News About Noise

Hey everyone!

This week has gone by fast. We're getting into our routine now that we've been here for 4 weeks. Our activities are going well, although there's not really anything huge to report on that front.

Things got a little less routine towards the end of the week, though. About midweek we had some municipal police knock on the door to tell us that we have been making too much noise on Sunday mornings, according to some of our neighbours. While I don't understand how half an hour of worship is more disruptive than the Saturday night parties that go to 4am, we have to deal with local law enforcement now. We had to take down all our speakers and all our instruments except for a single unamplified guitar. We aren't allowed to amplify our voices to speak either. We are also under threat to be kicked out of this building at an uncertain time. We are hoping to be able to stay here until the rental contract expires in July, but we are still waiting for confirmation. In the mean time, we need some major prayer that God will provide a new place of worship for us. Unfortunately, due to the laws of the city, the location must satisfy some strict regulations that guarantee we will have to pay far more than we can presently afford. We are praying and reminding ourselves that the church is the people, not the building, and that God is a faithful provider to give us what we need. I would ask that you join us in prayer to find a new home for the church here.

Saturday morning we also found out that the MB church in Trujillo was robbed. In a way that I'm loath to call coincidence, they had all their musical instuments stolen on Friday night. Someone smashed a hole in the rear wall of the church and carried off every instrument in the building, including a brand new drum set and a brand new computer system that had been purchased on Friday. Please pray for them as they go through this difficult time. We will be visiting this same church on our roadtrip in a month. Pray that we can be an encouragement.

Saturday morning was also notable in that we had an earthquake of magnitude 5.3 on the Richter scale. Apparently we had one pre-quake at about 1:40am, but I slept right through it. Then at about 7:50am, I had just woken up and was thinking about the day in my bed. All of a sudden, my windows started rattling really loudly and my bed started shaking. I was a little scared at first because I realized that it was an earthquake but didn't really know what to do. So I jumped out of bed and walked to my window, seeing birds from across the entire city taking off at the same time. I thought to myself, "Wow, I guess this is an earthquake. Maybe I should get down off the third floor. Hmmmm I'm still kind of tired. Maybe I'll go down in a minute." Then it ended. The whole thing only lasted about 10-15 seconds. I realized afterward that going to the window was pretty stupid, and that I should probably stop sleeping under a floor-to-ceiling wall of stored luggage. Just in case. Apparently there are a few earthquakes here every year, especially in the next 2 months. I wonder if we'll get another one!

Thanks so much for praying for us! I love getting messages from you guys just to say you're praying. Thanks for upholding us in more than just words.