Below are two stories from one of our team members that I think you will really enjoy and is evidence of what happens when His servant is listening. The first story Deb tells is how He showed her she was to be going on this retreat. The second is how He is working on gifts for the ladies that will be attending. By the way I had to take some words out of the second story to keep things a surprise for the Peru ladies.
Please remember to pray and give! Love you all!His, Vickie
Enjoy! Story #1
"Two Sundays ago, I woke up at 5 am, unable to sleep. As I do sometimes, I grabbed my iPhone and decided to see what was on Facebook since I had been on there in a day or two. It had been a busy weekend with holiday parties and company. The first thing I saw was Nikki Boyd posting to Jan Tabrizi about seeing her name on the Peru team list. I had this twinge of something – was it jealousy? I’m not a jealous person, so it just seemed odd. Earlier in the year, when I heard that PJI was going to Peru, I had been very interested in the trip, but got busy and didn’t keep up with what was going on, except that I had head the team was “full.” My husband Carl and I both got around early that morning. Over breakfast I just happened to mention that Jan was going to Peru on her first trip with PJI. He asked, “Is that something you need to be doing too?” I just blew it off and didn’t let the thought take root. Our daughter and son-in-law had come to stay with us for the weekend and they were still asleep. They had plans for later in the day and had to leave to go home that morning. We decided to leave them a note and went on to Sunday School since we hadn’t been there in over a month with our summer travels. As I neared the Sunday School classroom, I ran into Kristy Pinion. She had the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on her face. She excitedly told me she was going to Peru. There it was again, that strange, not-quite-jealous feeling. I think I mumbled something about my earlier interest in the trip. She said, “You ought to talk to Vickie, there were some openings.” Once again, I didn’t let the thought take root; I just went on in to class. Our teacher, Harry Layden, is such a great practical Bible teacher. He was teaching out of
Third, what does your authority say about the decisions? And fourth, what are the circumstances. He said that when all four are present, we probably ought to go ahead and take that step of faith. Hmmmm…..now that was taking root in my mind. Carl and I went on into church and I didn’t say anything until the greeting time when everyone was going around shaking hands. I grabbed his hand and said, “Would you pray for me about going to Peru?” His answer was, “If God told you to go, go! That’s it.” Okay. So point one, two, and three were taken care of, almost. After church I talked to Linda Roach, one of the PJI leaders, and she said she thought there was still an opening, to “call Vickie.” I could hardly wait to get home to check my calendar (point four: circumstances). It was clear! We had just set aside some money for ministry work. I called Vickie and left a voice mail, then I texted her. I wanted her attention! I needed to know if there was still an opening (I guess you figured it out, I didn’t read the blog that week!). When she finally called (about 10 minutes later), I told her my story and she said, “You know my two questions, is God calling you and does your husband support you going?” Those were two Yesses! Vickie was the final authority and she said YES! It was the next day when I opened the team information that I saw the scripture we are using for the retreat: “Speak, for your servant is listening.” (1 Sam 3:10b). God certainly got my attention and that scripture is the basis of my prayer every day. “ Lord, I want to listen to you. Help me to have ears to hear when you call me for the small and big things in my life.”
Enjoy! Story #2
"As I was cleaning of my (rather messy) desk before our PJI team meeting last Thursday, I found a $50 ----------- rewards certificate I’d forgotten about. I decided I was going to use it for some -------- --------------- to put in the retreat bags for the missionaries. I had ---------------- and --------------------- in mind when I went. The -------------------were on a terrific sale and I found ‘matching’ ------------. When I got to the counter I asked the lady waiting on me (her name is “Promise”) to put the PJI stuff in a separate bag from my other purchases and told her those items were going to Peru. She asked if I was going on a mission trip and I told her what we were doing. She thought it was amazing. And then, she gave me a $20 off coupon that she had laying on her cash register. That and the reward certificate covered the entire purchase of PJI stuff. Now isn’t that just so cool! God never ceases to amaze me in the things He makes happen and how He makes me just want to giggle when I pay attention to what He is doing."
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