what a happy birthday!

We are staying oh-so-busy! Yesterday we taught in the school for a few hours in the morning and because the schedule changed, we had no afternoon classes. Soo... we had an afternoon of rest and adventure for matthew´s birthday! We kinda bathed haha (baby wipes are a gift from God) and fixed ourselves up...matthew spent about 10 bucks on a dress up outfit! Sarah and i used our church clothes...and Anita...pictured below with Matthew fixed us some of the BEST fettucini alfredo any of us had ever eaten! Sarah and i went on tuesday and arranged to have a special meal and cake...and it turned out SPLENDID. The kids insisted on singing happy birthday to him at the school yesterday mon...and they took the holy candle from the Jesus shrine in the corner (can we say awkward) and asked him to blow it out as tried to sing happy birthday in english... it was so amusing! Last night we had church and they asked matthew to speak again on Sunday night. Sarah is also giving a testimony on Saturday night. This is encouraging...we feel as tho we´ve been able to encourage them since they´ve asked us to ´´preach´´ again. Pray for sarah and mateo as they prepare and as i translate! So hen matthew got hugs from all the church members as they sang ´´feliz cumpleanos a hermano!´´ It was such a blessed day! We felt productive in the school...and blessed by our Lord as we celebrated Matthew´s Birthday!

The kids are really taking to us...asking lots of questions. Relationships are developing. Please continue to pray for all the ESL classes we are teaching...as they are our primary time for evangelism. Thank you-- all you praying saints-- for the hours you spend on your knees. We are alive and well and ´´predicando la palabra de Dios´´ to ready hearts because of it:)

GLORIA A DIOS! QUE DIOS LES BENDIGA!
- jess, sarah, and matt<><

okay really quick--we´re about to go start our second session with the adult ESL group...so i don´t have enough time to give an all out update, but tomorrow is Matthew´s birthday! sooo please if you have a chance email him at thekaramajong@hotmail.com! one of our sweet cooks here is making ´´fetuccini alfredo´´ for him ummm peruvian style of course haha! and a cake as well! things are going well.... we´re constantly in the classroom either at the school or at the lawyer´s office- teaching english (and jesus!) all the time...so much so that my brain hardly works in either language at the end of the day! we are really building significant relationships with the people... of all ages!! please continue to pray as you have been! we are seeing the results daily:) Gloria a Dios!

pictures: 1 & 2) matt and sarah in the classroom, 3) our soon to be birthday boy, matthew, guzzling a coke much too large for him!

all i can say is wow

so here we are! the first picture is from i believe saturday...when they served us potatoes, rice, and cau-cau...aka cow intestines and cow tongue!!! ahhhh! poor matthew accidentally ate some of the meat..and then felt pretty sick after that. the sunshine picture is one of the most beautiful days we´ve had here! and then finally there´s me and sarah on the death bus at 6:00 yesterday morning..explanation to follow soon.

Remember us being excited about some hot springs where the people go to bathe in their clothes...well Jessica told us that we could catch a car with her that was leaving to go out of town at 6:00am sunday morn. we said we had to be back intime for church at 10:30. she said, oh it´s only an hour hike back. well okay! let´s just say that the CAR was a BUS-- the ones we talk about not wanting to ride! and then the HIKE back was well over 2 HOURS! we were soooo tired, we missed church, and were starving when we finally made it back to town around 1145. grrrrr! okay but the rest of the day went very well. matthew gave his sermon last night at the church- the biggest crowd we´ve seen there yet! so he spoke and i translated and the people were so receptive...we even had some teenagers slipping in the back and listening. our prayer is that they heard HIS words and not mine or matthew´s. also last night, i had a divine appt with the son of a preacher from a nearby village. He came in and sat down next to me in the internet cafe and we talked for about an hour. His name is David, his father´s name is Luis. He is here visiting family in Corongo for a couple of weeks and we´re gonna hang out with him, hopefully be an encouragement to him and also learn from him as well.

Today, we will be teaching the mens´group at seven! prayers please! they are very eager to learn...pray that we will be able to teach them a whole lot more than the english language!! we are very excited about this oppurtunity. also...tomorrow we start our teaching at the school at 8am! our days are getting very full...we start on mondays and don´t finish till late thursday nights with ESL teaching (either at school or to the business men), bible-storying with the kids, soccer playing with the teenagers and then the village men´s team, and finally writing sermons and learning spanish worship songs in order to lead the congregation! what a privilege it is to be used by our lord! ps. food has been better lately:)

que dios le bendiga! - jlr<><