Earthquakes and more

Well, we survived our first two earthquakes in peru this past Saturday. The first one woke me up at about 1:40 in the morning and at first I didn't realize what was happening. It was over before I realized it was an earthquake. The second was about 7:30 in the morning and it was a bit stronger. We could feel the walls and floors vibrating in our apartment. It also didn't last very long, but it made for an eventful wake up call.

We had a great time for the beginning of our Bible study last Wednesday. There were about 20 people there and we had a great time opening the scriptures. We are studying how to have a quiet time for the next few weeks.

This has been a very hard week, following such a great Easter Sunday. I have been so down this week. This has been my lowest point so far. School is progressing but not at the pace I feel some people would like it to, and you know I put a lot of pressure on myself to fulfill other's expectations. The time crunch of preparing two Bible studies, homework from school, team meetings, and other responsibilities really at times seem overwhelming. Also at home our daughter is causing very difficult problems for our family and being three thousand miles away makes me feel so helpless. This is weighing very heavily on my mind this week. Please pray that God will deal with her and return her to a relationship with Him and with her family. How appropriate that on my computer I Surrender All is playing while I am writing this. All I can do is surrender all to Christ at this point and turn it over to Him.

Saturday night we had our dear missionary friends Arnold, Susie, and their son Patrick, over for dinner with Kathy Weaver. It was a great evening of fellowship over plates of spaghetti, and a home made chocolate cake, my first attempt in Peru. They are such a blessing and source of strength in our lives.

God Bless everyone and thank you so much for your emails and calls.

Your servants in Peru
Alan and Sandy

The picture is of the entire REAPSouth Team

What a schedule

We are very busy in Lima, Peru these days. Here is our schedule this week. Sunday morning church at Flamingo Road. Sunday afternoon at the office by 3:30 for a meeting. At 5:00 in the office Sandy and I teach a Bible Study. Home by 7:30 to prepare for school Monday morning. 8:30 Monday morning our taxi driver (Raul, a wonderful Christian brother) waits for us at the corner of our calle. School is from 9 to 1. Raul picks us up in front of the school and we head for our apartmento for lunch, and homework. We have to be at the office by 6:30 for a Bible Study we teach on Monday night. Home by 9 to finish homework and study verbs. Tuesday school and home for homework. Actually had time for Sandy and I to take a walk. Wednesday school until 1 with a 3:00 meeting at the office until 6. At 7 we teach another Bible Study until 8:30. Back home around 9 for homework and more español. Thursday school again and another team meeting at the office at 2:30 until 5. Home for supper and and evening of studying. Friday back to school until 1, but right now we don't have anything else on Friday. Next week we have a team retreat and the schedule gets even more jammed. That is the life of a missionary.

We have moved into our new apartment and it is so nice to be in our own place. I will get pictures posted hopefully by this weekend. They have done some remodeling and it really is a very nice apartment overlooking a large park. It is on a quiet street. The only problem is with the one way streets in Lima you can get here you just can't get out. It is interesting finding a route to take with all of the one way streets. You have to go around the world to get anywhere.

Forgot to tell you we had our first test in español and I made muy bueno, and Sandy did bueno.

The picture is of Sandy at the Annual General Conference in Chile.

It's Been a Great Week

We had a wonderful time last Sunday with Debbie Brinkley and Tommy Smith at a small church on the East side of Lima. There were probably 30 people there and they baptized two ladies during the service. This was a very crude church building but it served its purpose well. God was there and that is all that counts. They set up a 4 X 8 plastic pool with about 2 feet of water in it. They were so proud of their new pool. We are so spoiled in the United States with all of our stuff. We hung around and visited with the people after the service and shared in some refreshments.

We had some excitement on Thursday afternoon. Sandy was walking Kathy Weaver's dog in the park and was attacked by a large dog that was not on a leash. They were both ok, but I drove the dog to the vet and had her checked out just in case. Sandy was shaken up a bit but suffered no cuts or bites. They were both very blessed to get out of the attack with no damage.
Our apartment is getting close to completion. But I said that last week also. Peruvians work on their own time schedule. I could probable finish everything else in one day, but they will be lucky to finish it in one more week. There is an inch of dust everywhere because of the renovations. It is going to take lot of cleaning to get it ready to move into.

We went to Ace Hardware the other day to purchase a water filter for our apartment. It is a large Ace. Looks like lowes or Home Depot. It was fun to get in there and ramble. Our taxi driver Raul, who is a believer, went in with us to help interpret. He was a blessing, or rather he is a blessing. A little more expensive but very reliable and safe. He is going to the Bible Society on Tuesday afternoon to purchase some tracts.

We went to Starbucks on the Ovalo this morning to meet the extreme team girls that was at orientation with us. There were in from the jungle and it was great to visit with them and catch up. They were traveling back today via bus. It is a very long trip.

Spanish class is tough. So many new words and so many different ways to use them. So many grammer rules. This is tough, but God will see us through. Pray for us. Our friend Solomon is coming over Monday evening for supper and to help us with homework.

Tomorrow we are going to another small church with the Roberts. I first met them nine years ago on my first trip to Peru with RBC. It is going to be fun. Life is good in Lima.