Our Shining Stars

What with only having 2 weeks notice to move out of the country and then arriving back 4 days before Christmas, we have got a little behind with the blog (I can't think why.) We will finish the blog when we finish visiting our link up churches, but in the meantime, we can fill you in on the action packed time that we had in December.  

One of the joys of December was the shows that Daniel and Sophia were a part of.  Daniel's school show didn't have a Christmas theme, but was a fascinating insight into Peruvian culture.  The show began with a young girl making an offering to Pacha Mamita (Mother Earth).  While she was sleeping, she was whicked away to the jungle where she was visited by various jungle creatures.  Then she fought with an enemy and was healed, returning to her home and grandfather, where there was traditional Peruvian music and dancing.  Not your average nativity, then.  Daniel was an otorongo, a jungle cat, and he did an excellent job!  He had been practicing for weeks and he had a fantastic costume.  We have the DVD which is worth a watch in our opinion, although as parents of one of the actors, we may be a bit biased.

 His show was also on my birthday, so we had a great lunch at Jack's Cafe, Daniel's favourite place in the centre.  Our friends Sophie and Chris were staying with us, so we had a great weekend, before finding out on the Monday that we needed to return to the UK.

A few days before we left, Sophia starred in a nativity at her nursery.She was, of course, an angel, although in Peru, it isn't the blonde haired children that are typecast as angels, as blonde hair is very rare!  As can be imagined, Sophia attracted even more attention than usual walking through the streets of Cusco on the way to the nursery.

The Nativity was full of colour, with some very Peruvian looking shepherds and Mary and Joseph.  The following Sunday, we had a nativity at church where Daniel was Joseph and Sophia was an angel - we already had a costume!  The children were always very excited to be involved in drama at church and this was no exception.  It was slightly crazy, as the narrator was late and we had to arrange a fill in at short notice.  But, as ever, it was alright on the night although we have no photos as we were too busy being a shepherd and a king...

In the next exciting pre-Christmas instalment, we will report on the chocolatada and the hospital, and by mid 2012, we should be up-to-date. Merry Christmas, by the way.

Home!

We are all safely home and will blog more soon about the last couple of weeks.  The journey went very well and Daniel and Sophia were excellent on all 3 flights.  The combination of a 2 year old and jet lag isn't a lot of fun though!

Big News

We hope that Christmas preparations are going well. We are writing to share news that we imagine will be quite a shock, but we will be returning to the UK earlier than anticipated.

We continue to be grateful for the opportunities that BMS has given to our family. Over the last year, we have had the privilege of teaching in schools, running an environmental project, running a holiday club, leading a children's club and much more. We hope and trust that God has used us here in Cusco. We hope that seeds have been planted that we know nothing about, but trust that God knows and is nurturing these seeds. We have personally been challenged and changed, often in difficult circumstances, and we will all come back with a different perspective of faith, God and the world.

However, we have felt for some time that this particular placement is not a good fit for us. It has been a privilege to be a part of El Puente, but it is a small church plant and we feel that it is overwhelming to have 4 mission workers placed there. We have enjoyed a lot of the work that we have been involved with, but feel that we can not offer a strategic role with sustainability at its heart, simply because the church is not at that stage. In training, we were told to be flexible in mission and always expect the unexpected. We have found this to be good advice, and we have tried to adapt to the situation being differerent to the one anticipated. It is a common story that mission workers travel to a country with one job description and end up doing something completely different! However, in our situation we can not see a new situation developing over the course of the next year that will be helpful and sustainable to the work of the Baptist Convention. We feel that rather continue with our work here, it would be better for the church if the youth and children's work develops at a slower pace, with the local church taking responsibility.

This has not been an easy decision, and has involved lots of discussion and prayer. We did not take the decision lightly to move to Peru and it is with the same consideration and prayer that we have decided to return to the UK. Personally, it has been a difficult time for us and we would appreciate your prayers as we process this decision and the next stages.

As we said at the beginning, we appreciate that this could be a shock, and for that we are sorry. God is at work here and we have tried to reflect that through our posts and stories. It has been hard to communicate the difficulties for various reasons, and hope that you haven't found the blog and newsletters misleading.

We were originally hoping to return to the UK between April and June, but it actually worked much better for the church if that was earlier, due to the departure of the Action Team and the home assignment of Scott and Anjanette. It was therefore hoped to be mid-February. However, Neil visited immigrations recently and discovered that it is not possible to renew or extend our visas beyond 6 January. Flights are better before the end of the year, and therefore we are due to arrive in the UK on 21 December. We have had to process a lot very quickly. Please pray for us and especially the children as we pack up and say goodbye in a much shorter time frame than we had planned.

Living in Peru has given a new perspective on the UK. We always saw our long term ministry as being in the UK, and although we will be leaving Cusco with sadness, we will also be returning to the UK with a renewed sense of the needs and potential within our home country. We are all called to mission and we see more than ever the importance of the church in the UK.

Your prayers and support have been invaluable to us and we can not express enough the difference that they have made.

Love Neil, Amanda, Daniel and Sophia

Week 4: Beauty from Junk

Last week was the final week of lessons, and we explored the theme of reusing.  First of all, we handed around images from this website, showing very creative ways of reusing and recycling rubbish.  The children have really enjoyed looking at photos, in both the first and final week.

The classes then divided into groups for a junk modelling project.  They were given a range of ruubish, and asked to design something new and beautiful.  I did not know beforehand how they would respond to this, as learning in Peru tends to be more structured.  Although the children are often artistic, they are given specific instructions, rather than having a blank canvas to explore and create.  I didn't know if this would be too difficult and different for them in the time given, or if they would enjoy the freedom. I discussed this with a teacher, as we observed them working.  She said that the children had lots of abilities, but sometimes lacked imagination.  However, as can be seen from the photos, there was lots of creativity on display, many with a Christmas theme.  I was especially interested to see a snow man as there is not much snow in Cusco, yet this image is still associated with Christmas here.

 We have been teaching a younger group in one of the schools, and so we decided to do a slightly different activity, as we thought that the junk modelling in groups might be too hard for them.  Instead, the children were given the opportunity to make either a magazine rack from a cereal box or a pen holder from a plastic bottle.

It was also great to see a display of posters from a previous week's work in a classroom.

It has been a great privilege and experience to run the environmental project.  Every drop does make a difference, for good and bad. The children of Cusco have an opportunity to help God's wonderful creation and I hope and pray that these lessons will be a springboard for further thought and action.