Hi everyone.

It’s hard to know what to say. Time has been flying by so fast. I have been very stressed out at times, and very emotional. You never quite feel like you are good at anything when you first start a new job and speak a new language. You can’t find your identity in what you do either. The only thing I HAVE been able to take pleasure in is cooking for my fellow interns. Cooking to me makes anywhere feel like home. It’s hard to feel settled in when you are eating out all the time or eating sandwiches. Everyone enjoys it and that makes me happy. Food has been quite a comfort. We have the opportunity to cook desserts for our Mission lunches on Sundays and my roomie Gilian cooked us a big French toast and bacon breakfast on Saturday before our girls bible study.

More about cooking… I have joined a women’s league at the church in Arevalo. My Spanish teacher is the wife of the Pastor there. Her son Juan is also one of my star advanced students. He is a wiz at English at the early age of 15. SO after class on Friday he accompanies me to his home in Arevalo- a 30 minute collective ride from here. These are inexpensive shared taxis- kinda gross sometimes but to cheap to pass up. Any time after dark I must take a taxi. I taught the women’s league how to make Eggplant Parmesan last week and this week will be Mexican Chicken Enchiladas. The ladies are very excited. I also started my first Sunday as a new member at Arevalo. Our parish church is Larco but I feel my heart is in Arevalo. I am helping my other roomie Amanda teach children’s Sunday school. The children are a big draw for the church as it is a new church and under construction. We went from 21 children to 30 children this week.

Classes have been a lot smoother. I had a rough first 2 weeks. I spent most days just struggling to day everyday things, but I found it would take so much longer. Mind you the water doesn’t work around here sometimes and little things you take for granted take much more preparation. I have a schedule going now…

I get up at 6am and get ready, then walk 20 minutes to work. My first class is at 7:30 and my second class ends at 10:30. I eat breakfast then- hard boiled egg, and a piece of fruit or a pastry. Then I take private Spanish lessons for an hour with Noemi. We are reading a Horse and His Boy in Spanish among other things that we’re doing. I plan for my last class until lunch at 1pm when Rosita our cook serves lunch at SALI and all the interns eat together. Great fellowship. It was sunny yesterday so we pulled the table outside and ate in the courtyard.

Some of out weekend activities include: Reformed University Fellowship at SALI on Fridays nights, with a short sermon and group discussion.

Saturday at some point we have the girls Bible study on How People Change. This week we talked about Jeremiah 17 comparing the shrub in the desert and the tree planted by the river.

17:5 Thus says the LORD, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the LORD.

17:6 For he will be like a bush in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt without inhabitant.

17:7 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD.

17:8 "For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.

Last Saturday our Peruvian friends Lenny, Ludwig and Jack invited us over for lunch. Of course Jack’s wife Tatiana, Lenny’s fiancée Janette, and Sonya cooked. Peruvian men don’t cook and clean much. We had lemon chicken, rice and a salad with beets, carrots, and broccoli. For dessert we had strawberries and sweet condensed milk.

Saturday night we showed a film in the courtyard projected onto a big screen. We showed “O Brother Where Art Thou” per the request of out resident southerner Joshua. It was really fun but kinda cold.

Coming up soon we will be moving into our new apartment. The girls will live on the fourth floor. We’ll have a washer and drier and a kitchen here. We’ll also have roof access, a good place to eat in the Spring. Moving will be relieving as many of the interns are scattered about town. It will simplify things- especially since we’ll be closer to work. We can actually run home, rather than stay at the office all day!

Our first cycle ends next Wednesday so after grades are in we will move, then I hope to go to Arevalo and help paint or do whatever they’ll have me do to further their construction efforts. We also plan to spend a day in Huanchaco at the beach for an intern day retreat. I want to have seafood for the first time since I’ve been here. Hope for a warm day for us!

Please pray for …

The church at Arevalo. If you choose to donate extra money to the mission aside from my support please designate it to the clinic at Arevalo. This clinic will do wonders for the people of Arevalo. It may employ enough people and get enough people well to turn this ghetto around. This town needs healing. Children roam the streets not going to school, people are jobless and hopeless. Pray that they find hope.

Here is a peru mission letter on he people of Pisco, and Ica:
http://www.ymlp.com/pubarchive_show_message.php?perumission+39

Earthquake in Ica, Peru

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

As many of you know, a massive 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck Peru Wednesday evening at 6:40pm, killing hundreds in the southern cities of Pisco and Ica. One church in Pisco collapsed during a memorial service, which alone has left an estimated 200 dead.

The quake thankfully did little damage in the capital city of Lima 90 miles away, a city of nearly 10 million where many more might have perished. The mission's own RUF pastor John Ferguson, with his wife Heather and their children Colton, Jason, Justin, Kevin and Miranda, and our SALI director Caleb Sutton, all happened to be in Lima at the time and experienced some of the panic that occurred there. In northern Peru where our mission works, we felt the tremor, but did not suffer any damage.

The people of Peru are responding to the disaster and sending aid to the affected regions. As a mission, we will also be sending aid through the local church and/or the National Evangelical Council of Peru, which has already taken steps to collect needed items. If you would like to give to our brothers and sisters in need, you may send your contributions to the following address:

Christian Missionary Society
Re: Earthquake Relief Fund
PO Box 53363
Knoxville, TN 37950-3363

We will pledge to use 100% of any contributions received by Thursday, August 23 toward buying emergency supplies for those left without water, electricity or shelter, and 100% of any contributions received afterward toward ongoing care of the victims of this natural disaster.

Thank you again for your prayers.

In His Grace,
the Peru Mission team