Greetings to all! Time has been a necessity here, but God has been blessing the little we do have. There has been much work in Tacna, and God has been using it for His glory in the spreading of His word and the advancement of His kingdom.
In late June Chiqui and I made a trip the US to meet up with current sponsors, build up a solid prayer team, and speak about future plans and projects in Tacna. To read more click the link above or here. Upon our arrival in Tacna, after a couple hours of sleep in the airport, we were welcomed back by friends and family. Nonetheless, their greeting was very loving and quickly we felt back at home so quickly that we found ourselves back to work in only a couple of hours because a short-term team had arrived only a couple days before us.
We began to work hard from day one with a team from Hope Christian Church in Tustin, CA. Hope always brings a team of mostly high schoolers that are very mature and well prepared. The puppets and mimes skits that they prepared are always favorites here in Tacna, and are so good that they have actually been learned by the church here, taught to the church in Ecuador, and they are now bringing the skits to other parts in the community. The time and dedication that goes into preparing everything is well worth the pain because upon arrival this team is able to go into any school, plaza, or church and do a performance which has teachings that vary from taking care of the plants to loving God and loving your neighbor. And everything is so clear that anyone from 2-years old to 90 can easily understand the messages. With presentations so well prepared we took full advantage of this team and we did as many appearances as possible in the short time the team was here. The presentations plant many seeds throughout the communities and often lead to decisions being made in the moment.
We were also blessed to have a famliy here for a couple weeks. The Castorena's were here seeing if this was where God was leading their familly to be missionaries. While they were here they were very helpful and always looking for someway to lend a hand or asking what there was for them to do. The blessing that they were and the relationships that were formed were amazing. God truly is blessing many people with their lives and we are fortunate to have them as friends. Please keep them in your prayers as God will be preparing them to probably be missionaries in the future.
While Hope was still here a team from Chile arrived for a week and had prepared a few special activities. In all three church locations the Chileans had a special day set aside for the children of the community with games and prizes. Then for a couple days there was a womens workshop. The Chileans taught how to make special chocolates with the hope that one day it will serve the women to maybe begin a small business of their own.
Only days after the teams left, a team of 6 arrived from Christ's Church of the Valley. Though the team was only 6 people, they had an impact here of a team of 20. Through much hard work and great attitudes, the team has done a lot of work on the church, been a part of many house visits, and the sermons and testimonies have been very impacting. There were many decisions made and with the presentations from the first team, CCV was able to do many house visits to encourage many people into continuing in the decision that have made.
God is moving in many ways here in Tacna. We have been blessed with seminary courses to train the leadership and members of the church. We have been blessed with short-term teams that have worked hard and accomplished much. We have been blessed with a Christian library of over 150 books to enable the church to empower their faith with the knowledge to answer the questions and doubts that confront them. With so many blessings it is almost obvious that the church is growing. |
