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We´ve been back for over a week. How wonderful it´s been to see our families! We´re enjoying our time with them.

What has been difficult is our mutual feeling of strangeness. We feel foreign in our own home culture! It´s something I have a hard time explaining.

How could what was once normal now feel uncomfortable?

Why is it difficult to get back into routines we´ve had for years after only months out of the country?

Like I said, I can´t explain it. We just need to figure out how what we´ve learned in Peru fits into our lives here. 

We´d love to catch up with you, so if you´re in the area please feel free to call or email any of us to hang out in person.  We´ll look forward to it!

Meanwhile, we ask that you keep Nuestras Semillas and the church in Tacna in prayer. We may have finished our mission there, but the churches continue with ministry every day. They need unity, wisdom, love, perseverence, and resources.

Thank you!

Hope Christian Church came for two weeks,
 bringing with them their own version of Operation Christmas Child,
only this Christmas took place in July!

The kids were so excited!

Ejail approves of his new toys and school supplies.

Edu fits in his new shirt!

And Laura just kept painting...

Matthew 9:37-38

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

 The childrens' room in the New Jerusalem church

The Parable of the Lost Sheep in New Jerusalem

 

The last few days were really special for us.

We enjoyed time with our Peruvian friends, family, and church.

Stephanie with her Peruvian family,
Talia, Rodrigo, Sandra, Vidal

Ana and Laura with their family,
Jessica, Luna, Tio Victor, Tia Adelaida, Alejandra, and Christian 

like family: Judith and Tia Maria

Cusco was Amazing!

 Ana and Laura at Pisac

Stephanie in the Central Plaza

A young girl in traditional dress with her pet llama ¨Juanito¨

One of several Cathedrals in Central Cusco

Karla, Ana, Laura, and Stephanie in Sacsaywaman, 

a hill above Cusco with just the base of what used to be an Incan temple behind us

Karla and Reinaldo are good friends of ours who were our guides the week we were in Cusco. 

We are so grateful for them! 

Ricky and Tracy, Iberoamerican missionaries in Cusco, 

were generous enough to open their home to us during our stay away from Tacna. 

We greatly appreciate their friendship and giving spirit. 

Now that this refreshing trip has come to an end, 

we gringas have less than a month left! 

We are both sad to think of leaving 

and excited to come home to our families and friends.

What a strange week! God has certainly been in it.

        Last week we let go of our responsibilities at Nuestras Semillas. It felt strange to do so. After months of dreaming, praying, planning, buying, making changes, getting to know our team of teachers and the kids, we walked away.

         The kids are in good hands; the teachers are capable and comfortable; and Pauly, the director, has great ideas and a great work ethic. 

This program, as it always was, is in God´s hands. 

Our extra free time this week seemed divinely appointed; it provided us with opportunites to encourage a few friends experiencing deaths in the family and health problems. We gave a lot of hugs and lent our ears more than we´re used to, but it was a blessing to do so together. 

We are now planning to spend one week of vacation in Cusco! We are really excited for this week of traveling the culturally-rich former capital of the Incan Empire. Our good friend Karla, who spent almost two years there as an intern, will be our guide. Ricky and Tracy, Iberoamerican missionaries in the city, will be our hosts. We look forward to spending time with them as well. Our bus tickets are purchased; we leave tomorrow!

 

 Laura´s first glimpse of a Llama!








A lovely day in Arica, Chile with our dear friend Mily

one cold winter´s night

On Monday we went to Arica, Chile, to renew our documents for the remainder of our time here. It´s always fun to go, but I am always glad to return to Tacna. Maybe it´s calmer here, or maybe I´m just used to it now.

What I´m not used to is rain in Tacna! Well actually, any moisture at all! When we returned to the bus terminal last night the weather was COLD and misty. I couldn´t wait to go home and get in bed.

But as we waited for a taxi I noticed a woman sitting in the cold across from me. Her many layers of clothing caused her to appear larger than she was. At her feet were several thermoses. I suppose she was trying to sell tea, but I didn´t see anyone buy from her.

Impatient for a taxi, we walked toward the main street. On the corner were still more women sticking out the cold trying to sell, of all things, fruit on a winter night.

How difficult their lives! I do not know, of course, their individual stories. But I know that those women would not expose themselves to the cold just to make a few cents if it weren´t out of absolute necessity. These women live day to day.

¨Give us this day our daily bread…¨ is a reality I know nothing about.

And yet to those living in this way (in which the majority of the world lives), Jesus called them blessed. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

--Stephanie

*we did not take this picture



John 15

          We want to share with you an interesting interpretation of the I am the Vine, You are the Branches analogy we heard about in one of last Sunday´s sermons.

          Some of us want desperately to produce good fruit, but we must remember that fruit grows as a result of staying in the Vine, persevering with God.

          Pastor Victor of New Jerusalem reminded us that while God´s children will produce fruit, every tree has its time. A head of lettuce grows in a matter of months, and an orange tree bears fruit in 5-6 years. A palm tree bears fruit after 40-50 years!

          While God is certainly the root of a healthy tree, whether person or church, He has his purpose for each one. He will decide what type of fruit we will bear, and when. There´s no sense in hurrying something that takes time as long as we remain in the Vine.

Recently we held our first parent meeting at Nuestras Semillas. It went well! Not perfect--we forgot to say things--but Judith, Brunner, and Maria Jose did a great job of expressing important points.

Maria Jose, afterwards, told me:
"Diego´s mom came up to me after the meeting and she said his professors at school are wondering if he´s really doing his homework, because IT´S SO WELL DONE. They said his BEHAVIOR has been markedly better in these last weeks too."

So we praise God! By His grace we are doing something right!

 

Happy Mother´s Day! in Ciudad Nueva

We took pictures of mothers and their children to give them as gifts.

Upper left: Diego and family

Upper right: Angela and Joselyn with mom

Bottom: Tia Paulie leading the kids in a Mothers Day poem