VBS, major sharing, and crazy motocar drivers!

This is lakin....it was her birthday yesterday, so Sarah and I bought her a blanket from the market!

This is the market place where they sell the best juice I have ever tasted. Sarah and I made a special trip yesterday for the juice!...and for lakin!

This is at the at the VBS with the ninos....it was craft time!

This is Dustin sitting beside me, Renzom in my lap, and Frances to the side of Sarah. The two older boys live at the campamento and Renzom is just adorable...he is also at the campamento quite frequently.

Well, another week passes here in Nauta! We have been here for two weeks now, and have found ourselves adjusting very comfortably to the peruvian culture.....once again! The American Team has arrived here in Nauta, and we have been working alongside them for the past week, and will continue with them for the next two weeks. We did a vacation Bible school with children from the local neighborhood. The theme for this week was obedience. Several characters from the Bible were chosen whose testimony of obedience to God radically shook the lives of people around them. We talked about jonah and the whale and david and goliath. We ended with the gospel message and how through Jesus´ obedience to his Father had cost him his life. But through that obedience, the whole world now had an opportunity to know Jesus intimately and spend eternity with him and then how we are to ultimately go out and make disciples of ALL nations! The peruvians have been working with us, and we have been teaching them how to do Vacatin Bible School with the kids here.

This morning in our church service, I stood amazed at what I saw. With one guy playing the guitar, and the pastor´s wife beating a shabby little drum, I saw what true worship really is. There were no lights, there was not a full band and they did not have the best singers....it was simply worship. I saw a true intimacy with Christ, that I have failed to see most of my life. Sometimes I wonder why people in foreign countries with nothing seem to truly grasp the fact that Jesus is absolutely there everything. They live without watching junk on television, and having things consume there mind. They simply adore Christ for who he is. All I could thing was....how can I go back to the States and maintain this mindset of worship. How can I make Jesus my everything when I live in a culture that has so many other distractions. Christ has to be treasured above All, or we are merely putting idols in front of him...and this is exactly what Christ has called us against.

Sarah has been doing a lot of translating. Last night she had to translate for a pastor here in town of Nauta, and it was quite interesting. The pastor was talking about how we, as Christians, can lose our salvation if we are ever involved in sexual immorality. Obviously, we do not believe that anyone who truly knows Christ can lose there salvation. Yes, he calls us to live righteous lives, and to be holy just as He is, but we also mess up. The leader from the American team was frustrated by this sermon. He was able to speak in church today and preach against these lies that are so often taught here in Nauta. The majority of pastor´s here in the area believe that salvation is never a guarantee, and it can be lost. This is absolutely heart breaking. We have friends here that are so confused, and do not know what to believe. Most feel that when they do fall, there is no use in trying to win there favor back with God, and they completely give up on the Christian life. How sad it is when people feel as if they have to win favor with God. He has extended his hands of mercy and grace over our lives, and how sad it is when people feel as if they have messed up to much and have lost there salvation. Pray for the youth and adults here in Nauta. I am learning more and more that the majority of Nauta is living without Christ in there lives. They have heard the gospel message, but most have rejected. We are praying that through the kid´s ministries here in Nauta, they can come to know Christ and take the word back to there families!

On a lighter note, Sarah Booth is the most giving person I think I have ever met. A few nights ago, Sarah was in a large amount of discomfort. There are two things here in Nauta that can make a person extremely uncomfortably.....Bug bites and Chiggers. She allowed a few ladies at the campamento to check her bites out, and we realized that these were not bug bites, instead they were chiggers. With chiggers, the itching never stops. As we were talking to Crystal tonight on the phone, she said that we should be careful because they can spread very easily in bed. Well folks, Sarah sleeps right next to me. As I am writing this, I feel some extreme discomfort and feel semi confident that Sarah may have passed her chiggers on to me! I finally am accustomed to the bug bites, and now on top of that.....well, you know!

Late last night, Sarah and I were on our way home from campamento. We live up on a big hill, and most motorcar drivers can never make it up and we end up having to walk. Also, here in nauta, a person should never have to pay more than 2 soles for a ride in the moto.....unless your American. Our driver last night was having a very difficult time making it up the hill, so Sarah told him we could walk. Sarah asked how much the cost was, and he said 3 soles. Well, this just did not sit well with sarah....so with a forceful voice she looked at him and said ¨Are you crazy, you couldn´t even get up the hill¨. The moto man was conning us. Well, the next thing we know, we have fiver elderly men circling the moto pushing us up to the top of the hill. It was proably the most humorous thing I have seen in a while. Once we arrived to the top, we asked the moto man how much it would cost, and he said........2 soles. Sarah set him straight!

Things continue to go well here. We continuously are learning that we can do nothing on our own strength, but Christ has to be in everything we do. We recognize that we need him so much, and daily we beg for the Spirit to guide us, and lead us in the way we do ministry here. We can do nothing apart from Jesus. Pray for Nauta, that they will truly look at Scripture for what it says, and that the pastors here will quit leading the people astray!

Kelly B.

The end of week one...

Clementinas preschool class. She shared with me that this soup is the only meal a day some of them get. The red faces are from the volleyball...here are a few of the kids around the campamento

The boys are all a part of the missionary training center.

Our new brother in Christ Ernesto...he calls those his Superman glasses..they are SUPER big that is for sure...

Sarah here. To begin, I must thank you all for your prayers..especially those of you who have been praying for Ernesto. I am delighted to share that he is now a brother in Christ. After another visit in which we gave Him a Bible and spent almost an hour just talking about different verses he suddenly told us "Hay que orar" or in other words, we HAVE to pray. For me it was such a wonderful experience because where I lacked in Spanish skills or the exact words to say, the Spirit moved...His grace really is sufficient for us.

Bugs aside, Kel and I are loving our house. There is always a lovely sunrise in the morning and unbelievable stars at night. I have been able to meet many of the neighborhood kids as well, so now there are usually at least one or two hanging around the house when we are coming and going. You know, some of you might think that leaving America would leave us missing some of the things we are used to, like American music for example, but that is not the case. For some reason, Peruvians, especially our neighbors..usually around 4:30 am...love playing all types of American music to keep us motivated...from "the Eye of the Tiger" to Celine and Elton John..we are often reminded of the decades past haha. Also, because Kelly and I live far away from the campamento where we spend our mornings we have to take motocars to and from our house. Because we live on such a high hill, it is always fun to guess if our driver will make it all the way. Usually only about 1 in 4 do so its fun to guess which ones will make it haha.

All jokes aside, today was an absolutely fantastic day. We spent the morning helping a friend Jovita with her Sunday School at the house of the Pastor where we lived last year. We talked about fathers and their importance in the family and always stressed the importance of obeying your fathers or whoever represents the father in your life. Afterwards we went right to the campamento where they were also having a large fathers day celebration. All the fathers of Clementinas preschool class were they and after eating some delicious soup we played volleyball for about 2 hours. Around 3 we immediately left to go back to our side of town where we had already promised some other ladies we would play volleyball. So after about 4 hours of volleyball and a lot of sun later it was so nice to be back in our house to rest a little bit. We ended the night by visiting one of the local churches named La Roca. We sat in the back hoping to evade too much attention, but the Pastor came over and spoke with us and invited us to come up and share a word. I definitely had nothing prepared but just shared a bit about what I had been learning recently about the power of prayer. The best part was after 4 hours of volleyball Kelly and I made the wise decision to not shower..and shortly after speaking the Pastor shared their churches tradition of forming a hug line to welcome visitors. I just prayed so much for them as 30 plus came in a line to hug us...we definitely were not smelling so good.

´

Although it has been nice to get into a routine, this routine will quickly change as an American team of high schoolers is arriving Tuesday. We will be working as translators for them for the next three weeks. The idea is to work with various churches in the area and lead both kids camps, some door to door ministry, and vacation Bible schools in order to show both those in the missionary training center and various church leaders different means to do such ministry. The first 2 weeks we will be here in Nauta and the third week we will go into the jungle. We are so excited to meet this team and look forward to working with them.

Life is SO good here. After a week here, I think we have adjusted quite well. We have eaten many fish, fruits, and other Peruvian food that is given to us. Kellys legs are a sight to see..lets just say the mosquitos reallllllly like her blood. Everyday here is an adventure. Please continue to pray for us.

Paz

Sarah Booth

WE´RE BACK!!!

Well guys, Sarah and I have officially arrived in Nauta. We got here yesterday afternoon, and we have been reaquainting ourselves with our old friends, the kids, and the mosquitos!! Nothing has changed here, and it feels as if we never left. Last year, we lived on a street called Amazones and we had neighborhood kids that we knew very well. This year, we live really far from them. As were travelling up to the house today, we look and see three little girls on our steps.... Jeryli, Lains, and Norma! What a blessing it was to see them! The first thing lains looked at was my head bands...and to any of you who do not know what I am talking about...I was weak last year and gave all my head bands to these girls. No worries, I stood my ground this time!

Since we have been here, we have found out that we will be working with the American team that will be in Nauta in one week. We will also be able to go down river with them into the jungle to do work. We will also be working with a pastor here who is discipling 3 youth and one man in his 40´s. They have been learning some of the same truths in scripture that Sarah and I have been learning in the states. To be a disciple of Christ, if we really want to follow him, need to deny our fleshly desires and pick up our Cross to follow Jesus. He has not necessarily called us to live a easy, comfortable life. Even here in the midst of poverty, these guys are learning the same truths. They are learning to be bold in there faith, knowing that there is a world dying without Christ, headed to an eternity in hell.

God puts people in our paths for certain reasons, in his sovereingty. Just this morning, Sarah and I were on our way to wash our hair in the local well area. We left our buckets so I ran up to get them at the house. While I was gone, Sarah met a man who was asking her why she was in Nauta. He knew we were living with a missionary so he continued to ask Sarah if she was a believer in Christ. Sarah said yes and asked him the same question. He responded with, NO. Although, he believed in God and that the words in scripture were beautiful, he just had not had hismoment! Sarah asked him why he had not accepted the Lord and challenged him with the thought that he could possibly die today without knowing Christ. On our first day here, and God has already opened doors to present the gospel and challenge people when it comes to knowing Christ.

As I mentioned earlier, we moved to a new house across the river. This is house is very tiny. It is only one room, with three people living there. Our ¨toilet¨ is a hole in the ground down the hill behind our house. This is quite the experience. On a more awesome note, we have the most beautiful view of Nauta. We woke up this morning to a beautiful rainbow on the Marinon river. Last night as sarah andI were sleeping. I began to hear something quite large flying around. I simply prayed that it was outside our mosquito net and then proceeded to cover my face with a blanket. This morning, Sarah told me that a huge beedle landed on her last night, and had to throw it out of our bedding area. Praise the Lord I did not have to touch it. The house has very large bugs, oooo the experience!!!! haha I am pretty positive I have WELL OVER 20 bug bites, and I am still counting!

BUT God is good. In this tiny bit of suffering, we recognize our need for Him, and our need for the Spirit to truly lead our lives in everything we do. I love the simplicity in life here, and there is no great hold on material possessions. It makes me think of the passage in Hebrews 11 where it talks about how we are searching fora better homeland. We recognize that this world is not our home, and we should not live with ties to this world. There is so much freedomin Christ. He has called us to love unconditionally and to serve with our arms and hearts wide open.

Hello Friends! :)

It's unreal to think that this time last year Kelly and I were packing (or stuffing in my case) our bags to head off to Peru, and that by the grace and mercy of God, this year we are able to do the very same thing. I think it's only fitting to continue using this same blog as we leave again this summer because not only can you look back and see all that God has done in the last year, but you can also go with us this summer as we return to Nauta once again with our only hope being to further the Kingdom of God while we are there.

Last year I left for Peru thinking that I knew a lot and had a lot to offer. I returned feeling I knew nothing and the more I learn about Christ and his indescribable power and compassion, the less adequate I feel to do His work, but is with this inadequacy Kelly and I go, clinging to the hope that Christ will move in incredible ways this summer, not because of our skills or human knowledge, but only because of His power. Although a lot has happened in this past year, there is a specific moment of my year I will never forget. I heard a sermon by David Platt on what true Christianity should look like. I think both Kelly and I both came to a pretty serious turning point in our faith after hearing that message. It is with this same challenge I leave you today:

"Over 4.5 billion who are without Christ are right now heading to an eternity in hell. That is a vast spiritual need. Add to that a vast physical need. 26,000 children will die today because of preventable disease. God has chosen to determine the measure and integrity of faith by our response to the poor. If this book [the Bible] is true, then we do not have time to play games with our lives. We do not have time to play games in the church. I want to call us this morning to forsake hopes, plans, dreams, possessions, and ideas of a nice, comfortable, safe middle-class American life. I want to call you to forsake it all in radical abandonment for Jesus Christ"

We hope to follow this radical call not only in Peru this summer, but every single day for the rest of our lives. I am excited to see the opportunities that will come this summer. Praise the Lord we won't have electricity...at least this way there will be no hope for making poisonous cookies (you may have to refer to last summer's blog for that story). We aren't exactly sure what our summer will look like. There are many kids to love, people to meet, and adventures to be had. We know we will be living with the missionary Crystal and helping her with whatever she needs in her work with the missionary training center that has begun. We may be going into the jungle for a few weeks as well. We will try to update this blog at least once a week or so to let you know how life is going and hope you all will pray for us and leave thousands of comments for us to read.

Con Paz y Amor

-Sarita and Kel