I'm going to let it shine!

On a hot Sunday morning in the jungle of Peru as I was driving to help the people of Nuevo Chimbote celebrate there first liturgy of the word in over three years i noticed something odd. This rough jungle road that normally is sparsely used was quite busy.  But not thinking to much of it I drove on passing many other motos along the way.  Of course I arrived a bit early, which in Peru is excessively early.  As I waited people from a different pueblo called Nuevo Egipto began to come in to town and in this moment I realized that they have all come on their day of rest to support this community, which is about a 30 min moto ride for them. Beyond that they then began to clean the town hall that we were going to use as a church and sang hymns and encouraged the people of Nuevo Chimbote, who were nervous and had know idea what to do being that they went three years without any church activity at all.  Now i was not very surprised by the love and care of the Catholic community of Nuevo Egipto. They are in my opinion a spiritual light in the darkness of the jungle, Nuevo Egipto is one of the smaller pueblos in the region that my family covers but upon visiting one will quickly see that their love for Jesus and the Faith is great and my weekly bible study with them is the much needed spiritual fuel I receive to get through the week. Often I wonder if the Lord sent me here for them or if he sent me here so they could encourage me. Never the less at our bible study the Wednesday before this Sunday we were talking about how as baptized Catholics we have the responsibility to care for our church just as God charges Adam with the care of the Garden.  I used this analogy - if you have a garden but you do not cultivate the soils, water it and fertilize it what will happen? In which they replied " it will not produce."  They know a great deal about this topic of gardening, the people of this region live and die by their gardens. It is the major source of all of their food and income.  After their reply I said with the same care you give to your garden you must give to the church. It is not only the responsibility of the church leaders and the priests but of every member and although they are a flourishing community just a couple miles away was Nuevo Chimbota, a community that has almost died out.  Now I said all of that just hoping for a couple of prayers not expecting anyone to go to visit Nuevo Chimbote next Sunday, but their they were singing and praying in support of the mission and I might add far better missionaries then me.  The day was very special for the people of Nuevo Chimbote to come together and rekindle their faith. Many were excited to start preparing to receive their sacraments and also to receive their first bibles.  So it was on this day that one community has found their faith again and another has found out what amazing thing they can do with their faith and for the faith of other when they let Christ's light shine through them. ~Taylor

Many of the people pictures here are preparing their children to receive the sacrament of Baptism on October 25. Once the children are baptized

Driven by the Spirit

Mid week I was feeling very tired and frustrated. To make matters worse while I was on my way to lead a Bible study in the high school in a nearby town when I was pulled over by the police at one of their check points. Normally this is not a problem once the police realize that I am a missionary working with the diocese they let me go. On this day the officer was not impressed with my paperwork or my story. He informed me that he could put me in jail, but after awhile he let me leave. Once I arrived at the school I found no one there... No school today! Now all I could think was "Great the only good road back has that police check point." I decided to take the bad road that looks more like a farm lane which winds through the jungle. 

Segundo and his family

As I turned onto the path no one in our group has ever taken including the priests, I'm not going to lie I was a little nervous, but I kept going. As I continued to drive all of a sudden there was a group of houses. I instantly felt the Holy Spirit telling me to stop and to share the Bible study I had prepared with the people. Yet I thought of the rule we were given "Do not go alone because the people do not know that you are missionaries and are working with us." But how could I deny the Lord? 

The Bamboo Bridge

So I prayed and went cautiously to these people. First I asked them permission to come and share the Word of God with them. They said pass and giggled. Why? Because to pass meant that I had to cross the bamboo bridge. Let's just say I did not make it across dry. 

Once I made it across I asked if they were Christians. They replied that they did not know. I then shared my Bible study on Jesus and explained how we receive our salvation through Him. I then gave them my Bible since they did not have one. We prayed together and they invited me back to teach them more about Jesus. 

This time when I crossed the shaky little bridge I was able to stay dry. I continued on my way Praising the Lord. God is so Good!!! ~Taylor

My Giggle Girls

The sound of giggles can be heard outside our window starting at about 3:30 every afternoon. Why giggles? Did someone just play "Ding, Dong, Ditch?" Nope. The giggles are in anticipation at what happens at 4:00. That is when I open the doors to our ministry room and my Bible study with the kids starts.

Each of the kids that come to our class have been given their very own copy of the Evangelios, "the Gospels". We always look forward to presenting each new child with their own copy. It brings joy to my heart and a smile to my face when I see the smile on their face. On many occasions the child immediately hugs the Evangelios. While presenting the child with their Evangelio I ask them to make a promise to me. "You need to promise that you will read this every day. Promise that you will read at least five minutes every day."

I can honestly say that I never would have associated the Bible with giggles before our time here. These kids are so excited to study the Bible and to learn more about their faith that all they can do is giggle. Their love of Jesus is heard outside our windows everyday. Their love for Christ is on their faces in the shape to a smile whenever I see them. My Bible study with these children started only with Ariza and Fiorela. My "Giggle Girls."

A few of the kids before class begins.
The two girls in front are Ariza and Fiorela.
They are my "Giggle Girls!"

These beautiful girls came to our house looking only for a rosary which we had and they left with an Evangelio as well. At that time I hadn't thought about having a Bible Study with the kids since we already had a Bible Study that the whole community came to, but God had other plans. The next day there was a knock on my door. Ariza and Fiorela wanted to learn. Not a problem I was just getting ready to start the English class I was teaching so I invited them to join not realizing that they had brought their Evangelios along. After my English class the two girls asked about the Evangelios. I opened them up and explained that reading them is really quite simple and the numbering system is exactly the same as a complete Bible which we had learned the night before during Bible Study with the whole community. The girls understood but they wanted more. And all I could think was "OK Lord, now what?" I asked the girls to read John 1:1-18 for tomorrow. They left smiling as our marriage prep got under way.

"OK Lord, now what?" I asked the girls to read John 1:1-18. That is the
only thing that popped in my head. After marriage prep all I could think was
now what. I have no idea what to say. The Lord came up with this.

God is so good. Where I am lacking He will fill me up. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given to him." James 1:5. Praise you Lord Jesus for your generosity. Upon going to the Lord in prayer He did fill me up and He did grant me the wisdom to put together this study in Castellano for my "giggle girls." At 4:00 the next day we started our first full Bible study. They we full of giggles and super excited to read out of their Evangelios. The three of us took turns reading the verses and when I struggled with the words they helped me. The study that God prepared actually went along perfectly with mass that night. The point that I highlighted in my study turned out to be the same point that Padre Paco made during his homily. God is so amazing!

Our studies are no longer just the three of us. The "giggle girls" have started bringing and inviting their friends to join us. Today we ran out of furniture in our ministry room. Some of the kids had to join me on the floor. Many times throughout the study today I was able to see people standing in the street outside our door just listening. One man was so excited to see all of the kids studying the Bible that he came in and gave each of the kids fifty centimos which is roughly $0.15. He praised them for wanting to know Jesus and begged them to continue to come and learn. 

Even though our Bible studies have grown one thing has remained the same- giggles can still be heard. I look forward to 3:30 tomorrow when the faint sound of giggles will be beneath my window! ~Katie

Practicing English while I learn all of the kids names and the names of their parents.

"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. 

What happens when you want to blog and you do not have Internet?

Answer: Nothing

Yep even though you have a great desire to blog you are unable to and you must wait until you can finally have internet again.

Praise You Jesus for the little internet that we have today! Thank you for giving us this opportunity to share about our time here in Caspizapa.


We have been busy these past few weeks! God has been so good about making sure we always have something to do. There have been many nights when we hit our pillows at the end of the day utterly exhausted! What a wonderful blessing!

When we first moved to Caspizapa our only ministry was with the children everyday from 3-5. That ministry was such a blessing for our family. The children have been so patient with us as we continue to learn the language. They are always so eager to hear what we have to say and they are always the first ones to greet us every morning.

God has started expanding our ministries in Caspizapa and to other pueblos as well. After Taylor's debate with the Jehovah's the youth group here asked us to start a Bible Study for them. We were surprised that they would want us to lead it since we are still struggling with the language but God has given us the gift of tongues when we need it.

Word of the Bible Study spread to the other pueblos we serve and now Taylor goes to Nuevo Egipto on Wednesday nights to lead a Bible Study for four of the pueblos.

We have since felt a calling to share God's love letters with the adults in our community. We have now started an adult Bible Study for our community. Last night was the first one and we had a good turn out. We are praying for God's guidance so we know where He wants us to share with the adults.

Last Monday I was asked to be the godmother for a five month old baby that will be baptized. What an honor that they asked me a total stranger to be their son's godmother. The boy's father and mother want to have their marriage blessed. Marta has asked Taylor and I to help the couple prepare for it.

There has also been a few other adults interested in being baptized in our community. We are preparing them to be baptized and to receive the other sacraments. It is so exciting to be a part of this!

Since diving into catechesis we have found that many of the people in our pueblos have not been baptized. We come to you now to pray for them. Please pray that we will be able to stress the importance and need of baptism. Please pray that the people will be open to God stirring in their hearts and that they will have a desire to be with Him!
~Katie

Marta and me

What a blessed day! This morning I spent a couple hours visiting with the sick in our community. I was stopped on the street while going to a my first house by an elderly man. He made sure to tell me that Peruvians are not Spanish aka from Spain and that I need to be talking Castellano. I kindly explained that I was from Los Estados Unidos and not Espana. I also explained that I studied Castellano en Trujillo. He was very happy to hear that and then invited me to his house. I kindly declined since I hadn't made it to a home visit yet. Once he realized that he interrupted me from visiting with the enter so he apologized. Our town animador was laughing as all of this took place. Of course she enjoyed watching me struggle to find the right words.

 The next couple hours were so blessed during my visits. Today was the first time where I shared the word from my Bible. I shared what the Spirit led me to. Praise You Lord for sending Your Spirit. I struggled at times with my Castellano but no one seemed to mind.

 During our visits I was able to witness the love that our animador Marta has for Jesus. She was not afraid to tell everyone we spoke with today that they need to receive the sacraments especially baptism. She passionately defended the teaching on baptism and called all, both young and old, to receive baptism. She desperately desires everyone to receive the sacraments however the people do not see the urgency or necessity in receiving the sacraments.

 Please continue to pray for us as we try to show the people the importance of the sacraments and why they should be excited for them! Please pray for the youth group of Caizapa as we begin to prepare them to receive their sacraments. Please pray that God will continue to "light a fire" in our community!

A picture is worth a thousand words

We thought it was time to let our pictures tell a blog story. We hope you enjoy the story below of some of the things we are doing in missions. How we are bringing Jesus to the people and some pictures of our daily life. But there are some pictures missing from here. It never seems to fail that when something really exciting happens I never have a camera ready. 

For instance when the Jehovah Witnesses came to our door. Last Sunday they came to convert us. They had first came on Mother's Day. Taylor kindly asked them to leave since it was Mother's Day and it wasn't a good time since he was cooking me breakfast. He asked them to come back some other time. Praise the Lord they choose Pentecost Sunday. I fully believe that our Lord gave Taylor the gift of tongues to defend His name. Taylor was able to debate them in Castellano for over thirty minutes. The Jehovah's eventually conceded and walked away. The youth from our community just happened to walk by when all of this was taking place. They witnessed Taylor defending his faith and once it was over asked us to teach them how to do the same. Praise you Lord Jesus for opening up this avenue to us which was previously closed!

I also learned that I need to start bringing my camera to mass. Malachi is now an altar server and he has read prayer intentions in Spanish. Yes that is right Malachi read in Spanish. He had a hard time reading in English but now Padre Paco is encouraging him to read prayer intentions in Spanish with some help.

At mass this past Monday Ruth led choir practice in Spanish. Yes that is right, she led the choir in SPANISH. Praise you Jesus Christ. Ruth told the kids what to sing and then proceeded to sing the song into the microphone with the correct Spanish words. God is so good!

Now after a few words it is onto the picture book. We hope you enjoy it!~ Katie

Malachi sharing his testimony in Spanish with the people from the pueblo of Puerto Rico with the help of Taylor. Malachi shared that he loves Jesus more than his own life! I love it when God speaks to me through my children.

Teaching the kids Football Americano as they refer to it here. This happens a couple times a week in the afternoon when it is a little cooler. Usually we play after we do our teaching on Jesus and the church.

Some of our neighborhood friends who come everyday to play and to learn. These children have been such a blessing to our family. They were the first kids we met. They have been great friends to our children and they are excited to learn about the faith. They knock at our door throughout the day to make sure that we are still planning on teaching them in the afternoon. They are the first ones at our door when there is no school and they come to lead us to the rosary every night.

Learning about forgiveness with the help of Brother Francis! Praise you Jesus for putting it on our hearts to bring all of our children's movies. It turns out that all of them can play in Spanish. We used these movies to help in teaching our children and now we can use them to teach the children in Caspizapa.

The rosaries I have been making. The cord is twine, painted wooden beads, and metal crucifixes.

Guess who won this wrestling match? Faustina has the upper hand. There are many times we walk into the girls room to find out why they are giggling. Faustina is usually on Adele staring at her. These two are so funny.

Waiting for the rain to pass. What it rains here in the Amazon jungle? Who would have thought that? Next off to purchase more beads for the rosaries. We promised to make more over the weekend to hand out before mass on Monday.

Riding to mass in style. Be sure to keep a look out for flying birds! The hazards of missionary life- a bird to the forehead as Taylor found out last Sunday! No worries though. He only had a headache. 

This young lady was very excited to receive a new shirt and a sweatshirt. When we were handing out the clothes we were very surprised to see the sweatshirts since it hardly ever gets below 75. The people here wear sweatshirts when it is in the 70's. We are just thankful for the cooler weather to finally be able to move without sweating instantly.

Begging for rice is hard work. We have accompanied Padre Paco to beg for rice. The rice is then used to feed the children through the Comedor. The children are able to purchase lunch from the comedor daily for 1 sol. A sol is roughly 33 cents. The typical meal is rice and meat. Sometimes it is the peruvian version of spaghetti. It is one way the church ensures that the children receive one meal a day.

Yes we ate this. Any thoughts what it is? It is a snail. The snails here are incredibly large. This snail was about the size of two fists put together. Our wonderful neighbors had us over for dinner on Leo's birthday. We ate snail and jaunes. Jaunes are rice with chicken and an olive cooked in banana leaves. I was so proud of all the kids. They ate everything that was placed before them. They smiled as they ate the snail. I can say that this was the first meal that they didn't ask for seconds though. 

Anthony hugging one of the Bibles that Holy Family Catholic School supplied us with thanks to the awesome penny war they had. We hope you enjoy those extra minutes of recess!!!! The youth will hopefully love their Bibles as much as Anthony does.

Adele taking a little siesta on the church pew. Why is it that all of my children insist on taking naps during mass when they just woke for the morning.

I never understood why everyone calls Faustina a muñeca, which means doll. There have been many times when people have stopped my to ask why I am carrying a doll only to be surprised that Faustina is a real baby. Well after looking at this picture that I snapped after mass I can now see what everyone else see. She looks like a peaceful little doll. My little muñeca. 

Guess who found a mono? Taylor did. This little guy was so happy to play with Taylor. He jumped out of the tree and started climbing all over him. He ran up Taylor's arm and tried stealing his glasses. He also nibbled on his ears. Taylor said that it felt like he had suction cups on his fingers. That was something he didn't expect. Just so you know we did not bring him home. I didn't need another baby to change diapers on.