The Story Unfolds

After just over 2 months back in the UK, life has not only settled back into a routine but we can see where we are going - at least in the short term!  We will cease writing in a few weeks, but for those of you who are still reading the increasingly inappropriately named 'Ropers in Peru' blog, and for ourselves, as I am planning to print off the blog and associated articles as a record of our adventures, here is a breakdown of how everything has unfolded in the last few months.

• November 2011 - we realise sadly that we are probably going to return to the UK earlier than we planned.  We start thinking about the next step, feeling a bit lost and confused.
• I look again at teaching to see if there is any chance of training in September 2012. One option is the Graduate Training Programme, but the chances of getting a placement school at this point are very unlikely, especially considering we are still living in South America.
• After sending out a couple of emails to some contacts, I am offered a placement without interview.
• I begin the process of applying for a university place.  There are a few dramatic twists and turns, such as the university not accepting my application without a copy of my qualifications. They can't possibly mean the certificates that are carefully stored in a possibly unlabelled box in someone's loft... We think maybe that we are pushing the boundaries of friendship and blood ties by asking several people that have been kind enough to store our possessions, to look through all of these boxes to find the possibly unlabelled certificates.  They are found and - hurrah- they were in a folder labelled 'qualifications.'  I am more organised than I gave myself credit for. (Feel free to not comment if you have experiences of my disorganisation).
• Things in Peru unfold and develop at a rapid rate and we find out that we are leaving before Christmas in a way that none of us had planned or hoped for.  We pack up and leave with 2 weeks notice, feeling all-at-once confused, sad and excited to be returning home.  In the middle of it all, I throw together an application for a Teaching Assistant post.
• School places in Enfield are always a bit stressful and we need to apply for a place for Daniel mid year.  There is a massive shortage of places for his year group.  After getting his form in to the Council the day after we land, we have no choice but to relax, re-adjust and celebrate Christmas with our family.
• Jan 2012  - it looks like the only school spaces are some distance away. It is possible he won't get a place this year.  The following day, our first choice school calls to offer Daniel a place.  The office call it a fluke. We are absolutely delighted, even if it messes up our spontaneous Center Parcs cheap break!
• I get an interview for the Teaching Assistant post.  In the interview, I discover that there is a vacancy in the RE Department, the subject which I hope to teach.  I am offered a job.
• I have an interview for the GTP University place and I am very, very nervous, especially as it includes a mental arithmetic exam.  Gulp.  During the time that I am waiting to hear the result, I receive an incredibly discouraging email. It outlines that the GTP is massively over-subscribed, with 22,000 applicants for 4,400 places.  It suggests applicants may want to investigate other options.  I label this in the 'Unhelpful' category and continue to wait. It is possible I wasn't a lot of fun to live with at this point.
• I start work and really enjoy it.  I find out that I have a place on the GTP.  Whoop whoop!
• Daniel is settled in school and Sophia and Neil are enjoying their days together. When Sophia asks where Mummy is, she says,' Work, Again. It just me and you, Daddy.' Every day, I ask her if she missed me.  She says, 'Not really.'

And so, here we are, 2 months on, with Daniel settled in a great community school just around the corner and with future opportunities looking good.  Neil is still considering his next steps and we are still working through our quick departure from Peru.  But we can see that God has been guiding us and protecting our family.  For me, the return to the UK was going to be the biggest leap of faith, as we didn't have a house, jobs or a school.  I can't honestly say that we haven't been praying for hours  every night, but our prayer has been real and deep - the sort often beyond words but with lots of questions.

Even as our fantastic stories of flukes and coincidences has unfolded, we have had questions, partly caused by our time in Peru.  People said encouraging things like God would look afer us and it would all work out.  My hesitancy wasn't caused by thinking that God was not capable of this, but
why us and not others?  We are so, so happy that Daniel is settled in a lovely school, but what about the other kids without a school place?  We just think that we have so much and yet we have given more, and it appears in stark contrast to some of the people that we met with over the last year.

A friend commented that when he has been overwhelmed with God's blessing, he has realised that he needs to be a blessing to others too.  I guess we need to accept these gifts of God and serve him as faithfully as we can, and continue our adventure as our family's place in God's big story continues to unfold,

To Wales... where it always snows!

BMS runs a system where mission workers are linked to churches in the UK.  They visit the group of churches before they leave the UK, and visit during home assignments, or when they return to the UK. 

We had no previous links with Blackwood, South Wales when we visited at the end of 2010.  However, we were touched by the warm welcome that we received.  Even more so, it was great to receive so many emails, birthday packages and letters from our new friends during our year in Peru.  We felt so loved and supported by this group of churches from South Wales, and knew that they were deeply interested and praying for the work in Peru. 

We were therefore excited to have the opportunity to visit again and share some of our experiences.  As we got further fron London and the scenery became snow filled, Daniel uttered 'It always snows in Wales' with complete confidence.  This was his 2nd visit to Wales, and it had been snowing both times, so in his mind, Wales is a place of snow!  So, we were once again met at Newport Station by Glenys who braved the snow and ice to meet us. Her and Tony once again offered great hospitality and understanding of what it is like to travel with 2 young children.  They even managed to accomodate my new found lactose intolerance.

This was our first official BMS visit and it was hard to know what to talk about and focus on, but we had great fun leading the service on Sunday morning.  Neil adapted a game that we used to teach English in schools, Daniel spoke Spanish and Sophia, for the most part, bounced around the stage, although she was a bit unsure when the minister Mark tried on our Peruvian hats.  I spoke on forgiveness, based on an experience I had in the hospital in Cusco.  We also had an opportunity to thank people in person for all that they had done and offer a few token presents. The children enjoyed spending time in Sunday School.

We had lunch together after the service, which was a great opportunity to chat to people (when not pre-ocuppied with children).  Daniel took advantage of distracted parents and ate 4 (or more?) desserts, and Sophia refused to let go of her new dragon cuddly. Daniel was equally as excited with his lego, but was too busy with the aforementioned desserts to open it (which was good as he would have inevitably lost all of the pieces).

 

One of the most exciting aspects of mission work is the links that are created with Christians across the world.  However, it has also been wonderful to make new friends in other parts of the UK.  It is hard to express our gratitude to Blackwood without sounding very gushy or  insincere - but THANK YOU!  Your love and support for us and the ministry in Peru has been invaluable.  And we will be back, and not only to prove to Daniel that it doesn't always snow in Wales.

Goodbye Peru

Updating the blog has been harder than we thought.  We have been busy with all of the accompanied tasks that come with returning to the UK, but undoubtedly it has also been because we are still processing leaving so quickly.

However, through the madness and difficulties of packing up with very little time, we have fond memories as well.  Our final service at El Puente was also the last Sunday before Christmas.  We had a great Nativity, which became more improvised than intended as the narrator was late, and also a presentation of gifts and some personal thank yous.  We have no photos as we were busy with the nativity!

Daniel also had great fun with his best friend Juan Jose and we shared an early Christmas dinner, as well as a game of football in the Plaza de Armas. It was lovely to spend time with him and his parents, who were good friends of ours. It was important that Daniel and Sophia could have an opportunity to leave well.

Our final full day was also very special.  I (Amanda) was taken out to a coffee shop by 2 friends in the church and we had a great time together, although it was obviously tinged with sadness.  That night we chose the best restaurant in Peru for our final meal.... Magic Chicken!  La Magia is a chicken restaurant with a play area just around the corner from our house in Cusco.  The chicken and chips is great, and it was Daniel and Sophia's favourite place to eat.  We invited the church to eat with us and it was really the only choice for our family's final meal in Cusco. There was pollo a la brasa, salchipapas (sausage and chips) and Inka Cola (Daniel's favourite!)

Despite the quick timeframe, we felt that left in the best way that we could under the circumstances.  Leaving is never easy and it is bizarre to leave somewhere not knowing when (if ever) we will return. Facebook and Skype works both ways though; it was a great way to stay in contact with the UK when we were in Peru and it is great to have a way of communicating with our friends in Peru.

So our final day arrived and we began the journey back to the UK.  We even had a final trip to the zoo at Lima as we had a long time to wait at the airport.  The children were incredible on all of the flights and we safely arrived back to the UK with a mixture of jetlag, excitement about Christmas, happiness to be back with family and friends, and wonder at what the month's to come had in store.

Some of the puzzle pieces have fallen into place as I now have a temporary job as a Teaching Assistant at a local school and Daniel is settled at school.  For some of the other pieces, we continue to wait.  And trust.

Chocolatada and sharing toys

Now that we heading towards the end of January, Christmas feels like a long time ago.  For us, it feels even further back in time, as so much happened during Advent and in the month that has past since we landed in the UK. Things are now (in theory) calming down, and it is good to reflect on some of our final memories in Peru. 

It was particularly powerful to take Daniel to the local hospital to give some presents.  Neil and I were involved in visiting the Regional Hospital for a number of months, but we had never taken the children, mainly as it is sometimes a difficult place to be in and not the most hygienic.  During Sophia's Christmas party at nursery, the children received a doll with millions of tiny accessories and a remote control car.  We decided that these would not be great things to fit into our packing at the last minute, so suggested that they could be given to children in the local hospital, along with some other older toys.  I need to stress at this point that our children are not perfect missionary kid angels.  They did not leap at the chance of giving new toys away, and needed some persuading that this was a good idea.  However, they were (eventually) persuaded, and Daniel came with me to the hospital.

Daniel was pretty unfazed by the hospital and just wanted to get stuck in and play with the toys, although we didn't have time to stay for long.  He gave the remote control car to a boy who I think was around 8 years old.  I took a slightly posed photo of the handover of the present, but it soon turned into an impromptu hug, which was just lovely and so natural.  It was wonderful to give my 5 year old the opportunity to give something away, and experience first hand the joy of seeing the gift excitedly received. 

The following day, the whole family joined our church in Huambutio for a chocolatada, an opportunity  to share hot chocolate, paneton, gifts and second hand clothes.  There is more info here.  We will never forget Huambutio, where we visited weekly to teach English.  We will remember the crowded combis, the excited children, hugs and chants of 'Gringos' when we turned up and making Rob and Amy pretend to be animals during their first lesson there.  We loved the school and the opportunity to be a part of things there, and it was therefore great to be involved in the chocolatada during our final days there.  The site of Daniel shouting out 'chicos' to encourage the boys to come to the right place to collect their presents will be forever etched in my memory.  It was wonderful to see Daniel and Sophia playing and joining in with all that was happening, just as they had done with the holiday club a few months before.  Both were great opportunities to share God's love, not just with Peruvian children but with my own children too.

We are still here...

Just a quick note to say that we are still here - we are all doing well, although things have been a bit busy, with visits to Norfolk and Didcot, alongside properly moving in to Neil's parents' house.  We plan to continue the blog until we finish visiting churches and will also write about the last few weeks of Peru in the following days. However, we thought we would write a quick update of how we are doing at the moment.

Our biggest and best news is that Daniel has got a place at school!  There is a shortage of school places for Daniel's school year.  Our hope was that Daniel would get a place at a school within walking distance straight away, but this appeared to be unlikely, and we thought he might have to take any place offered and put his name on a waiting list. There was a chance that he wouldn't get a place at all.   However, we received a phone call on Friday offering us a place at our first choice school, which is just across the road.  The school are calling it a fluke and we are just very, very happy.  He had his first day today and had a great time, although currently seems to be supporting Chelsea, rather than Arsenal or Barcelona.  The school place is a huge answer to prayer and we are so pleased that Daniel is so confident and keen to go, after all of the upheaval of the last few weeks.

Sophia is very confident and happy.  She was often quite shy in Cusco, but is settling quickly back to life in Enfield and loves playing with her baby cousin.  She said she didn't miss her brother today, but she did also say 'Where's my Dan-Dan?' when it was time to pick him up.

Neil and I are applying for jobs, and I am hoping to begin teacher training in September.  For those that pray, please pray for wisdom as we apply for jobs, have interviews and make decisions.  As Daniel said unprompted the other day: 'I don't need to worry if even Daddy isn't with me at school, because God will absolutely be with me every day.'  We are praying for that perspective and faith in these unsettling and exciting times.

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!