The miraculous in the mundane

Mornings are kind of like a chaotic machine in this house. Everyone already knows what has to happen between 6-6:45 but somehow they need the gentle reminders from mom to feed the animals, get their lunches, brush their teeth etc... Normally after everyone leaves I like to try to get an extra 30 minutes of sleep in before I start my day because I already feel like I ran a mini marathon just getting them out the door. ha. But, for the past week the water has been shut off every day around 8:30 am-7pm more or less. I think it has something to do with preparations for el Niño since that is the reason for everything lately but I knew this morning that if I wanted to take a shower and do more than one load of laundry I had to get up to the roof (where our washing machine is) and do some laundry. So I said goodbye to my kids kissed my husband and gathered all our dirty clothes on my way up. I picked the most important stuff (school uniforms or Jose's stuff it's always a gamble) and prayed as I started that the water would stay on at least through the end of the rinse cycle. A couple days ago I tried to wash our sheets and the water cut off about 20 minutes in the washing machine paused but it didn't automatically restart and when the water came back on 9 hours later it was brown...It's really dark upstairs and I didn't realize it when I restarted the washer. I didn't know until I got back inside and by then the damage was done. The sheets aren't really stained but they smell so weird, I don't know if it's from sitting wet.but.not.washed.for.9 hours or from being rinsed in brown.for.unknown.reasons.water or a mix of both. So that's also in my pile of things to wash again today to try to get the funk out of the sheets. (thank you God we have 2 sets of sheets)

I had a long list of things to accomplish using water so I wanted to try to get them all done before 8
Take a shower. check
wash dishes. check
do another load of laundry. check
By then it was actually 9 and Jose showed up he needed to shower then we had some errands to run. I  thought we would be out of water for the day but when we got home I had water to do everything else I needed to. More cleaning, more laundry, and every time I turned the water on I held my breath expecting the sputtering sound of air escaping from empty pipes. And every time the water came out I said a quick "thank you Jesus." It might sound silly and some I know are used to it. I'm almost there. It's kind of just a part of life now that we may or may not have water or electricity or either and we may or may not know in advance if they will be cut. But I never would have dreamed that would be a part of my life or a part of being a missionary. Sometimes we think that miracles are only things like walking on the water and forget that there are so many miracles that happen every day and we are just used to them so we don't recognize them. So for right now a day of running water so I can catch up on housework was the miracle for me. But sometimes getting through homework with Tim (or him doing it with minimal help and understanding what he's doing) is the miracle. Or having a conversation with someone who doesn't speak any english is my miracle.

We have some friends who hashtag everything life is an adventure and I love that because that's kind of perfect. You never know what will happen in life no matter where you live and every day you have a choice to see it as an adventure or travesty. Sure there are frustrations. Sometimes you might feel like the person on the other side of the counter is trying to make sure you have a bad day. (Sometimes I feel that way) But only you have the power to let them ruin your day.

This verse usually only gets pulled out at the end of November as everyone is preparing to eat Turkey and gather with family. But I feel like it should be posted on the desk where you pay bills. Maybe in the car where you might deal with other people cutting you off. Personally I think I'm going to hang it on my kids doors so I can see it before I walk in and see what their rooms look like ;)

The more we begin to thank God for everything. The more we will see the miraculous in the mundane and the more we will see God using the little things in our lives to shape us into the finished product. 

What do we do?

When I wasn’t a missionary I often wondered what missionaries spent all their time doing. I had mental images of people dressed in Khaki in the middle of the jungle with tribes of people who had only scraps of fabric tied on with string and body paint as their clothing. I imagined those people using hand motions to share the gospel and then going home to their mud huts at the end of the day. Maybe that was just my imagination but I think I probably saw a movie or read books with those types of images to put the idea in my head. 

Now that I’m an actual missionary I know that there are probably missionaries whose lives look more like that but that’s not really much like my life. (except maybe using hand motions to share the gospel…but I do that no matter what I’m talking about or who I’m talking to.) Anyway, I wanted to share a look into what we do here as missionaries. 

The first aspect and most time intensive part of our work here is church planters and pastors. We have a 3 1/2 year old church that we planted in the main city of Piura and just last week we officially opened the doors of our second stand alone church plant in a smaller town about an hour away called Chulucanas. Over the last few years we worked with a couple from the first church plant so that they can direct the new church plant with supervision from us with the goal that one day once we have gotten the church well established they will be able to be the pastors of that church. Because both churches are relatively young our work just in the church entails pretty much every thing a church staff does. We have been able to grow our team little by little so that we have more laborers helping with things like worship team, the childrens ministry and even things like cleaning the church. But if something breaks Jose is still usually going to be the person going to the hardware store. ;) We also offer free family counseling to the community which is something that we spend a lot of time doing day to day.

One of our recent "Man Church" services 

The second part of what we do is actually something that was birthed once we came here. We really had no idea how pervasive sexual child abuse was here until we actually lived here for awhile. 1 in 3 kids in Peru is sexually abused and usually by a family member or close family friend.  Now that we know what a horrible problem it is we have made it our mission to go into every school that we can in the region to teach the kids about grooming for sexual abuse and how to avoid it and what to do if someone tries to touch them inappropriately. We were connected with an organization that writes materials for children age 3-10 that helps illustrate those things in an age appropriate way and also teaches about values and things like self-esteem. 

Jose with a group of kids from one of the schools we worked with last year.

Another thing we do is about once a month sometimes more often we go into the community to serve. We do lots of different things but some of my favorite have been feeding the homeless and people in hospitals or who had to work on Christmas eve, taking gift baskets filled with stuff for mom and baby to the maternity ward at the regional hospital, and handing out cold water or “bodoques" (a popsicle like treat that is very popular here) to people on the street as they passed.   

some of our team who sacrificed their Christmas Eve to hand out food 

Our fourth aspect is called our training center.  This is a relatively new concept here of combining physical exercise, healthy eating habits, spiritual teachings, focused thinking, and doing it with friends. We call it “Vida Saludable” or Well balanced lifestyle.  What we discovered is that we are reaching a certain group of people that has been left abandoned: the elderly.   This has been a huge undertaking to help bring a healthy lifestyle to a third of the population of our region.  

one of our first "Training center" workshops

The final aspect of our ministry is still in the beginning stages. We always planned to build an orphanage and we are currently in the process of getting that started. Having a son with special needs opened our eyes to the amount of kids here who are like him and need help. But because of the lack of resources most orphanages can’t take them. Most of this part is still in the dreaming stages but we need you to prayers and financial support as we enter into this stage of the ministry.  

I have to confess...

In my life there have been certain lessons I've learned more than once. Or maybe I never learned and I keep going through the situations in order to learn the lessons for real. Growing up I thought I had a lot of self confidence.
 I never really worried about my looks that I remember and thought I was pretty secure. But somehow along the way I lost that and became incredibly insecure. 
A friends younger brother told me I laughed weird so I tried to change my laugh (impossible to do unless you just never actually laugh) 
Someone made fun of the way I scrunched my nose when I smiled so I tried to change my smile. I was made fun of for being short, the size of my hands and feet, my name, how I talked, how much I talked, how little I talked, being too emotional, not being emotional enough...the list goes on. Aside from that there were people who made me feel like my opinions...my voice had no value. 
It was their way or nothing. There are situations where things are a matter of authority and there are others where it's mostly opinions. 
I never really understood the difference and thought I had to conform to the people I was around, fit in like a little robotic carbon copy of everyone else or I would be rejected. 

I remember when my sister was young her favorite things always matched exactly to her friends favorite things. Her favorite color, food, movie etc... changed depending on what friend she was around. One day she asked for "her favorite food" while a friend was over only to realize (once she ate it) that she hated that thing. I don't know really if that helped her recognize what she was doing. She was pretty young at the time. But I don't think she was even doing it on purpose. It was a message that the world sent out to us from a very young age. "Be just like everyone else or nobody will like you" That's why peer pressure is so effective. 

What happened with me is I lost my identity. 
I was afraid to stand up for myself even in tiny things. 
If my opinion differed from someone else's I just kept it to myself "why rock the boat" I thought. 
But really I told myself they wouldn't like me. 
Once I accidentally admitted to a group of women that I didn't like a certain chick flick that had recently come out. 
Suddenly everyone went silent and they just looked at me like I had 3 eyes. 
I started to try to explain my position and then I lost my nerve. 
They thought it was weird that I disagreed but they quickly moved on to something else.
 (and surprise, surprise, they didn't stop being my friends.
 which I really worried about for the rest of the day as I tried to mirror everything they liked)
Now if that's how I felt about movies imagine anything bigger. 
I let people walk all over me and treat me like garbage. 
People I thought of as close friends who really didn't value me at all. 
There have always been people in my life who didn't see me or treat me that way but I wasn't listening to their voices or God. I was believing the lie that my value was dependent on what everyone thought of me. The voices that were the loudest always seemed to be the voices that tried to manipulate me or the voices of those who didn't like me. 
When people would try to encourage me or say good things about me, I always thought. "yeah, you really don't know me." And to be perfectly honest I still have to fight those thoughts.
Changing your mindset isn't an overnight thing.


Why am I saying all this?
 I believe that a lot of people feel that way. I think life and the enemy of our souls has attacked and beaten so many down that we all think "I am garbage" and "I am alone" we don't believe anyone else is going through it and because that's how we think we don't believe we can talk to anyone about it because they won't understand. 
If you keep thinking you are alone. You will be.
 You are more important than you think you are and you are exactly the way you are supposed to be. Every one of us has room to grow but that doesn't mean you have to like all the same movies as everyone else or eat the same kind of food or laugh more demurely or smile without scrunching your nose. 

Most people have at least heard Psalm 139:14 "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works;my soul knows it very well."But if you keep reading verses 17 and 18 say a little bit more "How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.They cannot be numbered!I can’t even count them;they outnumber the grains of sand!And when I wake up,you are still with me!"The beginning of the chapter talks about how He sees everything. He knows everything we do and everything about us. He didn't just make us exactly as He planned. Wonderful. But he thinks about us and we are precious to Him, even though we are not perfect. For me it shouldn't matter if everyone else in the world thinks I'm a weirdo or awkward. I really am a weirdo and awkward, so they are right, actually. But even so, God thinks I'm precious. He likes my weirdness. He made me to be that way. The way he feels about me is not dependent on if I like to eat at his favorite place or wear his favorite brand. He likes me because I’m me. He also brings people into my life that feel the same. They don’t care if we like the same things or have nothing in common. I (and maybe you too) just have to believe that the right people will stay no matter what I do and the wrong people will move on. 

And that’s ok. 

Really.

Theres something better out there. I’m tried of living in fear of rejection. are you? 

March Update

I keep wanting to sit down and write a nice update on all the great things that are happening (because they are. Really) But I'm having trouble getting it all down. Life is kind of kicking my butt right now. (can missionaries say that?) And everything I try to start gets overwhelming about halfway in. I think Zoe realized this about me because she decided to be potty trained and just started telling me she had to go and that was pretty much it. That's the only explanation I can come up with because I honestly did not want to deal with it right now. Or maybe ever.

Anyway, the boys started school this month because the school year here runs March-December. Logan is doing great mostly because he's social and works better with other kids his age doing the same thing as him. The only part that is hard is homework. I thought homeschooling was tough (it was) trying to help a 4th grader do homework in Spanish is ridiculous. I could probably easily help with the homework in english but naming the tools used in a chemistry lab is a little out of my depth. Every day he asks for help and I end up telling him to ask dad when he gets home.

Timothy on the other hand has been struggling with every aspect of school but he's finally getting in the groove. Autism and sensory integration issues are not very well known here. So we are trying to teach his teacher about it while also trying to help Tim with Spanish, cursive, and anything the teacher sends home for him to work on. Thankfully we found a great tutor who doesn't speak any english but is extremely patient and seems to like working with Tim. Timothy can understand her because it's one on one with no distractions and she speaks very slowly. Every day is a new test of my creativity to help him get through different challenges. We have learned he works best with some kind of reward looming in the near future to help him push through the hard parts.  That and lots of squishing, pillow/tickle fights or wrestling are what get us through the days.  




Zoe had her second birthday. I threw my first big party in awhile for her. She adores princesses and it was all pink and princess themed just for her. She loved it even though she only kept her tutu and tiara on long enough to take one picture. I did my best to just be a part of the party so I didn't get very many pictures. But it was a lot of fun and many people who love her were there to celebrate my sassy & sweet little 2 year old. She is constantly surprising us with how much she catches. She loves to sing and dance and draw on things with magic markers. She speaks her own version of spanglish and she imitates people perfectly. She often likes to run through all the names she knows. Repeating "awella" (Manuela) her hands down favorite person in the world. Having a daughter has been an adventure and a challenge but I wouldn't trade her. She lives up to the "life" part of her name for sure.  

For the last couple weeks we have had a lot of rain. Peru isn't used to rain...at all. When I have said it rained I was referring to Peru's version which is basically a light sprinkle. The kind of thing where back home everyone would be asking "is it raining?" Because you could stand outside in it for 10 minutes and still be completely dry. But the last couple weeks it's been good, solid, flood the streets raining a little every day. Because of that we've had a few setbacks, the church and our house flooded. The roof at the church caved in and even the school Logan goes to closed for a day because they had some rain related issues. It's amazing how much damage can be done when you aren't prepared.

God has been doing some really exciting things in the midst of all of this.                                    In coming here we had a few goals.                     One of them was to plant churchES.                 We've been in Piura for 4 years now and have been steadily growing that whole time. This Sunday we will have our grand opening at Powerhouse Chulucanas.                                     The second official church plant of Powerhouse Peru.                                                                       We have a great couple that have been working with us and learning a lot about ministry.           They will run the location and we will go every so often to make sure things are running smoothly.                                                              

This has been a huge undertaking along with everything else going on.                                      But we are so excited to see what happens.  Chulucanas is about an hour East of us here in Piura. It's a beautiful little city that's kind of in the mountains. The famous black and white pottery from Peru originated there.                       The location we found is right in the center of town.                                                                    About one block from the "Plaza de Armas" it's actually about 3 times as big as our Piura location so we are hopeful it will be filled with people seeking a relationship with Jesus.                    Starting tomorrow night we will have our own version of "The glory and the fire" put on by our awesome Powerhouse Peru people!

  

Thank you all for praying for us and to those of you who send us notes of encouragement on Facebook or email or whatsapp or by carrier pigeon.

 However they come they mean a lot to us when the days are hard. 

Thank you also to everyone who supports us financially. 

Your sacrifices help us to continue the work and often come in right at the moment we need it the most. 

We thank God for you and we thank you for you! 

Love from Peru! 

The Lopez's 

Joy in the morning

3 years ago at this time I was sitting in a hospital bed trying to force my body to lactate so my milk would come in to nourish my baby who I thought was fighting for his life one floor below me. Jose walked in with a look on his face that is permanently emblazoned on my brain. He didn't have to say anything, I knew. I remember throwing the pump away from me like it was to blame and saying no over and over again in hopes that maybe something would change. Holding onto Jose for dear life while we cried together. At that moment and for many months afterward I thought I would never recover. I remember my great grandmother who had lost 2 husbands and a few of her children saying that losing a child was harder than a spouse because nobody expects to lose a child. We expect our children to outlive us, anything else doesn't make sense.

I miss him. I wish I knew what kind of personality he would have had. Would he have been a clown like his brothers and sister? Would he have been an introvert like me. Would he love pickles like his dad? Would he have had green eyes like me and Tim or brown like everyone else? Would Thomas the train be his obsession at this age or would he have broken the trend and been into cars? What would his voice sound like?

They say that time heals all wounds and I guess in a sense that could be true. The gaping wound does heal. The bleeding stops. The constant pain of missing someone becomes less and less constant. But theres still a scar, a part of me that will never be the same. I will probably always get an ache in my heart when people ask how many children I have. But it is getting ever so much easier.

This year I was able to do something special in memory of Caleb that eased the pain of not having him here to celebrate his life. A few months ago I had a thought that I miss having birthday parties for Caleb. I'm not even that much of a birthday party person in general but when you can't do it you miss it. So I decided to have a birthday party for newborn babies in the hospital. We gathered diapers, baby wipes, clothes, blankets, baby wash etc... for the babies and hand lotion and chocolates for the moms. We wrapped up all the items in a box and delivered them by hand.

As we started to load up the van it began to rain. If you are new to this story let me explain what this meant to me. I have always felt like the rain is little love song from God to me. When we came to Piura I heard it had not rained in years. I was sad to think I would not get to experience the rain anymore. The night that Caleb was born it rained. After Caleb died it rained. And every night for the next month (and a little longer) it rained. It never rains very much but for the past 3 years it has rained a little bit here and there. Usually on days that I really need that extra touch from God to help me carry on. It rained for about 2 hours on the day we delivered gifts to the hospital.

most of the team and the head nurse for maternity/neonatal unit and the nurse in charge of the neonatal unit.

I didn't expect to hold a baby but all the moms insisted we hold their babies. It was a very happy/sad moment for me

all of our team (minus Jose who had to wait downstairs with Zoe) and the head nurse

God worked in so many ways behind the scenes to make this an amazing day. I cried many times but mostly they were happy tears knowing how much God loves me and that he has not forgotten me in my darkest days. Everyone involved was so excited about what we were doing and everyone we encountered was amazed. We decided to make this an annual event to honor Caleb's memory. Next year we hope to at least triple the amount of gift baskets so that every woman in the maternity unit can receive one. (We had no idea how many women would be there and we guessed about 10 and there were at least 35!) 

Psalm 30:5b says "Weeping may last for a night but joy comes in the morning". My weeping lasted much longer than a night. But joy has come in very unexpected ways. 

Christmas Spirit

A few days ago Jose and I were at the mall and took a taxi home. The mall was insane with shoppers and getting a taxi felt like an impossible task because so many people were trying to get one. We were on a date and hadn't been shopping so we were pretty relaxed about the whole thing, and finally found one. Jose was making conversation with the driver and mentioned how crazy the mall was. The  driver told us he actually hadn't planned to work that night but a friend needed his help to buy something and he saw the opportunity to make a little extra cash. Then he started complaining about the commercialism of all the people shopping for Christmas and explaining to us how Jesus wasn't born on Christmas anyway. In the end we found out he was a Jehovas witness and doesn't celebrate Christmas or any holiday or birthday (ok, honestly we already knew they don't celebrate anything) I left the cab feeling kind of sad. I mean, he chose that religion and he has chosen not to celebrate any of those things. But the thing that made me sad was how...angry he was about Christmas. I told Jose "I can't imagine a life without celebration" I love celebrating birthdays and holidays. Gifts are my favorite both to give and receive. And even non gifting holidays are so much fun! Holidays mean time with family and friends, yummy food (which is my second love language) and generally a time to relax and enjoy life. I love holidays!

I've had that taxista on my mind a lot though. What he said and how I felt afterwards. I've been thinking about it and I realized that while he was saying what he said because of his religion. I've heard a lot of people say similar things. They celebrate Christmas but they can be rather "bah, humbug" about the whole thing. We get all up in arms and angry at stores for not saying the word "Christmas" I understand the sentiment behind the anger but what if we came at it a different way? What if instead of getting mad and complaining about stores not using the term Christmas, we made a point of showing the employees (who really have no control over company policy) of those stores the meaning of Christmas. Not passive aggressively or pointedly saying "Merry Christmas" but warmly wishing them a Merry Christmas. Being kind and patient with them. Not losing our tempers because whatever we need is out of stock, or not enough registers open, or they let the person with 11 items go through the "10 items or less" register. Even if they don't seem to know what customer service is. Lets not let that be the thing that ruins our days.

 The same thing goes for other shoppers. I joked the other day that there are some fates worse than death and one of them is shopping on the weekends in December. I stood in line for an hour on Saturday because I hadn't planned ahead and I ran out of diapers. I am a person who needs personal space. I don't prefer to have people closer than about a foot  from my body at any given time. It just feels very awkward for me. But God in his infinite wisdom and with his sense of humor. Decided I should live in a place where personal space isn't important to the average person. Especially at grocery stores. If the person behind you has a grocery cart they will make sure it touches your back. If they don't have a cart they will just stand that close to you. I've never been the person standing that close in the behind position so I'm still not sure how they feel comfortable that way but apparently it's just normal. I've found coping mechanisms that help me, like standing in front of my cart in the line so that I can control the distance between me and the people around me. But sometimes I can't do that and if I spend a lot of time crowded like that I get very tense. I have to actively not get upset with the person who keeps accidentally grazing my behind with their hand or ramming my ankles with their cart.

The other area is with family. I have plenty of holiday memories where I felt like X family member "totally ruined Christmas." And I have a tendency to feel a little sad on the holidays that we are over here and so many of the people we love are over there. But that is not what I want my Holiday memories to be like and I don't want my kids to remember me being sad, annoyed or angry on the holidays. So instead of letting other people ruin things. I'm going to modify the adage that "nobody can make you feel bad about yourself without your permission" and say that "nobody can ruin the holidays for you without your permission" I want love and magic and joy on the holidays. I want my kids to grow up thinking that nothing bad can happen on the holidays and even if it does it doesn't have to ruin our fun. I want them to look forward to Christmas music and decorations that make it look like winter even though it's summer here. I want to make up new traditions every year so that you almost can't go a day in December without a tradition for that day. So instead of new years resolutions I have holiday resolutions.
I resolve to not complain about Christmas or any "problems" I encounter related to the holidays. But instead to look for the bright side of things
I resolve to find opportunities to enjoy my family every single day
I resolve to instill in my kids a love for the holidays
I resolve to make up new traditions every year and never let them be stressful but fun.
I resolve not to lose sight of the reason for the holidays. To celebrate the ultimate gift that God gave us. His son Jesus. Without whom we would have no hope.

I know that celebrating Christmas will not make me a "better" Christian. I probably won't change the world by enjoying this time of year. But I can be much more effective at sharing my hope to those around me with a smile on my face than with a frown.    

A day I thought would never come

The average christian parent has certain expectations or at least assumptions that they live with. One of them being that their children will be christians and get baptized or follow whatever example they set. Even so those parents are thrilled and excited when the expectations are met. A child coming to christ is a huge celebration and the same can be said of baptism. However sometimes there is a kink. Some reason why you might set your expectations aside. For example you might have a child who has sensory issues and can't stand the idea of water on his head because it might get into his eyes. For a child like that the idea of putting your head under water for any reason sounds like a really horrible idea. (and that's putting it mildly.)

I just described Timothy. Logan is the one who led Timothy to the Lord and ever since then has been trying to talk him into getting baptized (Did I ever mention that 3 different people who don't know each other or me prophesied that Logan was going to be like John the baptist while I was pregnant with him?) Sometime last week while Jose was talking about this baptism service Timothy volunteered to be baptized. I wasn't there so when Jose mentioned it I looked something like this

I should mention that Jose and I have different kinds of faith. When we have no money or are getting close. I have gotten to a place where I just expect God to take care of it. While Jose does a lot of math. I know he's worried about money when I find sheets of paper with numbers scribbled all over them. I on the other hand really struggle to have faith that everything will work out with Timothy. In my heart I know that God is taking care of it (just like Jose knows that God will take care of our finances) But when I'm looking at it day in and out it gets easy to think that he will always be set in whatever particular way he's currently set in and will never change. But Jose doesn't have that problem. He pushes him and believes he can and will get and be better than what he settles for currently. So, I admit, I got annoyed with Logan for continuing to ask. I even told him that Timothy would do it when he was ready (which was true) but I realize now that he needed that peer pressure from his brother to recognize the importance of making that decision. 

We asked him several times if he was sure he wanted to do it. Jose mentioned it every day this week and every day Timothy affirmed that yes, he wanted to be baptized. I let him wear his swim trunks to church and he was dressed before we woke up actually. He wanted to do it first thing when we got there but alas, he had to wait. 

He literally buzzed with excitement all through church. He sat with me and kept humming and clapping and asking me when he would get to be baptized. Then the moment came. He was by the pool the second they announced it. 

I love the progression of these photos. You can see how happy and excited he is and when he comes out of the water you can see how much he hates the water in his eyes.

I have been a mess all day. A happy mess. Every time I think about it I start to tear up and think about how good God is and how proud I am of Timothy. He may not act or think like most kids his age. But he has a very real relationship with God that he is working out in his own way. 

Today my son inspired me and showed me that he (and everybody really) has the ability to push through his discomfort and obey what God is telling him to do.  

And he did it with a joyful attitude.  

He was excited about being uncomfortable.

I wonder, when was the last time you got excited about being uncomfortable?  

When daddy is gone

Jose has been out of town for a thousand years... or since Monday if you want to get all literal about it.  Every time Jose goes out of town I think "this time I'm going to make it fun! We are going to do crafts and have slumber parties and do all kinds of amazing, fun, memory making things. Then about 2 days in I lose steam and we all miss daddy and our routine and I start to lose my mind without any other adults around. The progression is kind of like this (as told in song titles)

"Party Time"

"Love is all around"

"If it makes you happy" 

"Fun, Fun, Fun"

"Welcome to the Jungle"

"Go to Sleep"

"Everybody was KungFu Fighting"

"I can't fight this feeling"

"shh...Listen" 

"Another Sleepless Night"

"Baby hold on"

"Gimme' a Break"

"I'm Holding out for a Hero"

"S.O.S."

"Livin' on a Prayer"

"I surrender all"

Then when daddy returns it's pretty much 

 

My best friend

Yesterday Jose officiated the wedding of a couple from our church.

with the bride and groom

Jose officiating <3 br="">

We wanted to look nice so he got a haircut and I got a manicure. While I was getting my nails done he took the kids and got them a snack and they brought something back for me. Logan brought it up to me because Jose was downstairs with the other kids. The manicurist started asking me questions about my family. She was shocked that my husband was taking care of my 3 kids while I was busy. I didn't really understand why that was surprising and I said "of course, he's a great father. He even changes diapers" "No puede ser" (I can't believe it) she replied. Then she asked if he gives them baths, cooks, helps put them to bed. It was probably one of the funniest conversations I've ever had about my husband. "Yes, he does all those things. He makes some of the best eggs I've ever tasted. My children prefer he put them to bed over me. He's a really great dad." "That's amazing" she said "Peruvian men aren't like that at all."   "Oh, but he is Peruvian" I replied "many american men aren't like that either." I told her that my husband was taught that manhood isn't machismo but servant leadership. I told her that our ministry here is focused on helping men learn to lead their families with love. I told her my husband is teaching men to be like he is. She asked me what our church is called and where it is. :) (and if you were wondering. No, she did not speak a single word of english. I had the whole conversation in Spanish and managed to get my point across...GO ME! lol)

after the wedding enjoying the reception 

I'm really proud of Jose for so many reasons. He has taught me a lot even in the last few months about serving, humility and love. He sacrifices more than anyone could ever understand because of his desire to really truly serve God.

Jose helping a family move into the place he found them to stay 2 hours after they called to tell him they needed a place

He rarely gets a break and never complains when people (myself included) ask him to do "just one more thing." He does things that are outside of his comfort zone just to make me happy. He has one of the funniest senses of humor ever. I mean he can make me laugh like nobody else.

But most importantly to me he loves God more than anything else.

Preaching at the university to psychology students the kids with raised hands got saved that night

No matter what else is going on in our lives I'm confident that he will seek God and listen. He loves me and our kids second only to God. He is always seeking to be a better husband and father. I love him so much and am so grateful to God for giving him to me. I recently heard this song and it made me think of Jose.

Close your eyes
Let me tell you all the reasons why
Think you're one of a kind.
Here's to you
The one that always pulls us through
Always do what you gotta do
You're one of a kind
Thank God you're mine.

You're an angel dressed in armor
You're the fair in every fight
You're my life and my safe harbor
Where the sun sets every night
And if my love is blind
I don't want to see the light.

I love you Jose. 

Thank you for always being there, always showing up and always loving me.

~Kat

Share some love

I've been thinking a lot about friends lately. When you aren't in a position to just call a girlfriend up and grab a coffee (or whatever it is you normally do) it makes you realize how much you miss those people. 

I have some friends I grew up with. Some I met as an adult. Some I've never met in person but feel like I have because we've known each other so long and talked almost every day online. Some friends I've spent a lot of time with and other friends I haven't spent much time with them at all. But I know that most of the people I call friends would be there for me the moment I need them. For that I am grateful and blessed. 

I know this is a random blog and it's uncharacteristically short for me. But as I was thinking of my friends I thought. I need to share some love. So I'm putting it out there as a challenge to all of you. I think everyone has at least one person they know who deserves a shout out, a hug, a text saying "you are the best!" or some other show of love and affirmation. So do it! Tell someone you love them. We all need a little love every once in awhile. :) 

What's it like?

Whenever we go home or talk to people back home we get a lot of questions like "so what's it like?" I never really know how to answer the question. Before I lived here I imagined missionary work a little like being santa claus only instead of toys we bring Jesus. I had lived overseas so I thought I was prepared...Then I lived here and found out that in some ways some of the locals do see us like santa claus. Only the traditional kind, as is evidenced by the almost daily visits from kids or women with kids who will talk in normal voices, even laugh until I open the door. Then their faces go sad and they mumble their plea for food, stuff or money. When we first got here we heard that you should never give money to children who are street performers or begging/selling stuff. Most of the time they are taking the money home to an alcoholic family member or caretaker and not getting any benefit out of it. It's basically considered a form of human trafficking (I had no idea until I saw millions of signs about it in Lima) Now imagine yourself standing at the door with a bunch of children asking you for money or food and you haven't had a trip to the grocery store in a little longer than you should have. What would you do? Not so easy to answer is it? 


Someone recently sent me a list of questions about living here with the purpose of possibly moving here. I thought ya'll would be interested too. (I did remove some that were specific to them)

~What are the people like down there?  Friendly to North Americans? 
We have only lived in 2 parts of Peru and haven’t had a lot of opportunity to travel around but my experience is that Peruvians love North Americans. 
~How difficult is it to get a job down there if you aren't a citizen of Peru?

We have religious visas so we can’t really work legally except teaching so I’m not sure how to answer this.
~Do you ever host groups at your church that want to come down and help in your cause?
Yes. we have a team coming in 2 weeks actually
~We don't really like the idea of homeschooling our kids.  Are there any safe alternatives for schooling besides homeschool?
Yes. In Lima there are several great schools. Where we live there is 1 private school that transfers credit with US schools. There are also multiple private schools here that I hear are excellent
~Do they have grocery stores?
Yes. In the cities we have grocery stores that are chains from Chili mostly
~ Is the exchange rate for money decent?
eh. it fluctuates based on the strength of the dollar. It was about 3.0 when we got here and has been down to 2.5 but has been hovering around 2.75 the past 6 months or so.
~Can you find a decent home that is efficient?
I’m not sure I understand what you mean by efficient? Houses here are different than the states. We live in what I consider a condo because we share walls on both sides with our neighbors. It’s functional but not what I consider cute. That is what most places are like. If you have money you can get a really nice house. The house I wanted to get though was about 3x what we pay at our current place but it was a single family home with a nice yard and was comfortable and pretty.
~Do you have much violence?
We live in the safest part of town. So we don’t get a lot of violence. But Peru has some very dangerous areas. The key here is just like living in the states. If you went to Chicago you could find really safe areas and really dangerous ones. You just have to do your homework.
~Are there a lot of evangelical churches in Peru?
Yes. Where we are there are 200 I think. But most of those are baptist (also mormon I think…they are considered evangelical here.) The other main denominations are Assembly of God and Pentecostal.
~How are the High Schools down there?
Well, They break school into primary, and secondary and then university. Primary is up to like grade 4 I think and secondary is above that. But I’m not sure how all of it works because they are all in one building. Plus, from what I understand the academic level is a lot higher, and kids graduate at 15. A girl I spoke with who went to university in the US told me that she was horrible at algebra in her peruvian high school but in her US university she tested out of the algebra class and it was not hard. But I’ve also heard there are horrible and great schools here.
~ Grocery bill for a month?
This depends on how you eat. fruit and veggies are cheap. Chicken is about $5/lb and beef is more (beef is imported or nasty so I don’t buy it often) Fish is the main thing people eat here but my kids don’t like it so I don’t buy it often. Its probably closer to $3/lb but that depends on what kind of fish you are buying. (also I’m trying to convert soles to dollars and kilos to lbs in my head so I might be a bit off) Still when we aren't being extra frugal I think we spend about $300 per month
~Do you have decent Internet connection?  
For here we do. Where we live the power goes out sometimes and the internet can be slow but we pay a little extra to get the best connection available. We’ve never been without internet for more than 6-7 hours though. (electricity is another story) Theres a starbucks in town that always has wifi available
~Is theft a huge problem down there?
In Lima yes. There are pickpockets and opportunists everywhere. Here it’s mostly opportunists. You have to learn not to leave your valuable things unattended and always lock your car. In certain parts of town it’s best to travel in groups and not flash expensive stuff around. But we have iPhones and stay in the better part of town most of the time and nobody has ever held us up or anything.
~What is the weather and temperatures like during the different times of the year?
Peru has all climates at all times. In Lima it’s always overcast and humid but it never rains. Cusco is south and mountainous so it’s cooler year round I hear. Piura is close to the ecuator so it’s known as the “land of eternal summer” We are south of the ecuator so our season run opposite of the US. Right now it is going into Winter here which is the best time to live in Piura in my opinion. It never gets colder than 50
or so. But in the summer (December-March) it stays in the 90s and most people don’t have air conditioners
~Are they patient with people who don't know Spanish very well?
Yes
~Is Malaria a huge problem?
Not at all but Dengue is an issue where we are and it’s similar.
~What about ticks and snakes?
I’ve never seen either where we are but I’m sure they are an issue in some places
~Is the water drinkable?  I heard it wasn’t.
No, but we have a water cooler/heater and buy the water for it which costs about $15 per month for us. You don’t have to buy the cooler we just like having the hot/cold water available. Without the water cooler you can buy the water with a spigot in the bottle or buy individual bottled water which is more expensive.
~How many people actually own cars down there?
I don’t really know. Public transportation is readily available because mostly the wealthy own cars. We have Taxis, moto-taxis (motorcycles that have been modified to have a cart attached at the back…you’ve probably seen them in movies about india or something.) motorcycles that you can ride behind the driver and busses which are actually more like 15 passenger vans and run a circuit
~Is the food good?  We aren't picky, but I don't want to eat a cat or a bug or anything like that.
The only place you would have an issue is in the jungle or the mountains. In the mountains they eat cuy (guinea pig) it’s not bad, if you like rabbit or lamb it has a similar taste. In the jungle I’m told they eat monkey and they have a fermented drink made by old women who chew the grains and spit it into a jar. (for the record I’ve never tasted this but if you are ever in a situation where this is offered to you and you don’t drink it you might as well slap the host and call them ugly.) I may never go to the jungle for this reason.
As far as the food being good? Peru has one of the best chefs in the world Gaston Acurio. Most of his world famous dishes are based on Peruvian food. I love a lot of dishes here but theres not a lot of variety. They eat a lot of rice. They have a chinese influence over a lot of the dishes too but it’s different than US chinese food.
~How do you go about getting a Visa? 
If you are coming in for less than 6 months you just tell the guy when you come in how long you plan to stay. Pretty easy.
~How does an American pay taxes and vote from down there?  Do you get a ballot in the mail or something? 
You vote absentee. As far as taxes we have a cpa help us with ours. We get a w2 from the church that sent us. And the cpa does all the paperwork
~How have your kids adjusted to a different country?
My oldest son loves it here and does great. Our 7 year old has a much harder time here. Peruvians are very touchy and he doesn’t like being touched. His language skills are not very good because he doesn’t process auditory input well. So it’s a challenge for him. Our youngest is 14 months old so Peru is more home than the states for her.
~Are there any great shopping malls?  
In lima there is a huge one with a lot of US stores.  Coach, Lacoste, I think they are even getting a Gap?
Here we have 3 “malls” they are tiny little things but they have department stores and there are 2 Starbucks, a Chilis and even a Papa Johns and Pizza Hut here in town. 


Those were her questions. Do you have any questions you always wanted to ask? you can leave them in the comments or send me a message and if I get a few I will post them with the answers in my next blog 

so, not to be awkward but...

When I was a kid my parents put me in girl scouts a few different times. I'm a total introvert. Like for real. Making new friends is almost painful for me because I don't hit my stride until I've known someone for like 5 years. (just kidding...not really) That's why I had about 5 friends as a kid and I still know all of them. So I guess my parents thought I would meet more people if I was a part of girls scouts. The problem was for me, aside from the fact that I was painfully shy, I had to sell stuff. Stuff I didn't really believe in. Magazine subscriptions? nobody buys those from girl scouts but family members who feel guilty. Wrapping paper? again, just why? Even cookies were hard for me and those babies sell themselves.  (I mean it didn't help that there was a girl scout troop leader on our street so her daughter had the jump on me when it came to sales.)

So deep down inside I still feel like the 10 year old girl when I have to ask something like I'm about to ask. Only this time I believe in what I'm asking for. We came to Peru almost 4 years ago and at that time we did what all missionaries do. We traveled around and told people our vision and asked if they wanted to be involved. We did gain a lot of great support from that time and it has been so much help. But things happen and so sometimes our support base isn't able to come through with the full amount that we need to survive. When that happens we spend a lot of time in prayer (and fasting) for God to come through. This time God told me to do something that scares me a lot. He told me to share our need and ask you for help. 

~When we came to Peru we were a family of 4 and 2 of us were tiny and shared everything including clothes. Now we are a family of 5 and the 2 previously tiny ones are almost as tall as me and both can and often do out eat me. They also seem to grow out of their clothes and shoes when I blink. The newest tiny is still pretty tiny but seems to be on miracle grow and alas has no older sister to receive hand me downs from.  These things have raised our living expenses substantially. 

~The cost of living is rising here. In Houston our single family home with a yard cost us the same as our condo style (shared walls with neighbors on both sides) home with a "jardin" (Peru code for patio) here in Piura. Gas is about $5 a gallon. We don't have a car currently but anywhere we go costs us about $5 to go and come back. 

~Fluctuating exchange rates. We always do our best to find the most beneficial exchange rate. But sometimes there's nothing we can do. The amount we actually receive can vary by as much as $500 just because of how much the exchange rate is cutting off.

~Visas. To live here we have to have visas. Right now we need $700 to renew our visas and get Zoe one of her own.  

~Finally, this month our support is at about 1/4 what we usually get. When the full amount is already spreading thin I'm sure you can imagine what it's like when it's down by 3/4. 

Now If I could I would be at the local polleria applying for a job waiting tables or anything like that to help make ends meet. But unfortunately I don't have permission from this country to earn money here. So I'm asking you to make an investment into us and the work we are doing here. 

If you go to our home church or would like to make a tax deductible donation go here You can even set up a recurring donation if you want to.  Just make sure to direct it to Missions. Missions= US Jose and Kathryn we are the missionaries our church supports. =)

If you don't go to our home church and don't care about tax deductions you can give to us through paypal ~ jkmission2peru@gmail.com if you click that you are sending money to family or friends we pay much lower fees which means we get more of the money you send v. paypal getting it ;) 

If you don't like either of those options but still want to send us money you can email me at jkmission2peru@gmail and I will talk to you about the other options. *You can also email me there if you just want to say hey, I'm an introvert but I like email ;)  

Honestly I've had people give me $5 and say "sorry it's not much". To any of you who are thinking that I just want to say $5 (or .5) is that much more than we have today. It might not seem like much to you but for us it could mean the difference between having lunch or not. And if you can't send any money don't worry! Pray for us. Pray that God would provide our needs. Pray that the exchange rate stays in our favor. Pray that my children's clothes grow with them ;)  Your prayers have brought us this far and I know that God is able and faithful to do the rest. 

Finally, thank you. Without you all we couldn't do what we do. We love seeing what God is doing here and it's because of your partnership.  As Paul said "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now," ~Philippians 1:3-5

The Special One: Part 2

This is part 2 to read part 1 click here

As I mentioned yesterday Our Pastor had 2 people for us to talk to. The second person our pastor told us to talk to was someone from our home church named Tracey. She had the exact same specialty as the woman I had been holding back on calling. The funny thing is my friend had been telling me for over a year I needed to meet Tracey but it just never happened in my short trips to the states. Aside from that we had dinner with a couple from our home church on Saturday night. We didn't really know them but they invited us over so we went :) as we were talking we shared about Timothy and that we were spending a little extra time to get him some help. The wife told us that she had been a special ed teacher for years (and only recently left that to become a vice principal) she told us we should talk to this woman from church named Tracey. I told her you are the 3rd person to say that. Can you help me find her at church? I don't know what she looks like but I want to meet her! She promised to call her and make sure we connected.

The next day at church our pastor instructed everyone to find a partner and pray for each other. Jose and I were about to pray for each other when this woman walked up to us and said "Hi, I'm Tracey. I hear we need to talk to each other." We prayed together and she gave me a sheet of paper with her phone number and said "Tomorrow is my day off. Lets get together and talk about Timothy"  By the time I got to restaurant where we ate lunch I had 2 Facebook notifications. A friend request and a message both from Tracey. She had cleared it with the clinic she works at to do all our work with her at the clinic pro-bono. She wanted us to meet her there instead so we could go ahead and get started. We made plans to be there first thing the next morning. We went to see my friend who had suggested I talk to Tracey a year before and she mentioned that she had emailed Tracey about talking to me. Tracey responded "lol, you are the third person who has contacted me about that. I'm getting together with them Tomorrow" It was so clear that God was putting everything together in the background I was on a happy high.

Monday morning we went to the clinic where Tracey worked. I sat in the waiting room and nervously looked at all the other parents and children waiting. I had no idea what to expect and Timothy was having a rough day so far. It usually takes a little over a week for him to hit his stride when we travel to the states and that was still a few days away. Tracey came out with a big smile hugged us and met Timothy for the first time. We went back into a room and watched her play with Timothy and ask him questions. It was so hard to just watch and not help him so many times when she asked him to do something and he didn't understand or couldn't do it. I kept telling myself "just watch, let him do it, she needs to see Timothy without help" He had difficulty with so many things. At the end of the evaluation she said we needed to get a hearing/speech evaluation as well. She wasn't sure he was understanding everything she said to him which effects the test results a lot. That evaluation would be someone else so we would need to see if/when she could fit us in and that would be kind of expensive (but still less than the other specialist we had talked to initially) She managed to get us an appointment that day. Jose called his aunt and explained the situation and she completely covered the cost. At the end of the day Tracey said she wanted to work with Timothy every day while we were there so she could help us come up with a home therapy plan. Every time I received a text or message from Tracey I would find myself crying and thanking God for his goodness.    

Timothy trying to make his hands and feet work together to grab the frogs and knock something down with them

swinging one of the things Timothy could do all day long

Spinning or earthquake on this board was another favorite 

Timothy has many challenges but he has a lot going for him too. His challenges have names like Sensory Processing Disorder, ADHD, and Aspergers/High Functioning Autism. But Tracey said something to us that blessed me so much and has been brought to my mind over and over. All of those things are names and every name must bow at the feet of Jesus. I learned about my son this past month and a lot of it was painful but some of it was sweet and inspiring. Timothy is very cognitively bright and super smart. So when you ask him to do something he can't like stand on one foot he will start clowning and fall in a cartoonish way. He has a million little coping mechanisms for a lot of the problem areas he faces. He figured those out himself. As I've read about kids like him they need those things and usually need help finding them but he's pretty great at problem solving in some areas. 

I'm only a couple weeks in from really knowing what we are dealing with. I'm still processing and I randomly think of things that make me sad or worry. But I was/am so blessed to have had this experience. So many people have stepped up and been so supportive of all of us. I never wanted Timothy to be branded as "special needs" but now I see it differently. He really is so special and no name or label being given or not given changes that.