New Website

Luke and I now have a new website. Please go to http://lukeandprilz.com

Girls from church

Our church has been going through some difficult times and disunity... some families were asked to leave the church and many people also left with them. It's been really sad to see people upset, disillusioned, angry and confused. Through it all, most of the youth have stayed with the church.

I've been trying to get to know the girls better and find ways to spend time with them... from going to pijamadas, going to Vacation Bible School, having them over for lunch, going to youth group, going shopping... just creative and fun ways to get to know each other better. It's hard to open up and share with someone that you don't know, so the last few months have been a process of building deeper relationships. For me, it feels like I have had to start again after Abancay and it has been hard, but I know that God will give me strength and wisdom.

I thought it would be cool to share with you about some of the girls I have gotten to know so you can be praying for them too...

Iris - We try and meet up once a week for discipleship, talk through issues and are going through Colossians. She is currently looking for work and continuing in her studies to be an English teacher

Johanna - She invited me to share at the pijamada and is in her last year of high school. She's been really excited about Luke and I getting married. We'll be meeting up weekly cos she wants to learn Chinese...!

Neftali - She is also getting married this year, and we've been able to talk and encourage one another as well as go shopping together! I had her and her sister Judith over last week and hope to be able to meet up with Neftali more regularly

Greta - I met her at youth group and got to know her better during Vacation Bible School...

It's been interesting to see how getting married has opened the doors for conversations and relationship building. Please pray for wisdom and discernment as I see the girls at church or at youth group or meet up them at other times, pray that God will continue to use me in their lives to draw them closer to Him.

Pijamada

Last week the pyjama party was postponed and this week it was on, then off, then on again... but it did happen last Friday night and it was really fun.

I had never been to a pijamada in Peru so had no idea what to expect. It was supposed to start at 7 but I was told it would be fine to get there at 8:30 and all I needed to bring was something to sleep on. Joanna, the girl who organised the pijamada, asked me to share my testimony with the girls and tell them a bit about my relationship with Luke.

So I arrived a bit after 8:30 with my sleeping bag, sleeping mat, pillow and backpack with all my personal stuff... and none of the girls had arrived. It gave me a chance to chat with Joanna, so that was great. Not long after, Cibeli and Andrea arrived and we started watching a video. The youth pastor's wife, Vilma was also there and later another girl Martha also arrived. The girls were all in high-school and part of the high school group at the church. I had met some of them before but it was good to be able to hang out with them.

Then we played games, Hide and Seek and also Twister. I thought I knew how to play Hide and Seek but I was wrong, you have to try and sneak back to base... interesting trying to run around the church with all the lights off. By the time we'd finished playing games it was 1 and then we started with the testimonies - hopefully I was able to encourage the girls through my testimony and how God has worked in my life... then we got ready for bed... must have been around 2:30ish...

I woke up at around 8:30 with itchy bites all over my body from being attacked my mosquitoes and all achy from sleeping on the floor... and realised... I'm too old for pijamadas!!!

BUT it was great getting to know the girls and to have the opportunity to share with them.

Pray for Joanna, Cibeli, Andrea and Martha - that their friendships will be stronger because of the time they spent together having fun and that they will be able to encourage one another
Praise for the opportunity to share with these girls and to get to know them a bit better

El Redentor

The church we have been going to since September is called El Redentor (The Redeemer). It is part of the Evangelical Free Church of Peru. There are quite a number of youth and university students. As the months go by, we've been able to get to know people better and build relationships with people through the different activities we attend at the church.

There are 2 Sunday services and we attend the 11:15am service - and we've been going to a small group (home group, cell group...?) on Thursday nights. I've wanted to be involved in a bible study with youth and while there is a youth group on Saturday nights, we were told the small groups were all mixed groups. Recently the youth started another group to study the bible and we've been invited to go along... and now as a newly engaged couple, we've been invited to attend the group for married people too.

So weekends are pretty busy with church activities, today (it's Friday) we'll be heading to the bible study in the afternoon, then the group for married people at night and tonight there is also a pyjama party for the high school girls that I've been invited to share at.... then youth group tomorrow night and church on Sunday followed by lunch with our small group leader and his family.

Praise that we have been able to connect with people at El Redentor
Praise that the youth are keen to study God's Word
Pray for my sharing/testimony tonight at the pyjama party and that I will be able get to know some of the younger girls
Pray for some of the girls that I've gotten to know - Iris, Sayuri, Ivonne, Joanna, Judith... that I can continue to build the relationship that we have so that I can encourage them in their walk with God

And I said...

On Saturday, we decided to go out for sushi in Miraflores... it was the first day that Luke and I were both in Lima after about 3 weeks apart. Everything seemed normal, it was the restaurant that he took me to before we started dating and he made it sound like my idea to go out for Japanese. I got to order what I wanted (sushi rolls!) and when the food came out... it said...

I could only see "Will you" and I just looked at Luke... and he had the ring...And I said...

We'll be getting married here in Lima... that's all we know so far...

Here are some of the photos from our trip to Sydney and HK...

Please pray for us as we plan for life together, that God will continue to guide us. We are so thankful to Him for bringing us together in Lima, Peru... all the way from Minnesota and Sydney!

Spiritual Life Conference 2009

Every year all the missionaries from SIM Peru meets together for the annual Spiritual Life Conference. This year we went to Arequipa in the south of Peru on Monday and I got back last night.

It is always great to hear about what God is doing all around Peru. We learnt from the Servant Songs in Isaiah, prayed and praised God together and had a great time of fellowship and fun with other SIM missos from Lima, Arequipa, Abancay and Cotahuasi. (I really enjoyed catching up with the missionaries from Abancay!)

The missionaries with SIM Peru come many different countries (Switzerland, USA, Germany, Canada, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Korea, Hong Kong, Italy, England, Scotland, Austria and of course, Australia!), so Stacey and I shared about the multi-cultural team training workshops we went to last year. It went pretty well and hopefully helped people be more aware of our differences and how we can work and serve together.

The last couple of months have involved a lot of travelling. First to Arequipa in November to visit the short termers and the ministry there as part of my job as Short term Coordinator for SIM Peru and then for the multi-cultural teams training workshop in Korea. After that, Luke and I went to Sydney, HK and Minnesota to meet each other's families and then most recently I went to Arequipa again for Spiritual Life Conference.

I'm ready now to settle back into life in Lima, especially as we're getting to know a lot of the youth at El Redentor (the church we attend). Luke and I end up chatting to so many people after the service that we're starving by the time we get around to having lunch... I'm taking it as a good sign!! We've been going to youth group and a small group and I'm also hoping to go to a youth bible study and continue with discipling.

On a sad note, I found out yesterday that my grandmother (dad's mum) passed away. In my last newsletter, I mentioned that grandfather (mum's dad) had passed away so it's not the same side of the family but anyway... it's been hard to be away from family and it was a blessing to have had seen my grandmother when Luke and I were in Sydney and her love for Jesus.

So for those who pray...
Praise God for the time of learning and fellowship in Arequipa at Spiritual Life Conference
Pray for my role as Short Term Coordinator and that the time I spent in Arequipa and the training I received in Korea will be able to help me do my job better
Praise God for the time that Luke and I spent getting to know each other's families and that he will continue to guide us
Pray that Luke and I will be able to settle back and get involved at El Redentor
Pray for my family

I finally did a newsletter...!

Link to my latest newsletter...

http://groups.google.com.au/group/prilzinperu

I'm just about to fly to Cusco and then it'll only be 4 hours to Abancay instead of 15 hours on the bus. I'm looking forward to catching up with all my friends and being involved in the Women's conference in Abancay. Pray that that women who attend will be challenged from God's word and that we will also have a great time of fellowship.