Praise and blessing to problems and crisis

There was a Wild's skit that I used to do all the time when I was a youth pastor called "That's good -no -That's bad". The skit kept revealing good things that led to bad things but it all worked out in the end.

It feels like that is taking place this month. It started off bad with the repairs needed for our vehicle to good week at camp than bad news of not getting the vehicle papers in Lima and needing to park it and pay for a bus ticket. The Praise of getting home safely. The problem of recovering from being gone and being tired. The problem of finding out that all the sewage pipes in our neighborhood are clogged and is coming back into the house from the floor drains. Praise the Lord our landlord has a cistern. Bad news the cistern is not connected and would need to be dug up and re-tubed. Bad news that all workers are extremely busy and can't get to it for awhile. Good news that our neighbor who helped our landlord install the tubes is willing to do it for us. Bad news of the unexpected expenses. 

What a blessing to have our record attendance of 105 this week at our church. We had to adjust things by dividing the group because of lack of space. Praise the Lord for the opportunity to share the Gospel with so many new visitors.

This month of surprises wasn't over just yet. 

We attempted to send a wire transfer from our bank in the States to our Peruvian bank. We went through all the protocol by visiting our Peruvian bank and getting all the details along with calls to our bank in the States to be sure everything was done correctly. After ten days of not receiving our money and calling to find out what has happened our bank in the States needed to put a trace out to find it. It was located in Lima, Perú where they rejected it due to lack of sufficient information but not until they exchanged it from Dollars to Peruvian Soles and than back to Dollars. Needless to say that we lost money but thankful that it was returned. We were able to send it the second time without any problems. We paid our bills and purchased needed supplies just days before hearing the news that the country of Perú would be in a 15 day quarantine due to the Corona Virus and that supplies would be limited. Praise the Lord we had already went shopping and took care of things before it happened. On Sunday, March 15th we started a Bible study on "Moments of Crisis" in our church. It emphasizes Bible Characters who went through Crisis or hard times and how to trust in God. The announcement of the quarantine by the President was given that Sunday night. We will not be able to meet as a church for the next two weeks. 

Good or Bad our God is on His Throne and in Control. We place our faith and trust in Him.

Lima sunset and friends

 Camp is over and after we packed and cleaned up the camp it was time to enjoy the sunset on the pacific ocean with some friends. The girls only had one day in Lima before taking their bus back home. I stayed to finish the vehicle paper work for a few extra days.

 A couple of college students from the States were serving in Perú under the Reba program. I was able to meet them at the camp and at Horeb Baptist Church.

Last days of Camp

The theme for the camp this year "Inquebrantable" means unbreakable. The sermons and lessons have been about Defending our faith.  

 Team pictures with their camp shirts were done on Saturday afternoon.

 Saturday evening banquet is always a highlight with preaching, good meal, and reading of the greeting cards.

 I enjoyed giving the Sunday morning devotional.

Professional Camp en Aucallama 2020

The activities each afternoon were packed with action and fun. The Red and Blue Teams battled it out throughout the week.  We had big ball volleyball, water polo, floor hockey, water balloon slingshots, obstacles, relays and so much more. The winning team won  pop and cookies on the last day.