We’re the Daggetts: Katie, Jeremy, Adileen (almost 9! Just finished 3rd grade!) and Kinney (Almost 6! Just finished kindergarten) and we’ve lived and worked in Arequipa, Peru for the last ten years. This is the Team Arequipa Newsletter, a publication that’s been running consistently for more than 15 years and for which you, at some point, signed up to receive in your electronic mailbox. Overloaded? Unsubscribe. Here to stay? Welcome!
Caily Moore lived and worked with us in Arequipa for the last 2+ years as part of a missions apprenticeship. You can read her complete letter here, but I wanted to share a snapshot of what she learned at the close of this edition of the Team Arequipa newsletter.
One of the coolest products of teaching Humanities in the Asia-Pacific this fall was this collaboration with my friend Michael Wright and his incredible weekly letter, Still Life. I assigned one of his letters about exploring diversity locally to the class, and then Michael and I worked together to share what that experience looked like for my students. Here’s what I wrote.
This October marked 10 years for us in Peru, a number that sort of astounds us, especially since that was the top part of our 5-10 year commitment when we moved to Peru in 2014. We don’t have any plans to move anytime soon, and continue to pray and discern what life and mission and family and work look like on an ongoing basis. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers.
The world is moving to the city and we believe in a God who is already at work in the city for the sake of life. Evangelism is bearing witness to what God has done (and continues to do) in Jesus of Nazareth. Evangelism encompasses Kingdom proclamation—talking to people about faith, hope, and love because of Jesus—and Kingdom participation—joining in the types of things we believe happen when the kingdom of God is breaking in. In the book of Acts, the Spirit of God tends to lead the followers of Jesus into shared life with the people they least expected or desired to be with. God’s Spirit creates joining.
Fifteen years ago (this summer), a research team led by Bill and Holly Richardson came to help us collect data around our neighborhood of Miraflores in Arequipa, Peru. Our little family moved to Peru in 2008 with the Smith Family. We moved with our almost 2-year-olds. We were coming up on one year of living in Arequipa, and I was about to pop with our first little Peruvian-born baby. It was a joy to host this eager group of possible missionaries. Do you recognize anyone in the research team photo?
Given everything else you could be doing right now, I’d like to make this time with you meaningful. I’d like to be raw with you. But first, let’s start with an introduction! To those of you who don’t know me: Hi, My name is Ana McKinzie. I’m a former missionary kid, a rising senior, and a girl in awe of how much God revealed to her through this trip. “This trip” was a three-week time span stretching from the end of June to mid July. To those who do know me, you already know that this was not my first time in Peru.
We’re the Daggetts and for the last ten years (!!) we have lived and worked in a city of a million people in southern Peru. Katie and I share faith and hope with small house churches as we work to unite love of God and love of neighbor in the city of Arequipa. We work with a small non-profit doing sustainable community development focusing on education and sharing life with Arequipa’s marginalized communities. We direct Harding University Latin America, a residential study abroad program where we invite 20-30 students every spring into the process of intercultural spiritual formation.
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.
![[Power]House Church](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52b5c655e4b0818dc1cec4e0/1748116130079-49HO1O4FOYPET2FPEO2Y/P1040014.JPG)
