Kelcey's Peru Update

Hello everyone!

I wanted to offer a few updates on what I've heard from Kelcey down in Peru. If I've seen you at church I wanted to take a moment to say thanks for all the love, prayers, and concerns for both myself and my wife as she loves on the Peruvian people this week. Some of you might have heard some of what I'm about to share, but others many have not. So, let me bring all of you up to speed on the latest developments.

Kelcey and the rest of the mission team arrived safe and sound yesterday in Lima, Peru. Because of the work they're doing there, they had to take a TON of medical supplies with them. Each member took one bag for themselves and packed another bag full of supplies to give away to the people they come in contact with. One of the team's biggest concerns was that they were not going to make it with all the supplies. If you've traveled at all lately you know how crazy and tight security is. Not only that, traveling that far there's no guarantee you're going to see all of your luggage when you arrive! However, as we all know, God is certainly working for their benefit. When they arrived in Lima (almost 24 hours after they began their journey) every single piece of luggage they checked came through the first time. All the wheelchairs, medical supplies, and of course their clothing made it as planned. What a HUGE answered prayer for them all!

God-sighting #2 came when they arrived. I guess they had some "issues" with their previous lodging arrangement. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I know they didn't have running water and other necessities for them so their team leader was forced to come up with a "Plan B" immediately. Somehow, someway, a leader made connections with someone who had other connections with a Swedish Hostel where they were going. This hostel "just happened" to have 15 spots available for their team which was just enough for all their members. Last I heard, their hostel had running water, free wifi internet, and was very nice for what they were expecting. Obviously, God had plans for them that they didn't even know of, but how exciting is it to see God working so much already within the first few days of being there.

Tomorrow the team begins their clinic. They have spent most of today and yesterday getting set up and ready for the services they will be offering. This morning they worshiped at a local church which happens to be the same location that they will be doing their clinic. Kelcey also told me they saw the best and worst of Peru: from the poorest of the poor villages to the most beautiful scenery on the coast.

Keep praying that God will guide and direct all their paths this week. Thank you to everyone who's been praying for me too. I've had a lot of awesome people in our church invite me over for dinner this week and I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate that. I'm so proud of Kelcey. It has been awesome to see her grow in her relationship with Christ. Moments like this where she leads everything behind to follow His call in her life make me tearful in so many ways. It's sad to let her go for a while, but then I have to remember that it's not about me. It's about what God wants her to do and I know she's being obedient. Most of my tears are joyful though. Like I said, it's so exciting to see her being obedient to the Lord. I know that when we have kids one day my prayer for them will be the same for my wife: "Lord, take [them] wherever you want them to go, allowing them to be obedient to Your call upon their life." There's no doubt in my mind that this simple prayer will be echoed by my beautiful wife as well. Even now, without kids, she's beginning a legacy that I'm overwhelmed to be a part of.

I'm going to be posted some photos I've received on my facebook. Take a look there to see them for yourself.