So Cool Here!!!...no seriously..it´s COLD!

At the bonfire with Crystal!

Kelly´s surprise birthday party with dear little Patrick and his cousin also named Sarita!

Kelly digging into one of her many birthday cakes that day..yuuuum!

Chilling in the hammock at the campamento..notice the layering of the clothes...soooo chilly!!

Kel reading Green Eggs and Ham to Renzom and his little sister Ruth..two of the frequent visitors at the campamento!

Sarah here!

It has been quite a long time I know...I apologize for all you avid blog readers out there. The last week has been quite busy and the few times I have tried updating the low-speed Nauta internet would not allow it..but we are in Iquitos today running some errands and so finally I can successfully update!!

Upon returning from the jungle we bid goodbye to our American team we were translating for a working with. The last night we had a big bonfire and all took communion together. It was a really sweet time of sharing, fellowship, and encouragement between both the Peruvians and Americans.

Right after the Peruvians left, we had another big event to plan for...Kelly´s birthday. Being so far away from home on her 21st Crystal and I planned many surprises for Kel to make her feel at home. We started in the morning and instead of our normal bread and coffee breakfast we had m and m pancakes and her favorite juice from the market. Later we had one surprise party with all the kids from our street last year. One of the boys´mothers made a delicious cake. Later we surprised her yet again with another surprise party with all the boys from the campamento and other friends from around town. Thanks to a birthday tradition here in Peru, Kelly had an egg broken over her head two times. The first time by Pastor Williams and she had no clue it was coming. The second time by our good friend Carlos, and that time she tried to fight back..but the egg won. If you want to feel sympathy for anyone, feel for me. I had to sleep next to her egg drenched hair that night haha. Other than that our days have been filled with English lessons, running errands, and cleaning up around the campamento....

Today arrived the other American team. There are about 20 college-aged students and they have been working in the jungle for over a month now. They will be here in Nauta working for the next few days and then will head back out the junlge again. Right after that is a 3 day kids congreso at the campamento where 200 kids from within Nauta and the churches in the jungle will be coming to participate. It is like the Spanish version of vacation Bible school, except the kids stay overnight in tent like structures. So needless to say, the next few weeks will be busy.In other news, IT IS SO COLD HERE. I don´t know what is going on, but a huge cold front has come through and it has been cold all day and really cold at night. I would say low 50´s..but I am horrible at estimating so don´t hold me to that. Kelly and I went to bed sweating every night last year, so we definitely aren´t prepared for this cold and neither are the Peruvians. Everyone is wearing sandals with socks and piling on layers of t-shirts, shorts, pants, etc. It is quite the humorous site but I am certainly looking forward to seeing the sun come back.

It is hard to put my finger on what God has been teaching me the last few days. Like Kelly shared last time, we are definitely learning how radically different someone whoe really loves Jesus should look like. And I can write blogs all day and fill my journal with all kinds of thoughts about loving fervently and with reckless abandon..but where I am really challenged is in learning how to apply what I am learning in everyday life. In the days when I feel like I have no energy..in the days when I come across those harder to love...in every moment of every situation..what would it look like to be so focused and devoted to Christ that you aren´t living or acting for the approval of others. As hard as the lesson is, I feel like God is showing me many areas where I both lack surrender and continue to seek the approval of others over His.

I am sure soon we will have much more to update about..but for now...Chau!!

-Sarita

Jungle Life!!!

This is us in Nueva York at the Vacation Bible School we were doing. This is one of our peruvian friends Gustavo, and then the niños! The kids learned about going and making disciples of all nations...and this is there craft. It´s the world, with a cross in the middle and people on the outside from all nations!

This is a little bird on my shoulder....I freaked out and couldnt put it on my hand so Sarah put it on my shoulder!

This is a huge iguana that someone found....we also found a little alligator ...which is probably what we bathed with! haha oooo my

This is us on the boat the night before we left....we slept in our hammocks and left early the next morning!

Well guys, Sarah and I successfully made it back to Nauta. We went down river to two different villages doing work alongside the American team that has been here in Nauta for the last 3 weeks. I can not even begin to tell you all how Christ moved in mine and Sarah´s life while gone. These villages are very different from Nauta, and much smaller. I´ll try to do my best to explain, but I probably will not do these stories justice

To start off on a light note.....jungle bugs are HORRENDOUS!! The first night we got there, there were 4 huge torantulas on the side of the building, and as soon as you look down there are 50 million mosquitoes surrounding you. Sarah and I would go to bed every night knowing that a massacre was about to take place. I really do not know how the mosquitoes got in our net, but they did. We would have to kill them by clapping our hands......blooooddddd everywhere! One night Sarah and I crawled into our bed and realized that there were about 4 HUGE bugs in our bedding. We were screaming, laughing, mortified....and we were somehow trying to find the good in the situation. We got those bugs out, but then realized that there were MORE. We killed them and stuck them underneath my bedding...sooo I slept with dead bugs underneath my mat....comforting feeling. The bathroom was amazing......total sarcasm. Everytime we went to the bathroom...we left with bug bites all over our but. Bathing was pretty cool. We would all go down to the river...go down the huge mud slide, and then bathe with the kids from the village.

Now on a more serious note, I want to share a few things that I learned and saw in these two different villages. The first night in the village, we sat outside with the real life team...another team in the jungle associated with the team we were working with...and we sat around and sung worship songs. There were no lights in this village....soo I just sat there looking up at the HUGE sky and all the stars singing praises to Jesus. It´s in those moments where I feel so close to Christ. Even though bugs were biting me through my clothes...I sat there and recognized the greatness of God, and how he desires every man to know Christ.

The first day in Nueva York, we went house to house visiting the people and sharing the gospel. As We sat own with one of the women from the village, we began to ask her if she believed in Christ. She said of of course and that she went to church and her husband was a leader in the church. As we began talking to her, she did not believe that there was a hell or that Jesus even rose again from the grave...which is what Christianity hinges on. I recognized that this town was simply full of religion, but the people really did not know who Christ was. I was heart broken at the fact that we were leaving, and nobody was left there to teach these people about who Jesus really is. How are these people ever supposd to know who God really is, and what the Bible says unless we go and tell them. It´s a whole village probably dying without the gospel...and without knowing truth. They go to church for an experience, not because they really want to know God.

The second village we went to was probably my favorite. This was another tiny little village, where everyone literally knows everyone. The first day we were there, we went visiting once again. We wanted to visit a drunk man that we saw fall off his porch, but when we went to his house he was not there. So, we kept on walking and ran into a house that had guinea pigs. A girl on the team wanted to stop and look. We looked up in the house and there was an elderly man sitting in his hammock. We asked if we could come and talk with him and he said of course. Sarah opened up her Bible and began to share with him about salvation. She asked if he believed in God and he said of course. She asked if he knew where he would go when he died, and he said ...no one can really know where there going. Sarah opened the Bible and began to share with Him about who Jesus was, and how He came and died for our sins, and how we can know that we are going to Heaven when we die. When sarah would ask him Questions about Jesus, he would just stare at her coldly, and give no response. This man had never been taught anything abuot the God, he had never owned a Bible, and he was to the point where his eyesight was so bad he couldn´t read anymore. We left that house without this man knowing Jesus. As Sarah and I began to talk...she just began to cry because her heart was so broken over this man. We realized that if that village was truly teaching about Jesus, the whole town could know him. We knew that we were leaving and nobody was there to talk to this man or teach him about Christ. Heaven and hell really did become a reality at that moment to Sarah and I. We knew that we would leave, not ever seeing that man again...knowing that it would literally take a miracle for that man to know Jesus. This again really hit me hard. Whole villages..practically....dying without Jesus...but who is going to tell them? We spent two days in this village....barely enough time to truly make an impact. I think I realized that in order to reach these people.....we have to be willing to go and live among them. We have to be willing to spend years there building a foundation that is based on truth...and discipling people. Whats the point of going in, giving the salvation message...people accept Christ...and then we leave??? How are they supposed to grow?? And how are they really supposed to know who Jesus is, without making it simply a religion??

I keep thinking back on Paul, and his missionary journeys. Paul would go into different villages and start a church. He would build a foundation based on the Word of God, and would disciple the people in the village until he thought that they were established enough for him to leave. He would leave and go do the same thing in another village. You have to understand....it´s not a easy life, and it´s not always comfortable. Paul suffered so much on his journeys, but he did it all in the name of Jesus...he even rejoiced in his sufferings. When we finally realize the reality of eternity, the reality of heaven and hell....comfort no longer matters. What length are you willing to go to so you can win people to Christ? When talking to another Peruvian here, he was heart broken over the same things. I would hear him say....The church has no love for the lost, no love for the people. A lot of times we think we can just give money and pray, and thats our only duty as the body of Christ. Thats not the life that God has called any Christian to. What if the Christians started going, and I don´t mean just international missions, but also in America. If were not helping and pouring everything we are into the lost, poor and needy and sharing the love of Jesus with them....then we really are not fulfilling the Great Commission. What would it look like if we all went, and started doing our part.....how much faster people would come to know Christ, and how much faster people in unreached people groups would finally be able to hear the name of Jesus. We really need to pray and ask God to break our hearts for the things that break His.....and Jesus is heart broken over the lost.

with the Pastor´s wife Clementina. A lot of kids + no shade = a bit of sunburn

A beautiful view of Nauta!

Pastor Williams put us to work painting the fence around the campamento!

A few of my amigos with the whales they made.

R.I.P our large and scary friend

Happy July friends!!

Sarah here! I definitely feel as though Kelly and I have been here for longer than fifteen days...but I suppose that´s because we have gotten into such a routine here...but along with routines always come surprises...some not so pleasant as others. For example, tonight we we were relaxing a little bit after a long day of ministry. Soon one of the high schoolers Ashley on our team begins to scream ¨Tarantulaaaaaaaaaa¨and lo and behold I saw the largest spider I have ever seen in Peru. After a few pictures and way too many high pitched screams, it was killed with a wooden plank.

Our second week of ministry is going great. It has been busy because yesterday we had the 2 kids programs running at the same time and then Kelly and I have a Wednesday kids program we go to with the kids from our street last year. We were so exhausted by the end, but it was so much fun. We ended a night with a great game. Each kid needed a partner and one partner was to be the bird and the other the tree. Everyone is running around crazily until one person calls out...at that moment the partners have to find each other and the bird has to sit on the knee of the tree partner. Well Kelly was paired up with a young, small boy named Junior. I guess she wasn´t paying much attention to the rules because while all the other Americans knew it would be wise to be the tree, Kelly decided to be the bird. So on the first call we all had a good laugh to see Kelly sitting on the knee of a little boy...she then realized they should switch roles..but it was certainly fun to watch while it lasted...

Beside that weekly program, our daily team is divided into 2 groups and Kel´s group is working on one side of Nauta and my group is on the other side. Today we shared the story of Jonah and the whale and the kids loved it! It is only the second day and many of the children already have learned the memory verse. Ir has been awesome to see the Peruvians on our team stepping up and applying what they learned last week into the programs next week. On Monday we are leaving for the jungle where the Peruvians will get a chance to play an even greater role. I love this method of discipleship...the chance to come and encourage/teach people how to minister to their own people is so exciting..especially the knowledge that the work doesn´t stop when the high school team leaves..in reality it is just beginning!!

After the Bible school today, some of the parents and siblings of the kids in the Bible school challenged us to a game of volleyball. It was 4 Americans vs. 4 Peruvians. I would share the outcome but it is just too depressing to talk about haha.

The Lord is constantly teaching me new things everyday..but if there is any overwhelming theme it is just that he is giving both Kelly and I more of a thirst for Him..not his gifts or his blessings...but Himself. We continue to challenge each other that nothing in this world- no relationship, no amount of money, nor anything else compare with an intimate relationship with Christ. I am currently reading the Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot. All throughout there are various excerpts her husband wrote throughout his life before dying on the mission field. Today I read this:

¨To that soul which has tasted of Christ, the jaunty laugh, the tempting music of mingled voices, the haunting appeal of smiling eyes--all these lack flavor. And I would drink deeply of Him. Fill me, O Spirit of Christ, with all the fullness of God¨

Kelly and I are learning to live like ¨strangers in this land,¨ while working with all our strength, but also looking forward to our heavenly citizenship and we pray the same for you all.

-Paz

-Sarah

P.S- the chiggers and sunburn phase has about passed. The new craze is lice...bu no worries I will be sure to rid of these little friends before giving any of you hugs back in los Estados Unidos.