"Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost"

 Luke 15: 4-7  What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Alex was baptized on Father's Day in Nuevo Egipto.
Taylor leads a Bible study there every Wednesday evening for the whole town.
The church is always packed. Alex has been a faithful attendee and participant!

I was reminded of this verse recently when we came upon a pueblo that had been lost. 

Often times when Padre Paco is visiting one of the nine pueblos we cover he invites us to go along with him. On Father's Day Padre Paco asked us to join him for mass in Nuevo Egipto and then we were going to visit a new pueblo- Nuevo Chimbote.  

We are always excited to join Padre for mass but we were even more excited with the thought of finding a finding a new community not on the map. 

Mass was beautiful in Nuevo Egipto. We welcomed Alex into the church community. This young man was so excited to be baptized. 

Malachi fractured his arm last week at school.
Who would have thought we could get a spiderman sling here?

Following mass we all loaded up into Padre's pickup truck. Faustina, Adele, Anthony, and I rode inside with Padre and the sisters while Taylor, Malachi, Ruth, and Leo rode in the back. The ride to Nuevo Chimbote was exciting. The road was a dirt road barely large enough for the truck to fit. In Peru the roads have speed bumps placed periodically to stop people from speeding. Sometimes the speed bumps are hard to see on these dirt roads mostly because it always seems like there is a cloud of dust swirling at the moment you come across one. This usually means everyone is caught off guard and when you hit the speed bump you jump out of your seat a little bit. The drive from Nuevo Egipto to Nuevo Chimbote takes you past rice fields and up a mountain. The views were breath taking- Sorry I couldn't take pictures but when traveling with the girls my arms are full:) 

I enjoyed watching the water flow through one rice field into the next through the canals. We were blessed with seeing the water rush from the mountain into the irrigation canal. Anthony was so excited to see

Malachi was super excited to see his break.
He is even more excited that he was able to keep the x-ray.

Look who had to fix the church bell.
Yep they sent up the man who is afraid of heights.
But don't worry we will send up someone to help you.
Turns out he was afraid of heights as well. Too funny! :)

this waterfall. The views looking over the valley from the mountain above was amazing. Everything was so lush and green. The river snaked through the valley. No picture could best show the beauty we witnessed that day.

As we entered Nuevo Chimbote Padre Paco playfully honked the horn announcing the arrival of the church and hopefully drawing the people from the cool of their homes in the heat of the day. We were directed to a small government building that at one time was the site for mass. After talking with the people for awhile we found out that it had been over three years since a priest had visited the town. As I had stated in one of my previous blogs the priest cover a large area with over 120 pueblos. These amazing missionary priests try to get to each of these communities many times throughout the year; however, due to the location of some they are only able to visit these yearly. 

Somehow once Nuevo Chimbote was located it was not included on the map of the area. During a transition year it seems that no one was told about Nuevo Chimbote so no one knew that there were people in need of a shepherd. A sheep was lost that day, but praise Jesus that now it has been found!

The people in Nuevo Chimbote are eager to receive the sacraments. They are excited to once again have the church and in turn Jesus brought back into their lives. Padre Paco was saddened about the whole situation but he is excited to bring Jesus to them once again! He told the people that we will have a fiesta for all those that desire to receive their sacraments. A fiesta is one day where everyone in the church receives their sacraments. Throughout the year the people are preparing to receive their sacraments on that day. This means that Taylor will be traveling to Nuevo Chimbote to catechize the people until Nuevo Chimbote has their own catechist. Please pray for the people of Nuevo Chimbote that we will be able to minister to all of their needs and that we will be able to raise up a catechist from one of their own. Praise you Jesus! Let us rejoice with Heaven as the lost sheep has been found!!!!

Hola!

That is me trying to teach the kids English. We are starting easy.
Vowel sounds and the sign of the cross. 

They look so sweet and innocent.
 It was an "awe" moment when we saw this last night.
Touching heads and holding hands.

One of our Bible studies and saint studies. Saint Maria Goretti pray for us!

Some of the neighbor kids joining us for Willy Wonka
 and the Chocolate Factory.
Afterward we explained the 7 deadly sins.
The kids loved the fact that they could see some of
them in the characters.

This week we lost an amazing mission partner.
He heard the Holy Spirit calling and he had to follow!
Jeremy we have been blessed to journey with you and are so
blessed to call you our friend.
We are going to miss you in Peru! 

A little break from our class to teach the kids a little about Football Americano.
How fitting that we have a white board to draw on. Right coach?

Some of the neighborhood kids came to help us work up the soil for our garden. 

The hard workers took some time to pose for this picture but then it was right back to 

before the day started getting super hot at 9:30am.

Spending our prep time duringwriting Bible studies for the week. This one was on Baptism. 

Verbum makes writing studies easier when everything is at your finger tips.

This note came home with Leo this past week. It roughly translates out to "Please bring 10 regular rocks and a machete to school. We will be working on a project of life lessons." They are teaching the children how to nurture and protect a piece of land at 5 years old. This is so foreign to me but so beautiful. Already they are learning skills which they need to survive. By the way Leo only went to school with 10 rocks.