Chau friends

Hey all,

Well, this is my last post (for real this time). I just launched my new website, so CHECK IT OUT. Its been fun getting a chance to share here... but i just wanted something more personal. you can get all the updates you can handle over there now, dont forget to update your blogroll.

Peace

this is it

well... i have three days left in Peru (for now at least). this summer has been great, but really hasn't felt like summer at all. first the weather was very non-summer-like, second i didn't spend it on the home farm, and last i'm not returning to school this time.

in fact, i just purchased my ticket back to peru for october 4th, where i will be for at least the following 14 months. after that i will only be able to leave peru up to 3 months at a time or my visa will be void. safe to say i will be here (or there) for the long haul... until God calls me elsewhere. its exciting and unnerving all at the same time. for how long i will be in peru, i really don't know. and that's ok, because even 5 months ago i didn't know i would be in peru on a somewhat permanent basis, although everyone around me figured as much. so im sure the next thing God asks of me may be only a 4 month warning as well.

the funny part about all of this is that i admittedly expected it to be more difficult/challenging than it has been. i figured when God called me it would be something that would wrench me out of my comfort zone and require constant prayer (every waking minute) to get through. admittedly, i have not been in constant prayer this summer. i've been doing mostly construction work where i feel pretty confident in my abilities, albeit God given abilities. in fact i find it difficult to classify what i do as ministry.

BUT, i also think that this is exactly the attitude satan wants me to have. when things go well its easy to overlook all that God has been providing to make it such an easy burden. its easy to depend on ourselves and forget how far God has carried us. He has given me health, strength, a safe place to live, hot water, food, abundant financial support, surrounded me with people who have knowledge and wisdom that far surpasses mine, an awesome prayer support base, and friends in the states and in peru who continue to be a great encouragement. He even brought a friend all the way from ACF at PSU on her own calling to teach in Lima and bring a little bit of home all the way to Peru, 5000 miles away. so it boggles my mind when some people may look at all of these things and say they are merely coincidences. God has been planning this for a long time, and im excited (and terrified) to see what else he has in store. either way He will provide, and He will blow my mind. only a year ago we were staring at the seemingly insurmountable goal of raising $100,000 for Hannah's Hope. one year later, we have over $100,000 in the bank, we are more than 50% complete with construction and have a pledge to finance the rest if we go over budget. talk about blowing my mind!

we at childreach are stoked to be so close to opening hannah's home (the maternity home). inspection is our last hurdle to overcome. and possibly in june to have hannah's hope (the orphanage) open as well. so it may be all construction right now, but next year this time there will be a whole other story to tell, and i think God will have stretched me pretty far.

so this is it for the summer, and this is it for this blog. i'm starting my own blog site for when i move to peru in october. it will be : davidmosemann.com, so check it out in a week or two, and i will see you there. in the meantime... God bless.

whoo hoo

today is my 24th day in peru. this past wednesday marked the longest amount of time i have been here. the last time i was here for up to three weeks i remember being ready to "go home" when the last few days rolled around the corner. that was in january, and i was still in school, and had no long term plans to be living in peru by october. my how things change. i feel significantly different this time around, i feel like i am home. as progress continues on the orphanage (drywall hung this week) i feel more and more drawn to this place. the image of children running around all over the orphanage gets sharper every day. there are always a few things to be missed, like long hot showers, but overall i feel a great peace when knowing this will be my home till God calls me elsewhere.

the scary thought is that i already feel very comfortable here, and i know God frequently asks us to leave our comfort zone so we can grow closer to him. so every now and then i wonder what its going to be like when He asks me to leave this place i've come to love. i've witnessed the tearful goodbyes of many groups that come here to serve when they have to part with the orphans from hogar they fell in love with over the course of a week. but i've never had to say them myself. i've always known when i was coming back.

today as the group was leaving, milagros (one of the children at hogar) gave me a hug and asked if i was leaving today. i said no, i will see you in church tomorrow to which she replied, "whoo hoo!" im afraid to think of the day when i wont be able to say when i will see them again. what would she say then?

the valley song by jars of clay

i found this yesterday... and wept

You have led me to the sadness
i have carried this pain
on a back bruised, nearly broken
i'm crying out to You

i will sing of Your mercy
that leads me through valleys of sorrow
to rivers of joy

when death like a gypsy
comes to steal what i love
i will still look to the heavens
i will still seek Your face

but i fear You aren't listening
because there are no words
just the stillness and the hunger
for a faith that assures

i will sing of Your mercy
that leads me through valleys of sorrow
to rivers of joy

alleluia

while we wait for the rescue
with our eyes tightly shut
face to the ground using our hands
to cover the fatal cut

and though the pain is an ocean
tossing us around, around, around
You have calmed greater waters
and higher mountains have come down

i will sing of Your mercy
that leads me through valleys of sorrow
to rivers of joy

yeah

ready

well... its been a while... a long while since my last post.... i hope you understand that i've had a few busy weeks lately... half of which was spent in italy. it was a good trip... but good will suffice... it was not great. similar to the last time i spent living in italy, the company i have kept on these trips has always left me wanting... wanting for the fellowship i am used to at home. its time like these you begin to appreciate those thing that are often taken for granted. funny that i used the word home... i suppose subconsciously that state college has been "home" for me for the past 7 years. but i am READY for a new home in peru. at the halfway point i could not help counting down the days until i will be in peru. im excited to spend these summer months working on hannah's hope with kenny and amy and the rest of the teams.

interestingly enough i had a brief conversation with one of the faculty members on this last trip to italy about which of the cities we visited was my favorite. i defaulted to rome because honestly of the three i felt the most at home there... then she asked me if it was the same as i felt for peru and i can definitely say no. because in peru there is a whole other piece to the puzzle... and that is fellowship. the people that i fellowship with are THE reason why i love peru. earthly treasures are no comparison for all the people i will interact with in peru everyday.

here i am Lord... send me.

"you should be drunk already"

its a busy week coming up for me and pretty much the rest of the architecture department. everybody has final projects due in the next two weeks. so the labs are pretty busy and sometimes its a crap shoot to get a computer in the lab. so planning accordingly i decided to work some tonight because it was saturday and most people would be out... hence an empty computer lab. walking into the studios i passed a few second year students that i was a TA for on their way out for the evening. (needless to say these are underachieving students). this was one of my 20yr old students' greeting: "why dave mosemann why? its blue and white weekend and you should be drunk already." my only thought was... how sad.

why do bad things happen to good people?

i have this friend. he is a missionary. but when he is home in the states between trips, he works as a radio dj for a christian radio station. last week he found out they were letting him go because he was spending too much time away from the station and on the mission field. he was upset, as i imagine i would be as well. but looking from the outside in, i found myself having a bit of a different opinion. my friend's ministry is expanding, more like exploding. i feel he would have been in a situation where he would have to leave the station anyway in the not so distant future because he is going to need to devote every waking hour to his ministry. so God, in his infinite wisdom, took care of that for him, He took away my friend's job essentially saying, "I'm going to need more from you soon, just wait and see."

i feel this way because i've seen many time where something happened that i thought was bad, "it's not fair," but really it was God moving pieces around to prepare for the next thing. i think it's easy to become comfortable where we are, but when God starts moving things around we get upset. we tell God, "i'll serve you, but no more, i'm doing fine right here." but God always wants more, He wants to challenge us, or He wouldn't have called us to take up the cross daily. and i think He challenges us to keep us on edge, to keep us from becoming complacent, and forgetting that, "it's not about me."

here's to the challenge.