"If you ask anything in My name..."

Back from Peru! I have so many stories to tell...I could go on for days. :) Likely, I will, too. However, I'd like to post up the list our team made of all the ways God answered prayers for us. After this I'll tell stories. :) Thanks so much for praying...God certainly answered!

Answered Prayers and Special Blessings in Peru
February 28 – March 8, 2008
(* - answers to specific prayers)
“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:14).
“If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23).



Preparation –
• God provided 11 plane tickets on one plane together for a wonderful price! *
• Gospels of John and evangecubes came in time *
- Jason’s second order came the day before we left! *
- We never ran out of gospels or tracts even though we didn’t have as many to give away as we would’ve liked
• God provided finances for every one of us in a huge variety of ways, and none of us lacked anything *
- Hannah didn’t expect to come and the Lord provided for her at the last moment after we bought our tickets *
- After Liz bought the evangecubes for the team, the Lord gave her back the exact amount she paid for them
- In some cases, complete strangers gave money to people on the team
- Our churches shared generously with us *
- One of Celina’s friends paid for her whole trip
• God gave us round trip plane tickets from Lima to Trujillo with Antonio for an amazing group rate and an affordable price *
• Celina decided to join our team as another Spanish speaker *
• The Lord brought Naomi with us as another girl on the team *
• We were able to use Skype to talk and pray with Diego before our trip even began
• The unity grew among the team members on the team as we prepared *
• The Lord gave us all the excitement we needed to motivate us as we packed to leave
• The Lord healed Hannah right before the trip when she fainted the day before we left and was sick with a fever and cough
• The Lord kept Naomi and Liz healthy even though they were sick the week before the team left and they traveled home to Kansas the weekend before the trip and were worn out from that
• No one else on the team got sick before we left for Peru

Traveling to Peru –
• We had a safe van ride to the airport *
- Provision of a van and trailer to actually get there! *
• Problems in the Chicago airport worked out right away – even though we were dropped off at the wrong terminal, we were able to find our flights and make it to our gate in good time *
- We were transporting lots of luggage and rented a cart, only to find we couldn’t take it on the air tram; however, the Lord provided an abandoned cart at the other end of our air tram ride for us to use
• Victor was able to talk about the Lord with a lady in the customs’ line in Mexico City
• Jason and Hannah had some opportunities to share the gospel on the plane trips
• The Lord softened the hearts of the airport officials so Victor could get another boarding pass printed after he lost his *
• We met up with Diego in Lima without any problems
• All our luggage arrived safely *
• Two guys in the Lima airport wanted to hear the gospel after they were given a tract and Diego was able to talk with them for a long time
• Celina didn’t get sick after she drank the tap water in the Lima airport and Jason didn’t drink it or get sick, either *
• Hannah’s guitar string broke in the Lima airport but the Lord provided another string through the Tuttle family
• The Lord provided strength and good attitudes throughout our 36 hours of traveling from Dubuque to Trujillo *



Ministry opportunities
• Micah forgot what time to pick us up at the airport, and as a result, Caleb and Hannah were able to share the gospel with a large group of taxi drivers for a long time
Bible study in Moche
• The Lord used us to encourage the believers and vice versa *
- Jason’s and Marshall’s testimonies went really well
- The Lord gave Caleb passion and excitement to share encouragement from the psalms with all of us
Time with youth group from Trujillo
• The Lord provided lots of mutual encouragement between us and the believers, young and old *
• We had lots of language practice that day and many of us learned more basic communication
• Celina, Jason, and Micah got to share the gospel with some unsaved visitors to the sports complex
• Marshall was able to encourage some of the young guys to seek the Lord’s will when pursuing a career for their lives
Evangelism in Moche
• We found an outlet for the speakers, CD player, and microphone on a well-lit street corner near the square after we didn’t think one would be available *
• Lots of people came to hear the gospel *
• The skits went better than they ever went in practice
• Our evangecubes and the gospel presentation we memorized in Spanish worked really well *
• The Lord had really prepared the hearts of the people in Moche and many were very eager to hear (some who had never heard the gospel before in their lives!) *
- José was saved
- Edmundo expressed serious desire to come to the Bible study
- Melodi was very interested in the gospel
• The prayer/thanksgiving time afterwards was amazing
- The Lord filled us with incredible joy and excitement – the Peruvians and the team alike
- The guys stepped up and prayed with such gratitude and excitement – taking the leadership so well that not a single girl prayed (after we girls had been praying that the guys would lead so we could follow them) *
Trip to Otuzco
• Cars made it up the Andes mountains safely even though one was having trouble with overheating *
• We had a good time of fellowship with the team and binding our hearts together in unity
• Technical problems with the speakers and CD player were fixed quickly *
• The CD stopped skipping during our skit *
• Willie got to share his testimony while the speakers were being fixed and the Lord gave him the words, as he wasn’t prepared beforehand to share *
• Victor’s testimony went well *
• The people of Otuzco’s hearts were much softer than we expected to find them *
• Micah was able to preach a long message and the people stayed interested in it *
• Many people stayed around to talk after the message *
• There are some believers in the city in spite of all the idolatry
• Naomi got to talk with all the little kids
• Little boy who talked to Willie got saved
• We had a safe trip back down the mountains through the terrible fog *
Evangelism/Work project in Chiclin
• The Lord gave safety while the team worked on the church project *
• Caleb and Celina had a hard time finding anyone willing to talk about the Lord until they prayed for the Lord to bring them people *
- The Lord brought them to a couple who were eager to talk and very close to salvation
- Three teenagers came up to them and asked questions, then got saved
- Another lady came up and asked if they could give her a Bible, so Celina and a lady from the church in Chiclin were able to visit her home and bring her a Bible
• The Lord provided strength for Hannah, Celina, and Diego, who translated all day long while the others worked *
• Hannah had words to speak and answer the hard questions of the group of ladies she talked to, and the Lord provided a woman out of nowhere to defend her against an angry heckler
• A man named Santos talked with Hannah and realized for the first time in his life that he couldn’t be saved by works, and put his trust in Christ
• Micah and Naomi were able to share the gospel with a group of town drunks, one of whom declared his intention to go home and turn his life over to the Lord
• Christina and Liz had an encouraging time with Amy and the kids back in Trujillo that day *
- Liz had been praying for some quality time with Amy *
Women’s jail ministry
• The girls were able to share vocally in the gospel presentation with the women in prison
• God gave the girls words to speak *
- Hannah preaching, Liz and Christina sharing their testimonies, Naomi and Celina explaining the skits
- The Lord made us weak, allowed us to stumble (in some ways) through our sharing, causing us to realize how much we needed to depend on Him and reminding us that He was the one speaking through us *
• The Lord gave Naomi understanding to help Willie communicate with a Spanish-speaking lady, even though she didn’t feel like she knew enough to help translate
• The guys (Jason, Diego, Victor) were greatly encouraged by some believing women who promised to pray for the team
Evangelism in Winchansow
• Many kids came and heard the gospel clearly
• Naomi’s and Amos’ testimonies went well and people listened attentively *
• The Lord gave Caleb strength and energy even though when the team arrived he was exhausted, and he was able to preach strongly and effectively and share the gospel in a creative way even without the evangecube (which he couldn’t use because the lighting was so dim) *
• Hannah and Tom got to share the gospel with a big group of kids
• The Lord enabled Liz to share the gospel in Spanish with many kids, showing her that He was able to overcome the language barrier
- John Carlo (a Peruvian believer) helped her with the language even though his English was not excellent
- Estafany stayed the whole time she was sharing and was very interested in the gospel
Time at the orphanage
• Fun playing with the kids
• The Lord used us to show love to the needy kids *
• The Tuttles didn’t take their used tires off the top of their Jeep before we went to the orphanage and it turns out that the maintenance man there had been looking for tires to use in the playground and couldn’t find any, so the family was able to share the tires with them
• The white car wouldn’t start when we were leaving, but with the help of the believers from the orphanage, it got going, and there was no problem *

General miscellaneous
• So many people were praying for us *
• The Lord gave us very gracious cooks who provided delicious, healthy food for us each day
• God provided a lovely, clean, large place to stay
- Comfortable bunks
- Nice bathrooms
• The Lord took good care of our health, even though we didn’t all stay completely healthy
- He didn’t allow us to get too sick
- He helped us endure stomach queasiness, other sickness, and general weariness *
- He showed Himself strong through our physical weakness *
• Tom accidentally left his backpack in a cab the first evening in Trujillo, but he didn’t have his passport in it, so that was safe, and the cab driver actually returned it without stealing anything
• We had a fun time celebrating Jason’s birthday on Thursday
• The Lord provided so well financially for us that we were able to buy tires for the Tuttle’s Jeep with the extra finances and surprise Micah
• Our team was continually able to bond together in love and to be knit together with the Peruvian believers, working together with them *
• The Lord healed Christina’s back Wednesday night when it was hurting her so badly – she slept through the night and felt much better in the morning *
• God provided medication for Christina’s, Hannah’s, and Amos’s sunburn from the pharmacy and helped them heal from it *
• The Lord helped Amos endure the excruciating pain of his sunburn on Thursday night and provided a doctor who visited the church to check on him, rather than him needing to go into a hospital *
• We were able to spend Monday evening talking with Bert and Colleen Elliott, veteran missionaries, who were a huge encouragement and blessing to us
• Carlos, a Peruvian who spent almost the whole week with us around the region, trusted Christ as his Savior after hearing the gospel so often through the ministry and seeing the testimony of the team loving each other and serving together
• Encouraging prayer meeting with the believers on Thursday night
Beach
• The sunset on the beach, on Tuesday evening, lasted until the team got there and were able to watch it and play in the water before the sun went down *
• We found Tom’s glasses, which were lost, after dark on the beach *
• The Lord provided matches to start the campfire on the beach even though we forgot them
• God gave the team an amazing time of fellowship on the beach around the campfire, singing, talking, laughing
Team Devotions
• Different guys were able to share what the Lord had laid on their hearts each morning and lead us in that way *
• Really awesome time sharing with and encouraging each other on Thursday morning about how much we appreciated each other
• We were able to spend lots of time praying for each other and for the trip together



Traveling home from Peru
• Our plane left without us, but the Lord gave us peace and provided answers for our problem *
- There is a possibility we can sell our tickets to another team coming down for Easter
- God provided a bus ride for us
- We spent quality time around Trujillo with Antonio (a Peruvian believer) and the Tuttles for the rest of the morning
- Hannah, Naomi, and Liz got to dance to Peruvian music with Antonio, Victor, and Willie
• Our bus trip to Lima was really nice
- We had comfortable seats in the top level of a double-decker bus
- We saw a beautiful sunset
- We had a safe trip *
• None of our luggage was misplaced or stolen in spite of all the confusion from taxis/cars to bus to taxi to airport to airplane *
• We got to meet the Wakefields, missionaries to Lima who know Naomi, who insisted on coming to the bus station at 10:00 at night to meet us
• Caleb made it back to our group with our food from McDonalds in the airport just in the nick of time to join us in line to get our boarding passes *
• At the Lima airport, we made it safely through customs and security in time to make our flight in spite of a concern about the time *
• We had safe flights to Atlanta and Chicago *
• The Lord caused us to meet up with Kelly and Shannon on the plane out of Atlanta. Their mom had just been diagnosed with cancer and they could tell by our conversation as a team that we were believers and they asked us to pray for them and for their mom
• The Lord encouraged us by allowing us to meet two other teams in the Lima airport who had been mission trips the same week we were
• Diego also had a safe trip back to Columbia *



Specific prayers about/by the team
• Everyone on the team served wholeheartedly for the whole trip – no one acted in a self-centered way *
• The team’s attitudes stayed good and the Lord kept us from complaining and arguing even when we were so tired *
• God gave us boldness and divine encounters with people who were seeking Christ *
• The Lord provided unity among the girls especially *
• The Lord gave us a good team spirit and helped us work together as a team
- Everyone made each other feel accepted, cared for, and loved
- We laughed so much together and the Lord gave our team a good-natured sense of humor
- We all got along well, even with Amos and Diego, who most of us didn’t know before we met them in Peru!
• The Lord blessed Jason in his ability to communicate in Spanish and on the first night in Moche, his “mouth went dry” from speaking Spanish. He was also able to share the gospel along with some of the Peruvian believers with a girl in Otuzco who was very ready to listen and very close to accepting Christ. His injured knee also turned out to be a blessing in some small ways
• The Lord taught Willie that the Lord cares about all the little things as well as the big things and blessed him with an encouraging time with the team
• The Lord continually taught Hannah to depend on Him for everything – strength, words to speak, etc. * For instance, on Sunday, the Lord put her in several positions where she had to speak in public, which she dislikes, then He enabled her to speak His words. Also on Sunday, the Lord allowed her to run out of words to say when she was trying to witness to some people, and she had to get Caleb to share while she translated. The Lord showed her that when He didn’t want her to speak, He was capable of shutting her mouth, too
• Victor prayed for boldness and the Lord provided it over and over again, especially with his inability to speak Spanish. The Lord proved Himself strong in that area, too. He also prayed for more faith, and the Lord answered that prayer very clearly and showed him that He was in complete control of everything *
• The Lord showed Liz how He is fully capable of working in the lives of the people around her with or without her help; also He showed her how He is the one at work in people’s lives and He just wants to use her as His vessel.
• God allowed Naomi to throw herself whole-heartedly into the work, while at the same time giving her a peace about leaving the work in Peru to Him after she left. He taught her a lot about letting Him use her in her weakness. He humbled her and yet showed her that He still wanted her to be a part of His work.
• Caleb was able to lead the team by the Lord’s grace, and was able to encourage the others to step up and do what the Lord had given them to do. God gave him the endurance to get up early each morning and spend time in the Word, and also the strength to make it through the long days with little sleep.
• Tom was able to share the gospel often through translators and the Lord gave him the words to speak when he shared. The Lord also gave him a good attitude in spite of weariness and even sickness.
• The Lord gave Celina boldness! He gave her the courage to go up to people on her own and start sharing the gospel. He answered her prayer for boldness many times during the trip, particularly when she got to share the gospel with their taxi driver in Lima and give him a gospel of John and a tract. *
• God showed Christina how He could provide abundantly for her, so that even when she was unsure if she could go on the trip, because she had neither the money nor her passport, He came through and provided both *
• Diego was encouraged by the opportunity to help the believers in the work in Peru and how he didn’t clash with the people he didn’t know, but rather made many new friends. * He learned that God uses simple people to work in others and God exalts those simple people – and that people we exalt as heroes of the faith are just common people who have obeyed the Lord. The Lord gave him joy working in the harvest field.