van where it had just started to
depart. We still did not panic but remained chill. My eyes widened
lots when I saw that the van was packed with Ushua people except by
two or three from other places. All of them going to Pauza. I sat
right next to Maclin.( Not sure about name's spelling) a 16 years old
high school student with her baby about a month old. On the way, as
conversation went along, she asked some name suggestions for her baby
boy. I pulled out my Bible and went through all the names I could
possibly think of. She did like the name "Jonah". I told her the
story. Then we all passed out into a sound sleep.

Made it to Marcabamba. The sun was scorching vehemently. Got into our
home ( the church building) Sorted out our dirty stuff. We do need to
do laundry bad! Went out and had lunch. Visited with Alfredo whom I
pray stops smoking. I don't think its good for his health. Visited Mrs
Nelly whose two daughters are her focus in this season of her life
now. She asked how I had become in all this and so an opportunity to
share a bit of testimony was opened.
We took a amount of time planning for next week and the week after the
next one when Mercedez and Jacky come, hopefully.

Saturday December 1st 2012

Today is the very first day of the very last month of this year. The
morning started with a sweet time lifting the brethren from all over,
here in Marcabamba, and other towns that belong to the Paucar del Sara
Sara Region, Ayacucho, Peru, USA and all over.

We were going to fix our own breakfast and for some reason we decided
to see Fanny on our way to the store and ended up having a sweet
breakfast time with Fanny, Hernan and Paul. At table time, we simply
shared from daily lives experiences and we are getting to know them as
time passes by.

And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on
a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,
bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a
complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should
you.
And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
Colossians 3:12-14

We do not really have access to internet, we wish we would send
updates daily so that is why this update comes overloaded.

Brother Solomon
From Ayacucho, Peru