Out and About in Broughshane

Saturday 14th January 2012

This afternoon after a busy morning with Kindermusik classes we headed out for a walk with the kids.  Joel and Sarah wanted to take their bikes.

Both Joel and Sarah Have grown quite a bit recently and so I think we will have to adjust their saddles and handlebars again soon.  Hopefully by the summer time Joel can progress to a bigger bike and we can try to encourage him to learn to cycle without his safety wheels.

Our first stop was the park.  Although the sky was blue and there was a little bit of sunshine the temperature was still very cold.  It has been lovely to get out and about this last week or so without it raining though.

 After about half an hour at the park we were all frozen and set off again to the duck pond and then on home.

Update from Broughshane

Many of you have faithfully followed our blog for the last two and a bit years, and we have tried to be faithful in updating the blog on a regular basis. Some of you will have noticed that our updates have become less and less freuquent. This has been for a number of reasons, firstly we are currently at home in Northern Ireland on deputation. We have been busy with deputation but also we don't have internet in our apartment we are renting here and so are only able to check emails and make updates to our blog from time to time when we are at one of our parents house.

As we arrived home in Northern Ireland became aware of various changes here on this side of the pond. Our arriving in Northern Ireland was welcomed for the most part although two years away from the country resulted in a little bit of culture shock when we arrived back again. Within a couple of days of arriving home we made a visit to the new Tesco Superstore in Ballymena. The bread section alone was enough to cause much confusion and indecision on our part. As we walked around the store we identified numerous treats and delicacies that made our mouths water, however as a result of the incredible choice available to us we were unable to chose anything other than the necesities that we had come for! One of the other major differences we noted was on the road. We were nicely surprised as fellow drivers stopped to let us out, observed pedestrian crossings and as we walked through the town there was a real absence of horn tooting. It is funny to reflect on the things we have experienced and learn how much we have become accustomed to these things, while we also notice that there are some things we will never grow accustomed to.

Once again we thank you for your prayers and support, please continue to pray for us as we travel around the country visiting many of the different Baptist Churches. These visits have highlighted just how much the churches pray for and support the work in Peru and indeed the work of Baptist Missions in general.

We hope to keep you posted again soon with another update. Before I finish I would like to request prayer for Sarah as she commences a pre-school class on Monday. She will join the class for the summer term which will see her through to the end of June. We have been blessed with how Sarah has adapted to many different changes in her life over the last couple of years, however since we arrived home although she is enjoying being here and having family around her she has really struggled as we have left her numerous evenings throughout the week with babysitters in order that we could take deputation meetings. At times we have had an overwhelming sense of guilt as we have had to drive off with her in an inconsolable state as she does not want to be left. As a result of this we are unsure how she will react as she begins pre-school on Monday.

Countdown

After over two years on the field here in Peru we are now down to under three weeks before we arrive back in Northern Ireland with our friends, family and supporters. In some ways it seems that the time has passed quickly and that we have experienced so many things in such a sort period of time. In other ways it seems like we have been here forever. When we think of family, friends and our home church it seems like we have been here a very long time and so we really are counting the days until we can be reunited with those special people.

We never realised how much preparation and time would be consumed getting ready to come home again, and this is writing a couple of weeks before our departure! Much of our time has been spent trying to continue with our usual routines and responsibilities but at the same time we have been completing necessary paperwork, preparing to hand over Mision Rescate and trying to spend time with people we have gotten to know. This all may not seem like alot but when I explain how it took 2 hours to book our flights from Tacna to Lima in the travel agent it puts everything into context!

Tomorrow we welcome Mission Director Gordon Darragh and his father in law, Pastor Byers. They will be in Peru for a couple of weeks and we look forward to their ministry during our mission conference next week. Next week we will be in Ite for most of the week to be invovled in the conference.

Following the conference we have a couple of days to pack up and make our way to Lima before flying onward to Toronto, London and then Belfast. Our first week at home will be spent catching up with as many people we can and taking care of important business, while the following week we will head to Wales for Alicia's brother's wedding. We will be a week in Wales before coming back to Broughshane and then jumping straight into our deputation schedule.

We look forward to renewing fellowship with many different people during our deputation schedule and making new friends with people who have been praying for us during our time here in Peru.

Finishing 2008 and Entering 2009

The speed in which we come to the end of one year and begin a new year often catches us by surprise. For us as a family this year it has very much been the case.

It seems like no time since we said goodbyes to the cooler weather of our winter and were encouraged by the emergence of the sun once again, September really only seems like a few weeks ago! For us the last few weeks of the year provided us with some variety to spice up our lives. we will try to summarise some of the goings on and give you an insight into the plans for the next couple of months.

At the beginning of December, I (Dave) had the opportunity to accompany the Mision Rescate team that we are overseeing to Puno. We had joined up with Lourdes Brew in order to help her distribute some Christmas presents to children who attend the Sunday Schools in and around the Puno area. The journey up to Puno provided much more activity than we had anticipated. As 10 of us set off in the minibus from Tacna we did not really anticipate the climb from sea level to about 5000 metres to have such a dramatic impact but altitude sickness which resulted certainly made the journey much more interesting. Fortunately the recoverey from the journey was relatively quick for most of us. However some of us were quite amused that on arriving at the hostal half the team were assigned a room on the 5th floor!

As we travelled around some of the churches giving out presents to the children who had attended Sunday School faithfully throughout the year it was a real pleasure to see the faces the kids and the appreciation they showed. It certainly made us think twice about taking things for granted.

Whilst in Puno we had a few days of fellowship with the Pastor of the Central Puno church and his wife. We stayed in the care home that they oversee and really enjoyed playing with and getting to know many of the children who had been taken into care as a result of their parents not being able to care for them. The highlight of the time there was being able to buy a cake for the children and watch them enjoy eating something that they very rarely get.


While I (Dave) was in Puno, Alicia was left back in Ilo to look after the kids. She was very grateful of my return and although I really enjoyed the visit I was glad to get back to the kids and Alicia. The weeks after the Puno visit were occupied getting ourselves ready for Christmas and planning activities in the Ite Church as well as helping the team make their preparations for their Christmas dinner. The team decided that they would spend Christmas together, roast a chicken, have hot chocolate and Paneton, a real traditional Peruvian Christmas. As well as their own dinner the team got an invitation to help with serving the Christmas dinner in the Ilo church (they obviously didn't go hungry either!)

On Christmas eve we finished our preparations and entertained some friends before heading off to bed for an early night. Christmas morning was probably our most exciting yet as we were able to watch Sarah thoroughly enjoy the unwrapping of her presents. She also proved to big a big help to Joel in doing the same! We think she was hoping that as Joel couldn't open the presents he also would not be able use them and she would get them!

Instead of a traditional Christmas dinner "Norn Iron" style we decided to opt for a more Australian approach, the barbie. This proved to be a great success in the 25+ degrees tempertures and was a rather more appealing way to celebrate rather than sweating over an oven for 3 hours.

On Christmas Day afternoon two of the Irish members of the Mision Recate team arrived at the house to stay with us (babysit!) for the week, while the remainder of the team returned to their families for a break from team life. Sarah particularly enjoyed the company and the way Simon and Roberta played with her was obviously much more fun than the way mummy and daddy play!

Since the weeks break for the team our task has been motivating all seven of them to get their sleeves rolled up once again, get out of Christmas mode and into work mode. January will involve some practical work and preparation work for the Camps which will be held in February. sandwiched in between days of working have been some days at the beach for the team. It would not be fair that they didn't make the most of the good weather!

Just prior to Christmas Sarah finished her first year of nursery school (class of 3 years), the fact that nursery school is much more focused on learning through play here was highlighted by the report she recieved. In the report there were around 40 different areas of assessment including aspects of coordination, communication and other developmental areas, we were pleased and very proud that she received a report with all "A"s although to be honest think she is perhaps a little too young to be pushed. Our task now is keeping her occupied over the summer months although she really has taken to the team and has a ball being around them which makes it easier to combine work and family life. During the last couple weeks of January her school is running "useful holidays" which is somewhat like a summer scheme where she is taught how to swim, do crafts or another thing of our choice, we hope to enroll her.

Joel has decided that crawling is about as useful as the Manchester United team that faced Derby tonight (incidentally his preferred team is Liverpool, just like his dad and sister!) and so has resorted to rolling mutiple times to get to the destination of his choice. To date nothing seems to be painful to him apart from hunger and being left without constant company! This week we moved him into his own room and have been praying that he will adjust and sleep all night.

In June we received the wonderful gift of a new alarm clock in the form of Joel. The only problem was that the alarm seemed to go off numerous times throughout the night! When we eventually managed to stop the waking during the night he decided that 5am was a good time to begin the day, this decision was not well supported by his parents but eventually his dad decided to give in and make the most of the early starts, so since Christmas I have been rising from my pit with much more enthusiasm (exaggeration!) and going out running with my good friend Freddy. After a number of runs we managed to make it to 15km and were delighted with our progress but it seems that since that feat fatigue has set in and the marathon that we thought would be within reach soon seems so much further away now. We plan to keep running and hopefully we will well on way to our goal again very soon.

Finally I began the blog mentioning how quickly time seems to have flown over the last couple of months. with this in mind it makes our return to Northern Ireland in March seem so much closer. Wit alot to do between now and March no doubt the time will once again fly by. We really look forward to seeing many of you during our time at home. Again we thank you for your continued interest in us as a family and the work we are doing.

Cultural Shock in Peru!

Since we have been involved in overseeing the Mision Rescate team which consists of 5 Peruvian young people and 2 from Ireland we have enjoyed different experiences with them both individually and as a team. Recently I had the joy of taking seeing the team respond in a number of different situations. I guess the reactions of those involved pointed towards culture shock. Surprisingly on both occasions it was our Peruvian team members who experienced it. It just goes to show that you don't have to be too far away from home to experience cultural shock.

Incident number 1: Half day visit to Arica, Chile
At the beginning of December both Simon and Roberta had to leave Peru in order to renew their Visas. We decided on a half day trip to Arica which is about 45 minutes away from Tacna. Two of the Peruvian team members decided they would like to join us for this journey. As we approached the border we could sense the excitement increasing to a level that was clearly almost incontrollable.

The day proved to be quite relaxing and we were able to enjoy a number of treats in Arica as well as the luxury of walking around and just people watching. As we walked around and crossed roads our two Peruvian members were amazed that cars actually stopped at zebra crossings to allow pedestrians to cross. at one point as a car pulled up to the crossing and stopped they were unwilling to cross the road until the car had passed. It was only after hand signals from the driver that they realised their lives were not in danger. Later on as they got to grip with things and crossed at a zebra crossing while a police car waited for us to cross someone commented "wow this is amazing, even the police obey the zebra crossing!" The shock of this was compounded by the fact that other motorists didn't toot their horns violently one mili second before the traffic lights changed. Personally being in Arica made me realise that I would have to adjust some of my "Peruvian driving techniques"!

Incident Number 2: Thunder Storms in Puno

Last week I was able to join the team as they made a trip to the mountains to help distribute presents to Sunday School kids. The trip proved to be interesting for a number of reasons, none moreso than watching the effect of the 5200 metre altitude on some of the team members. Fortunately everyone enjoyed the experience and although there was great joy in watching the children recieve their presents I imagine that the smile on the Peruvian team members faces when they saw the rain and hail that accompanied the thunderstorm was equal to the smile of joy from the children! On our first night in Puno we sat in a small cafe finishing off our dinner as we began to hear the pounding on the roof. In any regard the storm was impressive but as Simon, Roberta and I watched the first drops of rain we had seen for many months the rest of the team rain onto the street and danced with joy at having being able to watch their first real thunderstorm and to top it all off it wasn't just rain, it was hail! Coming from Northern Ireland I guess there are some things you just take for granted!

A Week in the life of the Murphys

Over the last 18 months we have often been asked "what is a typical day like for you?" or "What is a typical week like?" all too often these have been almost impossible questions to answer so recently I thought it might be worthwhile to try and remember some of the things we have done over the past week or so and put them down in the form of a diary, so here goes!:

Sunday 19th October

Once again an early start, no sleeping in with Joel around, although we were able to lie on in bed until 7am, so that was a little lazy compared to our normal start to the day!

Like most Sunday mornings we managed to get up and out for a walk along the seafront with the kids before coffee time and then church. We then headed up to La Pampa for church at 11am.

We arrived back home from church and I (Dave) managed to shovel my dinner down before heading out to Ite to oversee the Mision Rescate Team as they took responsibility for Sunday School. Following Sunday School the team also took the evening service. Both services were encouraging and over 50 children turned up for Sunday School.

After this I left the team back at the Camp Centre and had a short meeting with them before driving home and jumping into bed. As I arrived home I found Alicia just as tired as me after looking after the kids all afternoon as well as entertaining a couple of unexpected visitors (Since Joel's birth Alicia has not really been able to attend the Sunday evening services as it is over too late and does not suit feeding times or bed times for the kids).

Monday 20th October

Monday always seems to be a rush to get ready and it always seems to be the day that Sarah is in the least of a rush! We manage to get her up and dressed into her full uniform of blazer and skirt, fed and off to school by 8.30am. Alicia headed off to the market to get some groceries and I headed out to take the dog a brisk walk before our customary prayer meeting with the Morrows. After the meeting which normally takes most of the morning Alicia started preparing some lunch while I headed into the town to get some supplies for the Mision Rescate Team arriving back home just in time to collect Sarah from school at 1pm.

After lunch Alicia and I, with the kids head out to Ite to catch up with the team and see how they are getting on with their preparations for meetings. We spent most of the afternoon in Ite and arrive home in time to get a late tea and get the kids ready for bed.

Tuesday 21st October

Today starts like most other days and I manage to give the dog a good long walk before coming back and putting the finishing touches to the Bible Study I had prepared for Ite. Most Tuesdays I head out to Ite mid afternoon so that I can spend time with the Team before the meeting and also try and visit in the village just before the meeting starts to remind people.

This week it is refreshing as although I had to share the Team take responsibility for leading and for the music and so I just share and lead the prayer time. After the meeting I leave the team back at the centre de-brief with them and then head home to Alicia to see how her afternoon has been with the kids.

Wednesday 22nd October

Wednesdays have proved to be the most hectic days because in October I have been leaving the house at 8am, this has left Alicia with Joel and preparing Sarah for school alone. Each Wednesday I have collected Pastor Mario from the Ilo church and taken him to Ite to teach the team on evangelism, while another believer from the church; Freddy has been teaching some Spanish. During these lessons I have tried to use the time to catch up on paperwork and my general planning.

I arrived home from this in time for a late lunch and then a relatively free afternoon. Since alot of my time out is in the afternoon and the evening I try to set aside at least one afternoon a week to spend with the kids. Today we went out onto the grass at the seafront and flew Sarah's new kite. We enjoyed a great afternoon before heading back home, getting tea ready and the children bathed and off to bed.

Thursday 23rd October

Each Thursday everyone involved in the ministry at the camp centre meet for a time of planning, sharing and prayer. While I head out to this Alicia stays at home with Joel and has a Spanish conversation class with a lady from Ilo.

I arrive back mid afternoon and enjoy my lunch before preparing something for the youth meeting on Friday night.

Friday 24th October

Today is the big day. I have planned to do my driving test. Since arriving in Peru I have been using an international licence but decided it was time to get a Peruvian one. I had passed the medical, psychological and psychosimatic test a few weeks earlier and the theory test the previous week. Everything seemed a bit strange and didnt really relate to driving for example in one test I had to name 4 large cities, 4 types of fish and know at what time of the day my shadow would be the shortest (I didn't tell them I was from Northern Ireland and so we don't have shadows!) Last Friday afternoon I had attempted the driving test which involved a grand total of two parking manouevres in a large car park, I failed. The first manouevre was parallel parking into a space 1 metre longer than the length of the car and the second was to reverse park the car (diagonally) for a starting position of a right angle from the space. The area you must fit into is 2m 20cm; 40 cm wider than the car (not including the mirrors)in three moves with the second move being the edge forward 1m, it was on this that I failed the previous week.

After making a longer than expected visit to the travel agent to price flights home for our deputation I headed out with my friend Freddy to practice parking. After some practice and a quick lunch I head up to the testing area for the 2.30 start time. After waiting an hour the examiners arrive. I was one of six candidates for the test and after the first manouevre the group is reduced to myself and one other. Eventually we come to the second manouevre and this time the practice has paid off, I get the test and my friend reminds me it is one more step towards being Peruvian. I don't really care about that, I am just relieved to have passed what seemed like the strangest driving test I have ever seen. Not once did we drive in traffic and we barely drove in forward gears!

As I drew sighed with relief I rushed home to collect my stuff before heading out to the young peoples meeting in Ite. I quickly greet and say goodbye to Alicia, Joel and Sarah. I have hardly seen them all day and Joel has been a little off form with his teeth coming through, I feel bad for abandoning them but head off. We have a good meeting with the young people, they are given an open time to ask questions about God and I try to answer some of their deep questions. Many of them seem to be searching. After the meeting we stand around and have a chat before I once again head back home.

Saturday 25th October

Today we get to relax a little. After get ourselves together Alicia heads out to the market with Sarah while I mind Joel. We enjoy coffee and preparing some meat for a BBQ at lunch time. The temperature is 25 degrees so we enjoy a good bit of the afternoon after our BBQ on the patio roof. Later on we head out to the grass to fly Sarah's kite once again. As Joel sits in his pram his sits fascinated with the colours of the kite. We head back in again in time for a pancake tea and get the kids ready for bed.

A Princess, A Spring Party, an Athletics Coach and a Bug!

Our title to this post may seem somewhat bizarre, perhaps resembling the author of the blog, however it really seems to sum some of our activities over the last few weeks. Let me explain:

A Princess and A Spring Party

Yesterday (September 23rd) was officially the first day of Spring here in Peru (although temperatures have been quite pleasant for a number of weeks now). In order to celebrate this arrival many of the schools organise parties. Sarah's school was no exception to the rule and had arranged that all the children meet in a conference room of a local restaurant for some entertainment from a surprisingly funny clown, loud music and lots of junk food. Of course all the children were over the moon to have such a treat.

As part of the celebrations each class had to select a female best friend and a male best friend and the couple with the most votes from each class would represent the class as the prince and princess. Yes you have already guessed it, Sarah was selected as the Princess and her good friend Josue (a child of some Christian parents we have got to know) was selected as the prince. So as all the other children donned their dresses and tuxedos (yes it was that formal!) Sarah dressed up in a lovely white dress and tiara to partner her Prince Charming!
With each event Sarah seems to be enjoying the attention more and more and was really chuffed that she had been chosen to represent the class and be the centre of attention! We have added some photos to give you a glimpse of the whole affair.

A Bug

Ok this is rather uninteresting but adds to the title! In brief, about two weeks ago I (Dave) was struck down with a stomach bug which left me weak for a few days. The timing of the bug was highly inapproriate as we had the Mission Director, Gordon Darragh and a supportor of the Mission visiting with us and to make matters worse it was within a week of my birthday. For me it was just another birthday but some people wanted to make a huge deal of the fact that it was a major landmark. Anyway without revealing my age the bug was conveniently renamed "thirtyitis!"

I insisted that the bug had nothing to do with the impending birthday but few were prepared to believe me - that was until everyone else started to come down with the bug. In our family Joel was the only to avoid the bug and even our "strong invincible" guests were both eventually struck down with the illness. Fortunately for all the affects seemed to pass within a few days. The fortunate thing about it all is that on my birthday I was well recovered and able to consume large amounts of cake while most other had to pass the offer by - I discovered that a cake between one person is a big cake!

An Athletics Coach

Most of you who know me will know that I am a passionate sports fan and many will know of my interest in football and especially Liverpool. (By the way I did not get too many emails from my good friends who normally email me after and Man U Liverpool encounter. Can't understand why, they must have been eating humble pie!) Some of you will also know that in my younger days (that were not that long ago!) I was a very keen and active track and field athlete. It had seemed that that interest had very much become a thing of the past until about a month ago when news of my former glories spread as far as the current athletics director in Ilo. Consequently, I was approached to help with athletics coaching in Ilo. So far this has been very enjoyable and interesting. As I coach these young athletes I realise how fortunate I was with all the facilities available to me. We train on a dirt track, some days there are lanes marked some days we draw a line in the dirt. In short facilities are basic, there are a few hurdles, a few throwing implements and I am led to believe that some of the athletes are high jumpers but I have yet to see a mat! I was wondering if it was a case of going back to basics and high jumping into sand - not sure how to coach that! Anyway the opportunity to help and be involved in this has been fantastic. My language has really been stretched, I am having lots of fun and getting to know many young people and parents. I am part of this because I want to help, but hopefully in this area I can also be salt and light and I may have more opportunities to share Christ.

On our next post I hope to share a little bit about some of the more intentional ministry opportunities we are involved in. As always we give thanks to God for you all, for your prayers, for your support and for your interest in the work that God is doing here in Peru. God Bless you all.