A Recap of 2012

As 2012 comes to a close, I reflect on all that has happened this year and give thanks to the Lord of Harvest. For this ministry, it has been a year of harvest, of seeing God's hand in everything, of seeing the purpose of what He has called us to do. 

This ministry has never been easy, it's a ministry that needs a lot of patience, love and persistence. Looking back, I am awed by the faithfulness of my God. He taught me what it meant to plant a seed and to be patient while I kept watering it. How many times, like a curious impatient child did I want to dig beneath the earth just to see what was happening with the seed that was planted. How many times did I wonder if it was even alive, let alone, growing. And then,  in His timing, things started to happen. 

I must say that He broke all of my plans. Every one of them. He told me what He wanted me to do and I did it, but impatient daughter that I am, I started planning ahead and beyond what He had said to do in my own logic and that of this society's. I started thinking along the lines of what others have done, what is logical to do based on what this culture expected. God smashed them to pieces and shut several doors. I was left with the unorthodox and doing what others had not done before. We were also doing this alone with a couple of other people because most churches would not touch this type of ministry with a 20 foot pole. 

Our van became an office to disciple and counsel. As did other local cafes and we quickly found that all the places we had "accidentally" chosen were run by believers. So, not only were we doing ministry but also helping out their businesses. Unplanned bible studies sprouted in homes of the people we counseled. We even used playgrounds and parks. God showed us that we are the church, not any building and that ministry happens wherever and whenever. And we could still share and teach the Word even if we are sitting next to a rather huge pitbull like dog on a couch.

We saw how God worked and moved in hearts that were so hardened and hurt to transform them into flesh so that they could love again. Friendships were forged with people we never would have thought we would ever come to meet, let alone know. Trust was build. And people came to know the Lord and started living. 

I look back at 2012 and I am grateful. So grateful for this chance to have done what we have been able to do. So grateful because we have been so privileged to do all this on such a grassroots level. So grateful because He showed us His hand and how marvellous He is. So grateful for the lives who came to Him. So grateful for the people who walked with us in this ministry. The seed that was planted did take root and sprout leaves. Like the verse God gave me for this ministry, Mark 4:31,32 , God willing, it will grow to be a large tree to give shelter to many one day. 

This ministry is beyond us. It's not about us. The seed that has been planted will keep growing whether we are still here or not. It is all about Him. We do what He asks, and He will be faithful to accomplish that which He has said He will do. 

2012 has been extraordinary. 

One Woman

We received a call from JP's mom today after a long while. She had moved along with her husband and three younger children to a piece of  property that they had bought which is a testimony all by itself. Her moving there  became the excuse for two of her sons to return to their past vices on the streets, JP being one of them. This happened about 2 months back. 

If every person who decided to follow Jesus trusted Him and held onto Him like this woman does, this world would be transformed in an instant. She met Jesus at the lowest point in her life; the relationship between her husband and her was colder than icebergs in the Arctic Ocean; her kids except the youngest were rude and disobedient; her three oldest sons had been in drugs, with two of them still on drugs and she was at her wits end. She didn't know how to deal with it and the only way she knew how was to yell and nag which didn't help any. She had been at the point of walking away from all of them to start a new life for herself. Then she gave her life to Jesus. 

And something beautiful began. Her heart of stone started to become a heart of flesh. She started to react differently and stepped into her authority as a parent over her children. She went to church and gave herself completely over to Jesus and really trusted and held onto HIm with all she had. She learned that the bible says that Jesus is her husband so she took Him at His Word. She learned that the bible says that God is her father who will never fail her. She took Him at His Word. She learned to forgive past hurts and ask for forgiveness. She cultivated her relationship with Jesus daily and it grew and blossomed. And her faith in Him deepened.

Her greatest dream right now is to see her entire family worship the Lord together. She stands on Acts 16:31"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved AND your house". All her house in 6 short months have come to know the Lord except her husband. And her younger sons have changed. They're polite and obedient. Her husband has changed his attitude towards her and now seeks her out to share his day and to spend time with her. She told him that her dream is to see them all go to church and worship the Lord together. He told her that it won't be long before that dream comes true. And three days ago, JP returned home from living out on the streets. 

One woman. Holding onto God with all she had, believing that what He says is true because the alternative is not an option. One woman. Believing in her identity as a daughter of the Most High God and walking out her Kingdom heritage. One woman. Changing the atmosphere around her because of her simple, childlike faith. One simple, ordinary woman walking hand in hand with her immensely extraordinary God to see the supernatural happen in the natural. 

I'm not making any of this up. My husband and I were and are still very privileged to walk with her and her family to see God's hand in all of this and how the faith of this woman is bringing a real change to her family. 

A heart fully surrendered to the Lord without fear is truly an amazing thing. 

Talking Nice

Sometimes we have to be hard to be kind. Sometimes we have to stop mollycoddling so that people can grow and start taking responsibility for themselves. Oftentimes we don't do that. We think we have to be all "Christian-like" and be all gooshy smooshy and let people do what they shouldn't do because we think that is showing them that we are Christlike. 

Sin kills. Sometimes we water down the part that says the wages of sin is death. Sometimes we want to gloss over it and pretend that it really doesn't kill. I see the result of that verse. The wages of sin is death and too many play with it, like a child plays with matches and lights them without weighing the consequences. Can we say then, that we are like children? Oblivious to the dangers? Some of us, perhaps. Not all. Many of us know that we flirt with death and we play the game of Russian Roulette thinking that it will not touch us. And when it does, it's too late. 

Whoa, you might say. Girl, you're supposed to talk NICE. You're supposed to be dishing out how everyone is valued and loved. What is all this talk about sin? Sin tells us we're doing something bad. I don't want to hear that. I want to hear the good parts. 

The good part is this: Dude, we're all going down cos we're all doing something bad (yes, that thing called sin!) and yes, we were all created with a purpose in our lives. But, we ain't gonna get to our purpose or accomplish it if we keep on going down the wrong road doing the wrong things. The good part is that we can all get cleaned. Our bad record can be erased from the archives of the CIA and FBI on high. How? We need to believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. 

Cool, I done that, you can say. But I still like my badness, I still like my crack. My coke. My friends do it, girl, I gotta hang with my homies, ya know. Yeah man, selling my body ain't that bad either cos it's easy and I get fast cash. So, you say, the wages of sin is death? It don't apply to me, girl. I got there Jesus man in my life now. 

Dude, there's something called C-O-N-S-Q-U-E-N-C-E-S. Jesus will keep cleaning you up, will keep forgiving you. But what you keep on doing, the badness, that thing called sin; that will bring consequences upon yourself. You can O.D. Guess what, that means you die. Or you get AIDS, or you get beaten to death by some pusher or john. 

You got Jesus in your life. That's a great decision. 

Now, turn from the sin. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Dude, you have to take the initiative. You have to stop sinning. And turn towards Jesus. Completely. Because, the wages of sin is death and you know what bro? 

The devil is out to rob, kill and destroy you and yours. And he will succeed because unless you turn away from sinning, you are giving him total access to do what he wants to do in your life.

If you die, you will never have accomplished your purpose. 

If you are constantly returning to prostitution or drugs, you will never accomplish your purpose. 

The wages of sin is death. 

Dude, I'm talking nice. Because I want you to choose life. 

Nothing Stays The Same Forever

It was only a matter of time. Darkness always needs to feed off itself to grow. And it was no exception here. In the world of vice, there are no friends. There are companions who will play at being friends when all is convenient but when the tide turns, beware the ides of march....

"Et tu Brute?" asked Julius Caesar to Brutus as his friend stabbed him. The women who work the streets have long told me they are friends, that they stick together. That was one of the main reasons EM kept going down to work from time to time; she said she missed the chatter and the friendship. Last week, so-called friendship went out the window when two women had a fight and one cut the other in the face. The good things that resulted from this are 1) the violence has caused the store owners to have the cops come and constantly get the women off the streets so that when we went down last Monday, there was not one woman in sight. 2) EM is sufficiently scared now to not go down anymore and to start going to church. On the other side of town, another woman who work the streets asked Jesus into her life. 

Nothing stays the same forever and that's no exception with JP's family. His mom bought her piece of land and moved the family. JP did not want to go as that would mean he had to leave behind his friends so he opted to go back to living on the streets and his old life. He had actually been clean for two weeks after a long lapse back into drugs. Meanwhile, his older brother who lives with his girlfriend and his child tried to manipulate their mother to make her stay close to him and not move by threatening to go back to doing drugs. He has also returned to the streets, and his old life. 

There comes a point when we have to let go. People are offered choices, options and a way out and it depends on them what they choose to do. We have offered everyone we have come into contact with, the same message, the same love, the same offer of time for them, the same help. Some, like JP's mom and aunt, have grown and keep wanting to grow in the Lord and move in faith. Some, like EM want to change and move forward but still need to have their hand held and be pushed forward a little. And some, like JP and his brother, want changes without them having to make any changes for themselves. 

For those who are now going to church and growing, we let them go so that they can grow more.  

For those who have returned to their old lives, we let them go because they have chosen their paths after knowing the truth. 

For the ones we are still walking with, we hold them lightly, ready to let them take flight and go when they are ready to fly.

We may not be able to help some of them anymore but the only one thing we are certain is that God will never leave them nor abandon them. 

Didn't Get To Say Goodbye

Kinda freaking out a little. Ok, maybe more than a little. I found out today that the foreign women at the jail that I counsel and teach got transferred to a new facility north of Lima. The opposite end of where we are. I did get to spend time with another inmate while I was at the "old" prison and she gave her life to the Lord and I'm just all over the moon on that. She's 62. Details on my FB status today. It's all good right?

Well, yes to the woman who gave her life to Jesus but the other part, not so good. Been doing research on the prison where they took the women to. A blog called Prisoners Abroad filled in missing gaps for me about what happened to the women. I got details from the other inmates at the old prison but half the time you never know if what you're hearing is the straight version or the slightly exaggerated one. Seems like I got the real version all round. The blog stated that the women were moved at 2am in the morning one day and some left with nothing as their clothes were still out on the line. Some lost their bags en route. It confirmed that the women have to fight for drinking water at the new facility. They're locked in their cells 24/7 and have no workshops to go to and nothing to do. I know, I know, it's a prison. They're not supposed to wander around free. But that's what they had before. They could attend workshops and learn as well as read and fill their time doing something useful that they can sell. They could encourage each other and pray for one another which was what the women I know were doing. And now, they're locked up in a cell all day long.

I know I have taught them hardcore faith. I have not held back from them nor patted them on the backs in the times when their emotions had gotten the better of them. I have drilled into their heads the need to know the bible just in case it ever gets taken away from them. Taught them they need to lean and stand on the Word as nothing before and to praise and worship and give thanks to the Lord even when everything around them is bleak and they don't feel like it. Taught them to see beyond the now and to know that this too shall pass and one day they will get out and that their lives have a purpose. Showed them that nothing is impossible with God and that He is bigger than the circumstances around them. I know that some of them were already training themselves. I am just concerned for one. And knowing that they have no contact with each other now means it's really a test like no other of their faith; to rely and depend only on God. Not their friends to pray with or encourage them, not their family, not their emotions, not anything that they knew before.

But even as I am concerned about one particular woman, I know her Father is more concerned and is holding her close. She has Him. And He will not leave her and He loves her more than anyone ever can. So with that, I will leave her in His hands, and know that He will take care of her. I have no idea if I will even see them again. We are trying to find out when visiting hours are there and if it's feasible for me to visit them even if it's once a month. But the consolation I get is that we will see each other in heaven even if I never see them here again.

 Bose, Birgitte and Rosana need your prayers in the new prison as well as Heila the one who became a Christian today. They need our prayers now more than ever.

Just Like Pizza

We were recently privileged to be able to help out with an organization away from here that works with exploited peoples; one of them being women who work the streets. It was so much  worse than what we confront here, one main difference being that a majority of the women there do not choose to be on the streets. Some have been trafficked, some tricked into it by family members or partners, some as young as nine years old. So many of them beautiful, with so much seemingly ahead of them. Their behaviour and speech demonstrated an outward normalcy towards us but their eyes reflected a tiredness, a deadness; in some, a hardness. In others, a desperation. 

Men book all inclusive vacations here with a twist. They book according to various personal specifications and delivery of girls to the doorstep is also included in some all inclusive vacations. Just like pizza. You order what you want and it can get delivered to your door if you so choose. Only that this is not pizza, or chinese food or an inanimate object. These are lives, countless lives trapped and enslaved by others who choose to make a living from them and use them. Broken lives, lost hope, trapped in a living death. I find it so hard to understand the perverse minds that can do this. But then, I realize that those perverse minds are also just as lost, used not only to enslave others but themselves as well so that all traces and semblances of their humanity are lost.

Yet, there is a beacon of light that shines within this perverse and sordid darkness. A small local church  that dares to defy convention along with a group of people who have chosen to follow Psalm 82 to rescue the exploited from the wicked quietly reach out to the ones who believe that they have no hope. We were amazed at how many women came to the weekly "get-together with sandwiches and munchies" gathering at the church. The first meeting they had, 25 women went. We were there for the second meeting and about 35 showed up, most of them, women who had gone the previous week. One woman even brought her boyfriend to get prayed for. Some showed up with children and babies. A small group of us had gone out a few minutes before the meeting started to invite women to come and it absolutely amazed me to find that it was not that hard to have the ladies come. I spoke to one lady to invite her and she immediately said, "Ok" even though she was sitting at a bar awaiting clients. We started walking towards the church and then she felt uncomfortable in her shorts and said she wanted to change. I told her the church people would accept her the way she is and more importantly Jesus accepts her the way she is but she was adamant she was not going to church in shorts so while I waited, she changed.

When we got back to the church with some ladies whom we had invited, there were already about ten women there from the previous week. After introductions, they broke off into small groups to listen to the Word. As one person from the group and I placed food on the plates, my husband served as a waiter. I realized later on how his servant heart and attitude probably impacted the women in a way that no other woman can. While the men the ladies of the streets knew used and exploited them, here was a man who didn't know them, serving them as a waiter and treating them with respect and dignity peppered with a little humour to break the ice. Here was one man amongst many other Godly men who did not see them as something like pizza but saw them as women with much worth. There was another man whose actions reflected how much he loves Jesus. It was a man from this small church who rode his motorcycle to invite and bring the women back to the church. He was like a lifeboat out in the open seas, rescuing each drowning person and bringing them to shore one by one and at times two by two on his motorcycle. To him, these women's lives were more important than his reputation or what other people might think of him. 

These women are reaching, grasping for a way out. And there is a way out, only one way. Jesus. Only He can set them free, wash them clean, make them new, transform their mindsets and heal their broken hearts, help them forgive and walk forward into the purpose and future He has for them. Only He can show them the value and worth they have in Him when they choose to receive Him and give their lives to Him.  

Some of us cannot be out on the mission field physically to serve. But we can all pray and we can all sow financial seeds. If this has touched you, please pray for these enslaved women and men as well as for the ones we have been walking with listed in previous blogs on this blogsite. If you choose to give financially as well, please contact us for details. 

Thank you.

Know The Truth And It Shall Set You Free

I'm physically tired. Been needing a night guard (bruxism guard) for a while as I grind my teeth while sleeping and I haven't changed my night guard for about 6 years and half of the acrylic has been eaten off by me and now, I'm feeling the consequences of that. My next appointment with the dentist is on Friday and I'm really praying he has it all ready for me because with excessive grinding, my TMJ tightens up and I end up with headaches throughout the day. And yes, that gets me tired, on top of the various things that's been happening.

One thing that really impacts me more and more is how the social economic classes here in Peru are so marked. Mentalities and ways of thinking are so extreme, it's absolutely crazy to me to try to comprehend how it's possible that one section of society can be so well educated and cultured and the other section completely the opposite. During sessions of counseling and discipling, I realized that the lower economic class had the erroneous thinking of what constitutes being a part of the higher economic class and one of them is that legal marriage is only for the rich. The poor co-habit. They don't even realize it's a sin. The other is, if you're born in the slums, you belong to the slums and you do not try to get out of there because you'd better not think that you are better than your family and your peers and you find someone to marry within the same social class. 

With the same erroneous thinking and habits handed down from generations to generations as well as accepting behaviours that are unacceptable, the lower economic class have formed a culture all of their own, creating their own truths and beliefs that can only be transformed by the constant washing of the Word of God and a lot of patience. We have found ourselves teaching parents how to parent, to not just hit out of anger and impatience but to discipline, instruct and educate their children with consistent correction, love and affirmation. We have had to teach the children and the parents that it's not acceptable to hit each other; the children their parents and vice versa; that it's not okay for children to get what they want all the time just because they have temper tantrums. We are constantly teaching the adults and children about the magic words. No one in the lower economic classes know what they are nor how to use them. 

One of the little girls whose mom we are teaching the Word of God to is learning how to use the magic words and her mom proudly tells me that she's using them quite a bit. I'm proud of her. We also tell her and her mom that they're beautiful and that they can achieve greater things than what they think they're limited to. Today, we counseled a young couple and we're doing discipling/marriage counseling with them. It somehow evolved that way. After listening to them today, I asked if they used the magic words while asking each other to do stuff. They both stopped in mid-sentence and stared at me, as if there truly were "magic" words. I had to explain that those words are "please" and "thank you". And they're learning, bit by bit, to ask for forgiveness, to affirm someone, to learn to take responsibility and admit fault. It's a huge step.

Parents learn from their parents who learned from their grandparents and even though each generation talks about abuse, lack of love, rejection, etc, and holding onto resentment that their parents did not treat them well, they themselves have never attempted to try to break the chain. And so it keeps going on. When we told one mother that if a child is left undisciplined and allowed to do whatever he/she pleased and never learned the consequences to his/her behaviour because the parents constantly cover up for him/her; when the child grows up, they will think they can break the law, cheat on their spouse, abandon their kids, do drugs, etc because every time they had done something unacceptable when young, it was allowed and they had never been taught it was wrong, she was absolutely shocked. She said she had no idea that there was a correlation between disciplining kids, teaching them to obey and be kind, loving and to share and not be selfish to how they would turn out eventually as adults. 

Lack of education. Ignorance. The Word says, "My people perish for lack of knowledge." It is so true. Generations after generations stagnate; live in cycles of pain, trauma and abuse, impeded by wrong mindsets and a lack of knowledge. We have to keep reminding them every time we see them of who they are in Christ. It is easy for them to spout off John 1:12 but it is another thing for them to believe it in their minds and hearts so that it becomes the pivotal point on which they think from. I recently used the real life story of Prince William marrying Kate Middleton, a commoner not of royal blood, to help one of our friends understand who she is. She had no idea who they are but she was absolutely amazed that a prince could marry a commoner. We constantly have to wash their mindsets with the truth of the Word of God. 

It takes patience. Even she said that to us, "You guys really have a lot of patience with me."  We tell her that we want her to realize that God is very patient with her and if we can show it a little through how we are with her, then it is our hope that she can understand how much more patient, understanding and loving He is towards her. We recently asked her who God is to her. Her answer showed us that she was taking heed, learning and absorbing the Word of God. We couldn't be happier. If it takes only one person to be completely transformed by the Word of God to be able to break the lies of the enemy in the mindsets of generations, 

It is worth it.