Last Sunday

Last Sunday was an interesting one. I (Mark) have started to visit some of the churches of the guys we are mentoring. One of these churches is called Fuente de Luz or 'Source of Light' in a shanty town in the south of Lima about 50 minutes away, called Villa el Salvador (town of the Saviour). I went there to spend time with the people there, as well as support the leader, Oscar, and meet some of the young adults there; we were involved with when we were here in 2005. The service passed as normal, although I was told to arrive at seven, even though the official time to start was six thirty. (I’m still not accustomed to Peruvian timekeeping).
After the service Palmira, one of the leaders of the church, and the Mum of Oscar asked me over, and asked me to pray for healing for a couple of the older ladies.
(Palmira’s story is amazing one. She is a single mum, who twenty five years ago moved to the desert area of Villa de Salvador, and with the help of Margaret Saunderson, a missionary who we worked with in 2005, started a kids group. This has now become a church on the site of her house and she has moved elsewhere, with thriving adult, young adult, teenagers, and children’s work).

A picture of Palmira, 2nd from left taken in 2005

A couple of older ladies turned into about eight, but it was an amazing time, as God healed every single of them of something, several ladies of many things, like backaches, painful tendons, and arms that couldn’t be lifted above shoulder height. One lady was completely healed of all the ailments she had, and this all happened in thirty minutes. Amazing what can happen when we ready to do what God is wanting to do.
On the way home I had an awakening to Peru in a different way, as the taxi driver that took me home, started to pour his heart out to me. (He knew I was a missionary, and worked with various churches in the shanty towns of Lima, but nothing more). He started to tell me that life was very hard for Peruvians and that he had been working since 3am and was planning to work for thirty minutes more, or so, as it was 10.30 at night, and then back to home before getting up at 3am again. ‘Why?' I asked,( as you would expect). 'Well I have a family of 4, and I have debts, which I need to pay back daily of a hundred soles a day, (about thirty-five pounds a day, but the equivalent of hundred pounds a day). I end up with enough to feed the family at the end of my day. What a day, a nineteen hour day.
Quite a day for me, as well, the amazing testimony of healings and then the moral and ethical challenge of working in a poor and corrupt country.

Daniel swimming

Daniel's swimming skills are really coming along, but we've been wanting to get a video of him using the slide at the local pool for a while now - you can now see a couple of videos below of him climbing up and going down the slide on his own, diving off and then doggy-paddling to Mark...

Another baby!

From the front (above) and from behind (below)

Well for those of you who haven't noticed the new countdown timer or who weren't quite sure if it was a joke or not - here is your confirmation! Yes Anna is pregnant again - around 12 1/2 weeks currently - so we have another baby due at the end of October. All is well with the baby (no we don't know if it's a girl or a boy yet!) and Anna is starting to feel less tired and sick. So don't be surprised if you see a pregnant Anna in the UK in June / July when we are back for a month. We are planning to have the baby here in Peru. Please pray that the baby comes after the 7th October and doesn't do a Daniel on us - then the birth will get covered by our insurance!! (We are still getting used to having to pay for most things, even if only in part because the 'comprehensive' insurance doesn't cover everything! - we don't want to hear any moans about the NHS!)

Holiday in Paracas

We have just returned from a four-day break a few hours down the coast in Paracas. This is the area which was affected by the earthquake and so tourism has been slow there, so we thought that it would be good to help the local economy as well as get away to somewhere we could get to easily and cheaply from Lima. The 3-hour bus ride cost us £2 each as we choose to get the local bus that left near from us rather than the £20 tourist bus. We had be warned of opportunitist robberies on the bus so we had all our bags piled around us!
Here are a few photos of our trip...

Us by the dunes at Huacachina

Amazing dunes

Oasis at Huachina Mark and Daniel on the beach at Paracas
Sunset on Paracas beach

On the third day we took at speed boat over to the Ballesta islands, also known as the poor man's Galapagos. The wildlife was amazing - thousands upon thousands of birds, including penguins and hundreds of sea lions.

Mummy, do you know that that hat looks silly?!The black part on the top of the island here is actually all birdsPenguins amongst some of the other birdsPelican with some other birdsA sealion having a snooze.

We also spent some time relaxing by the pool, with Daniel showing off all his swimming skills - he is not at all scared of the water and can now swim between 1 and 2 metres under the water and pick up keys off the bottom of the pool, if you take him down, and then he'll swim back up himself.
All dressed up to go out for tea

Yummy tea at fish restaurant - Daniel ate more than Mummy and Daddy - lots of fried sea food and rice!