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.

Summit

We recently had our annual retreat with missionaries from Lima and Cuzco. It is astounding to think that, for some of us, this was our final gathering as missionaries in Peru. We call it the Peruvian Missions Summit (the acronym for which will tell you something about our sense of humor). Five years ago, two green teams got together with a packed schedule of activities facilitated by visiting experts.  We played a bit, but it wasn’t about relaxing. We were eager and fresh.  We had not yet come through culture shock. We hadn’t formed any enduring relationships with Peruvians. We had no good stories.

Four years later, disciples are baptized, churches are meeting, teams are reconfigured, unimagined ministries are underway, imagined ministries are dead and gone, and we have a story or two to tell.  We also have a boatload of kids and no hope of concentrating on anything scheduled at a retreat. So we took the time just to be together, to snatch conversations when we could and swap war stories. Or fishing stories. Sometimes it’s hard to tell. We sang a bit and ate a lot. And when the kids were in bed we stayed up late to tell jokes and commiserate about expat life in Peru.

In those scattered moments, something happened for the first time since we started meeting each year—something that could only happen with time, highlighted by the nearing departure of fellow workers. We discovered a bond that had slowly formed, and just sharing that bond was as encouraging as anything could be.  It is the bond of having lived in solidarity with Peruvians as God’s mission unfolded among them. Not of having achieved something or been something, but of having struggled alongside Peruvians. It reminds me of trekking up the Rockies with the church youth group. That shared hike, even for just a few days, created a strange, intense mutual understanding. Much more so these shared years in cross-cultural Peruvian ministry.

On the final night of the retreat, the conversation took a serious turn. We reflected on the poverty, corruption, and evil that plague the country and the seemingly minuscule difference our combined efforts are making. I could see we were indeed standing on a summit, surveying the peaks and valleys surrounding us. Then someone asked: so what do we do? Of course, we haven’t found the answer in a few years’ time; if anything, we have learned that we don’t have the answer. It is humbling to see so many mountains yet to climb. Yet, it is a question asked in hope, because it looks toward the continued unfolding of God’s purpose in Peru. Amidst our faltering attempts to say something about the way forward, there was a clear resolution: that the struggle will go on, that Peruvians and foreigners alike will keep walking together through the next valley, up to the next peak. I’m thankful for those who have come before. I bless those who stay and those who will come. I pray that the Spirit and the church will keep sending them to journey in solidarity with Peruvian kingdom-seekers.

Church Life

Church life has its ups and downs, as any church knows. We go through dry spells, and we go through times of feeling blessed.  Just lately, I have witnessed blessing.  One of those blessings comes in the form of a theological class that Greg teaches through CUDA.  It is a five-trimester program that takes any student willing to explore the Bible as story, spiritual disciplines, and other practical issues.  I sat down with one of our church leaders the other day that is participating in the third semester.  I asked her how the class was going.  She said, “Megan, I so wish that everyone could go through these classes.  I am learning a much deeper meaning to the Bible than I have ever experienced.”  Because of some of the leaders from our house churches being in this theology class, they have structured the study material for all the house churches based on what they have learned so far.  This is both exciting and rewarding.  I have seen the hours that Greg has put into his curriculum for this class.  It is really exciting to see that hard work come to fruition.  I take for granted the many lessons I learned growing up in the church.  I take VBS, church camps, and youth rallies for granted.  I take for granted the opportunity I was given to attend a Christian university.  It is such a joy to see this theology class give people the opportunity to study the story of God, and for them to express the interest of teaching others.  They are people that were never given the opportunity to study the word of God in this way.
 
I just recently attended a missionary women’s retreat in Lima where we went through an intense five day study of the Exodus story.  I couldn’t help but make so many connections from Moses and Israel’s journey to the gospel message we teach from Mark.  I came home spiritually refreshed, but one of the first things I shared with Greg was that I had to study the story of Israel more deeply with Areli (one of my dearest friends here that I disciple in a weekly meeting).  Praise be to God!  She joined the new semester of the theology class that Greg is teaching.  I am so excited to see her eyes opened even more to God’s story as she explores the messages from the Old Testament this semester.

Every Wednesday afternoon, I wait for Greg to get home so that I can walk to the bus stop and meet Etelvina (one of our Peruvian sisters) and Bethany (my Australian teammate) in Porvenir, a neighborhood in Miraflores.  We meet at the corner of the street and then walk about eight blocks to Sandra’s one-room home.  We are always greeted by Sandra’s beautiful smile and the sweet giggles of her 7-month-old son, Harold.  We have enjoyed this weekly meeting together as we go through the book of Mark with Sandra.  She is such a delight in this study, and one of the biggest lessons that she latched onto was the promise of Jesus to multiply our families when we give them up for the sake of following him.  She is attending our Sunday meetings regularly, and I love to see our family welcome her and Harold into the fellowship we are so blessed to share.

It is hard to know how many will show up to our house church meeting sometimes, but this past Sunday was a record.  We actually ran out of seating for those that attended (there were over 20 in attendance).  I know that we will still have meetings in the future where numbers are low, and I am still not one to measure God’s success in this work as the number I see on a Sunday morning.  I guess just recently, I have been blessed to see the family of God be just what it is––family.  Caring to share something new with those around them and feeling burdened to teach it to others.  Continuing in the journey of seeking God even after baptism with brothers and sisters in the Way.  Feeling like one can be welcomed into a group of people that come from many different walks of life and still be seen as someone that “family” will care for in good and bad times.  Church life can be ugly, but when it is beautiful, it is one of the greatest blessings that God has given us.

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.

I Choose to Praise

Being in a new place and being away from home and what you are use to can be hard. We have been sick most of the time we have been here, have had troubles with the language and had times of not understanding the culture. I have had a couple of memorably bad days already where I have just ended up in tears and frustration. I have realised through these times that it is good to take time to celebrate and praise the Lord for the things that bring joy and happiness no matter how small or big. So there are a couple of things I want to share with you and hope you can celebrate with me. 
 
We have now been in Arequipa for 6 months! It seems like such an achievement as this is the longest I have been away from home. I could not have dreamed of all the things we have done, seen and been a part of already in these 6 months. Our new church family have welcomed us with open hearts and it has been such a privilege to walk with them in faith.
 
We have finished our Spanish lessons and can hold a relatively good conversation, which in turn is helping us to make some new friends.
 
I am also surrounded by teammates who don't know me so well but have opened their homes and hearts to us. It fills me with so much joy to be able to share this experience with them.
 
And lastly God’s amazing grace…what a beautiful gift. He has given me strength. He has soften my heart when it has been so hard. He has provided so generously in ways I didn’t even know I needed.
 
So I praise God for these things and ask that you will with me as well.

Extending Family

Each month we get our church groups together for a “Celebration” Sunday.  We focus on time spent together, on the kids, on communion.  In March we decided to shake things up a little after Abraham, who used to meet with one of our groups, came to propose a joint meeting with the church he is currently leading.  After running the idea by the church, everyone was in agreement and looking forward to meeting new brothers and sisters. 
 
Together our two groups rented out the cafe on a Sunday morning and gathered around the patio.  All told we had over 50 people in attendance (children included) and enjoyed a good morning of singing, study and fellowship. Both groups were encouraged by this shared time, as we were reminded again that God's family extends beyond whatever smaller group we call our own.

Desert Provision

Earlier this month Megan, Larissa, Bethany, and I went to a renewal retreat with missionaries serving across South and Central America. The theme of the weekend was Exodus, and everyone was encouraged to find their place in the story.  
 
I've been in Arequipa for two months. For nearly a year it has felt like the desert, a place with constant longing and constant transitions. It was easy to place myself with Moses at the burning bush as he wrestles with his calling.
 
Yet Moses's questions resonated with my heart. God had patience in answering his every fear, knowing the great things he had in store. And God used the week to remind me of all the provisions we have been given in the past few weeks. Important questions have been answered and fears have been relieved. 
 
Evan loves school...we have a permanent place to call home...our container has arrived. There are still more uncertainties and insecurities, but I am reminded that our God is the God of provision. Even in the desert.