New Find…

I was just handed this article from Yahoo last night at church. It is a great find, but as always there are those who will try to discredit anything dealing with Christianity. It is amazing that archaeologist keep finding items to support Christianity (sarcasm intended!).

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First Trip to Peru: Part 6

Monday   11/8/10  

We woke up this morning at 5:00am…well I did anyway. I finally sat up at 5:30am. It gets dark here around 6 or so and daylight begins to roll in around 5-5:30ish. We got everything loaded and left at 6:30am. The tributary, called Sucusari, was up due to the rain, but it still took us one hour to get off the tributary and onto the Napo River. We dropped Sebastian off in Mazan and we headed up river to Puerto Alegra to visit with the Peruvians there. We went to see if the men were back from the jungle yet. They go for months at a time to get wood to sell. Their work over those months will provide the money they need for the next year. They were not back yet and are not going to be back until December. So instead of story telling with them, we headed back to Mazan to go to Iquitos. While I would have enjoyed watching Brandon story tell…I must admit that the idea of going home early sounds good. I know Amy would love it. We got to the other side of Mazan and had to wait for a boat but that only took about 20 minutes. On our way from one port to the other on the motor cart a kid hitched a ride on the back of the cart. At the port we watched some guys wrestle a giant pig into the boat from the water. Funny!! As we waited we set the plan to go home early. We got to Iquitos and went to Brandon’s house. Star Peru was going to make us wait because we missed the last flight. So we went to Peruvian Air and the cost would be $185/person to leave tonight at 7:40 and arrive in Lima at 9:20pm. We contacted Continental to see if we would have to pay to change our flight. They said if we did it by standby then no, but if we wanted to secure a spot on the plane then it would cost us $250. But since he said we could get on free if they had spots we bought the Peruvian Air tickets. We got back to Brandon’s and took showers and loaded up. We stopped in the market area to buy the kids a “top” type toy…I will get Maddie’s at the airport…they had some cute dolls.

The flight from Iquitos to Lima was not good at all! I had a lady with a small child next to me who was screaming extremely loud and often. When he wasn’t screaming he would take the arm rest on my side and slam it up and down. Then when he started crying, the mom just opened up her shirt and began feeding him (cultural thing, I know). First his feet were on my, then she would switch sides and his head was laying on me! So I put my headset on and listened to a Piper sermon. I was so glad to get off that plane.

Well we got to Lima and you guessed it…the idiot on the phone lied to us. We ended up having to $250 each to change the flight. Gerald was mad as all get out. So now I am going to go to Continental on Friday and plead my case. I pray they understand. One of the main reasons we came back so early is because Brandon was having major stomach issues among other health matters. He is going to Lima to see his doctor tomorrow I pray all goes well. (Side note: I eventually got all of our money back).

As we were getting ready to load our flight to Houston I got in a conversation with a man from Seattle. His name is Jason. His wife is from Lima and she came here to have a surgery for $9000 that would have cost them $35,000 in the U.S. He serves in the military. He was very different. I asked him if he thought about life after death and he said he did not discuss religion with people. I pushed a little but he was not interested. So we talked about other things. He seemed very interested in our work among the Maijuna’s

We are not on the flight home and I am excited. Jenn is going to pick us up at the airport and we are going to surprise our wives. I can’t wait to see my family. It has been a very good trip and we have a lot of work to do…but I want to be with my family now. Well that is the last chapter on this trip. May the Lord help us fulfill the task of taking the gospel to the nations!

Biblical Greek Training Class

If you are intersted in learning Greek then I would encourage you to take this class. It’s a free online class from Bill Mounce.

I would encourage you to buy his book, Basics of Biblical Greek and the workbook that goes with it if you are serious about learning Greek.

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First Trip to Peru: Part 5

Sunday    11/7/10   6:13am

Last night Jorge brought Vicente over to speak with us. Vicente is the school teacher here in the village. Brandon asked him several worldview questions. His answers were very enlightening. He said that when the first harvest comes in the village gets together and drinks this stuff that causes them to hallucinate and see spirits. If they see the Boa then it is the keeper of the plant, not sure what that is about. hey dance around and celebrate. Jorge does not see a problem with this.

They are married when a young man and woman like each other and they go to their parents and tell them and that day they are considered a couple. They do not perform a ceremony but they see them as married even though they may be too young by the laws of the land. There were many questions so we have them written down in our worldview report. We will get more answers today possibly from Sebastian. Pedro told us last night that Jorge told him after our meeting that he did not want us to be here. He feels threatened by our presence. This is true spiritual warfare.

“God in heaven, please give Brandon the wisdom today and discernment. Allow your Holy Spirit to move mightily in this village. The gates of hell cannot prevail against your Kingdom. It is your desire that every tongue stand before your throne and worship you. So for your name’s sake work today, cause your enemies and our enemies to stumble in their words. Give your servants favor before Sebastian and the Maijuna people so that your truth will go forth here, that the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ will penetrate this land. Amen!”

Jorge had a “church” service last night but we were not invited. They sang songs for about 45 minutes and then he began preaching. And of course he preached on the Holy Spirit and the power and filling. It was basically a war cry as at one point he screamed “I will not shut up, I will not stop talking about it.” He was rallying the troops. No worries though…I serve a great God who does not need me to do such things.

It began to rain last night, Praise the Lord! It really cooled things off. When it started raining we came back to our place and sat around praying. The Lord is good! Pedro said he prayed Ps. 2:8, that the Lord would give him the nations…to send him to Africa…but then the Lord reminded him he has mountains here that need to be climbed and reached. I was encouraged. It rained a lot last night. Thank the Lord for his grace in sending the rain. Well it is morning and time to get moving out of this tent.

9:36 am

We are just haning out, visiting and reading. I was very moved by 2 Samuel 24:25 “…God was moved by prayer for the land.” “God please hear our prayer for this land we are standing on today. May your word pierce the hearts of every man, woman and child here in Sucusari. For your glory!”

4:16 pm

The Lord is great! His mercy endures forever! The Lord has moved greatly today. We met with Sebastian and learned so much. Where do I start? He is the last Maijuna of this village that speaks and writes Maijuna. Is that incredible or what? The last one and God has brought us here at this time to learn their language. The Lord heard our prayers and Sebastian told us that he is the one who says whether someone is welcome here or not and we are welcome! Yahoo…praise the LOrd! The Lord has given us favor. He told us that they were taught salvation by faith alone but then Jorge taught them they needed to be baptized and filled with the Spirit in order to be saved.

8:17pm

I did not get to finish earlier because we went to Sebastian’s house to take a picture of his family. Then we went to his kids house to take pictures. So back to my earlier conversation…
They have now been taught two ways and they just want to know the truth of what the Scriptures say. We found out that a man from the U.S. (Virginia?) came here from the University of Miami to live with the Maijuna’s to help them keep their (lands) as he wrote his doctoral thesis on them. His name is Michael. A guy named Jerry from Iquitos knows how to get in touch with Michael. We are going to get his research to help with our worldview research. There is also a Maijuna who lives in the U.S. but we have to follow up on his information. The guy Daniel Bellie, who is the linguist that translated some of the Bible and did the c.d’s has died but his son came down at the request of the Maijuna’s with Michael. He gave them the books for teaching the kids the Maijuna language. Now we have them. This will be very useful as we try to learn their language. We are also going to make copies of the c.d’s.

Before I forget…Sebastian gave us Maijuna names while we were there. My name is Mateto Dei. It means “big melon or fruit.” Dei is Sebastian’s last name. Gerald’s name is Chichibi Dei which means “crazy raccoon” (he got that because he told them he used to ride bulls. Brandon’s name is Boiyo Dei which means “Big white bird.” The Dei at the end of each name is the last name of the chief, Sebastian. he has adopted us as his sons and gave us his last name. Pretty cool stuff…even though they called me a big melon head. Ha!

Sebastian spent a lot of time with us answering worldview questions. When we were done we learned more about their culture and his desire for the word of truth to be taught. He actually said that he does not know what the benefit is of speaking in tongues when those who do it do not have a changed lifestyle…it they keep doing the same sinful things.

After the interview we went and took pictures of the families. Then we went with Vacente to the school and he got us copies of the books. Oh, we found out that they are going use this community center for a school. They have about 30 kids in the village. We met a very smart kid today, which it turns out that his aunt is where Brandon’s house church meets in Iquitos. He has seen Brandon at the Miller’s.

Well it finally rained again so I went to the gutter that leaks around back and took a very cold refreshing shower. I am so excited about what the Lord is doing here. I know the spiritual warfare is really just beginning but the Lord is on our side and he will prevail. This must be bathed in prayer like we have never prayed befeore. The Lord is surely working here…we just need to join him. Well its bed time again. Plans are changing a littel but not sure the extent yet. I will know more tomorrow. We pull out of here at 7am. Oh we bought some tribal heads that they make and sell here in the village. I am so ready to go home now. It was like a great weight lifted after the meeting today and the mission was set. Now it is time to go home and see my family whom I miss greatly. I can’t wait to see them. I am listening to one of their favority songs on the Passion album “Say It.” I can hear them singing it really loud in the car. I got to stop before I cry…Can’t wait to get home!

First Peru Trip: Part 4

Saturday    11/6/10    7:30am

Woke up at 5:30 but made myself go back to sleep until 6 or so. I got up and went straight to the river to wash off from sweating last night.

The village is quite nice. It has a school that looks like it has not been used in a while. It has a “hospital” or a hut that was built for medical needs. It has a community center that is nice. They say there are about 170 people who live in this Maijuna village called Sucusari. We got a chance to visit (well go to her house) with a woman from the village. She was cooking grub worms with ants on it. Yikes!!!! Nasty!!!!! Sebastian went to Iquitos for government meeting. He will be back Sunday.

The pace of life is very slow. There is really nothing to do except sit around, play soccer, hunt and fish. We saw a guy this morning return from gathering food from the jungle. Gerald took a picture of a boy at the top of a tree getting fruit. Brandon is still asleep…no one is in a hurry to do anything. Well breakfast will be ready soon.

2:15 pm

Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs and plantain fruit with lemonade. Excellent once again.  After breakfast we met with Jorge–the resident minister. Many of our fears were confirmed in our time with him. He believes that a person is saved by faith, baptism and speaking in tongues. He also believes that a person can lose their salvation. We told him that we did not want to infringe upon what he is doing. We just spelled out our desire to do Chronological Bible Storying. He seemed receptive of the idea but he obviously knew we disagreed with his view of salvation. At least now we know what we are dealing with. The plan now is to speak with Sebastian tomorrow when he returns from Iquitos. He is the chief so what he says will be the way to go. We will let him know of our intentions but also tell him that we have some very big differences than Jorge. We will have to see what happens from there.

After our meeting we hung out and talked about everything. I am not sure how to proceed from here. We do not want to cause division in the tribe, which Jorge is now a member. But at the same time he is teaching heresy that we need to confront. May the Lord grant us wisdom and discernment as we move forward.

We had chicken, rice, carrots and potatoes for lunch. And the best juice ever! After lunch we took a walk through the jungle to the other parts of the village along the river. Gerald caught a sardine with teh local’s fishing pole. We are just resting now–the guys went to the river to cool off. I just got my hat and towel wet to help cool me off. It is kind of weird hearing a chain saw in the background. They have the biggest chain saw I have ever seen. Rain clouds are forming again. It has not rained like it was supposed to. Some rain is nice but only makes it hotter…I like the breeze that comes with it though.

It is this down time that really makes me miss home. When we are talking and doing something I don’t think about it much, but now I am. I really want a BIG glass of ICE TEA with lots of sugar or a glass of ice water! Oh and some BBQ or hamburger from McKenzie’s. I thought about how the boys did at their games today, how the trip to MeeMaw’s went. I miss my bed and snuggling up with Amy. Oh and I miss a/c. No doubt the best invention of all time. Well I am going to read and rest for a while.

First Trip to Peru: part 3

Saturday    11/6/10    6:25am   (This entry reflects what happened on Friday, 11/5/10)

Well what a day we had yesterday. We loaded up in Brandon’s car around 8:30am. Then we headed to his house for him to find a book and to meet with the former Mayor of Amogalose (?). He gave us information about the Matses tribe that live near the Peru/Brazil border. He said that half of teh Matses where he lived were Christian. A man from Alaska would come down and teach them. He built a church building in the villages. He was going to start building wells for them but they have not seen him in about a year. We are not sure if his numbers are correct but it is worth investigating.
We went to the docks to load and it was crazy. There was a street corner preacher with a megaphone. We finally got loaded and headed out around 12:30 or so. We passed a DEA/CIA headquarters where they team up with the Peruvians to help with drug trafficking. We made it to Mazan where we unloaded and took carts from one side of the river to the other. We stopped halfway for Brandon to get his tent from David’s parents. Oh…forgot…we loaded our groceries for the week. We had 5 big bottles of water, fruit, rice and several LIVE chickens…so we got to the other side of the river by cart because ti would take too long by boat to go all the way around. We loaded up and headed to Sucusari which took about 2 hours. Once we got to the Sucusari Tributary it was slow tracking. The river is way down. We met up with one of the

Maijuna’s fishing who led us up the river on his canoe. We unloaded and placed our things in the brick community center. It was hot, very hot and humid because as we were traveling in on the boat it began to rain which just made it hotter when the sun came out. We set up our tents…Gerald put up his hammock in an empty house. We went down to the river to take a bath. The water was very hot but refreshing. The kids got in with us and really took to me not having hair. They kept rubbing my head. As I got out they took to splashing water in Gerald and Brandon’s face…just goes to show kids are kids no matter where you go. After we got dressed we hung out with some of the guys from the village…oh and kids. It got dark around 6:30pm so most of our time was spent with flashlights. The ladies finished dinner. We had fried rice and two of those chickens. The kids sat around us as we ate just waiting to get into the food. We ate by flashlight…we took turns holding it for each other. After dinner we talked for a little while. Then tried to go to sleep but it was so hot. I sat up visiting with Brandon till about 8:30 and the laid down int he tent with my towel that was damp to help with the sweat. I finally fell asleep but woke up often. The guys who drove the boat slept on it to keep it from being stolen. Needless to say it was a very, very long night.

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First Trip to Peru: Part 2

Thursday     11/4/10     8:04 am

Sleep was good…much better than the airport. I slept on a cot that I may take on the river. We took “showers”–that consisted of dumping water over our heads from a bucket outside. I feel somewhat refreshed. Gerald has been sick this morning throwing up. Lord, keep us from such sickness. I read 2 Samuel 7-10. I have understood that each of us has a work that God wants us to do. He does not want us to do what he has planned for someone else. Questions begin to plague me: What does that mean for me? Others? Lord reveal your truth to me!
I am desirous of the Lord to move. I have yet to feel the burden I once did in Mexico. It is still early and we have not been on teh river yet so I am praying and taking everything in. May the Lord do as he pleases. I know as I delight in him, he will give me the desires of my heart.

2:08 pm

We went to breakfast at a little diner. We met Jake, a missionary with the IMB. We had a good coversation. We talked about the basic need of the ministry is to get a speed boat which will cost about $15,000 to get. Jake reemphasized a lot of things Brandon has said about Iquitos. The pastors of the Baptist churches are very prideful. If you are not from their group or family of their’s then they do not want to work with you. Brandon believes there is about 60 or so Baptist churchs but none of them associate to do ministry. Jake’s emphasis is the river people. He just came back from being on a boat for 25 hours doing investigation. He found 1 village that had 5 believers. Every other village did not have one believer, not even some one who professed Christ. It appears that Jake and Brandon have a great vision to reach out to the river people but they need to be encouraged. Several times I have heard “It is impossible.” Not a word we visionary people like to use. I encouraged them to think big and put the plan together for reading the people…let God get it done. Their plan in a nutshell is to find a location where a tribe will conjugate and begin in that centralized area to teach. From that location they can train Christians to go out and reproduce themselves in their home village. Now they just need to put the plan together: Disciples making disciples.
After that we went to a home where the man’s wife and mother are very sick. The mother has stomach cancer and barely eats. The wife is very sick but would get better. We gave them money for medicines that we took them to fill. We took them to a location called Balin, which is like a big shopping area and right next to the slums. We have video/pics of the area. (I will show them at the end)
Next we went to Brandon’s because of his stomach issues. BTW–God is so good to us…Gerald is better and I have not got sick. We humng out for a while and then went back to the shopping area for me to buy some shoes. Forgot to pack tennis shoes. We had lunch at the Yellow Rose of Texas. Awesome!! Met the owner. Went to his up stair bar area where he has UT stuff everywhere. He has pics of Colt McCoy being at his restaurant while on a mission trip. Cool stuff. Now we are back at the house resting so I am going to take a nap…we are headed to the hospital later and then to church tonight.

7:45 pm

 Brandon is teaching on The Mysteries of the Bible…tonight he is talking about Christ being first born…going against the teachings of the Jehovah Witnesses.

10:00 pm

Earlier in the day… I took a nap today. Then we played volleyball–boys against girls and we lost. Buyt in all fairness we had a little kid on our team who could not play. And they play everyday at about the same time. They knew how to bump, set, spike. We also took it very easy on them until the end when we won a game finally. Then we took a shower and headed to the hospital to see Billy’s sister, Elizabeth. She has been diagnosed with pancreatites (?) She is doing better today. We prayed with them and then headed to the tennis club to Skype but Amy and Charla were not available so we headed to church.
The church service was very different than I expected. They did not sing at all. We had to stand up and give a brief description of ourselves. After prayer Brandon began teaching. The people were very receptive and seemed to understand. They took notes and asked questions much like in our Wednesday night services. It was extremely hot though!! After service we headed to the cafe to Skype with our wives. Amy had a very bad day and Josh is giving her a hard time. We are now bakc at home. We leave at 10 tomorrow for the river. Good night!!

First Trip to Peru

Our two missionaries to Peru return home tomorrow. This has prompted me to reflect on our vision trip and so finally I will record my journal entries for everyone to read.

Wednesday    11/3/10
It is now Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 1:40 a.m. Long day! The flight from Houston to Lima left about 45 minutes late so we arived here around 11pm. The flight was not as bad as I expected. I met Stacey Bowen who is an associate pastor at a church in Florida. He is on a trip with a group called XMA. The group leader has been everywhere it seems. They do work all over the world. Stacey and I visited about many things. His church recently went through a split where the pastor took about half the members. he was being interviewed for the pastorate but they brought in someone else. He has four daughters ranging from 17 down to 7, whoa! Gerald could not hear our conversation so he read “Don’t Waste Your Life.” I spent some time reading “The Screwtape Letters.” I also listened to “Here I Stand” by Max McClean…very, very good! All in all I got about an hour or so of sleep. So I need to go to sleep now so I can be fresh tomorrow. The customs here in Lima was very easy. We are going to try to get the 6:30am flight to Iquitos…but if not then we will be here until 11am. Well off to sleep…

Wednesday     11/3/10     4:32 am
Got up at 3:30am to check in with Air Peru. Note to self: They do not take credit cards, only cash!!! Good thing I brought $200. Twice now we have been stuck behind the same big group…tons of bags…way slow! Well despite our thoughts of getting on an earlier flight…not happening. They don’t have an earlier flight with Air Peru…but hey they were the cheapest. We are all checked in and ready to head to Iquitos at 11! Well back to sleep…oh before I forget we did get a chance to speak to a guy but not able to get much communicated b/c of language. He did speak some English but very little…anyway…sleep becons.

Wednesday     11/3/10     9:20am
Well I slept till about 6:30, off and on that is. I had to put on mp3 and sunglasses to block out the annoying lady on the overhead speaker and block out the light. I got a chance to speak with Caleb and Amy this morning around 7…so good to hear their voices. We finished eating a very expensive breakfast…it was good, but not that good. I will stick to granola bar from now on. Got a chance to read from 2 Samuel this morning…it was encouraging to read how the Lord was with David and blessed him in his work…may the Lord be so kind to us by his great grace. I slept on a 3 seat bed last night…can’t wait to sleep in a tent and sleeping bag…wierd, I know. Well we have roamed around our little section of the airport and now time to catch a catnap…

Wednesday     11/3/10     9:30pm
We arrived in Iquitos around 5 today. Brandon picked us up at the airport and boy there are a ton of motorcycles and mopeds, and trikes. That is the main form of transportation. And they drive crazy. I could have sworn we were going to kill someone today.  Then the pedestrians just walk across in front…LOL! It is crazy. First, we went to the Utia house where we are staying. They are very nice. Had a drink of juice…probably shouldn’t have but did…oh well. Talked with Brandon about his vision, where we fit, and many other things. We left here and went to Brandon’s house to look at a map of the upper northeast of Peru. He showed us where we were headed. Then we went and changed out money with a guy on a street corner. I felt like we were making a drug deal. Then we went to Billy’s house. He told us his testimoney, which is a wild God story. Then pastor Hugo, of the house church showed up. We sat around talking theology and practical living for a long while. Billy’s sister is in ICU at the hospita. She does not want anything to do with God. Pastor Hugo’s wife has diabetes and is not doing well. We prayed for them and left to get something to eat. We had baked chicken, fried rice and french fries…yeah weird but excellent. We also had some fruit juice that was good.  We just go home to take a shower and the water does not work. We have to rinse outside with a bucket. I did get to brush my teeth which was great since I have not done that since we left. Well, I am tired and it is going to be a long day tomorrow…

I will continue tomorrow. Here are some pics from the first day:

Prayer an Abomination?

How could going before God, conversing with him in prayer be an abomination? It can be? That’s what Proverbs 28:9 says, “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” (ESV) This proverb sets forth two hearings: Our hearing God’s law and God hearing our prayers. As I reflected upon this verse this morning it became apparent to me that many of us do this: we don’t want to hear what God says, yet we want him to hear what we have to say. I thought about my wife: If I am watching a game and fail to hear what my wife is saying to me what right do I have to expect her to listen to me when I want to talk to her? It repulses her to think that I would expect her to hear what I have to say when I was not willing to hear her. Yet, that is exactly how we approach God. We disregard his Word and occupy ourselves with other things but then we expect him to hear us when we pray.

If we desire for our prayers to be sweet to our Lord then we must give ourselves to spending time with him, hearing what he has to say through his word! Oh, and then acting on those laws, commandments, and statutes. May we give ourselves to hearing the words of God!

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Kill what leads to idolatry

In my reading through the Bible I came across Deuteronomy 13 which speaks of killing those people who lead others away to worship and serve other gods. It speaks of destroying cities whose people lead others into idolatry. There is something here for us today as NT believers: kill in ourselves what leads to idolatry. John Owen spoke on the killing sin. Paul in Romans 8:13 says, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.” (ESV) Our flesh is the great leader into idolatry. It is constantly at war with the Spirit in us. It desires to lead us to worship other gods like self, materialism, comfort, safety and so much more. It, therefore, leads us inot rebellion against God and so it must die!

Jesus told us to “take up your cross daily.” Paul said, “I die daily.” We are to kill the flesh a thousand times over so that it does not lead us and others into idolatry. Our flesh and its desires are the relative and friend of Deut. 13 that seeks to lead one away to serve other gods. Yahweh, holy God, told his people to kill these relatives, friends and cities that lead them astray. And so we must do the same to that which leads us into idolatry. We must mortify it! God will not share his glory with another and so we must kill that which competes with him in our lives.

May the Lord help us to mortify this body which seeks to destroy us through idolatry!

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