Everly

Well...here is one story of many from our trip. On the very left of this picture is a young man named Everly. Everly was part of the group of 20 boys that Ken, Anita and I talked to in the poor, sandy neighborhood in Lima. Here is his story.... Everly's story with Jesus started a few years ago when his mother died in his arms. When this happened, he told God he would never forgive him for this. Well, also in his life Everly's grandma was very abusive towards him and his father was a working criminal. About 2 weeks before we came to his neighborhood he was visited by a person who was part of a "Spiritus" religion. Everly felt do depressed and hopeless he said he was willing to listen to anything. Then our group came... Everly said he was so confused that when we came and Ken spoke to him about Jesus, his confusion went away and God touched his heart. Everly then came to our "Joshua Generation" camp. During this time, Everly sat through a teaching on forgiveness and some consequences in our lives from unforgiveness. This teaching changed Everly, he asked God to forgive him from turning from him when his mother died. After that, he began to work through forgiving the family members that hurt him. He called his father, and they have started a new relationship together.
Everly's life has been completely transformed because of the love of Jesus.

So...when we open our mouths to preach the gospel, we release the glory of God. The Glory of God is now made evident in Everly's life.

We're HOME!

Hello Everyone!

Just to let you know, we are back in Pittsburgh...safe, happy, and healthy. We got back to our house about 5:30 pm Monday. And for those of you who did not hear...we had a little mouse problem while we were gone...aaarrrggg (welcome back to western pa :) So far Matt has caught about 12 mice, (he calls it a massacre)and I am sure there will be more. Just a little side note - I was in South America on the mission field and I never saw a mouse in any of the houses I stayed in.

So we have some wonderful news. From the 9 weeks we were gone we are so blessed to let you know that over 5,000 people prayed with our team to dedicate their lives to Jesus. We worked with approximately 20 churches who are now in the process of following up with these people, getting them bibles, transportation, and discipleship. Some of our team members also stayed back to aid the churches in follow-up.

We have some wonderful individual stories of some of the people we talked to and how Jesus has changed their lives. Tomorrow (or the next day) I want to post their stories. Because it was from your giving that made these stories possible...

We love you all

catch up

hey friends...been real busy lately, but wanted to give some highlights. we are currently working with Joshua Generation in Peru. We are serving as staff for the Peruvian youth that have been trained and are now performing on the streets and sharing Jesus. They are an amazing bunch.

we have about 6 days left...and that is probably a good thing. :) it will be good to get home and get some rest. we get home on monday feb 9th.

some other random highlights...got to watch the super bowl at a big sports bar in lima...it was listed on the pittsburgh post gazette website as an official steeler WORLD spot...so we went to check it out and had a great time. david got his first peruvian hair cut yesterday..and he hated every minute of it. hair everywhere! and both david and abby continue to speak more spanish...david loves to say agua!

we are healthy and doing well...thanks for all the prayers, but keep them coming! we need prayer!

love you all and see you soon!
matt (not the usual poster to this blog! sorry for any lack of quality that you may be previously used to! sarah will be back soon!)