When Missionaries Are Bored

What do you get when you mix together a group of missionaries that are bored and broke, and a free Saturday night? The answer: an awesome opportunity for God to work.

About a month ago a bunch of us were trying to figure out what to do on a Saturday night when none of us had money. Someone came up with the idea of going to the main plaza with a guitar and trying to make enough money to buy ice cream. We all thought that was a pretty good idea so Alex, one of the 40/40s, grabbed his guitar and Gary, another 40/40 grabbed his Cajon.

A cajon is a type of drum.

And we headed out to the plaza. When we got to the plaza we didn't really have a plan. We were just going to do random stuff with a guitar case open in front with a sign saying "Donate Here". As we began to try to figure out stuff to do we were told be a police officer that we weren't allowed to do it there but if we move to a different spot farther up the road we could do it there. Ok, that seemed far enough so we moved. When we got to the other spot, another police officer told us that we couldn't do it there but if we moved farther up the road we could do it there. At this point I was begining to think that these police officers just wanted to get us out of their areas. But we moved again. At the third spot, Gary talked to a couple of police officers trying to get permission to stay there and sing. After a while a crowd started to gather around wondering what was going on. While Gary was still trying to convince the police to let us do it there, we got the crowd to start chanting "Let them sing". Once we won the crowd, we quickly won over the police.

To start with we were just being random. Gary and Alex were playing while different people were dancing. Once we ran out of random stuff to do everyone started singing random songs. The thing is that the only songs all of us know are worship songs, so this random night was quickly turning into an evangilism opportunity. Sammy, one of the Peruvian 40/40s, took over the guitar and Gary continued on the cajon while the rest of us sang. The whole time we had a good size crowd so when we ran out of songs to sing, Gary went to one half of the crowd and Nelson, another Peruvian 40/40, went to the other half. They talked about why we were here, what Extreme Nazarene is, and about the love of God. When they were done talking we took people's names, addresses, and phone numbers, so we could visit them.

In all of this three things came about. One, we had a blast just hanging out and goofing off together. Two, people heard the Gospel and were receptive to us visiting them. And three, we still made enough money for ice cream for everyone. It is awesome to look at what God can use to do His work. He used a bunch of bored missionaries on a saterday night. He can use you too, you just have to be willing.

Coming Home

Hey I'm getting better at blogging, it's only been a month since my last one. :) I plan on writting a couple of blogs in the next week: What Happens When Missionaries Get Bored, Graduation, and just a general update. That is the plan at least. This blog has more a a serious note behind it: money. Money is never an easy subject to talk about and that is probably why I have taken so long to write this blog. Although it is not easy to talk about it is necessary so here it goes.
First of all I would like to thank everyone who has been so generous donating. The outpouring of support is overwhelming, Thank you. When I left the US just over nine months ago I had raised $15,018 in donations and pledges. I have been recently notified that not all of my pledges are coming in and if my monthly income stays at where it is I will end up being $3,000 short at the end of my time of service. I know times are hard and money is tight, or maybe you just forgot. If you haven't been turning in your pledges because you forgot here is a little reminder. Or if it is because money is tight and you are unable to give as much as you were hoping, that is ok I understand but I need to know so I can make other arrangements.
Now to the second order of business; coming home. I have been here for just over nine months which means I have a little less than 18 months left. 27 months is a long time to be away from family, friends, and everything familiar but I have three weeks of vacation from March 28-April 17, 2011. I would like to be able to come home for those three weeks to be able to spend time with family. In order to do this I will need your help. Plane tickets from here to the states run from about $1,000 to $1,5000. I have found a really cheap one that is just under $1,000. Again I know that money is tight right now and I understand if you are unable to help. Every little bit helps and I am thankful for whatever you are able to do.
To donate towards the first cause, me being able to have enough money to stay in Peru go to extremenazarene.org/scriven and click on donate. For more information on how to donate towards getting me home for vacation e-mail me at bandongirl91@yahoo.com

Bautismos/Baptisms

On Sunday instead of having a church service we went to a hot spring and had baptisms. Three people were baptized and we spent about three hours there to play in the water and have a good time. The bus ride there was about two hours and the whole way we sang and played games. After singing for a while Pastor Raul, who is the pastor of the church I attend, started playing a game. We passed an empty water bottle around while he counted to three. If you had the bottle when he got to three you had to do a little dance in the aisle of the bus. I did have to do this once, and believe me it was not easy. Everyone on the bus sang a song while the person did motions, not only did I not know the dance but I couldn't understand the song. Also dancing in the aisle of a moving bus is not the easiest thing in the world.

The hot spring was a little shallow pool. It was a little higher than my knees all the way across.

When we arrived people started milling about setting up shade.
Then we were ready for the baptisms.


The first woman was Edith. She is from the small home group my partner and I lead. I was so excited to see her get baptized.


Pastor Raul's sister also was baptized.

And her fiance.

Overall it was a great day.

Love Extreme

Love Extreme is the name of the Big Event we had in Arequipa in July. We called it that because our goal was to show Arequipa God's extreme love. It started when a group of short-term volunteers arrived from the States on June 11. We put them to work mostly with promotion for the Big Event on June 19th. We hung up posters and handed out fliers.

This is a group who went out at night to hang up posters.


Rico Cuy, the Extreme Nazarene Mascot was a big help during the promotion. Nothing gets people's attention like a giant guinea pig climbing on a combi(bus). He helped us hand out fliers and helped with the taxi promotion we did.

We gave taxi drivers 100 fliers and put a poster on their back window. The taxi driver to have the most people come to the event with one of their fliers won a brand new laptop.

In addition to the promotion we also put the short-termers to work doing impact.
One of the impact projects we did was Kids' Festivals. Kids' Festivals include:
Games:

Puppets:

and of course Rico Cuy had to get in on the fun:

He decided to try his hand at jump rope.

We also had medical clinics. These clinics offered free medical care to people who couldn't afford to go to the doctor.


I also got the opportunity to take a group to each of my three church plant sites and pray over them.


The Main Event of Love Extreme took place on July 19th. We set up at a fairgrounds with conferences for men and women and a huge kids' festival.
The Main Speaker for the Woman's Conference was Tammy Trent.

The main speaker for the Men's Conference was Felix Vargas.

The Main Event of the day was Nick Vujicic. He spoke at the end of the day to around 10,000 people.

By the end of the day we had over 1,000 cards filled out with information from people who had made decisions to follow Jesus Christ. Starting the 21st we called each person who had filled out a card and set up visits with them. Following that we started setting up cell groups. Cell groups are small Bible studies that take place in peoples houses.

Now I am back in school and every Friday my partner, Mapi, and I lead a cell group. There will be another blog coming very soon. Hopefully by the end of the week, talking about everything that is going on in my everyday life.

I know, I know it's been a really long time.

I'm sorry, I realize it has been forever. I think my problem is that everything I do has become just everyday living and I forget that I'm in a foreign country and people want to know what I'm doing. So I am going to post a couple of blogs updating everybody on all the adventures I've been on in the last two months.


Let's see, where to begin? I have finished three months of language school and am now living at a church with 22 other people. The church has two rooms, one for the guys, one for the girls. The rooms have triple bunk beds because there are so many people and not a lot of space. There are 8 guys in one room, and 15 girls in the other. I am on the top bunk, so I hope I don't fall out of bed. At the moment we are all living out of suitcases, but we should have dressers this friday. That will help a lot.



I have met my partner. Her name is Maria de Pilar but she goes by Mapi. She is 19 and from Lima, the capital of Peru. Lima has about 10 million people, Arequipa only has about 1 million people. Now to me 1 million is a lot but to her it is kinda small. We haven't talked a lot because we are both shy around new people and my Spanish isn't the greatest.



We started our Bible training classes last week. The first class was Fundamentals of Planting Churchs. It is usually the last class the 40/40s take but we took it first to get ready for Love Extreme. It was a very stressful week. They usually save this class until the end because it is the hardest, so they wait until the North American 40/40s can understand more Spanish. This week we start our second class, which I think is Cultural Anthropology. This one will last two weeks. We will also start working in our churches. Our days are so full. This last week we had Bible study at 6:30, breakfast at 7, class from 8-1, then lunch at one. Now we will be working in our churches after lunch. Saturdays are supposed to be our free days to do whatever but from now until after Love Extreme we will be busy all weekend.



Living here has definitly been an adjustment. Before I came to Peru I was a night owl. I would stay up until midnight-3 in the morning. Now I have to get up so early that is impossible. Late at night was alway my time to relax. I have stayed up late a couple times but only when we have nothing in the morning. Also living with so many people it hard to find a quiet spot, but the view from the roof is so amazing that is where I spend most of my time. I have seen some of the most awesome sunsets in the past week. Another adjustment has been laundry. In the States I did my laundry in a washer and dryer. When I first got here and was living with a host family I didn't do my laundry. For the past three months the family's maid did my laundry. Now I not only do my own laundry, but I do my laundry by hand. It's not bad but the sink is really low so it kills my back, but I like the view from the sink so I'll survive.



I am going to a different church than when I first got here, which I'm very excited about. When I first got here I was going to a church with a very shy pastor. I am very shy around people I don't know, and it's even worse when I can't really talk to them. So me being shy and him being shy was not a good combination. He also doesn't enounciate when he talks, so after three months I still had no idea what he was preaching about. Now I am starting to go to a different church. I have met the pastor and he is so energetic I can't wait to hear him preach. I met him and his wife once and I have already talked to them more then I talked to my old pastor in three months. It had been really hard for me because I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to minister to people when I couldn't understand anything he said. Now however I can catch at least a little of what my new pastor says. This is just one of the ways God has shown me He is in control. He knows what I need and He will always be there to provide it.

I think that's all for now. I will try to update more often, but we are going to be insanly busy the next couple months. I'll update when I can.

First month

I know it's been a while and I'm sorry. There hasn't really been much to write. All I do is go to school in the morning then hang out with everyone in the evenings. I usually play soccer on saturdays, then go out and do random stuff with our group. We have had a movie night, a dance party, two birthday parties, and multiple study sessions.

For the movie night Brian Tibbs (the director of Extreme) took us all out to a coffee shop and bought us coffee. Then we went back to his house, had pizza, chocolate cake with PEANUT BUTTER frosting, and brownies, and watched a movie. We all were in a sugar coma by the end of the night.

The dance party was girls only. We all were going crazy that night. I made brownies with broken up Butterfingers in it. They were good but it took them about two hours to cook, I don't know why. We learned to Salsa and just had an over all good time.

The two birthday parties went pretty much the same. We had cake, snacks, and games. The first one was for Alex Adams, there is a video on my facebook of the games we played. Or you can find it on youtube.com, it's called Alex's Birthday Party in Peru.

We have had two study sessions at Artika, an ice cream place, and one in Yanahuara Plaza. Now of course when you get us all together not much studying actually happens but it is still fun.

We have also been to El Mundo de Alpaca. It is kinda a petting zoo. You can go in and pet the alpacas. You could also watch them making stuff out of the wool and you could see the machines they used to use.

The whole group here has been amazing. I know they are here for me when I need them and they know I'm here for them. Thank you all for your prayers and support. I couldn't be here without you. Please keep the prayers coming. Everyone in our group feels Satan's attacks daily. I will try to update more often, but chaow for now.

week one

Well this was week one. Everything is so strange it is hard to grasp. After a week of language school I am getting a little better at Spanish but I still can't really comunicate which is really frusterating. I miss everyone but I am still in the vacation stage so I haven't had much homesickness. Although I would love to take a long hot shower. The food here is definitly different from what I am used to eating. It's not wierd or anything it just has a lot of vegetables. I no longer believe that eating vegetables will keep you from getting sick, because I have eaten more veggies in the past week then i have in the past year and I now have a cold.

Our group hasn't been able to connect well since we've been here. Two of the girls and one of our support dads have school at night so it is hard to make sure everyone knows what is going on. I think we all feel separated because we had such an amazing week in LA when we were all living in the same place. Now we are all in pairs in separate houses. We are starting a weekly Bible study so that will help a lot. I am so thankful for our support families. They have fallen in to the role of parents so easily, it is amazing. They make sure we are all healthy both pysically and emotionally. They are there if we are sick or if we need emotional support. I am still amazed at the connection this group has made in such a short time. Our drifting in the past week has hurt everyone.

We all got together for one of the guys' birthdays. We had so much fun just playing random games and hanging out. I am now the only 18 year old. Everyone is so much older than me it is crazy. The majority of our group is in thier mid-twenties, but they still bring me into their group. It is wierd listening to them talk about school because they mean college not high school.

Well that's all I can think of for now.

Arequipa

I have been in Arequipa five days and I am loving it. It is so different from home. There are few personal cars, almost everyone takes taxis or combis (buses). There are no stop signs or stop lights, and the lines in the street mean very little. The buses don't stop at regular stops. When you want on you wave at one as it goes by and when you want off you tell the door person. It will definitely take some getting used to. The cars don't stop for you when you want to cross the street so you have to run. You hear horns going everywhere but rarly because someone is impatient. The taxis and combis use horns to get walkers attention to see if they want a ride. They also use horns as they come to a blind corner. They don't stop they just honk.

We went to church on Sunday and the only way I knew what Sunday School was about was because I have a Spanish/English Bible so I could follow along. The sermon however went in one ear and out the other. I can't wait until I can sit there and understand what is being said. Hopefully it won't take to long. I have started language school. We are learning very fast which is good but stressful.

If you want to see lots of pictures check out my facebook page. I haven't figured out how to put them on here.

Day 2 of Orientation

God is moving so much already. At the beginning of orientation we did an excercise that made me think, "What am I doing here?" but at the end of the night we watched a video that showed how great our God is. He created this universe by doing nothing more than speaking and yet He loves and cares for each of us. I know that no matter how hard the next two years are going to be I don't have to do them alone. He is my strength when I am weak.
Orientation has been a great experience and all the people here are fantastic. It is hard to imagine we all just met two days ago. Today we went to the beach for a little break. I got to see Santa Monica pier and hang out with everyone.
I have been doing so much it is hard to write about it with out writing a book, but if you want to know I can try. Just let me know. I will post pictures on here as soon as I figure out how.

LA

I arrived in LA Saturday afternoon. After flying out of North Bend about an hour late, I flew to San Diego and then to Los Angeles. When I flew into San Diego I got lost and had to ask for help because I didn't realize my plane came into the wrong terminal. So I had to go out of security, ride a shuttle to another terminal and then back through security. once I got to LA Brent Deakins and I wondered around Venice Beach while waiting to pick someone up at the airport.
Most of the other 40/40's got here yesterday. There were only three of us for a while, so we played eucre and ping-pong. We had a great time getting to know each other. Today we get to meet everyone else and start our orientation.
I hope I'm not boring everyone. I will try to get some pictures on here as soon as I have them.

8 days

In eight very short days I will be on a plane headed for LA for cross-cultural orientation, then on to Peru. I know I haven't kept this blog up to date very well and I am sorry, that changes now. I will update this blog at least once a week, most likely Sunday nights, the entire time I am in Peru.
This Sunday is my last at my home church and my emotions are at an all time high. I am sad to leave these people who have loved me and supported me so much over the past few months, and yet I am excited because that means I have a week left before I officially take off on this foreign adventure. I think the idea of how long 27 months is hasn't really hit me yet, but I know that what ever I encounter on this journey God is with me and He will carry me through.
I can't believe how far I have come in such a short time, but I still have a little ways to go. I have raised the $7,500 in cash I needed, now I need $3,000 in pledges. If you break that number down it comes to about 12 people pledging $10 a month or 6 people pledging $20 a month. I would not have reached this point without you but I can't move forward without you either. You can donate at extremenazarene.org/scriven. Anything you can do will help, thank you for all your support.