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,
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
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