First Baptist Church of Ocala, Florida

Oops! Accidentally rejected some comments

2009-11-10T09:12:00.001-05:00

Two comments were rejected in error this morning. If you don't see your comments, please send them again. I pressed the wrong button!!! So very sorry.

Mucho Monday

2009-11-10T06:26:00.001-05:00

Mucho happening on Monday

What a day… We woke up on Monday morning to learn that David Jacola and Je’sus (our translator) went out to find something to eat later on Sunday evening and instead found the mayor in a meeting. They sat in on the remainder of the meeting and then setup a meeting with the mayor for 9AM Monday morning.

One of our goals for this trip was to find a way to serve the community. On our first trips we learned that the mayor did not believe that the existing church did not have any impact on the community. We were going to ask the mayor to help us identify someone or some way that we could help in the community.

When we met with the mayor yesterday we shared that desire and he immediately got excited and told us about a group working up on the mountain. We walked up the trail to the job site and realized that we were not going to be helping farmers but rather helping a group that is building a new water treatment plant for the community. Several of us will spend all day today working with cement, rocks and dirt. Please pray for us to have lots of energy. We feel a little pressure since the mayor introduced us all to the group last night and told them that they needed to come observe us working. J It will really be a tough day since we are not yet fully acclimated to this altitude.

We also met with some of the people from previous trips and have set up meeting times to continue sharing God’s Word with them. Even as we had our devotional time in the city plaza a lady came up and asked us what we were doing. She then joined in our Bible study and then we shared a Bible story with her. It was awesome.

Please pray for us today – that we are “on task” and that we do not experience the distractions that are so common here. It is difficult at times to know which people are really interested and which ones are just taking our time. We only have a short amount of time here so we are asking God to order our steps throughout each day.

Our team members are doing wonderful. Last night we had some great worship time as David used a Peruvian’s antique guitar to lead.

Your prayers are critical – they are making a huge difference. To experience so much on our first full day in the village is not normal. Thanks again for your comments – they help us to keep moving, too.

Here in Cabana it is cold...

2009-11-08T20:01:00.001-05:00

We are here. We are tired. We are ready!

We made it to Cabana early this afternoon. Wow – what a trip. Our entire team did great on the trip. We had one team member struggle a little with motion sickness but everyone is doing great tonight.

We will begin reconnecting with our friends in the morning. Please pray for us to be bold and for them to be open to talking with us about spiritual things. These conversations will then lead us into God’s Word and His plan to redeem their lives through the sacrifice of Jesus.

I am sure we will all rest well tonight… Thanks for joining us this week in Cabana.

Getting ready for the big yellow bus...

2009-11-07T12:46:00.002-05:00

We just got our tickets for the Big Yellow Dog that will leave at 7PM tonight. We are leaving now for lunch and then a meeting with Mike Weaver will take place here at the hotel. We then begin the long bus ride to Cabana. Thanks for praying for our entire team to stay healthy during the trip. We will now be joined by one translator and 3 International Mission Board missionaries who serve through the Journeyman program.

We will post again as soon as we get to Cabana. Much love to all of our friends and families. Thanks for leaving comments, too. These get shared every morning with our team as we begin our days with devotions. Your encouragement means more than you know!!!

Made it to Grand Hotel Betsy

2009-11-07T01:28:00.002-05:00

We just arrived in Lima and are about to settle down for the night. We had a good travel day which means we did not experience any problems. It has been a long day but our bus will not leave until tomorrow evening so we are hoping to be rested by the time 7PM rolls around! Thanks for your prayers and comments!

Specific Prayers

2009-11-06T11:54:00.003-05:00

We do have some specific prayer requests:

Please pray for us as we travel. Tomorrow night we will get on public transportation and go all the way to the village - this is a first for any of our teams. Please pray that God keeps us all from getting sick - motion sickness can make a very long trip seem much, much longer.

Please pray for our families that remain in the states. Pray that God places a hedge of protection around them.

Please pray for the mayor of Cabana - Octavio Alegrio Leon. Here is a picture of him. We are praying for his salvation.

Out-bound from Orlando

2009-11-06T11:36:00.005-05:00

Once again a missions team from FBC Ocala has made it through the exciting and sometimes difficult process of checking in and getting through security. We now sit at the gate ready to load a plane that we are hopeful will safely carry us to the Great State of Texas and from there to Lima.

We are thankful for the many prayer partners that will join us on this trip. We also thank God for all of the efforts that have been made to help this trip happen.

Please pray for us as we travel - in only 48 hours we should be getting close to our adopted village of Cabana! :)

Here are some photos of the happy travelers in the Orlando airport. I also wanted to show you the tub of supplies that we are taking - we are allowed 50 pounds so please notice the weight on the display.

Away They Go!

2009-11-06T08:05:00.003-05:00

The November Peru Mission Team is on their way to our friends in Peru.

Please be praying for them over the next week as they explore public transportation to the villages and follow up with many of the contacts made on previous trips. Please also be praying for God to work in the life and heart of the Mayor of Cabana.

Home Sweet Home

2009-10-04T15:40:00.002-04:00

The team made it home safely this afternoon - just slightly behind schedule. Thank you for your prayers!

Leaving Lima for Florida

2009-10-03T20:03:00.002-04:00

We will be leaving the hotel in the next hour. Please pray for our team as we go through the regular events of the airport: long lines, luggage inspection, metal detectors and customs. Our flight departs at 11:45PM so we are all praying that we can rest on the plane tonight. We will be in Florida around 11AM tomorrow. We are all excited about what God did here in Peru but we are also ready to get home.

Thanks to each of you who joined us on this journey by praying, leaving comments and reading God´s story of reaching the people of Cabana with the Gospel.

See you soon...

Bobby, Angie, Adam and Kevin

In Lima

2009-10-02T22:13:00.002-04:00

Our team arrived in Lima around 730PM after leaving Cabana at 545 this morning. Obviously, we are all very tired. We will leave Lima tomorrow night. We are all ready to see our family and friends.

God has been so faithful throughout this trip. Even today there were several times where we witnessed His hand in protecting us as we drove through the crazy roads and traffic. I think today must have been a Peruvian national holiday focused on road construction. We stopped 11 times (yes I counted) for road crews who were mostly sitting down watching the traffic. We were stopped in Puquio for 30 minutes and then another time for at least 30 minutes. But... at least they have roads. :)

We will try to post some photos tomorrow. We have some great pictures of our friends in Cabana and some other ones of our guinea pig pets that became one terrific dinner. Have a great night knowing that God has used you to impact His kingdom. It has been a real privilege to see folks come to know Christ and to witness someone baptized in Cabana.

God's faithfulness...

2009-10-01T16:54:00.002-04:00

Here is a picture of Louisa as she is being baptized. It was great to see her courage and to see several other come to witness her baptism.

We are packing up now, having guinea pig later and then leaving for Lima tomorrow morning.

A full day...

2009-10-01T09:01:00.002-04:00

We experienced a full day of God’s working yesterday in Cabana and in the annex of Sondondo. We wish that you all could be here in person to see firsthand how God directed the day.

We went to Sondondo to meet with a lady named Zocima who had received Christ with the summer missionaries this past summer. She was in Lima but we met several people who were very open to talk with our team. The team met a lady who said that she was a believer and that she had some friends who are also believers. This lady is named Angelica. She lives in Lima but we are returning this morning in hopes of learning more about her and the other believers.

The picture of the guys in the back of the truck is a typical Peruvian travel experience. There are always folks needing a ride - and there is always room for one more. We had 6 people in the front of the truck. The guys were real troopers - they rode that way for about 30 minutes coming up the very rough mountain road.

The Enhancement Team spent about two hours teaching the Bible to two ladies while they are sat down in the road. These ladies were going to spend the night thinking about making a commitment to Christ. Please pray for them. We will return this morning to visit with them again.

Adam and Juvenol were walking through Cabana looking for opportunities to share the Gospel. They went to talk with a taxi driver who is not from here but was waiting in the plaza. Adam shared the Gospel with him and he received Christ.

Part of our team met with Wilder and Elva last night. We had a great discussion about their friendship with us and his desire to know God better. Please pray that Wilder continues searching and that God continues to work in their lives.

This is our last day in Cabana. Please pray that we finish well. This has been an incredible visit already and we again thank you for joining with us here in Cabana.

Sidenote: We found someone to clean the guinea pigs and another person to cook them. Looks like guinea pig is what’s for dinner!

Just keep moving...

2009-09-30T10:14:00.006-04:00

As I am sitting here typing this morning I can hear several children outside of my door. I am reminded that our task is worthy of the effort.

Please continue to pray for our team to keep a focus and strength that will glorify The Lord. We were reminded yesterday that reaching these precious people continues to be hard and that great patience is required. The temptation is to start pulling out all of the “tricks” so that we can say that their have been many decisions this week. However, those types of decisions will be made with a low level of understanding and surely will not last past our departure. Please pray that we remain committed to our strategy of reaching the people through relationships and the truth of God’s Word.

We were able to meet with the mayor and several others last night. The team did a wonderful job at sharing their testimonies. They wanted to know once again about our purpose and they were presented with the Gospel.

We are thankful for the privilege of being here in Cabana to join God’s work. Your prayers are being answered and we thank you for being part of this mission trip.

We only have 2 more days here in Cabana before we begin the journey back to Lima. Please pray for the people to be receptive to us and to what we have to share.

The photo above is our team plus the Enhancement Team that is working in Cabana. Brittne, Ginny and Martin have spent about a month working in Cabana. Juvenol is the translator who has been a part of our last 2 trips.

And… just for the Peruvian experience: we have found guinea pigs to enjoy for lunch today! We were able to purchase huge guinea pigs for about $3 from the high school. If we are able to find someone who can cook them for us then we will experience a delicacy of the Peruvian culture. I’m guessing it is going to taste like chicken????

Tuesday news...

2009-09-29T07:47:00.001-04:00

What an incredible day Monday was as we witnessed God opening several doors for us to take the next step with our friends here in Cabana. Our team is doing well at staying “on task” in building on the trust that has been established by past teams and missionaries.

We met with the mayor yesterday – it was awesome. He told us that all of our teams have done a good job at coming into the community and treating the people with respect. He said that he felt comfortable with us and appreciated that we did not come here acting like we were any better than others but simply came into Cabana as regular people. He said that most outsiders come into their town and act arrogant while looking down on the people. He said Cabana was our home, too. We will meet with him tonight to begin telling him why we are different. He knows that we are here to share spiritual knowledge based on the Bible but tonight we will begin sharing with him how our relationship with Jesus differs to the religion that he knows. Please pray for Octavius.

We will also meet with Wilder and his wife Elva. Please pray for them as we try again to help them realize the difference between what they believe and what the Bible says about their need for a relationship with Jesus.

The summer missionaries did an incredible job with this community. They are loved with a deep love by the people here in Cabana. More than once yesterday I heard them referred to as family. Way to go Shane Hess, David Jacola, Kelly Pajar and Kim Hiser! You have impacted their lives as they saw a difference in you.

We appreciate your partnership with our team! We are grateful to be part of a church that believes that we are to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Your prayers and encouragement are making a difference that can be identified by the response of the people here in Cabana.

We are also grateful for our families! We love you and miss you. It is awesome to hear how much our team talks about our families during the day.

Adam´s doing good, looking forward to today

2009-09-28T11:50:00.002-04:00

Thanks Allyson and Poppy Dave and Nanna Mory for the posts. I´m doing quite well. Thought it would be cool to do the mock hold-me-down-and-force-me-to-eat shot. Didn´t know Kevin was going to post it but ...

The mayor just came back so I have to go.

Looking forward to today´s work; please pray as Kevin mentioned and for my part.

Today´s prayer needs

2009-09-28T11:39:00.002-04:00

Our team has divided into two groups today. Please join us in praying for the following items:

We are asking Wilder and his wife to allow us to meet with them in their home tonight so that we can have a Bible study with them in their home. We need to get to the second story in a series of Bible stories designed to teach them the Gospel story in their context. Please pray for them to be open to that and then to have open hearts and minds. Pray for us to know how to work with them in this process.

We are waiting this morning to visit with the mayor. Pray for that conversation to point him towards Jesus.

The ladies are meeting with Irene today in hopes of beginning a bible study with her. Pray for her to be receptive and for the team to help continue building a relationship with her.

Pray for a man named Sylvester that we hope to meet with tonight. He has been to a Catholic seminary and wants to know more about what we believe. He has been very open to the Enhancement Team (IMB missionaries).

Please pray for our team to continue being focused on the task of sharing the Gospel with these wonderful people.

We appreciate your prayers, your comments and your love for what God is doing.

In Cabana

2009-09-27T20:57:00.000-04:00

We arrived in Cabana today around 11AM. This has been the smoothest trip that we have experienced. Your prayers have made a huge difference. Thank you.

We have already had the opportunity to talk with some of our Peruvian friends. Please pray that God continues to open their hearts to the Gospel. The task is overwhelming but we are reminded that this is God’s story and He is allowing us to join His work.

Please pray for Wilder, Jackie and Irene. We are going to continue sharing the truth with them and are praying for them to have understanding of the differences between their belief system and the Bible.

Everyone on the team is doing wonderful. Angie lost her pillow (which is her security blanket) but it was found tonight in Puquio so we can pick it up on the return trip. Adam has an incredible servant’s heart – he is always helping everyone else. Bobby continues to encourage us all with his Christ-like attitude and his incredible energy level.

Thanks for your prayers and for joining with us on this journey!

A Smooth Drive into Puquio

2009-09-27T07:09:00.001-04:00

We had a long but great day yesterday as we travelled from Lima to Puquio. We had everything loaded into the rental truck and ready to leave just a few minutes after 9PM.

We stopped to eat around 2PM and enjoyed the MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) that David Jacola had secured for us. Thanks, David, for lunch! When a person is hungry – the food is really pretty good.

We arrived in Puquio late last night to find out that our usual hostel had no rooms available. Not to worry… there was another one around the corner that had rooms. It is not as nice as the other (nice in hostel terms) but they did have beds inside of rooms that gave a person a chance to sleep.

Today we will finish the trip to Cabana. We are excited to see our friends and we are eager to see the progress with the new believers. We will have the privilege of working alongside some missionaries from the International Mission Board (2 year missionaries) who have spent part of the last month in Cabana.

Here are some pictures from our lunch stop yesterday.

Here in Lima...

2009-09-26T01:13:00.002-04:00

In all of our previous trips we have never experienced a day that went as smooth as this day. We experienced small lines, pleasant people and no problems. God gave us some opportunities to share of His great love throughout the day. We walked up to the ticket counter in Orlando and the lady read our tag and introduced herself as a believer before helping us get everything ready for the flight. That set the tone for the day.

We arrived at our hotel tonight at least an hour earlier than we have ever been here before. We are getting ready to rest for the night and then begin the drive in the morning.

Thanks for your prayers and comments. I will share those with the team on a daily basis.

Ready to board...

2009-09-25T11:24:00.003-04:00

We will be boarding on the plane in the next few minutes. Pray for us as we interact with folks on the plane. We are praying to have opportunities to share our faith with others...

We appreciate your prayers and comments in the days ahead. Your partnership in this mission trip is critical to the mission.

We are set to arrive in Lima tonight (10:30PM) and will start driving in the morning. If all goes well I will make a post in Lima in the morning letting you all know that we have arrived.

Now... we are headed to the Great State (Texas) to make our connection in Houston. Hook 'em horns... :)

And They're Off!

2009-09-25T07:47:00.003-04:00

We were up early but everyone was right on time. The team pulled out around 7:30 this morning. Please pray for Adam, Angie, Kevin & Bobby as they travel to Peru. They won't reach the hotel until 1 am or so in the morning and then will be up early to begin the drive to the village.

Hitting the Road (and the skies) Today

2009-09-25T06:12:00.002-04:00

We have been blessed with another opportunity to join God's activity in Peru. Our team will leave this morning for our adopted villages in the mountains of Peru. We appreciate the many people who will be praying for the team, our families and for the people we will encounter during the next 10 days.

In Nasca and doing great

2009-07-29T22:18:00.003-04:00

Our team just arrived into Nasca today after a day of saying goodbye and then driving the hardest part of the trip through the mountains. We are all very tired but at the same time excited because of the work God is doing in our adopted village. It has been exciting to see the relationships deepen and the awareness of our purpose building in the community.

Yesterday the village celebrated Peru's independence day. They have a parade where each neighborhood of the village marches before the community leaders. At the end of the parade they asked us to march, too. What was greater than that honor was to hear them announce us as being missionaries. That means we are more than visitors or tourists but they recognize that we are here for a specific reason.

Please pray for the summer missionaries as they begin their re-entry process. It will be difficult for them to adjust but they are wonderful young people with a great passion to share the gospel.

Thank you for your prayers and even for your patience as we have not been able to blog as much as we had anticipated due to the village internet not working during our visit. As we would say on the trip... welcome to Peru!

We will continue our travel tomorrow into Peru and then to a camp so that the summer missionaries can debrief with the missionary leadership.

Updates from Peru

2009-07-28T13:05:00.002-04:00

The team has been unable to blog because of the clouds but today the rainy weather has started to let up. It's still cold!

One boy named Anthony accepted Christ last night. The team has witnessed to him each previous trip - truly a precious young one. A few others have said that they have accepted Christ but the team is still working with them to make sure that they understand the decision. God is moving in their hearts. Please pray for two that are very close - Jackie and Wilder (pronounced Will-daire).

Today is Peru's independence day. The team was invited to march in the parade. Kevin just called after the parade was finished and said that the team was introduced in the parade as United States missionaries, not as tourists. This is a huge step in acceptance by the community.

God has been so good to the team as they interact with people and the walls are starting to come down. There is so much work to be done but for the team to be able to see the progress on this trip has been a great blessing.

Please pray for the team's interaction with the people today as this is their last full day in the villages. The team begins the journey to Lima on Wednesday.