Christmas at our house - by Alexis

Christmas is my favorite time of year because we celebrate God's gift to us: Jesus. Whenever I look at the tree or hear one of my favorite Christmas carols, a tingling feeling of joy and happiness comes over me.  Here are a few pictures I took of our decorations.  I hope you like them!



MMMMMM....spritz!

Beautiful ornament

 

BIG tree

Merry Christmas!

Christmas in July

OK, I know it isn't really July, but that is what Christmas here in the southern hemisphere feels like.   The seasons are the opposite from those in the US.  We are definitely not walking in a Winter Wonderland, or Dashing through the snow.  We are just entering summer and the temperature is rising. So it feels like Christmas in July. It has been so nice lately, that we decided to take a trip to the beach.  The day turned out a bit cloudy, but it was still warm enough to enjoy the surf and the sand.  As you can see, the kids had a great time. 




Merry Christmas from Peru

Although we miss the snow, sledding on Mt. Hood, and sipping hot cocoa in front of the fireplace, we can't complain about being able to go to the beach two weeks before Christmas. 

Corcona Church Anniversary

About a month ago, the church up in Corcona that we work with celebrated an anniversary.  They had a special church service for  the occassion, with lots of singing, preaching, testimonies, and even a skit performed by the children of the church.  Afterwards, we celebrated with a big lunch.  It was a fun time, and we were glad to be able to share in the festivities with them.  I wanted to show you all a bit of what it is like to be in a church service here, so I shot a short video.  I must tell you that I am obviously no professional.  This is the first video I have ever made.  I apologize for the wiggly shots, but I just wanted to try something a little different.  My sister posts a video every month on her blog, so she inspired me to give it a try.  I hope this gives you a feel for what the churches are like here where we are working.
 


Corcona from Kristen Vega on Vimeo.

Back to School

Most people started back to school several weeks ago.  We weren't able to.  For the last few weeks we have been busy trying to get our school books out of customs so that we could begin the school year.  We ordered our books and had them shipped here from the US, but due to a variety of complications we couldn't get them out of customs.  The most unique of the problems we encountered was that you can't import maps of Peru into the country without special government permission.  That is a rule that I knew nothing about.  So while we ran around town trying to get the necessary documents, and making phone calls, the days ticked by. 

We had hoped to start school about the same time as people in the US, so we were extremely discouraged by not being able to get our books.  The red tape they were requiring of us and the inefficiency of the system was so frustrating.  I couldn't understand why God was letting this happen.  What could possible be the point of having our books held up in customs for 3 weeks?  Who benefits from that?  As I talked to others, however, I realized that my problems, as frustrating as they are, really are trivial.  The world will not end if we start school a few weeks after everyone else.   Things don't always have to go according to my schedule.   Life will go on, and we will survive.  Here in Peru, they have a much more laid back approach to schedules and time lines.  Things will happen when they happen.  For example, one of the major roadways (I hesitate to call it a highway) from Lima to the interior of the country is closed for renovation.  It has been closed for a year, and in the meantime, the traffic is detoured through side streets and residential neighborhoods.  In America, no one would have approved this slow construction time or this inconvenience to traffic and residents alike.  But what can people here do?  There really isn't much to be done, but just to live through it.  As an American, I feel like I should have certain rights.  I have the right to good customer service, efficiency, being treated with respect, a certain degree of convenience.  But in the rest of the world, things don't always work that way.  Things don't always go the way you think they should.  I'm not saying that we should all just kick back and let life go by as it will.  But it just serves to remind me that even when I can't control the situation, there is someone who is in control.  There is a master schedule for all of our lives, and while things may frustrate us, "set us back", or detour us from what we had planned, in the end we have the assurance of knowing that none of it is happening by chance.  We know that there is a God who loves us and is ordering our lives.  He has our best in mind.  So we can rest in him, wait on him, and let him fight our battles.  Sometimes we just have to accept what He gives us, even though it isn't what we would have asked for. 

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."  Pr. 16:9

I praise the Lord because he sees the bigger picture, and he knows the end of the story.  I know that I can trust in him in all things.  God is good ALL the time.

Well, this story does have a happy ending.  Last week we finally went down to customs ourselves and did all of the paperwork in one day.  Thanks to the Lord we got our books and this week we started back to school.

Celebrating "Box Day".  Thank you Lord for
helping us get our school books

Diego is happy to be in fourth grade and also enjoys playing soccer.

Lucas is starting second grade and just lost his front tooth.

Joshua is very excited to finally be in Kindergarten.

Jonathan is two and loves playing with his tiger.

Alexis is in sixth grade and now has a heavier workload.

A Surprise Party!

This week I celebrated my birthday.  I had a lovely day because I was able to talk to many of my friends and family around the world.  Just as the day was winding down and I was getting my kids ready for bed, I got a call from Junior.  He had gone up to the church in Corcona for the Wednesday night church service.  He told me that he would soon be arriving home with a group from the church.  Although I don't usually go up to Corcona for the Wednesday night service (since it is late and difficult for the kids), they had gotten word that it was my birthday and had prepared me a special meal.  They were disappointed to find that I hadn't come up for church, so they decided to come home with Junior and help me celebrate.  About 9:30 PM they arrived here with food and a birthday cake.  It was a wonderful surprise.  It made me feel so honored that they would be willing to drive one hour down the mountain to help me celebrate my birthday practically in the middle of the night.  After singing, sharing, eating and praying together, they all headed home about 11:30.  It was a long day, but a great chance to spend some time getting to know the members of the church better.  So I thank the Lord for their big hearts, their flexibility and their kindness. 

These kids came along and sang me a special song.

Here I am with some of the members of the church. 

School's Out!

We are now officially on summer break.  We finished school about 3 weeks ago, and the kids are enjoying a little time off from the books.  Although we all enjoy school (some days more than others), it is also nice to have a little change from our regular schedule.  This has given us some time to watch a bit of the olympics, and play a lot of soccer.  We are also planning to go on some field trips during the summer, since we didn't have any official outings during the school year.  So yesterday we went with some friends to a place called MiniMundo (Mini World).  It has small models of different places from around Peru.  It reminded me of the little cities at Legoland, except that the models weren't made out of legos.  The kids especially enjoyed it because there was also a playground and a trampoline to jump on there. 

Here we are in front of the model of Machu Picchu. 
Hopefully we can visit the real one some day as well.

Jonathan is enjoying the rainforest village,
complete with real fish in the river.

The summer is also the time to start thinking about next school year.  After looking into some of the options for schools around here, we have decided that homeschooling is still the best option for us (and the cheapest).  So we are getting ready to order our books for next year.  We wanted to give you all the chance to be involved with us if you feel led to do that.  Our school books this year are going to cost a bit more than usual, but we also will have 4 kids in school this year for the first time.  Josh will be starting Kindergarten.  So the books themselves will be $1,300 for all four kids.  On top of that we have to pay for them to be shipped all the way here to Peru, and that is going to cost $400.  There are three ways you can help.  You can pray with us for God's provision for this need.   Secondly, you could partner with us by helping to pay for some of the books.  Or, if you are planning a trip to Peru anytime soon (and don't need to bring much luggage) you could bring the books for us which would save us the shipping charges.  If anyone does plan to come for a visit, we would be more than happy to be your hosts, guides, or whatever you may need.  So thank you all for your prayers and your support of us.  If you have any questions, you can write us at vegafamily7@hotmail.com.  We are trusting in God and know that he is faithful to supply all our needs.   God bless you.

Feliz 28 de Julio!

Today is Peru's Independence day.  Just like America has the 4th of July, here in Peru they celebrate the 28th of July.  They celebrate with lots of parades and flags proudly flying.  So in honor of the 28th of July we made a special cake to enjoy.  It is called tres leches (which means 3 milks).  It is a typical peruvian cake soaked in a mixture of three milks.  To make it even more fitting for the day, we decorated it with strawberries in the colors of the Peruvian flag. 




Peruvian flag tres leches cake

Happy 28 de julio!



AWANA

We have been praying for our children to be able to find good friends here in Peru.  One of the ways that God is answering that prayer is by giving us the opportunity to participate in AWANA.  In the United States our kids had gone to AWANA for several years and greatly enjoyed it.  A few months ago, we started going to AWANA here in Lima.  The missionary school that I graduated from (many years ago) does an AWANA program on Friday afternoons.  They were very welcoming and allowed us to join in with them.  The kids love going every week.  They are so motivated to learn their Bible verses and enjoy the game time and making new friends with other missionary kids.  So that is a huge praise for us.  Although we only joined the program a few months before the end of the school year, the kids worked really hard and each of them finished their books and got an award.  We are so proud of them.  I'm sorry the pictures aren't very good.  I am no photographer, but I inluded them, since bad pictures are more interesting than no pictures at all.

Lucas is the first red vest on the left.

Diego is the one in the middle.

Alexis is getting her reward on the far right.

Another huge praise that goes along with AWANA, is that the missionary school has also agreed to let us use their library.  It isn't huge, but it has many good books that my kids have never read.  So it is also a fun treat to be able to go to the library each week.  We love reading!

Thanks!

Thank you for your prayers for the discipleship course in Corcona.  Junior finished teaching the course about 2 weeks ago and it was a blessing to everyone involved.  There was a group of 6 regular attendees that met together on Wednesday evenings before the Wednesday night service.  The course dealt with basics such as time alone with God, obedience, attributes of God, temptation and other fundamentals of the Christian walk.  During the week each student was assigned a daily reading passage and some questions.  On Wednesdays they would discuss the questions they had worked through.  Although they aren't accustomed to this type of study, they put in the effort and did a great job.  They are very eager to learn anything they can.   Now we are praying about what course we could study next.

Go to my Father

This Father's Day I have been thinking a lot about God as our Father.  I thank the Lord for giving me a godly father, a godly husband to be a father to our children, and I pray that our boys will grow up to be godly fathers in their turn.  But the ultimate father to us all is God.  For the first time in my life that I can recall, I wished God a Happy Father's Day.  I thank him for being a father to each one of us.  The familiar story of the prodigal son is only one example from the Bible showing God's fatherly heart toward us.  He loves us with a perfect love, and longs for us to be his children.  He waits patiently for us.  The problem arises in that we often don't want to be his children.  It isn't convenient to obey him, we are too busy to bother talking to him today, we don't want to involve him in our plans.  But all the while his heart is simply for us to come to him as children.  He wants to wrap his arms around us as the father did when his prodigal son came home.  He enjoys hearing us laugh, just as earthly fathers love the giggles of their young children.  He wants to be involved in our plans, our struggles, our daily lives.  In some ways I think that we can all be a bit of spiritual prodigal sons.  We may not take our inheritance and head to a foreign land, but in our hearts we all wander off on our own at times and need to say as that prodigal did, "I will arise and go to my father."  There is no better place for us.  There is no better response.  So on this Father's Day, I want to cherish being His child.  I want to rest in the trust that my Abba Father is taking care of everything.  I don't have to solve all the problems on my own.  I don't have to have all the answers.  I just need to sit on his knee in childlike trust.  I just need to obey my Father.  "I will arise and go to my Father."

We're in Hot Water Now!

We just wanted to share some exciting news with you, at least it was exciting for us.  The house we are renting didn't have hot water, but the owner had a heater that he had never installed.  So we tried to have a plumber guy come and do it, but he didn't actually know anything about hot water heaters.  He hooked it up, but it wasn't working.  We were about to give up, but found out that a friend of ours used to work with hot water heaters.  So he came over, took a look at it, and had it running in no time. (Thanks Jose!)  We were so happy!!!  After 3 months of taking cold showers, and heating water in the teapot to wash my dishes, we now have hot water in the shower and the kitchen.  It is such a blessing.  I know that many in the world live without hot water, so I tried not to complain before it was installed.  But now that we have it I just want to praise the Lord for this huge blessing.  It feels wonderful. 

Praise the Lord for hot water heaters!

Jonathan is two.  He loves to sing and play the air guitar,
so I made him a guitar cake for his birthday. 

Discipleship

I just wanted to ask you all to pray for the church up in Corcona over the next few months.  This is the church where we have been helping out the most.  It is the closest to Lima, and is a little more established than some of the other congregations that we are involved with.  There are about 20 people that regularly attend services.  So it is a small group, but we know that they have a lot of potential.  We believe that this church could be prepared to reach out and help start other churches farther up the mountain in the smaller towns and villages.  Many in the church are eager to help and serve when they see a need, but they haven't had access to much Biblical teaching.  So they have asked Junior to teach a Wednseday night discipleship class.  He will be starting this week and continuing for the next few months.  It is our prayer that God will bring the people that he has prepared for this.  We pray that they will get a firm grasp of who they are in Christ and what He can do in their lives. 



This is the small Corcona church builing.
The sign on top is a verse from Luke 18:27 which says,
"What is impossible with men is possible with God."

Bureaucracy and Birthdays

This past week has seen us spending a lot of time doing paperwork.  My tourist visa is set to expire, so it was time to do something about it. We had been dreading doing it, since we know that paperwork in Peru can be tedious, to say the least.  But a couple of weeks ago we finally started the process.  I looked it up online and thought that I had assembled all of the required paperwork.  But it turns out that we needed a few extra documents because of technicalities.  For example, my passport has my married name, while my marriage certificate has my maiden name.  So they asked me for a document certifying that I am the same person.  Last Friday I went to the US embassy to get that done.  We returned to immigration hoping to complete the application, but were informed that we still needed one more stamp from a different office before we could turn everything in.  So that meant another trip into Lima, and another day of doing paperwork.  All the offices where we needed to do our paperwork are about an hour from our house, down in the center of Lima.  So each time we were required to present more papers, it meant another day spent traveling into town, standing in lines, and lots of waiting.  After going in to Lima three days in a row, we finally had all the required documents, and were able to turn in my application.  Now I am just waiting to be called back in to receive my residency so that I can live legally in the country.  What a relief to have that done.  We praise the Lord for helping us to get it all sorted out.  Now we plan on taking a little break from Peruvian bureaucracy before diving back in to try to get our Peruvian driver's licences.  That should be a whole new adventure. 

Since I don't have any pictures of our time spent standing in line, and since I always like to include a picture with my blog posts, I thought I would include some photos of Diego.  He celebrated his 9th birthday this past week.  We have a tradition in our family that I try to make and decorate whatever type of cake design the kids ask for.  I don't consider myself especially artsy or crafty, so this is the peak of my creativity.  But I enjoy doing it, because they have fun picking things out and challenging me to make them.  Diego loves playing soccer and for now his favorite team is Real Madrid from Spain.  So I made a soccer jersey cake and a soccer ball for him. 

A view of the cakes from the front

The back of the cakes

Diego blowing out his candles (with a little help from Josh)

Tomorrow

About 2 weeks ago, we came home from running errands and discovered that our patio was wet.  We followed the source of the water and found it to be coming from a small storage room off of the patio.  That storage room was packed from floor to ceiling and from wall to wall.  While my parents were here, they had helped us to move all of the owner's stuff out of the house and into that storage space.  Now there was a leak somewhere in there.  I was immediately discouraged and started worrying.  Thoughts of all the work and problems that awaited us ran through my head...Unpacking the room, water damage to the boxes, finding the leak, perhaps having to break through some walls, paying to have it repaired, repacking the room.  How would we ever do it?  Since it was late and there is no light out on our patio, we decided to just shut off the water to the house and leave it for the morning.  I went to bed with a sick feeling in my stomach.  I knew that God had told me not to worry about tomorrow, but I was already dreading what a terrible day it would be. 

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.  Matt. 6:34

The next morning, we unpacked all the boxes.  It only took us about an hour and to my relief, the boxes that had been on the bottom were full of things that didn't get ruined by the water.  I could check water damage off my list of worries.  When we finally got the room empty we saw that the water was coming from an exposed pipe that had a cap on it to close it off (I'm not a plumber, so I don't know the technical terms).  The cap had simply cracked and water was leaking out.  It was a simple, quick and very inexpensive fix.  No tearing down walls or anything.  Several more of my worries from the day before had evaporated.  Finally, what were we to do with all of the owner's stuff, especially since several of the boxes were now water logged?  When we called them, they amazingly had some time available and were able to come and sort through all of their boxes.  They ended up leaving only about 10 boxes in storage here and they even packed them all away themselves.  So my greatest worry, how to fit all those boxes back in that tiny storage room, was completely relieved.  Then I praised God for how good he is.  Sometimes he lets "bad" things happen, but in reality good comes out of them.  We may have never imagined or expected it, but God knows the future.  We obviously don't.  




This is all that is left in storage.  What a
relief!  You can see the pipe that had broken
on the right hand side of the picture where the
 white paint meets the cement.

 That experience was a huge object lesson for me that we don't need to worry about tomorrow (or any of the days thereafter) because God has them all in his hand.  We may be dreading bad things, when really good is coming.  We just need to keep trusting him and walking with him.  I was encouraged by Isaiah 41:13 that says:

For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.  

Whatever we may see looming on the horizon of our lives, we do not have to fear.  God is holding us by the hand and walking with us.  He promises to help us.  Wow!  That is amazing to me.  Thank you Jesus.  I pray that God will be encouraging all of us as we walk into our futures with him one day at a time. 

We're still here

I apologize for the long time since my last post.  I can't believe how time is flying.  We moved in about 2 months ago, and it has been the longest "moving in" that I have ever experienced.  The house is kind of a "fixer upper" in the sense that it isn't completely finished being built.  We have installed a door, put in light fixtures, repaired plumbing, painted rooms and a variety of other jobs.  In addition to this, the house was also full of the owner's things, which we had to move out before we could start moving ourselves in.  My parents were here for a few weeks in January and even with their full time help, we weren't completely moved in by the time they left.  But things have settled down now, and we are back to school and working in the small churches up the mountain.  I will do my best to be more regular about updating the blog, so please check back again so we can keep in touch. 

I just thought I'd share a few pictures of our house and vehicle, so that you could imagine us here a little better.

Here is the front entrance to the house.



This is our 15 passenger van.  It is a bit old,
but we enjoy it because there is plenty of room for us all,
plus any guests that we may have.  It is also much
easier than traveling in a taxi. 




This is the peaceful view out my kitchen window. 
This is our back yard and park area behind our house. 

 Thank you for your continued prayers for us.  We are asking the Lord to guide us clearly in what He would have us be doing at this time.