An Early Start

Everyone has an early start here due to the leader of the town making the morning announcements over the town’s loud sound system. The announcements began at 5 a.m. today and are now being followed by songs. I am not sure what was announced or what is currently being sung but I am confident that it is loud!

Our team will meet together at 8:30 this morning for breakfast. Hopefully they will turn on the hot water this morning – yesterday’s cold shower was a fast one!

We are eating in the local restaurants on this trip so that we can get to know the people better. We ate fish yesterday – the offer the entire fish. One person on our team told me that they would eat the fish head if I would – I did but they did not! I am still alive this morning so I guess it was okay to eat. It did not taste like chicken. The locals eat the entire fish so I was hoping it would help me speak Spanish better. Can’t say that worked either.

The people in these villages live a very hard life. They are dependent on their crops and their livestock for survival. They are out already this morning heading to their fields to work. It is very cold and windy. There faces reveal the toll that is paid to survive in these elements.

The older generations do not express much joy in their lives. The children, however, remind me of my own. The girls are giggling while holding hands and walking down the streets. The boys are racing around on bicycles and laughing. Something happens in their lives between these early years and their transition into adulthood. This reality makes it evident that they really need the hope of Jesus in their lives. It is so evident on their faces. They need Jesus – not religion. They need it now – not tomorrow.

Please join us in praying that we would have God’s sense of urgency in reaching the nations. Our team realizes the privilege that we have in being here and we want to be involved in God’s activity here in Andamarca today.

We all miss our families and have prayed for you all. We had an incredible time of prayer together yesterday on the cliff of a mountain. God met with us in a very real and special way. We listened to a song that talked of the voices of praise rising from the valleys and mountains to fill the air. God’s desire is for these villages to know His peace. Our desire is that He uses us – however He desires.