Answers to Prayer!

We just wanted to let you know that after we started talking about culture stress and after expressing some of our frustrations, we had such an encouraging week! Found out that everyone here were miles ahead of us and had already implemented ways to help us out. We also heard from several of you – finding out you’ve been praying for us and thinking of us.

We saw our Father God taking care of us and aware of our needs before we were even aware of them. Maybe that’s the reason we went through a bad week – so we would be reminded of how well God is taking care of us!

Thanks for your prayers; we still need them. We’ll try to be more upbeat in the future!

Culture Stress 101

We try to keep this blog rather upbeat, sharing with you the successes and joys of the ministry. However, we also desire to keep our life honest before you, our supporters and friends. In doing so, we felt we needed to tell you a little about life these days.

            Month #7 is upon us and we are beginning to see where all of our cultural training last year is going to come in handy! We always knew it was going to be useful, but we didn’t know when and we certainly didn’t know exactly how.

            “Culture Stress” (not necessarily “shock”) affects a person in a variety of ways. The most obvious are physically and mentally. Although a lot of people don’t realize that physical health can be directly related to culture stress, it sure is a good indicator that one is experiencing it. The mental aspect is a little more subtle and if one is not willing to talk about it, others may never know they are experiencing it. But, people tend to become more reclusive and to back out of things that are out of their comfort zone and begin to do only things they are completely comfortable with – or things that remind them of the life they left behind.

            We, personally, are experiencing culture STRESS (emphasis on the STRESS) in a variety of ways right now. Our health has not been where it should be. We both got hit with nasty head colds and for Brian, that meant lying in bed for two days straight – something that never happens. We both feel that getting these colds was merely the culmination of weeks of stress and misunderstandings with our co-workers, extra responsibilities, and just plain STRESS of the ministry.

            Culture Stress is also affecting us mentally. We’re finding ourselves to be more negative towards our responsibilities and our teammates than ever before. Things that never bothered us before about our jobs or our teammates are bothering us BIG time now. Things that never used to stress us out or make us upset are definitely doing that now. We’re trying hard to keep these negative thoughts, feelings, and attitudes from affecting us, but to be brutally honest – it can be really hard.

            To give you an idea of what adapting to another culture is like, imagine these circumstances:

• Everybody around you speaks another language, a language you’re not completely familiar with.
• They believe you understand more than what you actually do, so they no longer translate or aid in any way.
• But, you don’t understand. So, you pester them with questions. They get frustrated that you don’t understand yet and start making it obvious that it’s YOUR fault for not knowing the language.
• You get left out of events and activities because they don’t think you’d want to participate (because you’re not from their country) and they don’t really know what to do with you anyway.
• The weather, climate, and seasons are completely opposite to what you have experienced your entire life. All the plants and allergens are brand new – some you’ve never even seen before. And you’re now exposed to illnesses you’ve never had, therefore, you have no natural immunity built up to fight them.
• Food is very different. Everything is watered with sewer water, therefore nothing is particularly safe to eat without extensive cleaning and sanitizing. However, you can’t be careful 100% of the time, so something always seems to sneak by – whether it be a piece of fruit not washed in chlorinated water or fresh juice made from tap water.
• Because you are the only person from another country working in this area, nobody understands exactly how careful you need to be in what you eat and they get frustrated with how frequently you seem to get sick. They also don’t realize they need to help you find your way around and fill you in on normal happenings. They tend to forget that you have not been a life-long resident.
• You are thousands of miles from family and friends. You miss out on babies, weddings, birthdays, special events, and holidays. People tend to forget you because you’re so far away, so you feel completely left out of the loop of information most of the time. So, you begin to feel disconnected from that side of the ocean… while feeling disconnected from the area you’re supposed to be getting connected to.

 So, here we are. In no way, shape, or form do we want to return to the States. We are by no means dissatisfied by our life, our jobs, or our ministry. We have made some wonderful friends and are making great progress in language and feeling like we know where and how we fit in down here.

We are, however, asking that you pray for us during this difficult time. We knew culture STRESS would hit us eventually – it was inevitable! But, it’s up to us how far we sink into the stress of it all and it’s up to us on how we handle it. We need your prayers! We need your encouragement! You may think that mailing us a hand-written note, talking about life and nothing in particular, is a waste of time – let me tell you, it’s NOT. Being remembered, either by email or snail mail or whatever, is one of the BIGGEST ways you could help us out right now. We’re approaching the holiday season and down here, of course, it’s NOT the holiday season, minus Christmas. So, everything is different. We’re heading into genuinely HOT weather, no snow, no fall beauty. We’re ending the school year and beginning summer – not starting the school year and beginning winter. We can’t find a turkey, and stuffing and cranberry sauce are nowhere to be had. Ham is extremely expensive and scalloped potatoes are unheard of.

So…. Pray for us. Things are not always bleak and we really do love where we’re at. We know God has brought us here, therefore He will carry us through. Thanks for thinking of us!

Primavera~Spring!

The end of September hails the beginning of spring for us here in Peru! We cannot even begin to express to you how wonderful it is to finally see the sun! Since about the middle of June, we’ve only had a few hours of sun a couple times a week. We live in a river valley and the fog just settles in down here, normally thick enough that it feels like drizzly rain. Day in and day out, that gets a little old. But, lately, the fog has been lifting higher and higher and today, it actually DOES feel like spring!

To celebrate the coming of spring, we had a few fun activities last week here at the Bible school. Wednesday was our day of Olympics! All the IBYM students were divided into teams and they competed in a day of Olympic-like events (long jump, high jump, relays, etc). We ate Peru’s famous coastal dish for lunch – cebiche. Cebiche is raw fish “cooked” (marinated, really) in lemon and herbs until it is just perfect, then it’s served with chicarron (fried meat, sometimes fish, sometimes pork or chicken), sweet potato, and corn. We finished out the day with a fancy banquet that evening where everyone was to have a date and the boys were given an opportunity to buy roses for the girls. Here’s a few pictures from the Olympics so you can see the activities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then on Friday afternoon, we planted flowers around the campus, trying to get into the feeling of spring. All the kids (including the ones that don’t attend my school) were able to help plant flowers around the school building. It was awfully cold and windy Friday afternoon, but the kids really had a lot of fun planting flowers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of weeks ago, we had an event called “Festiclub” here at camp. Festiclub is held a couple times a year and is a time for all the Bible clubs in an area to come together and have competitions for a day. They all get dressed up in their club colors and they compete in areas of banner (they make their own team banner), color (they have to wear as much of their color as possible), song (they make up a song or chant for their team), verses, and knowledge from their club times. The third year students are in charge of the different Festiclubs and they work with the club leaders to get the kids to come and participate well. Festiclub for the cities of Manchay, Pachacamac, Picapiedra, and Via El Salvador was held here at IBYM. They had a pretty good turnout and it was SO fun watching the kids get excited about Bible club!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

September Happenings

I’ve been waiting to update our blog until one important thing happened this month.

We bought a motorcycle!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We had been debating the purchase of the moto for quite awhile. We had numerous reasons for why we’d like one, but we just couldn’t bring ourselves to actually make the purchase. After much debating… we finally took the plunge. Even though we won’t be taking this to downtown Lima, it will get us to the grocery store and to church. There are so many times when Brian has to price-check on building supplies or drop electronics off to get fixed and every time, he had to borrow a car. 90% of the time, cars were either busy or out of commission, meaning Brian’s work was put to another day… another week… another month. Now, with the moto, he can do a lot of the work he needs to without inconveniencing anybody or waiting around for a vehicle.

Brian also got this handy little thing up and running:

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s been sitting around for about a year. They finally gave it to Brian to see if he could fix it. Two days later, it was up and running. People are slowly beginning to understand (and trust!) Brian’s mechanic and carpentry skills. This has been really handy for running around campus (we live about as far from everything on campus as you can get!) and for transporting tools, etc, around the campus. We’re hoping that he’ll get it running well enough to be able to use it in camps this summer like a make-shift hayride.

September has also been the month of finishing up! We were FINALLY able to have time to paint one of our bathrooms:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This weekend is when we hope to complete the second bathroom upstairs as well. We were also able to go to the nearby Industrial Park and pick out furniture! Our dresser, two night stands, a coffee table, and two end tables will be delivered the end of this week. Yay! The house is coming along.

We also hosted Guest #11 this past week – a gentleman from Illinois who enjoys traveling the world, seeing what missions looks like around the world today, and sharing with churches in the midwest about it. He was here for five days and left this morning. Our next visitors to camp will be in November – a couple from BCM Headquarters in Pennsylvania. We cannot WAIT to see Dave and Lois Haas!

September is SPRING here in Peru (supposedly… still feels pretty chilly to us!) so tomorrow, we’ll be planting flowers around campus. Wednesday is IBYM “Olympics” – a day of competitions. Wednesday night, we’ll be having a fancy Spring Banquet, complete with Peru’s national dish: cebiche! It’s a raw fish dish that’s “cooked” in lemon. Very exciting.

So, how was YOUR September?

6 Months!!

It’s official: Today marks the 6 month anniversary of arriving in Peru! Wow.

So, what have we experienced and what have we learned in these (incredibly short) 6 months?

• Spanish is spoken very fast. Oh good grief.
• Laundry can take 2 hrs to dry in the sun during the summer, but up to 2 WEEKS in the humid winter.
• Peruvians are all about relationships. Time is secondary. Since everyone is like that, no one worries about time. It’s freeing, really.
• Without rice, we’re pretty sure Peruvians would starve to death.
• Coffee may not be easy to find, but when you do – it’s SO WORTH IT.
• Tres Leches cake, Peruvian Chinese food, and Inca Kola are our new guilty pleasures.
• A “short trip” to the grocery store usually lasts about 5 hours. Just imagine what a “long trip” looks like for us!
• The sun rises at 6am and sets at 6pm… every day… all year long.
• Most every “amenity” we were used to in the States is available somewhere in Peru, but always at a price.
• Peruvians loooove their soccer and volleyball!
• Peruvians enjoy parties… that begin at 10pm and last until about 3am. On Tuesdays.
• There are at least 4 versions of “Happy Birthday” that are sung every single time someone has a birthday.
• Every part of every animal is eaten in some form – nothing is wasted.
• Soup, in the mountains, is served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner year-round. Soup is normally where the “every part of every animal” is found.
• Spicy food is not the norm here.
• A tall, white, blonde girl will always stand out, be stared at, and be ripped off no matter how good her Spanish is!
• “No mas”, “Hola, mucho gusto”, and “No gracias” are essential phrases to learn right off the bat!
• Flowers, spiders, crickets, and fruit are abundant year-round.
• Spiders come in abnormal quantities.
• If you don’t know a word in Spanish, say it in English with “mente” on the end and you’re normally close enough they know what you mean!
• Poverty is in the eyes of the beholder.
• Water will make you sick. Food off the street will make you sick. Looking at something cross-eyed will make you sick. Eating right or eating wrong…. does it really matter? You’re gonna get sick anyway.
• Medical help is CHEAP.
• Peruvians love mimes, clowns, drama, music… anything theatrical!
• Peruvians love to dress up and play games – no matter the age!

And the stats:

• Two trips to the jungle
• One trip to the mountains
• Three touristic trips to downtown Lima (Brian)
• Countless shopping excursions
• Two small iced caramal lattes from Starbucks
• Three pizzas
• One box of brownies
• More rice than we ever thought we could possibly eat
• Hours upon hours of listening to and studying Spanish
• 8 churches
• Hosts of 10 visitors in our home
• Two major American holidays and one major Peruvian holiday (their Independence Day)
• Two major illnesses (and countless “minor” ones)
• One visit from a friend and one visit from a family member
• 10 Hours (more or less) on Skype
• over 1000 pictures
• Memories to last a lifetime.

Brian’s personal thoughts:

Over the past two years, we went through things we just did not understand – things we weren’t sure how they would ever make sense in our lives. Now that we’re here, I can see how God used every single one of those problems to teach us something we would have to know down here. Without those lessons, we would not be where we are today. God has continually provided for us – we have never gone without. God has shown us that if He says no to something we desire, it’s for a reason that we’ll understand later. He has given us our needs, as well as our wants, all in His timing and for His glory alone. I’m thankful for all He’s teaching us and excited about what the future holds for our ministry.

Lisa’s personal thoughts:

Last year when we went through cultural training, we knew we’d be grateful for it. This year, we are just brushing the surface of how thankful we are for it! It’s hard to believe that we’re finally where God called us to be. All that waiting and wondering and feeling out of place in the States had a purpose. Now, it’s been six full, very busy, very exciting, stressful, fun, hard, enjoyable months and we still wake up every Monday and go, “Wow, another week here in Peru. We are so glad we’re here!” We feel it’s an honor and a privilege to be chosen for such a ministry as this and we can’t imagine life anywhere else. Days may get rough and culture can be stressful, but God so obviously has placed us here, how could we ever turn back?

We could not be here without your prayers. Yes, the finances are important as well, but the prayers – above and beyond – are what keep us here. They are what keep us going when things are rough. They are what encourage us when it seems like we just can’t go on. They are what keep us healthy, learning, and excited for the jobs God has called us to do. YOU are what keep us here. YOU are our partner and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being a part of our team.

Rejoice with us! Six months down~ a lifetime ahead!