Greetings from Peru, May 25, 2010 We spent the night Sunday sleeping in the floor of the Lima airport, but we made it to Arequipa, Peru on Monday morning. We checked in at the language and went home in a taxi with our host family. After a few hours sleep, we went back to the office for orientation from 5 to 8 PM. We got really good rest last night and a full day of orientation today. The regular Tuesday staff luncheon was held at Alto Libritard (probably not spelled right) to celebrate pouring concrete for the second floor. They cooked chicken (roasted in some manner), boiled whole potatoe, parched corn, rice, and salad. There was no shortage of food, we couldn't even think of eating it all. Rocota is hot sauce of sorts and is very good. We have learned to brush our teeth with bottled water--yes it is necessary. I know this is somewhat random but I want to give you some of the flavor of this place from several points of view. Speaking of point of view, this is the view we have from our roof top room. If you noticed chickens and dogs on the roof well the dogs are very common there, but I haven't seen quite as many chickens. More pictures to come later. In Christ's love, Lindy & Tricia

Hola todos! June 3, 2010 I don't know what it means either, but does it not look Spanish? Actually, it means "Hello Everyone". We are up to our bald spot in Spanish, at least I am and that is over Tricia's head. We are literally eating, breathing, and sleeping in Spanish. I even had a small dream (or was that a nightmare) in Spanish. We have avoided any serious gastrointestinal disturbances to this point, but they all say that our time is coming. We have tried to be very careful. On Tuesdays we have a staff luncheon at the Zamacola Church of the Nazarene where all of the 40/40's that are in church planting school are housed. There were about 40 or 50 people there for the luncheon. It was good to get to meet several people that we had only heard of but never met. We are attaching some photos of the church to show you what a really nice, big, new church building looks like in Arequipa, Peru. This is the best and largest by farrrrrrrr. Next week I'll try to have our church pictured for you. It only holds maybe 40 or 50 people at best, with several standing. Note that several windows and doors are missing from the nice new church. The Catholic church near where we live isn't even made to have front doors, just iron gates out front. Virtually all houses have locked wooden or metal gates with barbed wire, sharp protruding steel bars, or broken glass embeded in concrete on the top of the walls. Houses are compounds to protect those inside. Even so, many are very attractive from the street, but the feel is unfriendly. Well, its after 10 PM again and tomorrow is another school day, so I'll say... Goodnight and may God Bless each of you, Lindy & Tricia

Hi everybody, June 8, 2010 Just a line to let you know what is going on with us these days and for the next 2 weeks. Most of you were aware that there is a major outreach event going on the day of my birthday June 19. It is called extreme love and will involve all 100+ of us here in Peru as well as more than 300 short term volunteers from the US and Canada. Lindy will be leading a construction project to repair one of the older churches in Arequipa (mostly just painting). Tricia will be working in several medical clinics and is the first point of contact for all medical questions and problems involving more than a bandage 24 hours a day from June 11 thru June 29. We will be doing a number of other tasks during that time as well--too numerous to mention individually. We will begin each day with a 7 AM staff meeting about 30 minutes away from our room and end after an event that starts at 8 PM with an unknown duration. Hopefully Tricia won't get too many calls at night so we can get some rest. It will be a lot of work without much rest and even less sleep, but the goal is to impact as many lives as possible with the gospel of Christ. If even one soul is saved, it is worth the effort. I am attaching a few photos, including the promised ones of the church we attend and the pastor and his wife. Note that the church is on a steep hillside. No taxi can make it down the hill over the half block unpaved section and wouldn't even consider trying going up hill--that is a daunting task for humans. There will be some construction work at our church too, but we won't be working on it and don't know the scope of that work. There is also a photo of a flyer for the Love extreme event. Well it's bedtime and I really, really need a shower, so we'll close for now. Till He comes or calls us home, Lindy & Tricia