Two Down, Two to Go

My sister, for nineteen years of my life (so far) ;) , is now married to Christopher Clark. It has been 1 day short of their 20 days as a married couple. It was a beautiful wedding. The Lord blessed it and has blessed Iza and Christopher with a new life together. Their story of the Lord bringing them together has been a testimony and example for many. They waited upon and acted on seeking and serving the Lord and keeping their relationship before the Lord pure, holy, and acceptable to God and that is what was exemplary (Romans 12:1-2). How exciting is it to see God's plan for both of their lives to meet and be planned out to go forward together still seeking and following Him. The Lord has been faithful. What God has brought together let no man put asunder!
Love you guys d^_^b

Gathered to be Scattered (for God's glory)

This past week I have been reminded of a saying that my dad would always used to say after every Campfires for Christ camp trip that we had, that is the Lord "gathers us to scatter us."
He calls us to be edified together and have our gifts stirred up and to encourage the body then sends us out to our mission field, whether that be our school, work, home or the more obvious far away countries to spread the truth of His gospel.

I have been able to see many Christian brothers and sisters who are subsequently going out to be scattered in the fields that God is setting before them. I myself will be moving, Lord willing, to another field by the end of and beginning of next year and am thankful for the recent gatherings that I have been able to participate and be encouraged in. The Lord is faithful to help prepare us for whatever work He has laid before us. For this I am thankful, for this I know that I don't need to worry, for this in part of the whole is why I love my God. Jeremiah 29:11.

I encourage you brother or sister to live in surrender to the Lord because He is worth living for.
It won't always seem the easiest but it is the best.

Reflections.

I am so thankful for this verse: Philippians 2:13
"for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."

I fail. But He does not.
He wants to have me do that which pleases Him and even provides for the motivation to do so.
How awesome is that, all we have to do is believe in Him to do what He promises.

Psalms 61:2
"From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I."

I have recently found myself overwhelmed.
Though it is quite humbling to say, growing up is tough.
But with my Lord who is my rock who is higher than I He will uphold me.

I thank the Lord pretty much daily for His unmerited favor towards me.
That concept seems so far from so many people's minds considering that
we are "supposed" to earn another person's love.
But who loves someone who hasn't "earned" their love in any way at all possible?
My God that is who.

I want my life to exude Christ. I want those springs of living water to overflow.
I want to be as perfect of a reflection of Christ as is earthly possible.

"A heart may be divided and not broken, and it may be broken but not divided; and yet again it may be broken and be whole, yet it never can be whole until it is broken."- C. H. Spurgeon

Sometimes I think public humiliation is good because it is just making the apparent position we should always have before God more apparent, just a thought. ( you probably could not tell that i embarrass myself a lot ^_^)

Well I praise the Father who has given us His Son to restore us to a relationship with Him then give us the Holy Spirit who helps us walk in the way we should.

What a good Father we have. Rejoice! We have been rescued forgiven and pulled from the grave!

Holy Matrimony:An Addition to the Amargo Clan

Ivan and Shannon got married this past Saturday, October 9, 2010. We are so blessed to have another Amargo in the family ;)

It's been amazing growing up with my siblings and seeing each of us draw closer to the Lord in our own lives. The Lord certainly has magnificent plans for those who trust in Him. Jer. 29:11

Everyone had an amazing time. I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the ceremony went, not to mention how fun ceremony and reception were. They definitely put their personalities in their wedding. From the Darth Vader Groom's entrance and the light saber first dance to their pictures which they took themselves as favors and every little detail in between.

It was a blessing.

May the Lord continue to, lead, guide, and direct them in the path He has set before them as one flesh serving, loving, and glorifying the Lord.

Worship Night August 21, 2010

This past Saturday we had our first Worship night with the youth groups of Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship. We are hoping that it will happen at least once a month. I had the opportunity to help lead worship alongside my cousins, Gaddiel
(taller vocalist) , Luke (vocalist with glasses), and my brother Izak (not pictured, on the drums in the back) as well as the bassist Jessie and our lead guitarist Luke Richardson. The exciting thing about singing worship together to the Lord and is that not only are you singing with family your singing to the Eternal God with your eternal family. Pretty awesome to say the least.

There were actually four of us different teams that lead in succession with different teams Ed, Ernie, Art, and myself. It was a wonderful time. It was amazing how God pulled it all together.

I pray that we always worship the Lord in spirit and in truth John 4. Photo Credits: Top two: taken by Tanner Yates; bottom: taken by Micaela Hildebrand

The Name of Jesus 2010

I had the opportunity to go up to Green Valley Calvary Chapel Camp Ground a second time this summer. Yet, this time it was with my home church in Temecula: CC Bible Fellowship. I went as a counselor. It was a blessing the Lord was showing me a different or rather revealing to me a wider spectrum of what He is doing especially in the area of growth in and in walking with Him. Another sweet blessing was that there were 5 of us cousins at this camp. It is sweet to know that your blood relatives seeks the Lord. It makes the family bonds ground much deeper because they are rooted in Christ. The title of the camp was "The Name of Jesus." We had wonderful men of God guest speak during our morning and evening sessions yet I believe that many would agree with me that not much else besides the Word of God can do justice to the person and name of Jesus.

Summer Camp 2010 with St. George +

Izak and I went to camp with my brother's youth group and other youth groups from Arizona. I was mostly apart of helping out in whatever ways I could, like cleaning up to helping lead worship and also being leader/counselor.

The main focus or theme of the camp was entitled Organic: Rooted and Grounded in Love. The camp verse was Ephesians 3:17. The difference that I saw in this camp, that made it the best summer camp that I have ever been to, was that there was a realness to it. because often times as i have seen it become and I'm sure a few can vouch for the same that camp can be come a bit of a show. The name of the camp was appropriate in that we should as believers understand that the church is not something mechanic it is very much organic. Along with the fact that as Christians there is the elements of simplicity, sincerity, rawness, and realness that we should have. The worship and the devos were great and the teachings were awesome and refreshing. The Lord was doing a real work in the kids' lives because of the real Christ centered fellowship most of them got to see. There is so much more to say but all there is left to do is give glory to the Lord for changing and transforming lives and giving us such a beautiful hope in Christ Jesus.

CCBC Graduation: Murrieta Version

It has been about a month since the actual event but it is worth blogging. Faith and I graduated from the Bible college with our Associates in Theology along with my siblings, Ivan and Iza, who received their B.A. and walked with us. In the list of students two filipino familys (the Abads and Amargos) all walked to begin with and sitting right next to us was Sosimo. It was a good ceremony. s.God has been good to keep us walking with Him seeing that He is truly faithful in every generation with saving my parents, with bringing us up in the Word and giving us the desire to know more about Him through His Word that we might be thoroughly equipped for every good work. photo credit: 1st pic my self, 2nd & 3rd Ray Abad

Departure and Arrival

The trip back home was an interesting adventure in itself. I got

dropped off by John Bonner at the airport along with another student. Samuel, who headed home for the break in between semesters. Maggie as well dropped by to say good bye she had been a great sister during my stay in Peru. All I can say is how faithful the Lord has been to assure me that He has a plan set out for my life and that as long as I am yielded to Him He will take care of me and direct me. I was so grateful to be used of God and had the opportunities to share the love of God with some of the lost.

<[pic with the dude with glasses] This is Marco he is Italian I got to share the gospel with him during my wait for my connecting flight in Houston, it was a testimony of the Lord because I was able to talk to Him about the gospel in Spanish. He was very interested though he shared that he was a materialist and believed that he wouldn't go to heaven. I suggested that he read his Bible that he had back in Italy (he was going back home from Honduras). Pray that he seeks and finds the Lord.

^ [pic on the plane] (man right of me) Jehovah's Witness Joel. i talked with him and

basically talked about the deity of Christ. they don't believe in the trinity at all so we disagreed; (guy left of me): filipino Christian Aaron: did't really know that me and Joel were arguing or what we were discussing exactly because he said that he agreed with what Joel was saying ( he didn't realize Joel was JW until the end of the flight) .

^ [the last pic, off the plane] both of these men sat behind me during the flight, they are creation evangelists: Man in the suit: Kevan who sat directly behind me apparently was listening to my conversation with Joel because at the end of the flight he gave me a booklet entitled, Be Prepared how to win your Jehovah's Witness etc friends to Jesus, he said, "I was trying to find the most inconspicuous way to hand it to you" he gave me his card for his ministry and wrote a bit of encouragement on the back of it to the affect of encouraging me to continue to stand fo rhte name of Jesus; Man in the white shirt: Eric Hovind, Kent Hovind's son check out the website http://www.drdino.com/ , he had come out to California to teach at various SoCal churches his new series entitled Beginnings of which he gave me a free dvd of the series, after learning that I had just graduated from Bible college, he said it was a Graduation present.

God is good to have allowed me to have such an adventure by no means could i have seen what i had seen without putting my trust in the Lord. He really does reward those who put their trust in Him. I just was witness to all the things the Lord orchestrated from me missing my connecting flight to sitting down in the right spot in starbucks to perchance talk to a Spanish speaking person about the gospel after being in a Spanish speaking country studying the Bible for a few months. Talk about God's sovereign hand

Chau, Peru. Hola, el Proximo Paso.

It's been exactly a week to the day that I left Peru. To sum up my whole semester Peru because to try to explain it would not do the whole experience justice. The Lord had me there for good reasons though it was hard in certain circumstances I truly believe He did a work in a through me. Not only was this semester special because being in Peru but also because it was my last semester. I doubt I will have the chance ever again to sit under the teaching of the word every day of the week as I had had the opportunity to do so in the past four semesters of Bible college. I have learned so much, yet know that I have so much to learn. I am so thankful for the provision that the Lord has given to me to be able to study the Word so freely. Now continues life and life that I must learn to be more disciplined to make time for the Lord being that the pressures of urgent worries of this world might try to crowd out. Our growth and walk with the Lord should never stop even after two years of intense study in the Word. We should all continue to seek our Lord Jesus Christ as that precious jewel because to give up we would certainly be fools

Graduates in Peru 2010

It has actually been a whole week and a half since the actual event, but it was great. The Lord has definitely blessed the campus and church in Lima, Peru. This semester was the first semester that the Peruvian intern full-time students (they are funded by churches in the states to go through the Bible college in order that they might be better equipped to minister in their ministries in different areas in Peru) graduated in the accelerated Bible college program. We all had an awesome time. We helped the with leading worship. It truly was an honor for me to spend a whole semester with some awesome brothers and sisters in the Lord this past semester. The Lord has been good.

Almuerzo Con Mi Amiga

This is Pamela she has been helping out with leading worship for the woman's Bible studies on Tuesday mornings and the young adults group on Saturday evenings. I have been recently teaching her a few things on the guitar every Friday since the beginning of April and she recently has invited me over last Wednesday and this Wednesday to her house for lunch (last Wednesday we had arroz con pollo). We have had awesome conversations though the language barrier is there. I do my best with what I can understand in Spanish and try to respond in Spanish all the time. It has been really helpful for me in practicing my Spanish. Parents are lovely people who are trusting in the Lord. They have seen hard times in that their son two years ago died in a car accident. They have been faithfully coming the CC Lima for awhile. It is good to see the strength of the Lord in them.

Jesus Loves the Little Children

The children's ministry in CC Lima had a celebration for the kids who had their birthdays in March and April and May this year so we had a teaching and then had cake and Inca Cola. It was good.

John and Pilar Bonner's 25th Wedding Anniversary

John and Pilar Bonner have been following and serving the Lord in Lima, Peru for approximately ten years bringing their 3 children who are all out of the house growing up, studying, and getting married in different parts of the world now. They celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with the CC Lima, Peru church family Sunday night on the 18th of April. It was a beautiful thing. They had slideshows of them through the years together and their kids all made vids for them to see. It was a blessing for all to see the faithfulness of the Lord in their marriage and their lives together and it was a blessing even for the simple fact that a lot of us girls got to dress up. We had a great time. The Calvary Chapel Pastors from all around Lima and Peru came and prayed over them near the end of the service. And they even actually had a mariachi band come up and play a few songs (Pilar is originally from Mexico) so it was in total a real fun and awesome night.

"Veintiséis" Dorm Steward[ing] Spring 2010

The semester is winding down with few days more than 2 weeks left. The Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to be a dorm steward this last semester. One thing that is true is that part of filling this role is learning to die to yourself and know that the Lord is in control of everything and as long as we are faithful to the task and good stewards with for example, even enforcing the rules even though it might not be something you like doing or comfortable with, He will give you peace.

Our room 26 will forever be in memory as an awesome room in which I met and grew along side some sweet sisters in Christ. We had much to learn from one another. I was "lucky" because both of them, are probably the neatest and most organized girls on campus which proves well during dorm cleaning days ;). It has definitely been a beautiful season this semester thanks to the Lord who put these girls in my life. Go"Veintiséis"!