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