Honored to See God Work
What began as four American missionaries sitting around a living room with one Peruvian listening to his ideas for development projects has grown into something much bigger. In 2009 we had one library functioning with an impact of around 20 people, in 2015 we will impact at least 650 lives in the library program alone. We have helped over 200 small business owners through loans, business management training, technical training and private management counseling...God has done more these last six years than we ever imagined, and shown us that there is so much more to come.
Intentional Slowness
Teaching Kids When Church is at Home
The kids’ Bible class in home churches on the Peruvian mission field looks very different from our homeland experiences. It is often much more chaotic and informal with a mixture of lighter and darker faces and the English and Spanish languages. However, the same principle remains: instilling in the children of our church the foundation of faith.
The First Farewell
One Year in Arequipa for the Frouds!
On the 14th of January, we officially celebrated our first year in Arequipa. What a journey we have been on and it’s only the beginning! While we do have mixed emotions about this past year—saying all those good byes along with the challenges before us for this next year—we are confident in God’s provision.
15 Books for 2015
Happy New Year! In this special edition of the Team Arequipa newsletter we want to suggest 15 of our favorite books and tell you why we like them. In this day and age of fast information—140-character tweets and BuzzFeed lists designed to be quickly consumed and discarded—we believe the discipline of reading a book from cover to cover is important. In Peru we see the devastating impact of poor literacy and the lack of a culture of reading (which is why CUDA is working with Peruvian students, parents, and teachers to create a love for reading). Reading empowers. Literacy affects all areas of a society. Books provide opportunities for learning, whether you agree or disagree with the author's conclusions. We hope you'll pick a book or two (or fifteen!) from this list and resolve along with us to read more this new year.
Focusing Forward
We’ve been talking for months about all the changes surrounding our team and our families. However, we shouldn't overlook the effect that it is having on our church members as they see the “founding members” moving away and find themselves in relationship with new missionaries, wondering what is going to be left when the dust settles. To help with the transition we have been trying to build bridges between the new missionaries and church members.
The Best Job Ever
As I sat in our planning meeting the other day, it dawned on me that my new job as a volunteer with CUDA is to spend all of my time doing, in my opinion, the best part of these doctors’ jobs because they don’t have time. I couldn’t help but feel downright giddy about the prospect. What a gift from God!
A New Chapter
The time has come. This is my last Team Arequipa newsletter article. I was listening to “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” the other day while washing dishes. The weirdest feeling came over me. I remember bawling through that song our first Christmas here, because I missed my home and family so much. I know that many of my new teammates will be experiencing this same emotion this Christmas. But this seventh Christmas in Perú, the sentiment is different. Arequipa has become our home, and we are about to say goodbye to all things familiar to us here. The song causes me to bawl my eyes out but not in the same way.