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!!!

Language Study - Week 8

The main focus of our day here in Arequipa has been language study. Over these last few weeks we have felt that we have progressed a little more in our ability to communicate in Spanish. We recognise that we have a long way to go but we have begun to feel much more confident in speaking in Spanish and have been able to pick up quite a bit more than previously.


On Sunday we went to church as usual and as has been the case were going expecting not to understand much of the sermon. This had proved to be a little frustrating for us over the last number of weeks, however on Sunday past we recieved a real surprise. We were able to understand most of the sermon, we understood all the main points and many of the sub-points and anecdotes. What a blessing it was to us!


Recently we had also decided that in order to continue developing in our language study we would need to have more oportunities to converse with people outside of the language school and beyond our current visits to the supermarket and markets. On Sunday as we were leaving church we were invited to a small group Bible study (which of course is in Spanish). This was a real answer to prayer. Unfortunately we are both not able to go to this Bible Study together but we have decided that since the study is weekly we will take it week about. On Monday past Alicia went to the Bible Study for the first time. She really enjoyed the study and was able to understand most of the discussion on Romans 12:1-2. Most of the people who attend this study are a similar age to ourselves and so she found it really good to be able to mix with Peruvian's at the same stage as us in life.


I (Dave) have also been asked to play football with a number of Peruvians that I met through the language institute. Again this has provided an opportunity to make new Peruvian friends and to be able to use what we learn at the language school. It has also provided me with an opportunity to play football for the first time in 6 months since I broke my ankle. (Alicia would appreciate your prayers for my safety as I get back into football again!)


This weekend we hope to have two of our language teachers Julio and his wife, Miriam for lunch, either Saturday or Sunday. It should be good as they both speak English but we will probably end up speaking Spanish for most of time.

Thank You once again for praying for us!

We have really appreciated your prayers and the way so many of you have followed what we have been up to through this blog. We regularly thank God for you and for your faithfulness in remembering us. We know that God has answered many of your prayers and have had a deep sense of His presence since we arrived here three months ago now. Right now we would appreciate your prayers that God would keep us safe here in Arequipa, and again to continue praying for our increased understanding and ability to speak Spanish.

Life in Arequipa

Apologies to those who check this blog regularly that we have not updated the blog for a while. Our life in Arequipa is following a fairly routine pattern now. This is not to say that we are not enjoying our time here but generally our daily routine involves getting up, getting ready, taking Sarah to nursery, going to the Language Institute, picking Sarah up from nursery, going home and doing homework.

In between these routine items we sometimes find time to do something different like watch a movie, have our dinner out or visit a market for some shopping.

We sometimes find ourselves feeling we should be more advanced in our language study but then we have to remind ourselves that we have actually only done 6 weeks at the institute and will be here until at least September. When we look at it that way we realise how much we have been able to pack into a short space of time. Some days when we are out we have interactions with Peruvians which leaves us feeling satisfied that we could commmunicate well, while other times we come away completely disccouraged as we were unable to understand a word!

On the whole last week was a really positive week for both Alicia and myself at the Language Institute and we really seemed to be progressing well. We were taught a new tense last week and it opened up alot of new possibilities in our communication. However, Friday was an incredibly frustrating day for us both. For some reason neither of us were able to remember much in our practical classes and really struggled - even with the elementary stuff! I guess it just shows that there are good days and bad days and not to be too discouraged by the bad days. To be fair by the end of each day we are pretty tired from the studying but particularly by Friday we are exhausted and in need of the weekend.

When we returned from Lima we began potty training Sarah. Initially it seemed like an impossible task, but after a few days she began to get the hang of it. We have been so thankful for tiled floors - it has made a change from me flooding the floors!

Back in Arequipa

We arrived back in our apartment in Arequipa last night after a very productive week away. We left for Tacna last Tuesday and had a couple of days to relax, revise through some Spanish notes and do some homework.

On Wednesday we had to travel through from Tacna to Arica, Chile. Although Alicia and I both had our VISA Sarah was in Peru as a tourist as we could not apply for the VISA until we were in Peru, however in order to collect the VISA we had to leave the country! The closest and easiest way to do this was to make the one hour journey from Tacna through to Arica. Fortunately everything went well and we were only in Chile for a few hours. Having the VISA then cleared us to apply for Sarah's residency card which we would have to collect in Lima.

On Friday morning in Tacna we had a field meeting with the other missionaries, which was nice as it gave us an opportunity to see all the other missionaries. Unfortunately things took a little turn for the worse on Friday evening when I (Dave) had some pineapple juice that was off. I woke up with food poisoning in the middle of the night. Fortunately the effects only lasted about 24 hours and was back to myself by Sunday evening.

On Sunday evening we headed off to Lima to collect Sarah's residency card. Once again everything worked out well and we found we had a little extra time in Lima to relax and to look for things that we can't get in Arequipa.

Our time away was very productive, although it is always nice to be back home again and to get on with things. Obviously since we were away we were not able to attend language classes, however we will resume classes once again on Easter Monday.

We trust that all of you will have a peaceful Easter whatever you are doing and that you will have some time just to reflect on the wonderful gift of eternal life that we have because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

An Apology
It has been drawn to my attention that some of you may have received an strange email from us. I did not intentionally send any email but I believe that the email was sent as a result of me opening an email from a friend. I received an email from a friend inviting me to join an online forum. I read the invite but did not join the forum but it seems as a result email addresses were taken from my address book and invites were sent to you (and from what I believe some were in Spanish!). Please accept my apologies for this but don't worry either as it is NOT a virus! Hopefully I will not have anymore technological problems!