Today marks 2 years in Peru. I'd like to wax poetic about it, but instead I'm going to describe how we got robbed this afternoon. There's a first time for everything I guess.

It has taken me all week to recover from our little weekend in Quito, but I think I'm finally there! I suppose it was the night and half-day in the Lima airport that kicked my behind, not the two days touring Ecuador's capital. I never imagined that I would be so sickly and exhausted afterward!

As we began catching up on missed days of our Bible reading today, we found ourselves in 1 Peter. After three days of sleeping in way too late, chapter 1 put some fire under me.

So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives. Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn't know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. 1 Peter 1:13-15

Isn't there something completely breathtaking about that last phrase, "a life energetic and blazing with holiness"? That's the kind of life I long for-- not a stuffy boring holiness of course, but an energetic and blazing one.

Perhaps ironically, I'm pretty sure it starts with sweeping the floor and planning a meal for tomorrow. It will be the first meal we've eaten at home (other than smoothies and toast) since we got back Monday!

Here's my elementary Spanish class getting ready for their "fashion show," part of our unit on clothing. Other than a few out-of-control moments (think child on top of desk pretending to be an animal), it was a lot of fun. I've sure learned a lot about rules and expectations teaching little ones!


I also found out today that three of my kiddos won't be returning after this week. It will certainly be a new deal without them. They're a great bunch, and I'll miss their enthusiasm. I have three (or four?) new students coming Nov. 7, so there's a lot of transition in our little classroom!

I'm currently working on preparing a talk for a Alpha training session tonight on prayer ministry. I decided that the 67 minute long video was a bit much for the leaders and it would be better to give a more concise and audience-specific training. Unfortunately that means I have to prepare it.

I just finished watching the talk in English and I'm about to embark on turning my 12 pages of notes into a clear presentation. Please be praying for me. Although I have a good deal of experience speaking in front of people as well as communicating ideas in Spanish, this will be by far the most extensive talk I've given. Pray that I will explain what is needed clearly and in a way that the leaders will be able to apply the teaching. Pray also that my time of preparation will go smoothly.

On another note, this morning I spoke with the man in charge of Global Alpha Training (GAT). They send Alpha training teams to hold conferences throughout the world, teaching local pastors and leaders how to implement and run Alpha in their churches.

For the last couple of months I've considered holding a similar type of conference, but I've felt overwhelmed by the task and fairly unequipped to do as well as I believe it could be done. After talking with GAT today, I feel greatly encouraged. Due to the relatively short time I have left here in Pucallpa, it's likely they won't be able to send a team. (If you've been on a GAT team and want to come to Perú in January, let me know!)

Instead, they're going to use me as a cuy (guinea pig) and try out an online training over a couple of day in December to prepare me to hold the conference on my own. I'm looking forward to the support and taking advantage of what they've learned from their various conferences and experiences. It sounds like they've put a lot of work into making Alpha accessible, particularly for areas such as Perú, which are less urban and with an overall lower level of education. In case you can't tell, I'm really excited about this development.

p.s. If you're reading this tomorrow, or any day after that, please pray for my preparation and training session tonight. I believe future prayers work for today as well!

• Do you have any kind of spiritual beliefs?
• To you, who is Jesus?
• Do you think there is a heaven or a hell?
• If you died tonight, where do you think would you go?
• By the way, if what you were believing is not true, would you want to know? (Obviously, if the answer is "no," you don't continue to the next part!)

Yesterday was Hannah and I's 6th wedding anniversary. To celebrate, we spent a long weekend in Quito, Ecuador, a 2hr flight from Lima. We had a great time in one of the more beautiful and interesting cities we've visted (photos to come) and are currently in the airport waiting for our 4am flight to Pucallpa.

It's hard to believe that 6 years has gone by so quickly, but at the same time I can't imagine my life without her. As I've grown to see how beautiful it is to live life alongside someone, I'm so thankful that I get to know and by known by Hannah.

Here are some of the things that I've enjoyed about our life together:

• Hannah's cooking (she plans each meal with me in mind, often preparing new exciting dishes)
• Laughing at her jokes (few people make me laugh out loud, she almost always does)
• Going on walks
• Watching her take photos (I will happily hold her camera bag anytime)
• Dreaming about our future (life goals to paint colors)
• Picking out our future children's names (this isn't a hint, we've been doing this for years)
• Discovering our desires and gifts
• Our morning coffee and Bible routine
• Owning dogs
• Reading books vicariously through Hannah (I love it when Hannah tells me about the books she's reading)
• Being confidant that Hannah knows and loves me, always

Hannah, thanks so much for who you are. I'm looking forward to another year of laughter and discovery.

Perusing a gift shop last night, Tim and I spent a fair amount of time asking the saleswoman about the products and moved on into other topics of conversation (cultural differences and Jewish tradition for instance!). As we were paying and about to leave, I noticed some kind of religious booklet on her desk. Around here, they’re pretty identifiable; it was a Jehovah’s Witness tract.

I asked her if she was a Jehovah’s Witness and she replied that she was just beginning to study the Bible with a Jehovah’s Witness woman. What a moment. I stood before a woman who was interested in knowing the truth and finding God but found herself instead looking to a cult member for guidance. Since Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, salvation by grace, and all versions of the Bible but their own ¨special¨ version, her path to understanding Christianity concerns me.

This woman wasn’t my friend, and I knew I wouldn’t have another chance to talk to her. How could I warn her of the deceptions of the Jehovah’s Witnesses without being insulting, rude, and turning her off completely to critics of the cult? It was in that moment that I desperately wished I had one of two things—either a Why Jesus? booklet (a great little resource from Alpha) to leave with her or the information from the Share Jesus Without Fear program committed to memory.

I had neither, and so after making a brief comment about the value of her pursuit of Biblical truth, I left with a heavy heart. When the moment came, I wasn’t ready. The Why Jesus? booklet would have been good, but what I really lacked was the know-how to communicate briefly and openly what I think the central message of the Bible to this woman who was obviously curious about that very topic.

That’s where Share Jesus Without Fear comes in, and I wonder if God didn’t put this encounter in my path yesterday to strengthen my resolve in studying it. Five non-threatening questions about a person’s spiritual interest or beliefs, seven verses that summarize the Bible’s view on how to know God, and five (?) questions that help a person decide what they want to do with that information. I’m not into tricks and gimics, but this is a way of talking about the Bible that seems respectful of others but also enables me to share the objective information that I think can change his or her life.

More soon on those questions and verses, but I just want to say today that I’m glad for this woman and the way God used her to convince me to study this information. Sometimes I need a nudge.

I just finished reading a six-part series by David Rohde of the New York Times about the 7 months and 10 days he spent held captive by the Taliban. Fascinating. I'm sure you're busy, but you should find time for it.

One surprising tidbit is that I really felt like I could relate to his experience in some ways. I know that sounds ridiculous. He was a prisoner in Afghanistan, and I'm a missionary in Peru. They are worlds apart. Still, something about his much more severe culture shock strikes me as familiar.

Tonight I'm grateful for the media and the way it enriches my life. It's unlikely you'll hear that often, so savor it for a moment! And then find 30 minutes to read the article(s). You won't regret it.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

It was over a week ago that a woman on a short-term mission trip mentioned this verse in a meeting with the volunteers for the new Crisis Pregnancy Center in Pucallpa. It's stuck in my mind since then, making the rounds from one topic to another.

We joke with the Chapmans that we're "professional do-gooders," no clear vision but trying our best to help out however we can. We came to Peru with one plan (and a vision with goals and ideas), but the Lord had another one. I think we've been walking in step with Him as we've meandered through these twists and turns.

But what is the good we're doing here, and what is the harvest we hope to reap? My first thoughts of "harvest" have to do with new people coming into a relationship with the living God, but I think that view is probably too limited. "Harvest" could have to do with others, but it might just have to do with me, too. A harvest of character in my life.

I was weary for many months. As we approach another arrival-in-Peru anniversary, I'm looking back on a tough, exhausting, discouraging year. The last few weeks, however, have been different and new. I feel a fresh hope and enthusiasm for our work here, and a desire to make our last 6 months our best 6 months on the field.

Here's the article Tim and I just wrote about the Ashaninka Bible Institute he visited in Mazamari last month.

Did you notice the new photos? It only took me three and a half months! Life is so different here in Pucallpa, and  I don't find myself walking around with a camera as much as before. When I leave home, it's not walking a block to church; it's taking a mototaxi or collectivo into town, where I'm stared at, whistled at, yelled at, and generally observed. It just doesn't seem as practical or safe to have a big expensive camera around my neck.

Anyway, here it is: my first collection of Pucallpa photos. I think you'll definitely notice that the scenes are different from Puerto Supe. In addition to crazy downtown, I've included some photos of other common sights in our daily life-- jungle flora, the pool, SAM Academy, a few events, rain, neighbors, students, etc. Hope this helps you envision our life a little better!

Here's the article about the couples' retreat that I wrote for the SAM staff website. Let me add in a more personal way that it was super encouraging and a refreshing time for us individually and together!

Is it possible to love and cherish the same person for a lifetime, despite deeply rooted personal problems, a history of sinning against one another, cases of infidelity, unforgiveness, financial problems, bad in-laws, and other all-too-familiar crises? The overwhelming testimony from the Mil Palmeras couples' retreat is yes. 

More later on the awesome Mil Palmeras couples' retreat, but I just wanted to share one story. While most of the time I was struck by how much we had in common with the other retreaters (despite race and language), in a few moments I remembered that they're Latinos and we're not.

One of those was after we spent an hour writing letters to our spouses. When we regrouped, Julio asked for volunteers to read aloud the letters that they had received. Several volunteers divulged the contents of their super romantic, personal, and let me say very well-written love letters! If there had been a vote, Julio's letter to Olga surely would have won. It had me in tears.

Hey Toto, we're not in Charlotte anymore. No way in a million years would we ever have a part of a couples' retreat set aside for reading our love letters into a microphone. While my own secrets are still safely guarded, I will say that I loved hearing the letters, seeing the reactions they elicited, and celebrating with these brave couples their triumphant love.

Tim and I are attending the Mil Palmeras church Couples' Retreat this weekend and just got home from the first session. Tomorrow morning we and the other 19 couples will check into a local hotel for the remainder of the retreat.

We decided to attend the retreat for a number of reasons: to encourage us as we pursue a happier and holier marriage, to get to know other families from the church, to emerge from our solitary sphere and engage more in the world around us. I think it will be good for all those things.

Tonight the retreat speaker talked about singleness, specifically how our lives as single people prepared or didn't prepare us for the challenges of marriage and how we need to leave our singleness behind if we're going to have successful marriages. Two things stuck out to me.

First, we can use most seasons in our lives to prepare us for the next. Singleness is certainly that way, a time to grow in character before diving into such a close relationship. With that stage behind me, I'm thinking some about how I can be sure not to waste my current circumstances but rather take advantage of opportunities to grow and mature.

Second, we looked at Paul's comments in 1 Corinthians 7 about finding contentedness in your life stage, whatever it may be. If you can't be happy with what you have now, you're not likely to find happiness anywhere. That's some food for thought with marriage but also in any situation. If I can't be happy in Pucallpa, or in this job, or with this spouse, or with children, or without children, or whatever it may be, I'm probably not going to be happy when things change.

Lots to think about. Pray that Tim and I would be able to connect with other couples at this retreat but also that we would be encouraged and challenged as we hear God's words brought into our lives.

I realized this weekend that my activities have changed somewhat in the past month and that by now I'm just about limited to housework and 2 1/2 hrs a week of teaching at SAM Academy. Somehow that just doesn't fit with what I thought I was here to do, and while I recognize that my expectations don't always align with reality, I know I want to be out and about more, meeting people and engaging in Peruvian culture.

First solution? Join Minori at the gym. Yesterday we went to step aerobics, a class I never dreamed I'd attend. Less of a workout for me than others because I couldn't keep up with all the steps! It seemed like a neat gym, nonetheless, and I picked up a schedule of all the classes. At $1.35 per class, it's hard to go wrong.

Like a lunatic, I returned this morning at 6:30 am for spin class in the new air-conditioned studio. Good thing it was so early, because they didn't turn the air conditioning on and there were no fans! I never knew I could sweat that much. I looked like I had just gotten out of the pool or something. After 15 minutes, I gave up trying to follow the instructor and just sat down and attempted to keep my legs moving for the rest of the class. Whew!

My workouts have been a little less than encouraging, but I am happy to report that this morning while waiting for the instructor to arrive, I got to talk to another girl in the class (who happened to be at step aerobics yesterday as well). Since making new friends was my primary motivation for going to the gym, I considered it a big success! I'm not sure where all of this is going, but I'm glad to be getting out more.

Last week the Chiang's oldest daughter turned 15. 15 is of course a huge deal in Latin America and increasingly, in the US too. I learned that in Peru, the quinceañera (15th bday party) is usually something like a small wedding, complete with a big white dress, friends in matching fancy dresses (think bridesmaids), a daddy-daughter dance, and either an all out party or a church service, depending on whether you're an evangelical or not (I think you can imagine which is which).

The Chiangs (Limeño Peruvians and also SAM missionaries in Pucallpa) did this party a little differently, and although I missed out on seeing the traditional quinceañera, I imagine their version was way better. Saturday night I got to attend their daughter's outdoor luau, complete with leis for everyone, Julio's special pisco sours, candles all over, and a lot of hawaiian shirts. Super fun.

Like any good Peruvian party, it involved some ceremony, but instead of leaving me bored, this one had me nearly in tears. The 95-year-old great-grandfather's speech was pretty awesome, but it was Pastor Dad's words that had me really. It was clear to me all of the sudden that the party wasn't about the party but about a rite of passage, walking through the door of adulthood with his daughter, and celebrating the person she is and will be.

In many ways, this was the wedding before the wedding, and the party marked the beginning of her life as a single woman and not a child. My favorite part was when her dad gave her a ring to mark the pact she had made before God, him, and others to save herself for marriage. The next ring she gets will mark another ceremony, another rite of passage, another man who will commit to protect, love, and care for her always. These two ceremonies will cap an important and challenging season in her life, and one I think she will live well.

I'm grateful that we had the opportunity to peek in on this intimate family moment, which of course was also meant to be celebrated in the presence of friends and family. Seeing this family makes me want to be a good mom someday, and I know I'm going to need a lot of input. I'm glad to be here in Pucallpa, living in close contact with parents and families that I respect and admire. I have so much to learn about what it means to raise children well, and in particular, to raise them to love God with all their heart, mind, body and soul. Good thing I've got friends walking that road before me.

Our neighbors took us out this afternoon for our first real pachamanca. Tasty! It's a dish cooked under ground in a clay pot for several hours on hot stones. It usually has all kinds of different meat in it. I had chicken, and Tim had some kind of pork that was fried after it was cooked in the pachamanca. Yum.

Beyond the awesome pachamanca, hanging out with this family seemed so perfect today. It's the first time we've really connected as friends with non-churchy people since we've moved to Peru. I love our missionary community, but I'm glad to have a fun, normal afternoon with new friends, too!

Here's our newly updated bedroom, still scary but now multipurposed. With the addition of the air conditioner, we decided we'd better put desks in here. As you can see, it's a tight fit.

White plastic chairs? I know. So tacky. But it's very difficult to find comfortable chairs that aren't $50/each or more. This is the best option for 7 months I think.

So anyway, this is what a college dorm room would look like for married people. Now you know.

Yesterday I didn't have lunch ready in time before we had to go teach our classes, so I threw together a mango-black bean salad to tide us over with some protein. It turned out to be, in Tim's words, one of the best salads we've ever had. Freshly cooked and slightly salted black beans, a perfectly ripe mango at the height of mango season, an olive oil/ lemon juice dressing, and pepper. Deeelish. Definitely going to repeat it before all the mangoes are gone for the season.