Moving to a New Neighborhood

Moving to a New Neighborhood

We moved! Our big news from the last few weeks is that we moved to a new neighborhood in the district of Sachaca. October was a whirlwind, and on the 31st, the same day that our kids got to trick-or-treat for the first time ever, we moved a couple miles away from where we’ve been for the last 8.5 years. The month and a half we’ve been here so far have been full of affirmation that we made the right decision, and I ask for your prayers as we start to share life and faith in a new part of the city.

,

After the Chaos, a Sense of Peace

,
After the Chaos, a Sense of Peace

When we tried to get back to Arequipa to prepare for our HULA group’s arrival, the airport was still shut down because of the protests which had reignited. This time they had shut down food and gas supplies to the city, which led us to make the decision to start HULA 2023 in Buenos Aires (Argentina). It was an inordinate amount of work to pull that off (and made possible because of my amazing friend Jonathan Hanegan), but pull it off we did and we launched into an incredible semester with an amazing group of students, for whom we are so thankful. By the time we got to Arequipa on February 20, things were mostly back to normal and we launched into a special time of travel, learning, and connection with a place, a people, its history and culture, designed to form us interculturally and grow spiritually.

Living in Arequipa - April 2021

Living in Arequipa - April 2021

Life in Arequipa is much more pleasant than it was in last year’s lockdown. Sadly, it has opened up more because of economic necessity and less because of improvement in health. Hospitals across the country are full, deaths because of COVID-19 are higher than any other point in the pandemic, and vaccines are only trickling in, so we’re not seeing much of the “light at the end of the tunnel.” Thankfully a big part of Peru’s health and policing personnel have been able to get vaccinated, and they’re currently working on the 80+ years population, but it is slow going. Slow. At one point they were just focusing on those 100 years old or older, so there’s progress I guess. But we constantly have friends and neighbors who know of family members and friends who are suffering. Peru has one of the highest excess death rates in the world and we feel it.

What do we do every day?

What do we do every day?

We have been living in a small apartment at this hotel since March 16 when the quarantine lockdown went into effect. At that time we had the HULA group here with us until they left two weeks later. After that Jeremy’s parents and siblings were with us for another two weeks and then headed back to the US on a repatriation flight. For the last 4 months it has been us and the Spanish teacher that came with HULA, Debora, and her daughter, Sira (7 years old). Also living at the hotel is the owner, Zenet, and her daughter, Nathalie (17 years old), and one hotel worker, Yulisa. We have become a family seeing as we have been locked in the hotel grounds together 24/7 for 5 months now. We have celebrated 4 birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Peru’s Independence Day together. Arequipa’s birthday, August 15, is right around the corner.

A Weary Thankfulness

A Weary Thankfulness

It’s hard to summon the energy to write. We have a routine, and we’re doing well, but anything outside of that routine is difficult to reach for. Yesterday Peru’s president announced an extension to the current lockdown situation, effective now through June 30. So for now the plan is to stay here, our home away from home. We pray that in this waiting, God will be at work. Most of our friends are doing ok. But this country is hurting. Many who live life on the edge in regular circumstances are now in dire ones. This collective holding of our breath continues. Our prayer is that God would breathe life, healing, and hope into this place.

2019 Updates

2019 Updates

This year has brought a lot of new changes for us but along with that many blessings. We started the year with the birth of our son, Kinney, on January 3 and Adileen has been a big sister in love with her little brother ever since. In February we began our new work with Harding University Latin America (HULA) study abroad program welcoming 29 students to South America

Walking

Walking

Today I walked with Adileen to school. Slowly. Her preschool is just about 14 blocks from our home, a distance I can walk briskly in 12 minutes or so, but a distance that at Adileen’s pace usually takes between 25 and 30 minutes. Special thanks to Katie, who discovered that Adileen could walk the whole way to school holding her hand while I was on a trip recently. There’s part of the walk where 5-foot sections of the wall are painted, each in a different color. I was filled with joy watching Adileen run to one, shout “Azul!”, and move on to the next, shouting “amarillo”, and “verde”, and “rojo.” So. Fun.