Kari Nelson - Day 4

What a blessed day we are having in Lima! What hit me most today is an accumulation of what has gone on since we started preparing for the trip. It is not about me! Pastor Matt wanted us to keep this point in mind throughout the trip and had us write the sentence somewhere in our journal as a constant reminder. When we went to church for the first time here, I was amazed but not surprised to find out that Pastor Kim was preaching on the same topic. He taught the church about pride and said that a person with an attitude of humility will be exalted by God and have His grace. How easy it is to talk about ridding yourself of pride, but I always find myself struggling with that issue. I pity myself for not getting my way in simple things that have no impact at all on the rest of my life or even tomorrow.

Seeing the examples of selfless people here is truly convicting. Yesterday at dinner I was talking to our bus driver, Erwin, who is incredibly giving. He started by showing me pictures of his kids and telling me sweet little moments that he has with them. He told me about going to the movies and buying them popcorn, soda, more popcorn, candy and more popcorn. Erwin also told me that a couple nights ago his youngest son was sick with a high fever so he stayed up with him until 4:00 am and then had to get his other son up at 6:30 am to go to school. After that, he had to be here at the seminary at 9:00 am to pick us up for the day and we don't usually get back until 8:00 pm or 9:00 pm. Erwin is so devoted to his family and takes such pride in his sons who I can tell are respectful and love their father a lot. But he works such long hours and doesn't get to see them much anymore since taking this job. It is not uncommon for him to go back to his house late at night on work days. His willingness to serve us and serve God creates the kind of conviction that you can feel in your chest. I mean, it really makes me long to be that kind of servant.

One last thing that I want to share is a little story of what happened on the beach this morning. We went to Miraflores, which is on the coast, in order to have a prayer walk. We asked God to bless our day, bless Lima, anything that we felt we should pray about. After sitting in the pebbles and telling God how big he is to make the ocean of which we could only see such a tiny part of, Andria told me that there are more stars than there are grains of sand on the beach. So we picked up a handful of pebbles and counted out nine of them to represent the sun and the planets in our solar system (poor Pluto doesn't count), which I have always thought is pretty big. Then we threw those rocks out onto the beach and they became unidentifiable. They were completely lost among all the other pebbles out there. How awesome is God that, as Brenna pointed out, He created space in one day of which we haven't even been able to see a notable fraction since its creation! The size of the God we serve is too big for us to have any pride in ourselves or take ownership for the things we have done.

Un abrazo fuerte,

Kari Nelson

Matthias Otto - Columbus (departure)

As I write these words, our entire team is sitting in the Columbus International Airport, ready to step on to flight 3575 to Miami.  It truly has been an adventure preparing for this opportunity to serve our Lord in Peru.  If you were to open the journals that each of the team members received in the weeks leading up to our departure you would find these words displayed in bold letters and/or colors:

IT'S NOT ABOUT ME!

The words above are followed closely by Paul's words found in Philippians 2:3-4:

Do nothing out of sefish ambition or with conceit, but in humility consider others better then yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Verse 5 says that is exactly what Jesus did!  The powerful, sovereign Son of God, Who created all things and sustains them by His might, obediently humbled Himself to His Father's will and for His Father's glory.  Our team's aim is to follow Jesus's example, by putting our team members interests, the Peruvian people needs and God's will before our own.  It's not about us, but about the great name of our God!

Please pray for us!  I have recently been reading a wonderful book entitled A Praying Life, by Paul E. Miller.  In it, the author emphasizes the importance of helplessness in our communication with the Lord.

We receive Jesus because we are weak, and that's how we follow Him.  Paul told the Colossians, "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him" (2:6).  We forget that helplessness is how the Christian life works.

 Our team is completely helpless to accomplish anything of eternal value on this trip, and we are completely helpless to leave a lasting impact in the lives of these students.  BUT, GOD IS NOT!  We trust His might and the power of prayer to move His sovereign hand.

On that note, a gigantic "thank you" goes out to all the parents, who have entrusted their children to our immediate care.  We will take the best care of you sons and daughters and approach the next two weeks as a priceless investment that will change our team members forever.  It is with great expectations that we travel to Peru for the glory of our Lord, Who is awaiting us at the destination!

Trusting in the name of the Lord our God,

P. Matt