Looking ahead....

The time has come…we have been looking forward to this time of going home with excitement but, I (Amy) have also been a little anxious. What will this time look like? Will we feel the distance that we have traveled in the last six months? Will we feel the joy of coming home or the distance of being out of everyone’s lives?  How hard is it going to be to come back? Will we have the strength to leave again? But, now that the time is here…I am starting to already miss Peru.

The last few weeks God has been putting different verses into my life that speak to the feelings I am having. He is speaking to me of renewing my heart for the journey ahead. He tells me of the need to put all trust in Him alone. He says to me that He will bless our time at home and give us this time to strengthen our relationships with family and friends. When I am worried about how to present and explain to everyone what we are doing and experiencing here. God is saying that He will tell the story. He will speak through our family.

But, also He has started showing me how He has built so many wonderful relationships here also. In the past few months our home has become a place that our neighbors are visiting and we are getting to learn from each other. It is a place now that our brothers and sisters in Christ are coming to rest on their journeys to and from home. It is a place that Carmen’s friends are playing and laughing and just enjoying. It has hosted teams and held prayer meetings.  In other words; this has become the Junglemaster Mission House. I am watching things come to fruition that we worried we would never see. I am seeing that our mission here is (a usual) not what we thought…but, better and more.

We are extremely excited to head home! I can’t wait for all the hugs and tears of joy and conversations, and just being with everyone. Ok, and let’s face it… I can’t wait to take a warm bath!!  And, well, maybe eat a lot of food! But, God is filling me with excitement for our return too. I know He isn’t done with us here yet, or with the mission.  I can’t wait to see what He has up His sleeve!

God Bless from Peru and see you all soon…

Amy J

A day with Dad

Took Carmen to Santa Rita with me yesterday. It was a long day (8 hrs on a boat) started at 5:30 AM we didn't get home until 8:30 PM. We laughed, we got hungry (because often times dad forgets to eat when he gets busy), she helped me haul and load the heavy bags of cargo onto the boat without complaint.  The best part though was when it got dark on the boat ride home and she crawled into my lap and we got to watch the sunset and the lightning flashing in the sky and just talked.

New Year Newsletter

We have mailed out our newsletter but, we thought we would share it here too. If you would like to get an email copy or a paper copy please email us and we will add you to our list.

joelmcgeezer@gmail.com

God moments....

Peace that passes all understanding..... 

The question I have is why do I seem to be surprised sometimes by what God is doing? I catch myself saying things like "Whoa that was a God moment".  Aren't they all God moments? Why would I be surprised? He is God after all. Maybe it's more me feeling honored that the almighty God would care enough about me to show me a snippet of His grand plan. 

Such a moment happened yesterday. I had been invited to a meeting with the new elect mayor of Nauta. I wasn't quite sure what to expect as I went in to the meeting.  I knew we (my friend Keny, who knows the mayor, and Keny's two friends who were visiting from Canada) were there to pray for this man. I also had been told by Keny that he was a pastor.

Manuel started the meeting by telling us that he starts every city board meeting by reading some scripture and praying. He also told us he gets some resistance about this; but he only has four years in office to shine the light of God and he wasn't going to stop. He also told us a lot about typical corrupt government issues. He told us about how one problem was that the garbage truck had broke down at the end of last year causing no garbage to be picked up for all of Dec. and there was talk that the old mayor had pocketed the money that was supposed to be used for the repair. There is also two tractors and another truck broken but he had no mechanics to repair this stuff. 

Now as I'm sitting there thinking "God are you telling me this guy needs some mechanical help"? I then started to tell him I'm a mechanic and possibly I could help with some of this stuff but what I really want to do is have a kind of technical training for the locals. The next words out of his mouth are what I was referring to in the beginning of this. One of those moments where God shows Himself in a mighty way. He said one of my projects is to get a mechanical teaching program going at the local trade school. A program that could teach the young men of Nauta some skills that they could offer to the oil companies who work in the jungle. Are you kidding me, God? These exact words have come out of my mouth. Talk about confirmation. 

Now, just like when God made it clear He wanted us to move down here, that's all He gave me. He didn't tell me how or why, He just quietly whispered "trust me". So I have no idea what this might look like but, I'm going to pray, trust, and listen to His quiet (or sometimes not so quiet) voice and let Him lead us.

Our week

So this last week has been a full week. We have been really busy getting our house to a stage that we can move back into it, and on Thanksgiving Day we were able to do just that!!  What a wonderful thing to do on Thanksgiving!! Now when I say livable I mean a roof over our heads, a small enclosed room for our beds, toilet/shower, running water, three outside walls, and a handy makeshift kitchen to cook in. Every woman’s dream right? Ha-ha No really it is coming along great and we are starting to get things put away and settled in.  I am so grateful because the work that has been done looks great and I am starting to see how it will all come together and am really excited.

I was also able to go to a pastor training class to hear one of our new South African friends, Danja, teach on Romans. She has three degrees in theology and it was wonderful to hear her talk and teach the local pastors here in Nauta. I feel very blessed to have been able to attend this class. It was nice too because she spoke in English!!

Joel spoke at a family class on being a Godly husband. Although it was primarily women; there were a couple men. I was very proud and he did wonderful.  Crystal, another local missionary, and I felt that even though all the husbands were not there; it is important for the women to here this message also. But, this class did lead to a motor maintenance class that Joel will be teaching on Dec 13^th. So please be praying that this is something that will turn into what Joel is looking to do here in the jungle. Joel was saying to me how amazing God is to give him the chance to not only work for JungleMaster but, to also do something he is so passionate about. PTL!

One of the many things I have learned about myself during this adventure is that although I loved reading the books; I now know why I never wanted to be Laura Ingles Wilder! I will do anything that the Lord asks of me and I will do it with a grateful heart {even if I do complain a little}. But, I know without a doubt I do not ever want to be a pioneer woman!! I knew there was a reason I loved the Anne of Green Gables series more! I would be great being Anne Girl any day. Ha-ha

As for Carmen, she is so amazing! Everyday I am in awe of how she is handling this whole thing. She has to work harder helping me than she has ever had to do before. She does it with out complaint, mostly. I have had some guilt over this fact but if she doesn’t help it would take us twice as long to do some of the simplest tasks like washing dishes. But, again God is gracious in showing us that it will all be good. I see this when she will just out of the blue say things like, “I feel really responsible.” Or “I enjoy cleaning with you, Mom.”” She is just so resilient and strong. She can just roll with the punches and keep on going. Joel and I check in on a regular basis and make sure we are not asking too much of her but, she always jumps right in with both feet. She is putting together a small children’s bible study. She is trying to get lessons in Spanish and putting a schedule together for snacks and songs and games. I think we will try that next week if possible. I just love that girl!

So that’s life so far….it is frustrating at times and so gratifying at times but through it all I see God.