Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours,
may you have a wonderful Christmas celebrating
the King of kings!

What we're up to in Louisiana...

As we enjoy our time with family, I thought you might like to see some pics from Louisiana.

Seeing the mighty Mississippi

In typical Southern weather, its cold enough one day to see a snow man....

...then the next day hot enough to play in the water.

Having fun with cousins at the Zachary Christmas Parade

See that ran-deer-dog?

Sleep over!

Trying out Poppa's new swing.

I can swing too!

Home-made decorations with Poppa.

Merry Christmas from Louisiana!

Back in the States with Family & a Bummed Knee

A few weeks ago we arrived in the States to see family during the holidays. The girls have had some rich time with their grandparents and enjoying the cooler fall weather.

We also went to Houston to see our best friends. While in Houston we went ice-skating at the Galleria. Sandi was quite the natural. A veteran even told her so, and showed her some moves. As she was practicing them, she tripped and fell directly on her knee. Sandi normally does not complain about bumps and bruises, but when she expressed how much pain she was in, we went to a walk-in clinic. The X-ray showed that she fractured her knee-cap, nearly tearing it in two. Ouch!

Our friend recommended a Christian orthopedic surgeon, who said that Sandi did not need surgery but only a month of healing. The doctor even consulted us and gave Sandi her leg brace all for free! God is good!


We'll return to Peru on December 30th, a few days before our second Twin Lakes youth camp.

Prayer Requests:

• Sandi's continued healing - she has already witness rapid healing.
• Continued rich fellowship with family and friends.
• Final Twin Lakes camp preparations - there are a thousand details in order to pull off camp, and there is only so much Allen can do on this side of the border. Please pray for Eduardo, the point man in Peru working on camp preparations.
  

May you have a wonderful Advent Season celebrating our new born King!

Smith Funnies

Our girls are just getting to the age where they say many funny things. Everyday we catch ourselves saying, "I need to write that down." So we have written some of the most recent funnies at the Smith family household:

• The other night I was putting Adeline to bed. Sometimes I give her an Eskimo kiss (nuzzling noses) and then a butterfly kiss (fluttering your eye lashes against another cheek). As I was leaving her room, she said, "And the tongue too, daddy!"

• Sometimes we sing the Gloria Patri at the breakfast table as a family. One morning as we reached the climax of the song, we discovered that Abbie had been singing "world without men! Amen, Amen!" instead of "world without end". We're wondering if our daughter is a proto-feminist. Nah, she likes boys too much.

• During family worship, Allen was explaining the seriousness of sin; how just one sin condemns to hell. We were so proud of our four year old, who was listening and looking so intently at her daddy, until she said, "Booger, daddy. You've got a booger in your nose."

We'll try to keep writing things down.

Happy 9 Year Anniversary!

Today we celebrated our wedding anniversary. It has been an amazing & adventurous 9 years! We are so thankful to God for the blessing of our marriage, the three beautiful daughters, and the ministry He has called us too.

Week in Cajamarca

Wow, we have had an excellent week in Cajamarca! Our family flew to the beautiful mountain city of Cajamarca last Sunday to meet up with the Bradford and Ramirez families to help with a short term missions team from First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, MS. This team has been incredible, working 12 hour days seeing patients in the make-shift medical/dental clinic and also doing an outreach in one of the public elementary schools here. Dr. Derek Thomas preached twice on Sunday and held a module seminary class on Justification by Faith Alone.


Our family also had a really neat experience flying to Cajamarca on an eight passenger airplane; just us and the pilots. We were sitting next to the pilots and could see out the front window which was incredible considering we were flying through the Andes Mountains! The best part is that it took only 30 minutes in comparison to a 7 hour bus ride up the twisty Andes and queasy girls.

We missionaries were really served by this team, not only by their encouraging fellowship, but their medical and dental attention they offered our families. Thanks Dr. Craig Flowers for bringing Mary Allen's vaccinations!
They called Dr. Thomas (pictured below) the "red rooster" because he wore bright red scrubs as he served as a dental assistant all week long.
Allen stayed busy translating in the medical clinic, helping out with the music and sports at the school outreach, and meeting musicians of the Cajamarca congregations. Abigail was also able to help out some at the school outreach with English class, the sports, and making friends.
We also squeezed in some site seeing while we were in Cajamarca, which was incredible! We hiked the amazing ruins of Cumbe Mayo. . .


...visited Los Baños de Inca and climbed Santa Apolina. . .



Many thanks to the crew from First Presbyterian Church!

Day Trip to Shiran

The youth group at one of our churches asked Allen to come and speak during their retreat this weekend. The retreat is being held at a camp ground in Shiran, which is about an hour out of Trujillo headed into the Andes. Allen spoke on music in worship. We had a great time getting out of the city for the afternoon and seeing more of God's creation.

Abigail found a mango tree to climb. . . .


It rained quite a bit during our trip. Since we rarely get rain in the desert area where we live, the girls had a fun time playing in it. Abigail even found an umbrella to use.

A Picture Describes All

Its amazing how well this picture captures the personality of each girl. What words would you use to describe each?

Mary Allen's Baptism

This past Sunday we had the privilege to witness the baptism of Mary Allen. Many who read this post do not come from presbyterian convictions, so I thought it would be good to include the vows we took concerning our covenant daughter.

1. Do you as parents of this young girl, newly accept the covenant of grace, believing that is also for your daughter?
2. Do you believe you are sinners and that your daughter has inherited a sinful nature?
3. Do you believe that the Holy Spirit is the only one who can regenerate and sanctify man?
4. With the help of the Triune God, whose name we baptism your daughter, do you promise to show her a Christian example and instruct her in the knowledge and obedience of the Word of God, insuring that she grow and live conforming to the instructions of the Word of God?
5. Under the terms of this covenant of grace, do you promise that when your daughter is at a sufficient age, you will help her understand that she has a privilege and holy duty to confess publicly her faith in Christ Jesus as her personal Lord and Savior.

Please join us in praying for Mary Allen that the promises offered to her in the covenant of grace would all come true.

Returning to the Field

I write this entry at 11:36 PM, the night before our flight back to Peru. This time tomorrow night, we'll be arriving at our hotel in Lima. And this time on Thursday night, Lord willing, we'll be in Trujillo. We are READY to get to our home. Sandi misses her friends and house. Allen misses his work. The girls miss Patti and their toys. And we all miss our friends!

We are so thankful for everyone who has served us during our furlough. Some have brought us meals after Mary Allen's birth, others had us in their home, others gave us gifts, others gave us free medical & dental exams, others have begun supporting us financially, and nearly everyone has told us they are praying for us. Thank you! You have been a blessing to us! We especially want to thank again the Saenz for letting us stay in their missionary cottage and the Shumakers for allowing us to drive their Toyota Sequoia.



Please pray for us as we travel all day Wednesday and Thursday. Its always an adventure to fly with young children!