May 2009 Newsletter

Dear Family & Friends:

As the title of our letters and journals states, life is definitely a journey! We continue to face new experiences, some more enjoyable than others. This month I asked Don what was his most memorable experience that I could relate to you and I’ve already written a journal on how we spent “labor day”. Please find excerpts of this journal below…

Here in Peru – We are spending our days studying, but our weekends are filled with cultural events, visiting the countryside, the city, and learning about life here in Peru.

Labor Day is celebrated May 1st. Today church bells were ringing in the morning, inviting all neighborhood residents to come to a special church service. We were privileged to hear the bells ringing and looked up to see a man standing in the belfry manually tugging on the ropes attached to the large bells which were pealing loud and clear. This announced the arrival of the worshipers and the statue of Virgin Chapi was respectfully carried down the street with a parade of Catholics immediately behind, reverently entering the church. Drummers kept the beat of the walkers in a ceremonious pace as they approached the wide-open church doors. However, being believers in Jesus Christ, and not the national virgin, we were going to enjoy the holiday away from the hustle and bustle of life. Spending time together as a family, not working, but ‘playing’ was the tradition for our host family. We headed out of town on an hour drive. We soon were in a totally barren desert area with rolling hills of absolutely not a thing but rocks and dunes formed from the winds blowing sand. The barrenness in itself, was quite colorful as the rocks were shades of rust, bronze and grey, both dark and light, according to different areas we travelled through and the sun shining brightly and reflecting off the hills, or the shadows of the clouds provided other color tones appealing to the eye. Although there was not a single piece of agriculture for miles after miles, the rolling terrain was still a thing of beauty to behold. It was hard to imagine that the metropolitan city was just 15 minutes of travel time behind us! The busily travelled two lane, well paved road, was windy and hilly, and a real man’s dream to drive! No guard rails were along the side of the road, and passing slower moving vehicles made the drive more thrilling for the two guys in the front seat!

About 45-50 minutes into the trip, we began to see acres and acres of garlic, cacti, vineyards, corn, and gladioli fields. We realized the area we were driving through was called LaJoya and that is the name of a dairy here in Arequipa. Homes were much like the poor areas of San Juan de Lurigancho and Jicamarca, suburbs on Lima. They consisted of thatched straw walled shacks spotted along the road side and in the hills. There were sheep, cattle and we even passed some dairy farms and yes, there were milk cans on the side of the road for pick up by the milk truck and transported to the dairy. We soon approached a sign reading “Sambambaias” with a gated entry. We had arrived at our destination. It was a resort complex and being the holiday weekend, it was the destination of choice for many. We were able to locate an available table under a thatched roof near the lawn for our dinner.

When we passed the home of the Virgin Chapi I couldn’t help but have a sense of sadness and recognize the many people on this annual pilgrimage were lost and dying, while believing they were travelling the right road to eternity. In contrast, as we came to a beautiful lush oasis, you can imagine the thoughts that quickly flooded my mind. We go through deserts in our lives; dry, barren seasons, which are dirty and undesireable. But as we continue the journey, we eventually come to an oasis which offers all that we might desire. Fresh water, lush agriculture, a resting place appear in the middle of nowhere. What a delightful surprise and much needed change of pace for us as we travel on. It is too often that we stay in the desert and complain, rather than continue on the course set before us to reach the pleasures we cannot see but are inevitably awaiting us! While we are in the desert we oft times lose focus of where we are going and why. The Lord continues to be by our side, but we don’t recognize Him and grumble, mumble the time away. It gets discouraging, doesn’t it? But we soon forget all the stress and frustrations, once we are enjoying what was ahead waiting for us. Why do we so often get hung up in the problems of life when we have the resources and power to deal with them?

There in Duluth -- Our family and friends have kept us updated on “what’s happening back home’ and it’s a thrill to hear that Bridgeway Church has new families visiting regularly, VBS is in the planning stages of an exciting program, the school has ordered the steel for the new gym and will soon graduate the first high school class! Our home will soon be available again for rent and we would appreciate your prayers in this situation.

We continue to be blessed by our TEAMs – our Monthly Supporters, Prayer Partners, and our extended family. Encouragement comes our way from in different forms from different avenues, and the Lord knows our strengths and weaknesses because the words always are what we need at that specific time.

We’ve missed out on 4 grandchildren’s birthdays JT (13), Gail (25), Kyla (11), & Maranda (4) but the internet has kept us in close contact and for that we are thankful!


Because He Lives!

Don & Joy