We officially made it home to O’Hare around 1:04Pm Wednesday.  Late Tuesday night we found out that our plane from Lima to Miami had been delayed an hour, thus delaying our arrival into Chicago.  Tired, dirty and hungry this news was a breaking point for some of us.  Home sounded so wonderful and so close that this news wasn’t welcomed.  But only for a moment-the students remembered quickly the word  FLEXIBLE.  This amazing adjective had become very important to our team.  This word allowed us to remember that the Lord is ultimately in control.  Although home was so far away, our God was nearer.

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9-

This verse guided us during the trip.  It helped us remember that patience, self-control and contentment would be the attributes to help us fight irritability, anger and frustration.  Because the Lord determines our steps we could be at peace trusting his plan.

Receiving a “Welcome Home” and a stamp documenting our return, we all are pondering the work the Lord did not only through us, but in us.  God used Peru to change our hearts to the things that are on His-advancing His name among all people.

Please join us at SPC Monday July 20th from 7-9Pm to see pictures and hear stories from the team.  Email jwoerz@southparkchurch.org to RSVP by Sunday the 19th.

Thanks for all your prayers.

Deborah Kaminsky

From Steve a few minutes ago:

 

Hey all we are safely in Lima and are going for a shopping spree. Flights are all on time. Flight from Miami to Chicago flight number on the sheet is different. New flight number is aa 847.

The team went down to a river village about about 100 people two days ago.  Half the team flew in with SAM Air (15 minutes) the other half took the canoe in (2 1/2 hours).  They met up in the village and were able to entertain all the people in the village with their Guppets Show, dance and more.  They played with the children and learned about Peruvian River Village Culture!

Hey all,

The team did great today. Everyone is healthy and safe. We have gotten
adjusted to our living quarters which are very beautiful and have ac.
We practiced all of our outreach materials this evening and are
excited about how God is pulling everything together. Todd and
Stephanie have been fantastic hosts for us and were able to give us
advice on our evangelism materials and presentation. Our schedule is
flexible for the next couple of days due to an automotive strike.
Safety wise we are perfectly fine and are seeking out some alternative
travel arrangements to work on the missionary school. Todd has told us
that these strikes will typically only last a day or two because
people realize fairly fast that while on strike you don’t get paid.
We are extremely excited to get cracking on the school tomorrow and
can’t wait to see what God has in store. Pray for our team is we
adjust to the different pace of life down here and that our cultural
adaptation would be smooth. Look forward to updating you again soon.

 Tomrrow, July 6th The Peru Green Team is leaving for Peru. It would be very appreciated if you all kept up the prayers for a safe flight and a safe boat ride up river to thier destintion. Your continued support is greatly appreciated thanks again!

There are several women Steve and I would like to recognize and THANK for their commitment to our Peru Team.  

Kara Vancil  is a part of our Green Group going to Peru.  Kara lived in Pucallpa for a year.  She taught at the missionary school where we will be doing a work project.  Her expertise and knowledge of the area has been very helpful in preparing the students who are going!Sue Sipusich is the mother of the group who not only leads the Warrior Prayer Team, but helps keep me in line and is a huge encouragement to me!  She has the “Arkansas Grandmother’s” praying for us.  These ladies are elderly women who support us by praying!

Jeannine Woerz is heading up our Barnabas Group.  Her spunkiness and joy in service has been a shining example to all of us!  She will be guiding the Barnabas Team for our July 20th Welcome Home Dinner.  This dinner will be at 7pm at South Park Church.  It is open to the congregation allowing us to celebrate about how God worked in Peru!

Thank you ladies from the bottom of our hearts!

Deborah and Steve Kaminksy

Wow!!!  What a ride the past couple of weeks has been for our Peru Team.  Between our three teams, as well as lots of support, prayers, and efforts of those of you supporting us, we have made some amazing leaps in bounds in our preparations for Peru. We want to give you a full update of what we have been working on and where we are at!!!

Lets start off with what the Green Group has been working on!

The evangelism team has been hard at work practicing a public version Bridge illustration on a large scale so we can use it in a large group session to show what Jesus did for us on the cross.  They will be the lead team in sharing the gospel on a personal level with non- believers in Pucallpa.

The puppet team has been very creative in coming up with different ways to share the gospel with the youth in Pucallpa.  They have taken 5 different skits and come up with interactive puppet shows that will help illustrate Christ’s work on the Cross for us. They also have several skits for young believers that will illustrate how we should live our lives as believers.

Finally the green groups dance team has been working diligently at working up several interpretive dances that will show Gods love for us through song and dance.  We have seen one of these examples at South Park Church when they shared with us a dance piece to the song of Arise My Love.

The Barnabas Group has been working creatively with each of our Green Group teams to help get all the materials we will need in Peru together.  They are also working very hard at putting together a love and care package for Todd and Stephanie Edgar that will have different love gifts, messages, and pictures of friends and family that they know. We hope that this will serve as a great encouragement for them.

Finally lets take a look at what the Warrior Group has been up to.

Sue Sipusich along with the rest of the Warrior team have been doing an amazing job at supporting our team through prayer.  They each of taken a couple of names of each of our team members to pray for and intercede for during this entire missions trip.  But they have taken it even farther than just that.  They have sent out letters and prayer cards to each of their families and friends from coast to coast so that this missions trip will literally have dozens of people praying for us throughout our preparations and during our time down there.  It has been exciting to see the team under Sue to blossom and grow as prayer warriors.

So as you can see this trip is growing fast and we are all super excited about what God is going to do over the next month and a half.  We still need your prayers and support in this time that God’s Will be done through us in Pucallpa.  Please keep checking back with us for updates on what is happening.  Thank You for your prayers and continued support.

Steven Kaminksy

Money, mOneY, MonEy, MONEY!!! With the market and economy we had to ask ourselves does a mission trip seem impossible?!  For God?  I think not!

One of the initial challenges/fears that our students faced was the  whole fundraising process. God is taking our team on a faith journey.  I suggest one of the main reasons the Lord is providing financially is because He desires us to share about his eternal provision, through Jesus Christ, “He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever holy and awesome is his name.” Psalm 111:9

It’s been very exciting to see how the church, friends and family have supported our Peru Team enabling us to serve alongside Todd and Stephanie. God has truly answered our prayers!

Here’s the EXCITING breakdown of how God has recently provided financially:

Funds received as of 4/21/09- $6,360

Funds received as of 4/28/09- $8, 524

Funds received as of 5/14/09-$12,484

Thank You!!!

Deborah

Tomorrow, May 30th we have 3 hours of Green Group training.  Here are several prayer requests:

1)Please pray that students learn our two evangelism tools fully. 

2)That the spanish CD they are receiving will be faithfully memorized.  These tracts have common spanish phrases and the gospel in spanish.

Thanks!

Deborah Kaminsky