Happy Thanksgiving!, update, and more Peru pics

Well, the pilgrimage to Quinche went well this weekend. We had a good chance to pray and visit with different folks. We even had a chance to meet a family that lives in our neighborhood (barrio). I hope to get a chance to visit with them soon. Pray for Eduardo and family.
Saturday night I went to visit Luis and Emma, who live in the next barrio over and they accepted Christ. Please pray for them in their new faith and relationship with Christ. We had studied the Bible with them for quite a while and they finally dedicated their life to God. Also, pray for a neighbor, Piedad who is a sweet older lady that comes to another Bible study some times. She is really honestly seeking God but has been quite confused by the Jehovah's Witness and different traditions. It seems that she is living in quite a bit of fear and confusion. Pray that God will deliver her from this into his truth. Speaking of confusion there is a lady we (me and Ramon) talked to last Fri. that has been confused by a group called Pare de Sufrir (Stop suffering). This is health and wealth gospel on steroids. Think Robert Tilton times 20. Basically, she gave them quite a lot of money and was really deceived and not helped by them at all. Pray that she would seek God's peace as well.
Here's a few more pictures from the Peru trip. I know I need to get some on from more recent ministry stuff here in Ecuador. I promise to do so asap. I mainly need to get the pics from the camera to my computer and go from there. These first two are from the main cathedral in Chiclayo.

The next two are from the market in Chiclayo. This first one is of purple corn...pretty neat, huh? They make a drink out of it called chicha de morada. It is quite nice.
Here's a market stand. One of the things I love to do in my travels is to see different markets...to see the sights, smell the smells and really experience the culture. Will have some pics next time of the witch doctor's section of this market. As I close, I just want to wish you all a happy thanksgiving. May you consider how much God has blessed you and thank him for it. Now, to close with a couple of verses about thankfulness.
1 Thessalonians 5:18-"give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
Psalm 100:4-"Enter his (God's) gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name."

Lastly, while we're thinking of Thanksgiving...GO COWBOYS!

update and more peru pics

Well, it's very late Thurs. night but I wanted to give you an update and some prayer requests. I know recently I've just put on pics from my Peru trip (I have some more here now), but mostly want to give an update, etc.
The 1st picture here is related to the update, in that this Saturday, I will be going on the pilgrimage to El Quinche along with a couple of other friends. The picture there is of the cathedral at Quinche. I've written about El Quinche before (check blog archives of May & June 2006). There will be several thousand pilgrims and we'll be joining them. This pilgrimage is dedicated to the Virgin (Mary) of Quinche. People go on this pilgrimage to seek blessings from the Image of the Virgin. Our purpose of going won't be quite the same. We seek to use this as an opportunity to prayerwalk and see if there might be any opportunity to talk or share with the people along the way or when we are in Quinche.
Please Pray...
1. That the details of the prayerwalk/trip would come together. It looks like we'll be walking at least 4-5 miles and potentially more.
2. That we would be focused and concentrated in our prayer...that God would hear and answer our prayers.
3. That the pilgrims would realize they have direct access to God, to a relationship with him and salvation and blessings that He provides, ie. that they don't have to receive blessings/salvation by appeasing an image made by men.
4. That people would seek the truth of the Bible/reality of God instead of traditions of men.
5. That we might find opportunities to share with people that are seeking God.
As always, thanks for your prayers. I also would like to put a couple of other requests as well. I ask you to pray for the new believers in Iguinaro. Pray especially for healing for Elvira (who has epilepsy).
The rest of the pictures are from my time in Peru. This first one shows the traditional windows that Trujillo is known for.

This is inside the Archbishop's Palace-in the patio or courtyard.
The next two were in Chiclayo, Peru-which is known as the 'town of friendship.' It seemed to be quite an interesting town...the town without a frown. Will have to write more about it later and put more pics on.

This is a Peruvian mototaxi. We don't have these in Ecuador but we used quite a few while in Peru. They were quite fun to use and also pretty cheap. Up on the roof of this one, it says-'Jesus is Love.'
As I close, I just want to share a couple of quotes/scriptures and things that God has taught me recently.

Brother Yun-house church leader in China and subject of a great book I'm reading, 'The Heavenly Man.'- "It is not great men who change the world, but weak men in the hands of a great God."
"So many missionaries, intent on doing something, forget that His main work is to make something of them, not just do a work by their stiff and bungling fingers." -Jim Elliot, from 'Shadow of the Almighty.' Pray this for us...that God wouldn't just do something through us but also in us.

Psalm 43:3-4a-"Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight."

Pray this as well...that God will send forth his light and truth as a guide for us and for all of Ecuador. Also pray that God would be our joy and delight.

Peru, part 3

Here's another one from Chan Chan, it is of fish that were supposed to show the currents they knew about.

Make a run for the border...I mean the bathroom. This was a sign for a restroom and I thought this was kind of funny.

The view looking down on the beach. There's a sign for Inca Kola, which is the most popular soda in Peru. It was invented there. It is about the color of anti-freeze and tastes like cream soda. I will have to put a pic of it on later. It's pretty good overall.

This is Peruvian ceviche...which is basically raw fish and shrimp that's been marinated with onions and lemon juice, a kind of Peruvian sushi. It's ok but I prefer Ecuadorian ceviche, which is a similar concept of cold seafood soup but the fish/shrimp is cooked before going into the soup.

All of the pictures (except the first one) were taken out at Huanchaco. Not too far from Trujillo and right on the coast. These are reed boats that the local fishermen use to go out to sea. I saw these guys fixing their nets. And then saw this guy going out to sea.

Here's a sign for my restaraunt, Big Ben.

Here's David fishing. We both went and caught a few but nothing real big. It was fun, though.

Peru, part 2

Here's some more pictures from my time in Peru. This first one is from a hair salon, it says-you can get a soda or chocolate for free with your haircut.

This one is from Trujillo, Peru-one of the favorite places we went to.

This is from the Rainbow Temple.

It's these rough looking characters again, put away all your valuables! The next two were taken out at Chan Chan, which is the largest mud city in all of South America. We went to one of the temple complexes and it was quite interesting. Guess this is all for now. I hope to put some more pics on in the next couple of days.