Tuesday, December 15, 2015

With Jesus in his trials

The end of the Semester Fall 2015

The people, they are saying
"They are crazy..." they do tell
"To go to a place to teach the bible, 
where cows and donkeys is what they smell."
These people, let them keep saying.
We permit them! Let them tell!
All the more we will keep on praying
Cause we've seen God provide a well.  

Woohoo Semester Beginnings

Update on semester beginnings, class teachings, well diggings, and upcoming new baby happenings.  
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Woohoo Semester Beginnings

The Fall 2015 student and staff 

This semester we have with us a brand new group of students.  They come from all over.  From Lima, Peru; Iquitos, Peru; California, and even one from Yucatan in Mexico.  This new group is exciting because they come focused and prepared.  As new adjustments have begun and staff and students alike are getting to know each other, it is apparent that the bond of unity that the Lord has placed inside every believer is present and alive in this group, uniting beyond language, culture, place of birth and skin color is present.  Amongst the cultural blunders and translation confusions which have always been a commonality at CCBC Peru, there is present with us an understanding that the Holy Spirit of God is he who  unites and that he is more than sufficient to do so.   

This is semester started off in a new way in that John Bonner (the Founder and President) and the rest of the board decided that it was time he began to take less of a day to day role in the affairs of the college and to take more of a role in general oversight.  This frees John up to travel and teach in various roles all while still remaining the president of the Bible College while Matt will be come the Director and manage the day to day ministry.  "There's a lot involved in being the Director over this campus, but I'm very excited and I believe the Lord has led us this way.  First order of business is to make us a master key."  
This semester I was the teacher for the 2nd class which ended up being Ecclesiastes.  It was a blessing to watch the students understanding grow as they got to see the reality of a man (Solomon) who tried to live without the reality of God in his life and where that led him in his thoughts.  One of the things we hit on was that, in the end, the closest Solomon ever got to God was law based religion.  And that led him to dark places in his thought processes and behaviour.  But we as Christians experience something called the transforming of the mind that occurs when one is brought near to God by the blood of Christ.  Solomon's conclusion was that all was vanity, but for us Christians, "in the Lord [our] labor is not in vain." (1 Cor. 15:58).  The best part of the class was that my wife got to be my translator (she's the best one on campus).  I taught in Spanish and my wife translated me into English.  
A few months ago our old well took a turn for the worst.  With the dry season coming fast and the ever present threat that the community wells would dry up (they do every year), we had to act fast but we didn't have the money for a new machine dug well.  Our head contractor, Santos, saw our dilemma and offered to dig us a well by hand.  He is a new Christian who got saved during his time working here at the college. Since then he has become a great example of service and patience and is maturing fast.  At first I just brushed off the suggestion as crazy.  But as he explained it to me it sounded (still crazy) but at at least doable.  
 
The idea is this.  He starts with a cement column that he has a molde for.  He digs down a meter and the cement column drops.  He then makes another one on top.  The next day he digs a meter more and both cement columns together drop, and then he adds another.  Every day he digs and at the end of the day he lets the whole column together drop and then adds another on top.  Incredible right?  
 
So sure enough we are now at about 75 feet down and every morning they find at least 6 feet of water at the bottom of this thing.  So they pump it out and keep digging.  The goal is 100 feet in order to have about 15 feet of water.  At a meter wide that equals something like 4000-5000 liters.  That's actually 18 times as much as our old "machine dug" well could hold. The lord has answered our prayer for water in a great way and within the next few days we should have a pump down there and be able to get enough water to live off of.  Interestingly enough, it occurred just in time.  The city just restricted our water Sunday.  Some of us are without showers, but with our new well we are going to make it. 
Please pray for Ivy as she is due in October (next month).  We are having a little baby boy (all the doctors are sure of it) and we are going to do it here in Cajamarca (When I say we I mean mostly Ivy since she will be doing the majority of the work.)  Pray for a good doctor and healthy circumstances.  
This week Pastor David Landry is here from Calvary Chapel Casa Grande New Mexico and he is teaching the students the book of Romans.  I am translating him into Spanish along with 2 other staff members.  
This October 4th there will be a CCBC Peru reunion/Appreciation Night in which all who have been involved in the ministry over the years might come and participate.  We will not be there personally, but you are all welcome and invited.  
Ivy and two other moms on campus have taken the initiative to start a homeschool group for the children here on campus.  Ivy is in charge of teaching them their letters.  
This is my official Peruvian Drivers license.  It took about 1 week to get.  In the process I got accused of cheating on the test because the computer malfunctioned, I was told that they wouldn't accept my Calvary Chapel Bible College degree as proof that I was educated, and when I finally passed it was communicated to me with one word, "cerveza!" (he told me that I had passed by telling me that I should go drink some beer - I almost didn't get it. )  It was a strange process but halelujah I can drive.  
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