Today I had two women crying on my couch and one practically jumping out of her skin with joy (none of these at the same time). A mounting debt, an impossible family situation, and a fabulous new job. At least it's not boring around here.

Please pray that we would be filled with the Holy Spirit as we strive to minister to our friends and neighbors with wisdom, love, grace and humility. I'm not sure I've ever felt so inadequate or so blessed in my work.

Yesterdays strawberry pie pockets were a bit of a disaster. I tried it again today incorporating a few changes and it was a great success. Mom I even figured out the secret to the flaky crust. Due to Mary's request I thought I'd share the recipe.

Pye Pockets (for 6): (peruvian spelling)

Fruit Filling:
2 cups of sliced/chopped fruit (strawberry, apple, peach, blueberry, etc)
1/2 cup of sugar
2 Tbsp of flour
2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp all spice and/or cardamon (optional, but great for sweet fruit)

Combine all ingredients together and let sit for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally till the juice/sugar form a syrup.

Dough: (you can use whatever pie dough you normally use)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter (as cold as possible)
pinch of salt
1 tsp sugar (optional)
2-5 Tbsp of ICE cold water (this means put ice in it)

Combine sugar, salt and flour. Cut the butter into little pieces and add it to the flour. With your fingers, mix the flour and butter till it small pea size balls form (if you've never done this before, it is kind of a combination of squeezing and pinching the butter pieces to blend them with the flour). One Tbsp at a time, drizzle the cold water over the mixture and stir it with a fork until you can easily form a ball with the dough. Chill for 5-10 minutes. (If you chill the dough for longer and it is hard when you take it out, let it sit in room temperature for a little bit to soften).

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Divide the dough into 6 equal balls. Using plenty of flour roll them into approximately 6 inch discs (if your discs are more like squares that's fine just fold it along the diagonal and people will find it more exotic). Becareful not to roll them out to big or the dough will be too thin.

The topic of other religions surfaced in a discussion Sunday night. They want to know what we think and what the Bible says about how people get to God, and if it's possible that maybe we're all worshipping the same God in various ways. A good question, really. We tried to answer it not from our instincts or opinions, but looking at verses in the Bible (since we claim that the Bible is the authority in our lives). I think it's important not to teach "doctrine" (as in "you must believe what I say") but to show people what the Bible says and let them make their own interpretations and judgments.

Anyway, the real point of mentioning this was to share the humor that when they said "other religions," they meant Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormons. Other than atheism or agnosticism, those are your options.

... about our life here in Peru.

• our puppies
• affordability of red peppers, mangos and avocados 
• our house (who would have ever seen that coming?!)
• sleeping in past 6
• having a housekeeper 
• my super job
• living in a small town, slowing down
• walking everywhere
• the beach
• improving my Spanish
• mild seasons
• the daily cultural suprises
• exploring a new continent
• distance from commercialism

• Access to legal movies (not pirated copies)
• The public library, for free legal movies and also feeding my voracious reading appetite
• Spending time with friends (probably more than anything else)
• Eating out, from Starbucks on up
• Green
• Window shopping
• King of Kings (my church)
• Plaza Midwood (my neighborhood)
• Tim being able to bring me home a DQ Blizzard or Mr. Goodbar or something
• having "working hours"
• Josh and Molly (I'd say Vivy, but it's hard to miss what you never really had, right?)
• big bookstores and their coffee shops
• Panang curry
• Decent white wine (and better)
• Living in the same state as my mom
• DeBordieu and Little Diamond Island

Now that I've started it seems like I could go on forever. At the same time, I keep looking around and thinking of lots of things to put on my "things I will miss if we move back" list. Maybe I'll tackle that tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm going to relish a few romanticized memories of NC.

I'm feeling a little better today, probably in part because I had nothing to do (a beautiful feeling, I must say). In my lounging this afternoon, I stumbled across these two blogs you might enjoy.

Twenty Two Words- Abraham Piper's "experiment in getting to the point" as he addresses faith, culture, parenting, and anything else that comes to mind.

Smitten Photography- Got here through the Slate's blog (friends and missionaries in Ireland), but ended up watching wedding photo slideshows of a couple of people I met in Davidson and Charlotte! Beautiful images of families, couples, babies, etc.

Tim weighed Ellie today (not an easy task). She's 60-65 lbs, about half her adult weight.

I've been sick since Tuesday. I kind of wonder if God isn't keeping me incapacitated for my own good. Today I've barely left the bed.

Tim is running Alpha solo tonight. The topic is "How can I resist evil?" I think it will be a poignant message for two reasons. One is that I think we have several new believers in our group who I'd guess are dealing with this issue of temptation and spiritual warfare. The other is that I've had some interesting conversations this week about superstitions and witchcraft. It's real here. I promise.

Yesterday I led Sierra's Bible study for the first time. We looked at John 1 and got into what is the difference between the law of Moses and the grace of Jesus. The big question they all had was "Does God punish people for doing bad things?" In a legalistic culture like this, it was exciting to share with them that if they have put their faith in Jesus' work on the cross, their debt has already been paid-- past, present, and future. They don't have to wonder if their cold is punishment for the lie they told this morning. They don't have to fear God in that sense. Perfect love casts out their fear.

My "anonymous friends" (Al-Anon women) took me out for a birthday dinner last night. It was a sweet gift. I appreciate having a place in my life where I'm not a leader, and they're a generally jolly group.

For 7 or 8 years I have been dreaming about coming to a Spanish-speaking country to help people connect with God. For me, that begins with understanding the offer and opportunity we have through Jesus, but it's more than just a decision to change. There's a process of growing spiritually, learning to lead and serve, and passing on what you love to others. Lots of people have recognized that process before and have named it a few different ways. The two main ones I've heard are Evangelize/Establish/Equip/Export (Campus Outreach) and Membership/Maturity/Ministry/Missions (Saddleback Church). They're the same thing with different words.

Anyway, I came here with the desire to help people grow in those areas, and this week I dreamed up a potential plan for addressing that. In some ways, we are already working on Step 1 (Evangelize/Membership) through the Alpha Course. I think our team would like to make a specific 4- week class, though, to work people through clarifying what Jesus is all about (what it means to follow Christ), the difference between works (good deeds) and faith, what Christ-followers believe, and what Christ-followers do (spiritual disciplines like prayer and service). We would like to make a plan for that class in the next month or two and then run the "class" twice before the new year. Because it is the introduction, we want it to be fairly low-committment and accessible for anyone.

This week I have been working on a plan for part 2, which I am super excited about. My hope is that in January, we could offer it to people who have been through the intro course and that the four of us (Cesar, Grace, Tim and me) would teach the course and connect one-on-one with each participant. Grace has already written (in Spanish) a study booklet on this part 2, and I'm excited to use it. Anyway, click here to check out the "syllabus" if you're interested.

Have you been around anyone with new faith recently? It's so refreshing! Our neighbor that has recently turned from drugs to God helped Tim paint today (volunteered in fact). He was bemoaning the problems of Puerto Supe, so Tim asked him what ideas he had for change. Our neighbor said that the men of Puerto need to change, which is so obvious it's funny but also precious. He said they need to turn to God, that he's been inviting his friends to come to Alpha, and that so far they feel nervous. I wonder how much he's told them about what's going on in his life. Anyway, we're hoping that some of his friends come to the next Alpha Course (starting sometime in September) and that our neighbor will be a helper on the course.

We are exhausted.

There was our trip to Lima a week and a half ago, always fun but resulting in some piling up of undone work. Because of it, I missed my lay-around-and-do-nothing-but-recover Monday. Then there was my birthday (last Tuesday), which ended up being a long day of cooking. Thursday was Sierra's nutty going-away party. Friday was crying about Sierra leaving and then the South America Mission Summer Team arriving. The weekend was a blur of Summer Team stuff (particularly for Tim- heading up meals and preparing for them to paint) and Alpha Retreat. Since the weekend, Tim has spent the week finishing the painting work. With the Summer Team here, I missed my Monday again. I think because of that, the "normal" week I'm having feels absolutely not normal. We've been physically and emotionally exhausted, and I've been feeling sick over the last two days. When I think about the work I need to do between this moment and my next Monday, I think I might faint. And yet it's important stuff. I don't want to let go.

What's the answer? Maybe my body is telling me. I'm not sure. At least if you're actually sick, you have to take a "sick day" no matter what's on your schedule. Perhaps you should pray I get sicker (just kidding!!). Anyway, if you pray, pray for us.