Hi everyone,
We have seen the Lord do great things here in Peru this summer, and we made an update video covering the church plant in Chilete. We hope it is a blessing, and here is the link:
Thanks again for all your prayers, we are very appreciative!
In Him with love,
Cory and Danielle
Well, we made it back safe, tired, but very blessed. The whole experience was so crazy, but so good at the same time. There were times when Danielle and I were completely overwhelmed, and there were times that were so sweet they are hard to put into words. I know we have all heard it before, but we truly could not have done this outreach mission trip unless God was behind us, strengthening us, encouraging us, and providing the help we needed. We had an amazing group of loving servants that included 8 from CC Silverdale, several from CCBC Peru, and awesome man of God from CC Lima. We couldn’t be more grateful for all of God’s goodness, and I just want to touch on a few of the highlights.
We arrived in Chilete Saturday morning and the craziness began. We are in Peru, so of course we were an hour late, but everyone was so quick to help and things got going quickly. We had faithful people doing sign-ups, others setting up, one good friend locating electricity and working with the municipality, and our brother from Lima doing whatever he could fresh off a 12 hour bus ride throughout the night to come help us.
As things started we had people coming and going, playing soccer with team, and beginning to have their faces painted at our face painting booth when CC Silverdale busted out their 5 foot high planet sized soccer ball. We then immediately broke the pump… but thanks to the help of a few a local kids we were able to inflate it at the local gas station. We then proceeded to roll the ball through town, and make quite a scene. In a small Peruvian town with no “gringo” residents, a group of Americans rolling a gigantic soccer ball down the street was a sight to see. Everyone had a great time, especially the kids, and we kicked the tournament off shortly after.
One of my favorite parts of the whole weekend was watching the CC Silverdale team perform the “Everything” skit in front of a couple hundred people from Chilete, and then listening to my good friend Aron Diaz explain the play while weaving in his testimony of how Jesus changed his life. I had planned on being the one to invite people to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but as Aron and I were watching the skit I felt God had brought Aron to Chilete for a reason and asked Him to do it. Little did I know that God had been speaking to Him through Isaiah 25 and Matthew 28 about preaching the gospel all day. God put his hand upon Aron, and we got to see the Lord bless His Word and several come to the Lord.
I also loved seeing the group interact with the kids at the face painting booth and during the games, and a super cool part of the tournament was that both the kids and adults championship games went to penalty kicks. If you didn’t know, South Americans are passionate about soccer. To have both tournaments come to 3 kicks apiece after 4 hours of soccer was very intense and a lot of fun. Each team represented a country as we did a World Cup style tournament, and our winners were Peru and Argentina.
Next, Sunday morning was great as Danielle and Suelene led the Sunday School with the help of many from CCBC and CC Silverdale, while Aron led worship and translated the study for me so both Peruvians and Americans could understand the Bible Study. It was a new step to have separate services for the Adults and children as so far we have ministered to mostly children in Chilete, and we look forward to what God has in the future!
Finally, I loved hearing what God did in the hearts of the team from CC Silverdale when we returned. One high-school aged girl told be that she had the best experience of her life, and when she finally had to leave for the states she started to cry because she missed everyone so much. She believes God has confirmed her call to be a missionary, and we are hoping to see Rachel again soon.
Another young man shared how blessed he was to share the Word of God with a little girl who has become a faithful part of our church, and how he loved seeing her cherish the Bible we were able to give to her. He said he realized there was no other Bible teaching church in Chilete, and he was just so glad we were going to Chilete to teach the Bible and love these kids. He said he realized if we were’t going, that girl wouldn’t be holding her Bible with a big smile on her face. That comment was the biggest encouragement to me of anything that happened all weekend.
To close, God truly blessed our weekend and truly answered all of our prayers, and I thank you so much for remembering us in your prayers. We are so grateful for everyone who was a part of this outreach all over the world, and I truly believe those who pray back home are just as important as those who go out here in Peru. Please continue to remember us in you prayers, and we will try to do the same. God bless you all!
With love,
Cory and Danielle
But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 19:14
Hi everyone,
Well, we are about a month into our freshly planted church in Chilete, Peru and we have experienced many difficulties, but many more blessings. Danielle, myself, and a group of faithful servants have been making the 2-3 hour journey each way every weekend, and our ministry has been mostly kids. We have memory verses, Bible songs, Bible studies, and different activities with them every sunday service, and little by little the Lord has been opening up doors for us to minister to the adults of Chilete. We are the only gringos in town, so I think it will take some time for them to trust us and know what we are doing, but we hope to gain that trust through love, service, and the teaching of the Word of God.
Today, we are very excited to welcome a group of 19 from CC Silverdale (Bremerton, WA) that will be helping build at the Bible College, and 8 of them will be traveling to Chilete with us to help us put on our coming soccer tournament outreach this weekend.
We have invited all the kids and young adults of Chilete to join in, and the Lord opened a door for us to come to the local school and hand out invitations to every kids in school. As we have gotten very close with a lot of the kids they were very excited to see us at school, and we stopped P.E. class for a little while, but it was a lot of fun.
We plan on having a tournament for both the kids and teenagers along with face painting for the little kids, some refreshments, and a time of evangelism with dramas, testimonies and worship. The Lord has been so faithful to provide help as we have people from the US, Lima, and many from the Bible College coming to serve alongside of us and help us. The Lord knows we could not have done this on our own, and He truly has been the Lord who provides throughout our whole ministry in Chilete.
Prayer Request:
If you would please keep the outreach in prayer that would be greatly appreciated. We are hoping the Lord will use our little effort to touch the hearts of many in Chilete with His love and His gospel.
The people of Chilete have had no Christian church and they are bound by much alcoholism, but we are praying that Jesus will transform many lives, and Lord willing this weekend will be a great way to reach out the people of Chilete.
Please also keep the traveling to and from Chilete in your prayers as over 20 of us will be making the trip through the Andes mountains in Peruvian combis or little busses.
Also, please keep the whole group in prayer that we would have attitudes of love, service, and sacrifice so that our actions would speak louder than our words, and we would really demonstrate the love of Christ to the people in Chilete.
Thank you so much for your prayers, and I wan’t to close by sharing a little story from last weekend.
As we were leaving one of the little girls of Chilete, I think her name was Alvina, asked one of our helpers, Sue, if she was leaving.
Sue responded, yes we are leaving. We live in Cajamarca.
Alvina responded by asking if there were people in Cajamarca that needed us?
Sue responded, yes. We have a lot to do in Cajamarca also.
Alvina asked, Are you coming back?
Sue said, yes. We will back soon.
Alvina then said, good because we really need you too…
I think Sue almost broke down crying right there on the spot. We know these kids and these people truly need Jesus, and we are so blessed the Lord has asked us to go to Chilete and share His Word and show His love to these people because Alvina was right. They need it… and so do we.
Well, how do I start. At times, it seems God is making us wait forever, and we can’t understand what the Lord is doing in our lives. I remember when I first moved back to Fort Bragg after attempting to go to Bible College for the first time back in 2010. I told my pastor, Kevin Green, I just wanted to serve the Lord and I didn’t know what I was doing back in Fort Bragg. He told me I was serving the Lord as I walked with Him and served in whatever way possible at the church… It was hard for me to understand at the time. I would go on to work different jobs, got married (the Lord knows what He is doing), and had my share of difficulties and trials.
Then the Lord opened the door for us to come to South America as we believed he was calling us to study, prepare, bless the Bible College in Peru, and ultimately serve Him as missionaries in South America. We have been more than blessed as we traveled through Chile, and then landed in Cajamarca, Peru at CCBC Peru. The plan was to study and serve for a year and half, learn Spanish, graduate, stay open to the Lord’s plan, and return to Fort Bragg in 2015 to weigh our options and see where the Lord was leading us.
It seems the Lord had a different plan. After doing several fruitful mission trips to a little town called Chilete in the middle of nowhere Peru, Danielle and I are going to plant a church in little Chilete with the blessing of our pastor here in Peru and back home in CA.
When we first started going to Chilete I was able to share my testimony and the Word of God with the people, and we saw people come to the Lord. As a group, we saw our children’s festivals grow and grow, and each time more people were interested in the things of the Lord. Danielle and I knew Chilete needed a pastor, and as we prayed for the Lord to bring the perfect person we wondered which Peruvian it was going to be. We were sure that Chilete was not our calling because we were still learning Spanish and we had a different plan.
Yet, as time passed Danielle and I made stronger and stronger connections with the people, and the Lord continued to use us to minister to people there. Then we began to question if the Lord could be leading us to Chilete, but the thought was so crazy we kept it quiet. Then on one of our most recent trips the Lord gave us the opportunity to really get to know a group of people and connect with them, and unknown to us our Pastor here in Peru, John Bonner, was keeping an eye on us to see how we interacted with the people i Chilete. Both pastors here at the Bible College began to ask me if I was praying about Chalet, but I was reluctant to answer because I still was struggling to believe God’s will for our life. As Danielle and I began to really seek the Lord, He more and more put it on our hearts that we were to go to Chilete. After meeting with our pastors here, and talking to Kevin and Dan back home we were sure that the Lord was leading us to Chilete.
The response we have received in Chilete is nothing short of amazing. We have already been blessed with a little building where we can hold services. When I have been there getting things ready different people and children have recognized us and opened up to us incredibly. Just two days ago we were settling the details of the church building when a little girl came up to us and said, I know you. John and I played volleyball with her and her friends, met the parents, and just had such a blessed time with them. They are excited for us to come back, and what to come to our church.
We are going to do a big outreach on June 28th with a team from the Bible College, and then several of the students will spend the night with us and help with the first service on the 29th. We also are hoping to have a soccer tournament outreach at the end of July with a team from the States. We are very excited.
I would not be honest if I said I have not been equally scared as I have been excited. The difference in starting a work in Mendocino form starting a work in Peru is crazy. For one thing I will be teaching without a translator in Spanish with the encouragement of Pastor John. Also, getting all the details together is much different because we just don’t know how things work in South America like we do in the states.
I say all that because I am convinced of the need we have for all of your prayers. Something I shared with the group here is that there is much we cannot do, but something we can do is rely upon the Lord in prayer and ask for HIs blessing. I hope this work in Chilete will be built upon prayer and the grace of God, and I hope you will join us in the work by praying. As a body we are dependent upon one another, and I have never been more convinced of my need for help than I am now.
I am going to be teaching in Spanish, and although I am not perfect, I have been told I am understandable. After a strong exhortation from Pastor John, I have decided to go ahead and try to communicate the Word of God in the language of the people we are ministering to. We pray God will be gracious.
The Lord has given me a verse to strengthen us and remind us of the kind of help Danielle and I have. In Jeremiah 20:11 it says, “but the Lord is with me as a mighty and awesome one…” I especially like it in spanish as it reads, “Mas Jehová está conmigo como poderoso gigante…” Which translates, God is with me as a powerful giant. That is the Lord’s promise to all of us who have put their faith in Him. He has called us all to preach the Gospel, and then know that He is with us even to the end of the age. Danielle and I will fall back on this verse when things get difficult and we don’t know what to do.
Our plan it to continue to live at the Bible College in Cajamarca for the next year and continue our studies, so that I can graduate. Lord willing, I also will be teaching a class at the Bible College in my last semester, spring of 2015. We will be making the 2.5 hour bus ride each saturday and then coming back after service on Sunday. We are trusting in the Lord to give us strength to help us with the travels, ministry, and studies.
We will keep the updates coming, and I hope to have some pictures up soon after the 29th.
We are so blessed by the support we have received from back in Fort Bragg and here in South America. Thank you again so much for remembering us in your prayers.
With a lot of love,
Cory and Danielle
P.S. If you would like to help support us financially you can find more information at the bottom of our “About Cory and Danielle” Page. There is a link on the top of our front page here at gospelsouthamerica.com. Thank you, and God bless!
Hi everyone! It’s been a little while since our last update, and we have been very busy and very blessed. We are beginning to feel more at home in the mountains of Peru, and what once seemed very foreign just seems normal now. We have been blessed studying the Bible and serving here at the Bible College, and we love the group of people we get to live around. The community and living on campus as a family is really a blessing, and is very different than the states. We love seeing the construction come along, and watching the Lord provide day by day.
One of the highlights of the semester has been our mission trips to a small town of a few thousand people, called Chilete. We have had kids festivals, music outreaches, movies, and dramas; and the response we have seen has been amazing. God has really been working in this little town. We had close to 50 kids show up at our last festival, and more people received the Lord in our last trip. We are continuing to pray for the work in Chilete, and we will be heading back May 17th. As a Bible College and church, we are hoping to plant a church there in the near future.
I want to share one of the sweetest moments we’ve have had here in Peru. During our last trip to Chilete we did several dramas that portray the gospel. I was chosen to be Jesus (I’m the only one with a beard lol), and they were all really a blessing. We had a big group of kids and adults watching, and it seemed to make impact.
During one of the skits we portrayed the crucifixion with my hands and feet being nailed, and a Roman soldier piercing my side. After the play we had a lot of kids running around, and we were playing with them and loving on them. Then one cute little girl came up to me. She was probably about 9 and a little shy, but she wanted to talk to me. I got down a little closer to hear because she was speaking in Spanish and very quietly. She then pointed to my hands and to my side, and asked me, “Did they really do that to Jesus?” I answered yes. She wanted to why know why. I got to tell her about how much God loves her, and that He sent His Son to die for her. We talked for a little while and when I asked her if she understood she nodded yes. When we were finished talking, I gave her a big hug and she walked away smiling.
After she left, I thought this why Danielle and I are here. To love the people we meet and share the love of Christ to them. It was just a few minutes, but it was something I will never forget, and I hope the little girl remembers it for the rest of her life as well. To have a little girl want to know about the pierced hands and feet was beyond sweet. Danielle and I were so thankful to be able to tell her about Jesus, and we keep all of Chilete in our prayers.
Here is a picture Danielle got while I was talking to her
Well, I hope you were blessed, and thank you for keeping up with and praying for. We miss everyone back in the states very much, and you are in our prayers as well. Until next time. God bless you all!
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Planting Churches and Making Disciples in South America
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