Hace mucho tiempo . . . it's be a while

So, it has obviously been awhile since I’ve updated the blog – I do apologize for this. I don’t have any good excuses; I simply just didn’t feel like writing. Sorry about that. Well, now that I’m back in action, I have a lot to update you all on. My last post was about my new English class at El Horizonte. I’m now in my fourth week of classes and after today, I will only have two more classes to finish out the term. And speaking of new classes, starting in March I will be teaching two classes per week at a new high school here in Tarma. And I’ve committed to teach the entire school year! Am I a crazy person? I think so, but I’ll take it one quarter at a time and hopefully I’ll be able to keep my wits about me.
Beyond English classes, we’ve started our second round of Bible studies, and currently we are leading 13, 5 of which are brand new! The studies are about the significance of Easter. We’ve found that many of the people in Tarma are “Christians” or “Good Catholics” but don’t have a clue to the meaning of the holiday they are celebrating. Semana Santa, or Holy Week, has really just become another excuse to celebrate. So our six week study (evangelistic in nature) will hopefully bring people into a better understanding of such an important week. With 5 new Bible studies of non-believers, we wanted to make sure that we were presenting the gospel clearly throughout the study. We are also beginning to focus on personal discipleship relationships with individuals. While we are progressing some in this area, we are finding it difficult to actually have any regular time with these people due to their work schedules and lack of free time. Still, we are doing what we can and we continue to pray for open doors.
In another area of building up the body, we are hosting two university students from two different ADEIL churches in Lima for a week-long internship. They are here to learn and experience more about what it is really like to be a missionary. Diego and Sayuri are two student leaders who have both had short-term missionary experience and are considering the possibility of continuing on to something more long-term. This week of training is involving devotionals, workshops on leadership, servanthood and culture shock, evangelistic surveys, time in the community with our contacts, and participation in our bible studies. Not to mention the “daily grind”: cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping etc. It has been really encouraging to see the enthusiasm these students have for missions. At 18 and 19, there is so much potential for them to have a huge affect on the kingdom of God if they pursue the road they are currently traveling. Please be praying for what remains of this week with Diego and Sayuri, that they will walk away with a wider knowledge base of what missionary life is really like.
Let’s see, what else has been going on in the weeks since I’ve written? Well, the VBS that we were planning on having at the beginning of February got postponed to the last week in February, so I will be helping out with that in two weeks by leading a small basic English workshop. Since the week is focusing on kids ages 5-10, the lesson will involve learning the song “Jesus Loves the Little Children” in English, as well as a Jump-Rope chant. Since the kids are on summer break right now, Julio and Elsa are trying to have a decent mix of Bible lesson and actual educative lessons such as English, Cooking and Crafts.
Well I think that’s about it for now. More posts and pictures to come . . . .