After about 2 years, I thought I'd finally make some changes to the appearance of our blog.  Unfortunately, there may still be some kinks in the template I'm using but hopefully they'll be fixed soon.  So bear with us if something seems out of place.

If you're interested in going beyond the standard templates as well, check out http://btemplates.com/.  Some of them may be a bit complicated to use, but they're fun to play around with all the same.

This week's homework for our discipleship course involves taking a spiritual gifts test. As we tried to explain how to read each question and then put 0-3 in the appropriate box, we realized that people weren't understanding the directions at all. We scheduled a separate night (last night) to help people with the test.

I knit a sweater! Who knew it could be so easy? I intentionally knit it for a 4 yr old I know and not for myself so that it would go more quickly, but I am now inspired to try grown-up sizes some time in the near future. Today was cool and crisp, but with yummy sweaters on the way, I'm a little less scared of the coming winter.

Most of the pain in my life over the past year and a half has been from culture shock, not digestive problems. It comes and goes, manifesting itself in all different ways and different strengths. In the past couple of months, I have been acutely sensitive about sound. 

1. Take the bus 1 hr to the "local" phone company office.

2. Take a taxi to the town next door and pay at the bank. They'll transfer your payment for free.

3. Do it all online from your house with the bank's online billpay.

The problem is that to use the online features at our Peruvian bank right now, you need to have a new USB key thing. We have tried half a dozen times to acquire said USB key. The last time we tried, we were informed that the bank is out of the things nation-wide and more are being ordered from the US. Meanwhile it's been at least a month since we've been able to use online bill-pay.

The other problem is that when we went to the bank recently, they couldn't find any record that we owed the phone company money. No bill to pay.

That was apparently an error, because our phone and internet were cut off yesterday. Suprise! Tim is off to the town next door to try the bank method again. If that doesn't work, he'll hop on the bus to go to the phone company's office. Oh boy.

I'm glad Grace and Cesar have wireless internet and are willing to share it with me, but I'm still putting off longer emails for a few days I think. If you need me, send me an email and be patient. We have no phone access (home or skype) until this gets resolved.

Do you know about the Flat Stanley Project? The girl I was a nanny for in 2003-2004 is now in first grade and just sent her Flat Stanley to us for a Peruvian vacation! We are excited about taking him to the market tomorrow. Here's his trip to the corner store. 

My first successful non-rectangle knitting project! It was quick (a few hours) and so much easier than I ever dreamed. You can all be expecting hats for Christmas. 

"Homework Hour" was so outlandish today that I was just itching to get home and tell you about it....

The first day I went to my illiterate friend's house to do our homework together, another woman also showed up. I didn't mention it in my last post, but there have been three of us gathering every day at 3. My initial thought was that since the third woman also knows how to read, I was unnecessary. Nonetheless, since I had committed to come every day this week, I'm sticking with it. I'm glad.

One of the changes we're pushing in this second level of our discipleship course is homework. It's pretty minimal, but it involves a daily Bible reading, praying for the members of your small group, and a few reflection exercises on the previous lesson. We're hopeful that the extra investment will reap extra growth.

It's 10:16 and feels like at least 1 am. What a day! Our friends John and Heather Chapman, along with their 3 month old, 2.5 yr old, and 4 yr old kids, arrived just in time for lunch. We had a full afternoon and a full house. The two dogs (Ellie at 120? lbs) and the visiting cat certainly added to the craziness.

Tim just recounted to me a conversation with a friend (from earlier tonight) that leaves me jolted, uncomfortable, disturbed on a deep level. Why do these things affect me so much? Not sure, but I sense my sleep tonight-- if and when I get there-- will not be peaceful.

It was the guy with the verse in the window again. As Tim talked to him about that particular verse in fact, it came out that the guy believes that every time you sin, you are cut off from God until you confess that sin. If you die with any unconfessed sin, you will spend eternity away from God.

The discussion left Tim baffled and sent him studying. I, on the other hand, am just shaken and very very sad. I'm too tired right now (and discouraged... and sad...) to write all the reasons I 1) disagree with this guy and 2) think this is a significant, foundational, gospel-undermining problem. If you're curious, ask me another day.

For all you apologetics types, I'm sure Tim can handle this question on his own but equally sure he would be happy to receive help. Leave a comment or send us an email.

As I write, I'm smiling to the lyrics of a new-to-me hymn playing on my iTunes:

Jesus paid it all

All to Him I owe

Sin had left a crimson stain

He washed it white as snow  

So deeply grateful for grace tonight.

Tim is making profiles for all the SAM ministries in Peru. Here's a sweet photo he got for the missionary kid school in Pucallpa. So 80s in a vintage, classic way! Just loved the picture and wanted to share it :-)

We're in Lima for one night, partly to pick up my passport with its new visa stamp and partly to hang out with our friend David before he leaves for 4 months in the US. We went out to the most amazing restaurant (La Bodega de la Trattoria)-- a casual sister to our former favorite restaurant (La Trattoria di Mambrino), now deposed as king. 

Anyway, the highlight of the night wasn't the food; it was the friend. As I look backwards and forwards, I see God is surrounding us with connection-- Jeff Orcutt and then my mom and brother visiting in December, the Listros visiting in January, my dad coming in February, JJ and Amber coming up to Puerto for a weekend in February, hanging out with them and the Chapmans when we were in seminary, SAM conference in March, seeing David before his furlough, and the Chapmans coming for an extended Easter weekend.

Loneliness is one of our greatest battles here, but these last few months I feel like we've been winning. I'm glad the Cubases are back in Puerto Supe, for one. I'm grateful also to our friends for giving their time and energy to visit us (or at least let us visit them!) but even more to God, who I am convinced is orchestrating this all. I know we can't do this alone. He does too.

From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16

I picked up a big box of books from the post office today-- almost all marriage books we ordered from Amazon three weeks ago. Tim and I are devoting the next how-ever-many-months-it-takes to reading books and listening to tapes and watching videos on marriage, discussing what we learn, and putting good principles into practice in our lives. 

Today:

I love routine. My routine seems to change every month or two, but that feels good, too.

Did you know that people here don't sing "Feliz Cumpleaños"? They sing our English version, but with their own accent so that it comes out "Hoppy Bethday." There's a round going on across the street right now. 

I've spent much of the last two weeks praying about my desire to mentor women in Puerto Supe and asking God for direction about how to flesh that out. It's funny how much the idea has changed during that time. I'm grateful for the way God has reshaped "my plan" and I hope it now reflects "His plan" more closely. 

This is now my second batch of bagels since Monday. I'm still working out a few of the kinks but they're tasty! My first batch were huge, about 6 inches in diameter, so I made these half the size. What kind are they do you ask? plain, onion, chocolate chip and cinnamon-raisin.

They're actually not that hard to make, I just run into a few problems getting the water to boil and the oven won't cook hot enough...you learn to live with it.

Creativity in cooking is a real low point around here (in my opinion). They have their recipes and they don't alter them ever. If you add carrot to fried rice, it's no longer fried rice. It needs a new name.

We just got home from a short (24 hrs) trip to Lima. Ellie definitely gave me a look as I left. The whole purpose was to 1) pick up my new (renewed) passport at the Embassy and 2) drop it off at the paper-pushers who will get my Peruvian visa stamp transfered to the new one.