In a word: Training is coming to a close in Virginia and commissioning will be on October 1st here in Richmond. I have grown to love my missionary friends and I am pumped to see what God is going to do it in their lives! I am continuing to share my faith in Richmond—read below for two cool stories. I am moving to Guatemala for language training on October 15th and I will be there till January 09! (3 months) Please pray as I prepare!
Practical Planning: I finally have my tickets to go to Antigua, Guatemala! I will be leaving on October 15th and will be studying there in Guatemala till January 2009 (3 months). During this time I will go to class for 5 hours everyday and live with a family learning Spanish by immersion. If you want to check out the school—this is the website: www.appeschool.com
Plans in Peru are coming along as well! I have been meeting with church leaders that work in the Huancayo area, trying to figure out what would be the best strategy for reaching the Wanka Quechua people. From some recent e-mails it seems that my job may in fact send me all over Peru to aid volunteer teams. So I am pumped about that! Travel whoo hoo! I also will have a truck praise God! That means I can be mobile in the Huancayo area, but the problem is that I have to learn a stick shift! I practiced on my friend Heidi’s car and I think I am going to need some serious practice before I get to the outrageous streets in Lima, Peru. So pray for that! Hahaha
My missionary friends: Can I tell you how cool it is to have friends that love Jesus? Can I tell you how much cooler it is that I have friends that not only love Jesus but they desire to make Him known all over the world!? Just to name a few from my region: Mindy McCord, Christine Jackson, Jessica Brooks, Ryan Northup, Karla Turner, Chris Black, Jim Gilstrap, and many many others. Please pray for my new friends that God would prepare them to share the gospel overseas.
Sharing Christ: Two stories I would love to share with you. We took a trip this month to Washington D.C. where we could finally put practice what we had learned. A team of us from South America went out to eat at a Peruvian restaurant to try and form some relationships. We met a man named Jorge there who was open to hearing about the gospel, My friends and I shared as much as we could with him but he wasn’t whiling nor could he stop to listen to everything we were saying. We left him with a tract so he could read it later and with the promise we would pray that God would speak to Him. Please pray for Jorge that he would be saved.
In the Richmond area God has opened up the door to share the gospel with so many people! I am so grateful that God has answered my cry for people to share with. One man in particular named Carlos (I have asked you to pray for him before!) is from Honduras and works at a restaurant called El Paso. He came with us to a local Spanish speaking church and actually knew the pastor! Apparently Carlos went to the pastors’ house for a Bible Study a few weeks before! I don’t believe in coincidences, I believe God crossed our paths for a purpose. We invited most of our new friends from El Paso Restaurant to the local church and we are praying that God will continue to call out Carlos and the many others working there!
Random thoughts: I am so ready to stop sitting in sessions and learning about this stuff! I have been praying and thinking about going to the field since the 8th grade, so the anticipation is about to kill me! ahahaha I am pumped about being in San Antonio for the next two weeks just to say goodbye’s and have some quality time with my family. Plus I get to go to Howard Payne’s homecoming, and although homecoming is a big deal I am far more pumped about seeing my friends!
