Sunday, July 12, 2009

Lots of traveling

So since I last posted I have been all over the place and visited over 17 villages and have since more of Peru in the last month and a half than the entire first 4 months or so. I have two wonderful traveling buddies. We have had a great time serving together and learning a lot as we go.

Research basically involves going into a village which statistics from past years tell us is less than 2% evangelized. Once in the village we begin to find basic information on that village. We seek to find information about what the primary language is (spanish or quechua), whether or not the people in the community are literate, where could a volunteer team stay if a they came to the village, is there a medical facility, are there schools, what kind of needs do the people have, and one of the most important elements is finding out if there is a church or believers in the village. Basically we get a good mental picture of what that particular village is like. We also take lots of photos. Once we have our info we spend time talking more with people around the village and making some relationships and seeking out any believers that we have heard of or trying to make sure there are none. Normally the research takes no more than a day or so. All of the info on a particular village is then put into the little hp computer that we carry with us and these "reports" will later be put into a physical form and shown to churches in the states in hopes that the villages will be adopted.

I have really enjoyed learning about how to do research and the importance of really getting a good idea of each village and what makes them different and significant. It is often really hard to leave places because of how well we are recieved and the fact that we know so many people are lost in each and every place. We have developed a strong passion to continue praying for each of the places we go and the specific people we meet. We know that God has big plans for each and every village.

I hope to tell you some specific stories in the near future. I should be back in Lima at the end of July and will look foward to updating this more as well as posting tons of pictures on my flickr.

OH by the way I totally got to visit Macchu Picchu last month with my team and it was amazing! The Lord has blessed us with so many opportunities to see his beautiful creation and we are really thankful for that!

MAD LOVE