Life; an adventure, a journey with Jesus!

Winter 2011

Well, winter in Peru that is! June, July, August the coolest months for two reasons, read on and see if you agree with me.

First of all the temperatures do seem to dip and there are more grey days. When the sun goes down (if it was even out to begin with!) the night air is quite cool and chilly. The apartment temperatures can get as low as 62 deg. F. Since there is no central heat in the homes, or most buildings for that matter, in winter we learn to layer on the clothing and keep a blanket nearby. Crawling out of bed in the morning is not very exciting when the floors and the room are just plain cold. When you get to sit and read, have your morning devotion, a cup of coffee at the table, or enjoy a meal, it’s usually cold. The plates are cold, so your food cools off real fast. So when I say these are the coolest months, I mean temperature wise. But I did say there were two reasons, right?

The second reason is the Americans arrive! And, to us, that’s pretty cool. We plan several months ahead for the arrival of and logistics necessary for the short-term mission teams, but June is when they are in town. It’s pretty cool to see how God brings all the details together for us. It’s pretty cool to see who comes for the first time, and who comes back time and again. It’s really cool to see the bonding that takes place, the trusting one another and the dependence upon the Lord individuals express and share. It’s cool to see first-hand the maturing of young teens, and young adults, not just physically, but spiritually! It’s cool to be in the midst of what we call chaos knowing that God is in control! It’s really cool to hear ministry in English 4 or 5 times during their visit, and to speak in our native language for about 3 weeks! June is pretty cool! This year we were led to work with over 85 people, in 3 different groups, during 22 days in June. Now, that’s cool!

At the moment, we are not sure what July and August will bring. What we do know is that there is work to be done. We face inventorying the tubs and suitcases of supplies left behind, making distribution as we see the supplies can fill a need, and continuing on the work that the Americans began. How do we do this in their absence? With these material blessings we continue sharing the love of Christ in every opportunity presented to us. Pray for us. We are ‘conduits for Christ’ bringing the needs and resources together.

The ‘other’ legs of our ministries also need some tender loving care and we will be scheduling visits to the three new AWANA clubs, shopping for the Good Shepherd monthly, dropping in on the family at Hope House a few times, and meeting with a couple of other pastors about teaching Lumps of Clay . Don has two construction projects awaiting his attention and I would like to host a few more game nights with some of our Peruvian friends. Although the cool weather is definitely a change from the hot summers, I’m thinking winter will pass all too quickly! There is much to be done.