Made It!

We finally made it to Arequipa.  I was so nice to be greeted by the Arequipa team and see smiling faces.  What a great bunch a people.  They welcomed us to the guest house and helped us with all our luggage, fed us dinner, and even cleaned up the dishes!  :)
I am sorry, but I totally forgot to take photos.  Will try get some tomorrow.  Tonight we hope to get a good night's sleep.  We are all pretty tired.

First Days In Peru

After a busy weekend of good-byes and our commissioning service, we headed for Detroit.  We flew out of Detroit on Tuesday afternoon.  Our layover was in Atlanta.  There were some fairly bad storms in the area and once we landed, the airport closed for almost an hour.  We were very fortunate to have made it in.  Our flight for Lima was delayed of course, but we arrived safe and sound.  Our luggage however must have sat on the tarmac in Atlanta because it arrived in Lima soaking wet!
We finally got to bed around 4:00 a.m..  The next day, Wednesday, we spent with Robbye as she educated us on some of the ins and outs of finance here as well as helping us get a phone to use locally here.  Today we went to Interpol to be fingerprinted and then we had the opportunity to meet the SIM Lima team.  What a great bunch of people!  Afterwards we went to a shopping center for lunch and to look at mattresses.  Tonight we eat pizza (yes!!) with another missionary family.    Tomorrow we leave for Arequipa.  The airlines here only allow one checked piece of luggage.  So, most of our luggage is being sent down there today via bus or truck.  Praying that it all arrives!!
                                           Here are some photos of our first couple days. 

So, I know many of you were wondering….this was all our luggage

Waiting in the jetway.

Good -bye to the good ole U.S.A. and life as we know it.

Settling In For The Long Flight….side note…after the first half hour of flying Gracie said "I don't know why I was so excited for this plane ride.  There is nothing to do but sit!"  Yep.

Trying to sleep while blocking out all the light and city noises.

First Breakfast In Lima: Eggs, Ham, Bread and Papaya Juice.  And Yes, Coffee.

Thank goodness eggs are universal in taste.  Well, for the most part at least.

Squishing in for a taxi ride.  The smiles lasted only a few minutes before the reality of driving in Peru set in.  

A view of part of the city and the shopping plaza.  

One Last Time

Lately I have been feeling unprepared for all the good byes we are having to say.  I tend to tuck it aside to deal with and "feel" later.  It helps get me through the moment, but my psychologist friends/family  would probably advise me otherwise.  :)  I have had many small private moments of grieving though.  I know there is more to come as we see people we care deeply about and say farewell.
People aren't the only things we need to say good-bye too though.  Part of the good-bye process for us includes saying farewell to those places that have meant a lot to our kids, and places they have great memories and will miss after leaving the country.  So, we have begun our farewell tour.  First stop was Chuck E Cheese.  Our youngest REALLY wanted to go here one more time.  She had a goal to win enough tickets to get large round lollipop.  Mission accomplished!

Our second place we visited was the Georgetown Ice Rink.  The boys especially enjoyed this.  They enjoyed sliding on the ice as much as skating I think.  They also got a kick out of watching how good  and fast their dad is on the ice.

And of course, we must include ice cream in this list of good-byes, so we made a trip to Little Dipper.  Over the years, we have biked there for ice cream and other treats.  There will certainly be ice cream in South America, but there is nothing like Hudsonville Ice Cream.  Hmmm… I wonder how well it would ship.

Moving Day

Well it's official……..We finally moved.  I'll admit,  I had a hard time letting go of this house.

It was my favorite home and one we had planned on staying in for a long time.  However, I knew almost two years ago that God was asking me to prepare to give it up.  And that day has finally come.  Even though we are sad to leave this house, we are very thankful that we were able to sell it now so that we can now focus on Peru.

A Month In Review

This has been a very busy and emotional month for our family.  Let's recap….
 *   Jason was in Africa for three weeks.  He had a very good, successful trip, albeit a tiring one.  Please continue to pray for villagers in Ambo.
 *  We had to give away Snickers, our dog.  That was heartbreaking.  Snickers was Adam's shadow and most loyal companion.  However, God brought to us a most wonderful home for the dog.  His new owners love him as if he was their child.
 *  We also accepted a contract on our house.  We were supposed to have closed already, but there have been a few hiccups along the way.  We are praying that the closing happens this week for sure.
 *  We had our moving sale.  That was really difficult as well.   I realize it is just stuff.  And I have let go of a LOT of stuff lately, including my home.  But it is still hard.  However God was SO gracious.  Thursday was our first day and we had many people come that asked where we were going, what we would be doing, etc..  Many were genuinely interested in missions and even paid a higher price for items!  I even had a couple people pray for us on the spot.  How cool is that?!
  *  Since the time we accepted a contract on our house till now, we have often been asked "So, where will you go in April?"  Our response has always been "We don't know.  We will see what God surprises us with."   My parents generously offered their basement to us if needed, but we just knew God was going to provide something.  Well, this week we have been told that a church, a mile down the road, has a house that is empty that we can use! Praise God!
  *  Support levels have risen 1% this month.  We still need to find more monthly/ annual supporters.  We are about 13% short of our goal.  We are still hoping to leave at the end of May, but that may not be possible if we can't get our support team built up fast.  Having said all that, we are still very grateful for all the support we have received and are praising God in all of it.

Out and About In Africa

From Jason….
I have just completed the field work for a project in Ethiopia. I joined a team of engineers from Engineering Ministries International that is consulting for Joy of Heaven, which is a non-profit directed by a Canadian-Ethiopian pastor. 

We had a great week of hiking the countryside to study the geology and seeking locations for potential water supply.  In this one week I have probably hiked 15 miles.  As you can see, the people enjoyed watching me do my work.
We will be providing a report that includes recommendations on school design, water distribution, water quality improvement, waste water planning, agricultural recommendations, etc. 
The Ethiopian people are so friendly and inviting despite living in such challenging conditions.   We sure are blessed in the U.S.!

Upward Movement

Well, a lot has happened since my last post.:
1. Jason, through Cold Water Intl., and EMI is working on a special Africa project….stay tuned for details.
2. We are now at 82% of our needed monthly support. PRAISE GOD! It’s so neat to see how He is working and moving. Speaking of moving…
 3. We have an accepted contract on our house. Woo-Hoo! We are set to close at the end of March and will be out by the 31st.

Typical neighborhood as seen from roof

Please continue to pray for us during this time. We don’t know where we will be living come April till our May departure. But we also don’t know where we will be living in Arequipa either. We are praying God will be preparing safe, affordable housing for us there. My “cherry on top” request is that it would also be quite close to a park or some semblance of a green space. We also need it to be close to our kids’ school. That is another prayer request. . .
We have applied for admission to a local academy in Arequipa but have not yet heard if they will make room for them. We also need the kids to be accepted as “alumnos libre”. 

Basically that means that they will not be enrolled with the Dept. of Education and therefore exempt from certain classes so that we can supplement with US standard classes.

Housing in Arequipa

Our friend, Sue Querfeld, had given us this
very good advice last March when
we were visiting there. They did a great job of  
navigating their children through the Peruvian
school system. God willing, we will be able to do the same.

Only By His Might And The Mite Of Others

As I mentioned on my last post, we have postponed our departure to May because we are currently short of our goal for 100% support by February. However, we feel SO blessed by the support we already do have! If you are current supporter, I just want to say a mega “Thank You!”. Our support level has gone from ZERO to 71% in only 5 months! We are amazed at this, really. And it hasn’t been because of anything we have done. All the praise and glory go to God. He has put his kingdom work in Peru on the hearts of His people. Our job has just been to find out who those people are, and to also faithfully share the vision for ministry with anyone who will meet with us and listen. We know that we will never get to 100% by our strength and work, but by God’s. It is God’s might that accomplishes it….and yours! Okay, not your might, but your “mite”. It reminds me of the time when God told Moses to prepare the build the tabernacle (Exodus 36:6). God, through Moses asked the Israelites to contribute. And boy, did they! Widows brought their mites, those who had more gave generously. If a person didn’t have money, they used their talents to make fine linen to give, or to make other valuable items. In fact, the Israelites gave SO generously that Moses finally had to say “We have enough”. Wow! I can’t wait until we can say “We have enough”, but until then I am going to say “Thank you for giving to the Lord! Thank you for giving your mite…and more!” To God be the glory forever and ever.

Update!

So, a quick update…we will not be leaving for Peru in February as we had hoped. Our new goal is to be in Peru by May. I say this with a mixture of disappointment and relief. I am disappointed that we won’t be there in time for the kids to start the Peruvian school year. We had really hoped that they would be. Not just for academic reasons, but for social ones as well. The relief comes in knowing that God is in control of all of this. It is either because of His protection or His provision that we are not there yet. I am at peace with being in His hands. I know He knows what is best. Several have asked why we don’t just go ahead and leave in faith that the support will come in once we are there. SIM, very wisely, requires that we raise 100% of pledged monthly support before we can leave for the field. But praise God, we are at 71%!!!!