Well, there´s good news and sad news. The good news is that Alison is back here in Conima, shorying it up today. The sad news is that Emily is on her way to Lima for better healthcare and will be unable to return to Conima.
The doctors in Huancane told Emily she had the start of kidney stones and an inflamed stomach lining, but they were kind of crazy and didn´t seem to know what they were talking about. And the treatment they were giving her was not working. She has still been throwing up some blood. So, this morning they made the decision for her to go to Lima. There are much better doctors there and she can hopefully get the care she needs. Her aunt and uncle are missionaries in Lima and they just returned from a visit to Brazil today, so they will be there to pick her up in Lima. So, that is definitely a blessing among the struggle. We are hoping she is able to recover in the coming days and possibly meet us for our vacation in Puno. We will see. If not she will meet us in Lima to fly home. We really miss having her in the house and helping with ministry, but we are trusting that God is taking care of her.To help with the lack of Spanish skills, Jeremy L. is here to stay. He has been leading the community storying, which has been great. We only had kids show up Tuesday when we were supposed to talk about Jesus, so Jeremy told the story of Joseph instead. Last night Pablo was there, along with Ishmael and a few other kids, so Jeremy told the story of Jesus. Pablo asked a lot of questions to clarify about Jesus being God and about knowing that Jesus really rose from the dead. Tonight we are talking about Peter´s Sermon and then tomorrow we will be sharing a more clearly presented gospel message. We are really hoping and praying that Pablo will come to know Christ and be the start of God´s work in the Aymaran people in Conima.
Yesterday we were supposed to story with the police officers at 4pm, but when we went over there they had a bunch of people around and asked if we could come back at 6pm. At this point Jeremy L. was walking from Moho (4 hour walk) and we also had an English lesson at 6pm, but we told them we would be there. So, we weren´t really sure what we were going to do. Fortunately as we were walking back to the house, Jeremy L. rode up on the back of a motorcycle. So, we ate an early dinner and got ready for the crazy night. Kelsey and I went to the English lesson and Jeremy L. and Alison went to the police station.
At the English lesson we were on the second time through the story of Elijah and Baal when Armondo kept asking random questions about unimportant things and then asked if we could start the English lesson. Because we know he hasn´t been interested in the stories except for the learn English, we went ahead and went to the lesson. The lesson turned into mostly him asking questions about what things we produce in the US, how much it rains, if everyone owns cars and how much houses cost. And we taught him a few new verbs - to work, to play, to sing, to listen and to see. Then he actually did a good job of coming up with sentences in English using those verbs. I have enjoyed teaching the lessons, but I don´t think he is ready for really listening to the stories. We talked in training about investing in people who God has already been working in and who are receptive and being willing to let go of people God isn´t drawing yet. I think Armondo is one of those people. We have done a good thing by teaching him English, but I am okay not seeing fruit from the storying, because I think God just isn´t working on him in strong ways yet. We have one more lesson on Friday. It´s supposed to be the story of Jesus, so we will see what happens with that.
After the lesson Kelsey and I went over to the government building where Jeremy and Alison were doing the community storying. They were just about to start. Pablo, Ishmael and 2 other young kids were there. Jeremy told the story of Jesus birth, life and death. Ishmael, who is probably around 10 years old, does an incredible job of retelling the story. All four of them did a really good job of listen and repeating the story. Kelsey and I even picked up some of it and were able to contribute to the retelling. At the end they talked about what they liked and didn´t like about the story and then Pablo asked his questions about Jesus being God and really raising from the dead. It was a really good discussion and you can tell he´s really interested and is thinking about everything. Pablo is going to try to memorize the story for tonight, but if he can´t, Alison has it memorized in English and will translate.After the storying Alison told us that the police officers were not able to story earlier. There was a bad wreck in Tilali and they had a ton of paperwork and people they had to handle. So, we are supposed to go back there today at 4pm. We also have storying with Sophia at 7pm. We have lots of things scheduled with the kids in the afternoon too.
Overall I feel good about the end of the trip. I think we have done what we were called here to do. We have positive things going on and have high hopes for the next few days. I think we have all grown a lot. I think one of the reasons God has had me here this summer is to prepare me for everything coming up in my life. I have had lots of time to think and pray about job opportunities and other things, so I am excited to come home and begin to pursue all of those things.
Tomorrow we are planning on playing with the kids all afternoon. We are also hoping to story more with Sophia and the police and we will have community storying at night. We will do whatever else comes up this weekend, probably do some hiking, have Christmas Saturday night, clean up the house, pack and head to Huancane for debriefing. Then vacation in Puno, then home!
Please pray for us as we wrap up our personal ministry in Conima, and pray for the future teams from FBC Willow Park as they will be coming to continue the work God has been doing.
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