Natalie Update

Thanks for your prayers everyone.

Natalie is stable and at Egleston. She will have open heart surgery in a few days to swap the placement of the arteries that go into her heart. They are reversed and the left artery needs to be placed on the left side of her heart and the right artery needs to be placed on the right side of the heart.

To be honest...I haven't talked to Chris so I don't know all of the technical details. I just know the info above and I know that the doctor feels very good about the procedure. They are at Egleston so there are not too many better places to be in the US for this.

Thanks again for your prayers. I will give you an update on her next week after the procedure.

Prayers for Natalie

Ok ya'll. I need to ask for your prayers again.

The amazingly beautiful little girl from a few posts back...Natalie...the baby girl of my best friend Chris & his wife Melissa is in serious health trouble.

She is currently in an ambulance racing to Egleston. She is having serious issues with her heart and she is not doing well.

Please pray right now for her. Please petition the Father for her life.

Thank you.

Day Two: The Birthday

Thank you everyone for wishing me well today on my birthday. I felt very loved and tremendously blessed. 30 was a great year for me. And I dare say that it might have been one of the most exciting, scary and adventurous years of my life.

But here is how my today went down...

I started the day at Dunkin' Donuts with two chocolate donuts and a cup of Joe...sweetness. I've so missed good quality donuts.

We saw some ruins in the morning (me celebrating my 31 years)...

My bro getting in on the action...

Brothers don't shake hands...brothers gotta hug...

What 31st B-day is complete without a llama sighting?

Lunch at Chili's...
...for some long-awaited chicken crispers...

After lunch we checked out a museum and then rested at the hotel. In the evening we enjoyed a very nice dinner at one of Lima's best restaurants. Thanks bro for making it a very special day. And thanks again everyone for your nice messages and notes. What can I say? I am a very blessed individual.

Day One

So I arrived into Lima, Peru this morning.

It was not without a little drama though because my wallet fell on the ground outside the La Paz airport and by the time I realized it...the wallet was gone of course. I know. Not the best few weeks for me with regards to losing stuff. This time I lost the cash I had in my wallet, my Bolivian ID, my credit card for emergencies and my debit card that I use to receive my missionary funds.

It's ok. My friend Pablo gave me some cash to help me get to Lima and he told me that it is not a big deal to get my ID replaced. And I called and deactivated both cards. It is just more of an inconvenience than anything. That debit card is how I receive all my missionary funds here and I will not be able to pick up my new card until I visit home in two months. I know that God will provide though. After all I have seen this year I have no reason to think that God will not provide if He wants to.

But enough about that...I arrived to Lima and met my brother!

We spent a good amount of the day walking and getting to know the area of the city around our hotel. We also walked to see the ocean and bought a few gifts. He brought me my new Macbook laptop (which is a beast) and he also brought me a new camera and ipod. Such blessings. It is so easy for me to see that everything I have is a gift from God because everything I have is given to me in donations.

But my day one here in Lima was really highlighted by two big things for me. Two things that I have been deprived of all this year. And two things that all tasted soooooo good.

Starbucks...

And lunch under the golden arches...

Wow. Lima is definitely more modern than La Paz and it is a much bigger city. I miss home but it has been a cool experience so far. We will see what tomorrow holds.

Peru

So I think that I mentioned a few posts back that my backpack was stolen.

And I also think that I mentioned that there were some amazing people back home who were going to replace the items I lost. It was a sign of God´s amazing provision and I just thank all my friends back home who came through for me in the clutch.

And I know I mentioned that it was cool because my brother was coming down here for my birthday and he could bring the new goods to me.

Well...the political situation here in Bolivia, although things have been fairly quiet the last week or so, does not seem to really be improving. And American Airlines is deciding daily whether they are going to fly here or not. So my bro and I decided on an alternate plan...

Lima, Peru.

He changed his flight to Lima and I will be flying from La Paz to Lima tomorrow morning. We will get to spend four days together touring Lima and we will also get to celebrate my b-day on Thursday. I am excited because I have not seen any of my biological family in person this year. And he is also bringing me a new laptop, camera and ipod nano. Sweet.

It is a tremendous blessing.

I am sad that he will not be able to see La Paz, see where I live and meet my future wife just yet but it´s all good. There will be more opportunities I am sure.

Should be a great four days. And when I get back I can hit the ground running again with my new electronic equipment.

I promise you some pictures. I will be back on Saturday night.

Pastor Juan Carlos Update # 2

Hey folks.

Please continue to pray for Pastor Juan Carlos and his family. They still have some pretty huge financial needs so if God places it on your heart to support them just give me a call or send me an email.

Come to find out the thieves pretty much stole everything. Including all of the food in the fridge. It was bad.

And yesterday at church my pastor shared some more details with the congregation and I wanted to share those details with you. These details show just how cruel this world can be and how strong God´s will is. When it is not our time to leave this earth then there is more that God needs us to do.

My pastor shared yesterday that the thieves´plan was to actually kill the entire family. But the leader of the group decided to spare their lives. They held the gun to Pastor Juan Carlos´ head and pulled the trigger but the bullet did not fire. When they aimed at his leg the bullet fired. And also when they aimed the gun at his twenty-one year old son and pulled the trigger the bullet did not fire.

God still needs them here on this earth. Plain and simple. I believe strongly that if God says that it is our time to go than it is our time to go. Obviously, God still has a purpose for this family here.

And I am told that Pastor Juan Carlos is so thankful and filled with the joy of the Lord right now. No doubt it was traumatic for them...especially for their six year old daughter who saw it all go down.

God still needs them. We don´t know when our number will be called. And I don´t want to be a person who lives in fear wondering if something bad is going to happen to me in the future. I just want to be a person that uses the time he has to serve God the best He can.

Pastor Juan Carlos Update

Hey everybody. Happy Friday.

I just wanted to thank you so much for your prayers and your financial support of Pastor Juan Carlos and his family. We have been able to help them with many medical expenses so far. Juan Carlos is out of the hospital now although he and his family continue to receive medical treatment.

Because of the danger the family cannot go back to their home so they are currently staying at a friends house here in La Paz. They are looking for a new place to live and they are in need of many new appliances that they lost. And I didn´t know this before but they lost their car too.

Thank you for your continued prayers for the family during this trying time. Our prayer is that we can continue to see God´s hand through this situation. He is pouring out alot of love and support on this family right now so we know that he is working.