Jesus has Truly Blessed Us

For all of you who have been waiting for an update on our blog, here it is... We have been really busy these past couple of months. We had a chance to be in the United States for most of July, which was awesome. We spent July 4th in St. Marys, GA at Alex's family reunion. That weekend was really great because we went to the beach and didn't have to worry about anything, other than getting a sun burn. It was great trip, but as always it went by too fast. After that weekend, we returned to Atlanta to work in the ministry office, as that was our main purpose for being in the U.S. We spent those weeks working with Bruce and really helping the ministry get ready for November, which is our next big mission trip. We were also able to spend time with a lot of our supporters, which we love doing. Holly and I gained a couple pounds from all the eating out we did, but the time with friends is alway worth it.

As a lot of people already know, Alex has been asked to be the President of New Covenant Ministries, but we wanted to let others who do not know to read about it on our blog. As we wish this came with a huge pay benefit, it does not, but this does allow him to have more power to get things done in Peru. Holly has also got a new job title, and that is Director of Public Relations. She is really excited, as this is allowing her to focus a little more on marketing and creative communication, which is her expertise. She is still teaching English at the local church, but we did cut the classes back to allow her to be able to do both jobs. That was July; it came and went like each month seems to. We will be sending out our newsletter soon, so look for that. We will also post it here on the blog.

This month began with a wonderful visit from some new friends in New Jersey. The last Sunday in November, Holly got an email from a man named Dan Baker. He is from New Jersey and goes to Chapel on The Hill (www.chapelonthehill.org). Dan heard about us while surfing the internet looking for another group called Shama. Shama is a boys orphanage that we do work with, but it's not officially a part of NCM. Dan found our blog because the orphanage is here in San Juan de Lurigancho, where we also live and minister. It was truly amazing how God worked things out and allowed us to meet.

Anyway, Dan emailed Holly, and she emailed back. It was history from there. Dan and Johnny arrived last thursday, and we picked them up from the airport. For the next three days we showed them Shama, Pat's Place, Hope House, The Sports and Medical Complex, and toured Lima for a day. Shama actually had a benefit concert on Saturday night, and we were able to attend. Unfortunately, they had to leave on Sunday night, but they blessed us with their presence and allowing us to show them around. It just goes to show how God really works in our lives when we least expect it. I forgot to tell the best part. The church they belong to is only two blocks from Holly's Aunt's house in Cedar Grove. Holly and I were hoping to be in New Jersey for Christmas before we knew anything about them, and now we have more friends to see while we are there.

It is only the 5th day of the month, and already things have been busy. The sports and medical clinic is moving along. The first floor roof has been poured, and I went to buy the materials for the second floor yesterday. There's nothing like a man spending a lot of money at a hardware store! The only issue is that it is not like Home Depot, but I still like it. Today was a great day as well because we purchased the home for this year's Peruvian Home Makeover project. It took most of the year to find a home and then be able to purchase it, but the Lord has really blessed the ministry in being able to get this done. We will start the makeover process of the home by the beginning of September, and the house will be ready to present to the family by the first week of November. This is an amazing dream for this family. They have a wonderful daughter who unfortunately is in a wheelchair and cannot really talk, but she is so lively, you would not know it. She never seems to be in a bad mood or unhappy. Today after purchasing the house, I asked if I could take them to the local McDonald's, and she screamed, which meant; "You Better Believe It!"

I Can't Believe March is Over!

Hello all, and I just want to say, I can't believe March is over already! We had a great time in the United States this month. We were able to spend some time with all of our family and friends. We also had our ministry's annual banquet which was awesome. Things went well, and the ministry continues to raise money for all the projects we are doing. Holly and I were able to spend a day in Houston, a week and a half in Atlanta, and a weekend in Boston. We were some busy travelers, but we had a great time. We always look forward to our visits. I stayed an extra week because I was given a free ticket to fly back to Peru, which saved us a thousand dollars!

Once Holly returned to Peru, she hired a friend of ours, Pamela, to start working with us in the English classes and translating for me when needed. She has been a great asset, and we are so lucky that she was able to come and work for us. We do not treat her like an employee. The great part is that Pamela was already helping Holly twice a week, so we did not have to show her that much in order for her to come on full time.

The week I got back was Holy Week, so Peruvians didn't work on Thursday and Friday, but they did work on Saturday and Sunday (go figure). That being said, I had a couple of days off when I got back. This week has been really busy, as I have been working with my contractor to buy a bull dozer for the property. That was an experience. We drove 30 minutes by car to the center of Lima, purchased the huge bull dozer in 30 minutes, and then we drove it all the way to the property. When I say drive, I mean drive. There was no transport truck involved. We were driving this thing on the freeway and all. I was laughing the whole time. Yesterday I used the bull dozer to dig the first hole on the property for the medical clinic, and today I dug the hole for the new water tank. I thought I was a kid again playing with my Tonka toys.

Holly has spent the past couple weeks getting back into the groove of teaching. When she returned from the U.S. she took on another class. Holly is now teaching 7 girls from Hope House (our orphanage) on Saturday afternoons. The girls are loving the class and are so grateful that Holly is taking the time to teach them. It also gives the girls a chance to get out of the house on Saturdays and for them to attend Youth Group at the church. The orphanage is an hour away from the church, and if they were not coming for class, they would only go to Youth Group once a month. Now they get to go every week!

We pray all is well with all of you, and we can't wait to see you again.

Love,

Alex and Holly

Time for Work & Time for Play

It's always good to get away and have a little time off. Since Sunday was the Super Bowl, and Holly's from Boston, we had to find a way to watch the game. We have some other missionary friends in Lima, and they invited us to a Super Bowl Party. It was a first to watch the game in Spanish--definitely an interesting time. Holly was unhappy because her team lost, but we had a great time.

Monday was even better for me, as I went hiking in the mountains with Greg and Bridget from our orphanage. They are going to the U.S. next week to spend 9 days on the Appalachian Trail and wanted to get some training. We hiked along four or five different mountain tops. It was a nice hike and took about eight hours. We started at 8am and got back about 5:30pm or so. It was so beautiful at the tops of these mountains. There were no cars honking or dogs barking, and the air was great. We hiked about eight kilometers or so, which wasn't bad considering we hiked up to a height of 1700 meters at the peak of the highest mountain. I am hoping that in March when we all get back from the U.S., Greg and I can go out for a weekend trip to hike some of the higher mountains around. Along the hike, we did find two intact human skeletons. I will send pictures once I get them from Bridget. Apparently, these two skeletons have been there for a while, because they are nothing but bones now. Greg had reported it to the police here a couple of months ago, but they could care less.

While I was out on the mountain, Holly was at home working on this week's classes. The students have now finished one month of classes and have their four-week test this week. She has been busy, but hopefully with some help she is receiving in the classroom, things will get a little easier for her. We have hired two of the older girls from the orphanage to help us out with a couple things. One of the girls, Valeria, really wants to learn English, so she will be helping Holly on Wednesday and Friday mornings with her classes. The other one, Yessenia, will be taking care of our apartment twice a week. It is nice to have someone help us clean and get some things done around the house, and it allows us to bless her for her work as well.

We hope everyone is doing well, and we can't wait to see many of you in a couple weeks. ~Alex

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!

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