Prayer

Prayer requests in the form of updates

Prayer requests in the form of updates

So much has happened this first half of the year that it’s hard to know where to start. We continue to be deeply thankful for life and work right here where we are. We have found good rhythms of family life and ministry.  The kids have settled into their new school. It’s been a huge challenge for them that they’ve responded to incredibly well, taking steps to learn French (most of their classes are in French, the rest in Spanish, except for English class) and make new friends. Adileen is doing 5th grade math in French when at the beginning of the school year (March) she could barely count to 20 in French. So we’re proud of them. Kinney is playing soccer and happy with World Cup fever.

Tragedy in Venezuela and our House Church’s Response

Tragedy in Venezuela and our House Church’s Response

Surely you know by now the devastation that two recent earthquakes left in their wake in the northern part of Venezuela. This comes while Venezuela remains in crisis-mode, 10+ years and running, which means that the Venezuelan diaspora spans far and wide. Some of our closest friends are from Venezuela, and when the level of destruction was made clear to them, they quickly responded by asking our church to help gather some funds to help in their hometown, also impacted, but forgotten in the wake of much bigger cities that were getting most of the attention and aid.

Living Libraries - Challenges and Opportunities

Living Libraries - Challenges and Opportunities

If you’ve read this newsletter for a while then you know all about Living Libraries. If you’ve ever come to visit Arequipa we’ve probably taken you to one of the schools that we’ve worked in to improve reading comprehension with kids by training teachers over the course of two years with new strategies and skills based on the science of reading. There have also been plenty of opportunities over the years to share about challenges and pushback—whether that be the simple fact that development in this area requires a lot of extra work from the teachers, or pushback to our methods which break the cultural norms of a more militaristic way of teaching. In the face of that pushback we maintain a humble, confident approach, trying to do all we can to help teachers overcome the obstacles, be they cultural or time-related, in order to be successful—all for the sake of the kids and because of Jesus and his reign. 

Family and Ministry Update - French, Kids Club, and Marriage Ministry

Family and Ministry Update - French, Kids Club, and Marriage Ministry

As we come to the end of this year we look back and reflect on how God has been working in our lives, in the lives of those around us and in our city. In October we completed 11 years in Peru! Of course every time we say that Adileen adds that she has only been in Peru 9 years and Kinney 6. 😊

2025 Church Retreat - The Coast (Mollendo)

2025 Church Retreat - The Coast (Mollendo)

As is the case with a lot of things in Peru, our church retreat started off being planned months ahead of time, and was only finalized in the hours prior to departure. We’re so thankful for the 21 people who were able to spend three days and two nights down on the coast. We stayed at a guesthouse that belongs to Paty’s family who is from Mollendo. That had an extra layer of specialness baked in because Paty and Lola are longtime hosts of the church, and getting to see them in their “happy space” where they grew up was special.

A New Table

A New Table

A few months ago we finally got a dining room table! This is big because we hadn’t had a dining room table since 2019! The last apartment we lived in didn't have room for a table; and then it took us a year after moving into our house to find one we liked. To us the table is a sacred place. And we want our table to be a place where anyone is welcome and those that come to it feel loved. We wanted to have a blessing table. 

“As in Heaven, so in Arequipa...”: What ministry looks like, September 2025

“As in Heaven, so in Arequipa...”: What ministry looks like, September 2025

We’re fresh off a sabbatical month of August where our kids skipped school and we got to see a lot of incredible people in the US as well as spend special time with family. We arrived back to Arequipa refreshed and thankful for our home and work and are really excited about this season of ministry.  We believe that God is always up to more than we realize and pray that God would lead us to participate in life, new creation, kingdom, salvation—which is breaking in all around us. We pray Jesus’s prayer in our context

“We pray for our cities, and the cities we are”

“We pray for our cities, and the cities we are”

Buenos días from Hunter Hill! I love to get above the city, and this is one of my favorite spots to see the city from a different perspective. I didn’t get the chance to take HULA 2024 up here, so I decided to document it with pictures and words for them, and also for you. Some of you have been up here with me before, so for you I hope this is a helpful reminder of our shared prayer in Arequipa. 

Mother’s Day, Our Kids, and Prayer Requests

Mother’s Day, Our Kids, and Prayer Requests

My first Mother’s Day in Peru (as a mother, see the picture below), our neighbors, Pedro and Frecia, invited us to spend the day with them because they knew we didn’t have family here and wanted to share that with us. Because of the generosity we were shown that day, I wanted to pass it on. So, this Mother’s Day I wanted to have a full table and I knew if I cooked food, they would come. So I cooked a meal and we invited anyone that was a part of our church meeting to stay and eat with us. Those who don’t have a mother living or who don’t live near family ended up staying and eating and we shared the afternoon around the table.

The Nicest People I've Met in Peru I met in Prison

The Nicest People I've Met in Peru I met in Prison

This fall I met with a good friend of mine who has connections to everyone in the city (it seems like) and she said, “Katie, I think we should do a Bible study at the women’s prison.” She also has a way of dragging me into all her plans…or God has a way of using her to push me out of my comfort zone.I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect but I agreed to do it. We went together to the prison to meet with the director of the prison and got things set up so that in November we began a six-week study with a group of 48 women.