Thursday, February 14, 2008
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
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
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
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
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
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
Thursday, January 17, 2008
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
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
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Monday, December 24, 2007
A New Home for Christmas
December 24th was a long day, but a great one. For the first time in 7 months, we had a home. We moved into our new apartment and spent our first night there on Christmas Eve. It was such a beautiful day here too. The temperature was a little different than we are used to as it is summer here, but it is only about 75 degrees and sunny outside.
The Peruvians celebrate a little different than we do. They gather on Christmas Eve at midnight and have tons of fireworks and a big feast. We had dinner with our good friend Laura who has helped us get our apartment and everything that goes in it. On Christmas Day we visited with Pat's Place, our abused women's shelter, and Hope House, our girls' orphanage. It was another long day, but a good one.
Last week we were able to have an early Christmas dinner at Hope House. Pastor Bruce was visiting for a week to finish the purchase of the land for the new Sports/Medical Complex & Church. We bussed the women from Pat's Place up to Hope House, and we had quite a wonderful party! After dinner, everyone took a swing at the Santa Clause piñata, and then everyone had a gift to open. The women and girls all got new shoes, and Alex & I got new watches! Hopefully we will have time to post some pictures of that night soon.
Last Friday we finalized the sale of the land mentioned above. Pastor Bruce has charged Alex with the task of overseeing the construction in his absence. Alex will be busy and will visit the land daily for updates. Registration for Holly's English classes is tomorrow night and next Thursday night if necessary. Classes begin on January 8th, and Holly has a LOT of work ahead to get that started. Right now we're just settling into our apartment and awaiting delivery of our bedroom furniture & mattress, our washer, and refrigerator. We also are waiting on the installation of our dryer, cabinets, curtains, and hot water heater for the shower. Please pray that this all happens quickly!
Please write us and tell us about your Christmas & New Year's festivities at hollyjcompton@gmail.com. Love & blessings, A&H
The Peruvians celebrate a little different than we do. They gather on Christmas Eve at midnight and have tons of fireworks and a big feast. We had dinner with our good friend Laura who has helped us get our apartment and everything that goes in it. On Christmas Day we visited with Pat's Place, our abused women's shelter, and Hope House, our girls' orphanage. It was another long day, but a good one.
Last week we were able to have an early Christmas dinner at Hope House. Pastor Bruce was visiting for a week to finish the purchase of the land for the new Sports/Medical Complex & Church. We bussed the women from Pat's Place up to Hope House, and we had quite a wonderful party! After dinner, everyone took a swing at the Santa Clause piñata, and then everyone had a gift to open. The women and girls all got new shoes, and Alex & I got new watches! Hopefully we will have time to post some pictures of that night soon.
Last Friday we finalized the sale of the land mentioned above. Pastor Bruce has charged Alex with the task of overseeing the construction in his absence. Alex will be busy and will visit the land daily for updates. Registration for Holly's English classes is tomorrow night and next Thursday night if necessary. Classes begin on January 8th, and Holly has a LOT of work ahead to get that started. Right now we're just settling into our apartment and awaiting delivery of our bedroom furniture & mattress, our washer, and refrigerator. We also are waiting on the installation of our dryer, cabinets, curtains, and hot water heater for the shower. Please pray that this all happens quickly!
Please write us and tell us about your Christmas & New Year's festivities at hollyjcompton@gmail.com. Love & blessings, A&H
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