Dearest Friends,
PLEASE FORGIVE US!!!!!! This email was written to you at the end of our Peru trip, but none of us were aware that you never received it until now. There were some sweet blessings in it that I did not want you to miss since it was your prayers that made all of this possible.
I returned from Peru and Brazil last Monday, but I am not home now. The following day, Tuesday, the summer team came to the house and we began to practice and prepare for our summer ministry. God has given me an amazing group of young people to travel with and I expect the Lord to do wonderful things through these excited friends. Presently, we are in Sevierville, TN sharing with many children in daycare facilities, churches, camps, and at a library. Today, we heard children praying out loud, calling on Jesus to save them! Praise God!
One little girl raised her hand at the end of the show and asked, "Is God with us through every situation?" That is quite a question for a little girl who is only 10 or 11 years old. I went around the puppet team and asked each one for an answer and then I answered, too. All of us assured her that the Father always cares and is always with us. I wondered what troubled her so much that she asked such a question. That morning I told her the story of Joseph and how in good times, bad times, all the time, he trusted God to care for him. Please pray for her!
Please pray for us as we are sharing here through Wednesday night and then will make a very early drive (4AM) to Snellville and Atlanta for more shows on Thursday and Friday. Pray for safe travel and strength as several of us have not fully recovered from the food poisoning that we got in Peru.
THREE SHOWS and MANY BLESSINGS!!!
Each day is so full of the sweetest opportunities to tell children about Jesus and His love! Yesterday, we did 3 shows, one at a Sunday School in a poor area, the second outside on a community basketball court in the same area, and the last program was at an orphanage.
At each show, we heard the most wonderful sound. We heard children calling on Jesus, asking him to be their Savior. This was especially dear to us because the children in Ayachuo and in the mountains are very shy, so we had only heard a few praying in soft whispers. I do not know why these little ones were comfortable with a more public response, but we were blessed!
I especially enjoyed a new Spanish song that we tried. The children loved it and they loved the Spanish drama that our Brazilian Directors had brought with them. This was a program that Gerson and Fabianna Simoni had developed for their mission trip to Argentina. We begin a work and then our puppet directors make it spread out across the countries where they live and even their continents. It is like watching the ripples in a pond!
We felt the Lord’s care for us during every part of the day. At the last minute, a door opened for us to be able to go to the orphanage. We had difficulties with translators being late or unable to understand the story. Every time the Lord solved our problems and provided someone to help us!
Even last night, after our programs and dinner, we scheduled a training class as we do every evening. Would you beg for a class after a 10 hour day? Our new team is so eager to learn that I teach every evening until 11PM and later. God sent us a Scottish missionary lady to help us with the translation. Always we see the Father’s care!
A speaker fell from the top of a bookshelf, a full 6 feet, and barely missed our translator. However, neither she nor the speaker were hurt. Lisa and Katy had the strength to do puppets even though they were recovering from the stomach problems that we all have. The air is very dirty here and my asthma is really bothering me, but at each show, God gave me the strength that I needed to tell very energetic stories. You cannot be too dramatic in this place!
A little boy threw a rock at me and it hit the glass beside me, but the window did not even crack. As for the little boy, he was just angry with his life, not me. Abuse of all kinds is common where he lives. Everyone is poor and too many are drunk. I do not want to imagine what he goes home to every day. I may not know his name, but God knows. Please pray for him to come to faith. He heard the Gospel on a basketball court Sunday afternoon.
Please continue to pray as we have this last day of programs and then tomorrow, we finish the training, before we fly at midnight.
In Jesus, Linda for the Team, in America and in Peru