On the Field Again

Amazonian Wednesdays 🌴

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I have been sharing with you a number of writings from my very first year as a rookie missionary. After that year, I returned to the U.S. to get much needed training at Fuller Seminary. During the time that I was taking classes there in missiology, I continued my relationship with the man who was to become my husband, Israel Arimborgo.

Israel is Peruvian and grew up in the Amazon Jungle. I met him on my first missions trip to Peru in 1996. We had developed our relationship during that first year that I lived in Iquitos, and God had made it clear that He had picked him out for me. Long distance for three years was challenging to say the least, but when God is in it, everything is possible! 

In 2001, I graduated with my Masters and had both a Peruvian wedding and an American wedding within a few weeks. A few months later, I moved back to Iquitos permanently, now as a wife. Today’s share is from October of that year, the first letter I wrote to our team in that new season of my life:

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“AAAAAAAAYY!!!” screamed a woman several rows ahead of me in the airplane as it lurched threateningly up and down. She screamed again a few moments later as the plane jerked a second time. My muscles tensed and I started imagining what a plane crash might be like…

But anyway, here we are in Iquitos , safe and sound. It was just some turbulence, providing for us a little bit of a dramatic entry back to the city of our heart.

Before our arrival in Iquitos on September 28th, Israel and I spent a week and a half in Lima, meeting with a contact from the U.S. Embassy, and shopping for some items for our new home, and reacclimating to life in Peru.

Arriving back in Iquitos after three years of absence has been about as dramatic as the turbulence that shook the airplane transporting us to this place. At certain moments the thought of being here for pretty much the rest of my life is overwhelming, as I am far away physically from all of you that I love in the States.

At the same time, my spirit experiences deep satisfaction to have arrived at last, long term, to the place I know He has called us to be. I am filled with expectation to see what will unfold in and through our lives in the years to come. We have so many dreams to see this city, and the Amazon jungle, and even all of Peru, dramatically changed by the power of God. We are just starting, and many, many exciting years lie ahead of us…

Thank you, my friends, for being a part of the expansion of the Kingdom here where we are. You are right here with us in spirit. We feel your backing and your love, and it means more to us than we can adequately verbalize. You are our team. So together, let’s take Peru for Jesus!