Peru in the Springtime, or Autumn for you guys!

Hi Everyone!

Here's what's going on.

Last week Tapacocha had their Spring Festival. A little strange since we're used to going into Autumn this time of year. Haha! It was a fun day of games and sports. They had a mummy wrapping contest with toilet paper, a best food contest( Are you hungry for some guinea pig? Pretty good looking, huh?), a potato sack race, and even a guinea pig race. Zeke was part of the fastest eater contest, but lost by one bite.

We're really getting to know the people here better. What seems to work the best in Tapacocha is going into the people's homes and bringing the Bible studies to them. There are two families we've picked out to focus on, but even though we're putting extra effort into them, we're still reaching out to the whole village by having an open Bible study in the evenings, once or twice a week and getting together with the youth whenever possible.

One of the families we're focusing on is the family of our much loved friend, Francisca. I first meet Francisca in May when our team came to Tapacocha. Right away she was very welcoming and friendly to us. She and her daughter in law, Claudia, own and run the only restaurant in town. Now, we go to their house a couple times a week for lunch or dinner and have gotten very close to the whole family. They are the most supportive of our work here and treat us like their own children. We've had 2-3 Bible studies with just Francisca and Claudia, and one with Claudia and her husband, Lucho. (Francisca's son) Francisca's husband is mostly deaf and can't be a part of our studies, but he spends a lot of time reading the Bible. All have professed to be Evangelical Christians, and Lucho and Claudia even asked us how they could teach their children, Jack and Jesus, the truths of the Bible to counter the religious teachings in the school. So, they seem to be on the right track, and want to learn more. Only thing is, Lucho drinks (I'm not sure if any more of the family does or not). He says he knows he should quit, but we showed up to have Bible study with him one day and he was sleeping off a hangover. We had a good Bible study with just Claudia, though, and I taught her some Bible stories to teach her kids. Please pray for the whole family, that they will see the truth, want the truth, and choose to live for Christ in their daily lives.

The other family that we're focusing on is the family of one of our favorite kids in Tapacocha. Anyone who has ever been on any of our trips to Tapacocha knows Pablo, the little boy who constantly hangs around and wants to follow you everywhere. Since coming here in August we got to know his older brother and sister pretty well and eventually their parents. The whole family is very nice. We go over to their house a couple nights a week to play chess, tell jokes and play guitar. Most of our time with them has been relationship building. We've just begun to add spiritual conversations to our time with them. And just this past week we went to their field to help harvest wheat. It's so cool how they do everything by hand. They use a sickle to cut the wheat, then pile it up and have a horse walk over and over it until the wheat separates from the stalk. Then they use a pitchfork to toss the wheat up in the air and let the wind carry the chaff away. Finally, after hours and hours of work they gather up all the grains of wheat and take it back home. Its amazing how many dishes they can make out of wheat! So, please pray for Layo, Alipia, and their children, Elicel, Ester, and Pablo.

Tomorrow, Zeke and I get to meet several of the missionaries serving in this part of Peru. They're having a going away party for one of the missionaries who's term is ending and a welcoming party for three new missionary families. We're having hamburgers(Yippee!) and I'm going to try and bake cookies for the occasion.

Next week is the anniversary of the school, so that will be a three day party. Most of it will be music, dancing, and drinking, so pray everyone stays safe.

We only have a little more than six weeks before we'll be coming home. Please pray that God uses the rest of our time here to make a lasting impact on this village. I'm excited about coming home to family and friends and going back to our awesome church, but I will definately miss Tapacocha.

So, in conclusion, I think everything is moving along and there have been many good things come from Zeke and I being able to stay this long, but I believe our church won't be done in Tapacocha by November. In the future, I can see Francisca's family being the spiritual leaders in Tapacocha, inviting people to their nice big room for Bible studies, with Pablo's family a strong leadership support. Pray that God has His way in everything that we do, so that in the end He gets the most glory from this little village on top of a mountain. Praise God!

This is important! Jk!

Hey Peeps,

I've run out of time to give a detailed report of our past 2 weeks, since its after midnight and we leave for Tapacocha in the morning, but we'll be back in Huaraz on the 26th and I'll post pictures and write out a full account of our adventures at that time.

The most important thing you need to know is that you can make a pizza without an oven. If you have any questions on how this can be accomplished, just ask, and I'll be glad to show you.

All for Him,
Zeke and Joy :)

Update

Well, we've only been gone a week, but a lot has happened in that short amount of time. We were supposed to come back to Huaraz on the 10th to exchange translators, but Mijail agreed to stay with us until the 17th, so we came back for more supplies.

Mijail brought his guitar with him. He and Zeke have been playing all the songs we do at LifePoint Church. It's great! We also learned how to sing Tomalo (Take it All, by Hillsong, in Spanish) We're working on learning One Way in Spanish next.

Last Friday we had a Bible Study with the vice mayor, Franklin and his girlfriend, Flor. It really opened our eyes to how little these people know about God and the Bible in general. We gave them each a Bible in Spanish and marked some good places for them to start reading. I'm told that the average Peruvian doesn't like to read, so pray that God puts a hunger in these people's hearts to read His Word.

Last Sunday we took a cake to the clinic for Doctor Jose's birthday. He turned 25. None of his family were able to come, because of a sick grandmother. Doctor Cynthia, a good friend of Jose's, traveled 4 hours to visit him for his birthday. She made lunch for us and we spent 8 hours at the clinic talking to Jose' and Cynthia. A lot of our conversation was centered around God and the Bible. We were very encouraged by their questions and were able to point out some Bible verses to help them. Pray for Doctor Cynthia. She's a young woman, working in the small village of Paraden, without any family, friends, or spiritual leadership.

We had a group Bible Study, this past Tuesday with 5 people from the village. We 're still trying to figure out the best time to meet, so the most amount of people are able to attend. Please pray that many people will be interested in God's Word and that nothing will hinder them from coming.

Wednesday was interesting. A drunk guy got mad at the mayor, grabbed another man's cane and kept waving it around, threatening people. With no police around the only thing the people could do was close all their doors and stay away from him. Alcoholism is a major problem in Tapacocha. Whenever we talk with the older women in the village their greatest worry is that their children/grandchildren will start drinking when they turn 18. Pray that God will flood Tapacocha with His Spirit and the people will no longer have the desire to drink alcohol constantly.

Also pray that God will keep all evil out of Tapacocha. We've been told by the doctors that the people sometimes go to witch doctors. Please pray that they will stay out of Tapacocha and away from the people here.

While visiting one of our favorite women in the village, Francisca, we found her husband, who is deaf, reading one of the Spanish Bibles we gave them. That was a thrill! He told us he wants to read the whole thing and then ask us questions about it. We're planning on going back to visit them and hopefully study the Bible with the whole family.

To end this update on a lighter note, I would like to inform you all that Zeke and I had the pleasure of tasting one of Peru's greatest delicacies, Cuy. Aka Guinea Pig. (Apologies to any of you that keep them as pets.) We thought it tasted pretty good until Zeke looked closer to find he was eating the mouth, teeth still attached!

God has set His heart on Tapacocha and we plan on loving them with everything we've got these next few months. We love you guys and are very grateful for all your prayers.

Joy and Zeke