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.

The House Churches - April 2021

The House Churches - April 2021

We never thought our house churches would meet virtually for a year! We’re deeply grateful for the opportunity to pray, sing, read, and interact meaningfully as a church every Sunday, though we long to share a table, breakfast, and bread and wine together again someday in the not-too-distant future. We’ve been using the Discover Bible Study process some in our church gatherings and are now sharing the responsibility of choosing a passage and asking the questions for the group’s discussion. Our prayer is that the Spirit would guide the church in its reading of scripture, asking questions about God and humanity, and bringing faith to life in the practice of loving our neighbors.

CUDA Update - April 2021

CUDA Update - April 2021

God has provided tremendously for CUDA, and I’m so, so thankful. The Bobbie Solley Foundation, the Tulsa Christian Foundation, the Bell Trust are all contributing financially in an incredible way. Add that to the contributions that individual families make, some stretching to give $25/month, some stretching to give $500/month—and we’ve been able to continue on, and even grow! I, as CUDA Board treasurer, can breathe, at peace with God’s providence, and continue to work toward the future of our work in sustainable development toward justice, wellbeing, and joy in the city. If you have $25 or $50/month to spare and want to be a part of this sort of work in the name of Jesus, would you commit to supporting CUDA for a year? If you can’t do that, but you shop at Kroger or Amazon, would you consider linking your account to our non-profit? All the details for supporting us in any way are right here.

That's it, That's all - Issue closer and pictures

That's it, That's all - Issue closer and pictures

Well, that’s all I’ve got. Thank you for joining us in prayer. For those at Cedar Lane and Central who support us directly through giving to those churches—thank you. We’re more convinced than ever before that we are where we need to be, thankful for the chance to be a part of God’s mission here in Arequipa. Let’s just all do our best to show the love of Christ whenever we get the chance. That infinite, unknowable, boundless, Ephesians 3:14-21 love of Christ that changes everything. If you’re looking for something to read…

October 2020 Issue Header and Pictures

October 2020 Issue Header and Pictures

Hola from Arequipa! We’re the Daggetts: Jeremy, Katie, Adileen, and Kinney. At the beginning of the month we celebrated 6 years in Arequipa. We’re here because we believe we’re all part of a bigger story, one of a God who is open, loving, welcoming and invites humanity to be alive. A God who is still creating the world and asks us also to create. A God who is healing the world, wants to heal us, and also invite us to help heal others. In this newsletter we share about our life, our family, our work, and our faith. For those of you who have been reading what we share and praying for us and reaching out to us and blessing us all these years—thank you.

We’re Home

We’re Home

After 6 months of living at the hotel we have finally moved home! We are beyond thankful for the refuge that El Castillo was for us for those 6 months of quarantine. It was such a huge blessing having the yard and gardens at the hotel so the kids could play outside all day every day and also the community we had there within the hotel with the owners and their family.

CUDA’s Living Libraries Impact

CUDA’s Living Libraries Impact

Schools in Peru are still closed, and will finish out the school year (in December) this way. As you might imagine, that has affected the way we train teachers through Living Libraries. Despite a great learning curve for virtual training, I asked our team—Lucía, Nancy, and Julié—to share some specific stories of teachers who have grown throughout this year, and what they shared is encouraging. And one more thing…

“The Mission of God” for the Latin American Theological Workshop

“The Mission of God” for the Latin American Theological Workshop

My dear friend Jonathan Hanegan, missionary in Buenos Aires, Argentina, invited me to teach the first formal course his workshop is putting on. Two weeks ago today we started with the first of eight 2-hour sessions that I get to teach on my favorite topic of all time: The Mission of God. This is a virtual course, and the students are incredible: 40 students from 14 different countries in Latin America. Men and women who are servant-leaders in their churches, some who are preachers and ministers and others who serve as leaders, always wanting to continue learning and deepening their understanding of who God is and how we can be a part of God’s mission.

Quarantine in Peru - an Update from Day 144 of Lockdown

Quarantine in Peru - an Update from Day 144 of Lockdown

We are on day 144 (that's almost 5 months!!) of lockdown quarantine here in Arequipa. What this means is that you are only allowed to go out to buy essential items. This is supposed to cut down on the number of people out, the amount of time people spend out, all to decrease the amount of contact between people. However, because of the way of life here, it hasn’t worked exactly as the government hoped.