June 28, 2009

Greetings From Lima!

Well, it's our last day in Peru. Our flight leaves tonight at 1130pm. I am so excited to return to the US and give my wife and kids some big hugs.

This has been a tremendous experience for the entire team. I have so many stories to tell. I plan to share many of them here in the coming weeks.

Thank you all for your prayers. God has done some amazing things.

Today we are going to church at Flamingo Road church, a multisite campus here in Lima. The original comapus is in Florida.

This afternoon we are going souvenir shopping. Then off to the airport for our overnight flight homw.

See you all very soon!

June 23, 2009

Quick Update from Peru!

Hello everyone! I am excited to take this chance to post a quick update. We have internet access at our hotel in Huaraz. It's been an adventure just trying to check email!

The las several days have gone really well. The team is getting along great. We are learning a lot about the culture. We are tasting local food (yesterday we ate Guinea Pig...yum yum!)

We've spent our time here so far acclimating. Huaraz is at 10,500 ft above sea level. It takes your breath away...literally! Sunday we visited an orphanage here in town. We had so much fun playing with the kids...they kept making us get up and dance. We all got a great aerobic workout!

Yesterday we drove about 2 hours south to hike at a higher elevation - around 14,000 ft. And today we finally are hitting the trail. We will travel with 15 donkeys to carry our gear. We have a team of guides, and our own cooks traveling with us as well. The plan is to walk from village to village stopping in each village to talk to people. We will stop at schools and ask permission to do a short program with the kids. Each night we will show the Jesus film (in Quechuan, the local language), one of the guides will preach, and make an invitation.

Please continue to pray: pray for our health, for our safety as we hike, and most important, pray for lost souls to come to faith in Christ.

And don't forget to follow along! click this link to see where we are each step of the way.

See you soon...Geoffrey

June 18, 2009

Ready to go...

I am all packed. I hope I didn't forget anything important! I had a brief moment of freaking out...I couldn't find my passport! We found it, hidden in my backpack...whew!

Our team is meeting at the airport tomorrow morning at 10. We'll check-in and head to Miami, then to Lima. We are scheduled to arrive in Lima, Peru at 11pm.

I am so excited. It's been hard to concentrate on work this week. I can't wait to get going. I am really looking forward to this.

While on our trip, you can follow my travels. I will turn on My Spot (satellite tracking device) and you will be able to see where we are along the way. Just follow this link and watch our progress!

We return to the USA on June 29. I will update the blog with travel reports and pictures as soon as I can. Thanks for your prayers and your support. See you when we get back!

June 11, 2009

Peru Update

In 1 week and 1 day I will be boarding a plane headed for South America. My missions team will spend 10 days in the Andes Mountains in central Peru ministering to the Quechuan people. We have the honor of distributing Bibles which have recently been translated into their language. What a joy it will be to hand someone a Bible, in their own language, for the first time! That is something we all take granted.

As the day to depart approaches, I'd like to ask you to join me in prayer. This is an exciting trip, but also holds many unknowns. We would love to have your prayer support. Here are some things you can pray for specifically:

1. Pray for our team - for unity, patience, flexibility. Pray that as we minister to others, we will also take the opportunity to minister and care for each other.

2. Pray for travel safety -
- Friday, June 19 - fly to Lima, Peru
- Saturday, June 20 - 8 hour bus ride to Huaraz, Peru
- Monday, June 22 - begin 5 day trek to Quechuan villages in the Andes Mountains
- Saturday, June 27 - 8 hour bus ride back to Lima, Peru
- Monday, June 29 - fly back to US

3. Health - we will be spending much of our time at 10,000-12,000 feet above sea level. This alone can present added health concerns. Pray that our team stays healthy and strong.

4. Finances - we are still short on funds. As a team we still need to raise about $4000. We serve a big God who we trust will provide.

Well, I've got some packing and shopping to do. Thank you for your prayers and financial support. If you or someone you know would still like to make a contribution, you can make checks out to Southbrook Church and mail to 5607 Monroe-Weddington Road
Weddington, NC 28104
. Be sure to include a note, or write "Geoffrey - Peru" in the memo line.

Or you can donate online:
Paypal



Thanks again for your prayers. I can't wait to update you on what God does with this amazing opportunity.

June 08, 2009

God & Money

We serve a great God! He does things in special ways, unexpected things, and I love being a part of that! Yesterday at Southbrook:Monroe we took a special offering. We've been talking about it and praying about it for several weeks. We meet in a converted store front. Two doors down from our main worship center, we have leased another smaller space. This will become our elementary children's wing. In order to upfit the space we need about $20,000.

So we've been praying and yesterday we took up an offering. We each had the opportunity to make a 3 month commitment to help fund the new children's wing (they had 19 elementary kids in a small room yesterday...they are packin' them in!). I explained our goal, I explained our need, we prayed, and we passed the baskets. Now check it out. We had about 70 adults in the service. We had 32 cards turned in, 32 family units who have pledged to fund the children's elementary wing. Here are the results:

The total amount given yesterday was $2597.

The total amount pledged for the next 3 months was $24,522!

This is above people's regular commitments to give to the church. I love our church. I love the generosity of those in our church. I love that God takes people, puts them together, and unites them under His cause. Praise God! I can't wait to get started on this new project!