Video of Church in Oropesa

A Day With The Police

So the other day my partner Eli and I were in Oropesa and decided to get something to eat. As we were eating we ended up talking to the guy that owns the menu. He ends up telling us about this crazy possessed 25 year old guy in the town and tells us where the Priest for the Catholic Church lives. So we end up finishing and walking toward the Priest’s house. We knock on the door and the Priest answered. We started talking with him and asked a few questions. After about 10 minutes he tells us that he’s got something to do in 5 minutes so maybe we could talk later, so we went our separate ways. We ended up noticing that the big Catholic Church was open and we walked in just because I had never been in one especially here in Peru. As we walked in we noticed we had just walked in on them starting mass and here in Peru it is rude to walk in and then walk back out. We sat in the front row as people started piling in behind us. The Priest entered also and started singing with the nuns. My partner Eli loves to take pictures and record things so he pulled out his phone and started recording them singing. Right in the middle of the mass the Priest walks down in front of everybody right to our seats and asks if we are recording. We answered “yes we are.” He then asked for the phone, so we handed the phone to him and he lectured us in front of everyone saying how disrespectful we are and we are hypocrites and we can’t change their culture. After this he proceeds to take the phone and give it to one of the nuns. At this point Eli and I are kind of stunned at what was happening. There are tourists all over Cusco taking pictures, videos and recording things. After everyone walks out of the temple, the Priest comes back to us and starts lecturing us more. We tried telling him that we were not doing anything with bad intentions but he just said, “I don’t believe you.” He ended up getting a police officer to come and ask us questions and escort us out of the temple. The police officer turned out to be a real nice guy. We ended up having to give our info and have pictures taken of us. I also decided to smile during the pictures. The police officer ends up telling us to be careful because the Priests here in Peru have authority over the police and the president. He told us that if he was angry enough with us he could have sounded the church bell and people from all over the town would have come to beat us up. I’m glad that did not happen. But I thought the day went well and God defiantly helped us out. After, we went to the possessed guy’s house and talked with his mom and prayed with her and over the house. We are going back on Tuesday. We are praying a ton for this. We would appreciate if you could also pray about this and that God would equip us with what we need and that we would believe with 100% of our hearts that God can do it.

A new Concept of Worship

So this blog is going to be a little different. I'm going to talk about two subjects and I'm going to ask a few questions and I hope you will answer in your in your own way.

(You can worship in many way's, but this blog is going to be talking about singing and worshipping)

So what do you normally expect from worship? Just like little things, you know, like it's going to be like the last time, or it's going to be awesome and I'm going to have this encounter with God. Have you ever thought any of these things before you worshipped then were somewhat disappointed at the end?

Well I think the reality of it is that we need to stop having expectations of worship. If we want an encounter with God and want just to give Him our complete thanks, than we need to leave all the expectations at the door.

Now what about distractions? Tell me some distractions you have personally during worship. LIke for example what you're doing later, or singing really quiet so nobody can hear you, and we have the opposite where we sing loud so people can hear us. Well I could go on and on all day about different distractions we have but it all boils down to if we understand what the "Heart of Worship" is. What is it to you?

Mike Donehey said "I want to be so distracted by the beauty of Christ that I actually forget about myself altogether."

Well if this is the true "Heart of Worship" then what we need to do is forget about ourselves and put all our focus on God and God alone.

Like this one time I went to Scott's cafe for a church service and sat in the front row. At the end of Pastor Ken's message he played a couple songs. One of the songs just happened to be my favorite one. So I decided I was going to just give my all and worship God. So when I worship I like to stand so I did. I stared to worship with all my heart, but then I realized that I was in the front row. So I started to get red and hot and wondering what people were thinking and I did one of those one eye openers to see if any one was looking at me. But I was already standing and I could not just sit back down so I stayed standing. Then I just tried to worship the best I could but still I was distracted.

So we have those days also were we don't feel like worshiping. But we also have those days were we do want to do our daily devotion. So what do we do we take responsibility and just do it. Well in the book of Leviticus when the people wanted to bring in a Thank Offering it had to be perfect and without blemish. But then the weird thing is that when they killed it they would have to lay their head upon the head of the animal and then kill it. Now you may be asking "Alex why are you telling me this?" But the reality it of it is that this was their way of saying, "This is my offering and it is perfect and with out blemish." They took responsibly over there worship their offering.

Let's take responsibility of our worship.

My day Off

So the other day on a Monday to be exact, I wanted to go to a gym to work out. During my 3 months in Cusco so far I have yet to go to the gym. So I decided I was finally going to go. I grabbed a combi and sat in the front seat wearing gym shorts, a t-shirt and a backpack. So while sitting in the front seat I asked the driver if he knew were I could find a gym. He told me he would tell me when to get off. So I waited and about 100 different people later he says that I was at the stop were the gym was. So I get off and notice right a way that my shorts are lighter. So I checked and saw that my phone had fallen out in the combi. By the time I realized I had lost my phone the combi was 4 blocks away. So at that point I was not the happiest person but mostly just be mad at my self. I walked around trying to find the gym and after about 15 minutes I finally found it. I walked in and asked the ladies at the desk how much it was for an hour she responded with “8 soles”, Now that is super expensive, usually it is one sole an hour. So I walked out, just a little more frustrated. I got a taxi back to the house and as soon as I got there I used Cailyn’s phone to call mine in hope that the combi driver would pick it up. I repeat this about 17 times until the driver finally answers. He tells me to be at the spot were he dropped me off and he would meet with me in 30 minutes. So I grabbed my rain jacket (it was pouring down rain) a bag of Doritos because I was starving and ran out the door to grab a taxi. I ran about a mile until I found one and I was off. So I get to the bus stop were I was supposed to meet him and waited for 30 minutes. The 30 minutes felt like an hour and he still hadn’t shown up, so I call about 10 more times until he answered again. Then, he proceeded to tell me to wait 15 more minutes. So I do and call him again after the 15 minutes and he tells me that he passed me about 2 minutes ago and says he would be back in 2 hours. Now, keep in mind by this point I am soaked with water and the roads are rivers so high that there hitting the grills on cars and its raining crazy hard. So this particular Monday night we were going to have a super bowl party at a friend’s house pretty close to where I was. So I decided to go early. I start running in the pouring rain to his house while trying to call him to let him know I’ll be early. I get there and ring the bell just hoping someone was home because he did not answer his phone. But he was there and tells me that he was in a cab going to his house and was sharing that he is a Christian with the taxi driver and it just so happens that the taxi driver was also. So then Scott goes on and talks about the work we are doing and as he is explaining this, he looks out the window and sees me running in the rain and says “ look, you see that guy, he’s one of the missionaries”. So the taxi driver asked why is he running and Scott said “I have no idea?” After listening to Scott tell me that he had just seen me, I just smiled and took off all my wet stuff. After 2 hours pass I call my phone till he picked up, so the driver of the combi says “I’ll be at the buss stop in 15 minutes”. So I slowly put my wet stuff back on to go back out into the pouring rain. But as I was walking out the door I got a call from Tyler and the rest of my friends who were all on there way to the Super Bowl party. They tell me that they are on the combi that I dropped my phone on. Now they did not know this at first but when I called the driver they over heard the call and saw that it was my phone and asked for it. So I ended up getting my phone back in the most unexpected way ever. All thanks to the God all mighty and His awesome grace.

Muddy Slip and Slides

The other day I went with one of my contacts named Oswaldo to his work. Oswaldo's job is a "tecnico" which is kinda like a vet for animals in the "compo" which means out in the country. So I woke up at around 5 am and left the house around 5 30 am. I grabbed a bus and headed to Andahuaylillas where I was going to meet with him and head on out to the compo. We took a taxi for about 20 to 30 minutes up into the mountains and got out. Then we headed up higher on foot. Well, it was raining all morning so everything was very wet. Also, the road was mud so every step up the hill I sank a few inches and also slid back a few more. After trying my very best not to fall we got to the first house. Oswaldo needed to inject the bulls with vitamins. So my job was to hold the massive bull's nose with some clamps while he would inject the bull. But now let me tell you the bull's did not like that at all, so I had to cause more pain by twisting there nose with the clamps. They were just really mad at me the enter time. After finishing about 5 bull's, 2 pig's and being about 10 pounds heavier with mud I went back to Urcos and ate with him. After we were done eating I hopped on another bus and went back home. But with all that aside it was an awesome experience.

Updates
So my partner Jorge is not returning back to be my partner. And before you ask there was no explanation. So Extreme has another partner for me named Eli. He will be here on the 14th of February, so I guess he is my valentines day present.But no in all reality please pray for us. Eli and I have not really had the greatest run in's in the past and have had our problems. But Im trusting it is Gods will and everything will work out. Also on another note my 20th birthday is on February 11th!!! (Just a reminder)..

My mind is blown

So I've been doing my work now with out a peruvian partner for like about a month now and I was worried that I would not be able to do as good as a job as Jorge being he is still in his own country and being that its his language he is speaking. But let me tell you God is so awesome!! I have seen such an awesome improvement in my work. I mean about 5 new contacts in Oropesa and in Urcos not having any contacts before he left and now having about 6.. WOW!!! My mind is blown. Please continue to pray for the awesome work God is doing here in Peru through ordinary people like your self.

The BREAK Fest Club

O man were do I start?
Well December 28th we/ Beth Beers, Cailyn Stevens, Tyler and Amy Liebelt and I were getting ready to make some pumpkin pancakes as we were talking about a bunch of random stuff. Then Beth and I remember about the night before. We had heard a massive boom that was louder than a normal fire work right by the house. Well we were asking everybody if they had heard it last night. That very second another boom went off, it was at least twice as loud as the one Beth and I were taking about . This boom shook our entire house. Now let me remind you all my house is 3 stories and made out of thick concrete, so when I say this boom was loud it was loud. But any way we all run out on the balcony and see our neighbors 3 house down has smoke billowing out of the top. As we see this we see a woman running toward to explosion and seeing something as she gave out a shrieking scream. So Tyler and I grab first aid kits and ran as fast as we could over to the house. As we made our way to the door to enter into the compound there was already a crowd forming around it. Tyler and I make our way in and were shocked by what we saw. A two story house blown to pieces and a body of what was a woman on the ground covered with a blanket. We checked to see if anybody was hurt just a boy with a cut above his eye that I cleaned out for him. Not knowing what els we could do we returned back to the house and shared that a 45 year old woman had died and that we should pray for the family, so we did. Please also be in prayer for them. (If your wondering what the explosion was they were fabricating fire works and Im guessing there hole stash blew up)

Puerto Maldonado
So Tyson and Tracey Smith are some awesome people please be in prayer for them. But any way the just had a baby in Arequipa and there house in in Puerto Maldonado. After having there beautiful baby boy they found out that there house had flooded and not just any rain water but like swig/ poop water. There house and all there possessions were most likely covered with poop water. So Tyler decided to go and give a helping hand for a week.

Here are some pictures of the flooding.


This is there bathroom.


This is Tyler and I in the tub filled with the blackest poop water ever.


This is Tyler and I dumping what was in the tub of black poo


Me in the water hole trying to get the poo water out.



So one of the days we were in Puerto we decided to get the city to come and dig a canal or some kind of ditch to drain the crazy flooding in the street by the house. Because it was like this



So they came out and tore up the bridge that was there and made the canal bigger. Than they left with out fixing the bridge. So Tyson, Tyler and I decided to make a new one. Now keep in mind we are building a bridge that big trucks drive over, so you can imagine the difficulty of it. So as we are digging a man comes over saying if we cant get this bridge built then he is going to cave in the trench that was made to have the flooding drain because he needed cars to be able to get to his business down the road. So he started to help us build the bridge. As we started digging again a man starts yelling in my ear and tyler and I have no idea what he was talking about but turns out he had been trying to get the city out there to build a real trench made out of cement for a long time and he was just mad at them and he also started to help. A few minutes pass by and a 3rd guy comes. Now let me tell you this guy was mad, M A D mad. He started screaming at all of us then him and the 2nd got into it and it got pretty heated. So long story short the 3rd man shoved the 2nd guy into the poop water and picked up the shovel and threatened to hit him. We calmed him down and he ended up walking away threatening us that he was going to reck the bridge we were making. But we made it and it is jungle strong let me tell you. Here is a picture of what we like to call the money bridge.





But please join me in pray for The Smith's thank you all and God Bless.