31st December 2008
What a way to round off the year!! Our chef friend (see entry of 23rd December 2008) decided that he'd prepare a gourmet meal for new year and invite us and a couple of other friends round. We were treated to a feast (starter: parma ham and melon with a blueberry coulis; second course: fish and seafood medley served with baked asparagus and a creamy dill sauce; main course: beef medallions with sauted potatoes and vegetable in a port and mushroom sauce; dessert: a light homemade chocolate mousse). We then played a few games on the Nintendo Wii that the friends had brought with them and then went up onto the roof to watch the fireworks as we entered 2009 (New Year is an even bigger celebration than Christmas in Peru)

28th December 2008
I've spent the last few days gradually writing an email to noone, but which pours out my feelings at the moment and what I feel needs to happen if we are to survive our time in Chincha. For me, I believe I need to stop trying to devote myself 100% to social action projects and 75% to helping to pastor the church. I can't run at 175% for very long! Unfortunately, both are needs and I believe the latter is necessary if the church is going to own the former and be able to run with the idea of social action after we've left Peru. So, when we're back in circulation, I'm going to talk to the relevant people and see if an official 50:50 couldn't be possible.

27th December 2008
We popped along to see the folks at Arequipa Vineyard in the morning, which was a treat, and then met my brother's girlfriend, Katie, in the city centre. She's 4 months into a tour of the Americas and we happened to be in the same place at the same time. Lovely to see her, not so nice to have Rachel's bag stolen at lunchtime. The rest of the day was spent doing all the usual - cancelling bank cards and the like. The biggest pains are that her Peruvian ID card has gone too, and we'll need to make a special trip to Lima to get it replaced and that our mobile phone with all the telephone numbers of people we've been in contact with for our housing project has also gone.

24th December 2008
Spoke to family via skype (paulandrachelliston) today to exchange Christmas greetings and news and got to speak to grandma for the first time over the computer. She was absolutely amazed that it was at all possible!!
At midnight, we went out onto the street and watched some of the fireworks as Peruvians jump the gun and celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve.

23rd December 2008
Been debriefing a little with our colleagues. One of them, a doctor, thinks that we seem to be close to burnout. It not a nice thing to hear, but helpful to have an outside view confirm your own suspicions. Once we have recovered a bit, we need to have a serious think about where we go from here to make sure that we don't step over the edge into the abyss. Staying with friends, one of who used to be head chef in Gary Rhodes' restaurant in London, should help with the recovery process!!

22nd December 2008
A long day travelling (7am-1am) on 3 different buses, but we eventually got to Arequipa, a city in the south of Peru which is home to some of our BMS colleagues while they do language training. They live in wholly different circumstances to us and it was a bit of a culture shock to arrive in a proper house with a proper kitchen and furniture and things like that! Really lovely to see them though.

21st December 2008
We had a lovely afternoon having Christmas dinner (roast chicken followed by christmas pudding - a gift sent from the UK for us) and then opening all the presents that we'd received from folks back home. We were really touched by the thoughfulness and effort that people had gone to and are very grateful for this.
We later had our grand Christmas church event - a chocolatada (hot chocolate and bun event - in 30 degree heat - why?!!) at which Rachel and I led some of the time of singing. It was fine playing and singing, but dodgy microphones didn't help! Generally, it was ok, but there were still many parts of the evening that could be done a whole lot better - like talking to new people and helping them feel welcome.

17th December 2008
The engineer had just over 24 hours with us and it was like a breath of fresh air - time spent with families, genuinely getting to know their situations; time spent with us, getting to know us and our perspective on stuff and time spent looking at the bigger picture and just what is possible in Chincha. Nothing decided yet, but having seen the way he works, we are confident that whatever input he has into shaping the housing project will be with good reason.

15th December 2008
Plumbing new depths! Discovered just 2 hours before they were meant to arrive that the architect and engineer were still in Chiclayo. Had to spent the day telling all the families we had invited to the community event that it was cancelled and feeling like fools yet again.
On top of this, I had a somewhat lively discussion with our architect who had taken it upon himself to decide to restrict the project still further by offering only one type of material to build with. He insisted that the decision had been made and had the full backing of our superiors. A few phone calls later and we had discovered that this was not true, but as our pastor said to us later in the evening, all the changes that happen in our project just mean that the people think we are playing with them and it is damaging the reputation of the church. This is far from what we want to be doing and, once this round of the housing project is over, we may well decide to pull the plug on it. It is just too much agro.

14th December 2008
A very discouraging day. I was preaching again at the evening service and it was hard to realise that about half the congregation were asleep BEFORE i started speaking - there is so much passiveness in our church. Realised that, in this state, it is such a long way from being ready to play a full part in the social action projects that we are running.

10th December 2008
Received discipline this morning about the tone of our contact with the project engineer for the housing project. On reflection, we were too harsh and too direct, but we felt a little left out on a limb since we'd be advised to write to him about our feelings and have never been told how to write such a letter within the Peruvian culture. So, we learn from our mistakes. As it happens, the engineer telephoned shortly afterwards and, whilst agreeing the tone was hard, also agreed with much of what we had written and will be personally visiting us soon in order to discuss matters and see what the reality in Chincha is like for himself. We are hoping that with his involvement, the project will progress more according to our wishes.

7th December 2008
We have, at long last, found one of the Vineyard churches in Lima. It was so good (though made us a little green with envy) to be with them for the morning and then be invited back for lunch.
Had an eventful journey back to Chincha, with our bus breaking down.

1st December 2008
Heard today that one of our families from the housing project is pulling out from going with us and will choose someone else instead. It transpires that they hadn't really understood fully what we were offering (because the design workshop turned out to be such a rush affair) and because we hadn't offered them the type of roof that they wanted. Really unhappy that the hard work we'd done to get to know them and incorporate them in the project had all be undone by one weekend in which our architect failed to understand what the families really wanted and failed to communicate in a manner such that they would understand. Contacted the project engineer to share our frustrations.

30th November 2008
One of our families has expressed unhappiness to our faces (and that means a lot in this culture) about the housing project, since our architect had promised we would be building by the end of the month and the plans are still not ready. We feel somewhat caught in the cross-fire.

22nd November 2008
Had a long chat to the Minister about Techo Propio and the emergency relief grant (Bono 6000). He was interested in our work and is happy to assist us where he can and has even given us his direct dial telephone number and invited us to pop in an see him when we are in Lima - we will, because it turns out he's the boss of the man responsible for supplying water to one of the zones we work in. They get water only about 2 times a week, which really isn't acceptable, so it would be great to use our new found contact to try and remedy that situation...

21st November 2008
Went to Lunahuana to get away from it for a few days and find ourselves staying in the same hotel as the Minister for Housing!!

19th November 2008
Eventually managed to get us and the land owners together at the same time that the mayor was in his office, but unfortunately he is not interested in doing anything as far as the community centre / church centre goes, because there seems to be a dispute about the ownership of the land - there is someone else with paperwork to prove they own it, even though the sports club have documents that say the same! Nothing is every straightforward in Peru!!

16th November 2008
Went to another church this morning to see what was what - really interesting experience since they have developed 8,000m2 themselves so it was good to see what things they had done and how they were doing it. It was quite a breath of fresh air too - good worship time, clear sermon and a friendly welcome. At least it shows that it can be done in Chincha!
I preached in the evening for the first time at our church on the story of the good samaritan and loving our enemies and giving a welcome as a church. I started in English, because I wanted them to feel what it was like to enter a foreign culture (like those who step into church for the first time) and not understand what was going on. Unfortunately, they liked it and would like to come to an English-speaking service every week, even though they could understand nothing!! The upshot of it all is that we now have 5 people who are interested in being meeters and greeters for our services, which is a start.

11th November 2008
Given responsibility for running the community centre / church building project - feel somewhat daunted by the responsibility to develop 12,000m2 of land!

10th November 2008
Took the President of the Baptist Convention to see the owner of the land in question for the new community centre / church building project. Lots of exciting possibilities on offer like athletics tracks, children's play areas, volleyball pitch, allotments, workshops as well as the centre itself - we've got so much space to work with!

9th November 2008
The day of the long-awaited design workshop for the housing project. We were hit by a bombshell when it transpired that some of our families would be required to pay. Seems that we had missed a comment back in June and were somewhat misled when our architect agreed to our comment in October that the families had to pay nothing but their construction licence! Felt really bad about having misled people, but they all seem to be happy to try and continue after a generally good design workshop, though we are unhappy that the project seems to have shrunk yet again with the choice that was available to the families (such as which type of roof they wanted) restricted.

8th November 2008
Went to talk to the family again and walked in to find a sister threatening her husband with a large knife - really isn't the safest household to be in, but it's where she has to be, at least until she formerly accuses her family members of child abuse. At least her mother is now in the house and can protect her somewhat.
The rest of the day was frustrating with our architect for the housing project delaying and delaying his arrival repeatedly so that we had to visit families time and time again to rearrange meetings with them. Quite cheeky really, especially since he'd had his bus fare paid for him to come and do the design workshop.

7th November 2008
It was meant to be a day off, but a teenagers turned up on our doorstep in the morning having been beaten up by her family. We spent the day talking with her, the pastor, the family and the child protection agency and, in the end, decided to have her stay the night at ours.
Actually realised that I'm feeling homesick today.

4th November 2008
A visit to the council offices has yielded some exciting news - apparently the sports club who owns the land we are interested in for the community centre / church project is willing to give us the majority of it if we make a football pitch for them! Will require lots of research, but could well be a really exciting opportunity to have some serious space to make use of.

1st November 2008
Went out for the night with a Peruvian mate - Daniel a taxi driver and fellow football player. We went to the funfair that was in town and played a fair bit of table football before heading for pollo a la brasa (chicken and chips Peruvian style). Spent 4 hours or so sharing about our situation and the difficulties we are facing in the church and in our work. It was quite refreshing to find a Peruvian who understood and was able to empathise with much of what I said - encouraging that there are the odd few who find aspects of their own culture as difficult as we find them!

30th October 2008
Big tremor this morning, just after I had stepped out the shower. Glad that I didn't have to make a run for it!!

28th October 2008
Final day in Trujillo and it was a special one for the city with the arrival of the King and Queen of Spain. We waited, along with thousands of others, in the main square for their arrival. I then enjoyed some historical sites and then Rachel enjoyed our evening trip to the cinema (taking advantage of the fact that we could go).

26th October 2008
At the invitation of a pastor from the conference, we went to a local church in Trujillo and we ended up sharing our testimonies and then I gave a short sermon about social action. It went well and I felt that I had enough Spanish to be able to ad lib with a little confidence for the first time, which was nice! One old dear came up to me at the end and very encouragingly told me that she could understand all that I said!! We received a fantastic welcome from the church - it seems to be true what they say about the further north you go in Peru the more friendly it becomes - just a shame that we're in the south!

24th October 2008
Arrived safe and sound in Trujillo for the Baptist Missionary conference. With the future of Christianity lying in Africa and Latin America it is encouraging to see a focus on mission, but so sad to see that the concept of mission is so narrow.

21st October 2008
There is just so many cultural rules to learn. We'd asked to have our first homegroup meeting (to explore ideas and times and places) in someone's front room, but it turns out that no-one would come because they have had parties in that house before. It's a judgmental christian culture where drink (or dancing for that matter) is not to be tolerated. We've ended up having to move it to the rather sterile environment of the church building, which is not quite the atmosphere we were looking for!

20th October 2008
So, the pastor is now upset with me after last night. Apologised, but had a bit of an honesty session with him too to say that he lacked experience and training and we'd been asked to be on the pastoral team to help him develop, not because we wanted his job, but that we could help him unless he was willing to be helped. It went down as well as could be expected and I'm hopeful that it could be a turning point in our relationship.

19th October 2008
Discovered that one of the people in the church has been warning off the families that have signed up for our housing project! There really is so much false information and rumour around and no-one knows what to believe, but at least the person in our church now knows the full story!
The family downstairs have today bought a washing machine (which we'll be able to use - hurrah!). Despite being discipled by an evangelical pastor from another church at the moment, they asked Rachel to anoint it with olive oil and pray a blessing on it, which was fairly amusing to watch!
Got very cross in the evening when the pastor introduced our new homegroup to the church (even though I'd asked to present it) and told them it would be all the things we hoped it wouldn't be. I felt obliged to speak up and correct him, which is a difficult thing to do in this culture where the pastor is to be revered.

17th October 2008
We had a pastoral team meeting today, which Margaret sat in on and it went well! We could tell that the pastor felt threatened by the idea of us starting a homegroup (worried that everyone will come to ours!), but has agreed to it. Really hope that we'll be able to model a different way of doing things that help the people in the church mature.

16th October 2008
Rachel's birthday, but unfortunately the 3rd day in the row that I've succumbed to the perils of Peruvian food. Still, it's been a while, so I haven't done too badly of late. Still, Rachel was busy by herself and we now have enough families to start the housing project - fantastic!
Margaret came down for the day so it was nice to see her. She took us out to a nice hotel in the evening and the inevitable happened. Turns out that the waiter lives close to the church and needs a house and qualifies for the government scheme we'll be using in our housing project - so we've arranged to go and see him tomorrow to chat more and do some paperwork to see if we can include his family in the building process too.
No sooner had we started the meal he brought us than we had a phone call from someone in the church inviting Rachel to a surprise birthday event. This turned out to be a meal at a chinese restaurant, so I went from being off my food for 3 days and not eating too much, to having 2 meals in 1 night!!

5th October 2008
Finished our week of meetings with Lanty's team and it's been very instructive. We are now going to start our housing project with a smaller group (2 or 3), providing we can get others on board shortly afterwards and we are definitely going to offer both brick and adobe options, but not at the same time. We will also be going back to Chincha with information and plans illustrating all the options to show the interested families, which will be a fantastic help. Really pleased at the progress we've made and the deepening of our relationship with Janina and Lanty and his team. Feels like we're all pulling in the same direction again.