Beginnings in Peru

We made it to where God has been leading us for a long time. Chacas is a small pueblo of Quechua people surrounded by beautiful mountains. We are a unique family because we are not just visiting and are not Italian Catholics or Peruvians. The people we have talked to aren't sure what to think of us or why we are there.

Right now we are concentrating most of our time to do major construction on a rental house that we will be living in while we are here. We hope to be moved in sometime in Oct. After that we can begin our full time ministry of sharing Jesus with the lost people.

Our Spanish is still in the early stages, but we know enough to get started in small conversations. We are trusting that God will provide the words we will need.

Steph and the kids have started home schooling now and are excited to have a school room soon. Leah and Trace are excited to learn of all the different animals here in Peru. The kids would like a cat pet and mom and dad will not object as they serve to help keep other unwanted rodents away.

Life seems to not always turn out in the ways that we expect, but we trust in God's plan and purposes are greater and higher than our ways.

We love and miss our family and friends back home and think often of you. God Bless!

What a taste of USA :)

We had a wonderful visit from the Williams (Trace's Sunday School teachers from Florida). It was way to short but so nice. The kids in Leah and Trace's Sunday school class put together prizes, toys, and colored pictures. The kids went crazy!! It was fun for them to have sidewalk chalk and bubbles! Torrey got some cheeze its and I got some 100 grand candy bars! They took us to Outback for dinner and we felt we were in the US. We got some great hugs then they left too fast. Praise God for their visit...they carried information for our international drivers license back to the US. Pray it comes back to us through another couple before we leave for Peru.

fun at home!

On Friday Stephanie went to boil water on the stove. Forgetting it was on until I smelled something....there was a fire! I fanned and blew then turned off the stove. The fire went away! If we had not had enough action...on Sunday Torrey was getting shocked by the refrigator. We pulled it out from the wall, found a toy car and played with the plug. Then it was fixed. This is the laughter and fun of living overseas!

volcano and grandparents!

The week of the June 22-26. The kids had VBS in the morning while we had school. The big day was on June 24.......Nana and Grand da da came to visit:) We showed them the school on Thursday then left for the volcano. God gave us the best trip and visit with Stephanie's parents.

The drive was worse than the Franklin road in North Carolina. It went on for 3 hours, but the scenery was incredible. We saw the active volcano and the smoke from the top in the day. On Saturday we found the waterfall over 4oo steps down. Which meant we had to climb back up! On Saturday night we found a restaurant way up on a hill. The beautiful sunset then the lava tumbling down the side of the volcano! Isn't God just incredible. We even saw a real toucan bird.

The week of June 29 to July 3 we had spiritual emphasis week. The speakers were the Mae's and they were great. The kids had a VBS in the evening and sang in front of chapel the last night. Leah stole the show with her dancing and singing. The sad day was on Wednesday when my parents boarded the plane.

We really enjoyed the treats that were brought to us. I have almost finished the vanilla wafers all by myself dipped in milk. Some friends sent some DVD's for the kids that have been really appreciated. Torrey has enjoyed the pop corn with pour over butter! It is amazing how you crave things when you can't have them.

The week of July 6-10 and 13-17 we were back to the usual schedual. We did go through the challenge of Lice in Leah's hair. Eight hours were spent on the hair just on Tuesday. Many more hours to follow the next days. We cut her hair and it looks cute! I learned how little Spanish I knew when I went to the pharmacist to ask for lice treatment medicine. Fortunately, behind me stood a missionary who could help me.

We are defiantly leaving for Peru on August 15. We graduate on the 14 and then board on a plane the next morning. Praise- we were told that our team leaders may have found a house for us in Peru!

Torrey's prayers have been for God to bring someone for him to minister to. A guy named Jason has come by two times now. Torrey tried his Spanish and passed out food and a track. As we were praying for Jason another Jason showed up and Torrey was able to minister to him in English. Please pray for both Jasons and we would continue to hear the Spirit with how to help.

What a great kid:) He is pretending to read the Bible! He was pointing to the words and mumbling. Too cute!

This week was the last week of school for the kids. Next week they have VBS. We still have classes. We are going through mid terms oral and written tests. So far we are passing:)

Today we all had parities! Leah and Trace had one for their last day of school. The teachers of our school told about the Costa Rica culture and how the carnival began. We played games and ate cotton candy! One of the games we threw darts at the ballons over pictures of our teachers. The teachers would only speak Spanish and when we played BINGO she called out the numbers too fast.

On the 11 and 12 we had a meeting with all the IMB students and other IMB missionaries in the area. The member care leaders taught us some more techniques for small groups including problems solving. There were about 50 adults and lots of kids!

End of May

Thursday 28, Leah, Trace and mommy had made banana pancakes and eaten them before the man across the street started mowing at 6:15am. People start their days early here.

Thank God my Spanish has come back! Torrey and I both did well on our tests this week.

Leah graduated today! I guess her Spanish blood helped her graduate in four weeks! They had graduation for Kindergarten today but still have four weeks left of school.

We had our best meal of the month! Yes, that is a picture of Papa John pizza box! We seemed to scarf it down . It was so good. A familiar taste! The delivery guy comes on a motorcycle and beeps up and down the street until someone comes out. We actually had to tell Leah to sit and eat. She was so excited!

Saturday 30 we went to the children museum and had a lot of fun. It was downtown San Jose. Trace feed a bird from his hands, then he held one. Trace had many questions concerning homeless people lying on the ground. We prayed and thanked God so much for a bed and house that night.

Sunday we tried to find a pool. We ended up walking a few miles to save some taxi money only to discover the pool was closed.
While walking we were able to notice many more things than we did riding in a taxi. We passed many aluminum homes and an open mall. We stepped over trash, glass, and other waste products! When you look up and see a beautiful mountain, it just takes your breath away. How great is His beautiful creation!

Torrey's Birthday!!!!

The school took some of the guys to a camp for the weekend. Torrey joined them and had fun with paint ball, ropes activities, and Bible study. I had another girl from my class stay with me. Monday was Torrey's birthday. This is a big deal in Costa Rica so in every class they sang Happy Birthday in Spanish! It was also neat that the Southern Baptist think birthdays are special so his name was on the Birthday list that went out via email for people to pray for him on his special day. Other students had checked their emails and told him Happy Birthday when he arrived at school.

We went with the Murphree's (who will live near us in Peru) to a place to get cake after school. It is a restaurant but was part of someones house. The carport was transformed to hold 5 small tables and serving area. The cheese cake was GREAT! The kids had a really delicious piece of Chocolate cake. I surprised Torrey with a Costa Rica coffee mug to go with his collection.

Studying takes up a lot of time:)

It's been a few days since we have written. Our days seem long and our brains are tired! Leah changes back and forth with Spanish four times a day. So homework can be challenging some days. Trace wakes with the sun at 5:00 so by 4 or 5 in the afternoon he falls asleep. Torrey and I have to study a lot. We seem to get more words each day. I have hit a wall and could not remember any words...I just keep studying, others say it will all come back.

Things we have done lately......Feed some more Tico's who come to our gate. They rattle the gate and talk a lot of FAST Spanish and we give them some food. Sometimes we give out a witnessing track too. It's fun to try and practice Spanish with them.

The ice cream man comes by every day and finally we bought one. It was great to have a treat! The next day he came by ringing his bell real slow and hung out by our house but we can't have treats every day.We hung out with Dan and Brenda Boatright on Saturday. They are other missionaries who work in Costa Rica with very poor people. It was great to see someone we had seen in our church from home.

High Points of The Week

The journey of learning a new language can be rough waters to navigate! We have one trimester of school and then we are emmerced into a place where we will be using Spanish or Quechua as the only options for communications. This is a scary concept, but we are trusting that God is already aware of these things. We know God will be working overtime on us.

Every Tuesday & Thursday there are chapel services for the students on campus. One thing that we took from the message this week was to understand that God does not depend on us to accomplish his purposes and we should not expect special blessing because we are missionaries. We are starting to see how everything (good or bad) that happens to us and others will work out for His Glory. However, we may not understand why most things occur in life until we get to heaven. But I guess that's where faith steps in. Language learning is just one of many things God wants to teach us while here in Costa Rica. Please pray for us to discover what they are and not miss any opportunities that He has for us. God Bless!

Saturday

After a long FUN Saturday, on our way back home, they sleep!

Week two

May 3, We were ready for church at 9:25. It started at 9:30, our landlord called and said he was coming to check our stove. When he arrived he also had called for the lock guy to come. They were working hard and took the locks off. We finally left for church in Tico style (late:)). They were still singing. Then he preached for 1 hour. The kids went to a Sunday school while the pastor preached. It was all in Spanish so we did not understand anything. Later we went to a park for the kids to play. All the locals were there playing 7 different games, mostly soccer.
May 4, We woke up to no power! they said get use to it. Finally at 6:30 it came on and we all flew through the shower and left in 40 minutes!
May 5, woke up to very little water pressure. They said to get use to this also! Keep water on hand for these moments. Torrey is still trying to figure out our bank info. We can't find our pin number. We have had to borrow money.
May 6, First day of classes. We met all the other students. The kids have some local Tico students in their classes. Trace's teacher only speaks Spanish.
May 8, first day for a quiz for Stephanie. It seems that your head starts to hurt after the second class. Stephanie was tring to translate something her teacher said but it happened to be in English:)
May 9, Saturday FUN DAY!! We went for a tour with a local who tours the missionaries. We went to the Sarapiqui river for a boat ride. We saw the Haller monkeys, iguana, Jesus lizard, and a crockidile. We went to a swinging bridge on the way home where we saw the little jean frogs, cool flowers, and a centipede. It was nice to talk English and see things of Costa Rica.

First Week In Costa Rica!

April 27, We left Florida going to Costa Rica with only 8 suitcases but two carry-on each very stuffed! We made it with all luggage and bags to our new home at 2:00am Florida time. Then we tried to find our sheets for the beds. The kids fell asleep on the couch.
April 28, We went to the kids orientations, unpacked, went shopping then ate at a typical CR restaurant. It tasted pretty good.
April 29, We had orientation at 7:30am. This was easy to get to because the sun rises at 5:15 and so do we! The kids liked their school day. We went to a Wal-mart like store to get things. We ate out again because of time. When we arrived home we locked ourselves in the carport and the house lock would not open. The key was stuck and we were kind of trapped! After praying we got the key out but still could not get in. We walked down the street to someones house we knew and after an hour we finally got in.
April 30, This was our first night without the help of our big brother and big sister. oh what a night!!! We were needing to eat but the packages were written in Spanish! We burned the pizza but the cheese did not melt all the way. Sad thing is we ate half of it. Torrey then made great sauce for spaghetti but the water for the noddles took an hour to boil. Finally we ate some spaghetti.
Friday May 1, this was a CR holiday. We had time to unpack more. Our big brother and sister had a Tico come and make up arroz y polo for dinner.......wow it tasted great!
May 2 we went to the fruit and veg market. The kids played at the park with some friend they met in Virgina. We went to McDonald's for lunch to celebrate a birthday of a friend. Yes McDonald's! It cost a lot more here. We babysat our big brother and sister two kids. So we went to a big lots type of store with 4 kids and then took a taxi home. It went well.

Dear Friends & Family,

We are about to fly out on April 27th to start language school and feel we have one foot out of the boat and another foot about to step into that great big ocean water by faith. Pray that we can keep our eyes on Jesus all the time so that we do not sink!

It was really good for us to have some time to visit with some of you and tie up some loose ends. We are ready to move on to the next step towards a field rich with a harvest ready to hear the good news of Jesus. Pray for the Hearts of the Quechua people to be open to the Gospel and Discipleship. Pray for us to be able to effectively communicate God's Word clearly and boldly.

Right now we are hearing of many mud slides caused by the unusual amount of rainfall in the areas where we are going. Some effects are causing the roads to close and some homes destroyed. Pray for rain to stop long enough to fix roads, homes and create better drainage systems for future rains.

We cannot thank you enough for your friendship, generocity, love and prayers. We could not do anything without God and the prayers of His people. We will miss everyone dearly and will think of you all often as we are away. God Bless!

D.C. Evangelism Trip

Our group loaded up on 7 buses at 8 am Thursday and headed to D.C. for the day. We then divided into groups of 3-5 adults and scattered out to reach our particular people group. My group focused on Hispanic and Peruvian people. We jumped on the Metro and went to a mall heavily filled with Hispanics. My friend and I was able to strike up conversations with five people. One guy thought we were Mormons. My buddy and I laughed a little and told him we didn't dress that nice. We were blessed to be able to plant some seeds for someone else to water. We ate at a Peruvian restaurant and met the owner who happened to be a believer. After talking for a while she gave us her phone number and told us that she has an apartment in Lima, Peru that if we needed could use in needed. She was really nice and the food was great too. Thank you all for your prayers. I know God used us all for His purposes.

Activities (Wed-Sun)
Small group worship
Bible Storying
OLT Time
IMB Finances
Regional Office Meeting
Culture Shock
Immunization
Date Night
Blood Type Test
Cultural Church (Central & Eastern Europe)

Summary

We really are excited about chronological Bible Storying. This is a method of sharing the Word with those who can not read or write. However, anybody who likes listening to oral stories would benefit from learning Biblical truths in a whole new way.
We all got to get more shots on Friday and blood drawn on Sat. It was quite interesting with our two little ones. Tracy told us he was going to kick the nurse. Leah bolted towards the door like lightning and it took 4 adults to hold her down, but we made it. Only one more day of shots to go.
Steph and I got to go on a date without the kids for the first time here thanks to a sweet journey girl who offered to watch our kids. (overdue)
Culture shock is something we are experiencing now and more later. It was good to know of the warning signs even though there isn't a whole lot one can do about it. It is just part of the process. Most of the symptoms of culture shock were that of depression. The IMB provides member care to personnel for consultation to help with any issues.
This week's cultural church focus was Central and Eastern Europe. All the cultural worships are different and fun. To see a glimpse of what it might be like to worship around the world is awesome.
It snowed all day today with the biggest flakes we have ever seen. It was so beautiful! We play and made snow men with the kids. Weather forecasters said we could get 6 inches in 2 days here. (very unusual)

Prayer

1. Praise - Leah is able to focus better in school this week.
2. Praise - physically all healthy
3. Pray- for us to redeem the time here for God's Glory
4. Quechua people group in Chacas, Peru - open hearts to God's word

Thank you all so much for remembering us and the people in Peru. We sincerely covet your prayers.

Daily Activities (Mon. & Tues.)

1. Small Group Worship
2. Lecture (The Persecuted Church)
3. Family Worship
4. Storying

Summary

In our small group worship time we are still practicing Training For Trainers (T4T). The idea is to disciple by teaching certain Bible principles directly using the Bible for answers to questions. The lessons we practiced were on Daily Devotions and The church Meeting.
Dr. Ken Perkins gave incredible insights about the persecuted church. He has been all over the world in missions and now interviews believers from Muslim, Hindu, Buddha and other backgrounds. He then puts together information, statistics and stories of persecuted Christians from all over. He also includes many insights about our own western christian churches. It was a eye opening and encouraging at the same time.
Storying is a type of evangelism that is used primarily with indigenous groups in oral form. Basically it is telling Bible stories in order. They usually are told starting in Genius and ending up in Acts. Everybody in the bible class learns the stories and tells others about them. Once you get some believers, the missionary teaches in the book of Acts by storying in order to show what a church looks like. From here a new house or cell church is born. I like like this way as it allows the Word itself to do the teaching.

Prayer
1. God would pour wisdom, knowledge and understanding into our hearts and minds in order that we might be better prepared for missionary field work.
2. When we are persecuted for Jesus in the field, God would give us a strong faith to hold onto.
3. Leah and Trace as they transition to new and different things.
4. Families back home
5. Quechua people group in Chacas, Peru (future christian leaders)

Sat. & Sun. Activities

Saturday we went with another family that lives in our quad to Chuck E Cheese. The kids had a lot of fun. It was nice that all were healthy and we could get off campus for a few hours. Unfortunately, Leah had a fever once we got back. Stephanie cried.

Sunday Torrey and Trace attended small group worship. A family was invited to come and worship with us. It was nice because they could lead singing and play an instrument. None of us in the group can do either well. We were instructed to use a lesson from Training For Trainers. (T4T) This is one tool to use in the field for new disciples. It uses a series of questions, discussions and answers from scripture on the subject.

Tonight's cultural worship is Africa. The setting will be outside under some trees. African songs and dances will be used. The kids will learn a song to share with the large group and make instruments.

Prayers

1. Leah to lose her fever so she can leave the quad.
2. Quechua people group (persons of peace)
3. Time alone with God for both of us.
4. Search for homeschool curriculum for kids

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Drop us a line sometime!