More than a Full Time Job

As we have have learned over the past couple weeks, ministry is more than a full time job. This is something we were both aware of before we set out on our journey as missionaries, but as the weeks go by, it is reality and not just awareness. We love our jobs and thank the Lord everyday for allowing us to be here.

The past 2 weeks have been extremly busy for us. Holly has been working 7 days a week to plan lessons, teach classes, and grade homework. I have been working on getting the construction of our new Church and Sports/Medical Center started. Things here are always complicated. I was able to work with the contractor last week on the plans and made some small changes. The plans are now in the hands of the architectual engineer, and they are literally drawing them. I should have those soon, along with the total cost for this part of the project, which is huge. There will be a church, medical center, sports complex, and a boys orphanage. I can tell you that when it all is said and done, I am expecting it to cost nearly a million dollars. The Lord is bringing the money in, so I am not worried at all. The first phase of the project is the church and medical center. We want to get that going as soon as possible, so that we can start helping more people with our medical clinics.

Next week we have planned a littl night out for the missionaries that we know here in Lima. I am trying to set this up once a month so that we can all get together, relax, and not have to work our brains so hard speaking Spanish. I never thought that speaking and understanding another language would be so tiresome. ~Alex

I'm officially a teacher!

Hello everyone! I'm sorry it's been a few weeks since our last update. We have both been extremely busy. I am now officially an English teacher! (Won't my grade school English teachers be proud!) Classes started on January 8th. Tuesdays-Saturdays I teach three groups of students at the Sector 3 church in San Juan de Lurigancho, with a total of 65 students. I am also teaching the women at Pat's Place, an additional 9 students. The rest of my time I am correcting papers or planning lessons. I haven't had a day off in the last two weeks because of my work load. So unfortunately, I've had to postpone teaching the English classes at Hope House, our girls orphanage, for now. I want to be able to manage my time a little better juggling my 74 adults students before I take on 14 young girls!

Overall, I am enjoying teaching. It has been rough administratively because there were so many people who wanted to be in my classes. Some signed up but didn't show up; some didn't sign up but showed up, so they got the empty spots. We're almost through two weeks of classes, yet I'm still getting phone calls about adding more students. It's hard to have to turn people down, but I realize I can't please everyone (duh!) and I have to set limits and stick to them! The larger the classes are, the less time I can spend with each student. Thankfully, God has blessed me with helpers for 2 of my 3 groups of students. I'm just trusting Him that He'll send someone along to help with the other group too--and sometime soon!

Alex has been busy both with his company in Atlanta working via internet and addressing the designs and construction plans for our Sports/Medical Complex & Church. Things are done so differently here in Peru that it has kept us hopping with various legal and financial issues. We hope to begin construction in February, but there are a lot of steps that need to be taken between here and there. Please pray for guidance and protection in all areas of our duties in Peru! We really need it!

Two praise reports: We finally got our bedroom furniture, although we are still missing the closet that is due to arrive this weekend. Secondly, we are looking forward to our next Stateside visit at the end of February as we swing through Houston, Atlanta, & Boston, in that order. In Atlanta we will attend our ministry's annual fundraising banquet on the 29th and then work in our old offices again the following week. We're looking forward to catching up with many of you, so let us know your plans! We miss you and love you so much!

Bendiciones,
Holly