Snow!

Snow is something we won't be seeing in Peru...so, we are enjoying it while it lasts here in Oregon. Check out our family blog here to see more pictures!

Kai wasn't too sure about the snow...I'm thinking he is more of a warm weather boy...Peru here we come!

Extreme Purpose

Brian, the Director of Extreme Nazarene, sent us the official purpose statement the other day.

"The purpose of EXTREME is to seek and deploy people into an extreme global expansion of the Kingdom of God by prayerfully and thoughtfully engaging the specific talents, skills, experience and resources God has given them and to further develop them into permanent full-time constructors of the Kingdom."

I found this statement so perfect because it so perfectly describes just what Extreme has done for us. We had been seeking the Lord and asking what He wanted for us, where He wanted us to go...we were willing but we just didn't know where to go or what to do. We began praying and seeking last January, we tried many avenues and the Lord closed many doors. When we heard about Extreme Peru we knew this was what we had been waiting for, what the Lord had been "holding" us for. The Lord is so good and we feel so blessed to be a part of this ministry. We are thankful to the Lord and thankful to the visionaries of Extreme for providing an avenue to serve the Lord and spread the Gospel to the nations!

Passports!!

Kai and my passports came in the mail yesterday! Tyson's had a different process but should be here soon too. Here is Kai checking his out:) Peru here we come!!!

What We Will Be Doing

Our position with Extreme will be in the role of Cluster Support for Puerto Maldonado. The official job description says:
"Responsible for all local logistics, communications, accounting, safety, goals progress and results, security of 40/40 site work. Serves as pastor, mentor, motivator, protector, teacher, counselor to the 40/40 missionaries at this base of operations."

Let me give you a little background of the vision of Extreme Peru so this makes a little more sense. The vision of Extreme Peru is to plant 120 churches in 3 years. There are 7 different cities that they will be sending clusters to and there are multiple communities and areas within those cities that the 40/40 missionaries will be going to to share Jesus with.

First, what is a 40/40:
"40/40 is a revolutionary new missionary strategy created by Extreme Nazarene in a partnership with Nazarene World Mission that seeks, trains and deploys pairs of single volunteer missionaries. These missionaries are sent to share the good news of Jesus Christ through planting community centric churches using Jesus Film and other evangelistic tools, compassion projects and aggressive and personalized discipleship. The 40/40 pairs will consist of one single Peruvian National and one single North American (or other non-Peruvian). The pair will proceed through six months of accelerated job training followed by eighteen months of evangelism, compassion and discipleship to plant three churches."

Puerto Maldonado will be the first cluster deployed and we will have 4 sets of 40/40s (4 Americans, 4 Peruvians). We will live in a house with them, downstairs will be our home, the middle floor will be a place for short term teams to stay and the top floor will be where the 40/40s live. We are excited about our role because we get to mentor, support and love these missionaries as they spread the love and hope of Jesus Christ as well as work alongside them and take care of logistical details so they can better serve their communities.

This is a very rough and brief idea of what we will be doing. I'm sure things will change and adapt as we get there, especially since we are the first cluster so everything is new to everyone. But, this should give you some idea of how to begin to pray for us...

Puerto Maldonado Cluster Base Biography

With a population of just 41,394, it's easy to overlook Puerto Maldonado. For precisely this reason, the gospel of Jesus Christ hasn't reached many of the local residents of the area. Once outside of Puerto Maldonado, small villages dot the dirt roads and rivers that crisscross the thick Amazon jungle.As with the other jungle sites, ecotourism is beginning to gain in popularity and as a result Puerto Maldonado has seen double and even triple digit growth in tourist visas granted through the small airport just outside of town. Puerto Maldonado exhibits the characteristics of a small remote town through its lack of infrastructure. The town is cut in two by the river and as of yet, no bridge exists to connect the two halves so car ferries are the only way to get people and vehicles to the roads on the other side.

In January 2008, the Nazarene Church touched down for the first time in Puerto Maldonado to establish church work there. Pastor Freddy Zapata arrived on scene without a single friend, not even so much as a contact and within 3 months had a mission church started with 15 members. The people are hungry to hear about the power and saving grace of Jesus Christ in Puerto Maldonado.

Just after dark, a tiny house sits quietly with a single dim red light that hangs from the hastily constructed ceiling. Standing in the doorway of this house appears the shadowy silhouette of a young woman in her early teens. A paying customer approaches her and they fade into the dark house. Her two year old son stays outside the house, playing in the street or just sitting on the curb waiting for his mother to reappear. This young woman's house is just one of dozens with similar red lights filled with dozens of young women, too many with innocent young kids left unattended along this dark dirt road cutting right through the middle of Puerto Maldonado. Many of these young girls are orphans or victims of a shattered family and have gotten trapped in this devastating trade that appears to have no exits. Pastor Freddy's vision for the Nazarene Church in Puerto Maldonado is to provide an exit. He wants to open up the doors of the church to the women of these brothels, to the drug addicts, to the alcoholics who have hit rock bottom and have nowhere to turn. Extreme Nazarene has agreed to partner with Freddy through the 40/40 project in this venture. The "Hope House" will be a place of detoxification, refuge and hope as the healing and redeeming power of Jesus Christ is displayed 24-hours a day for its precious and fragile patients

Extreme Peru