A Profitable Day

Yesterday was a great day as we learned much more about this local church and about Andamarca. We believe that God has given us clarity as to whether we are to partner with this church and about the importance of having a sharp focus both now and with future teams.

We have spent quite a bit of time this weekend learning about the church that is in Andamarca. While they are a very sincere congregation it is evident that we will not partner with them in planting churches. There will be many opportunities to consider cooperating with them but we would share a difference in how we are going to plant churches in these villages. It has been a great learning experience to spend time with them and see their sincerity as they worship in their cultural context.

We will spend today here again in Andamarca attempting to visit with the mayor and in the schools. Our goal is to learn more about what the community sees as their needs and what their perspective the impact of the local congregations. This information will help us as we develop our strategy.

This evening we are planning to drive to the next villages, Cabanna and Aucura. This is where we spent most of our time on the previous trip. Please be praying that God opens doors to meet with some of the local leadership of the community. We are also going to follow up in the schools that we visited in order to learn more about their needs. We specifically are seeking to learn what they need when they asked for help with construction knowledge and how to grow some types of grasses faster for their livestock.

We have also learned that this time of the year will be more challenging than our April trip due to the changes in weather. We are actually in their winter season and it has been challenging. The temperature is lower than we anticipated. There is a strong wind that is constantly blowing which brings both more coldness along with lots of dust. It reminds me of a dust storm in an old western movie.

One of the goals for next summer is to have college students from our church come and serve as summer missionaries here in these villages. We have spent a considerable amount of time discussing this in light of our experience. These students will have to be grounded people with a strong walk with God. It will be a very challenging experience.

We covet your prayers as we are confident that this is what helps us in discerning what God is saying to us during this journey.