New downtown church plant in Trujillo!

We are so excited about our new church plant in downtown Trujillo. We had an information meeting last Saturday night and there were at least 80 in attendance. The last two Sunday's we have had services with a great (& eager) core group in attendence. Then on Wednesday, Allen had a meeting for all interested in leading a community/cell group and there was much interest.

We are using our new mission house (Casa San Augustin, also known as the "yellow house") for the new church plant location since it is in a great central location in downtown Trujillo.


There is much to be done and many decisions to be made. Please pray for the future of this church plant, that it would glorify God in this great city!

A day in Clementina

Yesterday we join the IPC medical team in the community of Clementina, a swatter community that our mission has worked with for two years. Our girls were excited about the opportunity to serve and loaded up their pink backpacks with all their coloring books, colors, candy and nail polish and headed out to the desert foothills to join the team. As we arrived, the girls gathered the kids under the shade of one of their new friend's houses and began the fun.


Abigail even translated a little in the pharmacy. . .

When I wasn't translating, I enjoyed going to visit the homes of the children Abigail had made friends with. The front of Kelly's house. . .

The inside of Jacky's house, a little girl Abigail has befriended . . .


Lily's backyard, showing off her camote plants (sweet potatoes). . .


The trioge team (and some extras). . .


The youngest dental patient. . .


Mr. Kenny fixing up folks with eyeglasses. . .


Allen translating and talking with patients. . .
Dr. Hugh Scott, pediatrician, seeing one of many sick children. . .

Thank you Independent Presbytertian Church medical team for a GREAT week, we look forward to being your neighbors!

IPC Memphis Medical Team

We are blessed to have a medical mission team of 27 from Independent Presbyterian Church , Memphis, Tn serving with us this week. They are doing a medical and dental clinic in five different locals in and around Trujillo. The weather is really hot and dusty and most of the clinic work is outside under tents, so these folks are troopers to say the least. They are blessing so many Peruvians everyday physically and spiritually.


Waiting to see the doctor in front of our Arevalo church clinic. . .

The evangelism tent is another way the team is loving on Peruvians. They have Biblical coloring sheets, arts and crafts and are painting finger nails, which the ladies love.


This also happens to be the church that is housing us for our year furlough! We will live in a house located right beside the church and many of the team members have told us they will be our neighbors! The team is keeping up a blog, so click here if you want to check out the latest updates on their week!

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Mudslides in Machu Picchu

Monday, Jan. 25, 2010, heavy rains and mudslides in Southern Peru triggered up to 40 landslides, one of which blocked the railway connecting Machu Picchu with the city of Cuzco (where we lived when we first moved to Peru). The train is the only means of transportation on the last leg of the trip to the ruins from the city of Cuzco. There were over 2,000 stranded tourists from all over the world. Some of the stranded travelers are being airlifted to safety by Peruvian military helicopters, but there are many still stranded in an area where there are no empty hostals and low food supplies.

Extensive areas in Cusco are now covered with muddy water, due to the overflow of rivers, roads are destroyed by mudslides, hundreds are injured, entire valleys are destroyed, people are homeless and displaced, and bridges are destroyed. In several towns of the southern Andes, families are trying to save their belongings and evacuate to bigger and safer cities. There are no official reports on the numbers of missing people yet, but there are reports of 5 to 10 people killed. The government of Lima has declared Cusco in state of emergency for 60 days.

Please pray for the many Peruvians who have lost their homes and crops and for the stranded tourist.

photos by WAtoday.com.au

Monos y motos. . . a trip to the jungle

A couple of weeks ago, our family took a trip to the high jungle of Peru, to the cities of Tarapoto and Moyobamba. It was a really fun and adventerous trip for the girls. Our purpose for the trip was to attend a wedding of a friend in Moyobamba and for Allen to teach a seminary course, but we were also able to enjoy some family time. The main form of transportation in the jungle are motorcycles (motos), so to the girls delight, that's how they traveled during our visit, riding piggy back with our friends Oscar and Lenin. We enjoyed seeing the monkeys (monos), beautiful birds, a boat ride down the Rio Mayo, hiking to a waterfall and a lot of swimming and hanging out with good friends.

Hiking to a waterfall in Tarapoto. . .

Fresh fruit everywhere. . .



Riding motos. . .a highlight


Soccer in the jungle. . .

Does it look like he is giving us the peace sign?
Some of the monkeys we met. . .

It was so hot in Tarapoto, we were in the pool by 7am swimming. . .

Four years ago. . .

December 2005 we watched all our earthly belongings leave on a 20' container heading to the New Orleans port and then on to the Lima port.

Shortly after, we began our lives in Peru by living in 11,000 ft. mountain city of Cusco, Peru for three months where we studied in a Spanish language school. I am so thankful we started our Peruvian lives there, it is truly the heart of South America.


We lived just a short train ride from Machu Picchu and our apartment was surrounded by ruins of ancient Inca civilization.


I remember finding the lowest and safest spot while on a visit to Machu Picchu and taking a rest with our youngest. These pictures remind me of how tired we were when we lived in Cusco. Between the 11,000 ft. altitude, four plus hours of Spanish school a day, and raising two toddlers. . . whew!


The girls preschool "Chaska Wasi" which is Quechua for "house of stars". It was a great school and where the girls kick started their bi-lingual lives.

Learning about llamas, cuye (guinea pig) and local shopping. . .


Outside our favorite Peruvian organic resturant, our gringitas were always fun entertainment for the local ladies. . .


Our family four years ago. . .

Our family today. . .

We are so thankful for you, our faithful prayer and financial supporters! We have been blessed beyond measure these past four years and are so encouraged to see what the Lord has done in the past four years. We have learned so much and have so much more to learn! The Lord is doing amazing things in our churches and missoin in Trujillo and we are excited about what the next five years holds.

Rural church plant sings new camp songs

The Sunday after Twin Lakes camp Allen preached at our Arevelo church plant. It was fun to see the kids still excited about camp and many wearing their camp shirts. Even more exciting was that night. Allen preached an 8pm service at a church plant in an area called Parque Industrial, a community outside of Trujillo. There were at least three young girls there who had attended camp and requested to share with the congregation the new camp songs Allen had composed and taught them at camp. Here is a video clip of 1 Samuel 16:7:

It is rewarding to see God use Allen's gifts to help these children hide scripture in their hearts! We pray we will continue to see fruit from camp.