La Niña Linda

We fell in love with my niece Madison.... and so did all the Peruvians. I think just about every woman and little girl stopped to say, mira la niñita hermosa (look at the beautiful little girl). I heard a lots say that she looks like a doll, and others like the Pampers baby. I guess many have only seen a baby like Madison in advertising.

Many of the Peruvians haven't seen a North American baby because those who come to visit here don't usually bring little ones. They've seen a whole bunch of gringos..blond hair, blue eyes and all, but a blond haired blue eyed baby was something really different!

After the first day, Madison took reallly well to Ricky. She actually started making a kissy noise to immitate him, something she's never done before!

thanks

i just wanted to say thanks to the people who are reading our blog, who are praying for us, and who are leaving us encouraging notes. unfortunately i'm not very blog savvy and so i have no idea how to add on friends or anything. i can just write here and plug in a few pics. maybe one day when i have some time i'll actually figure it out.

we're doing pretty good. the team has left and now we are preparing to have some visitors. well we actually already received visitors yesterday (welcome to the life as a missionary!). we got a call in the afternoon from some co-missionaries with IAM who are serving in Chile. they called to say, hi we've arrived to Cusco for vacation with some family. we knew they were coming, but we didn't have any idea what day they arrived. it was neat spending the evening with them yesterday and almost the whole day with them today. we had invited them to stay with us (again..welcome to the life as a missionary)...even though we don't have beds, blankets, sheets or pillows for 8 people. especially because we are expecting 5 of my family who are arriving friday morning. so that would mean 13 plus Ricky, Amy and I. 16 people! we invited them without thinking... hhmm...bedrooms, space...blankets...etc. but they decided to stay in a hostel near the center of Cusco. it would have been cool to have a house full, but i guess this works better for everyone.

i am SO excited that my family is coming to visit. my parents can't come because they are off on a vacation to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. my brother Nathan, sister-in-law Cynthia, 8 month old niece Madison, and my brothers Jonathan and Gabriel are coming.

daniel was in the hospital

Daniel spent 3 nights in the public hospital in Cusco. Apparently he had some fluid in his lungs from some sort if virus; so that mixed with the high altitude, he passed through a time when he couldn't breathe and was not getting enough oxygen to his brain. He turned white and once he actually fell over. He was really dihydrated, yelling for "Agua!!" (it's all pretty funny now)

here's his picture the day he was released. He spent 3 nights and 4 days in the hospital on oxygen treatment. poor guy. But you know, the Lord really used his time there for the better. We were blessed to minister to the children, their parents and some adults too, praying for them and sharing a little of the hope that is within us.

the uphill climb keeps getting steeper

the little girl in this picture is Antuane, she has been given 40 days to live.

she has cancer in the stomach. the doctors say she cannot be operated on..and is only a matter of time before she will die. her mother, juana, doesn't have a husband. and doesn't seem to have any family around. the poor woman is all alone with 3 children, one of whom is dying.

ricky took this picture when we met them in the hospital last week. We were visiting to bring balloon animals for the kids. the hospital released the little girl and won't accept her back even though she isn't doing well.

after sunday school ricky and a few from the team went to visit juana and antuane at their home. we gave this picture as a gift to juana...perhaps the only she will ever have in remembrance of her daughter. we're praying for a light to shine at the end of this dark tunnel. as juana is opening herself to the Lord...we pray that the two of them will be together again one day in paradise...and better yet, with Jesus.

what do you say to something like this?

this morning a girl from sunday school confided in me. she happened to tell me because he was on the soccer court playing futbol where we and the kids gather on sunday mornings. she began to tell me that he is her uncle and he is crazy. apparently whenever he is around her or her cousins, he makes them put on a skirt and "show him things underneath".

she held tightly to my arm, saying, i don't want him to look at me.

my whole mind and being fled with emotions. from anger to rage toward this man...to pity for him. but more so with love and compassion for this little 10 year old girl. i just wanted to cry and hold her and take her home with me. but the only thing i could really do was hold her...so i did.

then, like a wave, all sorts of questions came to mind. what about her younger 2 yr old sister? what will happen to her in the future? and what about her cousins whom i know personally? what about the neighbor kids who are a part of our sunday school who are familiar with this man? has he..? or will he..?

the darkness rages here, ravaging these innocent children, stealing their joy and damaging them forever. these poor children have to live with so many monsters.

Lord, my cry to you is that you protect these children that you love so much. Bring salvation to this dark place.

the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few

The time with the team is coming to a close. Today is the last presentation in the Cusco main library.
God has blessed us with a relationship with the manager of the library, who is also in charge of the tourist and cultural activities in all of the city. He isn't a believer but has shown a great deal of support for us in sharing the gospel through the evangelical presentations.

Marcos has invited us to work with Cusco's cultural department, doing puppets and drama all year round. We just don't have the people to do it, and we don't have the puppets. Each team that comes has to bring their own puppets. In the future we hope to have our own puppets...and even more important, we hope to have more workers!

I hope we can continue the relationship that we have with Cusco and her leaders. At the end of the year, a new mayor will be voted into office. We are praying for him that he will have the same willingness to allow us to present the gospel openly like the current mayor does.

We're still waiting to find out if the manager from the Lima library was able to get us Bibles. Marcos told us it's 90% sure. We had presented a letter of request a few months ago, and Marcos brought it to the manager friend in Lima on our part. He said it's looking good but may be a few more months before we can get them. We are really praising God that they would be willing to give us Bibles. Right now we don't have any more Bibles to give away, so these would come in a perfect time. We also want to give Bibles to some of the boys in the correctional center where Ricky is doing a Bible study.

The Lord has opened lots of doors to do ministry here, but we just lack the workers. The scripture is timeless as it says, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few... isn't that the truth.

i love chapstick

it's true about how much i love chapstick. my friend tricia has an obsession with it, but i understand and agree with her obsession. there is always need for chapstick in any given moment. and if I don't have it, it could be distastrous. so it's always much better to keep a few spare sticks around...one in the backpack, one in my pocket, one in the kitchen, and another spare in the bathroom.

the other day i lost my chapstick, and couldn't locate the backup sticks... i was really frustrated. And then i saw one of the chileans with a light blue medicated chapstick and i was convinced that i had left it laying around and he decided to use it for his moisturizing needs. WELL, i was not sure how i felt about someone else using my chapstick, and was not about to ask him for it back. i told Ricky that night, hey-he has my chapstick, i saw him with it. Ricky wisely said, don't accuse him until you ask and know for sure that it's yours.

this morning i was in dire need of my lip balm when i saw him using it. i couldn't look, i couldn't ask... it was just too weird.. ("ehh, ese chapstick... es tuyo? o lo encontraste?...porque justo perdi lo mio y mio era igual que lo tuyo"). as my need grew i decided, no importa, i'm gonna ask everyone if they've seen my chapstick.

and what to you know, that same hour, i found my light blue medicated chapstick in my backpack... where it did not belong... because this particular stick belonged in my pocket. so i learned my lesson... "keep more chapstick around so that this never happens again!"

to love is a privelage...and a command

Here are a few of the kids that come for Sunday school in San Marcos. God has raised up others to serve alongside us; now we are a group of 4! There is Julia, who is from our Bible study, Amy, the intern from Downey Christian church in California, and Ricky and I.

The children were so excited to have the team from Santiago come with puppets, games, music, drama and dancing. Children- Nicolas, Leo and Erik went around the neighborhood with us, door to door, inviting all the neighbors to come participate.

I love these children so much. In the beginning the kids were really disorganized and crazy, running around hitting and kicking, with snotty, dirty faces... as if no one had really taken the time for them. But things have changed in these last few months... now they are reflecting the love of Jesus that we have had the privelage to show them.

surprise soup

Sometimes there are surprises in the bowl when you go for ceviche. this one was Ricky's!

we love ceviche here, but i can do without the fish heads, thank you!

From our end of the world to yours...

the calling:

"go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; "

the promise:

"and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age"

-Jesus
Matthew 28:19-20