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.

The special one Part 1

As I mentioned yesterday this trip to the states was really special. One of the things that I really wanted to happen (and have wanted for years) happened this trip. It was nothing like I expected, it was way better. For years I have been working with Tim on a lot of stuff all the while not knowing what was going on exactly. When I talked to dr.'s they said "he's just a little slower with some things. Not all kids walk/talk/etc at the same time." Then later in life they said "oh, he's just spoiled. You need to be more firm with him." But in my heart I knew there was something more. I figured out on my own that he has sensory processing disorder. Once I read about it I knew to an extent that Timothy has difficulty with many forms of sensory input. So I kept doing everything I could to help him on my own, praying for him and asking God to help us do the best we could. Last year he started doing some things that made me think he might be on the autism spectrum. But, honestly? I didn't really want to admit that. It's so common now I didn't want it to seem like I was jumping on a bandwagon. Plus I didn't want to label my kid for life.  Sensory issues can be worked through. Autism? That's a lifelong thing. 

Timothy and I just chillin' on the floor as one does

Reading pastors book

He wanted his face painted "like a lego mini figure" this is his mini figure pose

As we wrapped up the school year last year I had become so overwhelmed that we were talking about sending the boys to school instead of homeschooling.  All I could think about was "what will they do with Timothy. He just barely manages Sunday School and that is less than an hour. School is hours and they don't have special education here, plus nobody really has listened to my calls for help. What if they don't believe me and treat him badly because they think he is spoiled?" I decided we needed to get a diagnosis. Whatever that meant. I had read an article about sensory processing disorder, adhd and autism and at the end it had a link that said "if you need help getting your child diagnosed find a specialist here" I followed the link and found a list of people in Houston and 2 people in Peru. I made a few phone calls and found someone that was extremely flexible and said to give her 2 weeks notice before we went to the states and she would work us in. I started to relax, the only thing bugging me was the cost. An initial examination would be $500 and any follow ups would be $350. That may not sound like much to you but that's a pretty big chunk of our monthly budget and we didn't have any extra money to set aside. Jose's aunt had previously offered to help us pay for speech therapy because if anything that is what people recognize as an issue and she wanted to help. We talked to her about the specialist and she said she would help us. Everything was coming together. We scheduled our trip and worked out all the details but there was something keeping me from contacting the specialist. I didn't know why but I just didn't feel peace about it. Jose had the same feeling so we held off. Our first week in Houston we had the mens conference then spent a few days with family and our pastors. I really poured my heart out to our pastors. I told them all the things I had been holding back about Timothy. Immediately our Pastor had 2 names of people he wanted us to talk to. He talked to both people and scheduled a meeting with one of them. The first person was a mother of a 7 year old boy with autism. She met Timothy and said she saw a lot of similarity between our boys. We talked for about 30 minutes but she just shared her journey with us and gave us a lot of good information. I cried all the way through it. I kept apologizing and she just laughed and said she knew exactly what I was feeling. At the end we hugged and I felt a little more confident about our next step.

(Come back tomorrow for part 2)

Home sweet home!

Traveling to the states is a lot like pregnancy for some women. (not me because I'm not a fan of pregnancy as a rule. The results are what I like) I hope for it. When I find out we will do it I get excited and can't wait for it. I plan out what I'm going to pack at least a month ahead of time. I love being there and enjoy everything that happens, it goes by faster than I think. The last few days are really hard because I didn't get everything done that I wanted and I start to panic and swear I will never do it again. Then when it's over I can't wait until the next time we go.

This trip was no exception. We really enjoyed our time and made some new connections that we are really excited about. Got to spend some time with our family (both natural and spiritual) and soak in the love. We missed several people this time because of time constraints but we hope to catch up with those people next time. (see? I haven't been home for 24 hours and already I'm thinking about the next time. haha)  

This week I will be sharing something very special that happened while we were there. I'm still writing it but I wanted to post this to keep myself accountable. Tomorrow (Friday) I will post the first part of the story. But for now we are home, we are safe and our hearts are full from all the love we received in the states. As Paul told the Philippians 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) 

Now it's time to join this girl and crash!