Israel: Day 1-3

Jerusalem, August 4, 2016
                We arrived in Jerusalem on Tuesday, August 2, after five days of travel without our luggage.  We have learned to be flexible on mission trips so we have been washing our clothes in the sink at night and purchased a few items to hold us over while we waited for the airline to locate and deliver our lost luggage.  We received on suitcase Tuesday evening and the other one last night. 
                Yesterday we were receiving training on how to run the Jerusalem Prayer Center (JPC) from our gracious hosts, Larry and Gail.  We will fill in for them while they return to the states to visit family and report on their mission to their home church.
                People of all faiths come from all over the world to this center to pray.  It has an amazing prayer room where people can stand, sit, kneel, or lay prostrate on the ground in prayer.  This building has an amazing tradition and history.  If you want, you can check it out here:  www.jerusalemprayercenter.com.
                Yesterday morning eight young adults, four male, four female, between the ages of 23 and 28 joined us.  They are part of a mission named "World Racers".  They sign up to go on mission to eleven countries in eleven months.  They raise their own support and live on a budget of $8.00 a day, divided as such, 4 for shelter, 3 for food, 1 for transportation.  They live, eat, and travel just like the people they are serving.  They had already been to Burma, India, Nepal, China, and several other countries.  They were headed to Turkey which was their plan, when they were redirected by the Holy Spirit to Israel (if this sounds familiar read Acts 16:6-10).  They will be helping clear a lot on the grounds so it can be converted into a family prayer garden.  We got to pray with them, hear their stories, and do a Bible study with them yesterday.  They told of visiting a park in Burma and sharing the gospel there through two interpreters.  The response was so great that a church was started right then and right there.  Other people are moving in to serve this new body of believers.  
                A pastor from Singapore joined up for Bible study.  He volunteers two months a year as a guide at the Garden Tomb (a fifteen minute walk from the JPC).  On his one hour lunch period he walks to the center for 30 minutes of prayer in the prayer room.  He calls that his "power center" where he is reenergized and listens for God to speak to his heart.  On Monday he gave a tour to 50 college students from Cambodia.  None of them were Christian.  While they waited for the tour to start he shared the gospel with this group and 30 of them came to faith in Jesus Christ.  God is moving throughout the world and we hear stories and see evidence of it constantly.  
                Before coming to Jerusalem Cheryl and I were able to tour some of the holy sites in the northern part of the country.  We met a young couple from New York who were on their honeymoon.  He is originally from Bangladesh, was a Muslim, and had recently converted to Christianity after reading the Bible.  They had visited his family in Bangladesh before coming to Israel but could not tell them of his conversion because of negative consequences for both him and his family, including death.  He is so excited about his faith and was baptized in the Jordan River by a Korean pastor who just said, "if anyone wants to be baptized, I am a pastor".  We had a great conversation with this young couple and they are going to try to come visit us when they are in Jerusalem.  
                Today we will continue our training and orientation.  Then, I plan to help the young men from World Racers remove rocks and dirt from the lot with wheelbarrows.  We will also meet with people as they come and, pray with them as directed by the Holy Spirit. 

Slalom,

Kevin and Cheryl

France: Day 4-6

France Day 4-6:

As we close up our trip and head back to the States today I would like to reflect on the last several days in one e-mail.  Saturday we awoke to another beautiful day and were able to enjoy one more breakfast outside before most of the team headed back to the store in Buzancais where the men worked on the electricity and the women walked around the town and prayed for it.  We then set up a makeshift altar at the store and celebrated the Lord's Supper.  We sang songs, prayed, and then put Orchid on the bus back to her home in Tour.  Once back in Souge the women were treated to a wonderful surprise by being invited to Jenette's goat farm.  She was one of the ladies who attended the fellowship on Friday evening and her goat farm has been in her family for 6 generations.  We were greeted by her and two of her great-grandchildren before being given a guided tour by them and a special little follower; a baby kid.  He was so adorable!  We saw the daddy goats, kept separate from all the mommy goats.  They showed us how they feed the mommy goats and then showed us were they milked all 600+ goats of those same mommy goats.  Yes, you read that right.  600+ goats!!!  They sell the milk to various other families who make different types of goat cheeses.  They just signed a contract to sell the milk to a company who will make goat cheese that will be sold in the US.  How cool is that.  After dinner that evening we went across the street to the town hall to a neighborhood get together and sat with some of the locals and conversed through Sheryl and Juli.  We stayed much longer than anticipated but fun was had by all.  

Sunday morning we left the town of Souge behind for good and traveled to Saint Pierre de Corps where we boarded the train and headed back to Paris.  Once in Paris we checked into our hotel and then hopped on another train to get into Paris proper and started sightseeing.  With only a day and a half we could only do the highlights but it was amazing.  You could see God's beauty all around you through nature and the things that man created that is hundreds of years old.  Sunday was a gorgeous day but Monday was a mixture of clouds, rain, and sunshine.  We can't wait to share in more detail all that God has shown us during our time here in France. 

Blessings,

Emma, Barry, Juli, Arnold, Jamie, and Dorie

 

France: Day 3

France: Day 3

Good afternoon to our friends and family 

We started our day off with some clouds and rain but the Lord smiled down on us with abundant sunshine for our evening fellowship and testimony with the women in the village of Souge.  We enjoyed breakfast of bacon, eggs, fresh pastries, and fruit before we all (except George) embarked on our task for the morning which was visiting the market in Buzancais, as well as prayer walking throughout the market and praying for the people in the surrounding areas, that they would seek the Lord.  We looked for things in the market as inspirations for our prayers, i.e., fruit stands to help us to display the fruit of the spirit to the lost people, the shoes, that we would be the feet of Jesus in an area where witchcraft and spiritualism is very dominant.  We purchased our lunch from the market which consisted of rotisserie chicken, new potatoes, fresh goat cheese, fresh baguette, and watermelon.  The ladies then headed back to the farmhouse were we started preparing for our evening with the women of Souge.  We had 12 women come and we loved on them.  They got a four-course meal and then we sang a few songs in French and English.  What a spectacle that was!  But great fun!  Sheryl then spoke a few words and then Juli gave her testimony in French.  Sheryl then asked me to share my pain story in the hopes that it might strike a cord with any of the women.  The highlight for them was when we brought out their goodie bags, filled with all kinds of treats.  Their eyeballs got round like saucers and they wanted to know what the occasion was.  We told them, "no occasion" just love. I didn't think their eyes could get any bigger but they did when they saw the scarf tree and told them that they could pick out any scarf they wanted.  It made for a very long day for us but the joy and awe on their faces made it all worth it!! 

In His grip,

Arnold, Juli, Barry, Jamie, Emma, and Dorie

 

France: Day 1

Bonjour!

We made it safely to France on Tuesday, June 21st, after almost 23 hours of travel.  We left Norfolk via Amtrak shuttle bus at 7:40am and were dropped off at the Amtrak station in Newport News.  We boarded the train at 9:15 and then traveled laboriously up to Union Station in Washington DC, where we barely made our Super Shuttle pick-up at 2:05pm. Two more minutes and he would have left us to figure something else out.  We then worked our way across downtown DC to pick up another couple before we could finally head towards Dulles airport and our plane.  The van was quite the experience as every few minutes the air would stop working and the heat would start.  It made for some miserable 50+ minutes.  We arrived at Dulles almost 30 minutes behind what we should have been and the check-in was time consuming but when we printed out our boarding passes; well that's when the Lord truly smiled upon us because we all had TSA Pre ✔ and the line was almost completely empty!!  Praise Jesus!  Our flight was fairly uneventful, small pockets of turbulence but nothing major.  We arrived in Paris on time and to clouds and rain.  We stayed inside the airport and waited over 3 hours to take an almost 2 hour train ride to St. Pierre de Corps.  The train was amazing.  Extremely quiet and very fast.  I mean, very fast! It was like nothing I had ever been on before.  We were met by George and Sheryl who then drove us another 1 1/2 hours to the towns of Buzancais (bu•zan•say) & Souge (sue•jay).  The jewelry store that they are converting into a place of Worship is in Buzancais, and the farmhouse is in Souge.  We had some time of prayer in both places and then headed to bed.  Wednesday we woke to a beautiful, warm day and enjoyed eating our breakfast outside, were we enjoyed fresh French pastries.  Can you say YUM!  We then divided up into 3 teams:  Barry, Arnold, and George to the store to do electrical work; Jamie, Sheryl, and I to the store to clean out some cobwebs; Juli and Emma stayed at the farmhouse and put together the goodie bags that we will give to the women that attend the fellowship Friday evening.  Until tomorrow...........Au revior

France Team

Emma, Barry, Arnold, Juli, Dorie, and Jamie

 

Southeast Asia: Day 4-6

Day: 4-6 (June 15 - June 17)

The team left the city and traveled by bus and then foot to a small village in the mountains.  They live out of what they can carry in a backpack and stay at a homestay. It is rainy season there.  Roads are mud and rock and prone to slides.  As they hiked into the mountain village, Madeline took pictures of a local rice field worker and the beauty, to include a water buffalo.  As they passed the beast, Madeline and Hannah enjoyed singing the “Water Buffalo Song” from Veggie Tales,… “everybody’s got a water buffalo, yours is fast but mine is slow …”  Larry the Cucumber.  Who knew that songs she heard 15 years ago would come in handy halfway around the world. (pictures from the hike into the village).
 

 

The team shared their stories and ones from the Book with the homestay owners, visitors and people in the village.   These people who have so little compared to our excesses, pour out their best on us when we visit.   (The next pictures show the views from the homestay and their gracious meal!)

 

 

Prayers that the team’s efforts bear fruit.  Their visit here was a mere two days, however there is much to be thankful for and Madeline requested prayer for the following: "We are really working on helping the woman in charge of our homestay. Also, there is a woman whose husband is a government official. She is questioning things and has a bible app as of today, but she is struggling because her husband is an official in politics. Pray that the people we meet will have the bravery to step out in faith and make the decision."

 

 

Peru: Days 6 & 7

Day 6:  Thursday morning was our off-morning, so we walked to the Inca Market and took in the sights while buying the place out of Alpaca blankets, silver jewelry and other essential items. After a wonderful lunch in Miraflores at Atthos Restaurant we headed back to the church for more sewing ministry work. Again, the ladies were quick studies and knocked out several projects before stopping to have a ladies' spa night. It was a time of fellowship, care and laughter as our women cared for the ladies of the village. Due to the generosity of the people at First Baptist Norfolk, each of the 25 women girls were able to take home a sample kit of shampoos, lotions and other beauty items. To watch the delight on their faces and in their eyes as they walked out with their gifts was truly a blessing for us! 

Day 7:  Today the team met for the last time at the church prior to heading out for some targeted evangelism.  The team split into two teams and visited the homes of some of the families that had accepted Jesus after being seen at the clinics earlier in the week. It was a humbling experience to be welcomed into someone's home and treated as an honored guest. We had the pleasure of answering questions about this new religion they had given their hearts to, and along with giving them a new Bible written in Spanish, invite them to the 6pm church service later in the day. The team spent the entire day engaged in this ministry.  Back at the church, the service was another unforgettable experience, with Pastor Tito describing how far the church had come is just five short years while comparing and contrasting the parables of the sower found in Matthew and Luke. It was a great message and to top it off, the people of the church amazed us with beautiful gifts and handwritten letters!  Our last meal of the church was cooked one more time with love by the wonderful women of the church.  It was a family affair, marked by joy, laughter, gentle teasing, but mostly the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ. Tomorrow morning we board the plane to return home, but it will be a bittersweet moment as we say goodbye to the people of Peru and especially our new family in the Primero Iglesia de Villa El Salvadore.  

Of special note, this report would not be complete without singling out Pastor Tito and his wife, Mariane, Melissa, Blanca, Meche, Ruth, Marivel, Jose, Auturo, Julio, David, Xtian, and of course, Romel! They made every second we were there special, like we were forgotten family returning home once more.

See you when we get home!
The Peru Mission Team