Birds for Breakfast, Flowers for brunch and Pick-Pockets for Lunch!

February 14th, 2008

Well this morning Mike came downstairs and there was a bird in our kitchen.  It was trapped and trying to get out, so Mike let it free.  There is tons of new wildlife here for us to observe.  The kids are really enjoying the news birds and flowers they see and the experience of climbing “mountains” (really, high hills) with the panoramic picture of the Andean mountain chain in the background.  We are picking new flowers most days and have them in our home.  That is the fun and beautiful part of living here. 

It is a hard life though.  It takes tons of work, just to gather food to eat here.  Cleaning is literally a full time job. You have to think well in advance of everything you do, definitely no drive-threws (sp?) here if you are hungry.  I have so much respect for the Styrons and the Williams who have sacrificed everything to live here among these beautiful people proclaiming the goodness of the kingdom of God and the life of following Jesus.  It is slow, unseen, hard work in any culture, but I think especially challenging when you add in the language barrier.  God is good and He is moving, so when you think of it please pray for our dear family in Peru who work hard and long with little thanks or acknowledgment. (That is the way of Jesus though isn’t it?)

Not to mention, the other day, as 24 of us sat down to eat lunch together in a small, quiet seemingly friendly spot, Grace got her purse stolen right in front of all of us.  I was trying to process what was happening, while she and a few others were up and running after the little, daring, punk.  Grace is 10 and speaks fluent Spanish and English and living in Peru is almost all she knows.  All her favorite birthday things, and special ten year old girl things were in there, including her birthday ipod from her grandparents.  So sad.  I just hugged her, and then a worship circle member gave her his ipod and she was blessed by God’s provision. 

At every table here, they have leather cords with little snap hooks on the end, so you can chain your purse to the table, so it wont’ be stolen, hopefully. Our friend Lucy had her pocket cut open when a man with a knife tried to steal her cell phone.  She fought him off.  Our friends, The Morgans (seriously cool people who I will introduce you to later) were jumped by 7 people trying to steal some of their legal documents and other items.  They fought them off too.  Although they say it was the Angels who did it for them. The week before we arrived, 3 different missionaries where kidnapped in Tekos, and accosted to get there money. 

So we are careful here.  We always travel together as a family and only take “approved” tekos and I don’t carry a purse.  If I would of thought about it enough, I wouldn’t of worn my wedding ring, but I just never take it off so I forgot about it.  It is very modest, but here it seems like royalty.  So keep praying for us.  The conference is underway and very fruitful so far.  New, deep, life-long, kingdom relationships are being formed that will be nurtured for eternity.  Despite the hardness of this trip, it is a beautiful thing

Entry Filed under: Simple Faith, International Travel, Family, Life