Contrasting the Rich and the Poor

This week has been an interesting week. On Saturday we had the pleasure of being able to go to The Arequipa International Club which is an exclusive leisure complex in the city with some missionary friends from the language institute (they have a little boy of a similar age to Sarah). It was beautiful, and a real nice change to be able to allow Sarah the freedom to run around outside and enjoy the grass and all the outside play equipment like slides, swings and much more (Unfortunately Arequipa has very few green areas and certainly not many play parks that we know of). Sarah had a real ball and had it not been that she was so tired we would have kept her there all day. Just before we left the Club we took Sarah for a dip in the swimming pool (something she has not done since Christmas as none of the public pools here are heated or particularly clean). We were glad to be able to splash out on this little treat for Sarah as she enjoyed it so much. It was actually something we had planned to do for her birthday but never got around to it.

On Wednesday of this week the language institute took a group to a school in on the outscrirts of the city of Arequipa in quite a poor area. It was interesting to see how little the school had in terms of resources.

The purpose of the visit was twofold, to give us an opportunity to speak in Spanish and to encourage the students in the school of the value of education. Each of us were required to share a little bit about our country and then explain the education system in our country. As the whole concept was to encourage the students many of us then talked about the value of education and the possibilities that it creates. Although the school is a state school and therefore Catholic we were given freedom to talk about what we wanted. In two of the sessions we were involved in the young people were told that they need not look up to foreigners like idols as we were no better than them. They were told that there was no one more valuable to God than them and no one less valuable, no matter how they felt about themselves.

It was certainly an interesting week. A week on contrast where we began with a visit to the International Club where we were likely mixing it with some of Arequipa's more wealthy individuals to visiting this school where they did not even have a map of the world never mind decent computers!

On Friday 1st June (tomorrow) we plan to fly to Tacna for field meetings. We will then travel across to Ilo with the Morrows for the weekend. We look forward to spending some time with them and to seeing many of the believers in Ilo once again. We also trust that it will be a nice break for us and take our minds off the studying just for a couple of days. We feel that after three months of intense studying we are now due a "wee break."

Another Taste of Peruvian Culture

We have been thinking what a privilege it is to have Sarah attending a nursery here in Arequipa. Not only does Sarah absolutely love going to the nursery and interacting with her new friends and teacher but she is also being given many opportunities to do things that perhaps she would not have done at home. Through many of the activities and events that Sarah has been invovled in over the last number of weeks (including birthday parties, mother's day performances and most obscure of all 'Week of Infant Education') we too have been able to gain an insight into the Peruvian culture.

We feel blessed in so many ways for Sarah, her enthusiasm for life (although sometimes we struggle to keep up with her!) and the fun she brings to our own lives. However, we never really considered that God would use her to help us understand and adjust to the Peruvian culture. We thank God for her and for the way he is using her to help us. Maybe Sarah will never understand how important she is in helping us with life here in Peru.


This past week was a special week in her nursery (actually nearly every week seems to be a special week just for a different reason - if you had not gathered by now Peruvians like their special events and activities!). It was the week of Infant Education (no, we are not too sure what that means either). It invovled a party on Wednesday with lots of sweet stuff for the kids to enjoy and then today all the children were required to come in fancy dress. Sarah meowed all the way to nursery this morning dressed up like a cat!

Sometimes all the special events and parties make us wish we were in nursery again, especially when we think about all the verb conjugations we need to remember and all the homework that awaits us every evening. On the other hand we know that we are putting in all the hard work for a reason and the satisfaction from being accomplished in Spanish will far exceed all the hard work we are putting in now. We look forward to being able to use our language in a more meaningful way. This week we had the opportunity to converse with a girl from the church for three hours. Yes we were exhausted afterwards but really encouraged at the same time that we were able to hold a conversation in Spanish for that long! This was a real encouragement to us and although we recognise that we still have a long way to go we need to take each day as it comes and be encouraged by the progress we have made to date.

We thank God also for a number of other English-speaking people that he has brought into our lives. It is draining speaking Spanish all the time and not being able to express exactly what you want to say--just being able to speak English is a blessing at times! We really appreciate your prayers as we continue with our studies.

It is amazing how God answers our prayers and so often beyond our expectations. Before we left home the biggest issue for concern in our minds was how Sarah would settle. We have been overwhelmed by the degree of her adjustment and the way she is enjoying life and chittering away in both English and Spanish. We will soon be learning more than cultural things through her, we anticipate her to develop her Spanish beyond ours and some day she will be correcting our mistakes. Pray that we will be humble and accept her corrections when that day comes!

Star in the Making!

Just a little clip from Sarah's Birthday party in her nursery. It proved to be a little different from what we are used to, however Sarah had a great day!



Mother's Day is not only celebrated on a different date the the UK it is celebrated in a slightly different manner too! Take a little look at the performance that Sarah, her class and some of the other children from her nursery put on for their mothers!

Feliz Cumpleanos y Feliz Dia de la Madre!!

On Tuesday we were treated to a little bit of Peruvian culture as we discovered that Peruvian's really know how to go to town for birthdays and special events.

Tomorrow (Thursday) is Sarah's second birthday and the teachers at her nursery has asked us if we would be organising a party in the nursery for her. We were unsure what to do but after a few enquiries we discovered that the normal practice was to organise a party. After agreeing to the party we were then asked if we wanted to hold the party for the whole nursery (50 children) or if we wanted to just have it for her class. We decided that 20 children was a little more manageable! We were then asked whether we would like to hire clowns in or if we would prefer dancers! We decided to decline this kind offer, not so sure Sarah would appreciate their talents!!

Alicia was able to use her practical classes preparing for the party and found it really useful in enhancing her vocabularly. On Tuesday (the day of the party - we were not able to have the party on her real birthday as another child was having her party on that day) Alicia and I both had to miss our grammar class in order to be at the party, but what an experience, it may not have helped our grammar but it certainly gave us a little bit more of an insight into the culture here in Peru. Things kicked off with all the children dancing to some music (remember these are 2 year olds!) and then they sang Happy Birthday in English and Spanish.

Alicia had prepared some snacks; marshmallows coated in chocolate, a birthday cake, crisps, fizzy drinks, jelly and biscuits to name a few of the things. The kids delved into the snacks and spilled as much over the floor as they did into their little mouths! Sarah had a real blast at the party and all the other kids seemed to enjoy it too. Afterwards Sarah recieved an invitation to the Birthday Party on Thursday which had forced her party to be moved to Tuesday. She will certainly be getting a taste for Birthday parties!

Sunday is Mother's Day in Peru and so on Friday all the Mother's are invited to the nursery for a special presentation by the kids. This proves to be another culture lesson for us. We will let you know how this turns out. Our only concern about all these events are that next week Sarah is off nursery for a break, we are not sure we can entertain her in quite the same way as she has been this week!!!