Retreat

Welcome Coffee

Last Thursday we had the priviledge to have a retreat for the people who work in Ventanilla in our house. We had an amazing time, with food, fun, teaching, worship,

Daniel leading worship?!

and times of just hanging out together. It was a real blessing to be able to serve them, and to be able to pray and share with them. Everyone enjoyed the food, beautifully prepared by Joey (who was staying with us) and Anna. In addition everyone felt they benefitted from my teaching on 'Leadership, who I am in Christ, and the Holy Spirit'.

Teaching times and praying for the teachers.

Joey, Tassanda and her daughter, and Alfredo.

We also this week went to Ventanilla to show it to Joey. As the kids were on holiday we visited the school, before visiting 3 families, and taking them a love offering of food. The woman in the picture above can hardly walk, and has a crooked hand. She was nearly dying a few years ago but she asked God to heal her for the sake of her daughter. When she got the illness several years ago her husband abandoned her, and left her with nothing, but her 2 daughters. She tries to make ends meat by making Picarones (like Peruvian doughnuts, well sort of), but her oven has died. This is another of the people we would love to help with our social action projects. She was so blessed by having foreigners in her 'humble' as she calls it house. They have 1 bed for them both, a toilet next to the bed, and a kitchen. The thirteen year old daughter wishes to work, but we are persuading her to stay until she at least finishes school. This is unfortuantely just one example of many similar situations for the poor in Peru.

UK Team

Last week a team from our church St Thomas' Philadelphia came out. We didn't know most of the team, and they had come out to work with a great charity out here, Agape. Agape, from what I learned, mainly work with families and the kids of abused families. (This is far too common unfortunately) I went with them to the zoo on Independence Day (28th July here), with Daniel. This was madness as everyone from Lima seemed to be there. It was good to hang out with the guys and answer their questions, and talk about Peru. They came round for Paneton (a Peruvian, sorry Italian speciality) and to have a chat with Anna and to see our house. This was also a great time, being able to share about our work and also our adopted country.

Daniel in the ball pool when we ate a traditional Peruvian (french) lunch of Pollo a la braza or rotissiere chicken)

On Tuesday (2nd day of independence) we went into the main centre. In the morning this was completely the opposite to the zoo, as nearly everywhere was shut. We surmised that everyone was at the zoo! I left early from the centre and took 3 of the guys with me, Ben (one of the leaders, who we knew the best before the team came out), Mark and Amy. They came for dinner with us and then came with me to La Roca. This was for me a real kairos time,(signifiant moment of time)as Marianela shared the testimony of the area they lived in, and the social action project they plan to start with our and your help.

Richar, Mari, Richar's mum, Ben, Amy and Mark.

Sorry Ben, but at least Richar and his mum had their eyes open!

Mari would love to start something for Mum's and young children in the area, perhaps developing with time an early stimulation centre. (Like a mums and tots group led from the front with different activities.) However to be able to do this, they need a carpet, toys and training.

However before all this they need to have running water. They now have a bathroom (built when we were here in 2005), which has never been used, as they don't have water or waste pipes in and out. They cannot legally get water, until they have a title deed. This is a real problem obviously, and one that is at the top of the list of proirities for the community. Despite Alan Garcia (the President) promising clean water for all, slow and awkward burecracy has made this impossible for this area. Richar and I are going to go to the offices when they are open later in August to finally try and resolve the problem, which apparently potentially involves sitting in an endless queue to get the paperwork to make this area legal. This is a real key for the area, so those who do, please pray for justice to be done in this area and for the community to get connected up to the mains water supply.

Back to the visit, after Mari had shared, and Richar had chipped in, Ben shared a word about God as our father, they prayed for the guys, and their potential work. It was great for my spanish to translate, both ways!

Richar and Mari's project is one of many that we are looking into getting involved with, hopefully helping to provide capital to start the project which should then be self funding, empowering the Peruvians running it, and benefiting the local community.

Ventanilla and beyond

Some of the children, the teachers, myself, Alfredo and Rosa.

Yesterday I went for my monthly visit to Ventanilla. As usual it was a very humbling experience and one that again showed me the amazing spirit of the people in Ventanilla, and when you have nothing, or very little, you still have everything when you know God.
Alfredo has built a spirtual community in this school which i believe reflects the ethos of Christianty, joyful children, who are given everything that the teachers can give, a prayerful atmostphere to grow as future hope filled men and women, and a chance to be kids and learn without the threat of violence. Yesterday Victoria (one of the three new teachers) was saying what an amazing blessing it is to work in a Christian environment, where kids do not expect to be hit if they do something wrong, and the kids are taught with love and discipline, helping them to understand authority in a positive way. (an uncommon situation here in Peru, especially in the poorest areas, where you are the bottom of the pile )

Joanna one of the new teachers, and 3 of the children in her class

The kids are doing exams this week, before their winter break so left just after 1230, even though school finished early at 1200. The kids are so glad to be at this school that they appear never to want to leave (Can't imagine this happening in the UK). They had to be kicked out by the teachers so we could have a teacher's meeting.

The kids playing after school, and a hosepipe brought in because the water had stopped working

It was a wonderful 'staff' meeting as well. Alfredo began by sharing the vision of the school. This is partly as he is no longer teaching the kids, as there is more paperwork to be done and also he wants to spend more time praying for the school and preparing for a second shool to be built in a new area. I then shared about my time in England and the teachers also shared, and we finished by praying and spending time listening to God.

Praying in the staff meeting

The thing that really struck me, above most of the stuff I have mentioned was the way Alfredo said this school was here to provide for the kids, bring them up in Christian ways, and if they felt led to become, in time Christians in their own right. Alfredo also said this school is not to be run for profit but to help these kids and show the love of Jesus to them. What's more these teachers who are also living by faith, and on very little were in full agreement.

I continue to be humbled.

Our first week back in Peru - sunshine and birthday party

We have been back in Peru for a week and the weather has been gorgeous so far - so much so, we let Daniel have a quick run around in the garden as Anna was watering. Guess what? He got soaked! He found it hilarious to run through the water and was wet through in no time. This kind of weather is unheard of for July. Not bad for the UK equivalent of January, eh?

Last night was Charro's 15th birthday - the big birthday here in Peru for girls. It traditionally marks the transition from childhood to womanhood. Mark went for 9pm and Charro eventually came out at 10.40pm (although traditionally the girl appears at midnight.) Mark discovered on arrival as he was reading the program that he was the padrino or 'godfather' of the event! We had been asked about 2 months ago, but no more had been said so we had assumed they had found someone else! Mark's duties included presenting his present and giving two talks - one about Charro and the first time he met her, and one about her virtues and a prayer for her.

Mark got back finally just before 1am, ready to sleep well, but unfortunately our neighbours were having a roof-top party until past 5am. They were still making noise when Daniel woke up at 5.20am!!

Charro and her father. Doesn't she look like a bride?!

Back in Peru

Just a quick note to say we're back safetly in Peru, with all our luggage (1 bag arrived 36 hours late). We had a good time in the UK, but did far too much.

UK Update

We're in the UK at the moment, and very busy. Having a good time, but very tired. Will update the blog more when we're back at home in Peru. But here are some photos of our time so far:

Liz and Will (My (Mark) sister and brother in law) In Newcastle with Daniel

NOSE!! Says Daniel

He can fix it. Yes he can.

Daniel in Sheffield
Where's my beer?
Daniel at a community playcentre in London
Ben (Anna's brother), Helen (Anna's school friend) and I enjoying the sun while Daniel plays at the community playcentre.
Daniel and Rachel in Sheffield

Ventanilla update

We arrived back in the UK last Wednesday after an eventful trip home. It feels very strange to be back in Sheffield after being in Peru for 9 months, and having been in Ventanilla only last Friday.

As always it was a blessing to be there, as well as a challenge. Added to this, it was more of a challenge than normal to get there. Normally it takes at least two hours to get there, due to its location. However a traffic jam, due to an accident on the only route to Ventanilla, I (Mark) ended up arriving after leaving three hours twenty minutes travelling. I usually get a combination of bus and taxi to get there, however due to the traffic jam, I decided to get out to walk at 12.18 (I needed to be at the school before one o clock), hoping to get a bus at the other end of the seemingly endless traffic jam. I however had to get a taxi, then a motor taxi (taxi and motorbike combined) and then walk the further 45 minutes to the school, up through what coculd be described as a dirty large sand dune, which is the area that Alfredo is working in. I arrived at 13:25, and thought the kids would have left, but they were still there, and waiting for me to arrive.

Some of the students at 'Discovery High School' primary school!

They then wanted me to introduce myself, and ask me some questions. (Most of the questions were regarding the price of my camera, or what their name, or another word was in English).
They then showed me their favourite game, skipping, but using the school’s giant hose. (See photos and video below)

Tug of war with a giant hose! (guess which team won)

I was then introduced to a few songs they knew, as well as taking photos inside and outside the school. It was a real privilege to be there yet again, and to see the joy that these children who have virtually nothing financially, but are full of joy, and receiving an education with great happiness and thankfullness, that I haven’t seen in the UK.
The children stayed over an hour and a half after school should have had finished, (again I can’t imagine seeing that in the UK) and were given biscuits and pop, before going home, hopefully, to a good lunch.

Many of these children have no breakfast and a very small lunch. One example of this is the family below, with no dad, and a mum who works now and again, when she can get work sewing or cooking, they have little or no money. Their normal lunch is a bowl of the soup, you can see below, which has beans or pasta in it, and no more. Alfredo was talking to me about this, and saying he would love to be able to provide a basic breakfast of a glass of milk and a roll for each student. We reckon this will only cost about 40 pounds a month, and will really help these children. Things like this have really spoken to me since we got home as this is just taken for granted over here in the UK.

Latest scan

Little baby Burgess at around 20 weeks, giving us a wave.

We went for another (yes number 4!) scan today, which was really amazing and the guy was really nice and even showed us the baby in 4d which was quite amazing after we got over how much like an alien the baby looked! Found out the sex too and we might even tell you if you ask us nicely!! Unfortunately, the lady who put the DVD in forgot to tell the guy scanning, so we didn't get the amazing scan recorded, but the guy was nice enough to do a mini-scan for us for a few minutes so we could have something. Above is a print taken from the mini-scan DVD.

Anniversary craziness

Saturday night we had a night out - and left Daniel behind for only the second time since we've been in Peru. We went to Vision Vida's church 4th Anniversary. This is the church we're currently attending on a Sunday and we were invited as special guests (yes, a bit of a joke, we know!)

So in true Peruvian style, the anniversary consisted of speeches and introductions of the special guests (we got to stand and wave and Mark was humilated again as Edwardo the pastor shared Mark's culinary skills with everyone. In fairness, I did tell Mark he needed to redo the apple crumble after he accidently poured rice instead of sugar into the mix which didn't cook and added a very crunchy feel to the whole pudding. Mark would like you to know that it was dark - but I want to know why he was cooking in the dark in the first place?!)

Edwardo, the pastor of Vision Vida Church

Anyway, back to the anniversary. Then one of the special guests (appropriately for a pastor named Domingo (Sunday)) gave a short (!) 40 minute sermon on integrity and setting an example for Christ in society. Next, during our BBQ dinner and garlic bread we got to watch a random video of people in the church throughout the year which also lasted about 40 minutes. The highlight had to be the videoman getting a group of girls in a tent to look up from their coffees to wave to the camera for the church anniversary video. Seeing members of the church in stupid 2008 glasses and doing the limbo came a close second.

Next the lights went down, the coloured lights went on and the band got up and we had disco style worship! The most surreal moment (after the rap?!) was definitely emerging from the bathroom to find everyone with sausage balloons wearing stupid hats! There is definitely not any sign of religious spirit in this church! The worship band in full swing with anniversary hats. Edwardo and his wife Cecelia, the pastors of the church are the ones in top hats!

Daniel swimming update

We got a good video of Daniel swimming the other week so thought we would share it with you...

After the lack of posting...

So we've not put anything on the blog for a while.

The reason is not: 1. we have died in a freak car accident, (possible with the appaling driving conditions here) 2. we are not doing anything but enjoying Peruvian food, and soaking up the sun ( the sun seems to have disappeared for its annual holiday until September, October), but 3. we are very much in to a routine in our ministry at the moment, and most of this involves writing talks, courses and sermons, and preaching, and teaching these courses. We therefore haven't felt the need to write about them, as it isn't very exciting for our blog. But then I have just gone and done it anway.

Next week is a particularly busy week with me (Mark) preaching on sunday, teaching a leadership course on Monday, preaching on thursday, and then preaching again on Sunday. This is in 3 different churches, two in the south of Lima, twenty and forty five minutes away, and one in the north, over an hour away.

On other fronts we wrote before Christmas about our problems with bugs, well this has continued in our current house, as it is heavily made of wood, we have quite a big problem with moths burrowing into the wood, and dropping down sawdust on the floor, and worse lots of cockroaches living in the wood in our kitchen. I have unofficialy named myself hunter of block 3 of Alameda de Crepusculo, as it is not uncommon for me to kill more than 10 in one day.

In the news the European and Latin America/Carribean summit is being held here tomorrow and Friday, and so in true Peruvian style there is a 2 day bank holiday, as quite a few of the roads are closed for security purposes. We unfortunately can get anywhere near the summit, which is a shame but, Peru are very proud of it, even though most people in other parts of the world have no idea it is going on, as far as I have asked so far. Please let me know if this is not the case.

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!