Going Rambo

So last week was another busy week. But, it was really filled with amazing fellowship and work. On Saturday the 5^th Carmen started helping out on the local radio. They do a youth show on Saturday mornings from 6am to 8am. She was up and at ‘em early and ready to go. She did good but was really nervous. This last Saturday the 12^th she did much better and started telling riddles and doing English words for the kids to practice during the week. 

Also, Saturday the 5^th we spent the morning helping the British Baptist Girls with mixing clay for drilling a water well. When the drill hits the sandy layer of soil if you don’t have something to support the hole the sand just caves in and you lose your progress. So the drillers pump clay/mud into the hole to firm up the sides and make sure it doesn’t collapse. But, you have to mix it by hand. So the community came out to help get the clay mixed with the water. The well will be for the whole community to use.  It was so wonderful to sit and listen to everyone talking and joking around and working. We were only able to spend the morning but it took them all day and into Sunday to get the clay mixed.

The rest of the week Joel worked with the drilling team and helped to get the water well drilled. The drilling team was with another missionary who drills water wells down river from Iquitos. They were also guys that Joel has worked with before drilling Junglemaster wells. Joel really enjoys these men and has a fun rapport with them. He was tired each day but, so happy to be serving and reconnecting with friends. 

Carmen and I had a pretty “low key” week. Athough I spent a few days “going Rambo” on some cockroaches!! It was quite a funny sight! I literally destroyed them! Only body fragments remained…. I went after them with the broom and poison and spray.  You have never really experienced Peru unless you have “Gone Rambo” on a few bugs. What you have to understand is that these buggers are not afraid of humans. And, they don’t just come out at night. And, they are HUGE!! And, they are quick. And, they are aggressive. And, they run after you!!!

Since we were gone for so long with no one actually living in the house; they sort of took over. So, I had to reclaim the house. But, they weren’t going down with out a fight! As they raced across the floor heading to different locations; I would attack. Except, they don’t just run away like other cockroaches…oh no, here they turn around and run at you! ACK!! I swear one of them appeared to rear up on its back legs at me. So, I just went Rambo on them! We are now on the winning end of things. The only ones we see now are either dead or dying. Is it wrong that I get a small amount of pleasure seeing them convulsing on their backs as they die?

On that note I will leave you and say God Bless and have a great weekend!

What I want everyone to know...

I want to share something with you. It is raw and I'm probably going to mess it up but, maybe God can clean it up along the way.

YOU ARE LOVED!!

 Yep, that's it. Plain and simple.

Ok, here is the back story to why I'm saying that.
We were in Iquitos yesterday at the  Post office. Joel was talking to the security guard while I was renewing our PO Box. Lovely man, always has a smile and a kind word for everyone.
He was talking to Joel about his faith and how he felt he was nothing before he believed in Jesus. But, Carmen heard something different. She came over to me and was sharing that the guard had said something along the lines that a person was worthless or nothing without Jesus.
I immediately got defensive about this statement.  Because it simply is not true. Let me clarify this....

As I talked to Carmen about this and explained to her that God loves everyone; it occurred to me:
Do people not know this?! Doesn't everyone know that they are loved?

So I'm going to tell you: You Are Loved. Whether you believe in God or not..... He loves you. Yep, you don't even have to acknowledge him and he still loves you. He counts you among the most precious jewels in the world!
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16.
It says:  He loved the world..... not certain people.....No the WHOLE world, everyone! Believers or not.  It seems to me many non believers dismiss this..... They seem to get angry and offended and hung up on the second part and I can see that it would be hard to swallow, when we can't grasp the first part. We can't wrap our brains around the fact that God (or some "higher being" ) could really and truly love us. So the thought seems to be that God doesn't love us unless we believe in him and do what he wants. And that is wrong! He loves everyone! First comes understanding and grasping His love; then you can start to understand salvation.
I am not trying to preach or argue for Christianity.
I simply think everyone should know they are loved. Every inch of you; every second of everyday; You are loved. Wether you want it, believe it, or like it; it is true and I think more people should hear this and know this.

That is all.
Have a great week.

Back in the swing of things

So let’s face it…I, Amy McGee, am not an eloquent writer. I don’t post or blog because I feel like my blogs don’t have enough creativity and wont hold anyone’s attention. But, I think I need to just get over myself! So, I want to update everyone on what is going on. It will be just the facts. Nothing poetic or funny or inspiring, but, a lot is happening here and I want to share. So, no fluff…just facts! P.S. this one will be a long blog, sorry!

We returned to Nauta on Friday February 26^th after about 60 hours travel! It was all a pretty good trip until Lima. For some reason; the traveling this time really took a toll on Joel and I. It really took us a good three days to feel less tired. We are starting to feel our age. For me this is such a foreign concept. I have never felt my age!

When we finally got to Nauta, our neighbors, who had been keeping an eye on our cats and house, greeted us right away and were very concerned. We had told them we would be home on the 20^th and Joel had forgotten to Facebook message Miguel to tell him we would be about a week late. They were happy to see us because they were worried something had happened. I felt bad but at the same time it was nice to see the concern too. We are really blessed with good neighbors.

Anywho… Saturday we rested and started to unpack things. Joel was up and at ‘em. He worked pretty hard outside all week.  That night we were able to see missionary friends as we celebrated a birthday. We really missed them and enjoyed catching up and laughing lots.

Sunday was a pretty quiet day. Joel did some visiting out and about and talking to a few pastors upriver on the phone. Carmen and I worked on getting the house back in shape and unpacking more. Sunday night pastor Eduardo from Parinari came for a visit. He is one of the pastors that Junglemaster is sending to the seminary training here in Nauta. After talking with him for a bit, Joel and Eduardo went to visit a missionary friend that is taking a group to Parinari in May. Joel is helping to transport the team upriver.

Monday we got really busy.  I got Carmen back on her school schedule and Brother Abram and his wife Jessica came from Santa Rita to stay. Junglemaster had raised funds to help buy school supplies for the children in Santa Rita. So Abram and Jessica came to help Joel shop for all the supplies.

You know I really enjoy having the Junglemaster house full of people.  Some other friends were passing through to take the ferry to Santa Rita Tuesday morning and asked if they could stay the night too. So all the beds were full and a lot of love and laughter Monday night.  That is really what the Junglemaster house is meant for and it is wonderful to see it. 

Tuesday they were supposed to go into Iquitos and buy the supplies but a driver strike shut down all modes of transportation to /from Iquitos that day. So, the guys hung out and worked on the boat. I did school with Carmen and Jessica talked with us all and seemed to enjoy a day that she could just do nothing. Although, I think it was a little uncomfortable at first because they don’t usually do nothing. She did wash dishes after each meal and took a walk.  We had prayer group with the other missionaries that night. I love prayer nights!

Wednesday Joel, Abram, Jessica, and Eduardo went to Iquitos and shopped. They returned in the afternoon with Miguel who was also heading back to Santa Rita on Thursday morning. So another night of a full house and lots of talking and joy and we went to church. My head was literally hurting and I was exhausted at night from talking Spanish.

Thursday morning we said goodbye. Thursday night Carmen’s friend Jeremy stopped by for a visit. We really like him a lot. He is smart, learning English, very respectful, and enjoys hanging out at our house. So, we talked with him some in English and Carmen gave him a couple of books to read. They painted and we played Jenga. He hung out for about 3 hours. We also had a couple stop by to talk. Pastor Juan and Natalie. They are really awesome and fun and have a little boy named Pablo. They have been wanting to find another couple that they can visit with and talk with about marriage things and so forth; sort of like mentors. Hah, I just laugh because, again I never feel my age so to think we have hit mentoring age is just hard to wrap my head around! Anyway, they were here a couple hours. It was wonderful though because they really help us a lot with our Spanish, We are going to meet with them regularly and maybe watch a marriage DVD.

 Friday morning 6:15 am found us up at the BMS ( British Mission) helping them mix clay for a well they are drilling on Monday. We spent the morning elbows deep in buckets of clay and water mixing it by hand. We all kept saying how nice it would be to have an electric mixer.  But, this is how they do it here. There were probably about 25 people there altogether and it was cool to sit and work together. We took a break and then left around noon. They continued to work the rest of the day but, Carmen had school and Joel and I had work stuff to do. So, that’s been our week! Crazy busy, full of blessings, fellowship, hard work, and friends.  It has been so great to hit the ground running and see all that God has done in the past 17 months start to really be put into action. We are excited to see what the next few months hold.

Thanks for reading!

Back to school!

The first week of our language classes is officially in the books. The classes are going really good and we both feel we are gaining a lot from them. Our classes start at 8:30 A.M. and finish at 12:00. Typically we have about an hour of homework. I must say it feels a little odd to be sitting in a class setting again at 42. I have to admit that the thought of, God, if you have me back in school learning a new language at 42 what else do you have in store for me? I try not to let my mind wonder down this path to far and just take things one moment at a time.

Carmen has started going to a school in Arequipa for the month that we are here. She was real nervous to start this school. Not only did she not know any one; this also was her first experience going to an all-Spanish speaking school. On the first day we stopped by at lunchtime to see how she was doing. Well in true Carmen spirit, she was all smiles, had a circle of kids gathered around her desk, and she was playing a card game with them. She saw us, came out real quick to tell us she was fine, and told us to go on. Her school starts at 7:50 and gets out at 2:30. We are able to walk her to school on our way to school then Amy and I have a couple hours to spend by ourselves before picking her up.

The cooler temperatures of Arequipa have been a nice change from the hot, humid jungle. It is nice to wake up in the morning, spend some time with God, and watch the sunrise over some snow capped mountains! The city is also a much more modern city than what we have in the jungle. It has been real nice to be able to get to go to school but also it is nice to get a little break from the rigors of life in the jungle. It is nice the way the schedules are set up. Amy and I feel like we have gotten some much needed time to focus on our relationship, which has been hard to do while living in the jungle. The family we are renting the apartment from took Carmen to a kids club so Amy and I took advantage of this and spent some time exploring the city. We all feel extremely blessed to have this opportunity to focus on learning more of the language. Thanks for all the prayers and support.

When God moves.....

    What a blessing it was to be a part of our first youth event at the Oasis Youth Center! The church from Iquitos put on quite the event for the youth here in Nauta. There were short dramas, interpretive dances, a short sermon, and lots of music.  The attendance started out a little low but in typical jungle fashion as the dramas began and the volume of the music was raised the people started to come to see what was happening at the old “Oasis disco tek”. When it was all said and done there was around 100 youth and adults getting to witness what God had done with what was once a bar. At the end of the event there was eight people who received Christ.  After praying with these eight I was talking to one of them who happened to be a bit older than the rest. He told me that he used to frequent the Oasis bar quite often and had just happened to be walking by this night and saw what we had going on. It interested him so he came in and was touched by the Holy Spirit and received Christ and wants to turn his life around. What a mighty God we serve and what a blessing it is to see His work being done.

    Preparations continue for our travel to language school in November. This will be a month long school which is located in the southern part of Peru. We are extremely excited about going to this school and getting better with the language.  After a year of immersion, we feel God is telling us the next step is getting into a structured language school setting and learning how to put the vocabulary together so we can better our communication skills.

   Thanks for the continued prayers and we look forward to updating you soon.