This has been a amazing week. God has been helping us with our Spanish and given us many opportunities to talk with people. On Wednesday we played soccer with some of the local kids and invited them to church. As I am writing this two of the kids are hanging out with us in an internet cafe. On Thursday we walked the streets handing out tracks, then went to the church service at 7. One of the older men in the church really got a kick out of me. He told me I would lose my extra weight walking the streets of Pisco. I laughted and told him I needed to lose it. I am really loving the people.

I think we will learn alot about ministry from Pastor Zabiato and the church in Pisco. What impressed me is how much work he puts into the ministry. We have been out with him almost every afternoon and he has a Sunday morning and night service, as well as a Tuesday and Thursday night service.

Please pray for us, tomorrow we start a childrens program at 10am, then we will walk the streets handing out tracts, and finally we will help with a teen program Saturday night. I am excited but kind of nervous. We will rest in God and trust him to give us ¨"...the will and to do of his good pleasure(Phil 2:13)."

Also pray that we will be good examples to this church, almost all of them are first generation Christians who have been saved two years or less.

With love to my Church family and all my friends,
-Ryan

Walking the streets handing out tracks with Pastor Zabiato

The church we are working with

The other three members of the team acting crazy on a pier

Our hotel for most of the first week

Having some fun in front of the church we are working at.

Me in front of the church Titus interned at for a year

Picture from the missions compound we are staying at in Lima

Church in the center of Mexico City

Picture from outside our hotel window in Mexico City

We are staying at a missions compond in Lima getting ready to leave for Pisco in the morning. Today we exchanged some of our money for Soles and stoped by a Gas Station to grab breakfast. For lunch Titus' Peruvian family gave us a amazing meal that had chicken and green rice. The rice had ground up spinich and cilantro on it and it was all very good. We had a great time praticing our Spanish with them. Now we are getting reading to go do a bit more shoping and get ready for Pisco.

This place is beautiful, as I am typing this I am looking out the window at some mountains that I am dying to hike.

See you later my friends, please pray for us.

Hello I writing to you from Lima, Peru. We have had a great time so far. We just got into Lima about 11pm last night. The 22 hour layover in Mexico City was great. We stayed at a Holiday Inn near a mall that had a SuperWalmart. After we got a good nights sleep we took a taxi to the center of Mexico City. There was a Old Catholic Church, street vendors, and some people doing traditional dances. It was fun walking around and checking out the buildings.

After we went back to the hotel George stayed there to finish some homework, while Titus and I ran across the street to check out the mall. It was cool checking out a Walmart in Mexico, to bad I had left my discount card in the hotel. Titus and I even grabed a BigMac at a McDonalds.

Well this has been a crazy week but I am almost ready to go. For those of you that don't know my mom had a small stroke on Saturday. The cool thing is she seems to be recovering well from it. She even went back to work on Wednesday. Please remember her in your prayers.

Tomorrow the Peru team will drive to Chicago and stay at someones house for the night. Then on Saturday we will go to the airport for our flight that leaves at 2:00pm. I am thinking of watching Motorcycle Diaries tonight to get ready for Peru.

Chau

When we get to Lima we will meet up with Jairo the fourth member of our team. From there we will grab a bus to Pisco. Once we arrive in Pisco we will settle down and meet up with Pastor Zubieta. We will be working with his church Primera Iglesia Bautista de Pisco for several weeks. We plan to do a children's program like Vacation Bible School, street witnessing, and also work with the believers in the church. Jairo will also be working on our language skills for two hours every day. I am very excited to see how God will work.

I thank my church family and friends for their prayers and financial support. Please pray for our safety, that we would be able to communicate well, and that Jesus would use us to accomplish his purposes in Pisco.

I am getting ready to leave for Peru. Titus, George and I will meet up in Chicago on the 19th and fly out on the 20th. Right now I kind of feel like a pin cushion as I got two shots on Tuesday and I will be getting another one today.