Sprinting to the End

We bought our tickets this month.
 
While Meg has been ramping up emotionally for a while, I am postponing a lot of those feelings for nearer to our departure. But setting an official leave date was a significant moment. We will arrive in the US on January 12th, 2015. In just under five months, our family will leave home to return home.

I have a lot to work through—feelings that are at odds with what I think I’m supposed to think. Stuff related to my motives for coming to Peru in the first place, including my relationship with God, dreams, ambitions, and various factors of rather uneven spiritual value. Disappointments and lessons learned. Joys and sorrows. Just life, I guess, but it was life here. Anyway, my plan is to blog through these, hopefully regularly until our departure.
 
Right now, my primary thought is, “Sprint to the end.” I want to finish well. But it’s hard to know what that means. On one hand, it is remaining faithful in the everyday work despite feeling like mine is a contribution with an expiration date. My input becomes increasingly less relevant to long-term decisions. The window for unmet goals shrinks to a matter of months and feels impossible. The hope of correcting past failures withers. “Sprint to the end” in this sense is not the thought of the accomplished athlete finishing with discipline but of the guy who is still running the race after everyone else has already crossed the finish line, wondering what would be the point of the extra effort. On the other hand, it is doing well the things that this new phase requires. It’s time to do transition work again. So we’re starting on our RAFT, a device many expatriates have used to make a good exit and return. It entails:

• Reconciliation (in broken relationships and unresolved conflicts) 
• Affirmation (of the people in our lives) 
• Farewells (in timely and intentional ways) 
• Thinking Destination (being realistic about life upon return)

This is a big part of our work now, and just coming to terms with that fact is really hard. But it’s time.

Adjusting to a New Culture

My wife Sarah and I worked hard in planning for work here in Arequipa and in eventually moving here. God has made this wonderful opportunity a reality for us and we are so very thankful to Him. We have been living here for 5 months now. The newness of it all is starting to wear off. As silly as it sounds, I’m starting to realize that I don’t live in California or Arkansas any more. Culture shock is a curious thing. We definitely went through a honeymoon stage. Now we realize we are here to stay and it is no vacation. It is hard at times. Apparently culture shock can make you exhausted. This is the case with me. By the time we get our kids to bed, I am longing for bed myself.  It has been a rough past couple of weeks. We miss home and family and certain things here are difficult to get used to. We are in a pretty constant state of heightened awareness that we could be pick-pocketed (Sarah actually was) or be overcharged for something because we don’t know any better (which has already happened). We are making good progress in our Spanish language acquisition, but miss or don’t understand things here and there. Things like throwing trash on the ground or letting dogs do their business wherever they desire are much more common than I wish they were. More frequently than we like, new friends/acquaintances don’t call when they say they will, or don’t show up for a scheduled meeting altogether. 
 
However, there are two sides to a coin. Although this acquisition is hard, there are so many great things happening that God is allowing us to be involved in.  From simple acts of sharing our faith to formal Bible studies, from experiencing people’s willingness to help us newbies to making new friends, from enjoying new food to sharing a meal with new friends, life here really is a blessing. We couldn’t be more pleased with our landlords and our apartment. Our Peruvian brothers and sisters in Christ have received us with open, loving arms and we already love them so much and feel close to them. We have received great advice from our new closest Peruvian friends as well as the veteran missionaries who have been here for over 5 years. What an experience this has been. We hope to have many more years to come here in Arequipa working for God’s glory and for the expansion of His kingdom. Please keep us in your prayers as we adjust to this culture and learn to live and thrive here.

Interns 2014

Every year Team Arequipa invites interns from the States to join the team for two months. They come on their Summer Break and live with the families in Arequipa. This year we have 5 girls with us through three different universities' programs. The internship provides interns with the chance to see what a missionary family looks like, get involved in projects, practice Spanish and make new friendships with locals. It is also a wonderful experience for their worldview to be broadened and see how faith looks in another cultural. They are part of a weekly discussion over assigned readings mission, and take part in cultural studies where they reflect on missional experiences. They are encouraged to be part of all the projects giving them a chance to see projects in works. Each intern is also mentored by a missionary which helps them attain spiritual and cultural goals. Please pray that the interns be safe during their time here and that they learn see God in a new way. 

Left to right: Kayla, Christy, Lexi, Mat & Fiama

Expanding

This month we welcomed CUDA Board member David Fann back to Arequipa.  For the past three years David has led a group of students from Lipscomb University on a medical campaign to Lima, and after the campaign he comes down to have a look at CUDA.  This year David was able to observe the newly begun health project in the neighborhood of Hunter.  After a morning of touring the clinic and speaking with our volunteers, David met with the staff and share a lunch with the Peruvian directors.  It’s a great blessing to be able to show someone so deeply connected to the work here what we are doing.  Visits such as David’s are a blessing not just for him, but for the field workers as well.
 
CUDA has also benefited from the new families arriving to the field that make up TA 2.0.  Along with the Grays, each family has found ways to volunteer their time and expertise in a CUDA project.  The Morgans have begun to help with the health initiative, with Just going to the clinic to do screenings and meet with patients.  Briana Froud has been volunteering for our library program for weeks now and her husband, Chase, was recently added to our board of directors.  Chase will become familiar with all of our programs and help to ensure we are maintaing a holistic approach in the work we do.
 
It has been a joy to watch our directors (Alfredo, Paty and Lucia) manage CUDA this year.  Lucia, in her second year with CUDA, has taken ownership of the library program and is doing a great job training our second full-time library employee, Nancy.  Paty is leading the micro-finance program with grace and wisdom, constantly interacting with people who have been dealt a bad hand, showing them Jesus as she tries to help their businesses.  She also handles our in-country financial responsibilities and just yesterday received word that our application to be able to receive (Peruvian) tax-deductible donations was approved.  This opens the door for CUDA to fundraise in Peru, a huge step forward for the NGO.  Alfredo, as Executive Director, has put together a solid team that is working together quite well.  From individually planning, and getting government support for, the health program to buying school supplies for the library program, Alfredo does it all.
 
Will you join us in praying for CUDA, for it’s board members, directors and volunteers?  For the work they do every day in the lives of Peruvians in Hunter, Alto Selva Alegre, Miraflores and the rest of Arequipa?  Pray for lives to be improved, for people to be empowered, for knowledge to be spread and for the Kingdom to be expanded through the work of all of us here in Arequipa.

First Time for Everything

There's a first time for everything.
 
Moving to another country is a fresh encounter with a whole new set of 'firsts'. And, looking back, it is encouraging to see all the challenges you've faced and it is deeply satisfying to realize "It's all good, God is truly with me. All the time". And it is so true. He is with us, always, in the big things and in the little things. So here's a look at God's provision in my recent past: 

• First time to figure out which meals to make for my family when I don't have all the ingredients I need easily accessible or even available in the first place
• First time to ride on crazy combis (small, jam-packed buses) with a toddler, a couple of bags etc often jumping on with a running start and jumping off without a complete stop
• First time to feel small earthquakes that shake my home and send me scurrying outdoors with my kids and husband
• First time to haggle with taxi drivers, telling them "I know it doesn't cost that much to get me there"
• First time to watch complete strangers  kiss my baby girl on the cheek and head even when she's in the frontside carrier (they try with Lorenzo but he pretends to shoot at them! ...)
• First time to be asked by a Peruvian pre-K teacher to come talk to her about my son's behavior at school! (It wasn't all bad :) 
• First time to figure out how to pack, organize, deal with moving companies to get a container 3,700+ miles away, discovering how many truly amazing helpers it takes to get all that done
• First, and last, time to eat Peruvian Chinese food at a mall's food court
• First bout with foreign bacteria getting comfortable in my intestines
• First time to begin working on the foreign mission field with a part of my team while joining an existing team, simultaneously taking advantage of their extreme helpfulness and learning new team dynamics 
• First times learning to tune out late night and early morning parties in our new neighborhood 
• First time to experience first hand how helpful and loving complete strangers can be when it comes to helping you settle into your new home and neighborhood
• First time to experience the joy and familiarity that exists in a house church 
• First time to completely, utterly, fully rely on God since, let's be honest, there is not much we are completely sure of here and even less that we can pretend we have control over

With this godly gift of hind-sight, let's look at our past and thank God for always being with us! My prayer is that this will help remind us to trust Him with our future with honest and happy hearts.