Last night we started our middle school youth group. We have a group of middle schoolers between 11-17 years old. We talked about dinosaurs, the book of Job and creation vs. evolution. We ate some ice cream Sundays and played spoons. We had a great time.

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before and after

The entrance and the children's rooms.

Today we had our first Sunday service in our new space. We had several new people today and pray that they will continue to come. God has been so good to us and has transformed a space that seemed useless into something that will be used to glorify His holy name. Just exactly what He did with us, transformed something that seemed impossible and useless into something that is useful for His glory. Ohhh Praise Him!

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Sorry for the lack of posts, but we've been really busy. I (Robin) have been working on the new building for the past month with a good bit of help of course. This weekend is the opening celebration. We are excited, but there is ton of stuff that still needs to be done. Please pray that it all comes together for Sunday. As soon I can get the time I will post some pictures.

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A few months back we were praying for a new space and thought that we had found the perfect spot, but the Lord's ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts, needless to say it didn't pan out. Now we are looking at a new space. In the traditional Calvary style, the place is a large open warehouse without anything. We will need to build rooms for Sunday school classes and bathrooms. We are excited about the possibility that this offers us as a church and the room that this will give us to grow. We have made an offer on the building (to rent) and are waiting on the Lord for the answer. Please join us in prayer for this new space.

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This month I began teaching classes in English pronunciation and communication. The class is full, I have about 25 students, some are from the church and some not. We are hoping to be able to minister to them as they come to the class. The point of the class is to reach out to university age students, which is exactly what we have. I have one problem, the church is overfull and if they come they will have no where to sit. So please pray for these lost souls and pray continually for the Lord to provide us a new church building. Our children's ministry is overflowing and people are standing outside in the hot sun on Sunday mornings. Please pray with us. We are currently talking to someone about another building on the main ave, it used to be a Radio Shack. Please Lord provide for your church.

http://trshelley.blogspot.com/2010/01/english-classes-as-outreach.html

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This is our Christmas dinner.

crazy eyes

Irma, one of the sweet saints in the church, her 90 year old dad is seated on the left.

the kids watching TV

The giant feast.

Sorry it has been so long for those of you who follow us here on the blog. Things are going well here in Ica and the Lord is blessing us abundantly. For Christmas we had a nice dinner on the 20th and about 50-60 people came out to celebrate with us. Free food always draws the crowds. We also had a special service on the 24th to celebrate Christmas Eve. The church was full to overflowing and we had a blessed time celebrating our Saviors birth. Lately the church has been busting at the seams, this past Sunday we had two people standing outside the door. We are desperate for a new space, but still waiting on the Lord. The place that my heart desires that many of you guys have been praying for is still available, but we have yet to hear anything. Now I'm looking into other options. I know that Lord will provide, I just pray He does so quickly.

Christmas eve service

Full house for Christmas Eve

Robin & Tracy Shelley: Christmas 09

I wanted to share a great God story for His glory. We had a lady named Betty visiting the church for about 10 days while she was here in Ica, visiting her sister and seeing the doctor about cancer treatments. She didn't tell me what the sickness was only that she was sick. We had just finished our Thursday night study in the book of John and I was ready to start Acts, but the Lord laid it heavy on my heart to teach on prayer and to end with James 5. After studying for the evening the Lord put it on my heart to take oil to anoint one that would come forward and ask for prayer. I taught, it was rough, I didn't feel that it went all that well that night, but when I taught about James 5 and anointing with oil anyone who is sick that they may be healed, I felt lead to ask if anyone felt lead to come forward to be prayed over. We were all preparing our hearts for communion. Betty came forward, we prayed over Betty and anointed her with oil. Many other faithful prayer warriors had been praying for her as well. Friday came and her sister came to bring our family some avocado and tell me that in the morning Betty got her test results and she was clear of cancer. The doctor couldn't find any cancer anymore. She still has to come back to the doctor for routine checkups, just in case. But she has been healed. Praise Him. Christ was glorified. Betty stayed a few extra days to be sure to assist our Sunday service, because she said that she feels at home here. I ask her at the last minute to give her testimony of how Christ had healed her and she went on for about 10 minutes about how great is our God, how mighty is Christ and He is to be praised. Thank you Lord for healing Betty and for glorifying Your Holy name.

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Robin & Tracy Shelley: He heals

Yeah! We found a little church building. It is small, it will hold about 20-24 folding chairs. The Lord has lead us here and He has a purpose. We will be very centrally located and easy to find. The location need some work, which we will do over the coming weeks.

This is the face of the building. The owner said we can paint a sign on the door and hang a banner on or above the window.

This is the inside which will serve as the small sanctuary. We feel like about 6 rows of 4 folding chairs each will fit inside.

This is a small room that we will use for kids ministry. It's about 9ft by 9ft.

This is the bathroom. We are going to change the toilet and sink for a new one and clean up and paint everything. We will probably begin service here sometime in the beginning of May. Please pray for the work that needs to be done here.

Robin & Tracy Shelley: A New Little Church Building

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About two weeks ago I posted an update saying that for certain unspoken reasons we were not having Bible studies in Los Pollitos at this time. Well after some time of prayer we are back in Los Pollitos, we have decided to change the ministry for now, to just reading once a week with Ana only. We feel that it isn't wise at this time to invite others to the this study. Please pray for Ana and the work the Lord is doing in her life, she is under a great spiritual attack and needs your prayers.

You can also pray for us as we consider beginning a Bible study for the community of Los Pollitos in a small wooden building that the community has offered to let us use for free. We don't want to start because an opportunity exist, we want to hear directly from the Spirit that this is from Him and not of our own makings. Please keep this in your prayers also.

Robin & Tracy Shelley: Update on the ministry in Los Pollitos

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Well we had a meeting, we made an offer and it was denied. We prayed that the Lord would close the door if it was not from Him and He did, but that is not always easy. I was looking forward to being done with looking for a house. It is very difficult to look, because that means leaving Tracy and the kids alone for several days and staying in hotels or with other people. It means walking the streets day and night looking and praying. It means more time in Lima and more time before we get to move to Ica and minister more directly with the flock there. I realize that through it all Christ will be glorified and that His provision is always better than ours. Continue to pray for us, I struggle greatly with patience.
Robin

Robin & Tracy Shelley: The Hunt Continues

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