Did you feel the mountains tremble?

This morning at 3am we experienced our first earthquake. It registered 5.9 on the Richter scale. Here is a news story about it. To be honest it is not that big a deal here. (Jose and my kids actually slept through it..except for when I reached out for Jose, because for a moment I thought I was dreaming)
I find it interesting because the day I wrote my last blog I almost talked about being nervous about earthquakes. All I knew is they start without warning and can be devastating. It scared the living daylights out of me (there's a little bit of Texas slang for you...proof of my roots) But a few days ago I thought. I wonder if there will be an earthquake here? Then I realized I really wasn't as afraid as I used to be. It's awesome the way God prepares us in the smallest ways for things. 

Speaking of preparing for things. Tomorrow (Thursday) Jose, Victor and I will be going to a local orphanage to talk with the director and see how they run things. There are lots of potential good things going on with that so please keep us in prayer. I'm so excited about this I can't even explain it.
God has already been flinging doors wide open everywhere we go. There is no doubt in our minds that his hand is on this ministry and we want to thank everyone of you that has been praying for us and supporting us financially. We are able to do the things we are doing because of your support. We love you guys

Learning my lesson

o.k. I admit it. I did not have the best attitude about my laundry taking 5 hours. I thought it was a pain to wait all the time just for one load. But then we went to the zoo. 

At the zoo we rode a train that went around the perimeter and I was sitting on the side where you can see outside the zoo.

Imagine living by the zoo.

Even in America the zoo smells nasty.

There is no getting around it.

Now imagine living here.

Yes those are "houses"

If you lived there you would do laundry

here

Or here

Which is also where you would bathe

(I saw people doing that but decided not to take pictures of it...I want to keep this blog "G" rated)

Remember all your washing is downwind of a zoo. There are no words. I am so grateful for my impossibly long washer and dryer.

What else can I say? God is good! - an update on us

Jose is out right now taking the men from Houston to the airport. We had fun seeing our friends and Pastor this week. The came for the "Salvamos A La Familia" (saving the family) conference that La Casa Del Padre was hosting. It's a little weird being considered a Pastor. I got to meet and share our testimony with Molly Godzich as we were riding to the convention center. We also got to visit with Pastor Craig and Jan Hill and ton's of other men and women of God who's names I can't remember. :/
Not to mention all our friends, including Jack King from Faithful Men's Ministry, and our Pastor G.F. Watkins. I have to say we are so blessed. We are just starting out in the ministry and God has already begun to place us before kings. (so to speak)

In other news I am really loving our home (have I said that already?) I walk around in it everyday and just thank God for his grace and his love for us. We were talking today about it. You know sometimes God will ask you to do something that may seem like it makes no sense. In our case give away all your belongings...not sell them but GIVE them away. Pack up your family and move to another country. Most people when we tried to give our stuff to them said "No, you should be selling this to buy new over there" Trust me that sounds like the most logical thing to do. And I'll be honest there were times when my faith wavered. I would see all the crazy stuff we accumulated and in my head I would start calculating how much we could have sold the stuff for. I know, I know, shocking! But when I walk around my home, with my new furniture (our fridge still has the label, and the plastic sticker to protect the finish on it!) Stuff that is nicer than we had in America. I think "WOW!" I am so glad we listened and obeyed. We had no idea what God had in store for us! As a blessing for our obedience he has given us a beautiful furnished home. Honestly if we sold all our stuff we could never have bought the stuff we have here. God is so good! I know, I'm gushing. I just wish those of you that read this blog could have walked along side us (some of you did actually) and seen the progression. There is such a blessing in obedience that goes beyond the material things and the meeting famous people. It's indescribable really.
Proverbs 10:22 says "It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich, And He adds no sorrow to it." We don't have a lot of money but we have the blessing of the Lord. I feel this verse very strongly lately. I live this verse right now. God is good!

When we met our landlady she told us that she was going to get a biopsy done on a tumor she had. Victor prayed for her with Jose and I agreeing that night. The next day she was at a memorial service and began crying. Tears were coming out of both her eyes. The next time she talked to us she told us about it. She said she had just been told by a Doctor a week before, that she would never be able to cry from her left eye again. Jose told her to get her money back from the other Dr because the great physician healed her! The next week when we were moving in we were talking and she told us she was leaving the next day to get her biopsy in the U.S. I prayed for her with Jose agreeing. A couple days later she asked her assistant to let us know that when they went to do the biopsy the tumors were gone! I'm telling you guys it's fun to serve the Lord!

Please pray for my sister. Her water broke over 36 hours ago (at 10:00 am Saturday 9/11) and she is not progressing. I know the baby will be here by the time most of you read this but please keep her in prayer. I know she will appreciate it.
Also, my camera is dying a slow death and I really need a new one. I am believing God for a dslr because I want to get more serious about photography. Please pray for us that God would provide for it. :) THANK YOU!!

Life in Peru

once upon a time I dreamed of owning a washer/dryer combo. I thought it would be amazing to not have to switch the laundry. I thought the laundry would never smell bad because it sat in the washer too long. I thought it would free me up to do so many things...
Oh the naiveity of me (and in case your wondering naiveity is totally a word...at least it is to me)

I got what I wished for. This is my laundry room. The lovely thing on the right is my washer and dryer. It takes a whopping 4 hours at least to wash and dry a  load of clothes that weighs about 5 kilograms. (It says 6 but it lies) So I'm definitely freed up to do other things while it washes and dries my clothes.
Are you wondering what the grey pipe looking thing is that's snaking into the sink?


 
 
                                                   
it's the drainage hose for the washer and dryer of course! Fun stuff!
 
But seriously I am getting a clothesline soon so I can hang up my clothes to dry and hopefully get more laundry done.
 
We have some friends from South Africa and Houston visiting right now so we have been able to visit some tourist spots. This is a 1500 year old temple thing in the middle of Lima. Notice the city skyline behind the ancient mud wall.

Not the most flattering picture of me but hey this is the real me :p

It doesn't rain in Lima so they can build things out of basically dried mud mixed with seashells and it lasts. If we built something like that in houston it would disolve within a month.

One result of the lack of rain is the streets are really dirty. My children look like street urchins when we go out because they just get soooo dirty. Which adds to my laundry problems...

Hand sanitizer is always on my person.

We have been living in our apartment for a week today. Once I find a place for everything I will do a video tour for you to enjoy. I'm really loving our apartment. It's nice to have a place of our own after 2 1/2 months of traveling and staying with people. This place is really beautiful too. God has really blessed us to be able to have a nice home. It's kind of a superficial thing. But one thing God has shown me in this short time is that he delights in giving us the desires of our hearts. Even the seemingly unimportant ones.

  

Fun Pictures

We just got the internet at our new apartment! So updates will be more often hopefully. 
I wanted to post some pictures my sweet friend Jami took when we were visiting in Kansas City. And you should definitely check out her blog she is one of the funniest people I know and does amazing crafts.
anyway here they are prepare yourself to see me spamming the blog and the rest of the internet with their lovely-ness

Thank you Jami!