God is so Good!
Wow! What a month it has been since our last update. God is soooo good! At the end of January, we dropped our four little ones off with Uncle, Aunt, and seven cousins (that’s right they had 11 kids for a whole 12 days!) and headed down to Lima on our Survey Trip. God was good all the way through.
We started the trip with a drive to Chicago in order to catch a super early flight the next morning. We arrived at our Air BNB in Chicago just in time for the car to completely die. We had a tow company drag the car over to an unknown mechanic with a night drop slot, and by faith we left a note, some contact info, our car, our keys, and our prayers that the car wouldn’t end up getting chopped up while we were gone. We were in the air before the mechanic even knew our car was there, and so, our adventure began! The best part of that whole thing was getting to share the gospel with a tow truck driver named Jonathan who had never heard of Jesus’ plan to save him. He didn’t trust Christ then, but the seed was planted for the first time.
Upon landing in Lima, we connected with Steve and Kelly
Frerichs, followed by a long trek across the busy city of 10.5 million
people. It turns out traffic is no better at night than during the day. We
were able to see some old friends, meet the field team, tackle logistics of a
pending international move, serve our host family, and I had the privilege of preaching at Vida Nueva (a Peruvian Church) the last day we were there. After service, a young woman spoke with one of the leaders who had been sharing with her, and she trusted Jesus as her savior. To top off our trip, that evening, I had the privilege of sitting in with Steve as he yet again shared the gospel with a young man named Santiago, who also trusted Christ. There were a lot of highs and lows on our journey, but God was faithful all the way through. The day we flew in, we touched ground in Chicago about noon and went to pick up the car. It hadn’t been chopped up! The mechanic was great, and even though the repair was a big ding to our budget, the car ran great all the way home!
On the 16th, we had the privilege of sharing our ministry with our neighbors here in South Des Moines at Fellowship Baptist Church. I was surprised to see so many people I knew yet but hadn’t seen for many years including my 8th grade bus driver and one of my childhood friend’s parents serving in music. It has been 15 years since seeing them and what a joy to reconnect. Debbie also had a few flashbacks from her childhood as she reconnected with a family from her home church. I imagine it was crazy
for those who knew me, the crazy immature jr. high kid standing in front of
them, sharing God’s word. That is just a proof of God’s grace towards Debbie and I, as He is continuing to prepare us to serve cross culturally.
This week was also a bit of a flashback being up at Lakeside
Fellowship in Polk City. Being a North Polk kid, it was great being back on my
old stomping grounds. What was even better was seeing how God, in 15 years, took a love for a small town and multiplied it into Gospel fruit and a well-established church. And not only that, but a church who has gone from a church plant to a church-planting-church!
What a good thing God is doing here in Iowa! God is going ahead of us to do the same in Lima. Our desire is to spread a passion for the glory of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Lima, Peru. To see God, raise up a movement of Gospel centered churches that are passionate about reaching the lost and planting gospel centered churches.
Our prayer requests remain the same. That God would give us
opportunities to reach the lost, that he would grant us favor with the adoption of our kids, and that he would raise up a team of people who would support the ministry in Peru, both in prayer and financially. May God continue to bless! God is so good!