22nd June 2008
Once again we would like to thank all of you for your emails of encouragement and support. We've held off sending you more news for at least a week since our last instalment for fear of overwhelming you all and filling up your inboxes. However, we were amused to receive quite a few emails in the last couple of days wondering where we were and when instalment 11 would come, so here it is!

House
In the end we have decided to stay where we originally moved to in Chincha. After being scared into trying to find another place closer to our friends in the church, we half-secured another place. However, the very next day, Rachel woke up with an overwhelming sense that it was the wrong thing to do and, after praying about it some more, we decided that God was telling us to remain where we are. We have since grown to feel more comfortable, relatively safe and the family below us, whom we are renting from, are treating us well.

Mouse and Ants
After Paul scared the mouse away a couple of times, we bought an extra specially big plastic container to keep our food safe (especially the Quaker Oats), though it does appear that he has gnawed through some of it! The box is now out of reach, balanced on top of a bucket! Rachel rediscovered the mouse at 2am last Sunday as it came to visit her pillow...and well... up shot Rachel with big, strong, brave husband very closely behind to pursue the mouse for the next hour until finally the mouse received it's final blow at just gone 3am. All was well once more, until the ants decided to march right through the apartment the next day and decided to visit Paul's side of the bed. Big(?), brave, strong(?) wife set to killing each and every one of them with her fingers as poison is not allowed due to baby downstairs! The entire ant population has now been decimated!
However... we are now at war with poor little Quaker Oat-loving mouse's brother! The last few days it has enjoyed our precious cheese cunningly arranged on mousetrap - without actually activating the trap!

Housing Project
Last Monday we went to the local council offices to arrange an appointment to speak with the local Mayor and instead found ourselves sitting in his receiving lounge almost immediately! So much for returning at a later date with Peruvian in tow for help with the dialogue! We aren't sure as yet what good it did us, but we chatted to him for about half and hour about lots of things.
We are still looking for land for us to build our own house (as one of the prototypes for the project) and land to build a centre for the church to use in the long-term.
A wonderful answer to prayer regarding the project is that by Tuesday of this week we, along with the Pastor and Jorge (Peruvian Missionary), had decided that there was one particular obstacle standing in our way. Rachel's job was to find out whether this was going to put an end to the project or not. After a phone call to someone in the know it was amazing to find out that instead of being an obstacle it was actually to work in our favour... the project continues therefore!!!

Life In Church And The Chord Of ?!
We're managing to get involved with the church, perhaps a bit quicker than we anticipated. Rachel has already led two women's meetings in the two weeks that we've been here and both of us have been asked to lead a worship song together in the last Sunday service. It seemed to go down very well. The fact that it was in English didn't seem to interrupt the enthusiasm of the tambourine and drum players nor the clapping. Part of the reason it went down so well may be that it is possibly the most tuneful (those who have heard Paul sing before may struggle to believe this!) thing they've heard in the past year, since the normal worship leader (the pastor) plays each and every song in the same rhythm and in the same chord (which he claims to be a C, but isn't anywhere close) all the way through!!

Paul's First Fathers' Day!
We are finding that friendships are developing between us and others in the church. We have, for example, spent one lunchtime cooking with one of the families to get to know them and Peruvian cuisine at the same time. Despite that, there is a dearth of men for Paul to get to know. So much so, that at the last Sunday service, on Fathers' Day, Paul had to be a "Papa" for the evening and received his first Fathers' Day Present (a rather nice scarf made by one of the ladies in the church)!

Bed knobs...
Our bed situation is rapidly beginning to rival our escapades with rodents in terms of comic value (you have to laugh, otherwise you'd cry!). The day after we arrived in Chincha, we went to a furniture shop and placed an order for a couple of beds, one for us and one for guests. With Paul a fair bit larger that your average Peruvian, we order a larger base that would take two small mattresses side-by-side. "No problem, we'll deliver next Wednesday". Wednesday came and went. We went in to see them. "Just being varnished, we'll bring it tomorrow". Tomorrow came and went. Then it was the next tomorrow (which came and went in a similar fashion). Then we paid a surprise visit to the workshop. A surprise visit for everyone there, because they didn't even know about the order and our mattresses hadn't even come down from Lima ! So we got a thousand assurances from the owner that it would be done by the next Wednesday. We went to the shop that Wednesday first thing in the morning to find out if the delivery from Lima had happened. "Yes, your mattresses are at the workshop and we'll deliver this afternoon". So, we then told the now quite alarmed owner that we'd go to the workshop and see for ourselves. Sure enough, we arrived an hour later to find that nothing had happened and he tried to fob us off with stories of lengthy paperwork and mattress confusion. We cancelled the order there and then, wondering just where we would get our bed from, until he said that the wood had been cut for our bed and would we give him until Saturday to deliver. We relented, but made it clear it was a final, final chance. Phoned Saturday; "Be with you 3pm". Phoned at 4pm; "Be with you in an hour". Phoned at 6pm; "Be with you in 30 mins". At 9pm the lorry finally drew up outside. Now, I bet you're thinking to yourself that we certainly don't do things by halves... well, apparently, that is precisely what we do do. The lorry had only brought half the bed!! At 10:30pm, after more phone calls, it bought the rest of the wood. At which point we discovered that they hadn't trial fitted the bed at the workshop. We know this because it was impossible to put the bed together!! Some bits were too long, others just completely wrong! From what we could piece together it also became clear that the base is too big and will not hold the two small mattresses together!! So, this morning we had their carpenter around to assess the situation and he's going to come back on Tuesday morning (apparently!) with more wood...

...and Broom Sticks
Next time you find yourself grumbling about the fact that you need to take your wheelie bin out the front so it can be picked up in the morning, spare a thought for us. We have to chuck our rubbish outside the front door where it is officially picked up in the mornings, but will unofficially be examined by locals who are looking for materials to recycle or by one of the many, many dogs who roam the streets quite freely (there are so many that sometimes we feel that we're imposters living in a town of dogs). Inevitably, since our rubbish is not kept inside nice big hard plastic bins, the bags can get damaged and the rubbish can get strewn about in the street a bit before the remains of the bag are collected. While this isn't what we're used to in the UK , we've managed to just get on with this system, but this morning Rachel felt very ashamed. During the night, dogs had been through the bag containing the contents of our bathroom bin (which, in common with much of the world, includes used toilet paper) and Rachel looked down into the street to find her used products for women's' monthly cycles lying in full view of anyone passing. Fortunately, it was quite early, so she was able to sneak out with a broom and return some order to the front of our house.

Literacy Project
One last thing we'd like to mention is that Rachel is soon to be involved in starting an adult literacy programme. There are people in the church who cannot read and write, but the idea is to do something for the wider community as well. For those who do, please pray that Rachel and the others involved are able to plan and run a course that touches the needs and lives of many people around the area of the church.

In the Next Instalment...
No doubt, more on the bed and the mouse situation(!)

Well done for making it through to the end!!

Lots of love,

Paul and Rach
-x-x-

13th June 2008
Here is a more detailed update of our move to Chincha so far...

Friday 6 June
Sitting on the steps leading up to the roof of their new house 1st floor appartment, Rachel reflects on the last 24 hours since leaving Lima. After unloading all their suitcases and newly acquired items (kitchen equipment, bedding and Paul's new guitar) they headed into town with the Pastor and Jorge (a Peruvian missionary) in order to buy other much needed items: fridge-freezer, cooker, table, bed...) It was a relatively painful experience, beginning with staining Jorge's trousers with soy sauce leaking from one of their bags. It continued much the same way! But productive.
Having chosen their cooker and fridge they realise they might not fit up the stairs to the 2nd floor of the house so half the anglo-peruvian shopping group return to measure the stairwell. The other half (Paul, Rach and Pastor César) go off to buy a bed and mattress. Having already had a nightmare of time in Lima working out the mattress sizing, they find out that the size mattress they have already bought decent bedding for isn´t available in Chincha and so will have do be brought down from Lima after all!
Going back to the electrical shop, all is well and they decide the cooker and fridge will indeed fit up the stairs so the two are purchased as quick smart as possible... NOT all that possible.
Peruvians make buying processes incredibly complicated and to make it more complicated they end up with the wrong receipt and aren´t permitted to leave the shop upon arriving at the front door! After finally breaking free, with the arrangement that Pastor César will return later to accomany the delivery vehicle. But later they discover that the shop doesn´t have its own vehicle so they can´t deliver until they find one... maybe tomorrow...

Saturday 7 June
Wake up to tremor, a 5.3 earthquake in the sea 50 miles west of Lima.
No hot water in the shower - need electrician.
Later that afternoon Paul and Rachel head into the main city market to buy yet more items. A nice, kind lady helpfully warns them of the thieves that were on their trail... and Paul knocks down a market stall roof with his head...but they can't stop to help put it back up as it is better to keep moving. Oooops!

Tuesday 10 June
Paul and Rach discover something has eaten through one of their precious Quaker Oat packets brought down from Lima. A hurried re-arrangement of food store into strong plastic container.
11pm, Rachel wanders into the 'kitchen' to refill her water bottle only to rush back out again towards the bedroom and big, strong, brave husband. Her makeshift cardboard box table was moving! Said big, strong, brave husband cautiously searches the kitchen with a long-handled brush and embarks on a chase after the Quaker Oats loving mouse whilst Rachel makes appropriate girly noises and seeks refuge on the 3" high mattress on the floor (haven´t got our bed yet)!

Wednesday 11 June
First warm shower of the week!

That´s all for now folks!

Love Rach and Paul
xxx

11th June 2008
A big dusty hello from Chincha (3 hours south of Lima)

We moved down here on Friday (more about that another day) and have settled ourselves into the second floor of a house in a very dangerous area of Chincha. We were told it was dangerous before we came but we weren´t able to find an alternative arrangement before moving so we had to take it. Unfortunately although we like the house itself (despite not having a kitchen or hot water) we have since heard from more Peruvians just how dangerous the area is and everyone is telling us to get out as quickly as we can! We have an option of moving into another house near the church - the same place where we camped on our first visit where we had to wash in a bowl and collect water in the bath (water is available a few hours a day). We are seriously considering this option as the way things are at the moment are a little uncomfortable as Rachel can't go anywhere on her own, and we can't go anywhere at night without being accompanied by a Peruvian (this is not enforced on us but highly recommended).

The next few days will involve us re-arranging our plans somewhat as well as starting up some research and investigation in and around the area that we want to work regarding our possible building project. These are exciting times for us but we continue to feel vulnerable until we resolve our situation. Please pray for us.

The morning after moving here Lima had a earthquake of 5.3 (we felt a smaller tremor here in Chincha) - we seem to miss the bigger ones by the one day each time we go somewhere!

More news later but we wanted to touch base with you to let you know that all is safe and well - even if a little iffy!!

Lots of love,

Paul and Rach
-x-x-

1st June 2008
Firstly, can we start by saying thank you to all of you who have been praying for our health. For the past two weeks, we have been much better (mainly because we've been able to control what we eat better) and have hopefully turned the corner as far as adjusting to Peruvian food goes, but please don't give up praying about this yet because it is still an issue and within 5 days we hope to be moving to Chincha and starting all over again!!

We spent two days in Chincha over Friday and Saturday. The main aims were:

To familiarise ourselves with the market to see what is available there and decide what kind of food stuffs/necesities we would need to bring with us from Lima - thankfully most essentials are available. We will have to bring a stash of things with us and also learn how to make wholemeal bread/rolls (bringing the wholemeal flour from Lima ) as they don't do wholemeal stuff. Some kitchen equipment and toiletry items we'll need to buy in Lima too.

To check out where we could buy furniture when we move down there this coming Friday. It seems like we can buy some pretty good things for really good prices and they can even make a Paul-sized bed for us (most Peruvians are a little vertically challenged - Rachel is going to be the second tallest in our church in Chincha!!!).

To find somewhere to live - we found two possibilities! Neither of them are ideal. Our dilemma has been between one house that is further away from the church, situated in a more dangerous area and doesn't have an official kitchen. We would have to make one of the bedrooms into a kitchen getting our water from the roof and washing clothes by hand... but it does at least have a bathroom. The other house is two doors away from the church, in a safer area and closer to the Pastor and others in the church... but doesn't have a bathroom or a kitchen and only one window that lets in light from the outside! The landlords have promised us a bathroom and kitchen within 15 days and we could install a washing machine...but... having ummed and ahhed alot and drawn out a list of pros and cons we have decided on the first house as we don't trust the work to be done on the second house and don't like the idea of living without natural light!

As far as the longer-term goes, there have been exciting developments. We heard today that Simon, Paul's brother and trainee architect, is able to come over and help for 2-3 months; that 7 Peruvian teenagers are also coming for 3 months and that a church in the UK has very generously given, through BMS World Mission, a building grant. Everything seems to be coming together nicely! What we need now is land, both for our house, which would serve as an example of what we could help others build, using local materials, in the housing project we are hoping to start in the not too distant future and for the construction of a community development / church centre. These are all exciting developments and we wait eagerly to see what God will provide.

With much love,

Paul and Rach
-x-x-

21st May 2008
New Church in Chincha
Driving down to Chincha Sunday afternoon to celebrate the opening of our new church building (bought on Wednesday!) we were met with scattered rubble at the sides of the roads. On arriving at the church we learned that there had been a really strong, but thankfully short, tremor during the night. This is the second strong tremor in the last two months. Fortunately all the buildings that had previously been considered unsafe had already been pulled down so there shouldn't have been any further collapses.

We are still to learn just how the people there react in such times and understand how frightened they are of a repeat of August 15. The service that was held in the new building was an emotional one and helped to open our eyes to the pain the people are trying to overcome. The couple who sold the house to us to use as a church were invited to share their experiences with us in the service. As far as we can understand they weren't church-goers before the earthquake but are desperate to be part of the new church family that has developed since the quake. The vulnerability of the people was evident. When mum and dad start crying, the children follow suite and when all of them are crying, well to be honest, it is really hard not to join in - it's good to feel it with them, but how much will we ever understand?

Struggles
Both Paul and I have suffered physically ever since we arrived here, Paul more than me (for the first time ever!), but we have both been struggling to function properly. We made our first visit to the doctor for Paul on Sunday and had tests done. The results, however, showed nothing wrong! We were told it is merely a reaction to Peru! Amusingly we were nearly late for Paul's appointment because I too had to make a sudden dash for the loo! Please pray for us.

Neither of us likes Lima and I have particularly struggled with the food mainly because when you don't feel particularly well you generally want to eat things you fancy and everytime I eat something I fancy, it doesn't taste the way it should. It's hard to fear eating - wanting to protect our insides. It's also hard to look at our soon-to be neighbours, shake hands and kiss them whilst thinking of the antibacterial handwash we carry eveywhere. We feel vulnerable - and yet we know God wants us here and that means He'll give us what we need to get through.

Happy bits! + Moving to Chincha
We want to be honest with you when we struggle but we want to assure you it isn't all bad! We've both been enjoying having Spanish lessons and Paul is doing well although feeling slightly overwhelmed by verbs and tenses (5 tenses in a week!) We have had a mad, but exciting time responding to an influx of coincidences all leading towards a possibility of beginning a construction project in Chincha in the near future (more info here). Margaret is running around all over the place trying to join the dots. We are all particularly concerned at this stage at how fast things are moving and would value lots of prayer regarding making good decisions. Do the coincidences mean God's hand is in it or are they merely coincidences?

Que Dios les bendiga (God bless you)

Rach and Paul
xxx

7th May 2008
We have now finished our orientation course (see Paul's Diary to read about our final evening) and moved into our new temporary home (for about 4 weeks) where we will now continue with Spanish lessons and prepare for our move down to Chincha.

The last week has been hard work but very eye-opening. Last Thursday we travelled down to Chincha by bus (about 3 hours south of Lima ) and spent two nights sleeping in a tent in the space between what is left of two houses belonging to one family. We had access to a bathroom but no access to running water apart from a couple of hours in the morning. Water was collected in the available bath and used this water to wash in a tub, flush the loo and wash dishes etc.

We spent the two days looking around the town, talking to people and looking at possible places to live - none of which appealed to us so please keep praying about this as ideally we need somewhere for 4 weeks time.

Rachel's Thoughts
In many ways it was a typical camping experience, everything taking a lot longer to do and washing in tubs you never really feel completely clean. Chincha is situated in the desert and is very dusty and the recent earthquake hasn't helped matters. Both of us struggled with the dust. I found it irritated my throat and chest. It felt quite a bit hotter than Lima so this added to the discomfort at times. However I liked the smaller city and the more tranquil environment. It isn't very built up (obvious reasons) and most areas are one storey (with walls missing) and much wider roads of sand and dust.
I left feeling slightly daunted at living in such a dry, dusty environment with limited resources available (no supermarkets). Also the fact that there are next to no other foreigners there makes me feel quite vulnerable at being there on our own. We will have lots to learn about the people and also about how to understand the experiences they have had. For example, many people, including the Pastor of the Church we will be part of, still go to bed in their clothes because they are terrified of another quake and want to be ready to run!

You can see Paul's thoughts on Chincha on his online diary

Thank you all for your messages and prayers of support. Please keep them coming, we love hearing from you.

More news on Chincha later on in the month...

Love Rach and Paul
xx

26th April 2008
Just to let you know that we won't have internet access for the next week or so and during that time we will also be travelling down to Chincha for a few days to have a look around and meet the people we'll eventually be working with. Please pray for us. We'll be staying in a tent which will potentially be quite chilly at night. Please pray for our health as this could complicate matters.(Paul had a day or two of feeling better but today it seems that both of us may have started 'round two'!)

But to keep you all amused in the meantime, below I have shared one of my recent experiences which I think sums up life here at the moment!

All for a cup of tea.! (Wednesday 23 rd April)
It has taken me 17 hours to make this wonderful cup of tea! Yesterday I excitedly took a teabag from my stash of 80 that I brought with me and I started about the process of making a really good brew to give me that extra lift.
Having sent out someone to get some milk for me (can't go out on our own as it's too dangerous) I realised we didn't have any gas left to light the stove and then the person came back without milk anyway, so I resigned myself to waiting until later when there would be gas. But it turned out that milk would be bought for breakfast the next day, so I set my eyes upon a morning brew the next day.
This morning I woke up early and decided that I really did want my cup of tea and as we now had gas I sent someone out to buy the milk. Armed with water in kettle, it turns out that the stove has been swapped for a bigger one and the kettle is too small for the hob and falls through. Ingeniously I find a larger steel plate to balance the kettle on the hob and I hover around waiting for the water to boil. which takes FOREVER! Something has to be done. The heat isn't getting through. One of our teachers suggests another way of arranging the kettle and steel plate so the heat reaches the kettle more and finally I sit down with my long awaited cup of tea to have my quiet time with God. I read a passage in Luke and then the accompanying Bible notes. The theme is waiting for Christ through Advent (I'm somewhat behind on my notes!!!) and suggests fasting during Advent as one would do during Lent as a way of identifying with those in poverty, the end challenge being:
How is God calling me to fast from the excesses of the world?
To which I responded "Oh God I don't feel challenged to fast the excesses of this world. It has been thrust upon me!"
Paul and I cried with laughter that night when I shared this extract of my diary!

18th April 2008
Hello folks
I'm going to try to add another installment to the last update. Paul isn't doing as well physically as yesterday when we though he was over the worst. I am thankfully doing much better although suffering a little with a lack of sleep.

Let me make things a little clearer as to where we are living at the moment. We are living in a very simple house on the edge of a shanty town. It is the base of various projects in various other poor areas of Lima, but the people involved offer language and culture training to those who come here from overseas. We'll live here for three weeks, first week nearly finished (!!) and then move to another house in a nicer part of town to continue with more language for another month.

This is an imersion situation, and as Paul says, a sink or swim situation. We are coping, though it is very challenging. We have felt very vulnerable and felt a little green at the food put in front of us (muscle soup!!) - especially when we saw one day the market where the food was bought!!

Our course consists of:
Language:
Popular spanish which is the speech of the lower class, slang and such stuff
Spanish for work, so development vocab and talking about what is development (IMC hasn't finished with us yet it seems!! We've even started reading "Walking with the Poor" by Bryant Myers in Spanish!!!!)
Spanish theory, a bit of grammar
Daily spanish, we were due to start that today but Paul isn't well enough.

Culture:
We've already had dancing lessons - I do not appreciate imitating a chicken to woo my own husband!!!
We've had peruvian cooking lessons!
We've done the tourist thing around Lima centre

Development:
We'll be visiting various projects that World Vision are running
We'll also pay a visit down to Chincha where we will eventually move longer term after our two months here in Lima. The people teaching us have had experience in Chincha since the earthquake so they are excellent people to be spending time with.

It is very intense, especially when not sleeping at night and not feeling well. However it is an EXCELLENT opportunity for us to learn to operate in different areas of society. Paul is picking up spanish well - although he gets very frustrated at not doing better. í'm being very challenged with my spanish, especially when having to translate. Paul is very inquisitive and is forever instigating conversations and this tires me out!!!

Anyway, I won't have too much time to write again for a little while. Thanks to all the encouraging emails and for letting us know that you like getting them and even because of the honesty and graphic details at times! We feel very supported by you all and really couldn't do this without knowing of your thoughts, emails and prayers.

Until the next email...

God Bless
Rach and Paul
xx

17th April 2008
So much to share and so little time to do it.
So in short...

Moved to the edge of a shanty town town on Monday morning. Rachel wasn't at all sure about the idea due to the fact that she had been experiencing the 'tourist stomach problems' and moving to a poorer area with no control over food was causing much anxiety. Paul, however, joined her with the same problems on the Monday morning so they've had to brave the experience together.

Living in a very simple house with cold showers (had many problems with the electricity that provides hot water) and a variety of horrible smells that enter the windows. Sleeping on beds the length of Rachel and the width of Paul...

Paul's first experience of the shower was very frightening as it caught fire and he had to rut out saying "Rachel you need to translate for me...!"

Rachel's particularly paranoid about earthquakes... apparently there was a huge tremor just two weeks before we arrived and ever since every time Paul turned over on the bottom bunk bed (in our first place) Rachel awoke with fright on the top bunk thinking it was an earthquake!

Sleeping here at the project is very difficult, VERY noisy at night, people partying and screaming until about 1am and begin life again about 5am. Last night Paul nearly jumped out of bed with fright when the second of what seemed like to explosions went off ... and naturally Rachel feared another earthquake...

We are studying language and culture and the people teaching us are really friendly, patient and supply us with lots of toilet roll... and here we'll leave it as I've run our of time at the internet cafe... so next installment when we have some more free time.

Chau chau

Rach and Paul
xx

Please pray for our health

12th April 2008
Here we are at last in Peru!!

Our journey was long, 2 hours to Madrid then 13 to Lima.  We had a stop over in Madrid where we met up with 2 of Rachel's Paraguayan friends which was great.  On both flights we miraculously managed to get extra leg room which made the journey much more comfortable - comfortable for Paul and luxurious for Rachel!!

Arrived in Lima about 6am English time on Thursday (about midnight here, since we´re 6 hours behind BST).  We were met by Margaret, the only other BMS missionary here, along with the President of the Baptist Federation and his wife - both are smaller than Rachel!  In fact, most people here are, so Rachel is feeling rather tall and Paul is feeling like a freak!

After about 5 hours sleep we started the next process of applying for our Peruvian identity cards  - a slightly irritating process as we weren´t sure what we were doing and ending up just following Margaret from place to place across the city.  The next day we finished the process and we are now awaiting word to collect our cards.  Since then we've explored the city a little by car and also taken a walk along the front above the beach.  This morning we visited a potential appartment to rent for our time here in the capital.  Margaret had already semi-organised it, but was a little concerned that the bathroom was too small for Paul. As it turned out, it IS a little small, but he'll just have to duck for a few weeks before we move down the coast to Chincha where we will live for the longer term.

We won´t bombard you with lots more info but will finish with an amusing language error made by Paul (who is a little embarrassed!).  On our first trip alone on a bus this morning he wanted to ask for 2 short rides (dos chinas) and instead, very confidently asked for 2 chinese restaurants (dos chifas!!) completely bamboozling the guy collecting the fares!

More to come soon...

Love Rach and Paul xx

7th April 2008
We thought it would be helpful to send out a short summary of what it is we are about to do due to the fact that it has taken such a long time to get going that most of you (and we don't blame you in the slightest!) are feeling a little confused and bamboozled in some way or other.

Paul and I have just completed the required 3 months training (plus 4 months more due to late departure) with BMS World Mission and we are now heading to Peru to work for between 2-4 years with the victims of the earthquake that struck the country on 15th August last year.

We will stay in Lima for the first 2 months in order to study language and then move 3 hours down the coast to a place called Chincha Alta - one of the places closest to the epicentre of the earthquake.  We will be working alongside a newly planted Church and helping people to re-build their lives in a number of ways: housing, generating income, education in disaster prevention and health matters, mobilising people to help each other... there are endless opportunities.

If we decide to stay longer than the first two years, we'll return to the UK for a break around the 21 month mark in order to have a break before starting another period of time there.

For those who are praying with us, please click here to access our recent prayer requests.

You can also follow our story and see photos (when we take some)

For those of you who have asked, please click here to find out information about how you can support us financially

Thank you everyone, we'll next email you from Peru!

Love Rachel and Paul xx

1st April 2008
It may be 1st April, but we were told this morning that our visas our awaiting us in London!

This isn't a joke, although it may sound like one when we also tell you that they have been in London waiting to be collected since March 12th! That is even before we were told that we were waiting for one more signature!

No-one can tell us what happened, but we do feel very much that God has been orchestrating everything for particular timing. A couple of months ago a friend felt that God had said to them that He was arranging the last few 'moves' in terms of the visa process - yet it would be His timing.  Someone else at Church had a picture a few weeks ago of a red traffic light and thought God was saying to someone that although they thought they were going along a certain path, God was letting them know that He was taking them on a detour (at which point Paul and I joked to each other "I hope this isn't for us!") and although the ultimate destination was the right one, this person (or us!) wouldn't get there the way they thought - the reason being that there were people to meet and certain things had to happen on the way.

In the end we realised that this was for us and looking back we can see clearly the things that needed to happen and certain people that we've either met or spent time with that have been necessary.

Please thank God with us for His involvement in our preparations and for thinking of lots of details that we wouldn't have thought/been aware of.

Please pray for us as we pack up for Peru and move out of IMC this Friday and spend time with family before flying on Wednesday 9th April.

God bless you all

Rach and Paul xx