Follow the Peru2009 Team

Thank you to all who are following this journey! I absolutely LOVE sharing God's work!!!
The majority of the team updates will be at the following site! We will be posting on there through out the trip too! Follow us all the way!
http://gatewayinperu.blogspot.com/

The Physical

Well here it is three weeks to Peru! God has shown me time and time again how HE overcomes my weaknesses. My battle now is this old flesh. As much as I try and say GOD HELP, I just can't seem to say no to the snacks and the not so healthy foods. I have tried so many different eating habits; I know it is the lack of exercise that is the key. SO today I started an exercise regiment that I pray will help me get physically ready for this journey! I plan to work out twice a day at least three days a week.
Lord Help me to say with my actions and my choices that I love you MORE than my desires!

VBS ADVENTURE!

Well, It looks like the Lord wants to teach me more than what a VBS is He wants me to learn all the inn's and outs of a VBS! Listen to this:

Last Sunday, 4-29 was our first team meeting and Amy, our team leader asked the group to be praying about heading up the organization of the VBS for our team. My first thoughts were that this is not my church body and I know ZERO about VBS. Through the week I prayed to the Lord and shared with Him that if no one else would do it then I would but didn't really want to take that on beings I know nothing about it. WELL....here's what happened at this weeks meeting; Amy asked who wanted to lead the organizing of the VBS. No one had responded! Mike, our ChildReach leader for Gateway church had shown us a folder that ChildReach had sent him to help organize our VBS if we need it. I looked around the room and saw that no one was volunteering for the job. I spoke out and told the group that I knew NOTHING about VBS, never been in one nor ever have I been part of leading one!
I told Mike that if I could have that book I could do it if no one else would. Well... turns out that was me volunteering for the job!!!! YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh dear!

I am so excited for this and what the Lord wants to show me and how He wants to use me. I know and trust He will do amazing things. It is kinda fun being vulnerable so much so that I HAVE TO DEPEND ON GOD. I know there is no way I can do this, BUT HE can and will.
Praise the Lord He has given me two ladies on my organizational team that have been on this trip before and 7 other ladies who are willing to help organize this! I know I can not do this alone either and will need every single one of them to get the whole vision that God wants for this VBS!
Psalm 37:5
"Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass."

TRUST is the one thing God has been asking me to do through this entire trip. First He said Trust Me that I have called you to serve on this trip, this year. Now He says Trust Me that I will give you exactly what you need to bring My vision to life for this VBS.

GOD YOU ARE SO AWESOME!

Are you Spring Cleaning?

As most of you know I am going to Peru in June to help in an Orphanage through ChildReach Ministries with a team from Gateway church in Blue Springs. ChildReach also takes care of pregnant girls for numerous reasons and houses them as well. The Orphanage is called Hogar de Ninos and the home for the pregnant girls is Hannah’s Home. There is a need for some items at the campus and our team is looking for donations to bring with us! If you are cleaning things out and want to donate any of the items listed below I would love to arrange to have them picked up! We are packing on June 4th so please contact me before that date so I can make arrangements!
Comment on here or
Facebook me!
Thank you for being a part of God's Mission to reach the world with the Gospel and the love of Christ!
If you want to know more about ChildReach you can visit their web page:
http://www.childreachministries.org/


 Board games for young people, in Spanish
 Inspirational books for the girls, ages 12-17, in Spanish
 Inspirational movies for the girls, ages 12-17
 Movies for children younger than age 12
 Spanish-English dictionaries
 Balloons, many different colors
 Sandals for 12-17 year old girls. (Sizes 4-6)
 Tennis shoes for 12-17 year old girls. (Sizes 4-6)
 Clothes for 12-17 year old girls. (Maternity and non maternity, sizes 3-5 for pants, small for shirts)
o Shorts
o Capri’s
o Pants
o Summer Tops
o T-shirts
o Long sleeve shirts
o Sweatshirts
o Pajamas
o Underwear
o Bras?
o Socks (obviously these don’t come in Maternity ;- ) )

 Tall kitchen trash bags
 Knitting and crocheting supplies
o Yarn in different colors
o Knitting needles, crotchet hooks
o Instruction books in Spanish
 Breast pump
 Play mat for babies
 Bathtub for babies
 Exercise CD for pregnant girls
 Bottle brushes
 Bottle sterilizer
 Rectangular tablecloths (4)

Five More Weeks

Well Here we are just about five weeks from time to depart for Peru! I thought I would post some more details on the current events.
Last Sunday we had our first meeting and we have around 30 people signed up for the trip. The majority of us are women! Yep that's right, WOMEN!!!! God is really going to do a work!!!
We will depart on June 6 about and return on June 13Th.
While we are there we will provide a service project for the Orphanage and facilitate a Vacation Bible School.
This vacation Bible School project has got me a little nervous! I have never attended or participated in one and I know NOTHING about one!!!! This will be quite the adventure for me! LOL...
Most of my experience with children has been of the older age children not the little ones!!! I am excited for the adventure!!!

Recently I have been away from the home for Peru meetings or when I am home have been doing homework for an Esther study I have been a part of for the past ten weeks and so have not been able to spend as much time with the husband. He totally is supportive and understands that with just a few more weeks left I have to get ready! He is so sweet and has been sending me encouraging scriptures on my facebook note every few days!
I just know how he is feeling right now. Several times it has been me staying behind and watching him go places, like when he went to Africa in 2005, like everyone I knew and was connected to was gone on that trip! I felt so alone and disconnected from them. I was used to having constant communication with them all the time! I know Bill is already feeling the disconnection, I did weeks before the Africa team left as they were meeting and preparing so much for the trip. I helped as much as I could to be with them but it is not the same as being part of the team that is going!
I know all of this is random but I had to document it!!!!

Two of our team members, Amy D and Emily have been so kind as to teach us Survival Spanish! That class started tonight and it was so fun! I really hope I grasp the language this time, high school Spanish was not my best class!!!
Me llamo Carolyna (My name is Carolyn)
Hasta luego!!! (See you later)

Dora to Peru!

Well I am leaving for Peru in two months! I am so excited... I picked up a ton of balloons the other day, I heard the children LOVE them, and I found some Dora The Explorer sticker work books! They teach letters, shapes and numbers! AND there are some stickers that have English and Spanish on them!!! I just know the kids are going to love those! I only found three of those.. I am sure the Lord has three special children picked out that are going to receive those! I hope I am not expecting too much for their excitement...

Random Thoughts of February 16th

God is CRAZY about me...
So crazy He scared and marked His ENTIRE BODY for me and for you! He did this so the WHOLE world could see Him say, "I love you this much!"
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
This scripture continues to speak so loudly to me!

I still can not fathom the Love of God for me...
I think of the heartache God had to experience when he sent Jesus to pay for our sin! This is what I think of as I try to imagine how it was for Him.
I see God sitting in Heaven, watching His creation, knowing that He can not be with us in our sinful state that we are in.
Here with me is my Son (Jesus). It is almost as if God wanted more children. I like to parallel it to a family that has one child and they see other children with no parents, orphans. These parents, their hearts break for those children knowing what they are missing out on because they do not know the love of a Father and Mother. This family wants so much to give these children what they don't have that they sacrifice certain financial comforts and this means the children they already have do with out some things that they might like to have so that these other children can know the Love of a Father and Mother.
God gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we could Know the Love of THE FATEHR!
John 3:16.
God,
What do you want me to sacrifice in my life so that more children (lost) will know of your Love for them and join us in your Kingdom?
Romans 8:15, Ephesians 1:13.

As I continue to ponder the scripture in Isaiah 54:1-3, I am remembering when I was sharing with Suzan at the air port a few seeks ago. Suzan had asked if Bill and I had ever considered adoption. I told her how we had pursued foster care and adoptions several years ago, every time we would start down a path God would close the door. I do still have a desire for adoption but Bill and I do not have the same heart toward that. Bill says he is too old to be starting a family. My perspective on the situation is that our hearts are not the same, we don't agree. I believe adoption is not God's plan for us during this season of our lives.
For some time I have been praying for God to change one of our hearts so they are the same on this issue of having a family. I was SURE that it would be Bill's heart God would change!
NOT... While I was sharing all of this with Suzan God was revealing to me that it was my heart He was working on! Not taking away the desire but expanding it...
I told Suzan that I thought God was changing my heart and I felt like He was asking us to be LIMITLESS in our lives. If we adopted one or two children, realistically, that would limit us in how many children we could touch and share the Love of God with.
I am not in any way putting God in a box... I am listening to His Voice...and for Bill and Carolyn; He is taking us on this journey to show us what he does want from our lives.

To some this probably all sounds crazy... Well I guess it is... But God is crazy about me... He gave up having one Son so He could have many son's!!!! Romans 8:16, I John 3:1-2
God is transforming me from the inside out and yes it is painful at times but listen when I say... I AM FULFILLED IN CHRIST! Yes sometimes it is hard but when I meditate on what it meant for God to SACRIFICE the way He did for me... I am honored to walk this path with my Heavenly Father. It is like He and I have something in common in our relationship! That makes me feel like I am special to Him!

I also look at it like this:
Policemen, Firemen, Doctors, Nurses, Service men and women are considered or looked at as "Hero's" because of the work they do.... SO, how is my commitment to God's calling on my life any different?

Yes, I am crazy,
Crazy about my Savior, My God
My Jesus!
AREN'T YOU CRAZY ABOUT THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE...