God's mercy...made personal...

Hey all...if any of you out there are keeping track of my blog...you might fall over at this is the second entry in three days! Crazy I know! I wanted to share about a recent "attempted trip" myself and two others took and how it turned out.

Being the missions pastor here at Mil Palmeras, it was time for our church to being to reach out. I recently have had the privileged of meeting a pastor from Huanuco, Peru who invited us to come. Well we made plans to travel the 8 hour trip in my truck June 5-8th. I had heard about a strike on the road...about three hours away...but thought that it would be no big deal.

Here in Peru, the people really do not have a voice...nor does the government really pay any attention to the people...especially, as you get farther and farther away from Lima. The people who grow the "coca" leaf are called "cocaleros" (coca-ler-os). And the cocaleros were upselt that the government has been selling off their land to foreign timber investors. Sooo....because their voices are not heard...they riot and block the only road connecting Pucallpa to Lima (which also includes Huanuco. These are called "parros or huelgas" and sometimes they can turn violent.

We decided to go...and found the blockade...and got into some trouble (nothing serious) but being in any area of unrest is not a good feeling. We were able to make it where the trucks were stopped, but later in the day, the road behind us was shut down. What I mean by "shut down" is... if you use any sorts of transportation during a "strike" of any sorts...you will be confronted/attacked - because if you use any sorts of transportion during the strike...you are saying you do not agree with why the people are striking. So, IF they can shut down the public access or public transportation...then maybe their voice will be heard and Lima might pay attention to the issue at hand. Honestly, we live in a soft anarchy...everyday. The law really isn't law here...really, anything can happen at any time...its kind of crazy. Though, that said, things are generally peaceful.

Jackson and Walter in the back of my truck at the stoppage.

Our Friday ended with a mob of 20 or so punks (15-30 yr olds) looking for a vehicle to use to help patrol the areaabout 3pm. I explained to them that I would like to return to Pucallpa with my two friends. That wasn't the direction they wanted to go, but decided on going the other direction as to patrol the road (because again, if you use transpo during a strike...you will be confronted). So, we had a "criminal" escort for about 20 km and then they got out and we were home free. Leaving behind us... close to 100 tractor trailers and buses full of people. I was told the strike lifted today (Sunday June 7th) - and it had stated last Tues June 2nd.

Jackson, Walter, and myself with lunch - sodas with 1 can of tuna and thing of crackers.

If you have every prayed for me (and the missionaries here) thank you. If you haven't...would you please start. Several people today at church came up and told me today that they had prayed for our trip...a lot. I believe God, sent the mob of people...to escort us out of there. He knows His children and where they are...every moment.

Would you please pray for the salvation of the lost in Peru as well as for those who are serving the Lord here....

We are planning on re-doing the trip to Huanuco the last weekend in June.

Marshall

He Gives and He Takes Away....

Again, I do have to apologize for those of you keeping track of my blog and it seems like I am not writing! Part to blame was the lack of high speed internet and the other part belongs to my unwillingness to wait for dial up to load everything. BUT now, we have high speed internet via a tower and the world of communication seems to be opening up!! Finally!!

This is almost two months late - but I would like to share with you all something that happened here in the mission community back in late April. It was a Saturday afternoon and our Board members for South America Mission had just arrived - I had just finished picking them up and dropping them off at their hotel and had come home to cook lunch. The phone rang and my roommate had answered it...(its always interesting when you are listing in on an incoming call...and you know the news is not good)...then my roommate said "he's dead?" My heart sank...obvioiuslly it was someone we knew...but who? It was another missionary here in Pucallpa - Tommy Head.

He was a part of the ministry team here in Pucallpa called "Motociclistas por Cristo." He was practicing at a track here in town with another missionary from SAM. He landed from a jump wrong and broke his neck and died on the scene.

Little do you know your impact on people's lives while you are living - it is only when you pass and your void is left in people's lives that your impact is revealed. The death of Tommy Head hit us all pretty hard as he has just preached the Easter service here at Mil Palmeras and his last words were "You better be right with God and know Christ, because you do not know how many days you have left." Little did he know that 13 days later...he would be in the presence of the Lord.

Tommy's ministry was with Living Water. It is an organization dedicated to the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as well as providing clean drinking water through the establishment of wells. One story I have heard about Tommy in his ministry was he had gone into a village here to speak to the chief and get permission to drill them a well. The chief and others talked it over and decided not to have this stranger come in their village (Tommy was 6'2" with long hair and about 280 lbs). He ended up returning to that village some time later and re-asked to drill the well and this time they said yes. As he and the chief were talking the chief told him a story. He said, "Remember when you were here last time and we said no we didn't want the well?" Well after you had left one of the guys in the group turned to me and said, "That is the ugliest woman I have ever seen in my life!" (Because Tommy had long hair!) I will always remember this story!

Tommy Head is no longer drilling wells - but in the presence of Jesus himself...the one whom he drilled the wells for.

See you soon Tommy....

The Call of Duty....

Hey there....well, I had a curve ball tossed at me last week. As most of you know I am the missions pastor of the church here, as well as a youth pastor to the mk's, as well as a PE and high school bible teacher. But, what you may not know is that another one of my responsibilities for the mission is being a security officer. That entails lots, but when something goes wrong we (there are two of us) need to respond and be there.

Last weekend we had a family - studying language in Arequipa get their house robbed while they were out discussing the "stresses" in their lives. We decided as a mission to send someone to Arequipa to assist them in their time of need....and, that person would be me! Sooo...I have been in Arequipa (southern Peru) since Wed assisting the Listro family as they need. It has been a good time of encouraging them and giving council.


Answering God's call to his service...is not always smooth sailing...things happen. Thefts here in Peru are numerous...and unless you are always on your guard you will get robbed or your house will get broken into. Sooo...when it does happen it shakes you. Being here with this family has been a blessing - to be able to assist them, talk with them, and encourage them with advice and knowledge of the city. They are a family of 7 (yep, that means 5 kids) learning language and heading to Pucallpa when finished.

For me - I return to Pucallpa tomorrow and pick up where I left off...teaching at the missionary kid school and beginning our first missions project for the church this coming weekend (one week from today!) Below is a picture ofSAM's common building that the church uses. Sooo...I am guiding the church to chip and scrape the old paint off and repaint the SAM building that the church uses weekly - the entire month of April!



We are looking to have high speed internet no later than the end of May on SAM Center....this will greatly help me in communicating with everyone!!!

Much love to you all....thank you for reading....

Marshall

Wow....its been 3 months!

That is a big woops on my part! Thank you so much for still checking my blog and being patient with me! The life of dial up...really stinks...I guess it might be different if I had never known about high speed...but man what a time consumer! I do not even check my email much nor do i like to respond...just because it takes SO MUCH time to download and upload things.

The last three months has been really good!

I have being teaching the Old Testament in Sam Academy and have covered from Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Jonah, Micah, Amos, and Hosea....with Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, Obediah, Habakkuk, Zachariah, Zephaniah, and Malachi still to cover in two months of school!

In Mil Palmeras, I have finished up teaching 8 weeks of missions classes on Thursday nights and now we are making the transition into doing some work projects and should be taking off the beginning of April.

I have also begun discipling men at Mil Palmeras and look forward to the Lord bringing more men into the picture and watching them grow in the Lord.

I now, have just finshed two weeks of a somewhat break - SAM had its yearly conference in Pucallpa last week and that was a wonderful break from the norm. We had all SAM missionaries here to meet and refresh. Then this past week...I had a friend, Kimberly Roddy come down from the US and was able to show her around Pucallpa some as well as Lima. I showed her the rivers around Pucallpa, up in a cessna plane ride (I was not flying), ride on a scooter (she got stitches), two trips to the beach in Lima...it was a full trip!


Now, as I (who am in Lima now) is set to go back to Pucallpa and get ready for the final two months of school as well as the organization of projects for the church. Along with wanting to build a sand volleyball court for us to play on (need donations), Six mango trees to trim up near the main road, swim lessons to teach, youth group to do, fields to mow, and last but not least...get ready for my church to come down in three weeks...finally!!!

I´ll try to be better at writing!!!

Marshall