This week

My dad went on a missions trip to Bolivia early this month (center). Afterwards he hopped over to Peru to visit and travel, bringing along Phil, who was also part of the missions team (right). On the left are my aunt and uncle.







"El Salto del Fraile" ("The Firar's Jump")--A restaurant where a "monk" jumps off a cliff into the water for money. We actually got to see him do it, and I even got it on video!

July

My little brother Daniel came from California. He'll be staying with us till the end of the month.

What a thug

I took him to Larcomar, a mall by the beach in Miraflores:

Daniel and a UFO in the backrgound

Guess who...

He almost ran into the building!

MAKE WAR!

John Piper

Misc Pics...

The Evangelism Class:

Examining the Scriptures to see if these things are so
(...but I think Richard is sleeping)

Awwww...

Ready to go preach!

Strong in the Lord! David and Goliath

Fernando about to open air

In Villa Maria--drawing in the kids with balloons




Eye, eye Cap'n!

Praying till we PRAY

by A.W. Tozer

Dr. Moody Stuart, a great praying man of a past generation, once drew up a set of rules to guide him in his prayers. Among these rules is this one: "Pray till you pray." The difference between praying till you quit and praying till you pray is illustrated by the American evangelist John Wesley Lee. He often likened a eason of prayer to a church service, and insisted that many of us close the meeting before the service is over. He confessed that once he arose too soon from a prayer session and started down the street to take care of some pressing business. He had only gone a short distance when an inner voice reproached him. "Son," the voice seemed to say, "did you not pronounce the benediction before the meeting was ended?" He understood, and at once hurried back to the place of prayer where he tarried till the burden lifted and the blessing came down.
The habit of breaking off our prayers before we have truly prayed is as common as it is unfortunate. Often the last ten minutes may mean more to us than the first half hour, because we must spend a long time getting into the proper mood to pray effectively. We may need to struggle with our thoughts to draw them in from where they have been scattered through the multitude of distractions that result from the task of living in a disordered world.
Here, as elsewhere in spiritual matters, we must be sure to distinguish the ideal from the real. Ideally we should be living moment-by-moment in a state of such perfect union with God that no special preparation is necessary. But actually there are few who can honestly say that this is their experience. Candor will compel most of us to admit that we often experience a struggle before we can escape from the emotional alienation and sense of unreality that sometimes settle over us as a sort of prevailing mood.
Whatever a dreamy idealism may say, we are forced to deal with things down on the level of practical reality. If when we come to prayer our hearts feel dull and unspiritual, we should not try to argue ourselves out of it. Rather, we should admit it frankly and pray our way through. Some Christians smile at the thought of "praying through," but something of the same idea is found in the writings of practically every great praying saint from Daniel to the present day. We cannot afford to stop praying till we have actually prayed.

AMAZING!!!!

This is a MUST WATCH! 3 parts of a 7-part short video series on how evangelism methods have radically changed in the last century. It examines many dangerous, superficial, and unbiblical practices used today and compares them to the beliefs and practices of some of the world's most worthy preachers throughout the past ~300 years--men like Charles Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and John Wesley.


Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:

Gringos, children, and a divine appointment

Earlier this month a group from CC Gainseville came to help and minister with us. I went street witnessing with them twice. The first time we went to a park in the nearby district of Villa Maria. The park authorities allowed us to preach in a small amphitheatre there. I had brought along my mic and amp, which proved to be real useful. We drew in many children using songs and games, and balloons the gringos had brought. Then a friend and I preached the Gospel to them and to the parents and adults there.
A few days later, we went a couple blocks away from the church to the front of Ricardo Palma University. We walked around the area handing out tracts and getting into conversations with people. We split up into groups, and I went with Connor, one of the Floridians. We walked up and preached the Gospel to several people. He seemed real anxious to approach strangers and witness to them. In fact, he had more of a desire to do it than I had. And with good reason--I was doing all the talking! He didn't speak Spanish fluently. But I can tell he really did want to preach; he felt more bold being in a distant country with people he'll never see again. And I had to suffer because of it. :)
So as we were walking around I commented to him that most people here are reserved when you talk to them, not very open, don't like confrontation that much, and tend to agree with you a lot (sometimes because they just want you to leave). I told him I missed having a "challenge"--like and evolutionist or something. I haven't come across many people that don't believe in the Bible (as most here are Catholic and claim to believe it's the Word of God). Well, walking further we decided to talk to a young man sitting down. I got out a piece of paper and a pen and did the "survey approach" on him, asking him to answer some questions about his religious beliefs for a project (I use the info to remember and pray for them). Right off the bat he told me he was an atheist, with no religion. Wow. The Lord is amazing. One prayer answered. I thanked Him in my mind. "This has to be from You, Lord," I thought. I asked him why he was an atheist and he gave me some of the common objections, like "How can a God of love allow so much suffering and misery?" Well, as we talked a little he told us that he spoke English; he had lived in Miami for 5 years. Miami, Florida! Out of all the places in the world! Now I knew this was from the Lord. So Connor, his desire to witness to someone being granted, started to talk to him in English. We reasoned with him a bit, and he went from being an atheist to an agnostic. And then, after going through the Good Person Test, hearing the Gospel, and me explaining to him about the reality of eternity, he fully backslid into admitting there is a God. I told him, "You know there is a God." He looked down and agreed with me, but said he had very little faith. As we were talking the Lord gave me much love and compassion for him. Near the end of our conversation he wanted to know why we were out here preaching to him. We explained that it was because we cared about him and didn't want him, or anyone else, to go to hell. We talked a little more and gave him a Gospel of John. He thanked us and told us he was going to read the Bible. As we left we thanked the Lord for this divine appointment.
Please pray for Jean Paul.