November

This last month has gone by so fast. I apologize for the lack of posting lately. Things have been so busy and we don’t have internet at the house so you really have to carve out time to get anything done. I will try to do a little overview of November.

The 40/40s are out working in their communities. Each pair has three church plants they are doing over the next 18 months. The girls are working in all three of theirs right now, except Callie & Carmen who have a 3rd one aways outside of the city so they will start that one in a few months. Every weekend this month we have been in a different community doing a Jesus film showing on Friday night followed by a Kids’ Festival on Saturday.

There has been a great response and has provided a lot of contacts for the pairs to follow up with. Throughout the week they are evangelizing, visiting people in their homes and disciplining. Andrew & Daniel are out in their communities all week long and we only see them on Mondays for their day off. They have families they stay with while they are out there and have two different communities they are working with. They are doing evangelism, discipling and put on the services that happen in these areas. Please keep each of our pairs in prayer—Andrew & Daniel, Olivia & Ana, Wendy & Elisa and Callie & Carmen. Please pray for the Lord to continue to open doors for them to share God’s love with people. Pray for strength and energy for everyone. Pray for protection for all, especially Andrew & Daniel who are far from the rest of us.

Tyson and I have been trying to take care of all the details so the team can focus on their ministry and trying to get our own home settled a bit. We have been running around getting items for the two houses, fixing and finishing things that need to be done…all part of moving into a new home, shopping for the team, and searching for a cook. We finally found someone to cook lunches who started this week. I have been teaching the pre-schoolers Sunday School with Wendy and Tyson helping with worship.

We have had a few issues with water. The second Sunday we were here there was a huge rain storm and there were not yet gutters on the church. That means the rain that came off the church roof aimed directly into our windows. Kai woke up from his nap screaming “Mom, it’s raining in my bed.” And boy was it, there was a waterfall coming in and his room had about 2 inches of water in it and the laundry room was the same. It took me the rest of the night to mop of all that water and a couple weeks for it to dry out. The drying out is an issue that brings mold along with it. I have cleaned up a lot of mold and it is just have fans going constantly to try to keep things dry. The next Sunday night and all day Monday it rained and we soon found we were surrounded by a lake. By Monday evening we could not flush our toilet because it would come up from our shower drain. Apparently the water was so high it caused issues with the septic. There was no quick fix for this and we had to just wait for the water to go down…for 5 days. There was also a ton of water between our house and the wall which was a great home for frogs, I guess, because there about a zillion outside our window and they kept coming in the house. Kai of course, loved this, but it wasn’t my favorite. Please don’t think I’m complaining, I really just want to remember these memories so I am writing them down...looking back it is fun to see all that we have experienced in our new home in a month;) We know that there is much more rain coming in the next few months so Tyson has been on the phone, talking to neighbors and down at the city office trying to come up with a solution they last 3 weeks. Today he got someone from the city to come out and look at it (which is a huge feat in itself here in Peru) and they are planning to bring in dirt to fill in the pond surrounding us and then they will begin to put in a ditch to move the water elsewhere.

Well, there is much more to tell I am sure but this has already gotten long. We are settling well and excited to be here and be a part of all that God is doing in Puerto Maldonado! I should also add that Kai is loving life here and has transitioned without missing a step…you can check out what he has been up to on his blog here. We are looking forward to the Christmas season and celebrating here with our Peruvian friends and family. We are really looking forward to Tyson’s family coming to visit us for a couple weeks…they get here next week! Thank you all for your prayers and we will keep you updated more often from now on!