Watkiss & Tell

Peru Missions Trip

It has been a while since I've up-dated my blog.  It has been a really busy May with finalizing summer trips and developing 2010 trips.  We are excited about the up coming teams that have done a lot of hard work to go and reach the world through short-term missions :-).  God has continued to open great doors in Peru for us to partner with "One Hope" and join efforts to do school assemblies across that country.  I'm flying into Lima, Peru today and the rest of the team will be joining me tomorrow.  

I will do blog up-dates through-out the week to inform you of the ministry and Kingdom Impact that is taking place.  Please pray with us and for us this week in Peru!

background   

Ancient Peru was the seat of several prominent Andean civilizations, 

most notably that of the Incas whose empire was captured by the 

Spanish conquistadors in 1533. Peruvian independence was declared 

in 1821, and remaining Spanish forces defeated in 1824. After a 

dozen years of military rule, Peru returned to democratic leadership 

in 1980, but experienced economic problems and the growth of a 

violent insurgency. President Alberto FUJIMORI's election in 1990 

ushered in a decade that saw a dramatic turnaround in the economy 

and significant progress in curtailing guerrilla activity. Nevertheless, 

the president's increasing reliance on authoritarian measures and an 

economic slump in the late 1990s generated mounting dissatisfaction 

with his regime, which led to his ouster in 2000. A caretaker govern- 

ment oversaw new elections in the spring of 2001, which ushered in 

Alejandro TOLEDO as the new head of government - Peru's first dem- 

ocratically elected president of Native American ethnicity. The presi- 

dential election of 2006 saw the return of Alan GARCIA who, after a 

disappointing presidential term from 1985 to 1990, returned to the presidency with promises to improve social 

conditions and maintain fiscal responsibility.  

location 

Western South America, bordering the South Pacific Ocean, between Chile and Ecuador  

climate 

varies from tropical in east to dry desert in west; temperate to frigid in Andes  

terrain   

western coastal plain (costa), high and rugged Andes in center (sierra), eastern lowland jungle of Amazon Basin 

(selva)  

PI 2009 Summer Schedule

We have a number of stateside and international projects developing into great opportunities for our teams this year.  

Peru

June 18-25 We have a team going to Lima, Peru.  This missions team will be outreach driven...ministry will include school assemblies, outreach events, orphanages, street projects, church services and more.

United Kingdom

July 1-11 We have 2 different teams going to two different locations in the UK.  These teams will be working in schools, community outreaches, events, projects, and church services.  A powerful experience of ministry in the British culture. 

New Orleans

July 6-13 We have a teams traveling to New Orleans from across the United States to continue the process of helping rebuild people's lives and homes.  St. Bernard Parish is still rebuilding 3 1/2 years after Hurricane Katrina and these teams will be doing construction projects as well as outreach into the community.

Minneapolis

July 6-13 We have a team going to the greater Minneapolis area to do impact outreach in trailer park communities.  This team will be working in the community centers during the days and provide a VBS in the evenings.  Kids and youth will be bused into our local church partner for dinner every evening followed by the VBS event.  

New York City

July 10-17 We have teams from across the United States flying into New York City.  They will be ministering to the homeless, doing street/park outreaches, VBS programs with local urban churches, jail & hospital ministry and much more!  

**We also have a number of fall & winter trips that are available, check out the PI website for more details soon!  NOTE:  We are launching a NEW WEBSITE this month!

** Please pray for all the teams that have answered the prayers to the Lord of the Harvest..."Touching the World...ONE MISSION AT A TIME"

Transition and Growth

Transition back to spring time temps and seeing things starting to grow gives many people hope.  Spring is a great reminder to all of us that life is at its best when there's growth taking place.  God's creation displays for us a great picture of growth and transition in the natural world.  As individuals we often walk through different seasons in life just as nature does.  As many of you know...Doug Reed was elected to take the Senior Pastor position at Englewood Church in Independence, MO on March 15th.  A big transition for him, his family, Doug Reed Ministries, and Partnership International will be taking place in the months ahead.  Doug will continue to travel and speak at specialized events and services via DRM, and he will also remain as the president of PI.

As for me, I will remain the director of Partnership International and take on additional responsibilities during this transition time.  Eventually the main offices for PI will be moved to the Kansas City area to embrace the growth and effectiveness of the organization as a whole.  We truly know that God is positioning us all to experience great growth in the kingdom work through divine opportunities.

We will continue to keep you posted through this exciting time.  Please join our leadership team in prayer as we walk through this adventure of transition & growth.  

Missions Update from the Field

God is moving across the World with individuals who have answered the prayers of many who have prayed to the Lord of the Harvest.  I just got back in from New Orleans, Nicaragua, and New York City trips.  We also have a "medical team" flying back into the states today from their 19 day trip in India.  Many lives will never be the same because people stepped out of their normal routine to fulfill the word of God and GO!

Nicaragua Team:

We had an incredible week ministering to the people in Managua.  The RMU Chi-Alpha team had the opportunity to hand out more than 10,000 copies of God's word in schools throughout the city.  Night outreaches, services, the city garbage dumps, and street ministry touched thousands of lives and many of them received Jesus in their hearts.  Thank you for your prayers & support!

India Medical Team: (via e-mail from Sam Hopper)

We had a good day today.   We went to a church in a village and Pastor Joseph from Ethopia preached a good sermon.   The members are passionate believers.  After that we traveled 90 minutes to downtown Delhi for some food at a KFC.   Ahh,   some good home cooking.   Then we shopped and are back in the hotel.

First, several of the pastors from India have said we need to rename our medical camps to Salvation Camps.  They said they have never seen the people so open to salvations and have seen so many salvations.    They believe it is the fruit of years of prayer walking in the state, years of prayer unity between the pastors,  years of previous clinics.  In addition,  Pastor Scott's staff and friends fasted and prayed every Friday for 6 months for this camp!!!   So, Praise Jesus for honoring the years of work and prayer.

Second,  I want to relate just one miracle from this week.    We have had 3 prayer lines and Reese has prayed for 60% of the patients and has seen awesome miracles.   But, this one the Holy Spirit allowed on the last patient of the day in my prayer lines on Saturday.  My voice was all but gone and I had prayed over about 15 Bible college students in a row.   The last student had weakness in both ears, so I guess that means about 20 to 30% hearing loss.    Jesus restored this hearing.   That would have been a tremendous blessing to have your hearing 100% correct for the first time in your life.  Then the wonderful young man said he had a leg problem    His left leg was about 40% the size (meaning the thickness and muscle) as the other one.   I wondered why this was.  Then he said,  this leg is about 1 to 2 inches shorter than the other.  Oh Jesus!!!   We have seen legs straighened before,  but not grown (at least I hadn't seen that yet).   But, I believe and desired to see the Holy Spirt Glorified by this healing.   I prayed and grabbed the middle of his thigh and gently pulled.   I heard and felt 3 clicks,  like you were pulling a pipe out of a pipe joint.  The Lord had just increased the size (length) of his leg.   We took off his shoes and socks and he sat on a bench with his legs out.  They legs were now equal in length.    Praise the Lord! One day Jesus is going to walk in our midst and grow entirely new arms and legs too (for His Kingdom purposes)

Believe me,  there were thousands of healings and Reese (a man with the spirit of Elijah) could write and talk to you for hours too.   The Lord has used all the prayer lines and has honored the prayers of the 20 to 30 people that worked the clinics to make everything flow great.

Tomorrow,  we are doing a clinic that may have 500 to 600 people.  Our last clinic.  Lift our team up in prayers.

New Orleans:

We have a team of 36 men and women in St. Bernard Parish rebuilding homes an lives.  This team of people are very skilled in construction, electrical, plumbing, roofing, and all the needed skills to put homes back into working order for families.  Most important, this team is spirit skilled to rebuild lives and give hope to the many hopeless still trying to make something of their lives.  A special thank you to both Pastor Steve and Pastor Barry for bringing a team of individuals who are willing to serve Living Cornerstone Church and its Outreach Center to St. Bernard Parish.  Please continue to pray for the team as they will be serving until March 21st in New Orleans.

**Pictures from trips and testimonies will be up-loaded in the next few days.

Reaching Out in Latin America

Yesterday finished strong with an outreach in a public school here in Managua.  We had between 500-600 young adults gather at the school to watch a few powerful dramas and here the word.  Many people responded to the invitation to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior (Ashley Foody did a great job with her testimony and gospel presentation)!  The team has ministered to thousands of people this whole week.  We have seen many salvation's, healings, and divine favor! 

Today was a nice day hanging out together in the bat cave, shopping and at the volcano.  There will be many pictures to share with you all when the team gets back home.  We just finished up a marriage seminar tonight at the church and I spoke on having "vision in your marriage".  Currently the XA team is serving dinner to the couples and their families in the fellowship hall across the street from the church.  Tomorrow I will leave the team early in the morning to catch my flight back to the states so I can fly to New Orleans to meet another team of 40 people to rebuild homes in St. Bernard Perish.  Please pray for my strength and traveling.  Also the team will have another full day of ministry in Nicaragua before flying out Sunday morning.  They will have 1 school assembly tomorrow morning and then go and minister to people in the city dump (poverty at its best), and then the team will come back to the church and have a few work projects to bless the local church here in Managua.  (painting and some other stuff)

**Thank you for your prayers and support to make this week possible!

Nicaragua is being Impacted w/ God's Word

We are continuing to see God use the XA team to influence an entire city and generation with a message of hope and love.  God's word has been given to more than 4,000 students and they have heard testimonies from XA students on what God has done in their lives.  Each day we have seen God move through the team and use them to speak life into a dark & hurting city of Nicaraguans.  

We had a great service last night at the lost church "Calvary Chapel".  In you click the link you will see the ministry center were the team is staying this week and the near by streets which we have been on ministering the gospel.  Rick, Melissa, and Josh lead the church in worship and did a great job leading in Spanish!  We will be in more schools this afternoon and have another outreach tonight!

The last two nights of our group devotions have been powerful times in prayer, worship and the word.  Each member of the team is being touched in a special way and I believe great long term results will be evident in their lives.  

**Friday is the team's day off and we will be going to Masaya Volcano, a bat cave and doing a little shopping.  The team should have a blast and they deserve a day of fun and exploring :)  Thanks for checking in with us and keep praying for great things!

Tuesday Nicaragua Missions

Everyone on the RMU Chi-Alpha team would like to thank you for praying!  God is answering your prayers through divine appointments and practical favor.  This morning we discovered we were 5,000 books short for the Jr. & Sr. High graders...and we thought we would just have to ship them to the schools and have them pass the books out in a few weeks.  The host pastor (Pastor Cal) who we are working with received a phone call from the shipping company to tell him that they found 38 boxes in their warehouse that belonged to the church, he went and picked them up and the boxes were full of the teen books we needed.  God always comes through at just the right time!

We did 7 school assemblies today and distributed 2,180 "Books of Hope".  Our team is the first team to give out the BOH in Nicaragua...in words from one of our team members - “Being the first disciples in Nicaragua for the BOH is a unique experience” --Maddy Carroll

Running Total of books handed to students and teachers: 5,080 books

Here are a few more quotes from team members this week:

“I want to learn more Spanish” --Ashley Foody

“It is a amazing to praise God in our language and the Nicaraguans praise God in their language” --Andrea Shetterly

“It is awesome to see the joy in students faces when they hear about Jesus” --George White
“Are we there yet?”  --George White

“Blessed are those who bend but do not break”  --Andrea Moore (BOH Missionary)

“It was Incredible to hand out 2,900 copies of the BOH in just the first day on the field” --Buzz Schellhammer

“To surrender and see the fruits there of, nothing greater” --Marvin McCalla

Monday in Managua

Today was a great day of ministry for the team and many students and adults were touched by the power of God's word.  We handed out a total of 2,900 copies of the BOH and had 8 school assemblies today.  We also had a open air outreach at a public school this evening with live worship, dramas, and Marvin preached the word.  300-400 people were there at the outreach and many gave their hearts to Jesus tonight.  Continue to pray for health, favor and great results for the kingdom and our KING.  

*I should be able to post again tomorrow evening :)

Nicaragua Trip with XA and India Medical Team Up-dates

We made it to Managua, Nicaragua last night around 10:00pm EST.  (Nicaragua is two hours behind EST.)  The team hit the ground running this morning with 4 school assemblies and we have another 4 this afternoon.  After the school day is over, we will have been in front of more than 1,500 students and had the opportunity to give each student and teacher the "Book of Hope"--God's word in magazine form.  Tonight we will be having a service in a local public school with live worship, drama, preaching, and prayer.  God is already blessing our efforts and your prayers!  Continue to pray for both our team and the medical team in India.

Update on PI's medical team in India from our leader Sam Hooper:  via e-mail

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note to say we are in India okay and have just completed our second great clinic.   The Lord is moving with Salvations and healings.   We were in a terribly poor area today.  Our tent was between pigs and cows and chickens.  Kids were so flithy and lots of malnutrition of kids and abuse of women.   It is probably around 90 degrees.

Reese got sick at the end of the clinic.   He threw up.   Something must not have agreed with him.  We are back at the hotel and he is sleeping.  

Please keep us in prayers.  5 more clinics this week.

The passion of the local pastors and laymen is just humbling.

Lord Bless,

Sam  

World Impact Taking Place

We currently have a missions team in NYC that is impacting lives on the lower east side of Manhattan.  East Side Tabernacle is a strong church that wants to elevate their role in the community.  Partnership International, Central Bible College, and East Side have joined efforts this week to see great kingdom results.  The CBC Spring Impact Team is making a huge difference through outreaches, services, homeless ministry, family dinners, children & youth outreaches, street give-a-ways, shelter/soup kitchens, one on one witnessing, and serving the church.  *(students from 8 different states make up this team)

Also we have a team flying out this afternoon to India.  This is PI's first official "Medical Missions Trip" and we are so excited about this launch and growth in the organization.  Doctors, nurses, and lay people have come together to form this team.  We have had over $60,000 dollars worth of medicines donated for this trip from a great partner of ours Brother's Brother Foundation.  The team will be working in Northern India in many different towns and villages.  We are believing for great miracles and many Salvation's over the next 15 days that our medical team will be in India.

This Sunday we are sending yet another team to Nicaragua.  A team of (18) wonderful students on their spring break from Robert Morris University will be sharing the Gospel in schools across Nicaragua.  God has opened up doors for this team to be presenting the Word of God in schools...some for the very first time!  Please pray for all of these teams!

**I just flew in from NYC from being with the team from CBC, I also met with the medical team before they left today and I will be heading to Nicaragua this weekend.  Straight from Nicaragua I fly into New Orleans to meet another team to rebuild families and their homes in St. Bennard Parish.  It is a busy month of traveling....please join my family and I in prayer as we journey the adventure of the kingdom work together!  Many Thanks