EARTHQUAKE!!!

Yes, my friends and family. God answers prayers (even the ones that no one but me prays). Two nights ago, there was a 4.7 earthquake in Northern Peru (thanks to the subduction zone located off the coast of Peru) and I TOTALLY FELT IT! Awkwardly enough, I was in the bathroom getting ready to take a shower (terrifying idea to be taking a shower during an earthquake, I must admit) and as soon as I felt it, I RAN out of the bathroom and asked Noemi (our wonderful translator) if she felt that! Sure enough, she said it was an earthquake! And as excited as I was about it, she humbled me a bit by reminding me that the town in which we are currently serving was completely destroyed by an earthquake 40 years ago... that there are probably people somewhere in Peru or elsewhere dealing with the aftereffects of this ´´cool experience´´ for me... :( ouch. But. From the looks of the National Earthquake Information Center, no damage done. A 4.7 isn´t that terrible of an earthquake - actually a ´´tremor´´ and not really even a real earthquake here - and the girls in Iquitos who were actually closer to the epicenter than I am didn´t even feel it. Sigh. But really. Such a cool experience. Plus, there are SO MANY VERSES in the Bible that talk about the ends of the earth (including the MOUNTAINS) TREMBLING because of the Lord´s holiness. Pretty cool to FEEL that firsthand.

The past few days have been pretty great. God has been blessing the class in Mancos like nobody´s business - FORTY-SIX KIDS THERE FRIDAY! Our class today was pretty great, too! Told the story of Joseph through pictures and the kids GOT IT - even before we told them the point, they figured out that the reason God blessed Joseph was because Joseph was following the Lord. Reading Romans 8:28 fits so well with that story, too... And it has been so nice to have more missionaries here - the kids LOVE playing futbol after class - and that probably draws more of them than learning English ever could. Who wouldn´t want to play soccer with over 6-foot-tall American guys?? Teaching David and Goliath is going to be AMAZING with Kyle here - he towers over these poor kids (and painted the ceiling of the church without a ladder. beast.) and they LOVE all the guys! Pretty unfair to us girls, but what can we say.

Keep up the prayers for more discipleship and for continued encouragement for the team. We got an email update from MS BSU reminding us that these weeks in the middle of the summer can be the toughest for discouragement and homesickness... especially around our Independence Day. So pray for a renewed sense of Spirit and UNITY, and pray that God would get the glory in the work we do for Him here.