December 2007 Newsletter

Click on the images to enlarge them for reading. Enjoy!

A New Home for Christmas

December 24th was a long day, but a great one. For the first time in 7 months, we had a home. We moved into our new apartment and spent our first night there on Christmas Eve. It was such a beautiful day here too. The temperature was a little different than we are used to as it is summer here, but it is only about 75 degrees and sunny outside.

The Peruvians celebrate a little different than we do. They gather on Christmas Eve at midnight and have tons of fireworks and a big feast. We had dinner with our good friend Laura who has helped us get our apartment and everything that goes in it. On Christmas Day we visited with Pat's Place, our abused women's shelter, and Hope House, our girls' orphanage. It was another long day, but a good one.

Last week we were able to have an early Christmas dinner at Hope House. Pastor Bruce was visiting for a week to finish the purchase of the land for the new Sports/Medical Complex & Church. We bussed the women from Pat's Place up to Hope House, and we had quite a wonderful party! After dinner, everyone took a swing at the Santa Clause piñata, and then everyone had a gift to open. The women and girls all got new shoes, and Alex & I got new watches! Hopefully we will have time to post some pictures of that night soon.

Last Friday we finalized the sale of the land mentioned above. Pastor Bruce has charged Alex with the task of overseeing the construction in his absence. Alex will be busy and will visit the land daily for updates. Registration for Holly's English classes is tomorrow night and next Thursday night if necessary. Classes begin on January 8th, and Holly has a LOT of work ahead to get that started. Right now we're just settling into our apartment and awaiting delivery of our bedroom furniture & mattress, our washer, and refrigerator. We also are waiting on the installation of our dryer, cabinets, curtains, and hot water heater for the shower. Please pray that this all happens quickly!

Please write us and tell us about your Christmas & New Year's festivities at hollyjcompton@gmail.com. Love & blessings, A&H

Let the Hard Work Commence!

Last night we arrived back in Peru after a few weeks in the States. We are refreshed and energized for the hard work ahead of establishing the English school set to begin in January and several other projects that our ministry is working on. We will also move into our apartment this week, and we are so looking forward to having our own place again for the first time in over 6 months. The next three weeks will be the most strenuous of all, so please keep us in your prayers.

Also, please consider making a year-end donation towards our efforts here in San Juan de Lurigancho. If you want to see more of what we do here, there are many posts below with photos and stories, as well as links below to the ministry's websites. We hope to hear from you soon!

We made it home!

We just wanted to let you all know that we made it home to Atlanta safely this morning after a long night in airplanes, long lines, and very little sleep. But we are so grateful that the Lord has made a way for us to be here for a few days with friends and family during this Christmas season. Today was low key, but the rest of our trip will be packed full of visits, shopping for various things for Peru, and lots of driving around!

It was quite the ride to get here, by the way. We had planned to leave Peru on Tuesday night, but when we went through the Immigration line, they told us we couldn't leave the country without our Carnet residency cards. We tried to explain that we were in the process of applying for them, but we were still waiting. They said they could reschedule our flight for Thursday night so that we could go to the Immigration Office in Lima to get a letter of permission to leave the country without the Carnet cards. We were almost sure that would be impossible to get within two days, but we decided to give it a try. By the miraculous hand of God, we did not get that letter the next day but the Carnet cards themselves! And there wasn't a single problem with our trip last night. God is able to do the impossible, even in the slowest country in the world!

Sudo-Thanksgiving and Other Activities

This past week has been a busy one for both of us. We briefly celebrated Thanksgiving with the women and children at Pat's Place with dinner and ice cream for all, but that came at the end of a long, busy day, which has become the norm. Alex is still looking for land for the new Extreme Home Makeover project. Property is not advertised in papers here, as people cannot afford it. The people basically just post a piece of paper on a pole or on their own house advertising it is for sale. Alex is also involved in many other administrative tasks for NCCM, plus working remotely for his company Client Profiles--not a dull moment!

Holly has also been working hard on her teaching materials and preparing her lessons. Any teacher can tell you that this is a long and tedious process. There is a lot of material she has to read, and then she writes out how she will teach each lesson. Each day is a process. Sometimes it feels like our work is not getting done, but we are working all day long.

On top of all that, we have been trying to get our residency ("Carnet") cards, and that is also a huge process. This week we went back to the Immigration Office to turn in more paperwork. We were then informed that we must go to Interpole to have a full background check done. With that, we must go to 2 different banks and pay money for different taxes. Then we can go to Interpole. Once we finish at Interpole, then we have to go back to the Immigration Office. We will see what happens after that. So far we have paid a totoal of $150 us dollars in fees and taxes, plus taxi fare for those days. It is a complete learning experience and always changing. We are learning about the Lord's patience and being reminded constantly that we are not in control.

On Wednesday Pastor Gino and Carmen took us out for a fellowship dinner. We ate at a Tony Roma's restraunt on the ocean, which reminded Holly of Martha's Vineyard. I had chicken quesadillas, and Holly had a huge steak. It was really nice to have that time with them. After dinner, we went to Starbucks for dessert. There are only 2 or 3 in Lima and all an hour away, so it is a treat to go. While we were there, Holly shared her plans for teaching english and proposed a schedule. They loved it and said that it looks great. They then had us share it with all the pastors last night in a meeting to get their feedback. All the pastors are looking forward to the classes, and Gino wants all of them in it.

Friday was a long day, as we went to the orphanage and cooked a special breakfast for the girls. We had to be up at 5am to leave the house by 5:30am. Once we finished with the breakfast, we had to go to Lima to do more work for our residencey cards, then we had a meeting with the Pastors at 5:30pm. After the pastors' meeting, Alex cooked a nice Italian dinner for Greg, Bridget, and Holly. After we ate dinner, we set up the projector, and watched "The Lake House." We had a good time with them, as it has been great having other missionaries here that we can fellowship with, including Greg, Bridget, and Heather who are all apart of New Covenant Creation Ministries.

We are looking forward to coming home to Atlanta November 28-December 10 and are just so grateful that God has provided the funds for the trip. Although it will be cold there, we hope it will just bring us into the holiday spirit before we come back to Peru for our first 80-degree Christmas! And we hope to see as many of our friends and family while we're in the States. Thank you for your prayers and love. We hope to hear from you soon!!

With the hope of Christmas,

Alex & Holly

Home for the Holidays (minus the holidays)

We are blessed to be able to come back to Atlanta November 28-December 10, including a quick trip to visit my grandmother in Las Vegas December 3-6. If you are interested in getting together with us during that time, please let us know at hollyjcompton@gmail.com.

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just next week, for which we'll be in Peru, of course, as well as for Christmas and New Year's. Thankfully, Alex's company (for which he still does some contract work via internet) is paying for his plane ticket so he can come to their Christmas party on December 7, so we only have to pay for my ticket, which is what Alex's projects will pay for. Even our breeze through Vegas was an amazing deal. We are truly grateful for the blessings of the Lord and the chance to be with friends and family even just for a few days. Then we will return again at the end of February for the New Covenant annual banquet on the 29th (mark your calendars!).

This week has been very good and productive. Alex has been looking for the next house or plot of land to use for our second Extreme Home Makeover while I've been home working on my English lesson plans. We also are trying to get our Carnet cards (residency registration), which we thought would be easy since we already have our visas, but apparently we need one more letter from the overseeing church here. Carmen is supposed to get the letter for us soon, but we haven't heard for sure yet. We are scheduled to meet her Tuesday at 10am to see if we can get the Carnet cards then. Please pray for that to happen easily! It costs us $10-20 in taxi fare every time we have to go into Lima for a few hours.

We have finally found an apartment that's a short walk from Pat's Place. It has one main bedroom but a huge living room area where we can also put an office, dining room, and possibly a guest bed too. We will sign the lease next Tuesday, but it won't be ready for us to move in until we return on December 10. Then we will furnish it and settle in. We are so looking forward to having our own place and some privacy again. It has been more than 6 months since we had that; we just pray that the Lord will provide the rest of the funds we need to make it home sweet home.

We hope that you and your families have a wonderful Thanksgiving next week! Please write us soon and let us know how you're doing!

Much love in Him,
Holly & Alex

Hope House Medical Clinic

Last Wednesday Alex and I were also able to work with the NCCM team at the Hope House Medical Clinic. We both assisted in the Vision Clinic testing each person's vision with the chart. We saw a record 144 patients total in less than 4 hours! More than 40 people were saved, and each person had the opportunity to receive prayer after they saw the doctors. Rebecca and Henry were the Peruvian physicians that assisted us, plus Victor, the dentist. It was truly an incredible, although short, day. I am a bit sad that we won't get to do it again until April or June.

NCCM Team's EXTRA Day!

So Friday night Alex and I saw the NCCM team off at the airport at 10pm and went home and straight to bed. We were so exhausted after a long but rewarding week with the team and looking forward to sleeping in the next morning. At about 8am the next morning, Heather came to our door saying, "Alex, Holly, I need to speak with you guys urgently!" We wondered what could be so urgent, and we soon learned that the team had never left! Their flight was canceled due to a faulty plane part that had to be flown in from the US the next day! So the team was up all night long waiting in lines. American Airlines said the local hotels were full and only gave each person food vouchers (usable only at Papa John's at the airport!). Thankfully, American Airlines did pay for two vans to bring the team back to Pat's Place by about 10am where we offered them beds and a great meal before they were back off to the airport for a 2am flight Sunday morning. We know they have safely reached home now, praise the Lord! And although it was a hard journey for them (including the fact that AA lost ALL their luggage on their way to Peru at the beginning of the week), Alex, Heather & I were so glad to have them here for the day for fellowship and laughter one last time. They were the first missions team to stay on the 4th floor!

November NCCM Team Free Day

Yesterday Alex and I joined the team again for their free day and got all our Christmas shopping done! We visited some of the same places we have seen before, but the different faces made it just as fun. We joined together at the beginning of the day to pray for Peru at the highest point in Lima at a well known cross. From there we visited the Indian markets to shop, ate lunch at Pizza Hut, and concluded the day at the oceanside mall. There we enjoyed Starbuck's, I got a 10-minute massage, Bruce and Vicki decided to race (and I think they're still deciding who won), and Bruce attempted to drive a bus (oh God, help us!). It was a very busy but enjoyable time of speaking English and laughing at my new pet rat, Remy. (hehehehehheheheheh)

Daughters of the King Conference: Keys to Freedom

On Thursday night Alex and I joined the NCCM team for a night of ministry at the Daughters of the King conference which focused this year on "Keys to Freedom" in Christ. At this church in Callao, we had several speakers who preached the Word and gave their testimonies. We gave the women the opportunity to receive Jesus as their Savior and to ask the Lord for the filling of the Holy Spirit for the work that God has called them to do. In the center of this collage is the board at the front of their church which focuses their hearts on conquering the world for Christ--"Hacia La Conquista Del Mundo"--which is our mission as well. God used our hands and voices to touch their hearts deeply and encourage them to do the same for others.

Extreme Home Makeover - Project 1

In November 2006 New Covenant began its first project of Extreme Home Makeovers here in Peru. The project was for a woman named Martha and her two children, Jason & Jessica. Martha is a faithful church member and servant of the Lord, as are her children. Her husband passed away 8 years ago, and she has been working hard to provide for her family ever since. She has tuberculosis and other health problems that have been getting worse because she works so hard. NCCM decided not only to tear down and completely rebuild her home, but also to include a store front for a source of income for this family. On Thursday of this week, we all yelled out "Move that bus!" and Martha, Jason & Jessica saw their new home for the first time. Here are our pictures of the house and store which used to be one room separated and roofed by deteriorating cardboard, where the only walls to the home belonged to neighboring houses. The Lord has blessed her for her faithfulness and had favor on the entire family. It made us all cry to witness her humility and gratitude as she walked into her dream!

The Inevitable Medical Bills

So Alex's surgery in the U.S. probably would have cost $20,000 or more since we do not have medical insurance, but being that we are in Peru, it only cost $1,500! We are grateful that we only have to raise $1,500 in additional support for this bill. Please pray for God's provision in that area, as we had to put it all on a credit card for the time being. If you feel led to assist us with this, you may make your check payable to New Covenant Creation Ministries and mail it to the address noted at the bottom of this blog page. Thank you so much!

Surgery or No Surgery? That is The Question

This last weekend was an interesting one. Saturday morning at 3:30am I (Alex) woke up with a sharp pain in my left side. Now, as many of you already know, I had my appendix taken out in Peru in June 2006. This time, the pain was just as bad as it was before, so Holly and I guessed it was kidney stones. At 6am, I arrived at San Juan Bautista Hospital. I was taken right into the emergency room (same bed as last year too!) and then right into the ultra sound room so they could look at my stomach. We got the ultra sound back in about 15 minutes, and I had many kidney stones in the left kidney and also some in the right. So the hospital decided to keep me overnight.

Aabout 12 noon on Saturday, they came into my room, and said that I also had a stone in my gallbladder, and it was a pretty big stone according to them. The surgeon said that surgery was not urgent but necessary soon to remove my gallbladder. The surgeon that gave me the news was the same surgeon that had taken out my appendix the year before, so he remembered me. After that, I was taken for many x-rays and forced to drink the nastiest tasting stuff in my life. I had to drink 2 liters of it, and I mean it made me gag every time I took a sip. Of course, I was not allowed to eat, so I was starving by that time as well.

The hospital finally let me eat at about 8pm. I couldn't eat the next morning, however, since we had decided to go ahead with the surgery if the doctor said it was okay; we figured that since I was already admitted in the hospital etc, it would be better to do it now than wait for the situation to get much worse. On Sunday, the surgeon came into my room and said that I was good to go for the surgery and that we would have it around 11am or so. Well, it was 2pm before they took me down to the operating room. Once I got to the operating room, I was greeted by nurses who had worked on my appendix and knew me as soon as they saw me. I am sure they do not operate on many Americans anyway. The doctor that works with our ministry, Rebecca, was also able to scrub in for this surgery as she did last year, which made both Holly & I feel more comfortable.

After coming out of surgery, I was in a little pain but was doing good. I was able to leave the hospital today, which was good. I am finally back at Pat's Place and working on my recovery. I have been given a strict diet, so let's see how well that goes. Thank you for all your prayers and support. We definitely felt the hand of the Lord with us taking care of all things, including giving Holly a bed in my room to sleep in both nights I had to be in the hospital. Hope to talk to you all soon.

Zoo Holiday

Yesterday was a holiday here in Peru--All Saints' Day--so we took the women and kids at Pat's Place to the zoo! We spent several hours there looking at all the different animals, ate lunch, and then concluded the visit with some acrobatics! It was a nice day to relax with everyone, including Alana Lusted to is here a few days earlier than the Atlanta NCCM Missions team which will arive on Sunday. It was the most beautiful day we have seen here in Lima since we first came to Peru--bright, sunny, and the perfect temperature too. Thank you, Lord, for a wonderful day!

Out and About

Today Heather and I (Alex) went to Hope House (our orphanage). On the way out, Heather and I were waiting for the bus, and a friend showed up. She had her sister and her nephew along with her. Just to show you what Peru is like, Heather picked up the little boy and said how pretty he was. Right then and there, the mother asked Heather if she wanted the baby. The people here want their children to be with Americans because they think that all Americans have money. Today was a long day. After visiting the Orphanage, Heather, Percy, and I went into Lima to pick out the type of chain linked fence we need to put at the top of Pat's Place. From Pat's Place to Lima, and back, it took us 4 hours, just to do 15 minutes worth of work. Today was a long day, and I am ready for some rest.

Friends in Arequipa

We just wanted to post a small collage of some friends and classmates we met in Arequipa.

Soup Kitchen Collage

Here are some pictures of our soup kitchen in action. As you can see, they are eating spaghetti, eggs, and potatoes, but not soup today. They do some things differently, like putting shredded carrots in the spaghetti, but I assure you, it is pretty good. The soup kitchen is not just about feeding people, but about reaching out to them and finding ways we can help. As you can see from the picture on the bottom right, there is a worker sharing the gospel with a young woman and her children. We hope that you can see what a blessing that this brings to the people of San Juan.

Soup Kitchen Preparation

Today Holly and I got the opportunity to work in our soup kitchen. Here is a picture of Holly crushing crackers, which they used to make a Peruvian hot sauce. It looked kind of strange but tasted real good. The food is prepared at the sector 3 church, then shipped out to 3 other sectors. There are 10 sectors, and they rotate each week. This week we were in sector 4, 6, and 8. We fed a minimum of 150 people. For some of these people, it will be the only one they eat today, or even this weekend.

San Juan de Lurigancho - Week 1

Here we are! Finally, we are back in San Juan de Lurigancho at Pat's Place and ready to move forward in our ministry. We just finished our first weekly ministry conference call with the leadership back home, along with Heather and a few Peruvians here--Laura, who runs our soup kitchen and assists with many projects, and Percy, the contractor who works with our construction projects. We are so thrilled to find out that a huge donation was made to NCCM to pay for the ENTIRE Sports & Medical complex--land and construction! It's such an amazing blessing that just makes you want to cry.

In all seriousness, we are seeing God's blessings on this ministry every day. Pat's Place is getting the final touches on the roof and tiling on the face. The first "Extreme Home Makeover" project is also nearing its conclusion. The next U.S. team arrives at the end of next week for another week of medical clinics and construction projects. A videographer will also be coming to capture it all on film. We won't start the English classes until January, so that gives us time to be involved in other aspects of the ministry right now. Of course, I need to start my lesson planning, and the women at Pat's Place are ready for me to start teaching them as soon as possible! So please pray for wisdom and guidance as I prepare for teaching.

It was bittersweet to say goodbye to our new friends and family in Christ in Arequipa. It was a blessing to spend time with all the students and teachers on our last day of classes for the fieldtrip I mentioned last week. We piled into four vans and toured the outskirts of the city. We visited a volcanic rock quary and watched how blocks were cut, stacked and sold for construction. We visited a restaurant briefly where we toured the kitchen of the woman known as the best cook in Peru, just down the road from a tower where we also stopped to take pictures. We ended with lunch at a typical Peruvian restaurant where we tried some typical Peruvian dishes, including guinea pig! I can only imagine lots more food experiences like that one, such as the following night when we took our host family out for dinner, and I ate cow heart for the first time!

Peru had a nationwide census on Sunday, and no one could leave their homes for most of the day. Church services were rescheduled in Arequipa for Saturday night, so we were able to worship with them one last time and then say goodbye. They became very dear to us in that short a period of time, and we will always remember their patience and kindness and hope to visit again soon.

Our host family brought us to the airport Sunday morning, and once in Lima, we made our way to the Hotel Santa Cruz, where we relaxed and reminded ourselves of what hot hot showers really feel like. We met some fellow students, Todd & Stephanie, for dinner at Pizza Hut; they also had flown into Lima that day after being in Arequipa for several months studying Spanish. On Monday Heather picked us up and brought us here to Pat's Place, where we have settled in a bit and begun our apartment search. Slowly we are also purchasing household items and pricing the appliances & furniture around town. There is an apartment on the same block as Pat's Place that we are going to look at tomorrow, and it can be ready for us for Monday if we decide to take it. Please pray for God's wisdom and discernment over the next few days in that matter.

I apologize for the length of this message, but I just thought this once, you might not mind some detail. :-) I promise we will try to upload more pictures soon too. We sent out our first monthly newsletter by email yesterday; if you did not receive it, please let me know at hollyjcompton@gmail.com. Love & blessings to you all, H&A

Monastario de Santa Catalina

Arequipa Week 4

Hi everyone, we have just today finished our classes at the ABC Español Institute, and tomorrow for our final day there we are all going on a field trip of sorts. (We'll tell you where it was next week!) We are preparing for our return to Lima this coming Sunday morning, where we will begin our apartment hunt and settling in. We went horseback riding last Saturday morning, which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we can't upload pictures of our adventures right now, but hopefully this coming week when we're in Lima again, we will be able to. We are sad to leave beautiful Arequipa and all our new friends here. Luckily, some of them will be missionaries in Lima as well, so we should get to see them again soon. As my final project at the school, I wrote a long story about how Alex and I met (in Spanish, of course); if any of you are interested in trying to learn some Spanish (hint, hint), let me know, and I'll send you my story! :-) We are focusing forward now and eager to greet the November Atlanta NCCM team, as well as begin organizing the English school in preparation for a January start. Please pray that the Spanish we have accumulated thus far will continue to grow with leaps and bounds and that financially we have enough to establish a home in San Juan de Lurigancho.

With gratitude and hope,

A&H

Arequipa Week 3

A Note from Alex...

This week has been a great week for us in Arequipa. The air quality, temperautre, and weather here is the best that anyone could ask for. This was our third week of classes, and we only have one more to go before we return to Lima. We will update the blog with picutres as soon as we can. Currently our internet connection speed does not really allow us to upload pictures easily. On monday, Holly and I visited a Monastery here that was built in the mid 1500's. There was a lot to learn about what people used to do in the 1500's and the 1600's. Their ways are so different than ours, and I cannot imagine living in one place for 80 years, and never being allowed to go outside of the 4 walls of the Monastery. There is a lot of history here in Arequipa, and we have been able to see some of it.

During the week, we are in class, and then we come home and do our homework. We did get to eat at Burger King the other day, which was nice, because I wanted a hamburger. It was not the same, but did taste okay. One of the things I am going to miss here is the ability to go to some nice places, and get something American to eat. When we return to Lima in 10 days, we do not have some of these nearby. It's all good, because I love the Peruvian Food. Our host, Allen, prepares breakfast, lunch, and dinner for us. The meals are really good. Luckily, I have not gotten sick like everyone else has. Everyone goes through the stomach issue, but the Lord has blessed me so far. Holly has finally started feeling better, which has been good. It has helped her get out of the house a little more and allowed us to see some of the sites in our free time. Our free time is not much, as our homework takes us 4+ hours to do some nights. Learning Spanish is harder than one would think.

We are really missing everyone and would love to hear from you (hollyjcompton@gmail.com). May the Lord bless and keep you. ~A&H

Arequipa Week 2

Greetings in the merciful name of Jesus. We have now been in Peru for 2 full weeks, and Sunday will mark our second full week in Arequipa at the Spanish school. The Lord has continually confirmed our calling in various ways, which is such a blessing. It has certainly been a challenging time at the school for both of us. The pace for both of us is frustrating since we only have 4 weeks here, whereas most students stay at least 6 months! Please pray for divine favor and wisdom; this is hard work! But alas, as Pastor Bruce says, "If it were easy, everyone would do it!" In addition, Holly continues to have stomach problems and nose bleeds due to the altitude of Arequipa (almost 8,000ft); please pray for complete healing and health. This weekend we will be going white water rafting with 6 other students from the school and taking in a few other sites since Monday is a holiday here. We are looking forward to some time to relax and would love to hear from some of you. We now have a Skype phone number, which is an Atlanta local number; if any of you would like to call us from your home/cell phone, email Holly at hollyjcompton@gmail.com for the phone number. We love and miss you! Bendiciones, A&H

Arequipa Week 1

It has been an interesting day and week since we left the states last Thursday. It´s also begun to hit us that we haven´t "worked" (a 9-5 job) in 3 weeks. On the other hand, while learning Spanish is going pretty well for me (since I had many years of it in school), it's hard work for Alex because he has never had any schooling in it before. Since we have so little time, they (and we) want to cram in as much information as possible, but it is a bit overwhelming. We also take a 20 minute bus ride each way every day, another interesting experience in Peru in general, but sometimes it can be a little stressful. Everyone is crowded in so close, we rarely get seats, and it´s not always easy to know which stop is ours because everything sort of blends together still. I´m sure it will get easier each day though... Plus, I´ve also had some stomach issues the last 2 days, so hopefully that will go away soon too.

Today all the students and teachers at our school gathered and sang happy birthday to me in 4 languages. Then they promptly had me blow out a candle on a cake which was then partially smashed in my face (leaving enough of the cake to serve everyone, of course). That was funny; we wished we had had our camera, especially when I proceeded to give Alex a great big kiss with my cake-covered face! That was a cool birthday present...reminiscent of our wedding day and the groom´s cake!

To celebrate my birthday, we ate at Pizza Hut in a very nice American-style mall where I got a new watch (since I don´t have a cell phone to tell me what time it is anymore). This morning between classes, I also finished reading the first prequel of the "Left Behind" books, called "The Rising." I´m hoping that ...someone... might send along a late birthday present (with the November NCCM team) with the next 2 prequels, the only ones of the entire series that I haven´t read yet. :-) In the meantime, we are enjoying our free time, especially reading the Word, doing devotions together, and simply preparing our spirits for the time and efforts ahead. The home where we live has been a wonderful sanctuary, and we are so blessed and thankful that Allan and her family have opened their arms and embraced as their own. We are affectionately called "Hollycita" and "Alexcita."

Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings, especially on this, my 29th birthday, my first birthday outside of the US! (I smell 30 right around the corner!) Please keep praying for us! And we´ll do our best to keep you up to date once a week. As soon as we have internet service hooked up in our room, we will be online more often and will upload some pictures too.

For those of you who are ever interested in talking to us for FREE, sign up your computer for Skype (at http://www.skype.com/) for free, get a headset & microphone, and add hollyjcompton@gmail.com to your contacts. We´ll be waiting to hear from you!! We miss you all and hope to hear from you soon too.

Blessings,
Holly (& Alex)

We are in Arequipa

Hola everyone! We are safely settled into our new home in Arequipa for the next 4 weeks! We had a quick and easy flight this morning, and we were greeted by 3 members of the host family and another student staying with them. Pia is 19 and from Germany; she arrived this past Wednesday and has already learned enough Spanish to help us understand the family, only one of whom speaks English. Pia also speaks English. We have a very nice room and share the bathroom with just Pia. Tonight we will find out what time our classes will be each day. The mother is very kind and a great cook! I understand her Spanish very well (she speaks slowly), so I can translate for Alex. :-) She will show us the bus route tomorrow to the school and show us around town too. We took nice long naps this afternoon, as we have just been so exhausted since we arrived in Peru. It is much needed rest after the busyness of preparation to come to Peru. We are looking forward to starting the Spanish school tomorrow. Please pray that we learn quickly! We love you all and hope to hear from you soon. The family is having the internet connected into our room this week, we hope, so we will have more frequent access soon.

Blessings,
A&H

We are in Peru!

Hola Todos! Hello Everyone!

We have made it to Peru! The Lord blessed our travels with ease and comfort. We stayed at the Ariosto Hotel last night when we arrived, and Heather Bowen picked us up this morning and brought us to Pat's Place. We took nice long naps this afternoon and feel refreshed. We just plan to relax and enjoy our time at the house today, visit the market tomorrow, and prepare for our Sunday morning flight to Arequipa to begin the 4-week Spanish School on Monday. Please lift us up in prayer as we experience this culture shock and allow the Lord to connect our hearts to our new home.

Love & blessings,

A&H

23 Days and Counting!

Hello Dear Ones!

August was truly a blessed month for us! God showed up in so many ways as we have been working harder than ever before in our lives to prepare for the journey ahead to Peru. We are weary, but He is strong! He shows us this truth every day that we give over to His hands. We hope that you are able to sense His strength working in and through your life as well.

We have just returned from an amazing visit to Boston (quick but awesome!), where we raised over $1,000 and were able to catch up with a lot of Holly’s old friends and family that live there. It was so refreshing to see them and share about all the glorious things God has done over the last five years since Holly moved to Atlanta. How wonderful to have their support and prayers lifting us up as we embark on this new adventure in our lives.

September is finally here! It’s hard for us to believe that we’ve been planning this for more than a year, and it is finally coming to pass. We finish out our full-time jobs on Thursday, September 6th, which is a bittersweet ending for us both, as we have both been at our current jobs for three years and love what we do and who we work with. We will be traveling to Dallas, TX the first weekend of the month to speak at a church there (and return in time for our Farewell BBQ on Labor Day!). We will be in California the 7th-12th, then tying up loose ends, and finally, holding our Commissioning Dinner/Silent Auction on the 15th. If you are able to make it to that or to our Commissioning Service the next morning at Landmark Church in Norcross, we’d love to see you!

Please continue to pray for us, as we hope to raise an additional $7,000-8,000 dollars more before we fly to Peru on September 20th. We need to find a few more monthly supporters as well. We have put together a DVD, and if you would like a copy to share with your church or friends, please email hollyjcompton@gmail.com so we can send one out to you. We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events or staying in touch via email! Our next monthly letter will be written from Peru! We love you and are so grateful for each of you.

Bendiciones,
Alex & Holly

Upcoming Events

¡Hola Todos! Hello Everyone!

We are hard at work preparing for our move to Peru in 45 days! We still have quite a bit of fundraising left to do, and we ask that you would pray about spreading the word of our need in order to begin our ministry. We hope you can attend one or more of our upcoming gatherings so we can see you before our departure on September 20th:

1. Saturday, August 25th: Going Away Party at Christ Church in Fitchburg, MA, 1:30-4:30p.m.

2. Monday, September 3rd: Farewell BBQ at the home of Ellen Diehl in Atlanta, GA, 12-4p.m.

3. Sunday, September 16th: Commissioning Service & Luncheon at Landmark Church in Norcross, GA, 10:30a.m.-3p.m.

Please let us know if you will be able to attend any of these events. We have prepared a detailed letter and brochure about our plans; if you have not already received it, please let us know and we’ll send them out to you right away. We also have a video available upon request.

Thank you again for your prayers and financial support. We look forward to connecting with you again soon! For more information, please feel free to contact Holly at hollyjcompton@gmail.com.

Dios te bendiga (God bless you),
Alex & Holly Compton

Less than 2 months to go!

Hi Everyone!

Thursday, September 20th, 2007, Moving Day to Peru, is less than 2 months away now! Alex and I are so busy preparing physically, spiritually, financially, and every other -ly possible! God has truly shown us great grace, blessing, and favor over the last year as we have submitted ourselves to His calling on our lives. We are so grateful for the many wonderful people He has put in our path to encourage us along the way. Please keep us in prayer as we continue to raise money for all our endeavors to come, and let us know what's happening with you and how we can pray for you too.

Grace & peace,
Alex & Holly