Let Your Light Shine!

Katie, Josue, Miguel, Luz

In Jhon Hocking Weeks, Luz and I have had great success with the adolescent/youth population there. They come to every service, want to participate in everything, and invite their friends and family to come too.

So, it wasn't a surprise when we went on Tuesday night and Heylin came to told us that her brother, Josue, wouldn't be able to come that night even though he really wanted to come. She went on to explain, but I didn't exactly understand what she was saying, so I told her to go talk to Hermana Luz who could understand her. Luz talked to her for a few minutes while I was lighting candles for the service (we don't have electricity in Jhon Hocking), and Luz came over to me and said she was going with Heylin to her house and for me to go ahead and start the service. So I began the service.

It was prayer night, so we sang hymns, choruses, recited Bible verses, and prayed. Most of the requests are for the health of the parents or brothers and sisters. So we finished up by taking the offering and praying the benediction.

Luz hadn't come back yet, and we have another service in Yarinacocha on Tuesday nights after the one in Jhon Hocking, so I went to Heylins house to meet up with Luz.

As I approached the house, Heylin and Josue's dad was outside the front gate with their little sister. I asked if Luz was still there, and he said, "Yes, go ahead in." As I started into the house, Heylin came out and met me. We were standing outside the door talking about what had happened that day because Luz was praying. I will recount the story.

"My little brother almost died today," said Heylin.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I had left the iron plugged in when I was getting my clothes ready to go to school. Josue was watching TV and smelled the iron. So he came in and was unplugging it, but his finger touched the electricity and he got electricuted."

"Did your mom take him to the hospital?" I asked.

"Yes, and he has to go back tomorrow."

At this point, Luz finished praying, and we entered the house to talk with Josue and Yolanda, their mom. Josue was on the bed under a blanket, and Luz was sitting beside him on the bed. Yolanda was in a chair beside the bed crying.

Luz asked me, "Do you know what happened?"

I said that Heylin told me Josue got shocked.

Luz said, "For about 20 minutes!"

"Twenty minutes!" I exclaimed. "What a miracle!"

Then Yolanda told me the whole story:

"Heylin forgot to unplug the iron before she left for school. I was out front cooking, and I heard a scream. I thought Josue was still watching TV, but he had gone to unplug the iron and his finger touched the plug when he was unplugging it and he got electricuted. I was thinking he had screamed at something on the TV, so about 15 or 20 minutes later, I was bringing a plate of food inside for my husband when he got off work, and I walked in on a horrific sight. There was my son, his head swollen, his eyes buldging, his hair (which he wears in a flat top style) standing up more than usual, and his arms black. I had never seen anything like that before. God gave me wisdom to get a broom and knock the plug from the wall, because I started to grab him, and then I would have been electricuted too. When I knocked the plug from the wall, Josue was thrown across the room, and lay there. I thought he was dead. The other lady that works here with me cooking came and started CPR, but he wasn't waking up, and his whole head was swollen. And his arms...they were black like he had been beaten. So we rushed him to the medical post here in Tushmo, but they said get him to the hospital as quick as you can to the emergency room. Hermana, we were waiting there in the emergency room, and Josue's finger busted open, and water like a fountain begain to pour from his finger. And as the water left his body, the swelling left his head and his arms returned to their normal color. Hermana, I have never seen anything like it. It is a miracle! Since Josue was baptised two weeks ago, he has changed completely, and I believe this miracle from God has been a blessing for my family. Josue wants to be an example for the other kids who are coming to the services. He came home fromthe hospital and started to get his clothes ready to come to church tonight. I had to stand in front of the door to keep him in the house. Thank you all for everything you are doing and Thank God for this miracle!"

I sat there in awe! How could our little Josue have lived through 20 minutes of electricution and have no lasting effects from it? Josue had prayed with Luz and thanked God for letting it happen to him and not one of his family members because he was ready if he hadn't been okay. Not only was it a miracle that Josue lived, it was a miracle that his little sister didn't come into the room and hug him while he was being shocked. And I told Josue that since we don't have any electricity in Jhon Hocking (he lives across the street in La Paz), that he could come and we would just put the light bulb in his hand and we would have light now because he was fully charged!

Here in the house of the missionaries in Pucallpa, we are praising God for the miracles he is showing us. We have had miracle after miracle in our locations in the last 3 months. Praise the Lord for his awesomeness! He is todopoderoso (all powerful)!!! And what a mighty God we are serving!

Volleyball Tournament - Women Only (playing that is)

It was the morning of March 26. We woke up with great expectations! In the afternoon we were going to have a volleyball tournament with 4 teams of women from Jhon Hocking. Following the tournament, we wanted to show a film and give out the prizes for the tournament. We were hopeful for good weather...it had been raining all week! So when we got up, the weather didn't look promising...it was raining! However, the tournament wasn't starting until 2:30, so time was on our side...and Jesus too! We went to lunch and by 1:30 we were ready to leave with all the stuff for the tournament. Our friend and one of our disciplees, Luz, was going to help by letting us use the area in front of her house for the court. Usually, this area is used by the neighborhood to play volleyball each afternoon around 5:00. You see, Jhon Hocking is a volleyball community, on this street (29 de Enero), there are usually three courts of volleyball each afternoon, and on the street that crosses it (Lima), two or three games as well. On other side streets, you can find many games of volley too, so it wasn't hard to get four teams together...many asked why only four teams. We had decided to have a double elimination tournament so that each team would have more time to play, so we had wanted to be done by 6:00 so we could start the movie at 6:30. There was lots of fun that day, lots of contacts made, and we had lots turn out just to watch. And, the God of the universe made perfect weather. The sun came out around 2:00, and at the right moments, a cloud would pass over to give some relief. All but two of the player turned out to get their prizes at the film (we had prizes for all the players), so now we have lots of new contacts to visit. We plan to have a soccer tournament for men in the coming months, but we need more help with that because we don't play soccer. Gracias a Dios (Thanks to God) for all His grace and help when we need it.

Little Church in the Jungle

So, we have a very small house in Jhon Hocking that we are borrowing...what a blessing to have people who will loan a house, however small it is, to us to use for the Lord's work. We ordered 12 stools and a podium in December, thinking it would be here in January when we got back. However, they didn't come until we were ready to use them here in Jhon Hocking...in God's perfect timing. We also finally got to meet the Mr. Jhon Hocking himself. That is him in the picture with Pastor Dario. He was born here in Pucallpa (his parents were missionaries) and he went to the States for college, met and married his wife, and has returned here to Pucallpa. He has lived here for the last 40 years. He is now the pastor of a small evangelical church here in San Jose (very close to Jhon Hocking Weeks) and we were very glad to finally meet him. Right now, in JHW, we have three services during the week and three levels of Sunday School on Sunday (Adult and teens, Adolescents, and children). The children come to all of them...we are trying to find a way to remedy that...we love having the children, but because it is such a small building, we don't have space for them to come to everything. We really need some adults who are interested in helping with the children. We average about 28 children at all times, and we had 3 adults at the last service. We only have 12 stools, so we have the kids sit on a tarp in the middle of the room and the adults and older children get the stools. We are hoping to be able to purchase property soon to have a permanent place to hold services. Please remember these things in your prayers.

New Place

Well, when we left for Christmas vacation, we were going to be working in Aguaytia, starting two churches there. Well, many things fell through, such as a place to rent. We had a nice "apartment" with it's own bathroom, but I got sick one week and we didn't go to Aguaytia, so the Senora rented the apartment to someone else. Because of this, we were going to have to rent a room in a local hospedaje or motel. Now, a hospedaje turistico is a nice place to stay for about 25 soles a night...but, we weren't going to be staying in a hospedaje turistico...we would be staying in a regular hospedaje...that means community bathroom and shower, sharing a twin size bed whose mattress looks good til you sit on it and sink to the bottom side, maybe a table and stool, maybe a window, which is actually a minus, and no room to stand once you have your bags in there. I think you are probably getting the picture, and this is for s/. 15.00 a night. So, that may not seem like a lot, but for us, it is, and multiply that by 6 nights a week (coming out to s/. 90.00) plus our food money and passage money, it was going to pretty expensive on a missionary budget. So, when we came back from Christmas break, we were told we wouldn't be going to Aguaytia anymore. I really liked Aguaytia, but I didn't like the fact that we were going to be there for 6 days a week two hours away from everyone...what if we needed help or one of us got sick...we only knew a few people, and yes I am sure they would have helped us if we needed it, but it would still be difficult. So when we were told that we would be going to communities here in Pucallpa, I was only sad because we do have some contacts in Aguaytia; some new Christians. I don't know what is going to happen with them, but we are passing their information along to Pastor Dario. So, now we have just started over in Tushmo...San Pablo de Tushmo, but the actual community is Jhon Hocking Weeks, and Jhon is pronounced like John in English. But I like the way Tushmo sounds...We have one contact there who had been attending one of the other Nazarene churches, but it is so far away. She is helping us find contacts and a place to have services. One big challenge is going to be the fact that there is no electricity, water, or sewer in most of Jhon Hocking Weeks. I only have one thing to say about that...YUCK!

San Pablo de Thushmo

Aqui empieza un nuevo reto.

El calor es fuerte

Pero estamos contentas y con

muchas ganas de ver nacer una nueva

Iglesia Del Nazareno.

Seguras que Dios va delante de nosotras y nos dice :

NO TEMAS NI TE INTIMIDES.......