An Update to Prayers

Our strategy contains a period of time devoted to felt-needs research, in order to let Arequipeños tell us what would best serve them. Based on this data, we plan to formulate an initial developmental program that attempts to meet one of those needs in a sustainable way. This means that we have to learn how to do legitimate urban research, which has its own learning curve. All in all, we have a very slow ramp up to a large-scale, labor-intensive project before we ever get to the actual first developmental project, which we will also have to learn to do as we go.

14 Peruvian Cultural Quirks

I thought it would be fun to share some “Peruvian Quirks” that I feel we have gotten used to in the past six months. If you are planning to visit, these are some things that will get on your last nerve or that you will find to be blatantly different from the U.S. I know that I have left so many things out, but here is a list I have tried to compile over the month... 

Great News!

As you know from our previous newsletter, March was to be a month of house hunting. With our leases expiring at our apartments, we decided it was the perfect time to look for more permanent housing in our target area. The good news is that both families have found a place to live. I’ll give the details a little later but first you need to hear how we found these places. 

A New Perspective: Diane Litton

After leaving home approximately 32 hours earlier, traveling on three planes, and staying up for 22+ hours straight, we arrived at our 4th airport expecting to be met by Kyle only to find a slightly larger welcoming committee. With Shaye on his shoulders holding a sign that said, “LITTON,” and Larissa by his side, all our travel weariness was eclipsed by pure joy as we embraced this family. This is why we came…and we’d do it all over again any chance we have. 

"Divine Contacts" Revisited

After our team’s first research trip to Arequipa I wrote an article about ‘Divine Contacts’ that had been made. So much has happened that I think this concept needs revisiting. Entering the “mission field” of Arequipa we felt very confident that we were supposed to be here. We had signs point to a ripening field for harvest in the city and we experienced God’s love and provision through our supporters in the states. Even still I think there has always been a few questions about how things would get started. We have our five year plan mapped out with reachable goals (with God’s help), so you can say we came prepared. A few signs of affirmation never hurt though. 

Above and Beyond

During our time with each of our sending churches, one of the tasks we undertook was to put together a mission support team. You may be thinking that must have been a little awkward, since the point is mostly to support…us. It’s natural enough that we need support, but putting it together ourselves is something else, partly because it’s hard to know what a support team should do and partly because it’s strange to ask people to be actively thinking about what we might need or even want. The short of it is that we were in a position, in terms of time and energy, to kick-start such a support system, which everyone agreed was beneficial for the longevity of our missionary service. 

Preparation

I have experienced a lot of death in my life. Grandparents, friends, parents of friends, car wrecks, suicides, illnesses...I couldn’t begin to count the number of funerals I have attended and the heartache I have witnessed firsthand. And I never thought anything of it until late high school/college, when I would actually hear friends say they were going to their first funeral. First funeral?! How did you make it this far in life with never going to a funeral before? Why has my life been so different? 

Holy Spirit Park

January has been a month of new experiences. Two such experiences stand out most clearly in my mind. In our last newsletter Greg shared with you about our new office location in a part of the city called Alto Selva Alegre, but as of that newsletter we had not actually obtained the office. Shortly after the new year, we signed the lease and began work on our office space. Painting, sanding, and cleaning are not special things, but being a part of a community, that is special. That’s the first new experience we had in 2009.