The Burgess Family

Baptisms November 2011

2011-12-10T08:36:00.007-05:00

We’ve been really busy recently hence the lack of postings. We have many exciting things to post in the next few weeks including our church Christmas party tomorrow (Sunday), our Christmas outreach event on the 18^th in San Genaro 2 a poorer area than Pacifico, Christmas, as well as our 2 week mission trip to Pucallpa.

We were very honoured on the 20^th November to baptise 6 people and dedicate 10 babies and children. It was an exciting and emotional time for all those present, especially the families involved in the baptisms and dedications. We baptised Felipe (10), Daniela (11), Santino (17), Paola (18), Ana (28), and Bertha (32). We look forward to our next baptism and dedication service in March when we will hopefully still be in the summer.

All those who were dedicated and their families.

Worship on the beach.

Praying for the babies and children being dedicated.

Dedicating Jefferson and praying for his teenage parents Paola (who was baptised) and Tito

Kids playing by the beach

Santino giving his testimony

Rosa in the Sunday School on the beach

Ines and granson Tiago listening

Felipe after being 'dunked'

Please let me up!!!

Please click here to see all the photos.

Bonfire night in Peru!

2011-11-09T17:06:00.004-05:00

It's November. Those of you who are in the northern hemisphere are wrapped up warm and those in the UK especially, resenting the short days and the adverts for Christmas already on the television. Here it is Spring and getting warmer by the day. But we couldn't resist the invitation from some expat friends to celebrate Bonfire Night on Sunday!

(For those who are not from Britain, Bonfire Night (aka Guy Fawkes Night, Fifth of November) is a very strange British celebration where we have fireworks, bonfires, and burn 'Guys' made of newspaper-stuffed clothes to celebrate the fact that Guy Fawkes and his friends failed to blow up the Houses of Parliment in 1605. Wikipedia will tell you more, but let's just say it is a British excuse to have a party after the depressing arrival of shorter days after the clocks go back!)

Anyway, requirement for entry into the party spirit in the 20'C/70´F warmth was to wear a woolly hat and bring gloves for the kids to use sparklers!!

Daniel and Joel have fun with Sparklers for the first time!

Toasting marshmellows on the 'bonfire'!

Bonfire night has such fun memories for Mark and I, but it was Daniel, Joel and Kaleb's first one, so we had to teach them what to do. Daniel and Joel were very keen to wear their 'costumes' (hats and scarfs!) on the way to the party, but they lasted about 5 minutes when they got there because it was too warm!!)

Okay, okay, so I have no good photos of the fireworks! But Daniel said they were his favourite bit of the party, so I can't leave them out! Joel, however, was very keen to go home when all the banging started!

It was great fun and after 5 years of not celebrating Bonfire Night, brought back some happy tradition memories! Thanks Dillon and Claire! You did a great job!

A sample of what we eat

2011-11-09T15:23:00.006-05:00

The main meal here in Peru is at lunch time. We have 5 adults currently living in our house, plus Shaun and Amanda are often around for lunch, and guests come and go too – so there are often many around the table! 5 adults is a small day!

So we have to come up with meals which are reasonable priced to cook for large numbers and that aren’t too fiddly, otherwise it would take all morning! Here in Peru there is not the availability of pre-prepared foods like there is in the UK or US, and what there is, is very expensive so not possible for large numbers. So most of the food is prepared from scratch.

Being an international community, we cook a mixture of native and non-native dishes. Most of the international dishes have to have rice cooked with them too, especially for Ronald and Rosa who don’t feel it is a proper meal without rice (a bit like Mark not feeling it is a proper meal without meat!)

Tuesday

Meal: Chicken in a cream and tomato sauce, with rice and salad

Cooked by: Anna and Rosa

Number eaten: 9 adults, 3 children

Wednesday

Meal: Arroz con Pollo - traditional Peruvian chicken and rice in coriander, with onion and tomato salad and fresh salad

Cooked by: Rosa and Lili

Number eaten: 9 adults, 2 children

Thursday

Meal: Spicy spaghetti Bolognese and salad

Cooked by: Amanda

Number eaten: 9 adults, 2 children

Friday

Meal: Ají de gallina – shredded chicken in a bread-chili-milk sauce with hardboiled eggs, potatoes, rice and salad.

Cooked by: Rosa

Number eaten: 6 adults, 2 children

Saturday (Day off)

Meal: Barbequed Hamburgers with cheese

Cooked by: Shaun

Number eaten: 4 adults, 2 children.

Sunday

Meal: Pollo a la Brasa – rotisserie chicken, chips and salad (and homecooked rice for those who need extra carbs!)

Cooked by: Noone – bought in from supermarket because Anna too sick to cook L

Number eaten: 6 adults, 2 children

Monday

Meal: Estofado – chicken stew with potatoes, rice and salad

Cooked by: Rosa

Number eaten: 7 adults, 2 children

Tuesday

Meal: Curry with rice and salad (Pataks sauce brought into Peru from Mark’s last trip to England!)

Cooked by: Mark

Number eaten: 5 adults, 3 children (children had tuna pasta!)

Wednesday

Meal: Spagetti carbonara with chorizo sausage and salad

Cooked by: Rosa (with instructions from Anna as first time she had made the dish)

Number eaten: 5 adults, 2 children

Thursday

Meal: Meatloaf, mash potato, green beans (and rice for those who need rice!) with gravy (imported from USA!)

Cooked by: Amanda (& Shaun)

Number eaten: 7 adults, 2 children

Friday

Meal: Beer battered fish, rice and salad

Cooked by: Anna

Number eaten: 5 adults, 2 children

Who's who, October 2011

2011-10-26T19:08:00.005-05:00

Things have changed a lot in the last few months, but our current leadership team feels a lot more stable and long term and we wanted to introduce you to the people who we regularly share our lives with and work alongside. For those of you who don’t know us very well, I have also included a description of our family too!

Mark:

As Mark is nearing his mid-thirties, he is beginning to realize how much having kids has made him more introverted! With a rapid pace of life, he has actually begun to enjoy his own company and likes to sit and watch a good film. He still loves getting out and playing sport or hanging out with friends though, and hates the idea of spending our day off in the house. He is always looking for new places to go and loves adventure. He is team leader of our team and is responsible for overseeing all that is going on. Being apostolic in nature, he is constantly looking for new ways to develop or improve things. He loves the fact that every day is different and there are constantly new challenges and people around.

Anna:

After being pregnant for what seemed like ages (I was pregnant for 5 months with Solomon who we lost and then very quickly pregnant with Kaleb, who was born 3 months ago), I finally feel ‘normal’ again and able to partake wholeheartedly in life again! I am loving being a mother and spending time with the boys, and also loving spending time with our community. I feel so privileged to always have people around to help me out with the house, the cooking and the boys as needed, and although life is exhausting, it is also incredibly enjoyable! My role on the team is to support Mark and the other leaders, and so that often means having lots of conversations and praying with people as I get moments throughout the day, and supporting Karina in her role as head of children’s work in Pacifico.

Daniel:

Daniel is turning 5 at the end of November and is a very helpful and kind boy. He is currently into making raceworlds for his ‘Kerwizz’ cars and loves racing them around the different tracks he makes. He still loves reading and making inventions (tennis rackets stuck to cars to make them fly, or stuck to his arms to be a bird – unfortunately discovered on that occasion that he couldn’t fly!). He is a natural leader and likes to organize his Peruvian friends and Joel (his gringo (American and British) friends are no so willing to be bossed around!)

Joel:

Joel (3) is a smiler and is affectionately called ‘Joely’ by most people here – he even refers to himself as ‘Joely’. He is now a complete chatterbox when he gets a chance to be and loves to be outside or doing things all the time. He is an all or nothing boy, and he shows all of his emotions on his face – he can go from a huge grin to pouty disappointment in a second (usually when his 100^th request of the day for more bread is refused!). Oh, and he loves to eat, although he is currently refusing to eat his lunch most days (which increases the requests for bread in the two hours after lunch he is not allowed to eat if he hasn’t eaten his lunch!) He is very sociable and loves to be with people and making friends with anyone he meets. He has a collection of soft toys, which he affectionately calls his ‘kids’ and they all have to be tucked in at night!

Kaleb:

Kaleb (3 months) is a very relaxed character, but also very alert – I think he is going to be very bright! He has some gorgeous smiles and is beginning to giggle (sometimes at no one in particular!) which brings a smile to us all! He currently has an amazing ability to sleep in a kitchen full of people!

Haseena

Hassena is our current intern from our Sheffield, UK church. She has been with us since August and is going to be with us until the end of January. She is a trained medical doctor and is hoping to specialize in psychiatry when she returns home. Here she has been learning Spanish and focusing on working with the children in Pacifico. She has been supporting the Sunday school leaders and has been visiting various children in the Sunday school to teach them about ways God talks to us. This all began when a few of the children started receiving visions and dreams, and Haseena has been recording them and helping the children make sense of them. It is very exciting and encouraging and I will write about it in another post soon. She is also in charge of the Christmas Nativity play and has already cast the play and started organizing people to make costumes. We are looking forward to seeing Shaun as the star of the play (literally!).

Rosa

Rosa is 18 and has been living with us since June this year and is from a Shipibo tribe in Pucallpa in the Amazon Jungle. We invited her to come and with live us so she can study at university here for three years. She has chosen to study nursing and is studying Monday to Friday in the evenings. During the day, she spends time studying and doing practicals (so far just visiting the Morgue, which was an eye-opening experience for us all as she told us about it afterwards – lets just say that there are not the same rules in the UK as in Peru!)- she also loves to cuddle Kaleb and has a gift for getting him to sleep, as well as being the most regular chef in our house! She has a good sense of humour and is always joking around, although she can also be very mature and sincere when she needs to be.

Karina, Lili and Ronald

Lili:

Lili (30) has been living with us for 3.5 years now (except for a 4 month return to her parents’ house). She is one of our small group leaders and Sunday school teachers and spends most afternoons doing pastoral visits and is in charge of Nido en Casa(Nursery at home) which is run for preschoolers of missionary children on a Tuesday and Thursday morning, (which Joel attends). The other mornings she spends time individually with Daniel and Joel doing Spanish classes with them which are always lots of fun. Lili is learning English and is very caring and practical and loves to cook when she gets a chance!

Ronald:

Ronald (27) is Lili’s brother and he is our full term Peruvian intern. As well as being a small group leader, he is also involved in worship and the pre-teenagers and teenagers group. He spends much of his week visiting people and helping out with practical things that need to be done. He sleeps with in our next door neighbour´s house, but spends much of the day at our house when not out, either playing the guitar or listening to new songs on Youtube (or both!). He is a very encouraging, patient and sincere guy and always willing to lend a hand.

Karina:

Karina is a young, bubbly grandmother in her early forties. She recommitted her life to the Lord last year and under Anna’s support, she is heading up the Children’s ministry. She makes jewellery and festive crafts to sell in her spare time. Always up for a giggle, she is a great encourager and although she has some difficult family circumstances, she keeps persevering.

Angela

Angela is Karina’s sister and is as bubbly as her sister, often joking and having fun. She lives with her four children (and often Karina too), in an apartment opposite our house which she likes to keep meticulously clean, I’m told, often to the detriment of her punctuality! She also recommitted her life to the Lord last year and is one of our small group leaders.

Shaun and Amanda

Shaun:

Shaun (28) and his wife Amanda have recently moved into a house nearby to be part of our team. Shaun is from Maryland and loves junk food and fizzy drinks (although manages to stay very thin on it) but hates sea food (to Mark’s approval!). He joins Mark in a love of Rugby and has even named their dog after the passion. Shaun has just taken over the church small groups and is in charge of writing the questions for the groups each week and making sure the leaders are supported in their roles. He is also a great Bible teacher and takes turns with Mark to share in the various meetings. He is determined to teach our boys American English and has already taught Daniel to wiggle his bottom and make raspberry noises when he comes into the room. Shaun and Daniel have also gone into business together, buying and selling fish on his phone application – they are currently saving up for a shark!

Amanda:

Amanda (26) is from Texas. She is very friendly and lots of fun and adds many smiles to our team. She regularly treats us to her baking and is learning to play her new guitar which she was miraculously donated. She is helping Ronald with the worship group (she sings beautifully) and is also spending time each week visiting the women in Pacifico and at Krochet Kids. She loves children, babies and animals and can often be found playing with Daniel or Joel (or smothered under a cushion Joel has covered her with!). Amanda has a pastoral heart and will no doubt come alongside many of the women in the church as time goes on. She also recently gave her take on our community, which you can read about here.

You can read Amanda and Shaun's blogs at:

www.amandalaura.blogspot.com

www.shaunwissmann.wordpress.com

and see their website here

Community

2011-10-24T19:42:00.003-05:00

I am hoping to write a few blog posts in the next few weeks to give you a better idea of what life is like for us personally here in Peru. If you ever come and stay with us, one of the things you will notice straight away is how many people live in and are around our house every day (and how many people eat together every day!) Because we are passionate about discipleship, and the importance of modeling life to others, we try to welcome people into our every day life. Like Jesus did with his disciples, and we see the early church doing in Acts, we eat together and try and fellowship with one another throughout the week. But it has not always been that way...

Ever since we have lived in Peru (now 4 years), I have wanted to live in a community and to create community too in our house.

Our house is large by UK standards (5 bedrooms), and God provided it for us miraculously back in 2009. Nearly two years on, I am so amazed and humbled by how God has answered our prayers for community.

When we first lived in Peru, God provided us with a rented house in a nice part of town. So nice, that the neighbours didn’t talk to one another, and as much as we tried, the only people we got to know in the community were the watchmen. It was the perfect house for the time we were there, but I always craved living in a community and doing ministry in and around the community.

Los Cedros - our street now.

Where we live now is an emerging community, called Los Cedros, existing for only around 40 years (50 years ago, it was all farmland), where everybody knows one another and is in and out of everybody’s business! We know not just our next door neighbours, but all the people who live on our street, at least to say ‘hello’ too. We have shared meals with 5 different families, and have regular visits in and out of the houses of three of our neighbours. In our ‘ministry’ community, we currently have 11 adults regularly eating lunch together, all of us living within 3 minutes of each other (5 of them under our roof).

A normal lunchtime

I am just loving living in community!

I love that so many generations are connected – and all look out for one another.

Haseena, our current intern from Sheffield, UK, plays with Joel after lunch
Sunday evening after meeting together in Los Cedros, people often hang out in the kitchen

But yet I know that it was something that has taken a lot of prayer, work, selflessness for all those involved and commitment (and it is not without its difficulties for sure!) It seems so strange for me now to imagine how most families in the Western world now have only 3 or 4 people at most in general around a table to eat (if in fact they do eat together.) For me, it is weird on days we only have 6 adults around the table!

This week, our community has been under attack. Most of us have been sick, and there have been many attacks on our sleep too. But all of this is an encouragement to us of how God is at work in our community. At the moment I am so impressed by the love and commitment to one another I have seen. The lack of need for a washing up rota, the stopping and praying for one another, the love and care for one another when one is sick or in need of something from the shops.

Our sitting room often looks like this!Amanda showing off our weekly timetable, to try and keep track of our 11 leaders!

At the moment it feels a bit like Acts 2, where the disciples ate together and had all things in common, but although the temptation is to remain comfortable, we are all being challenged to be radical in our love to others, and with the love I have personally received from the people around me at the moment, I am really excited to see what God is doing and going to do!

Krochet Kids Update

2011-10-17T18:26:00.003-05:00

See this short video about Krochet Kids Peru, just released on their website.

Krochet Kids Peru

2011-10-15T17:38:00.001-05:00

Please see another link to Amanda's website which talks about another venture that we are now involved with here in Peru. Thanks Amanda for writing it better than I (Mark) could ever write it.

See Amanda's link here

Shaun and Amanda

2011-10-13T11:44:00.006-05:00

Amanda and Shaun Wissmann, Americans from Texas (and other parts if you talk to Shaun) are now part of our team.

Please see the link to Amanda's blog about her first thoughts about being part of our team here in Chorrillos. Shaun and Amanda are amazing and such an amazing addition and blessing to our team. We love you guys, and I am sure you'll be hearing much more from then.

Catch the Fire in Pucallpa

2011-09-30T08:22:00.007-05:00

Astra showing how she loves the young ones no matter where she is.

The traditional dance and dress of the Shipibo women welcoming us.

After the ILSOM conference we went to the jungle with the Catch the Fire team. This was Mark's eighth visit to the jungle, and third to the Shipibo village of Nuevo san Juan where we are supporting the church. We had an amazing time there even though we arrived Sunday night and returned to Lima on the Wednesday morning. Pucallpa's weather welcomed us on Monday as it rained like only happens in tropical climates until about 2-3pm.

Angela, part of our church leadership, being the joker that she is.

Following the rain the blessings began. Our intern Haseena, who is a doctor, when not in Peru was able to visit some of the houses in the village.

Haseena with a small proportion of the kids in the village.

We also had a few of the team praying for the people who received medical attention. In this first house we saw our first healing, as the founding pastor's wife, who was partially deaf in one ear, and completely deaf in the other was able to hear better than some of the Catch the Fire team who were testing that this lady wasn't just trying to make us feel better, and was really supernaturally healed. God is good.

Praying for the church members and visitors, just before we left.

We also were able to give out 6 suitcases of donations that the team had brought with them, shoes, clothes, toys, and toiletries. This took nearly 2 hours to finish doing, and again was a real blessing to me, seeing kids without shoes, having shoes for the first time.

Tuesday was also an amazing day of blessing, as we were able to serve food to the whole village. Over 450 people were present. Some people had a stable meal for that day. Also we saw over 250 people when we set up our makeshift medical clinic. Photos to follow.

We also finished with an amazing church service with over 200 people present and many recommitting their lives to God and the church. We also got to pray for every person in the church.

I am already awaiting my 9th visit which are going to do just after Christmas.

It is such a blessing to work with people who are so hungry and needy.

Catch the Fire Visit

2011-09-29T22:08:00.007-05:00

CATCH THE FIRE VISIT SEPT 2011

Left to right: Capucine, Alexandra, John, Debbie, Astra and Rosa (missing Robert and Daniel)

We have had the blessing of a short term team led by our friends John and Alexandra Tanyan, pastors of the catch the fire church, Ajax. A team of 8 people came for 3 reasons; to do an ILSOM, an international school of ministry, to bless our church in Pacifico, and to do outreach in the church we work with in the jungle.

Astra from the CTF team with Tiago from Pacifico.

The team arrived Saturday night and Sunday morning the team recovered from culture shock and ministered in Pacifico.

John and Alexandra our friends, leaders of the team, and the pastors of Catch the Fire Ajax

One of the main reasons they came however was to minister at the ILSOM, a week long intensive pastor and leaders school, where leaders are ministered to, and helped to deal with life's hurts, and then leave better equipped for ministry.

Students from the school; from Chiclayo, Pucallpa, and Lima.

Mark was head coordinator and he managed to gather pastors and leaders from several churches in Lima, 2 churches in Pucallpa, and a church from Chiclayo, a northern desert city.

Capucine talking about father types and Mark translating.

The week was an amazing success and everyone was blessed by them and God, and we look forward to the possibility of them coming again in future years.

Kids Party

2011-09-08T20:00:00.006-05:00

The conga line.

Every 3rd Sunday in August we have ´el dia del niño´or child day. This is a day when the Peruvians celebrate children.

Nicole as sweet as ever

Sharro our god-daughter painting Karina´s face.

We therefore decided to have a party for the kids and celbrated in style, and without their parents. No child cried the whole time!!

The old favourite!!

Angela won, and her sister Karina cried foull. Sibling rivalry!!

Daniel, Priscilla with Jefferson, and Rosa with Tiago.

Sebastian with adopted uncle Oscar

Haseena, our intern doing ring a ring a roses.

We had fun, played games, filled them with lots of sweets and other junk, and let kids do what they do best, be kids and have fun.

Jefferson seemed to enjoy the chocolate.

Pre Teens

2011-08-31T10:02:00.004-05:00

The boys playing football

The faithfuls

The pre-preteen girls

Johannah and Nicole

Gustavo

Alex, Frank and Arthur

One of the greatest pleasures of being an overseas missionary and church planter is seeing the next generation growing up. This is certainly the case with our pre teen (9-12 year olds) as Ronald has pioneered and runs this group along with Rosa (18) Oscar (16), and his brother Franco (14). It is wonderful to see the group growing in depth and numbers week by week. Luz, Alex´s mum has commented on the difference the group has made to Alex´s behaviour in both school and the home. It makes the work worthwhile!

Alex outside his home

Felipe

Kaleb update

2011-08-12T17:01:00.005-05:00

Well in a few hours Kaleb will be a week old. It has gone very quickly! This has been the first opportunity I have had to upload some photos from our camera, so here are some highlights.

Both Daniel and Joel have been very cute with Kaleb. Joel calls him 'Kalem' as he can't say his name, and keeps asking when we are going to give him back to our friend Alison Thompson who has a daughter called 'Cailyn'!

Daniel composed his own lullaby for Kaleb, and after printing it out, takes it out of his pocket various times a day to sing it to him. His last request before he goes to bed each night is if he can sing Kaleb his lullaby. Below is a video of him singing it to Kaleb. The audio is not very good, but the lyrics are below.

Kaleb, Kaleb, you are cute,

Kaleb, Kaleb, you have a flute!

Kaleb, Kaleb, you are amazing,

Kaleb, Kaleb, you are not hazing!

Kaleb, Kaleb, this is the end

Kaleb, Kaleb, say “The End”!

So now we are five!

Kaleb Josiah Burgess

2011-08-06T10:15:00.005-05:00

Kaleb Josiah Burgess 3 minutes old.

After a lot of pushing, pain and boredom Kaleb didn't want to be born yesterday and due to his breeched poisition and the cord around his neck, which after his birth we discovered was very short we took the correct decision that a caserean section was necessary.

Anyway at 23.40 we weren't sure if his birthday would be the 5th or 6th, but at 00.01 on the 6th Kaleb was born with a healthy weight of 3.3kg, 7.4 pounds.

Mum and baby are doing well. Anna reports that so far he is a quiet contented baby, Thank you God.

All scrubbed up

00.01 6th August Kaleb makes his appearance.

Mummy and son for the 1st time

Daddy and son for the 1st time

Mark, Anna, and Kaleb

My Mum

2011-08-04T13:20:00.005-05:00

Last week Daniel and I (Mark)went to England for 5 days for a family emergency. The emergency was due to my mum´s state of health. My mum had been in hospital for over 4 months with a broken femur, which never healed correctly. The situation seemed to be stablising, although her health was up and down.

However two Sundays ago I received a phone call from my sister saying my mum had been admitted into intensive care and her situation was serious. We as a family took the decision to fly back and arrived on Friday the 22nd of July with Daniel. My mum with Anna and a very baby Daniel.

My mum died on Saturday 23rd July at 2.30pm UK time due to multiple organ failure. This has been a great shock to the family. Please pray for us at this time.

Christmas 2009 with my mum and dad.

However I do not wish to dwell on the negative that my mum is no longer with us but the positive that she is now in a place where there is no more pain, no more sickness, no more evil. More than this, she is with Jesus and his perfect presence.

I always want to dwell on my mum as the person she was before she went into hospital. She was very servant hearted, always willing to help out where she could. She was a person who loved her grandchildren dearly, and myself and Anna will always be grateful for the money sent through for toys, the Cbeebies magazines and of course the endless hours of Cbeebies recorded onto DVD.

I will always remember when as a child mum used to make wine in big demi johns and the adults who enjoyed this, sometimes in excess! (I remember one engagement party, and what I thought was a very jolly gardener!!) I also will remember her taking me endlesslessy to the Leeds General Infirmary hospital with various breakages and even concussion.

Also I will never forget the way she has looked after my dad for so many years and has served him.

Thank you mum for your life. You will be sorely missed.

We love you.

JEAN BURGESS 12 October 1946- 23rd July 2011.

Wedding!!!

2011-08-01T11:10:00.005-05:00

A month ago I was given the chance to take my second wedding here in Peru. (The first was in the jungle) Both of them have been very different to my normal experience of weddings in the UK. Jaime and Belen who are both part of our church in Pacifico have lived together for 13 years but felt that it was the right time to get married. I had a dual role at the wedding as the official chauffeur and the presiding minister.

The happy couple who were acting as if in love which was great to see.

I arrived at 8.40pm to pick them up. It was supposed to be 8.00pm. When I arrived Jaime was still in his dressing gown. We left at 9.00 and then proceeded to drive around several attractive spots in Chorrillos, the area where we all live. Meanwhile Jaime and Belen were constantly on the phone trying to sort out the P.A for the wedding which hadn´t arrived, the food that hadn´t been sorted 100% and also checking about the DJ who was at that point presiding over a babyshower. I would have been stressed if it had been my wedding but they seemed to be very relaxed about the whole situation. Anyway 10 0 clock arrivedand we hadn´t arrived.We then hit major traffic as it was the anniversary of Chorrillos, and got delayed another 40 minutes. After that I thought it was just plain sailing and we could start the wedding!

Jaime repeating his vows after me.

The guys from the church who made the journey to the wedding.

How wrong I was. We then arrived 1 block from the wedding venue, we stopped at a very dodgy and dirty looking chinese restaurant and waited for the all clear that the DJ and the sound had arrived. Meanwhile Belen in her wedding dress went to the bathroom and bought some food. I was completely thrown by the whole event, but throughly enjoyed the whole event, even though it started at 11pm and when we left at 1.15 am we felt like the party poopers!!!!

The happy couple below!!! Jaime seems to have the Chandler curse and can´t seem to smile even though he is generally a happy guy!!

Baptisms and update

2011-06-28T13:59:00.005-05:00

Last Sunday we had our 3rd baptism service in the last year, another great day of celebration. We were able to baptise 10 people a real honour and privilege. Many of these people were new time believers having been Christians less than 3 months, or those who had grown up as Christians and had begun again to follow JesusThe great thing is that many of these people are already involved in the church life. We are steadily, yet solidly growing as a church. Eating together

The church in Los cedros that meets in our house is also growing and the fruit is very obvious to see. I do love our work here although at times, not quite daily, we are tried and tested in new and original ways. It keeps your feet firmly on the ground, and solidly searching God, a good place to be.

See below for some of the baptisms.

New Floor

2011-06-20T14:23:00.013-05:00

Oikos church continues to grow and this has presented a good problem, that of lack of space at our Sunday gatherings.

Belen, her sister Sara, and her sister in law Miriam

Since September we have been meeting in Jaime and Belen's house and their 22 metres squared front room has been great until recently as there has been no room at the inn.

The floor before we started the destruction!!

Ronald looking on at the end of Monday after we had levelled the floor.

Therefore we asked if we could bless the family and the church and extend the room in some way. Belen and Jaime have sacrificed bedroom and kitchen space and we have gone from 22 metres squared to 35 metres squared. (Apologies to our American readers, but I have no idea what this is in feet) We managed to destroy the false floor, level the floor (more or less) and also lay a concrete floor in 3 days. On Monday we destroyed the floor.

On Tuesday we levelled the floor and started to mix concrete and we laid about a sixth of the floor.

All the sand had to be carried down from the top of the hill.

On Wednesday we had an amazing blessing of a team from the USA who helped us do most of the back breaking work.

Thanks to Justin and Mark (part of the American missionary team whom we are friends with) who brought their 4 interns, and the 9 university students to help us completely lay the floor.

Belen and Jaime ran out of water so we had to get water from the local stream.
In addition to the American contingent we had Stuart an expat friend helping us, and varying amounts of Peruvians at different times

We also brightened up the front of their house with a nice blue paint.

We now have an extended area to meet and are starting the process to find a permanent building or plot of land where we can build a resource centre and have a meeting place on the second floor.

Happy Fathers' Day, Daddy!

2011-06-18T19:41:00.002-05:00

Happy Fathers' Day Daddy,

We love you!
Love Daniel and Joel

Message from Daniel:

Daddy, you are the best, because I love you.
Thank you for tickling me with your nose!

Goodbye to one Loca, hello to another...

2011-06-12T17:35:00.002-05:00

Allison with Adela and family
It has gone quickly, and we still can't quite believe she is no longer here, but Allison has left our Oikos community after 10 months. The last couple of weeks of her stay she managed to have at least 4 goodbye parties (a very reasonable number for Peru!) and one of those we held in our house. Allison with some of the young people

Allison is really missed here in our community - her smiles and enthusiasm, her cheekiness, dancing and singing, her obsession with creams and potions (and homemade avocado and egg-white conditioner), her refusal to drink water out of a plastic cup and most of all her warm and friendly spirit. She did a great job starting up the young people's group whilst she was here and she is already sorely missed by her two small groups which she discipled faithfully and cared for pastorally in many a crisis during her stay.

Allison and Rosa

We have also welcomed a new housemate into the Big Burgess House. Rosa, an 18-year old girl from the Shipibo tribe church we have connections with in Pucallpa, has come to Lima to study nursing. She is going to be living with us and joining in the community craziness for the foreseeable future. She and Allison got on very well and we nicknamed them the 'dos locas' ('the two crazies') as Allison met her partner in craziness in Rosa. Rosa's goodbye speech

Rosa showed her artistic talents writing a hilarious poem in honour of her 2-week roommate, which included lines like 'Even though you shout so loud that I pick my nose, I will still miss you.'(!)
Rosa is definitely missing her partner in crime, and still put her in the lunch count for today (don't worry, the young adults fought over the extra plate of food, so it didn't go wasted!)

So, Allison - the only thing we don't miss is your rotting hair conditioner filling up the fridge. You are missed. Very missed. Thank you for all your hard work here in Lima - come back soon!

My first podcast!!!

2011-05-30T19:28:00.005-05:00

Three weeks ago I had the privilege to share on discipleship with my friend Steve Bremner who publishs his own podcasts. Follow the link here to listen to it.

I am introduced just before 8 minutes.

Video Update

2011-05-23T12:26:00.005-05:00

We have been asked to produce a video of who we are, what we do and what are our needs. Enjoy!!

If you are on facebook please click this link. www.theburgessfamilyblog.blogspot.com

Pucusana and Embajadores Beach

2011-04-22T19:45:00.006-05:00

Easter weekend in Peru includes Thursday and Friday off for bank holidays, so that means we had to think of something to do which would be fun for all of us not just the children or the adults. Thanks to a suggestion from our good friends David and Naomi, we (our household today is us, Allison, Allison's Mum, Robin, Peck, and Cat) headed 50 minutes south to the fishing village of Pucusana with promises of good food, native wildlife, a boat trip, some fishing and a blow hole (WHAT?! You may ask - that is what I said too...more later).
On arrival we hired a little boat to take us around the bay.

Allison and Cat at the start of our trip

Joel was a bit nervous about getting on the boat and kept asking to go to the supermarket, (we don't know why!) but seemed to enjoy himself after a while.

Daniel was very excited about the idea of fishing and kept looking for the fish in the water.

This is the wildlife we saw...

Pelicans Sea Lion sunning himself
We then anchored up and all got given lines with bait to do some fishing which was really good fun. Most of us managed to catch something. Daniel proudly caught not just a fish, but also some seaweed!Mark managed to catch one just as we were finishing. "We can go now!" Robin, Allison's mum said it was more fish bait than fish, but Mark was happy none the less!

Allison was the pro, and showing her talents after much experience fishing with her Dad managed to reel in the most and the largest. Mine just kept getting away with the bait!

All of our catches

We then had lunch in a little restaurant opposite the 'blow hole' - a big hole in the rock where waves splashed out as seen below: (From http://www.pucusanaperu.com/turismo.html)

After a very yummy lunch (but the waiting staff obviously not able to cope with the influx of Easter week visitors!) we got back into the car and stopped at Embajadores beach, which is our favourite beach in Lima because it is great for the kids. It has a roped-off area for swimming, and calm waves they can paddle in. When the tide comes up the whole beach disappears, so the beach was pretty empty because the tide was just beginning to go out again. Daniel loved paddling in the sea 'Come on, everyone - this is so much fun!' he kept shouting! Joel liked getting wet but was much more cautious of the waves.

Peck and Daniel examine the waves On the way home, Daniel talked about the fishing whilst Joel asked if we were going to the supermarket. "No, Joel. We are going home - it is nearly your bedtime!"
They fell asleep quickly tonight.

Jungle April 2011

2011-04-22T08:26:00.002-05:00

Well I (Mark went to the jungle again this April and we worked on building the foundations of the new church building there, as well as doing a small medical mission. Please see Taylor Green's post (see link below) an intern of Wes and Stacy for more details. (Thanks Taylor I don't need to add anymore).

http://thelima4.blogspot.com/2011/04/la-selva-jungle.html

Please also see my facebook page, Andrew Peck's,

Catherine Moir's, and Taylor Green's photos in facebook to get more ideas what we got up to.

Lunahunaná

2011-04-20T09:56:00.004-05:00

Anna's parents visited in March and we got the opportunity to go away for a few days to Lunahunaná, a small town 2 hours south of Lima in the foothills - some guaranteed sunshine and gorgeous scenery. This is the view from our balcony...
The other reason Lunahunaná appealed to us is because it is also a place where the more adventureous can do white river rafting, quad biking and such like. The river was a bit high for the river rafting, but Mark, Julian and Daniel enjoyed their trip on the quad bikes (well, Daniel said the coming home was a bit dusty!) We also did a city tour of the town, and looked at some of the ancient pisco (think brandy) houses.
Daniel also got the opportunity to ride in the back of the tour-guide's pick-up truck and have a go at driving it too. (As we drove past the police station, the policeman waved and smiled at the underage driver!)

All in all, it was a relaxing time and great to breathe in some fresh air and spent some quality time with Anna's parents. There is something life-giving about waking up to this every morning, (even if it is at 6am!!)

Ventanillla school update- Multiplication!

2011-04-20T09:41:00.006-05:00

The multiplication continues in Ventanilla. We started with 7 students in 2008, went to 11 in 2009, 33 in 2010, and this year there are over 90 students. God has really blessed the work going on. Allison and Peck went with Julian (my father in law) and I to see the work and I asked Allison what she thought, as it was her first visit to Ventanilla. She responded ‘it looks like a normal school’. This is a wonderful step forward considering where the school has been for the last 3 years. There are now 9 teachers, more children in each class than there was in the whole school two years ago, and kindergarten/nursery, and a class of secondary school children.

Some of the kids lining up after s chool had finished.

Numerical growth is fantastic, but what is even better is that the same spirit that has been in the school is still present, even though there is three times the number of children.

The faith of Alfredo still continues to challenge me and encourage me. He is a great man to work with, one who completely trusts in God for the provision and advancement of the vision of having a Christian school, which is not like the normal education here in Peru.

The teachers in the meeting we had after school to encourage them, and pray for them

Added to this the Australian government have donated money to build a brick building for the school, which is more amazing provision. Alfredo started with nothing and still continues to build. Next year he wants to start a new school!!!

Maybe in Pacifico or in Pucallpa!!!

Alfredo in one of the red tshirts worn by the staff.