Pepe the Squirrel

Here are a few thoughts I had to add to this blog before leaving Peru..

"But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds."
Psalms 73:28

Yesterday I left Matucana and returned to Lima to prep for the flight home to the states. Brittne is returning to the states for a short trip as well , so she left Matucana with me and Martin is staying in Matucana for another week. Saying goodbye to the folks in Matucana was not easy - I saw Salvador, Zoila, Maribel, Edgar, and several others who offered warm goodbyes just before leaving town. But the most moving goodbye was at breakfast. Brittne, Martin, and I had breakfast with Augusto and his family before leaving which turned out to be a true blessing to us all.. a conversation that was worth the whole trip! If you remember, we met Augusto just a few days into our stay in Matucana. He is new to Matucana with his job, which is starting up new micro-enterprises for towns in the region centered around make cheeses commercially. Anyway.. at yesterday's goodbye breakfast Augusto, who is a believer, shared with us a long story about angels and the then likened it to us as angels in his life. We all sat there teary-eyed with him as he told us that he had not intended to be active in a church while in Matucana, but his "coincidental" connection with us steered him back to a closer relationship with God. All of us then started to recount the events that led up to our meeting and just marvelled (once agin) at how God puts things together:

Augusto was supposed to get into a rental house when he arrived in Matucana, but something happened and he had to find a hostel for a couple of nights.. the same hostel where we were staying. I remember the first night his family was there. I was returning to my room from the bathroom, getting ready for bed, when I saw a squirrel running under the chairs in the common area and a young boy with his dad (the dad was Augusto). Since I couldn't speak spanish, I just gestured at the squirrel and it became clear that it was their pet. Pepe was his name and I got Brittne and Martin out there to see. I went on to bed and thought nothing more about it. Well, Brittne is the type of person who never sees a stranger and she and Martin stayed up and talked with Augusto for a while. The next morning they told me that Augusto was a Christian and he was interested in coming to our meetings. We saw Pepe the squirrel again that morning and let him crawl all over us and took a bunch of pictures. Shortly after, Augusto's rental house was ready so he and his kids left the hostel. The next time we saw them around town - within a day or so - we asked about Pepe and found out that he had died. Pepe had lived just long enough to connect this family with us. And as Augusto told us a breakfast, put him on a new path walking closer to God. Augusto has attended several of our meetings and wants to be a part of the church in Matucana long-term.

I had the priviledge of discipling Augusto and I'll never forget how intently he listened - we had at least a 3-hour discussion on personal prayer time one evening after the electricity had gone out in Matucana (not an unusual event). He never broke his attention to the subject while the sun finally set and the room darkened to nearly black around us. A candle and cell-phone lit the scriptures.

That experience and the breakfast we had with him was a blessing that will strengthen me for the rest of my life. It's amazing how God always works in all directions when you're trying to do his will. God has blessed all of our lives through this encounter and through your prayers for our team and Augusto.

Thanks to Pepe the squirrel and the sovereign God we serve!


In Christ-
Greg

Prayer Requests

We're reaching the home stretch of my stay here in Matucana. I wanted to get another quick blog in for prayer requests as this current team wraps up our meetings, training, english classes, etc. Others will be following us throughout the summer to continue the services. For example, another team from ASU in Boone, NC will be here for a week after we leave - they are arriving this Saturday. It is my understanding that they are mostly college kids who have dedicated their spring break to missions in Matucana. What an example that is! Please pray for their safe trip to and from Peru and their experience here in Matucana.

In addition, please pray for the following:
1. The Almonacid family and their continuing work to lead house church meetings in their home.
2. Believers (in Matucana, Huaripachi, Puerto Nuevo) who are not currently worshipping in fellowship with other believers. Pray that they will be led to worship at one of the house churches meeting in their community.
3. The Christian family I mentioned last week - Augosto, his son Gabriel and daughter Hephzibeth. Pray that they will continue to be involved in meetings and strengthen the body.
4. The family running the hostel where we are staying.. especially Maribel.
5. Zoila, who is hosting the house meetings in Huaripachi, and Jessica, who is a regular attendee. Zoila would be a great leader for that community, but her Catholic background is preventing her from accepting the true path to salvation. Pray that she can break through that barrier.
6. A great family in Puerto Nuevo that have hosted several house meetings now. Doris, Julie, Nancy, and William.. all adult siblings. Also attending are their mother and Julie's husband Wilmer, along with several kids. Julie is a believer and the rest of the family is eager for more bible stories and discussion.
7. Edgar, Karen, Tracy, and Jared - Brittne will get a chance to share more with this family now that they are back from vacation.
8. Salvador, who is going through some personal trials and needs our prayers. He has been such a great help to us during our stay and I beleive his impact on God's work here is yet to be seen.
9. Freddy, who is Salvador's closest friend and now a literature teacher at the local high school. What an interesting guy .. a writer, a poet, and a thinker. Right away he was curious and asked us about salvation as he too has had a strong Catholic background (5 years in Catholic seminary before dropping out). I believe he is genuine in his search for the Truth. We gave it to him the other night, and look forward to more conversations with him.

Thanks to all who are wading through the details of my requests and lifting them up to the Lord.. please remember that this is the ONLY way that our team and others following us will see progress in these communities.

In Christ-
Greg