Things Americans have that most Peruvians seem to think are unnecessary

- Winshield wipers
- Pleain water to drink at a meal
- A funcional speedometer
- 2-ply napkins
- Defrost
- Fresh fruits and/or vegetables at a meal
- More than 2 nights without church activities
- A planner
- Disticition between the type of food eaten at breakfast, lunch, and dinner
- Using the piano sound when playing the keyboard
- Idle hands during worship at church
- A yard without chickens, pigs, and/or ducks

ADVENTure

our first christmas together

(warning: kat is longwinded) advent is typically known in the liturgical calendar as the four weeks prior to December 25. it is a season of anticipation and preparation for remembrance of Christ’s birth and is usually celebrated by readings and teachings that center on the second coming of Christ. this year, luke and I decided to prepare by focusing on a theme that fits our current situation: we have been reading the stories of ordinary people from the Bible that the Lord called away from their comfort zone and their life to a completely new place, so that He could use them to accomplish His will and also so that they could be taught. some of the characters we met were:
*jonah (jonah 1-3)
*the Israelites on their exodus from Egypt (exodus 12:31-exodus 16)
*abraham and his family (genesis 12-genesis 15)
*joseph when he was sold by his brothers (genesis 37-genesis 41)
*mary and joseph (luke 2:1-20)

through the stories of each of these people, I was amazed at the faithfulness with which each person did not hesitate, but rather was quick to obey and follow the Lord’s calling. luke and i are truly living into this advent story as we are on this journey. early last year, as soon as we were engaged, we took a leap of faith and bought plane tickets to quito, ecuador (before we had really even started to plan the wedding). we both felt a strong desire in our hearts to travel to South America, not knowing exactly what God had in store. some would say it was the holy spirit prompting us. there’s no way we could have ever predicted the experiences we have had up to this point. we both just knew we were being called to leave and so without hesitating, we left!

motokars, the main source of public transportation in pucallpa

in leaving and finding ourselves somewhere completely new, I am reminded that it is often in these spaces when we are away from all things known and comfortable that i become teachable. in these vulnerable moments where my focus is solely on God and my reliance upon Him, i can see clearly the things that my mind is normally too distracted to see.

in the church here, I have found myself in moments of discomfort, mainly caused by the fact that things are different than what I am used to or have experienced in my life. when I take a step back and observe, i can see beauty in the fact that my brothers and sisters here are without a doubt in love with the creator of the universe and that their lives are being affected in tangible ways by that relationship. God is moving here for sure! I am reminded of a verse I read while living in Nicaragua several years ago. Habakkuk 1:5 says, “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.” the reality is that I probably wouldn’t have believed what God is doing here in Peru, and that is why I was brought here to see it in person. seeing God do big things reminds me that He is not the small idol I often tend to turn him into.

the luz divina church in pucallpa
part of our desire of spending time with the church here in Pucallpa was to have a community of believers with whom to celebrate Christmas. not until last week, however, did we realize that this particular church does not celebrate Christmas. everyone else in Pucallpa does, just not the church we have connected with. we would say “feliz navidad!” and they just smile at us politely. we have heard various explanations, the most common one being that nowhere in the Bible does it say that Jesus was born on December 25th, so how do we know to celebrate on this given day? on Christmas eve, there was a church business meeting and yesterday, on Christmas day, there was a church service, but Jesus was not mentioned by name- in regards to his birth or his life. rather, it was a prayer and worship service, typical to the one held each Saturday night.

making sugar cookies (note the PVC pipe we used for a rolling pin)

that being said, we were able to carry on some of our own Christmas traditions, such as making and decorating sugar cookies with some of the young people and handing out candy canes this morning in Sunday School. we have also been able to learn what a typical Peruvian family does to celebrate the season. during the week leading up the Christmas, there are “chocolatadas” held around the city, in which certain organizations, such as churches, hand out hot chocolate and panetonne- an Italian inspirited sweet bread filled with raisins and other candied fruit, donated by the government, to neighborhood children. most families prepare to eat ham for their Christmas dinner, and to do so, must kill a pig in preceding days. that being said, I witnessed my first butchering and am officially turned off any meat besides chicken. at midnight on Christmas eve, the town comes alive with the noise and lights of fireworks. children and adults of all ages can be found in the street lighting their shoddily made firecrackers, which generally are made of some gunpowder rolled in paper, with a fuse attached. the noise continues for at least an hour, making it impossible to sleep. also, consumerism is just as alive in Peru as it is in the United States. going downtown guarantees a glimpse of all the town rushing about to buy gifts that they don’t have money for and that their children don’t actually need. how have so many people lost touch with the reason that we are celebrating in the first place?

luke with his afternoon soccer club

when luke and I first arrived in Pucallpa, we came with ideas of volunteering and giving of our time. as it turns out, we have been giving more of ourselves through relationships with the people we have met. luke enjoys passing his afternoons playing soccer with the neighborhood boys, teaching rock, paper, scissors, and giving drum lessons to young people at church. i have bonded with many of the young ladies here who are all on vacation now, and we spend our time trying to speak in each other’s languages, and me learning how to make the killer fruit juices we are treated to here. we are putting into practice what paul writes in romans 12:16 “don’t be afraid to enjoy the company of ordinary people.” we are observing faith in action. we have been able to visit many of the satellite churches in the area and share a testimony of the ways we have seen God in our lives on our trip. we have both felt a strong personal desire to listen to God and grow in our relationships with him, both individually and together as a married couple.

we leave this Thursday to head to lima, where we will see a few more sights in peru, before heading through chile, argentina, and uruguay to arrive in paraguay, hopefully mid-february to spend time with luke’s family there. we will take with us fond memories of our time here and the brothers and sisters in Christ that we met. we will also leave challenged to act on the things that we have seen and encouraged by the fact that our Messiah is indeed ALIVE!

Shout for joy!

(via luke) This month we will spend more time in church than we will spend all next year at Imago Dei. We have landed in the town of Pucallpa, in the Amazon jungle of Peru with the church of Luz Divina (church services Tue, Thu, Sat, Sun AM, Sun PM, Potluck Wed). Months ago we contacted Jennifer Harris, a missionary from Salem who has lived here for the last 10 years. Before meeting us, she welcomed us to stay in the church apartment, and let us know that there are constant projects happening in town if we wanted to volunteer. (http://www.jensjungleministry.org/) We decided to spend the month of December here, and quite a blessing it has been. Here is an account of the ways we have seen God in the last few weeks.

Psalm 66
Shout for joy to God, all the earth!
Sing the glory of his name;
make his praise glorious.
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
that your enemies cringe before you.
All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you,
they sing the praises of your name.”
Come and see what God has done,
his awesome deeds for mankind!

Before arriving in Pucallpa, we stayed with Pastor Juan Bautista in Huánuco, a town that claims the best weather in the world (we’re not convinced). His family’s hospitality was incredible, and the first night when we went to church with them (they had us preach in Spanish), the church presented us with gifts and they all lined up to greet us. In Huánuco we were able to share stories, games and cultures with youth and kids that flocked around the house. They were incredibly grateful that we would care to visit them and their town, and treated us like royalty.

Someone has to be the net

One day our children will look just like these!

Upon arriving in Pucallpa, we were immediately invited to go farther into the jungle to a farm. Before we knew it we jumped in a fully loaded truck, then a boat, and arrived as fresh food for the mosquitos and other bugs.



The grand event was a church anniversary celebration farther up the river in a small town. The next day, we traveled another 3 hours in a boat and were welcomed warmly with big bowl of chucky beef stew. Those living here are not the loin cloth, bow and arrow type Indians that we have seen in movies, but the living conditions are rustic. The church celebration included several church services, kids time with the American gringos, a wedding (small and simple), a 2 am meal followed by church until 5 am. After the church service/wedding, we were invited up as special guests to say some words to the church. After that, we stood with the bride and groom to be greeted in the greeting line, and we all ate cake that was both accredited to the wedding and my birthday. The overwhelming kindness and hospitality have been incredible, but sometimes I wish we could just blend in a little more.


Us with the happy couple

The first nights of our stay in Pucallpa were spent in the wonderful “Hermana Ana’s” house. Because the status of our bowel movements were not quite normal, the outhouse provided felt particularly uncomfortable. On top of that, 90 degree weather plus 80% humidity, bug bites, and no fan made for a hard night’s sleep. What I learned about hospitality from Hermana Ana is that true hospitality is extended without reservation and is not self-conscious or apologetic. She said “what I offer is simple but given with great love” and extended what she had to us with great love, no matter how humble her living circumstance are. Lesson learned: no excuse for withholding hospitality.

Eating on the farm in the jungle is a very different experience. The idea of a supermarket makes no sense to them. They rely on the provision of God through what food is in season or what animal they can kill. They eat lots of meat, but they kill it and cook it all themselves, and every woman knows how to gut a pig, chicken, fish, or monkey in 2 minutes flat. God does provide for them, and in turn they are generous with his provisions.

Pork for breakfast, lunch, and dinner

From the Peruvians here, we send authentic greetings to our brothers and sisters in Christ! Be encouraged! And remember, this Christmas live a little different. Worship more. Spend less. Give fully. Love all.

machu picchu.

when we pause for a moment and think about our lives, it is not hard to think about all the blessings that we have in our lives. there are all the obvious ones that i have spouted off in the past years like friends, family, and health. this thanksgiving, i found myself thankful to be without a job (so that i could be here on this trip), thankful for the hug of a mother (who travelled from countries away to visit) and thankful for a spouse with whom i am blessed to grow, learn and adventure with. thankgsiving this year found us not where it has in years past, sitting around the table overflowing with great food and even better company, but rather, at just about the time most people in the states were probably going for their second piece of pumpkin pie, we were huffing and puffing our way up to the top of machu picchu, one of peru's most visited tourist destinations.

my mom, deciding to cross yet one more thing off her bucket list, ventured to peru two weeks ago to see what we were really up to down here. meeting her in lima was just the start to a very adventurous week in which i'm pretty sure we saw and did more than i think luke and i had done in the previous two months. we were treated to a flight to cusco (rather than spending 24 hours on a bus), where we set up camp for seeing the sacred valley, a lush and fertile valley, and LOTS of incan ruins. after a few days, we took the train to the town of aguas calientes (at the base of Machu Picchu). we went to the (not so hot) hot springs for a soak. the highlight of the trip was taking the bus up to the park, on a windy switchback road. there, we joined the throngs of tourists we had come from around the world to see one of the seven man made wonders of the world. finally, we arrived at what felt like the top of the world. we spent a whole day exploring around this lost city of the incas, learning what life was like back then. it was unreal to be standing on top of the hillside with the whole stone city below. my mom is a trooper for getting to the top and i admire her persistency!

after machu picchu, we headed back to lima for a few days to discover the city there. before we knew it, we were sending here off back to the states. what a quick trip, but it was wonderful to have a touch of home here with us to remind us of all those who love us, those we miss, and all we are thankful for at home. we hope that you find reason to be grateful in each day we are blessed with! want to see more pics? check out my mom's facebook album by clicking here.