Happy Pi Day everyone! (March 14, or 3/14 for 3.14) In high schools and universities everywhere, math teachers are trading in the books today for games, shenanigans and eating all sorts of pies for the auspicious holiday known as Pi Day. Today, we salute you, Mr. 3.14159265359….. and maybe after some apple pie we might watch the new movie, “The Life of Pi” which we heard won many awards. Viva 3.14.

In other news, whether Peru knows that Pi Day is an international holiday sensation or not, we just want to praise God for the many blessings that he has given us this week. This week has not been an emotionally easy one for either one of us. In fact, circumstances beyond our control with people back home in the States (that we are so far away from to be present with right now),as well as our own personal “hash out” times with God over personal circumstances at the present time were difficult. However, we praise God for so many things:

1. The MAD team from Brisbane was able to leave in 2 shifts on Wednesday and Thursday to start their journey back to Brizzy for DTS graduation. It was wonderful to be a part of their debrief session and to hear what God has been teaching them over the past 7-8 weeks. It makes me think back on our own DTS outreach and how the Lord grew me so much and now that I’m removed from that season I can clearly see what the Lord was growing and pruning in my life. 

The PhotogenX team is doing amazing things for the Kingdom!

2. The Kona PhotogenX team (a second-level school that has lectures around the world while doing photo-journalism about social justice issues) is also here from helping Bud Lenz in Puerto Maldonado. Five wonderful girls stayed with us (and the 3 guys got to stay with Eric) for 2 days until the MAD team could move out of the 3rd floor. I know that they will only be with us in Cusco for 2 weeks, but the body of Christ is so amazing! Only through the nature of Christ and His love in us for other people make 8 new strangers feel like family in a few short hours of conversing and eating pizza together. And small world, one of the leaders Andrew, was telling us that their next step after Peru is to travel to Thailand! And when I asked, “Chiang Mai?” he said “Yes, and do you know Emmi? (Emmi is our friend that runs the Christian coffeehouse in Chiang Mai, called WonGen) and the PhotogenX team is going to hep her in a few weeks to serve at WonGen! Wow, small world! (For those of you who don’t know, David and I did our DTS Chiang Mai just outside of the city in Mae Taeng).  

3. Another cool blessing is that as we were saying our “see you laters” to the MAD team (I don’t do well with the word, “goodbye”), Amanda (from Singapore) came up to me and told me that “This is really hard for me, because I love these pants (indicates a pair of emerald green Thai fisherman’s pants) but I feel like God wants me to give them to you, so here you go!” What amazing generosity on her part! But what I told Amanda is that she could not have known this (I never told her, “hey, I’m going to steal your cool pants”), is that I’ve been telling David every now and then, “man, I really wish I would have bought some fisherman’s pants in Thailand…but I didn’t…. (I didn’t bring any “lounge around the house” pants with me) and through Amanda’s generosity, Jesus said “you see how much I care for you? You think that I wouldn’t notice this one tiny desire that you had. But I want to bless you by giving you this tiny wish that you wanted in the back of your mind so that you will trust me for the bigger things that you want and that you will KNOW that I will deliver all of your wants and desires.” Thanks Daddy! I needed those words this week!

picture these in an emerald green color: these are fisherman’s pants from Thailand. 100% cotton. 100% comfy. 100% a blessing!

4. To prove those words even further, several financial things have been met this week that we didn’t publicly announce, but through many people, God has provided YWAM Cusco with enough money to purchase all of our bunk beds and mattresses for the new teams that will come in the future! God also provided David and I with enough money to purchase a washing machine from a friend (when we move soon) and to bless one of our friends moving back with his family to Argentina. AND we were able to pay for our one-time property insurance fee with Pacifico (which is giving us peace of mind as well as protecting our possessions while living in Peru). THANK YOU JESUS! YOU PROVIDE IN SO MANY LITTLE WAYS AND WE LOVE IT!

5. We also were able to start saving some for our future vehicle and our new place. Moving note: David and I are moving out of our current apartment before September in order to make room for our DTS students who will be coming! This is a really exciting time to see YWAM Cusco expand and grow! Our friend, Rachel Lenz, has decided to cut her teaching hours down so that she can be on staff with YWAM Cusco! Welcome Rachel! 

SO MUCH TO BE THANKFUL TO GOD FOR! Please continue to pray for YWAM Cusco; for Latino/Peruvian staff for this upcoming DTS in September. PRAISE: we have inquiries about students for the upcoming World Missions 101 Summer Program so pray that God will provide financially for these high-schoolers/college aged youth who feel called to come serve with us this summer. Please pray for our residency process to start. Please pray for provision of a new apartment/house (specifically in Larapa/Santa Maria neighborhood, a place with good lighting, space for a garden and a garage)

And please send us your prayer requests so that we can be praying and partnering with you too! We love each and every one of you and thank you, just for being yourself. Blessings amigos, I’ve got a slice of pie to eat!