Author: qosqo1

We have now been in Peru again for almost a week and a half!  It has been exciting being back.  We have the house all back in order and are trying to get into some type of routine again. All the family seems to be adjusting nicely.  Natali and Neomi started their school work again this week (not sure if they were happy about that or not). Rebecca has her kitchen all in order and I am enjoying the home cooked meals!  It has been neat for us to see a lot of the changes throughout the city, as well as, a lot of things that have stayed the same. Overall cost of living has risen across the board with groceries, gas and housing having gone up. There is road construction going on throughout the city. Depending on where you turn a road could/could not be closed. We have enjoyed seeing a lot of our old friends at the super markets and markets that we frequent. We also have some modern conveniences like a Maestro Homecenter (like a Lowe’s or Home Depot), which I have already visited 3 times. It is wonderful to be able to go to one store and get everything you need.  We also have a Starbucks and a KFC downtown to give us a taste of the U.S., if we are missing it.  The city of Cusco seems to be  growing and there are a lot more cars on the road.  I have noticed that I need not get in a hurry when driving because the roads are more congested.  We have been driving around the city and looking for potential places to start a church.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers!

We made it back to Cusco on Wednesday the 1st of February!  Our flight left Cincinnati at 11:20 a.m. on the 31st of January.  It was hard saying “good-bye” after 13 months in the U.S. and it was especially hard on Natali and Neomi.  After about an hour or so they cheered up.

 We praise the Lord we made it to Lima (eventually Cusco) with all 10 of our bags. It was a long night in the Lima airport. Natali and Neomi hardly slept and Becca and I took turns watching all the bags, so we didn’t sleep either.  Both girls got sick from the long night and no sleep, but they are both doing better now. Since we’ve been back it’s been a whirlwind of activity trying to get things back in order.  We have all our bags unpacked and now we are trying to get the rest of the house unpacked.  We have internet and telephone again so that makes us feel more in touch with our families.  We have also been able to see many of our friends both missionaries and Peruvians – that has really helped. What a difference it was coming back to Peru this time from almost 7 years ago.  We already know Spanish, we know the culture,  we already have a furnished house, and we have many friends.  Pray for us as we seek out God’s will for a new church plant!

We have been celebrating birthdays lately.  Rebecca’s Grandma celebrated her 87th birthday on the 15th of January and then I celebrated my 31st on the 18th of January (I have a long way to go to catch up to Grandma).  I was able to celebrate with my twin brother, which was special since we had not celebrated together in several years.  We also got to celebrate with a cousin we call our “triplet” because she was born on the same day and year as us – just 12 hours later!

We actually celebrated a couple of different times!  Good thing I like cake and ice cream! The Lord has blessed me so much in the first 23 days of this year!  Just to be with family is a blessing we often take for granted.

The Lord has blessed us tremendously this past week.  Of course we are always blessed just to have another day to serve Him, but above and beyond that it has been a blessed week.  Most of you know that I broke my wrist a while back and that we do not have insurance. We have been waiting for bills to start coming in and we have received doctors and anesthesiologist bills but nothing from the e.r. or hospital.  I called them this week to find out where the bills were.  They proceeded to tell me that 100% of my e.r. and hospital bill was covered by the hospital under the HCAP.  Needless to say that was a wonderful answer to prayer!  Thank the Lord!  

Also, the Grace Missionary Baptist Church sent us another love offering to help with our plane tickets! This too was a great answer to pray.  The Lord continues to provide for us as only He can.  Thank you all for your prayers.  We are excited to be returning to Peru in just over a week!

We are praising the Lord for 2 new churches partnering with us.  The Purity Baptist Church (Maysville, Ky.) and the Bible Baptist Church (Fairfield, Ohio) have both taken us on for monthly support!  This is such an answer to prayer, not only to have two new churches partner with us but their support puts us at a little over 100% of what we were trying to raise this year on furlough!  The Lord has answered our prayers!  Thank you all who have been praying with us for these things as well.