Was She Ever This Small?

July 2010 Update

We now reside in Cumming, Georgia, in our new house. We had our first child, Eden Graciela, on March 15, 2010. We have temporarily stepped down from missions work and await the Lord's leading for our ministry as a family.

Our First Home!

These pictures are of the model house that we hope to buy this year. We have signed the contract and hope to break ground in June. If all goes well, we should move in sometime in September. So please keep us in prayer this summer!

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June 2009 Newsletter

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January 2009 Newsletter

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December 2008 Newsletter

Hi everyone, you can click on these images to make them larger for easier reading. Enjoy!

Medical Clinic at Sector 3 Church

These are pictures from the medical clinic the team held last week at the Sector 3 church in San Juan de Lurigancho. They had general medicine, dental, and vision clinics. Unfortunately, Alex and I were so busy, we didn't get to take many pictures. The team saw 160 patients the first day and 290 patients on the second day! They worked incredibly efficiently and with great love and care for each person! Well done, faithful servants of the Lord!

Nov-08 Women's Conference

God inspired the theme in me "A Way to Peace" a month or so before we held this conference, but I really didn't know why. I didn't think I was going to do more than introduce the other speakers because I didn't have anything to say. Then the night before the conference (during the men's conference night), He led me to this scripture in Matthew and told me what the women battle most is their own minds! God tells us not to worry, and if we do, we are in fact sinning! I struggle greatly in the battlefield of my mind, so it's something I had personal experience with and can empathize with these women. I told them there are three things we must do: First, we must repent and confess our sin of worrying to the Lord. Second, we must seek first His kingdom--meaning we must spend time with Him, read the Word, worship Him, and put Him first above all else in our lives. And third, we must trust that He will "give" us all that we need, as the scripture says. We don't have to earn the things we need; we don't have strive for them; we don't have to wonder if we are enough or if we do enough. Jesus says we ARE ENOUGH in Him! And so in front of them all, I got down on my knees, confessed my sin of worrying to the Lord, and told Him I wanted Him to consume my thoughts, my feelings and my life! I told Him I wanted lasting change for myself and for all the women there that night. And when I stood up and invited them to come forward for prayer with the team to do the same, they leapt from their chairs and rushed forward! Nearly every woman came forward. There wasn't a dry eye left! Praise God that He loves us and meets all our needs!

Nov-08 Missions Team Photos

This is the team in their new hats (I forgot again what they're called in Spanish) just before they flew back to the U.S. They are an awesome and joyful bunch of people whom we love dearly!






These are pictures of the Medical Clinic that the team held last week; they saw about 450 patients in just two days! That's a record!







These are pictures of the Peruvian Home Makeover described in our newsletter below. I'm hoping that some friends of ours will send us a few more than we were able to get of the rest of the house.

November 2008 Newsletter

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We're Moving Back to Atlanta! (Oct-08 Newsletter)

We know it's sooner than expected, but we are, in fact, moving back to Atlanta this December! As you know, we have both had a recent position change within the ministry. Alex now serves as the President, and Holly, as the Director of Public Relations. We have come to realize that our efforts in these roles would accomplish more if we were living in Atlanta.

This was a difficult decision to make, as we have made many friends here in Peru. And in many ways, we still feel like we're just settling in. However, through much prayer and consideration, we believe this change of direction is a necessary step in God's will for New Covenant Ministries (NCM) and all the work that NCM is doing for the Kingdom.

Initially as President, Alex has been traveling back to the States once a month for a week or longer to address ministry needs. Beginning in January, he will do the opposite and return to Peru for an extended weekend every month to address the needs of our projects here. Before we leave in December, we will be completing our current Peruvian Home Makeover and the Phase 1 construction of our Medical/Sports Complex & Church. Next year, Alex will oversee the continual development of the Complex & Church, as well as our abused women's shelter, Pat's Place, and our girls' orphanage, Hope House.

Holly's first year of teaching ESOL is quickly coming to a conclusion. She has really enjoyed being in the classroom and seeing her students improve week by week. She is going to miss them all terribly. However, she is very excited about supporting NCM with her gifts in writing, editing and design back in the U.S. She will be assisting with mission trip planning and recruiting through regular rallies and email communication. She will also assist with general ministry fundraising for the projects and facilities described above.

We will post more updates as our plans progress. We do know we will be traveling most of December, but we hope to move into an apartment at the end of the month. Since we sold all our furniture before moving to Peru, we will have to furnish the whole apartment again! Thankfully, the Lord led us to keep our bedroom suite, so we know at least one room will be ready for us! Please pray that God provides for everything else just as He provided for our move to Peru!

Thank you for your faithful support during our year in Peru. You have been a great blessing to us and to all the people God has touched through us. We welcome your prayers and your questions, should you have any. We love and appreciate you and your families. We look forward to sharing in God's blessings with you in 2009!

In His service,
Alex & Holly

Build NCM Peru Headquarters!

We currently live in an apartment that is one of three in a former factory in San Juan de Lurigancho, Lima, Peru. The owner of the building has decided to sell it, which falls in line with the vision God gave us for making this building the NCM Peru Headquarters! This very large building can be used for so many things, such as offices, library, computer lab, classrooms, meeting space, prayer rooms, and apartments for long-term missionaries (like us) or women coming out of NCM's abused women's shelter or girl's orphanage.

Check out our cause at: http://apps.new.facebook.com/causes/110080?recruiter_id=17596722
and see what you can do to help us buy this building! God bless!

June-August Newsletter

Sorry this took so long to write. There was just too much to say! (Click on each page to enlarge them so you can read them more easily.)

God bless you all!

In His service,
Alex & Holly

2008 Home Makeover

Last week we purchased the house for this year's Peruvian Home Makeover project. This is a picture of Edgar and his family right after we bought their new house. I took them to the only McDonald's in town. The house will be ready in November of this year, and our team will be there to welcome them into their new home. Buying a house here can be much easier than in the U.S. We bought the house in 2 hours, and Edgar has never seen it, nor does he know where it is. That is the best part. There are only 3 people that know where the house is at this point, so it will be a complete surprise.

The reason we purchased them a new house is because they do not have one. They rent a one-room apartment. It is 12 feet by 12 feet, and that's it. They share a bathroom with 16 other people on their floor. They live on the 4th floor, and their daughter is in a wheelchair. Edgar's daughter's name is Betsy, and she is 9 years old. She was born with Cerebral Palsy, and they spend all their money on rehab for her. Because they are not rich, they qualify for special assistance with her rehab. Edgar has been driving our teams around for the past 5 years, and their family has been amazing towards us. Betsy always has a smile on her face, and that's what makes her so awesome. This family is very loving and deserving of this house. Please pray as we work on the house and get it ready in time.

Wonderful Day

Holly had an awesome weekend. We had a great night Saturday with some friends. We made it a date night. We took our good friends Laura and Vico out to Jockey Plaza where we had a nice dinner, and then we went to see the Mummy 3. We had a really good time with them. It was Vico's first time at a Chili's. He really loved the American food. He got a steak, and Laura got the Cajun Chicken Pasta, which she really enjoyed. Anyway, it was a really nice night, and I wish we could do something like that every weekend. It just takes your mind off of work when you get to spend time with friends.

Today was a great day at church. Holly and I went to the 11am service at the sector 3 church this morning. When we first got to the door, we were asked to attend the 2 year anniversary of our sector 10 church. We currently have 12 churches that we work with here in Peru, so it was a real treat to go to the anniversary service. They really do it up here too. We had some praise and worship, a special dance, and some other special music. After that, they had a nice dinner prepared for all of us, and some cake of course.

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!"

June Update

This month has been amazing. We have seen many people saved through our street dramas, medical clinicis, and conferences. Holly had the opportunity to speak all weekend at the women's conferences. She took Alison Lusted's place as she was not able to come to Peru this June. Last night was the last of the three conferences, and Holly did an awesome job. She was preaching in front of 250 people like she was just talking to me. By the time she was finished, we asked her to stay up and give an altar call for salvation. Then she invited everyone up for prayer, and God just kept moving. The focus for the conference was on Purity, and a lot of these women got their purity back because of the healing that the Lord did in their lives.

We have also seen a lot of amazing things happen on the Drama Teams and in the Medical Clinics. Tody we had our 5th medical clinic, and there were about 200 people seen. It is amazing to see how these things go. We do a full medical clinic for those who are sick and need medicine. We also have an eye clinic for those who need glasses. We are able to give away hundreds of glasses each year during June and November. Alex was out with the Drama Team today, and we stopped at five locations and lead people to the Lord through drama. It is so amazing watching mostly teenagers work together so that people can receive Christ in their lives. These teams go to bed late most nights (12am) and get up early, but they push through all of the tiredness to get the job done. Holly and I welcome them, as it is the only time we really get to hang out with a lot of our friends here in Peru.

Holly and I pray everyone is doing well, and we look forward to seeing you all soon. Please send us an email or give us a call when you can.

Blessings,
Alex and Holly

An Unusual Morning

Yesterday was not a normal morning by any means. NCM's Director of Medicine, Jan, and I were suppose to start the morning by touring two new churches to decide how the medical clinics were going to be set up for next week. Apparently, we had a more important job before we were to leave the church. At about 9:45am, I heard a loud screaching sound like wheels from a bus locking up and then a loud bang. Jan happened to be close to me but did not know what had happened. I grabbed her and told her what had happened. She asked me if we should go check on the man, and I said yes. When we got over to the man, he was not moving, and there was already a big gathering of people. All of them were arguing with one another about whose fault it was, and not one of them was checking on the man. The police were already on the scene, since they stay on the corner where the accident happened. I had to tell them that we were medical professionals so we could get to the man. Jan is, of course, but I am not. The man was not moving at all, and there was blood all around his head.

I ran the 50 yards back to the church and grabbed what we needed (gloves and gauze). When I got back, other police officers had already showed up, and I had to tell them again that we were medical professionals in order to see the man. Jan and I put on gloves and did what we could to stop the bleeding from his head. The man was barely breathing and was not with it at all. Jan told him that Jesus loved him and prayed over him. We then had a pastor's wife show up next to us, and I asked her to share with him the Lord's Prayer. I saw his head move a tiny bit one time when she talked to him about being saved. After that his eyes had no life, and the ambulance was finally showing up (30 minutes after he had been hit by a bus). Unfortunately, the man died in our hands. There was not a lot we could do but hold him and pray with him. There is much more to the story, but I do not want to put that on the blog. Please pray for me, as it has been a little hard. I am not sure how to take a man dying in my hands, but I have had a lot of friends around me that I can talk to.

Blessings,
Alex

May 2008 Newsletter

Hello wonderful people! Thanks for checking up on us and reading our newsletter. If you click on the images, they will enlarge so you can read them easier. We'd love to hear from you! We hope you are well in body and spirit. Thanks for your prayers. You are in ours too!

Blessings,
Alex & Holly

Another trip to the ER

Yesterday we tested our new health insurance. Alex has not been feeling well for two days now, but yesterday things got worse. His whole body was hurting, and he started getting a fever. The fever was at 103 when he decided it was time to make a trip to the hospital. The hospitals here are so much better when it comes to the ER. We always get to walk right in, sit on a bed, and they start the questioning. Of course, we have to answer in Spanish, because they do not speak English, but they understood that he had the flu. Alex had the symptoms about 2 weeks ago for the flu, but we thought he had shaken it. Once they saw that he had a high temperature, they decided to give him a shot to take care of the fever. The doctor gave him some medicine to help with the pain, the fever, and to kill the germs in his body. When we went to leave, the bill was about $170 dollars for less than an hour in the ER. Since our full insurance benefits kicked in on May 1st, we are covered at 90%, so we only had to pay $17 dollars. We give thanks to the Lord for allowing us to have this insurance. We are not sure why, but he still had a fever of 101 all night long, but it broke for the first time today. Alex is feeling better now, but his body still hurts all over. Plus, it is hard for both of us to sleep because of his coughing. Please continue to pray for him as he gets over the flu. Please pray that Holly does not get what Alex has. We pray everyone back home is doing well, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.