Peru House Pictures

Many have asked what the house in Peru looks like and what needs to be done. So I am posting pictures with some notes to help y'all visualize things better.

Jungle news

Many of you have asked "how can we help" well here is one way. As most

of you know I spent some time in Peru researching what living

arrangements would look like for our family while living in Peru for

the next two years. I looked at several rental units that I did not

think would fit the bill and also found that rent was going to be a

lot higher than I had originally thought. Another option that we had

was a house that our director in Peru, Lucho owned that is in the

process of being built and not complete at this time  When I returned

home and talked to Tom Clark the director of Junglemaster about the

house he told me that Lucho was wanting to sell the house to us and we

both decided that it would probably be a good investment. We now own a

house in Nauta that needs to be completed. How much does a house in

Nauta, Peru cost you may ask? $13,000.00 would be the answer.

Junglemaster has been wanting to purchase a house in Nauta for quite

some time this purchase affords Junglemaster many benefits the first

being a rent free house for me and my family to live in for two years.

Secondly as I stated before this house is not complete yet so this

means we can complete it closer to North American standards (electric

fans, screened in for bug protection things of that nature) Also this

house can be set up for a resting place for short term teams heading

into the jungle, and also this will be a place we can have secure

storage of all our gear we need for short term mission trips. We also

are going to need some funds to help with finishing the house. Me and

Lucho roughed out finishing the house at around $6000.00 The house has

side walls and a nice roof and me and Amy are willing to go down and

live in it in tents as we finish the house. The only thing that we

would like to really be done before we live in the house is a place

for Amy to cook and the toilet to be working. We ask that you might

prayerfully consider donating to help us with this project.

Thanks for all the help and support, the McGees

Question us.....

Question us...that's right, question us. We are asking you to ask us questions about our decisions and our motives and our plans. We want to know just exactly what it is that you would like to find out about our family, our journey, our mission, and our beliefs. Joel and I are planning on doing a video that explains things about what our family is getting up to in the next few years. We want to be able to explain and make very clear our passion and our vision in our journey. But, to do that we need your help. We need you to think about what kinds of questions you would want answered if you were to sit down with us and talk about what we want to do. What do you want to know, what information would you want imparted to you so that you could fully understand what we are doing, how to pray for us and how to give us love and support throughout this journey.  NO QUESTION IS TOO SMALL! In asking us questions and helping us to know what others want to hear you will be allowing God to speak through us to others and help us reach out. Please give us this chance to continue to bring each of you along with us and involve you all as much as we can in our journey. We can't do this without each of you! Leave any questions in the comment section below or you can send us your questions on Facebook. 

Love you all!

Returning to the Jungle

I did not realize how hard this would be. This is the first time I have been back to the jungle since my good friend Wilder passed. He was our right hand man in the jungle.  I thought I had dealt with this! Why then when the plane started its decent into Iquitos did a wave of emotion wash over me like the blanket of thick humidity that would soon be on me. Tears started to stream down my face as I thought the selfish thought of his smiling face isn't going to be there to greet me. There will be no "Hola Jo ell". My name is never pronounced in one syllable down here it is a two syllable Jo ell. I am over that hurdle now and have settled into Iquitos ( if there is such a thing). Got to the hotel and met all of the teachers that have come in for the conference. What an amazing team God has assembled! I can't wait to see this all unfold. We will be heading up river to Santa Rita on Saturday. Another big emotional hurdle as this also is the first time going to Santa Rita since Pastor Javier's recent passing. I am sure this will be hard for every one on the team and especially Tom(Junglemaster Minsitries founder). We need lots of prayer for strength and guidance. I will try to post again when I get back out of the jungle, talk to ya soon. 
Joel

Words cannot explaIn....

Where to begin? How do you start? We are trying to write a post talking about what we are doing, how we were called to go, purpose and passion, etc.

Carmen's absolutely perfect summation of the below text: "Words and actions can't explain it; only God can." (out of the mouth of babes..K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Silly)

Now on to my long-winded version:

How do we put into words something that is so personal and internal? Something that every time you pray the Lord speaks and tells you to "GO". That's it, period. How do you explain how your heart aches to be with these people? How do explain how it feels to have you leave pieces of yourself behind every time you leave those wonderful people? How do you explain the pure joy in seeing God and His amazing love shine into some of the most desperate and hopeless situations. How can we explain how we really don't feel we're doing anything; that it is all God. It is His purpose, His passion, His love and mercy and all for His glory. How do you show physical proof of what we are doing in Peru when it is so much deeper: spiritual and relational.
 I mean we will be doing lots of work. Lots of leadership guiding, teaching and educating, and logistical work for the local and international missionaries. The pastors in the area feel a huge burden to bring the Word of God into the farthest reaches of the jungle and we are blessed to be called to stand beside them as they fight this battle to encourage and support their people. Our role is to empower and equip them. They are the ones who can do God's work in the jungle and bring the Light in to the darkest areas. We hope to be able to help them understand how to use the tools they have been given to better to support the mission. Also, to help build a stronger bridge between JungleMasters in the US and the Peruvian ministry so that both can benefit even more from each other and work even closer together for the glory of God.
Our deepest desire would be that we could bring everyone with us to see the power and glory of God working in the Amazon jungle and feel the power of the Holy Spirit in everyone we come in contact with. How do you put into words how immensely important the work that the Peruvian missionaries are doing for the Kingdom of God? It is difficult explain why God has invited our small insignificant family to join Him on this journey. With every prayer God shows us small pieces of what He is calling us to do. It is an ongoing conversation and journey. We may not know specifically yet what God has for us to do there but, as in all the times we have gone before we start with "our" plans and when we arrive God reveals His plan. We invite everyone to prayerfully join us in this conversation and on this journey. As our family continues to follow Jesus and what He is asking us to do we want you all there because we cannot do this alone. We will do the best we can to communicate this ongoing adventure and we know that God will help us to keep you updated. We would love to talk with anyone who would like to get more details about this calling.