Field Conference

On Wednesday we had our last Spanish grammar class. We had been due to finish grammar the previous week but due to Dave being sick we had one extra week of grammar. We had a real sense of achievement at completing the course, however in terms of langugae study it only means that there is more work ahead of us! Next week we will increase from one practical class a day to two classes a day instead of grammar. The idea now is to get lots of practice speaking and begin using the grammar that we have been taught.

Today (Thursday) we travelled by bus to Ilo. We will spend the evening with the Morrows, before heading out to Ite for our field conference tomorrow morning. This will invovle a series of meetings where Pastor Harry Dowds, who has accompanied the Baptist Team this year will speak. We are looking forward to being refreshed and challenged by God´s Word.

We plan to travel back to Arequipa after the weekend and then in the middle of the week Gordon Darragh, his wife Janet and eight year old daughter Amy will join us for a few nights. Sarah is looking forward to Amy´s company - and Gordon and Janet too of course!

A Reminder that Peru Needs the the Freeing Message of the Gospel

Today (Saturday) we decided that since Sarah and I (Dave) had recovered from our stomach bugs that we could venture out into the town for a while as we had both been stuck in the apartment for most of the week. It was nice to get a change of scenery and we were also able to enjoy a lovely meal out at lunchtime, our day as a family was just what the doctor ordered!

As we were on our way into the town in a taxi and passing under the bridge that ran above us our attention was drawn to a crowd standing below the bridge on the other side of the road. It became apparent that the crowd were standing around a body. About ten minutes previous to us passing a young person had thrown themselves off the bridge above. This is not an isolated event as suicides are very common here in Peru, however as we passed it struck me how hopeless so many people here in Peru feel. It was a reminder to us how many people need God to touch their desperate situations. It was a reminder that so many people here do not know that they are special to God, that their lives are precious, and have never heard Jesus' words of John 10:10 that he Has come to bring life and that we may have it to it to the full.

As I thought about this tragic event my heart was moved but it also confirmed to us the need to share God's love with so many people in desperate situations here in Peru. Praise God that the Gospel is a message a of hope, a message that assures us that our lives are valuable and ultimately it is a message that can deliver from darkness.

A Few Hiccups (for want of a better word!) and a Few Upcoming Events

We had been really fortunate that in 25 months of Sarah's life and 5 months in Peru Sarah had not been sick. On Friday the inevitable happened! When Alicia went to collect Sarah from her nursery Sarah's teacher told her that Sarah had been sick four times that morning. Apparently a stomach virus has been working its way around the children.

We brought Sarah home and in the evening she seemed to pick up quite a bit and she was not being sick as often. On Saturday morning Sarah seemed much better and at that point we had thought that she had just picked up a 24 hour bug. Sarah's nursery had planned a Father's Day performanc on Saturday morning and given that she seemed much better we decided to allow her to go. Unfortunately, the performance did not go to plan. Unlike Sarah's Mother's Day performance where she stole the show as the only child on stage to follow instructions, in this performance she copied her classmates and just stood motionless with a big frown on her face. (Therefore we have withheld the photos this time!)

Following Sarah's performance (or lack of!) she came down into the audience and watched the rest of the classes doing their bit. Half way through the programme she decided to be sick once again. I guess her Father's Day gift was to completely miss her Dad and totally cover her mum! At this we decided it was time to make a quick exit! Fortunately now after being prescribed some medicine Sarah is much better and well on the road to recovery.

With regards to our Spanish classes, things are going quite well. Up to this point we have had two classes each day. One class was to get a grasp of the grammar and the other class was a conversation class which allowed us to use the grammar we had been learning. This Friday will be our last grammar class and from then on we will have two practical/conversation classes a day. Just because we are finished grammar does not mean we are anywhere near fluent as knowing the rules of the grammar and being able to apply them in conversations are completely different things, however we are glad that we have made progress and day by day we are growing in confidence (although there are still days of frustration!)

From now on we will also be able to develop our Biblical and theological vocabulary as in one of our practical classes we will be expected to work through a Spanish Christian book of our choice and write summaries of the chapters, discuss topics and probably a whole lot more. We are looking forward to this and hope that it will also enable us to get a better grasp of the sermons we have been hearing in our church. Again thanks to all who have been praying for our progress in language study, we really are committed to getting the language really well (although we know that we will be learning for many years and that the language school is really just to get us off the ground and able to communicate), as we really want to be able to communicate God's love to the people here in the most simple and understandable manner.

Next week will be a short week at the language institute as we have a Mission Conference at the new Camp Centre in Ite. We will leave Arequipa on Thursday by bus and come back on Monday morning. We are looking forward to meeting the Baptist Missions team from Ireland while there and also to being encouraged by Harry Dowds' ministry. Pray that we will be refreshed by this time both spiritually and physically and please pray for Harry as he prepares God's Word.

A Welcome Break

At the end of last week we had Friday off from the language institute as we had to go to our field meeting in Tacna. We decided that since we would not be back in Arequipa until Sunday evening we would also take Monday off from studies and use the time as a little break since we had been feeling quite tired by all the studying. It was great to meet up with the other missionaries in Tacna once again and spend some time in prayer with them.

Following the meeting we travelled across to Ilo with Trevor Morrow where we spent the rest of the weekend. we had a great time with the Morrows and Sarah enjoyed being spoilt by all! We found it so refreshing to be away from the hussle and bussle of the city here in Arequipa and to be able to spend time on the coast. It was almost like being at home!

While in Ilo we were able to take a short boat trip around the port. We stopped at various points to see the seals. Sarah was fascinated with this, and although enjoyed the boat trip was a little less amused when we pulled into port once again!

The cliche of short and sweet was definitely true of our weekend away and our break from studying. It seemed like we had no sooner arrived in Ilo than we were getting on the bus for the five hour journey back to Arequipa. To make the most of the break on Monday morning we took Sarah into nursery and since we had the day off studies we were able to spend time together looking around some shops and enjoying a coffee together.

On Tuesday we were back into class with renewed enthusiasm and energy. I am sure by the time the weekend comes around again we will be ready for another couple of days rest!

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!