God's plan is always perfect

We just returned from an amazing trip in the jungle villages.  Our God is all knowing and all powerful, so I am not sure why I am always amazed at how He works things out.  While I was journaling in one of the villages, I came across a verse that spoke the complete truth about how our trip had been going. It's Isaiah 25:1 and it says O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

As humans, we are always trying to plan everything out and have control of what is going to happen. And that is exactly what we had done. It's good to have a plan and to be be organized, but we also know that the ultimate plan is in God's hands. From the time the trip started to the time we made it back to Iquitos our boat was plotting against us with satan. The only part of the boat that didn't mess up was the hull...sort of.  In that, we got to experience many different opportunities that would not have been possible without the crazy chaos of satan's schemes and God overpowering them.  I actually love the fact that God showed His amazing power over satan throughout our entire trip.

So, just like Isaiah 25:1 says "plans formed of old" " faithful and sure" God has already planned out exactly what needs to happen. I love His revealing Word and I love how it still speaks to us today!

And.........my favorite part of the crazy chaos throughout the entire week is.......the salvation of my first born baby girl Taigan!!!!!  We are so excited about what God has planned for this special girl! Love you sis!!!

Internet has arrived at our Casa!!!

It has arrived! The internet has arrived at our own house.  We are jumping for joy!  Hopefully this means that I will be able to keep you up-to-date on our weekly adventures here in Iquitos.  We have already been blessed so much by meeting several other missionaries that we can connect with. We have also been blessed to be able to go into a few villages in the jungle and meet more of God's people. I love being able to see the power of our God working in people's lives all over the world. He is the same God and will always be, Hallelujah!  All of that to say, I am just going to use today as a starting point for the post updates. Here are a few pics of what we have done in the last couple of weeks.

Happy Birthday to Daddy! 30

 

Playing with the neighborhood kiddos

We have arrived......I know, I'm a little late

We are here! We have actually been here a little over a week now, but it's taken a while to get everything set up so that I could log back into my blog. In saying that...God has already shown me so much and I hope that I can organize all of my crazy thoughts so that you can follow them without getting lost. So...here we go!
When we first arrived we were in our comfy traveling clothes that quickly turned into a sweaty mess. It was so humid! It was quite comical watching all of us try to get used to it. For the first 3 days we were here it was so hot! They told us that it was abnormally humid and that it usually wasn't that bad. I was ready for that to be true.  Sure enough on that 3rd night we had a wonderful rain storm that cooled everything down. Now, it gets a little hot every once in a while but nothing like the first 3 days. Actually as I'm writing this, I am under a blanket....we are going to FREEZE when we come back to the states!
Since so much has happened this week, I just want to share one thing that The Lord has been helping me work on.  After a couple of days of settling in we were ready to get the house hunt started.  We had looked at one and really liked it but we knew there were other options available so we wanted to look at all of them. We were suppose to see them on Tuesday but that didn't work out so we waited until the next day...and then the next...and the next. I wanted to get settled into a house and a routine so that we could start learning the culture and start figuring everything out. If I would have been back in the states waiting I would have been so upset and angry, but God allowed me to have patience. I hope that you caught that...I said that "God allowed" me to have patience. Patience is not something that I can do, it's a fruit of the spirit. God's spirit. Living in His spirit and allowing Him to work in me was/is the best way to have the fruit that he wants me to have.  I don't want to admit it because I would like to say that I was already depending on God, but moving to a place that is so different has made me depend more on God than I ever have.  And in that, He has shown me more fruit in one week than in months before. I am ready to wait on Him and allow his timing to be the best for me.

I do have great news on the house...we signed on the first one we looked at! We are getting everything arranged so that hopefully we will be in by the end of this week.  Pictures will follow. God is so good and His ways and His timing are always best, so wait on Him.

Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of your flesh. Galatians 5:16

Friday is almost here!  We have been so excited and so busy getting everything ready to go.  We have been overwhelmed by how much the people around us have loved on us.  God has been so good throughout this entire process.  Friday is coming though, and it will be filled with a lot of tears.  Missing our loved ones will be hard but the fruit that will be produced is completely worth it. In Psalm 126: 5-6 it says Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.  Sometimes I wonder how our gracious and sovereign God chose me to do His work...but He did.  And I will try to obey everything that He has planned for the rest of my life lived here on this earth.  But he didn't just call Dusty and I to go, He called all of His children to go.  So my prayer for all of you is to be still and listen to God (Psalm 46:10) and grow His kingdom the way He desires all of us to do.  Again, we love you all so much and thank you for blessing us the way that you do!  Peru...here we come!

It's Almost Here!

Hello friends and family, we are so excited that it is finally March! It seemed like it was going to take forever and now it is here.  I wanted to let you know that this will be the place where I try to keep you all updated with the journey that we are starting.  We will be able to share the stories (and hopefully pictures) so that you can be a part of our lives.  We also have a fb page "Every Tribe & Every Tongue" if you would like to keep up with us there.  If you don't already know, the date we will be leaving is March 28th from the Kansas City airport.  We thank you for the prayers for us and our family.  We love you all!

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."  Matthew 28:19-20