One man's trash is another man's church property.

I found out the other day that the property used to be a landfill. That finally expalins all of the garbage we found about a foot below the surface. I tell you one thing, diapers are murder to dig through.

A little about the food. I love it for the most part. A few things have been interesting. I eat Peruvian food for lunch every day. The school cook, Ruth, sends it out to me with lunches for other workers. She is awesome. Every meal consists of rice, a little protein, and a salad, and then a drink. The protein is almost always chicken or fish. Occasionaly beef. The salalds here are one of four things: lettuce and tomato, diced onion, diced radish, or diced onion with diced relish. Same salad dressing all of the time, lemon juice. It's actually more of a marinade than dressing. I hate onions, but in the citrus marinade, they don't even taste like onions. Some other things I've had here are a tamale type thing with beef and hardboiled egg inside and a dish called ceviche, which is raw fish marinated with onion in citrus juice. The drinks here are always hot. And with sugar. Peruvians have a huge sweet tooth. They never (yes never) drink straight water. Evne at the school where the water is clean and drinkable. Water mixed drinks are always hot and things like pop are always room temperature. They don't even refrigerate milk. They freak when I put ice in my drinks. It cracks me up. I always take a frozen water bottle out to the workplace and they make fun of me everyday. Such a foregin idea. The main water mix drinks are tea, lemonade, and chicha. i love chicha. It is boiled purple corn with a little sugar. I usually have to drink it hot, but Ruth puts ice in mine sometimes and it is great.

Building update: We started laying brick today on the main wall. yay. We have the foundation poured on the front and one side of the main property. The footers are poured on the back and other side, but we are waiting until we have more rebar to tie into columns to pour the foundation there. We also have some trenches dug inside the property that will become bases for the sactuary and kitchen/bakery. We have a new formeman named Alex. Oscar still works with us and there were no hard feelings, because Alex is far more experienced. Work now is sailing along. With Alex's organization, it seems like the work days are much easier, but we accomplish so much. Of course they may also seem easier because I am building strength and endurance.

I hurt my hip a couple weeks ago and tried working through the pain for a week. A couple days ago they noticed it hindering my ability to work and made me take a day off. It is much much better now, but could still use some prayers. I think it is just some inflamation from doing work it is not used to. Thanks for your prayers on everything so far.

Latest News

The kids at VBS at my home church decided that they wanted to donate their offerings this year to the Peru Project. We very rarely hit $200 at our VBS's, but this year they raised $600! I am so amazed. I found out yesterday that we got a new foreman. Oscar is going to keep working with us, but some guy named Alex is taking over on Monday. That may prove to be an awkward day, so pray for that. I am glad Oscar is sticking around, because I like him a lot. He is a lot of fun. Kind of a quirky 43 year old man. They call him Tigre here (tiger) because he is a really hard, fast worker. Of course comparitively, he isn't that small here, but to me he seems small and mighty. Everyone around here is around 5 feet tall. I try to tell them that in the US I am average, but they don't believe me. I am an inch or two taller than Ken, so they think I am so tall. Everywhere we go everyone stops to stare at the tall gringo.

Building is coming along. We didn't do much else than dig more foundation trenches this past week. Supposedly, we start brickwork next week. I'll let you know how that goes.

Pray for us

Hey everyone. Most important updates: we are thinking about purchasing a small plot of land next to the current one to serve as a breakfast program, Ken is looking at starting a partnership with the Church of God schools in Chepen and some other town which would be awesome but needs prayer, and we need prayer for funds to continue the project. We have a little over half of the original estimate, but it will require more because of the bigger land. Not a big need, but keep it in your prayers. Also, LACF is looking for sponsors for children. If you are at all interested, please visit lacf.org for more information. I will write with more updates as they come.

Just an update

Things are going well. We have started ppouring cement and working on the first inside walls for the classrooms. We have also decided to buy a plot of land next to the church that will serve as a kitchen and dining room for a breakfast program. There will be food and devotions there in the mornings and it will hopefully help in building the congregation.

I got to spend some time with the Birons (the missionary family) last night. We went into Chiclayo to a mall and I had Pizza Hut pizza. Didn't taste the pizza hut I know and love, but it was still a good change. The kids were fun and it was nice to get out.

I am still working on adjusting to lifestyle changes. Things like dusting and sweeping every day because of all of the sand get old, but when I slack I pay. I also haven't gotten used to having to hang my clothes outside. Never thought I would miss something like a dryer. The construction is still moving along well and I pray we will be able to get a substantial amount done this summer. Or winter. Depending on what country you are in. We are moving along and will get some help from work camps, but I don't know if where we are is good or bad from here. It is slow for me because of the lack of technology and power tools, so I can't really understand how progress is really going. We do have official architects plans for the church and everything now and it is pretty cool. I am going to try and see if I can get it online somehow. The temple (or sanctuary) is curved and in one corner and the benches are going to be set up from the stage to look like sun rays. At least that's the concept. Then we will have 2 stories with 3 classrooms each in another section, bathrooms and a small patio area. The original donated plot is going to eventually be a parsonage and then the purchased land for the breakfast program. I will update more when I know more.

Construction update

Oscar, our foreman, is really cool and I love working with him. We also have an 18 year old kid named Alex (called Chino) and a 16 year old named Gokey who help. The future pasotr of the church, Walter, helps out when he can. We also have the help of a man who lives out there named Juan Carlos. The first few days were rough. We had to dig out the foundation trenches by pick and shovel and it took two days to get about 3/4 finished. And we still haven't dug out the rest yet. We had other help then whcih was nice because Brittany and I have never been that sore in our lives. She made it home all right by the way. We then made rebar columns and spent the last 2 days pouring concrete footers. We have to mix the concrete my hand on the ground and wheelbarrel it to the trench. Backbreaking work, but I am building muscle and endurance. It's great. God is good and continues to bless us and I will let you know more later.

I have an internet connection?

Hey everyone. Things are going well so far. I feel lonely sometimes and miss America, but I am loving it. We got even more land donated!!! God is so good. We work from 7:30 to 5:30 every day and it gets dark at 6:30, so I don't do much else than work other than on weekends. It is really rough, but I am building muscles and endurance and enjoy the guys I work with. Spanish is coming along really well. I understand way more than I ever thought I would, but speaking is still slow. I get stared at everywhere because I tower over everyone and I am a gringo. Making a lot of friends. Ken's family is really welcoming. Continue to read, because I will keep updating at things come along. Oh, by the way. We have rebar columns up and footer poured (by hand) for two sides of the wall that will protect the property.