Itinerary

Just one month and a few days remain of my home assignment! I cannot believe that I have been in the States for over a month! This past month has been filled with reunions, sharing, and re-connections. It has been wonderful to see family and friends face-to-face and enjoy a bowl of Starbucks ice cream and a juicy hamburger! I have been getting back in touch with everyone as well as working on getting treatment for my left arm.

As many of you know, I have had tendonitis in my left elbow for almost 3 years. It is has made playing the violin difficult and inhibited professional activities. Monday July, 13 I went to see a Dr. Bond who practices in Lafayette, Louisiana. He told me that I do not need surgery! When tendonitis became an issue, I didn't rest it which caused my body to try to do quick fixes. My forearm muscles developed knots and became so tight that I couldn't physically relax them (I apologize to the doctors that I cannot explain in a more medical/technical way). The therapy that Dr. Bond prescribed was myo-fascial release massages to release the muscles. In this process, the scar tissue is ripped up and flushed out (hopefully I am drinking enough water :). Praise God that surgery is not necessary! I have been having these massages for about 2 weeks. It has become easier to play the violin but I have still been in pain. Thank you for your prayers on my behalf. I hope that my arm will be feeling better very soon.

I would love to see you if you are in town this summer. I will be in Jackson, Mississippi most of the rest of the month I have here. I will keep this blog updated with my itinerary. As of now, there are many pending dates so I will just put the secure ones below. If you can come I would love to see you there!

July 12th Ruth Circle 6:00 PM Krisan White's house

July 15th Russ community group 6:00 PM Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church

July 31st Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church Evening service 6:00 PM

Visiting Friends, Raising Support and Preparing to return to Peru

I greet you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I hope that all is well with each of you! Thank you for your faithful prayers and support this past year. God has done exciting heart transforming work in Peru and within me this past year! I am writing to share with you what God has done, how He has grown me and what this upcoming year looks like. God has definitely called me back to Peru and I need your financial support again!

Where I’ve Been

This past year was a great eye-opening and maturing experience for me. God taught me how important it is to get involved in people's messy lives. This past year has been a time of learning language and culture, and beginning to build relationships. My work falls generally into two categories. The first is to evangelize the music community in Trujillo, and second, to encourage and support the churches in their music ministries.

• August-December was about intense language study

• I taught English and violin to people in the church and community

• I had musicians in my home and played concerts with the local Symphony and with conservatory students

Being a North-American trained musician, God uses that training to open up many opportunities for me to get to know people and share the gospel. It was a full year, full of surprises, growth, relationships, gospel-rich teaching and sharing, and serving alongside the church in Peru.

God brought two musicians into my life who worked many hours with me preparing for a concert.

Ricardo started out as one of my advanced English students which lead us into many conversations about spiritual things. When he found out that I was a violinist he began inviting me to concerts and introducing me to his musician friends. One of those friends was Leonardo, a pianist, composer and professed atheist. Leonardo and I started out playing a variety of music for fun using the lunch hour for rehearsals and afterwards lunching together. As we spent more time together, he became more open about his beliefs. In turn, he heard the gospel, God’s work in my life, and the reason why I was in Peru. Before I left in May, I had begun to see a change in Leonardo. He respects my beliefs even in small ways like bowing with me as I pray over our lunch. He appreciates and respects my training and talent as a musician, which gives us much to talk about. God has also given me numerous opportunities to share and live out the gospel for Ricardo. I pray that the gospel is preached to him more and that God will soften his heart and open his eyes. I am excited to see what God will continue to do in both of their lives in the coming months. If you are interested in hearing more details about this past year, I would love to talk to you!

Where I’m Going

For several months I had been praying about whether God would have me stay another year in Peru. Peru Mission invited me this May to join their team as a missionary (up to this point I was a fellow). I am very excited to be working alongside the team in Peru Mission and for this opportunity to serve another year. God has used the musical gifts and instruction that I have received to develop relationships and to share the gospel. This coming year I am planning to co-teach my violin students from the churches with a Peruvian. My goals are to be more aggressive in teaching serious violin students from different parts of the city, to play chamber music, and to plan monthly concerts to serve students by giving them opportunities to share their gifts. Additionally, I would like to make it a weekly habit for people to come hang out at my home, ask questions, have discussions, and hear the gospel. These goals will give me opportunities to get more involved in their lives. One of the things I have learned about this year is that evangelism is a community endeavor. I have met several other Christian musicians and my prayer is that we can band togetherand share Christ’s love with the rest of the community.

What I Will Need

My prayer is to be back in Peru by August 10th, 2011. I ask you to partner with me in this calling God has given me with your prayer and financial support. Please pray that God would guide me in relationships and which gatherings will build more community. Also, pray that I would be humble and open to what God has for me, that God would help me form Christ-centered relationships with fellow Christians and non-Christians, and that we would have unity as a mission team. I need to raise $21,000 to cover my travel, and living, medical insurance, ministry expenses, and administrative costs. Would you pray about giving $200 either as a one-time gift or spread out over the year? If 105 people give $200 either as a one-time gift or spread out over the year that will meet my needs. You can either make a one-time contribution or recurring pledge online at www.perumission.org under Rachel Reese or send your gift or commitment to the Christian Missionary Society P.O. Box 53363 Knoxville, TN 37950. I am excited to see what God will do!

I would love to hear from you even if it is just a quick hello! May God bless you in your relationship with Him and as you grow in Christian community.

In Christ,

Rachel

rglorifygod@gmail.com

601-519-1336

Violin Students

So, as promised oh so many months ago.....pictures of my violin students :)

This video is of my youngest violin student. She is 6 and is learning twinkle right now. Soooo adorable....

These two violinists are Ronald's students. He is a friend of mine and has been helpful to me introducing me to musicians in the orchestra and getting me involved in the Symphony. Sandy is on the right and Fabiola on the left. Sandy and I recently played a duet with the Symphony. She is very brave! She had less than a week's notice that she was playing with the Symphony as a soloist!

These are my violin students from the Arevelo Church. Katy is 19 and an attendant of the church. Please pray for her salvation. She works hard at violin and enjoys it. She first heard it on TV and fell in love with the violin. The other chica is Dorothy. She is Pastor Ricardo's daughter. She has a sweet heart and talks a lot! She laughed heartily at my translation mistakes on the music theory papers I gave her :) Dorothy tells me that she remembers very clearly a girl from the States named Bethany who came and played the violin with such passion. (I had to tell her that I was actually on that music team as well jeje God has a way of keeping us humble, very humble...) Both Katy and Dorothy share a violin donated by dear friends in the States. So many strings were breaking or raveling that I asked them what they did to the violin. I found out that between the two of them, the violin was being played between 2-3 hours every day!!!

Thank you all for your continued prayer and support. May God bless you all!

Getting things rolling again

Praise God for a new to enjoy His dear presence! Getting back to Trujillo was in some ways less of an adjustment than I thought and in other ways more of an adjustment. I missed my family a lot as soon as I got here. Adjusting to life here was like normal though and it was good to catch up with friends and roommates! Sweet Linda has arrived! She is our new roommate and will be here until June. She is such a blessing to each one of us in her eagerness to jump in and learn new things as well as her attitude of service.

I am almost done my survey of the Spanish Bible study which has 10 lessons. I was encouraged to talk with three lady musicians at the Conservatory two of which I will be teaching during their summer vacations. God has been so good to provide opportunities and students for me! I now have a violin student named Maria Eunice in the Wichanzou Church and Dorothy and Kati in the Arevelo Church. I am excited to get started although teaching in Spanish is doubly exhausting! It is cool to see God open up doors for people who have been wanting to take violin and now they have the opportunity! One thing I really enjoy about teaching in the churches is the chance to get more out into the community and out of the office.

Two weeks ago I went and did interviews. My goal was to test their musical ear and find out their reason for wanting to take violin and their goals. I had to tell someone for the first time that they couldn't take violin because they didn't have good pitch. Every day there is something new to learn. That is the hard thing with violin. So far, God has provided 9 violin students. Here, even the beginners take for one hour. So, not only is my brain dead but I am exhausted after violin classes :) However, when I think about teaching violin in another language, I give thanks to God for that gift. As my brain adjusts, it will be less exhausting. Coming up next issue is pictures!!!

Paseo

The last Saturday before I left, I went on a paseo with my English class. A paseo is a short day trip usually to a place outside the city. We went to a beach about an hour and a half north of Trujillo. There were 10 of us total. We had decided to bring the ingredients to make ceviche on the beach. For those of you who have not yet had this palatable delight, it is a speciality fish platter of Peru. Most Peruvians I have asked have said that this is their favorite dish. It is pieces of fish soaked in lemon juice and salt, covered with onions, and served with yuca and sweet potato. I was afraid to eat it at first because the fish looks raw, however, the lemon juice 'cooks' it. The picture on the left is us enjoying fresh ceviche on the beach.

I was surprised that everyone who said they were coming actually came and brought food. We played volleyball, soccer, braved the water for a bit, and took naps :) It was a good time of bonding and getting to know them better. Some of the people in my class were from other churches in the area which was good fellowship.

It is good to be back in Trujillo! It is summer here now so we are all in short-sleeved shirts and talking about the beach! We started work in Monday. This week it is my goal to get violin lessons started up in the churches and start giving violin lessons to students on summer vacation. It was good to be home for 3 weeks and to visit with my family and church family. God bless you!

Happenings

This month has been really fun as a lot of opportunities have popped up for musical involvement in the community. I'm grateful to God for these opportunities! This week was the annual 72 hour Prayer Marathon in Trujillo. For 72 hours straight people from different churches come to pray in the Plaza de Armas (the center square of the city). For 42 hours there was Scripture reading as well. Thursday morning I went with some friends from the Cristo Rey Church to pray. It was a great way to start Thanksgiving Day! One of the pastors asked me to play at the closing ceremony.

I was very honored. My pianist friend who was also my English student played piano for me. It was an interesting three days! Today, we arrived to play and we couldn't find our contact person. We found out that the rest of the musicians had come earlier in the day to try out the sound equipment. I also found out that the song I was planning on playing with music was going to have to be played from memory because I didn't have a stand and they didn't either. We were told we would probably play at 8:30. At almost 8:40 we still hadn't started. At this point I had almost ran away several times! It was definitely the Holy Spirit that kept me there.

There was a folk instrument band that played which is what is in the video. I am slowly learning songs in Spanish. I was quite thrilled to know two songs tonight!

Musicians

Last night I had the privilege of having some fellow musicians in my apartment. There were six guys and myself. The girls only Bible study is definitely not going to work! At first it was kind of awkward as I only really knew two of them. However, the bass guitarist had brought his instrument and amp so he ended up playing quite a few numbers for us including one with Beethoven's V. It was a fusion of classical themes with rock. It was really cool to watch up close. His fingers on both hands moved rapidly!

After listening to the bassist for awhile, the guys opened up and began asking me questions about the music education in the States. It ended up being an interesting exchange of ideas and methods of music education in both nations. They talked about various professors and the difficulties of studying music. In the process I was invited to several concerts in the near future.

I hope to have the opportunity to have more musicians over soon. I'm excited to talk and play with fellow musicians. It is really neat to connect with musicians in a different culture and see their perspective coming from a Peruvian musical background of the music of Peru. Maybe next time more girls will come :) I asked someone if there were more boys in Trujillo than girls as there seems to be more boys around then girls. They responded that they thought it was about the same. However, the three church plants as well as the University ministry, and English classes seem to have an overwhelming majority of guys. This is good for church leadership.

This link is to a slideshow of pictures a professional took while he was here. It will give you a little bit of an idea of what it is like here. http://vimeo.com/15889150

I miss you all a ton! Thank you for your prayers. They are both felt and appreciated!