A House to Call Home

The front of our house.

Shortly before we moved here, we had the opportunity to go to Mass at the new chapel right at Big Woods (where Intake was held). After Mass, Sarah, the new Executive Director, approached me and said she received pictures of the house that had been arranged for us to move into once we got to Peru.  We had been told that there wasn't much available housing in our small pueblo so I felt grateful that we would arrive and have a place already waiting for us. Naturally, I was excited to see the pictures. As I was looking through them, though, I was thinking, “Hmmm. This looks... a little rough.” But still I smiled and expressed my excitement to Sarah and asked her to forward the pictures to us. [The following pictures in this post are the ones she sent to us].
 

The living room

Bedroom 1

 

Bedroom 2

 

Kitchen.  Yes, that's right. This is the kitchen.

As the day went on, and as I kept going back to look over the pictures, it started to sink in. This is where we're going to be living?? Does it even have electricity? Is there a toilet? Our kids will never be clean again with dirt for a yard! And...yep. That's the kitchen. A counter and a sink. Jesus, are you for real right now? If it was just Robert and I, sure. But we have seven kids, one being 5 months old! How can we possibly live here?

 

I knew we obviously weren't going to be living in a place that came anywhere close to an American standard of living. I've seen how people live in other first-world countries (much less 2nd or 3rd world), and it really is “bigger and better” in America, what with our seemingly endless amounts of potable water, 3-car garages, and half-acre yards. I expected our house to be poor and simple because we were going to living among the poor after all! But expecting something and seeing what that “something” really looked like were two different things.

 

Dining Room

Dining Room with door leading to backyard.

I felt silly, maybe even guilty, asking Jesus “How can we possibly live here.” The privilege that reeks behind it wasn't lost on me. Obviously people around the world and throughout the ages have lived and raised children in much worse living conditions. Besides that, I was asking Jesus, who Himself was born in a barn among livestock and lived His entire life in poverty, how I could live in a house without lights and a fridge. But, He quickly reminded me that there was no shame in how I was feeling. I've never lived in such impoverished conditions before so naturally there would be some fears. I was comforted at least in knowing that the Lord would meet me where I was at and that my feelings were valid.
 

Later in the day, as Robert and I looked over the pictures together, he put me more at ease when he shared ideas he had to try to fix it up a bit and make it more homey. Thanks be to God for a husband who could also meet me where I was at. At that point, we only had a few days left and a long list of to-do's before our move, so I put any concerns about the house to the side and focused on the tasks at hand.
 

Covered patio in backyard.

The outdoor bathroom - toilet and shower through door on right.

By the time we arrived in Peru, I wasn't feeling overly concerned about our house anymore. I had since found out that the house indeed had electricity and a toilet, which put my greatest concerns at ease. Still, I wondered how I was going to feel after seeing the house in-person.
 

When we drove into our pueblo the day of our arrival, I felt excited and thankful for finally getting to the place that I had been praying for for nearly 4 months. We were blessed to have tons of kids coming out of the woodwork to welcome our family and play with the “gringos.” And as we walked into our house for the first time - lo and behold! - it didn't seem so bad! It needed a good cleaning and it obviously didn't meet American standards (completely open “windows” for anyone to climb through, a shared bathroom and backyard with our neighbor, etc.) but by the grace of God, I could see the house through rose-colored glasses and its potential.
 

I started writing this blog post 2 months after we moved here and it's now been 4 months! It's been a whirlwind of activity since we got here and we still have yet to paint the walls, which will make a world of difference in making the house look nicer. But nevertheless, our house already feels like home. We may not have nice furniture, curtains or pictures up on the walls, we may have critters and bugs galore, but we have a roof over our heads that doesn't leak (a real blessing around here)! We have dirt in our (big!) yard, not dirt for our floors (like many of our neighbors). We have an actual bathroom with a shower and toilet that both work, which we now realize is somewhat of a luxury.
 

Without seeing a picture of the toilet, I wasn't
sure if there was one!

It's funny – already now when I look at these pictures that Sarah sent to me before we moved here, I see them with different eyes. I look at them and just see my home, not some scary, hard place to live. I look at them and think that one day, after God calls us to move to another place, I'm going to look back fondly at these pictures and I'll miss so many things about this house we call home.

 

 

 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life...Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.” Matthew 6:25, 27, 33-34

 

Backyard complete with coconut tree & chicken coop.

"I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.  I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me." Philippians 4:12-13

I was excited to see that there was a hammock. LOL

The following pictures were taken a few weeks after we moved in...


Annabelle in bedroom 1, which is now the kids' room.
This was dubbed "the Spider Room" right after we moved here
because of all the spiders and spider webs we found in it.

Bedroom 2, which was and still is being used as Aaron's
bedroom and a place to keep our clothes. 
It's also since become the catch-all room for storage.

Our mess of a dining room.  We now have a table! PTL!
Notice the lovely family reunion poster our landlord
graciously left for us on the wall.  LOL

The kitchen prior to buying a fridge and 4-burner gas cooktop.
I was using a crockpot that I brought from home to cook
whatever I could in it (even scrambled eggs, which I don't recommend).
  I was grateful for that thing until it got fried from the 220 v
electricity that comes out of the outlets here.  We ate a lot of ready-to-eat
foods and ate out quite a bit during this time.



The living room became our family bedroom as we had to
wait for bunk beds to be made for the kids.  This room is
currently being used as Robert's and my bedroom.
 

Once we get the house painted and better organized, I'll post updated pictures!

We Have Arrived!!

It's been a few months since our last blog post (ACK!), and we've been in Peru for 2 months now, which seems hard to believe. We recently got internet hooked up at our house so we're finally able to post this long-overdue update.

We ended up having to wait longer to leave for our mission post than most of the other new missionaries because we were waiting on a certain document that we were going to need for the visa process. We ended up flying out on February 26^th and arriving in Lima on the 27^th.
 

At the airport in Tarapoto with the other FMC missionaries.

We had a one-hour connecting flight into Tarapoto, which is in the San Martin region of Peru.  We were very warmly greeted by all the other FMC missionaries serving this area (11 people at the time, however 2 more families have come since then. The total number of FMC missionaries here is now 30, including us).

After loading up all of our stuff, we went out for lunch together and enjoyed time with this awesome community of missionaries. The single guys team then drove us out to Tingo de Ponaza, the pueblo that we now call home. We marveled at the beauty of this area during the two hour drive from Tarapoto. Along the way, we stopped briefly in Picota, the main town under which we serve. This is where the priests and the church are located.

Coming in to our pueblo, God gave me a sense of peace and gratitude for being in this particular place and community that He has called us to serve. We had been praying for these people ever since we found out that we had been assigned to “Tingo” and now we were finally here!

Looking at the road from our house, which is at the end of the road.

We walked into our new home (which requires its own blog post...stay tuned.) and were soon greeted by tons of the neighborhood kids flooding into the yard to see who all these white kids were. They pulled coconuts down from the tree in the back and opened them up for us to have coconut water, and then proceeded to play with the kids, asking their names and how old they are. Their immediate kindness and excitement meant so much to us.

Since then, we've been busy trying to get settled in here. One thing we were told during our 3-month intake was that we should approach our mission as a marathon and not a sprint. Since we're here long-term as opposed to a brief mission trip, we don't need to hit the ground running, saying “yes” to every ministry opportunity that presents itself. Instead, we should give ourselves time to adjust, to really make our house a home, and to set up a healthy schedule and routine for our family. That way we can serve more freely and generously knowing that our family life is in order and thereby reduce the risk of burnout. We have taken this advice to heart as we do intend to be here for at least the next two years, quite possibly longer.

It's been a longer and more expensive process than we thought it would be. We have had to buy everything to set up a home all over again: beds, mattresses, pillows and sheets, a kitchen table, pots and pans, silverware, a fridge and “stove” (a 4-range cooktop), things to store food and dishes in (to keep out bugs and mice), etc. The hardest part for me, being the thrifty person that I am, is that there are no second-hand stores here so we're having to buy everything brand new and I wasn't expecting things to cost as much as they do. Some things, like the sheets, were even more than what we'd pay at Target or Wal-Mart! I don't know how the average person here can afford to buy some of these basic household items.


After a trip in to Picota on our second day here to get mattresses, fans, and other necessities. 
The vehicle is being loaned to us from the single guys' team. Miraculously, all nine of us can squeeze into it!
 

We had one big family bed in the living room until we got beds for the kids.

 

Our backyard with aforementioned coconut tree.  The structure is a
huge chicken coop that houses our neighbor's chickens. 

Before coming here, we were told that this area has a great need for catechesis as the parish itself is less than 50 years old. We are beginning to see this for ourselves as we learn that some (most?) of the people in this area think it's more important to attend their own pueblo's Liturgy of the Word service on Sunday than to go to Mass, even if one of the priests comes to celebrate Mass in a pueblo just down the road. Few (if any) people from our pueblo make it to Sunday Mass. We thought it might be because of the expense of getting a motorcar (a taxi service) to take them, and while that is a factor, we are learning that the primary reason is that few (if any) don't realize that they should be trying to get to Mass on Sundays. Although many people identify as being Catholic, it seems there is little understanding of what that means. We are hoping to buy a truck soon so that we'll have the ability to transport some of the people from our pueblo into Picota for Mass on Sundays. So far, just our neighbor has come with us a couple of times.  



Motorcars and motorcycles are the most common modes of transportation. There are very few cars.

 

What a motorcar looks like.  It's a motorcycle with a seat in the back that fits about 3 adults.

The type of truck we hope to buy soon.  "Cages" on trucks, like this one, is very common to see.
Lots of people pile into the back of them to get around.

Our little pueblo's chapel
 

Speaking of our neighbor, she is a God-send!!! I'll write more about her in an upcoming post about our house, but I just want to say briefly now that she has been the biggest help to us in getting settled in and figuring out how things are done here. She has patiently put up with our very little Spanish-speaking abilities and sometimes has gone out of her way to show us things or point us in the right direction. I thank God for her daily.
 

I hope to start writing posts more regularly now that we have internet. Please know that we are incredibly thankful for your prayers for us and for this mission. God is so good to have entrusted us with this particular mission – and when I say “us,” I also mean all of you back home who are praying for and sponsoring us! Your participation in the work of foreign missions through your prayers and sponsorship is a very important and critical part! We could never be here without the prayers uplifting us and the people we are here to serve, nor without the funds to even come in the first place. So we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

 

St. Rose of Lima, pray for us.

St. Martin de Porres, pray for us.

 

Helping out at a medical mission trip with students who came from Benedictine.
The line on the right are the people who came to be seen by the doctors.

The kids' job at the mission: playing with the other kids! 

Getting a lesson in Spanish by one of the girls from our chapel.

Baby Aaron gets a lot of attention wherever we go.
Many people have no problem taking him out of my hands to hold him and make over him.
These teenagers are part of a youth group in Picota.

Robert with our neighbor Roberto.  They're just a few months apart in age.

Learning which caterpillars that crawl in and around our house are poisonous. 
This one is.

Buckets of water that people brought to Mass so Father could bless it for them.

A few of us with the Bishop in Moyobamba, the capitol of the San Martin region.

John Paul walking to our chapel for an unexpected Friday night Mass.

...And immediately following Mass was an unexpected Stations of the Cross around the plaza.
We've come to realize there's no sense in gauging how long things will take
because there's always something happening that we don't know about or aren't expecting.
It's all God's timing anyways.

The elaborate and beautiful palms that people made for Palm Sunday

People always point to our legs and exclaim, "Zancudos!!"
Robert's responded a couple of times with, "Zancudos amor gringos,"
which garnered lots of laughs.

When a motorcycle is your only means of transportation, you get creative.
I wish I could have pictures of all the things I've seen people holding while riding their bikes.
The craziest was a children's bike.  I think I actually have a picture of it.  I'll add it if I find it.

Alaina (5) loves to draw.  She has now started drawing people with brown skin and black hair.

Alaina, Michael, and our neighbor Jherson in a group hug.  He has become an almost constant companion.
He likes to draw pictures and then show them to me and say what they are in Spanish.
It's his way of building our vocabulary.  I've learned quite a bit from him!
This day he taught us the word "abrazo" (hug).

Our neighbor, Cimy, and her sister taking the feathers off 3 of the chickens in our yard (we share our yard).
This was the first time any of us had seen chickens being killed and de-feathered (is that a word?)







 

Kid Interview

I asked the kids some questions about our upcoming move to Peru.  Here's what they said...

1. What are you most excited about in moving to Peru?
       Alaina (5 yo): “It's warm a whole bunch!”

       Annabelle (6 yo): “Going to the beach and wearing our new clothes.” (I reminded her,
      “But we're not going to live near a beach.” She replied, “I know, but when we visit one.”)

       Michael (4 yo): “Getting new shoes.”

       John Paul (8 yo): “New things to see.”

       Merrilee (2 yo): “Jesus. Mommy. Daddy.”

       Robert (11 yo): “Just getting there and that it'll be warm.”

2. What are you nervous about?

       Michael: “Talking.” (in Spanish)

       John Paul: “Mosquitoes”

       Robert: “Getting a bad sickness.”

       Merrillee: “Two!”

       Annabelle: “Mosquitoes and getting a bad sickness.”

       Alaina: “Mosquitoes and getting sick.”

3. What do you think is going to be hard about moving to Peru?

       Annabelle: “Not seeing my friends.”

       Alaina: “Not getting treats on the ride because they're too sticky.”

       Robert: “Not seeing Zack and no warm water.”

       John Paul: “No warm water.”

       Michael: “Not getting treats.”

       Merrilee: “Not getting treats.” (repeating what she heard last.)

4. What do you think is going to be fun about moving to Peru?

       John Paul: “The bugs! Playing with them.”

       Robert: “Our free times are going to be awesome and bonding with Augustine is going to be

       awesome too!”

       Michael: “Eat bugs!” (Who knew that a kid who turns his nose up at enchiladas would think to

       say that eating bugs is going to be fun. Also note that it is unknown where he got the idea that

       bugs are a popular protein source in a Peruvian diet.)

       Annabelle: “The pretty beach at sunset.” (This girl can't get her mind off the beach.)

       Alaina: “Going hiking in the jungle and going to the beach.”

 

5. How do you feel about learning Spanish?

       Alaina: “Happy!”

       John Paul: “Happy.”

       Robert: “Nothing. Not excited but not bummed about it either.”

       Michael: “Happy.”

       Annabelle: “Happy.”

       Merrilee: “Learning Spanish!”

6. What's something you already know how to say in Spanish?

       Michael: “Uno, dos, tres” (one, two three)

       Robert: “Hola! Me llamo Roberto.” (Hi! My name is Robert.)

       John Paul: “Hola! Cómo estás? (Hi! How are you?)

       Alaina: “Buenos días! Alabare a mi Señor Jesus!” (Good morning! Praise my Lord Jesus!” <---

       part of a song they learned while in Mexico)

       Merrilee: “Buenos dias!” (Good morning!)

       Annabelle: “Baja al rio.” (Go down to the river <--- part of another song we learned in Mexico)

 

Recap of the Past Two Months

 

 

It's been almost two months since our last blog post so I'll give a quick recap of what has happened since. We ended our time in Mexico with another group of Americans that came down for a week-long mission trip. This was over the week of Thanksgiving. It was a busy week of work projects during the day and visits to the neighboring ranchos in the evening. One of the traditions at the mission house in General Cepeda is to invite the townspeople for a traditional Thanksgiving feast on Thanksgiving Day. It was estimated that more than 200 people showed up to eat turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, cranberries, and more. One older lady said on her way out the door, “Here, I never go hungry.”

Serving guests at the mission house on Thanksgiving.

Once we got back to Big Woods (FMC's home base in Louisiana), we had time to learn a little more about our new mission post in Peru. We were also given the opportunity to meet most of the missionaries who have been serving in Peru for the past year or longer as they were back for a “Year in Review” retreat. The group in Peru will consist of a women's team of four, a men's team of four, and three families, after all of us newbies get there.


Some of the Peru missionaries.  Missing 1 family, 1 single guy, 1 single girl, and a bunch of kids.

On December 5^th, our family along with all of the people we've been going through Intake with, were formally commissioned as foreign missionaries. The next day started our month-long break. We went back to Florida to stay with Robert's parents during that time. It was a busy month full of finalizing our packing, continued fundraising, getting necessary documents for the visas we'll need, and even a week-long visit from some friends. 

 

Getting some time at the beach with friends.

 

The boys helping Robert load up our car with all our suitcases to head back to Louisiana.

We came back to Louisiana this past week to finish the last two weeks of our training. During this time we're getting talks that are pertinent to the transition period that we'll go through after moving to our mission post.

 

The kids were excited to come back and see their friends.

Although our training ends on the 19^th, we likely won't be flying out to Peru until late February or early March due to the long processing time for one of the documents that we need in order to get our visas. We were disappointed about this to begin with but have come to accept it as part of God's plan, and that He must have some reason to keep us back for a little while longer.
 

Some things we still have to figure out (which may not happen until we get there) are: when and where we'll go to language school, if we'll have a house ready for us to move into or if we'll have to find one ourselves, how soon we'll be able to get a vehicle, and making a preliminary daily, weekly, and monthly schedule.
 

We welcome any and all prayers for a smooth transition to Peru, for the spiritual and physical needs of the people we will meet, and for our spiritual protection as we attempt to claim the area we live in for Christ!

 

We're going to....

On our “desert day” (a day for extended prayer time) this past week, we found out where we're being placed for our first mission post! Since we've been in Mexico, we've gone out into the beautiful country here to have our desert days. This past week, we caravanned on crazy bumpy roads through the foothills into the mountains. It was an incredibly beautiful drive, passing through a quaint little rancho, an old, old man riding a donkey, a man herding goats with his dog, and a family riding a cart pulled by a donkey. 

 

Once we got to our destination, each of us were handed an envelope which contained the information we were anxiously anticipating for the past few weeks: which country we were getting sent to. The boys were praying for jungles and mountains for the past few months. Our oldest son, Robert, had been hoping and praying specifically for Peru. We eagerly took our envelope and make a short hike to an area where we could lay out blankets to eat lunch and pray.

 

 

 

Gathering together to collect our envelopes containing our future mission posts.

 

Going for a short hike to find a place to park ourselves. 

 

Our cozy spot.

The view from our cozy spot.

 

After eating and talking about the readings for that day, we let Robert open the envelope since he was the only one in our family that actually had desired a specific country. He barely opened the letter before announcing that we were going to Peru. We thought he might be teasing since he had hardly opened the letter (and because he likes to tease), but he wasn't! Our family erupted into laughter and cheers.

We don't know too much yet about the area we'll be going to. We do know that it's a small town near a larger town named Picota and that it's in a moderate jungle area at the foothills of the mountains. The town itself has a chapel but we're not sure how often the priest makes it to that chapel; people most likely have to go to Picota for Sunday Mass each week. The church in Picota is less than 50 years old, and the surrounding towns are still largely uncatechized. The local priest is a Spanish missionary and has specifically asked for a missionary family to come to the area. We are so excited about this opportunity to get to know the Peruvian people and be Christ to them, and encounter Christ through them!

We still have 3 more weeks of training left (this last week being in Mexico) before we take a month-long break for Christmas and New Years. All of us “Intakers” will meet up at the Big Woods mission in Louisiana again in January for about 10 days before we start flying out to our mission posts. Please continue to pray for us as we begin making some preparations for our move to Peru, such as figuring out housing, and when and where to go to language school. Please also pray for the people we will be meeting there and for the Holy Spirit to move in their hearts.

 

Here's some blog posts from some of the missionaries serving in Peru right now:

I Can't But Jesus Can

A Pair of Shoes

When Jesus Speaks