Introducing Siembra S.O.W.'s Website

Siembra S.O.W. is still going strong. In Peru, the ministry continues under the leadership of Carmen, while in the Dominican Republic, it grows under the leadership of Luis and Adeline, the founders of the ministry.

A website has finally been created for this ministry (about time!) and information on Siembra S.O.W. can now be found at http://www.siembra-sow.com

Please check it out!!

design and photography by adelineohvelarde. Copyright Reserved.

New Update

Carmen, who took over the reigns of Siembra S.O.W. in Lima, Peru has been giving me so many amazing testimonies of what's been happening with the women on the streets of Lima and she has finally found a church and pastor who is willing to work with the women and who will also give her the freedom to teach and counsel them the way she had been doing (without hammering the Word over their heads) and to teach others to do the same.

 He is so excited for his church to work with the women that Carmen has had to tell him to slow down, slow down so as not to scare away the women with all the ideas and courses his church has. This is a long time dream come true. What a mighty God we serve

So, I Lied.....

So I lied. I had said in my previous blog post that it would be the last until we move to the DR. 

But. 

I can't just leave it hanging. So, here's another post. 

Siembra S.O.W. is now in the very capable hands of Carmen, one of our team members.  I am no longer the president legally as she now is. We will still keep Siembra S.O.W.'s Facebook page going and whatever she writes in Spanish, I will translate so that those who have been following Siembra since its formation will still be able to read about how it's going. Carmen has shown that she has a heart after the Father and a heart for the untouchables on the streets. Since she's agreed to take on the role of the president of this ministry, she has been going with gusto, taking over from where we left off, dealing with the new board members, the accountant, would-be volunteers, etc. I'm now in the middle of teaching her and another member from the ministry a course that I have just taken that uses the imagery of the butterfly along with a lot of the Word for setting women free. It's called Love UnVeiled.  

Having Carmen take over the reins of the ministry confirmed that God wants to keep it going. For a while, I wasn't sure if God wanted it to go on when we leave but He confirmed it in many ways and I'm glad that it will go on, that what started out as a very tiny seed will now keep growing to become a tree that will give shelter to many (Mark 4:31-32). That was the verse that God had given me as the verse for this ministry when I started it and it will one day come to pass. 

Our documents for our resident visa for the DR are all finally in, and so far, the DR Embassy hasn't sent us an email saying that something needs to be fixed, so it's all go and we're just waiting for them to let us know when it's approved. This is as much as I want to talk about the paperwork, it's just too much drama and angst....

Luis has been studying through a free online seminary since sometime last year and can dedicate more time to it now that we're not running around so much. When he's not studying, reading or washing the dishes (house rule; if one cooks, the other washes and since he prefers that I cook, he washes. :-)), he can be found watching all Star Trek re-runs. 

I've been using this time away from ministry to write and also to immerse myself in the blogging community, something I never had the time for before, nor knew existed to the extent that it exists. It's been a source of learning, encouragement, strength and even conviction for me to be able to read and communicate with others all around the world who walk out their faith in their daily lives, whatever that may look like and be real. Too bad I'm only 8 years late on finding it. 

This is where we are at right now, during this transition. Your prayers as always, are very much appreciated, as is any financial support for the short or long term. For those who have walked with us and will keep walking with us, a heartfelt thank you from the both of us. You have no idea how much every bit helps and how much we appreciate it. 

Please feel free to contact us through email, facebook inbox or comments on our blogs. We would appreciate hearing from you and keeping in contact as well as praying for you if you would like us to. 



Much love,

Adeline & Luis









write

Burnout

I need a break. I've been feeling it in my body and knowing that I need a break from doing ministry, from counseling, from helping people in general. This might sound really bad but I need this time to rest up and to just stop immersing myself in the culture and start to do things that people might perhaps think that I shouldn't because I'm indulging myself, but I know I need to. Because I feel as if I'm losing my sanity. And I need to rest up before I move to another country and do more ministry. 

I just read up on missionary burnout and I'm seeing myself in it, so this will be my last post about ministry in this country of Peru.

I am going to take a break. I'm going to just be living and enjoying life and just rest up without feeling the weight of obligation or responsibility upon my shoulders for this short time until we move in March/April. 

I know I can write without guilt that I have done all I can while I was here. Spoken what I had to say. Shared the Word, taught the Word, counseled, gave materially and done what I sensed God tell me to do to show His love. But I am not their Saviour and only God can work in their hearts if they let Him. 

I know I gave 99% of me. Perhaps others could have given more, but it was my 99%.

And now, if you will excuse me, I will rest. I must rest. I will give myself permission to rest. 

I can still be found on my personal blog, just click on the button, "Adeline's Blog" on the right hand side of this blog and it will take you there. 

Till later,

Adeline

Free Will

 Throughout the course of our living here in this area of Lima, I've spoken to, counseled and shared Jesus with 2 girls at the park where we take our dogs. You read about one of them in my last blog entry. She decided to choose death. 

Since then, I've been going over and over in my head what I had actually shared with her when I met her, checking to see if it had been sufficient, if I had shared Jesus with her or not. Suicide is so selfish and its ripples go really far. It affected me and I had met her only once and it made me wonder if I was at fault for not doing enough. 

But I know I did what I could at that time and a little after. I'm learning that I can lead a person to the living waters of Jesus but it is up to them to want to drink from it. 

Free will.

This story is about the 2nd girl. She asked Jesus into her life the very first meeting at the park. I text  messaged her at Christmas and exchanged greetings but then never heard from her until a week ago. The first time, she had been really depressed and had asked God to send someone or an angel to talk to her. Guess who God sent. She was so in awe that God answered her prayer literally. But even though she received Jesus into her life that night, she wasn't ready to be discipled or go to church.

The second time around, she cried out to God to bring someone to talk to her to counsel her in doing things the right way. God is so funny. He coordinated that night for me and hubby to walk the dogs super late to meet up with her as she was entering the park. We talked for an hour while poor hubby and the dogs sat around, hungry. She wanted to meet  me again and I told her I would bring her a bible. 

Yesterday, we met and I started teaching her key verses from the bible about her identity and what Jesus had done for her and basically, at the end of it, I very directly said that she knows what some of the promises of God says about her and it depended on her what she does with the information. It could sit in her mind and never be used or she could believe it in her heart and walk in it. She decided to go to church with us tonight.

Her verdict after church tonight? "This is not like a Catholic church at all! It's like one big concert!" She decided she wants to go again. She's planning to go tomorrow night for the young adults meeting and I will meet her again next Tuesday at the park.

One chose death. The other chooses life. 

We all have a choice. 

AG, You Were Loved So Very Much

Today was a hard day for Luis and I. We got a call a few days ago from a mom whose daughter I had met in a park close to our home last April/May. The girl was sitting on a park bench and as I walked near her, the Lord kept telling me to talk to her. I was walking one of the dogs and as I kept walking our dog back and forth while checking with the Lord to see if He had indeed told me to talk to her, I heard a definite confirmation. So, I went and asked if I could sit next to her. She said yes and as I sat down next to her, I asked her if she was okay. 

She told me her story. It was the usual for a young girl; boyfriend problems. She was 20 and she had been going out with a guy who didn't value her and didn't treat her like she should be treated. So, she had broken up with him. But now, she desperately wanted to get back together with him but wasn't sure if she should because she wasn't sure if he would treat her like he did before and in the meantime, he was calling her to get back together. 

I told her that she was created by God for a purpose and that she had a lot of value by God's standards and didn't need to allow anyone to treat her less than how much God valued her. I told her about how Jesus gave her value through what He did for her on the cross. That was the gist of our conversation but it was longer than that; she talked, I listened, etc. We exchanged phone numbers and I told her she could call me anytime to talk. She was studying at the culinary institute right by the park and it would not be difficult to meet. 

For a little while we texted back and forth and then one day, I asked how things were and got the cold shoulder. I figured she was back with her boyfriend and didn't want me to say anything, so I backed off and never called her again. 

Then, one day last week, I got a call from her mom on my cell phone. She told us that her daughter had passed on and that she wanted to talk to me. We agreed to meet. 

We met today; her parents and Luis and I. 

They told me that on the 23rd of December, she had left the house after receiving a call and then  returned around 7pm. She declined to eat dinner with her family and said she wanted to go rest. Her dad went up to check on her later and there was no answer. He broke the door down and found her dead. They needed answers as to what her motives were. They thought that she might have gone to meet me that afternoon and had spoken to me and I might have known something.  

I told them how we had met, in what I had counseled her and that after a few text messages, had no more contact with her. They told us that all had been well with her and the boyfriend lately and that there was no reason at all as to why she had done what she did.

We asked specific questions and God was so awesome in giving us words of knowledge and wisdom and some issues from the past surfaced that they had not seen before. It didn't change what had happened, but it gave them some peace and closure. God also led us to counsel them to not blame themselves for what had happened and to allow themselves to grieve and not try to be strong and hold it all in. We told them they could call anytime to talk if they wanted to and we would listen. 

What the enemy intends for evil, God will turn around for good. Luis and I are praying that through this tragedy, the parents will give their lives to Jesus and come to know Him in a real and tangible way. We are praying that if the Lord wills, another opportunity to listen to them will open up and along with that, the opportunity to share Jesus with them. 

Please pray with us on that. 

The girl was 20. She had a bright future ahead of her. She was loved but she could not believe that she was worthy. She died believing in a lie. 

If you are reading this and you are thinking that you have no worth, that because of something that happened to you, you cannot ever move on or be loved, please know that that is a lie from the enemy who wants to destroy you. If you think your problems are too much for you to bear and that death is the only way out, please know that the enemy wants to kill you. You have much worth and you were created for a purpose by God who loves you with an immense love. He has a future for you and because of that, He sent His Son, Jesus to die on the cross for you and to take upon Himself all of the things you have done wrong and all of your sickness. He died and rose again to give you and abundant life and to make you whole. He died so you can live. You don't have to carry your pain, hurts and wounds on your own shoulders anymore. Jesus wants to take it from you so that you can go forward towards the future and purpose that He has for you. He has given you life. Not death. 

Will you choose Jesus and life today? 
If you will, then say the prayer below in your own words or as is written, but mean it from your heart. He can only change us if we give Him permission to.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, I know that you are the Son of God and I know that I have done things that did not please you. I ask you to please forgive me for all that I have done against you. I give you my life and invite you into my heart as my Lord and Saviour. I choose to follow you and I ask you to please heal my body and my heart of sickness and hurts so that I can be made whole to receive, live and enjoy the life that you have given me through your death and resurrection. Thank you Jesus for all that you did for me. In your name, I pray, amen.

If you had prayed this prayer, please write me a comment below.

 I would love to hear from you. 

Transition

We are in transition. The ministry and us. We have known for a while that the Lord was sending us out of Peru. We just didn't know exactly when. Or where. So we left it to the Lord to reveal it to us in His time and continued to work in the ministry. Then the Lord narrowed the time down to early this year, 2013. We kept praying about the where and kept working in the ministry. 

Eventually, the Dominican Republic kept getting highlighted. And the town of Sosua. Apart from the fact that Sosua was originally settled by Jews and even has a Messianic Congregation, Sosua is also known for something else. It is the 4th ranked place in the world for prostitution tourism. 

We kept checking into it to see how we could be of use there and we found a ministry that works specifically with exploited peoples there, namely children and prostitutes through schools, churches and other means. We wrote to them and laid it at the Lord's feet. He would open the doors if this was what He wanted us to do and where He wanted us to go. We received a reply from the organization and wrote back. Soon, we were corresponding with the director of this ministry. Our future roles with this organization will be as program manager for the women's ministry and program manager for the community (walking alongside the pastors of the community who are being helped by this organization to reach their communities).

To make a long story short, we are now in the process of getting a residential visa for the DR and this consist of harrowing and endless running back and forth from one end of this city to the other. The Lord has been dealing with how I react to all of this and I am truly learning to let it slide, let it slide and look for the things around me that make me smile. It is not easy. Our projected time for moving to the DR is March, 2013. As of yet, depending on how quickly we can get the visa, we are unable to pinpoint an exact date. 

Siembra S.O.W. will be handed over to Carmen, our team member and we are in the process of praying and looking for either a church, missionaries or people with the same heart for this ministry to walk with her. All of the people we had been discipling are going to church and continue to walk with the Lord. We continue to go down to the streets and talk to the women (we had been unable to find the guys for a long time) and pray that those who have received the Lord will now want to get out, start to walk in Him and seek a future for themselves. Those who want to leave the streets will now be discipled by Carmen. This fullfils the vision of handing over the ministry to a local to continue with it. I have always believed that as a missionary, my job is not to take over but to raise up, teach and then step back to let the locals lead their own people.

I keep in contact with the women in the prison through Dalila, a servant of Christ who serves the women by teaching them bible study and by scanning their letters and emailing it to their friends and family. In this way, I am able to connect with the women, no matter where I am. Even through a lot of hardship, they have thrived. The ones I had been concerned about have thrived under adversity. It always amazes me that when Christians come under persecution, they thrive more and grow deeper. So it has been with the three women; Birgitte, Bose and Rosana. They have been holding their own time of bible study and worship when no groups were allowed in to hold formal bible studies and worship. I am not sure if formal bible studies are in place yet in this new prison that they're in but they're getting the Word from Dalila and also amongst themselves. 

I will continue to write this blog for Siembra S.O.W. until we leave and God willing, will continue writing a different blog about what God is doing with us and through us in the Dominican Republic. And as I receive information from Carmen, I will also update the Siembra S.O.W. blog. 

Prayers are coveted for the area of:

•  our paperwork, for God's favour upon it; 
• provision for our move and for when we are in the DR; 
• a house there that fits our needs and budget;
•  someone to help Carmen with the ministry here as well as all those whom you have been praying for in this blog. 
• provision for Siembra S.O.W.

God bless.