Feliz Navidad

Today starts the beginning of the Christmas Season.We have been reminded of the coming seasons as we have visited areas of Lima. We have seen Christmas decorations displayed and bought by shoppers.
When we visited Plaza Vea our groceries were placed in red Christmas bags for the Christmas Season. The bags said," Esta Navidad que el amor y la paz brillen mas! (This Christmas that the love and peace shine more). This is our prayer that the people of Peru will come to know Jesus Christ the one who gives love and peace.
As we enter this Christmas Season we pray that you will pray,give,and go.That you pray for our ministry in Peru. That you would give to the Lottie Moon offering for the support of the 5,300+ missionaries the International Mission Board sends around the world. That you would go to the Ends of the Earth by partnering alongside the missionaries that are serving all over the globe.

Alan's Wanderings

Hello everyone,
Just wanted to bring you up to date what is going on with us. Her are some pictures Alan took on his 2 trips he just finished. He left Sat., Oct.4th for Mantucana with a group from Fl. They visited many villages in the area and even hiked to 12,000 ft. He left the team on Wed. and came back home by bus. When he arrived home we started washing clothes and re-packing. On Thursday night a team arrived from Ga. He met them at 3:00 a.m. in the airport because they were to have a5:45 flight to Cuzco. The flight was canceled for poor visibility. They got a latter flight and arrived in Cuzco safely. They stayed over night and left the next morning. They drove for 11 hours before reaching their village of Tambobamba. The picture I am enclosing shows the roads they were driving on. As always the roads were challenging an don top of that they were muddy. It is the beginning of the rainy season. They stayed for 3 days before traveling back to Cuzco. Luckily they found another road back and it only took them 8 hours. They returned to Lima on WEd in time to do some shopping in the Inca Market and dinner at TGIFriday's before boarding their plane back to Atlanta.

September 7, 2008

Greetings to all of our friends from chilly Lima, Peru. It was gloomy and overcast today until about 4:00 P.M. then the sun decided to come out. We just said thank you because it was almost dark by then.
A bit of good news Alan took his language evaluation over and received an intermediate mid on his Spanish. He was very happy to have advanced to that level from where his Spanish was in January.
Two weeks ago we had an interesting trip to Ace Hardware to buy paint for our apartment. We had gone a couple of days before to pick out colors. We had some color ideas so we wanted to see some paint charts. Well these paint charts were very old and used by many people so they were a little dirty. You don't just stop by the paint section and get paint charts they stay at the desk with the workers. We went back on Saturday to get the paint and supplies we needed. Alan tells the lady what paint we want she goes to the shelf and gets it for us and comes back and adds water to the paint. Only in Peru! Oh yeah their paint here is in plastic buckets not in aluminum cans. Alan leaves while I am waiting on the paint to get our other supplies. She asks me for our nombre (name). I tell her she is going to enter it in the computer so we will know what color we used and for what room. So after picking up everything we need we head to the check-out the girl totals and it comes to 290 soles (about $100). Alan hands her our credit card and she calls the manager the limit is to high she has got to verify the card. Remember it is only $100.00.
Yesterday we got up and went to the grocery store in the truck. We usually walk to Plaza Vea but we knew we were going to be buying groceries for the week and not what we needed for the next couple of days. The traffic is much lighter on Saturday morning . After we finshied buying groceries we came home and put them away. We walked to a little outdoor market about 6 blocks from our apartment. They have fruit, vegetables, meat, plastic ware and other items you might need. We wanted some fruit for a fruit salad. We bought cantaloupe, strawberries, tangerines and avocados. The price for all of this was only 13 soles (about $4.00). The fruit was very good and fresh too.
The apartment does look very good in the new colors. There was one technical problem we had bought a tarp to cover everything with so we wouldn't get paint on anything in the living room. We opened the tarp up and it was a long tube. Not sure why so we had to cut it open to fold it out. It worked perfectly for what we needed it to do.
Did I mention it is only 15 weeks until we arrive in Birmingham.

Today we leave for our end of the summer debriefing of the student summer missionaries. It has been a fast eight weeks. We will be returning to the camp in Chosica will be back home on Friday afternoon. It will be exciting to see all of the students again and hear their testimonies of what God has done this summer in their villages. Pray for the safety of our students as they travel to Lima and the camp, and also as they will be returning home to the United States this weekend.

Well, I pride myself on being a very good test taker, but I blew my language evaluation this past Saturday. I let the test giver fluster me in the first minute and it was downhill after that. I reverted back to present and past tense and just didn't give a good representation of what I knew. This is my third language evaluation and I am so tired of being put on a stage and being told to perform. I want this part of my life to be over. What's the point anyway, I have had all of the language study they will allow. I don't think I will even read the report when it comes in. This is a very depressing time.

Went to the English service on Sunday and it was so nice to understand the message. It was great, and a young man came up to me and wanted to know more about my class on Wednesday nights. So I spent some time with him after the service and I believe he will come to the class. He lives not far from our area and hopefully we can develop a good friendship.

Time to get the truck packed. Que tenga un buen dia. The pics are from my recent trip to Yauyos.

Language school is over and now the work begins

What a week. I have just returned from a week in Yauyos. Kristen Seay and I led a team from Hickory Grove Baptist Church on a vision trip. It was a week of firsts. My first time to help lead a team, first time to drive South on the Pan American Highway, and my first time to drive in the mountains. I did ok in the mountains as I only went airborne once. It is not my fault, who expected to find a speed bump in the middle of nowhere. We had a great week. God was with us as we accomplished everything we needed to do in the short amount of time we had available. On our last day Richard was able to lead the lady who owned our hostel to the Lord. That alone made the whole trip worth it.

What a privilege it was to work this past week with Kristen Seay of Crosspoint Baptist Church in Argo. She is a most precious young lady, and the Lord just shines in her. At just 23 God has blessed her with wisdom way beyond her years. I learned a lot from her this week. What a blessing she is to our team. She has been such a blessing to Sandy and me.

School is over for us, and all that is left now is our language evaluation this week. I have posted pictures of Sandy and myself in class. The classroom is our dinning room table, and Norka was our teacher. She is a wonderful lady but not a believer. She is a great teacher, able to put you at ease. I have been able to communicate some, but my problem is understanding Spanish spoken to me. I have been told that it will take time and to be patient. That is not one of my strong points.

Next week our team will be working on the Atlanta Training materials and I will be back in my Bible Study. We have our end of the summer debriefing for our summer missionaries in two weeks. This summer has gone so fast. It will be great to hear the testimonies of what God has done in the villages this summer through those students.

The work never ends in Peru. There is so much to be done. A special thank you to our friends at Ridgecrest Baptist Church for the heater. I am able to sit here and type without having to wear my jacket. That you so much, you are such a blessing to us.

Until next week, may the Lord bless each of you.

July 4th in Peru

Sandy and I have just returned from Nasca this past Tuesday. We spent five days there for the mid-summer debriefing of our sixty-five summer missionaries. It was a time or reporting of what God is doing in the villages they are serving in, and also in their lives. There was time for worship and prayer, skits, and a time for them to relax and fellowship with the other students. It was a great time. The worship was wonderful. Such great music and singing.

Sandy and I got to see the famous Nasca lines. This was the first time Sandy had been down the Pan-American Highway, so everything was new to her. She had a great time. We stayed at the Alegria Hotel in Nasca and it is a beautiful hotel. Plenty of hot water. The days are were warm and the nights were cool at times on the cold side. But the sun came out everyday and that is something we do not see in Lima right now. It felt so good on our bodies.

Well next week is our last week of language study. I finish on Thursday and on Monday I leave with a team from a church in North Carolina for a vision trip to Yauyos. Language is over and the work begins. I am really going to miss our tutor. She is such a marvelous lady and a great teacher.

A special thanks to our friends at Ridgecrest Baptist for our heater. It has been so cold in our apartment. We pretty much lived in our study where we have a small electric heater. Couldn't afford to run it to much though. This new gas heater is such a blessing. Thank you so much.

We found a new market today. In the area of the market is also stores where they make and sell baskets. Sandy had a great time today looking at all of the baskets and even bought a couple of Christmas presents while we were there. I love Lima with all of the markets and neighborhoods.
Next week we are going to explore another part of the city.

We love each of you and continue to pray for us. Our Bible Study is going great and we are beginning to see fruit from this. God is so good and ever faithful.
Alan

Not a good day

I was sitting in church enjoying the pastor's sermon when i see my truck's tag number , along with a few more, projected on the screen. I knew that was not good, especially with the words muy mal next to it. Well it seems my truck extended to far onto the sidewalk. You have a choice to pull up on the sidewalk or hang off in the street. Either way it is a possible ticket. Well this time we got tickets. I had to come all the way to Peru to get the first ticket of my life. Tomorrow I get walk to the bank and pay the fine. The ticket gives no prices, but Mike says it will be about ten dollars. I will have to find somewhere else to park or find a new church. That is just part of life in Peru.

Last Saturday evening we had a great time. Kathy prepared a great Mexican meal, oh it was so good, and we played cards until late. It was such fun for all of us.

Last Friday we went to Polvos Rosados, the pink market, and then on to visit the mall at Larco Mar. It is a mall built on the side of the hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It is in a very upscale area and on our salary all we could do was look, but we still had fun. It is beautiful looking over the ocean watching the small fishing boats and the surfers.

Wednesday evening was an excellent class and I had probably 15 students there. We finished our study of John 9, and this week begin a new study. They are good students and ask lots of very good questions.

The end of next week we travel to Nasca for several days of midsummer debriefing of our student missionaries. Then the second week in July I leave for a week long vision trip with Kristen to Yauyos. It will be a great trip and a time of watching and observing for me.

Language study is going good and I am a bit encouraged right now. Pray for us that God gives us wisdom and boldness in being daily witnesses for Him.