WOW!!! ADDING TO THE KINGDOM:)

The Barnabas Team of ReapSouth arrived in our village yesterday. These people are AMAZING. They travel to all the villages encouraging the IMB summer missionary teams of ReapSouth which are spread out all thru Peru. They were a total surprise because we weren´t expecting them til late tonight (the 4th)or tomorrow (5th)! Well last night we actually had our first ESL lesson of the mens/womens group in over two weeks and this was OUTSTANDING because the fiesta is still going on and everyone is so taken by it that we figured no one would come. SInce Tito specifically told us on the bus ride that he wanted to meet with us, we prayed dilligently and walked to the lawyers´office where we meet. Sooo... i gave my little english lesson on indefinite pronouns and people descriptions and since we´d talked with Tito on the bus ride about wanting to share the Word with them in our ESL lessons...we pressed on!

As we finished the ESL lesson...the lights went out. ALL of Corongo was pitch black. SO we stepped outside into the moonlight and matthew began trying to share, but the music from outside was filtering up over the roof and it was getting hard to hear....Tito led us to the back of the building where the moon was shining even brighter and the noise was far less abnoxious...This man really wanted to hear what Matthew wanted to share with him. Matthew, by the way, has an incredibly testimony that these people NEED to hear.. a testimony of the incredible grace of God and His ability to love us, forgive us, receive us just as we are, and change us to be more like Him. These men who are constantly drunk, who cheat on their wives, abuse and neglect their children...they need to hear of our mistakes. And so Matthew shared....the Barnabas team was in the ´´hallway´´ next to us praying dilligently. Matthew spoke of his salvation experience, and the Holy SPirit gave me the words for everything in Spanish. Tito is very enthusiastic about learning more. He told us he doesn´t go to mass here because ´´due to the facts of life like Matthew´s´´, he feels like he ´´just cant.´´ We are praying for the Lord to wash Tito with His grace and bathe him in the Blood of Christ- the only thing which can save us! HE is so warm, so receptive....he could very easily be our Peter or Paul of Corongo. He is so influential as the head-lawyer here in Corongo, a natural born leader, very charismatic, very warm, and a very useful vessel! PRAY FOR TITO!

Now for today... we went to the schools and taught ESL... we actually had about 30 min alone with one of the classes while the teachers were having a meeting. So we took this oppurtunity to play SImon Says and have some fun with them:) Then all my Mexico mission trip experience came in handy and I taught them Father Abraham in Spanish! So after we had about a 20 min ESL lesson upon the teacher´s return, it was time to head out for the day and we announced to the kids that we´re having a youth night on friday in the plaza...lets just say i lost some hearing in all the excitement! How wonderful! Pray for their hearts, their receptiveness to the Gospel, their freedom from religion and tradition and idolatry, their courage to come forthe with questions and decisions! Pray for us as we try and minister to who knows how many kids of how many ever ages!

Soo... this afternoon we went prayer walking thru the village with the Barnabas team and it was an incredibly experience as to how we could feel the SPirit moving to answer us, comfort us, encourage us. Sarah, Michelle and I went up to the top of the road and looked down over the village, begging for the hearts of Corongo to be given over to us... calling out scripture and callign forth the Promises of God in His Word. Afterwards, we drove over to Aco- a village on the other side of the mountain.We´d been wanting to go because there´s a ´´growing evangelical house church there´´...With Withrow (of Markham Street, our adoptive church) took us up to meet one of the members before the Markham Street guys left us here for the summer. Soooo.. we went up with Michelle and Todd and Jared since they had a vehicle. (Praise the Lord) We wanted to go and encourage the believers there because we´d promised to do our best in getting there at some point this summer. The boys decided to hike up the hillside to try and find the house of the elder and find out what time the church service started. We girls stayed behind in town, talking with some villagers, discussing the work of the Lord, and searching for a place to eat. We met a couple in the plaza and I asked where we might find some food for dinner. They led us to a ´´random house´´ where a woman cooks ´´pensions´´ for people coming thru. So we asked about some dinner...she told us it´d be ready around 7. The boys were off hiking to find the brother´s house. They got back about 640.. earlier than expected. We girls were expecting to eat alone...so I ran down to the house and asked if she could possibly make three more plates. She offered us rice and fried eggs and papas fritas ´cause there wasn´t enough meat to go around. Soooo.... we immediately felt the hospitality and kindness of this family-- its the first dad that i´ve seen sitting in a home and playing with his children while his wife cooked their meals. They had chickens, guinea pigs, and dogs running amuck in the kitchen with us! And then a seeminly out of place TV with a DVD player?! So the oldest daughter (Liset, age 10) asked us if we´d like to watch Titanic in english... we agreed as to appreciate their hospitality! But it was such a beautiful thing, after dinner we asked if we could share a story from the bible and they were very enthusiastic-- hungry for the word of God. So Todd began to share his testimony and I translated-- I dont really remember the words that were coming out of my mouth which is pretty phenomenal, can we say Holy Spirit?! After reading a parable to them and incorporation TOdd´s testimony, we asked if they would like to have this eternal life, this salvation, this relationship with Christ that todd spoke of and they said emphatically YES. We explained to them the trials that may come up, the persecution that may arise in their village, AND the ´´PEACE that transcends all understanding´´ through our love relationship with JESUS CHRIST! It was PRECIOUS... all 6 of us haven´t been able to stop praising the Lord. Sonya and Wilmer both prayed to recieve Christ as their Savior tonight and they are now our new Brothers and Sisters!

Tomorrow is our meeting with the Alcalde... he´s taking us to see the lagoons- please pray for more oppurtunities and deeper receptiveness of the Gospel! Thank you praying saints, this would be impossible without you!!!

Revival is coming to Corongo... please claim that promise in your prayers!

Gloria a Dios, Gracias a Dios! Que Dios les bendiga!!!

-jess<><

pic: my amazing team, here we are in Huaraz! First bathing experience in over a week- still no ´´real´´showers!...

okay, so the internet is slowing down so more pictures of travel experiences and the past few days ASAP!