Weedeater Evangelism

The Lord blessed us with a great weekend of ministry and church!  We had 21 come to kids club and 4 come to our youth group.  We are working with the youth on developing their spiritual lives through Bible reading and prayer.  This morning at church we were blessed with 1 visitor and 1 returning visitor!  Here’s the story behind our visitor:

She is an elderly lady that lives next to the church.  Last Monday I was using a weedeater to cut the church grass and she came over to ask me if I could do her yard.  I told her that I don’t do it as a business and she left it at that.  Then later she came out and asked me again. So, I told her  that I didn’t have much gas left but that I would do as much as I could until the gas ran out.  I just about had her yard finished and then ran out of gas.  She brought me a glass of coke and thanked me profusely for doing as much as I could.  She then started talking to me about our church and I answered the questions she had. After that, she said “Can I come?”  I responded with a resounding “Yes!” and told her that she’s welcome anytime.  This morning she came out her door and walked to church right on time!  Praise the Lord!

Pictures of Flood Damage

Here are some pictures of some of the flood damage.  The situation is still not good for thousands of people.  The rain has stopped but many people lost their houses and more than likely don’t have any money or resources  to rebuild with.  There have been 10 reported deaths and over 23,ooo people have been left homeless also.  Please continue to pray for the region of Cusco!

flood waters

destroyed house

tent houses

clean up

Flooding, landslides in Cusco

It’s been raining almost non-stop here in Cusco (up until today).  Cusco has declared a state of emergency. The situation is not too bad here in the city. There’s mud all over the streets and no water, but in the Sacred Valley things are not good. There have been landslides, homes and lives have been lost.

In Pisac the bridge has collapsed and Tambo de Gozo (Bro. Rudy Johnson’s camp) has been flooded. The walls have fallen. I was told that most all of the buildings are flooded except for Daniel and Laura Dukes house.  Daniel is in Argentina and Laura and the kids are in the states for a brief visit.  Please be praying for them!

The following is what the U.S. Embassy in Lima sent out:

This warden message is being issued to alert U.S. citizens residing and traveling in and around Cusco, Peru of travel difficulties due to bad weather.  Heavy rains since January 22, 2010 have caused landslides throughout the Sacred Valley, blocking routes into and out of Cusco.  Travelers should consider postponing visits to Cusco and Machu Picchu until the weather clears and the roads and train are re-opened.

We have received reports of the following:
?    The airport in Cusco is closed;
?    The train to/from Cusco and Machu Picchu has been cancelled since January 23 due to landslides;
?    The roads into and out of Machu Picchu are currently closed;
?    The Pisac bridge has collapsed;
?    The Huallabamba bridge is under water; and
?    There was a landslide in Oropesa en route to Puno, travel is limited.

Peruvian authorities are working to open a route out of Machu Picchu. The U.S. Embassy will continue to monitor this situation.  Travelers to this region should consider postponing until the weather clears and the roads are open. U.S. citizens may wish to monitor local media sources for new developments and exercise extreme caution if travel to this region is unavoidable. 

Adoption Paperwork Update

For those of you that might not know we have a little “hiccup” in our paperwork proceedings.  The judge says that we need to notify the biological mom that the adoption is final.  This process has to be done through the courts, which means it could take a while.  This step is not mandatory for all judges, but each judge has their own criteria so it is up to them.  We were a little discouraged, but we started praying, and the Lord has been answering.  The judge allowed us to mail the papers off instead of them having to go through the courts, and he allowed us to send them to missionary friends there. Our friends are going to take the biological mother with them to the judge so it will go faster.

So, this afternoon we got the papers from the court and mailed them off through DHL because it only takes 48 hours to arrive in Huanuco.  DHL proceeded to tell me that they couldn’t guarantee the papers getting there in 48 hours because of the national strike.  I told the lady at the desk: “We’ll pray that God will allow the papers to get there”.  Guess what? I just read on the internet that the strike has come to an end!  Praise the Lord! Now we are praying for the papers to get to Huanuco and back to Cusco in time for the judge to give us the final papers.  February starts vacations for the entire judicial system of Peru!

Good weekend

The Lord blessed us with a great weekend!  We had a great kids club with 23 (1 visitor)!  Also, we had 8 come back to our youth meeting!  With the kids we played a review game over that past few lessons. We’ve been talking to the youth about taking advantage of their youth, and taking advantage of their time. Yesterday we talked some more about that and about how they should use their talents for the Lord. This morning we had 2 visitors at church!  Efrain brought them both and we praise the Lord for that!

Good Afternoon

The Lord blessed us with a great afternoon of ministry today.  We ended up with 21 kids (3 visitors)!  We also had a good time with our youth. Praise the Lord 8 came!  We went over Ecclesiastes 3:1-9 and 11:9-12:1.  We talked about how now is the time to serve God and about all the opportunities they have right now in their lives.  Please keep praying for the salvation of these children and youth.

Trip to the Post Office

A trip to the post office here in Peru is a little different than in the U.S. (especially if you get a box).  Today we got what we had been waiting for from our home church and we had to go to customs to pick it up.  There was a long wait but since we had other errands to run we went and did them and then came back.  It was well worth the wait!  We couldn’t believe all the stuff that was sent.  Thank you to all our church family at T.H.B.C.!  All the goodies are such a blessing!  We are truly blessed to have such a great church family!  Here’s a picture of everything:

Natali and Neomi with our table full of goodies

Highlights of the past decade

Well, we only have 1 more day (roughly) until the start of a new decade.  Here are some highlights of the past decade in mine and Rebecca’s lives:

1999: I graduated from high school (woohoo) and started seminary!

2000: Rebecca lost her mind and started going out with me!

2001: Rebecca lost her mind again when she said “yes” to marry me!

2002: Rebecca graduated from Miami University (Bachelor in Social Work) and we got married!

2003: Mission trip to Mexico city.  I graduated seminary, and I was ordained into the gospel ministry!

2004: Surrendered our lives as missionaries to Peru, survey trip to Arequipa, Peru, deputation, and our girls were born (even though we didn’t know them then).

2005: We arrived in Arequipa, Peru to work with the Marks family in April and in August Natali and Neomi came into our lives!

2006: We took a survey trip to Cusco, Peru and saw Machu Picchu for the first time!

2007: The new year found us moving to Cusco and we started our kids club! We also started the adoption process for the girls.

2008: Rebecca turned 30!  We also received legal custody of the girls in September!

2009: We started the church! Natali and Neomi turned 5!  They made it through a whole year of K4! The girls’ adoption became final and they became Reinhardts!

It’s amazing to think that all these things, and so many more, have happened in 10 years. I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for us in the coming decade!  I never thought I’d be where I am now.  I praise the Lord for how far He has brought us and for how much He has taught us!  He has been with us every step of the way!

Happy New Year to you all! God bless!

Christmas Pictures

stockings

our family in the main plaza

celebrating with Josue and Efrain

the girls and me with our crowns

being "Knighted" Sir Jason by Scott

Becca reading a new book

happy about their presents

Merry Christmas!

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas day!  Praise the Lord for the gift of eternal life through Jesus who came as a baby so long ago!  Christmas can be a difficult time of year since we are so far from family, but we are so thankful for the family that God has given us here in Cusco.  It was great to be able Skype with all our family and get to see them all!  (Technology is a wonderful thing when it works). We also were invited to Christmas dinner at the house of British missionary friends.  It was wonderful to celebrate Christmas with them and see their Christmas traditions.  We also ate a traditional British Christmas dinner which was exquisite.  We will post pictures as soon as we get them all uploaded!