No more jungle for a while...

  So, I haven't written in my blog for about 3 weeks now. Since the last time I wrote, there has not been a ton of missionary work. I mean, there has been work (cleaning, maintenance, ect..) but, nothing that is much of an interest in a blog.

  I didn't write about the last jungle trip from a few weeks ago. It went really well. A construction team came down from Minnesota. It was about 10 men with tools and ready to build a church. When we got to the village we were working in, we saw that the people that live in the village had been working on the church. It was only going to take a few days to finish this church completley and hold the first church service. So instead of helping in the church, I just let the guys do it, and I helped the ladies in the kitchen.. (i really just entertained the ladies whille they cooked) I knew what jungle kitchens were like, but after staying in there for the whole week and seeing how they cook in those conditions, I realized how amazing those girls are. I will post a picture of  a jungle kitchen, to try to give you an idea what it's like. But the picture does not do it justice, you have to see it to get the full idea...

This one is actually a little nicer than most. most of them are right on the floor of the house (or hut). This one, you could actually stand up to cook.  So that was a pretty good trip. The church was finished, we held the first service I survived some dangers. The first thing that happend was I smashed my finger against some of our well digging equipment and took a few chunks of meat out of my middle finger. But Daniela the nurse was there to take care of me. The second thing, was I was walking through a rice field on my way back to the boat. (I usually sleep on the boat as a security guard) The sun was pretty much gone. You could still see a littel but I needed the flashlight. So, as I was walking, I see somthing black shoot out of the rice field and slap against my jeans. It was hung on my jeans for just a second, and then it was gone. I later realized that it was a snake. It tried to bite my leg, but luckily It only got its teeth into my jeans and missed my skin. I don't know what kind it was. Most snakes in the Amazon are poisonous, so I'm glad it didn't get me.

         I am preparing for my Lima trip. Also, starting in January I will be overloaded with work preparing for the next DTS that will be here in February.

 Thanks for reading. Please continue to pray for me. Without your support, I wouldn't be able to make it down here.  God bless you all.

Back in the Amazon...

                                            
   So another jungle trip, another story. We went again to the jungle for some more medical clinics. Although this time, the short-term team that came here brought enough equipment to dig two wells. These wells were in places that were getting their water from the parasite infested Amazon river. Which, is the beginning of many of their health problems. Most of the children in these villages have parasites. In fact, on the previous jungle trip, we were in a village where a 5 year old boy died from parasites. It is very sad because the parasites are so easy to get rid of. You just take a pill and it gets rid of them. We saw them carrying the coffin into the house. We stopped and prayed for them. (this was not this trip but the one a few weeks ago) It really makes me think about these medical clinics. Sometimes I wish we could do more... I wish we had more doctors.. I wish we had more medicine. But if we would have come to that village a month or two before with our parasite medicine, This little boy would have lived. So, if I get discouraged I just think about that.

   Daniela organizing the medicine.                                

        I learned how to take blood pressure. I did it all day!

                          Emeth pumping the first clean water out of the new well.     

        

     Apart from the medical clinics, and digging wells, there was somthing really special about this trip. The village that we stayed in had never been visited by Christian missionaries before. Most of the people living in this village had never heard the Gospel. So on our last night (or second to last night) we held a service in the center of the village. We hooked up the generator, had lights and a microphone. The leader of the Washington team asked me if I would share a little of my testimony. So I did. I think this is the first time I have been involved with bringing the Gospel to a place that has never heard it. Sure I have shared with individuals that have never heard it, but never an entire village. It was somthing special this time.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. I want all of you to know that your help makes these trips possible for me. Without  you I would be able to take part in these wonderful ministries. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions..

 God bless all of you........

First Medical Outreach to the Amazon Jungle.

Probably the first time he has ever seen a doctor

  Last week I went on my first Amazon River outreach as a YWAM Iquitos Staff member. It turned out to be a wonderful trip. We had one docter, one dentist, five nurses, and about 8-12 more volunteers/staff helping with the trip. This team of short-time missionaries came from North Carolina, Ohio, Maine, Austria, and Germany. (sorry if I left anyone out)

   The strip started pretty normal. We had about a 6 hour boat ride that turned out into a day and a half. (we had to stop and sleep in a village.)  Julio, (a YWAM member from Columbia who is in charge of the river ministry) decided that we would stay in one village the entire week. We held medical clinics in 4 different villages but we slept everynight in the same village. It went really well. The doctors and nurses ended up seeing about 1,000 patients. (not sure exactly) And I'm not sure how many teeth the dentist pulled but everytime I looked over he was torturing someone!

Doctor David from Lima, Peru.

Everytime I go to the Jungle, I fall more in love with the children who live there. I mean, they don't have much of anything to do, but they are so happy and friendly. Just to be able to goof around with the kids out there make it all worth it.

                                                                 

This Girl had a smile on her face as Doctor Jim was giving her a shot and stitces in a nasty cut on her foot. Amazing!

  It was a really great trip. We have another medical outreach this Friday (September 25th) for 7 days. Then I come back to the YWAM base for about a week. Then we go out again on a construction trip for a week. On that one, we will dig two wells, and build a church. So far, I am staying very busy.

Please continue to pray for me and the rest of us YWAMERs down here.  We are doing our best here in sometimes very uncomfortable conditions. (right Daniela?) If you would like to support me or Daniela financially, please send donations to Friendship Baptist Church Mike Faulkner Mission Fund. 10150 Brockington Road. Sherwood, Arkansas. 72120 .      If there are any questions about what God is doing down here in Peru, please feel free to write me an Email at Mikesway0078@yahoo.com or you can call me at 501-588-2278. That is a Skype phone number that rings to my computer. If i am online I can answer. Please leave me a message and I will return your call.   . Thanks

                                                             

Starting after finishing

So I graduated the DTS (Discipleship Training School). I went home to Arkansas for about a month. I got to eat all of the food that I had been missing for the last 7 months. I was able to see all my friends and family that I had been missing. I got to meet my brand new nephew while I was home. I only was able to meet him for about 45 minutes, but I'm just glad he was born before I came back. ........... This all sort of sounds like the end of a chapter, huh?

Now I'm back in Iquitos, Peru. I am a staff member of the YWAM (Youth With a Mission) base that I took my DTS at. All of the students are gone. It is much quieter around here. I am moved in, settled in, and almost completely organized. Seems much hotter here than last time I was here. I already miss my family and friends. Seems a little more lonely here now. Hopefully that will change.
I have been praying a lot lately. It seems that as soon as I feel like I understand how things will go, things change. This is not always a bad feeling. But, sometimes frustrating.
I haven't really been working much yet. I have done some cleaning around the base, but its pretty slow around here now. This coming Thursday, however, we will be going to the Jungle on a medical outreach. We are going with one medical doctor, one dentist, about 4 or 5 nurses, and about 10 more volunteers or so. I don't know the village we are going to yet. Might be that I have visited here before. I actually hope so. I would like to see some of he people that we evangelized to. I think it would be interesting to see where they are on their walk with God.


I have realized since i got here that I need a few things. I need a desk, notebooks, pens, and a few other little things. I have support to last for about 2 months. But, after I buy all the things I need, that might go down to about a month and a half. I have learned to trust God. He will provide for me as long as He wants me to stay in Peru.

I will bring my camera to the jungle and get some pictures of the medical outreach. Also, I hope to bring back some stories of how God has been working with and through the people of the Amazon Jungle. Until next time,
Mike Faulkner

the long road

I know it has been way too long since i have blogged last. One of the reasons i havent written is because we have been travelling for the last 2 and half months. Another reason is that my computer died the first day of travelling. It´s pretty annoying trying to type a blog in an internet cafe. But here I am.. I´ll give it a shot.

Ok, so what has happened in the last few months since i have blogged last? Well one thing is that I have decided to come back to Iquitos, Peru (after about a one month vacation back home) to work with the DTS (Dicipleship Training School) that i am in now. I have had a really great experience here. Not always easy, not always fun, and many times, not a fun place to live. But i have made some great friends here. I really admire the work that they do. Not only do they have the school for 6 months out of the year, they have many other ministries for the other half of the year. During the non-school year, they go out to villages in the Amazon jungle. Many times we go with nurses and doctors with much needed medicene. I never thought i would say this (on account of the mosquitos) but I actually am looking forward to heading back out to the jungle.

Over the last few months we have been travelling around South America. Staying in a different city every week. Performing our dramas and choreographies for people. Mixed in with our program, we add a few short testimonies. As soon as the program is finished, we immediatley go out into the crowd and talk to them about Jesus. One great thing that I have learned over the past few months, is how to not fall into a mold. I have heard people talking about evangalism and they say the same things everytime. For example, ¨This is what Jesus did, This is how you accept Him, do you want to accept Him too? ¨ This normally produces a false response. Most of the people who are approached like this will just say yes, because they dont want to be rude. I have been praying and trying to approach people in a sincere way. I tell them about Jesus, about what He did for us, and what that means. Then I tell them what He has done for me. Afterwards, I tell them how to accept Him. Then I just let God take over. I believe that if they really want to accept Jesus, that they will ask about it. But even if they don´t, then I presented the Gospel to them. (which is what the Bible tells us to do, not force them into a response).
So that´s about it. I am looking forward to coming home and visiting family and friends for a while. Although, it will not be all fun and games, I will need to raise more support so that I may be able to afford to live in Peru for the next 2 years-ish. So please pray for that. I miss everyone and I can´t wait to see you... Love,
Mike

The end is the beginning of the end of the beginning.

Studying and training

I know that I haven't posted in a while. For that, I apologize. We are incredibly busy here all the time. We have 5 days with 2 classes per day. Then we have drama practice 6 days a week. The only day off is Sunday. And the first half of that is going to church. After church, i usually just lay around and rest up for the busy week ahead.
I am enjoying myself. I never thought that I would like learning these dramas. But, I think I am getting pretty good at it. We have learned a total of 4 dramas and 3 or so choreographys. In 3 of the dramas, I have one of the main roles. (God or Satan) I think playing Satan is a little harder because I have to shiver and look evil all the time. When I play God, I just stand up really straight, and try to look holy. There was a time a few months ago that I thought all of these dramas would be very cheesy. In fact, if i would have known that there was this much emphasis on dramas, I probably wouldn't have come here. I'm glad I didn't see that before. Because, now that I am learning them, I am seeing how incredibly powerful they are. Sometimes when we practice them, we watch the staff perform them first. And when I see it, it gives me goosebumps.

Things are going really well, we have about a month left of classes and drama training before we head out for outreach. I am very excited about that. I can't wait to perform some of these dramas for hundreds of people. I am excited to see their reactions. From what I hear, anything that has to do with theater down here is very well excepted. I am also excited to be able to share the love of Christ to people after we perform. I am expecting miracles.

I got some news the other day that there is an extra expense on the outreach phase of the DTS. Bolivia charges a "vengeance tax" to United States citizens only. Apparently they charge exactly what the U.S charges for a Bolivian to get into the States. This was unexpected. Seems it will put a crunch on my financial situation. There was a time where I would be worried about this. But, over and over God has shown his faithfulness, and come through with however much or however little financial support I need.

Please continue to pray for me, as God has instructed me that I will come back to South America after the DTS. I'm not sure where yet. Or for how long (at least 2 years).. But that will take a lot of prayer. I will need to speak at churches to gain support, all of the missionaries down here tell me to try to get monthly supporters. I also need guidance from my leaders here. So far, they have been great. They are praying for God to show me where He wants me. When they could be trying to recruit me.

So that's the situation for the time being. If i failed to mention something, or if you have a question, please email me at Mikesway0078@yahoo.com Thanks for your love and support. I miss you guys......