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!

Copy cat

Daniel likes to copy Baruj with amusing results...



(Please note no babies were harmed in the making of this video)

New Year New School

In the Uk, Easter is seen as the time for new beginnings, especially as it is Spring. Here in Peru, we are still in a hot summer, (which personally I am loving) and the only new beginning is the new school year, which starts sometime in March or April.

Some of the new students and teachers

Well last Monday Alfredo opened 'Discovery High School' (that really is the name, and in English as well - and it's a primary school!) in Ventanilla, what he hopes will be his first of many schools in very poor shanty town areas. I went along to meet the 7 kids who had turned up as students on the first day (many can't afford the 40 soles or 8 pounds monthly cost to attend, and others thought it wouldn't open with just a few kids, so stayed away)!!!
Alfredo was only charging, as he needs to find a way to pay his teachers each month, but he believes that God will provide the money through other ways, and he will ask parents to pay what they can afford. If you would like to help, please let us know.

The view from outside the outer wall

On the Thursday night before opening on the Monday Alfredo spoke to me by phone, and he said he had no desks, no teachers, and had just had a horrible mosquito invasion. Well God answered all this in 72 hours. By Friday night Alfredo had 5 teachers, saturday he recieved 30 desks, each for 10 soles rather than the normal 45 soles, and on Sunday had the whole sight fumigated for half the price of fumigating a small house. How good is God? In addition it has been amazing how much work has been done in 4 weeks, since my last visit. When I was last there the roof wasn't on. On opening day, the roof was in, furniture was in, toilets had been built, an outer wall built, and the boundary area sorted.

The current state of the school inside

It was a real priviledge to see the school open after only 4 months from vision to opening the school. They still need lots of things to improve the school, but little by little. It is also amazing to see Alfredo's faith growing daily as this massive project, which was impossible in some many ways, has been started, and opened, and will only continue to help the local community.

The oldest children finishing class

Is it really Easter Day?

Happy Easter!

Not that you would know that it is Easter Day here - it is very quiet ( I think most people are at the beach) and it was hardly even mentioned this morning at church (I think the Christian churches here play it down because the Catholic churches (who are different from European Catholics because of the prominence of idol worship) make such a big deal of Holy Week. So all we had to alert us to Easter was that there was a prominence of fish dishes at every place we went to this week (does anyone actually know why fish is the tradition during Holy Week?)

...during...and after:

Easter eggs have not caught on here, although you can buy really small ones (which Humberto described as large!) at elevated prices. We decided to still get eggs and do a small egg hunt for Daniel and Baruj in the garden which they both enjoyed.

Can you spot all the eggs? (there are 2 in the top picture and 3 in the bottom! - Guess whose were easier to find?!) How many did I find, Mummy?

Jungle- Part 3

Well the final day arrived upon us, we (Ian and I) wished that we could have stayed longer, but I wanted to get back to Anna and Daniel, and we felt three days was the right length of time, this time. I plan to go back on a regular basis, and possibly with Anna and Daniel, and probably with a team at the end of the year, to do a short term mission trip.
However this wasn't the end of our journey. Our intention was to go and see one of the indigenous tribes, but it was deemed to far to go there, with our plane due to go in the early afternoon, however God has other plans!
We set off to see one of the other church plants in Pucallpa. (Ian didn’t drive I’d like to add).

Ian on a mototaxi, typical in the jungle of Peru

This was in another poor part of the town, and they were again blessed to meet us, very humbling. Anyway I was asked to preach, again, without warning, great for my Spanish, although I felt it was right to talk about having a vision and Nehemiah, and his vision, but managed to avoid any difficult words or names.The church building from the outside

We then were took, on what we thought was a tour of the village, but no, we were taken to a part of the village where part of a tribe I cannot remember, and evn if I did I wouldn't be able to pronounce it, lives. The pastor of the Peruvian church then said I’m going to find the pastor of this church. He arrives 5 minutes later, along with the elders, and then Ian says to me they’re talking about us on the loudspeaker. Ian said I heard the word iglesia (church) on the loudspeaker. Ian was spot on as after five minutes people started to arrive from every direction, and then Ian and I were asked to introduce ourselves and then preach.

Myself at the front of the indigeneous church

We did this, but for the first time in three languages, Ian in English, myself interpreting into Spanish, and then one of the elders interpreting into their Indian dialect. This has always been a desire of mine, which I can now tick off my list of things to do.
After this we rushed back to the church, ate and then caught the plane back.

At the zoo with the wonderful Oseas (Hosea) and our friend the croc

I have learned many things from this trip already, a greater trust in God for money, secondly that all mission and good church work starts on our knees, in prayer, and we need to be generous whenever we can, despite what we do or don’t have.

Jungle Part 2

My third day in Pucallpa was an interesting one, and further helped to humble myself and Ian in regards to money, and trusting God for money, as well as what is a generous spirit. This happened as we were travelling out to another of the church plants of the main church in Pucallpa. This was a river community located an hour by boat away from the main port in Pucallpa, where all sorts of things can be seen! Anyone fancy a banana?
They don't get this strength by eating Weetabix!

We arrived 25 minutes late for our boat, as we were doing some leadership training, and then got mislaid, as tends to happen in the jungle, when time is a relative concept. However our boat was driven by the church leader and his wife. On our way we saw dolphins, as well as many birds, and really felt as we were arriving, that we were in the middle of nowhere, even though I had a signal for my mobile phone (no permission needed for cell sites out here).
The church leader and his wife

When we arrived the 10 members of the church started to arrive, along with several young adults, teenagers and children, not counted as part of the church, but equalling maybe 30 people all in all, if not more. Ian shared a message, which I translated, as well as praying for the people there, and introducing ourselves. We then received the customary tour of the village, by boat, as for 4 months of the year, the village is flooded. That means the football pitch, the church, and the gardens are out of service from January to April each year. School starts when the waters subside.

The church building under water and where they are meeting currently

We were given 15 bananas each (Myself, Ian and Oseas) as a thank you for coming to visit them. These are people who live off bananas and fish, that they find in their gardens and they catch in the river. They then sell them to try and make a little extra money. This was before we bought coconuts from the only tree on the village, as a little thank you to them. 10 soles for 20, 50 cents for each one, (9p each) and the villagers couldn’t afford to pay this. We were also given 50 bananas from another family, and 5 fish which were still alive until we got back to the church. The village coconut tree.

These guys had nothing, nearly literally, yet they were so grateful to God for bringing us that they wanted to thank us materially and sacrificially for our presence. Ian and I were humbled. We had seen poor people before in Lima, poorer in Pucallpa, (one guy earns 25 soles a day, four pounds a day, when he gets work, and another 10 soles, less than 2 pounds). These people earned a lot less than this, a sol one day, another day nothing. Therefore they were giving out of their poverty, and cheerfully as well, I have so much still to learn.

A wonderful and generous people, but also very poor and malnourished in some cases

After returning, and seeing more dolphins, and other wildlife, we returned home with all our gifts and went for pizza. This wouldn’t have been mentioned but this was only the second time Oseas had eaten pizza in his life. Pizza is a luxury here in Peru, and especially in the jungle.

As it was the last night before we left I preached in the church again, and Ian preached to the young adults in the pastor’s house, with interpretation from Jennifer, the American missionary. These both went really well, and after we had a prayer tunnel. This tunnel took nearly two hours, beause these guys know how to pray for each other, and just as it was finishing the young adults arrived back. (which had grown by word of mouth, no announcements, to thirty people, many not Christians)

The Prayer Tunnel