Christmas Party!

Yesterday was our church Christmas party. We invited everyone in regular discipleship, their children and spouses. (Over 70 people!) We had a really fun time with a great Nativity play and songs from the kids, some traditional Peruvian Christmas food (turkey and Arabian rice (with saffron and raisins) - although most of these families wouldn't be able to afford that for Christmas) and of course some presents and paneton bread and hot chocolate. Each family received a Christmas food hamper and each child a present. A HUGE thank you to the sponsors of the event - everyone had so much fun. One lady told me it was her dream come true!! Below are a few collages of the evening:

Allison's blog

Do check out Allison's blog at www.allisonharms.wordpress.com for an American perspective on our life and work here and for some fun photos!

Allison has been staying with us since September and apart from a quick trip back to the States for Christmas and a wedding, she is planning to be with us until June. Here she is with Lili, who also lives with us, below. (I think you can guess which one is the American and which one is the Peruvian?!)

Christmas special

Today was the Christmas special and nursery for the boys as their friends Jakob and Derek are off to the States this week. They did a special dance with their little Peruvian hats. This is what Joel thought of the idea at the beginning...
However, this is what happened...
(facebook viewers go to www.theburgessfamilyblog.blogspot.com to see video)

Here are a few more pics...


Jakob did not like the ears on his hat
Daniel with his good friend Jess
Daniel and Joel with all their nursery friends and teachers Lili and Elizabeth
Daniel showing Daddy the Nativity scene he made at nursery
Oh, and our Christmas tree now has lights!!

Happy 4th Birthday Daniel!

Amazing, we know, but Daniel is now 4! Here he is all excited before he opened his presents:Here he is playing his new guitar:Last Sunday was his actual birthday and we went to 'Crepes and Waffles' for lunch/tea. Daniel enjoyed the chocolate fondue banana/strawberry crepe. Yum. Daniel decided he wanted Monkey cakes for his nursery party on Monday. Same as at Joel's party, but with red icing not blue. He woke me up at 6am.
Daniel: Mummy. We need to chat.
Me: Uh? What about?
Daniel: About my party. You need to bring the monkey cakes with red icing and don't forget the candles. Okay, Mummy?
Me: Ok, Daniel. I won't forget. Can I go back to sleep now?
Daniel: Ok.

This is the picture of the completed cupcakes, before they went in the taxi (that is why there is no candle yet! - don't worry I didn't forget!)
Daniel shares his cupcakes with his nursery friends and their parents

Pucallpa November 2010 Part 4 Observations and Thoughts

One of the other interesting conversations that we had while in Nuevo San Juan was when Wes was asking some of the men about marriage, and two of the men said they were ‘brought’ a wife at 17. Their spouses were younger. The third man didn’t remember how old he was. They all said that they were still with their spouses today. Traditions however are now changing and becoming more similar to the western tradition. Is this better, I do not know because even though we choose our bride or bridegroom, it is still a choice to work through the problems and the trials.
We finished our time in San Juan by having a tour of the village in the hot baking sun. (I remember noticing the temperature increase several degrees while preaching in the morning). We saw all the different things going on, business teaching, free hair cutting, and also fruit picking, It was amazing to have fruit picked off the tree and eat it there and then. One interesting observation I made was that all the people there that were teaching were not Shibipos. This is something that needs to be addressed. It is great and really important to help those in need and the Shibipo people are certainly a poor, disadvantaged people, but they also need to be equipped to sustain themselves. At the moment they have a very dependent mentality, which I do not believe is God’s plan for them. Therefore we need to be helping them as much as possible to help themselves. As the Arab proverb says, and as the charity Oxfam has shown in their adverts in the UK ‘if you give a man a fish he can feed his family for a day, but if you give him a net, he can feed his family for a lifetime’. This is my desire to give people tools that means they are not relying on outside support, but are relying on their own resources, and more importantly God’s resources. I want to be a facilitator and not the answer. Too many times I have seen indigenous people who rely on missionaries, or other NGOs which I don’t think is a healthy or sustainable model. I also heard of tribes that still have yet to be reached in the jungle and are still very wild and not used to other human contact. The Shibipos are starting to realise that they are called to be missionaries as well to other peoples. What is our role in this? We will see in time. I have a fondness for the Shibipo people, people who were reached with the gospel only 40 years ago. What is God calling us to do in the future?

Pucallpa November 2010 Part 3

Having a tour of Nuevo San Juan including eating fruit of the trees.

Day 3 was a later start at 9 o clock, and we took a moto taxi to a Shibipo settlement 13.5 kilometres outside of Pucallpa to Nuevo San Juan. The church in Nuevo San Juan which is falling down!

We spent 2 days there teaching, sharing, eating, and doing community. Mark teaching

This was a really blessed time as we received a very warm welcome and it felt like we had a new family. Free hair cutting.

At the end of our time there the leadership confirmed that they wanted to work with us and be advised and overseen by myself, and our church. The busy main street in Nuevo San Juan!

This is an exciting prospect as we have a large heart for the jungle. There is great need, financially, emotionally and spiritually in Lima, and the needs are even greater in the jungle and the Andean mountains, which make up most of Peru's landmass. We are now in a process with the church in Nuevo San Juan to discover whether it is God’s will that they are part of us. We finished our two days by trying out restaurants that we may well use in the medical campaign in April. The food we ate was really good and certainly a possibility for April. Are you called to come on this trip? Please let us know as soon as possible.

Volleyball Church

This morning church was a volleyball game on the land near Pacifico! It was great to relax and build relationships and unity amongst the people who are part of our community - there has been some disunity, so it was great to see people getting along so well.
By the time the game started the sun had come out and it was very hot. Daniel borrowed Joannah's hat because we forgot his cap. (Well, the sun wasn't out when we left!)

Pacifico shanty town, and where we live 7 minutes down the road, are both in the district of Chorrillos, which is home to the military. Recently we have had many fighter planes flying overhead in different formations. The children loved seeing 4 planes flying over all together whilst the game was going on!

Next week we plan to meet in Pacifico again (as opposed to our house) to have a time of worship and studying the Bible together. It is great to see how enthusiastic people are at opening their homes and being creative with space. It will be interesting to see how things develop!

Pucallpa November 2010 Part 2

Day 2. Early set off on the river. This time we used a quicker boat than previous times, so this time we arrived in just over an hour, rather than between 3-4 hours. What a difference! We split the morning into 2 sessions, I taught the first session on how our Christian life should be balanced UP (our relationship with God), IN (our relationship with the church at large) and OUT (our relationship with those who are not yet in the church). Mark speaking with Antonio translating. I spoke for 15 minutes, the preach was 1 hour 10 minutes!!

This was well received, as were the small groups where we gave the people chance to share about their lives. We finished our time with them by sharing a humble meal of fried plantains and rice.

Following our return to the port John Mark and I wanted to buy a small snack and after asking the lady what was for sale she asked me if I wanted to buy a monkey. The 'friendly' Monkey

My response was ‘how much’? She said ‘120 soles’ about 40 dollars or 25 pounds. I’m sure I could have bartered her down, if I’d actually wanted to buy it. The lady then showed us the monkey, which was allegedly friendly, but did start to growl at us when we approached it. Following the monkey jumping and dancing, we returned back to Pucallpa and our hotel. We had a wonderful meal in the evening at the La Rueda restaurant which I have visited each time I have been, and was pleasantly full, which cannot be said for my American friends who ordered too much. Unfortunately we split the bill three ways!!

Pucallpa November 2010 Part 1

I (Mark) had the privilege to go to the jungle again last week. It again was a time that really blessed me. This time I went with two American missionary friends, Wes and John Mark. Wes with two of his Shipibo friends.

John Mark, myself and many Shipibo children and young adults.

My trip had 3 main aims; to visit and teach the church in Nueva San Juan (New St John), who would like to be overseen by our church and myself, to visit the river community that we visited in June, and to do research for the medical mission/campaign in April 2011.

This is where they grow!!!

The trip was a real success and I felt that God is growing my passion for the jungle people, and especially the jungle tribe of the Shipibo people. We set off on Monday night. It was incredible that I was able to take Bibles with me as I had forgotten/didn’t have time to buy them before Monday, which was a public holiday and all the shops were shut. However I went to Miraflores (tourist destination) with the boys on Monday morning and there was a book fete there, and I was able to buy both Bibles and Sunday school materials fairly cheaply. Isn’t God good!

Bernado, a Shipibo pastor and his wife, our hosts for the 2nd day, with Wes

We arrived after our 45 minute flight, expecting the normal 10-15 degrees difference in temperature from grey polluted miserable Lima, but we actually arrived in the rain, having missed the very strong thunder storm earlier in the day. It was cold for Pucallpa, only mid 20s (mid 70s)!!

Whilst being greeted by our Shipibo contacts, our free airport pick up decided we hadn’t arrived and went back to the hotel. It must have been difficult to stop 3 large tall white men in the crowd of 30 or so dark skinned Peruvians. We took a moto taxi and got to the hotel Las Gavilanes (which we will be staying at in April), which was very pleasant and received the apologies for being missed. We slept well ready for our river trip the next day.

Typical Shipibo smiling faces.

Light party

Last Sunday afternoon we had a light party at our house. Most of the kids dressed up, and we organised some games and party food...

Daniel and Joel were Superlightmen. Daniel did not want to do the superhero thing and wear pants over his trousers. 'That would be silly, Mummy, and everybody will laugh at me.' Fair enough. Joel, however, did not mind the attention!

Superlightman saves the flailing Allison.
Butterfly Lili with Teago the clown

Nicole made a great little Amazonian Indian and won the girl's prize.

But it was little Jonqui who won the boy's competition with his cute outfit!