Peruvian Periodicals...from the Simpsons

Vol. 2 - Nov. 2009

Only Three Weeks Left!

Wow! We only have three weeks left in Arequipa, which means we only have three weeks of Spanish school left. That's a little scary! Please pray for all of us that in the next three weeks speaking and understanding Spanish will become much easier...especially understanding people who speak fast. We will all travel to Lima for a few days where we will meet our Peruvian 40/40's for the first time. We will participate in some team building exercises over those few days, and then after that we will fly to Iquitos to begin our mission training for six months. Please pray for understanding and patience during this time as well because all of the classes are in Spanish.

Two weeks ago Kevin and our 40/40's traveled to Lima on a bus for 15.5 hours! We left at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, and arrived in Lima the next morning at 7:00 a.m. The buses were really nice though. We went to the organization that does the residency for free! They are an evangelical group that helps with residency for missionaries coming to Peru. After a few hours of doing all we needed to do for residency we went to this mall where they had a Chilis!!! Kevin had chips and salsa and a very good hamburger. You don't really appreciate American food until you haven't had it for a while. It was good to have a little taste of home. He also had his first real coffee at Starbucks since we left the states. The only coffee here is instant coffee, even though they grow very good coffee in Peru. We all then hopped back on another bus at 4:30 to take the bus back to Arequipa, which took 18 hours!!! Kevin had to start his residency first because the kids can't start their residency until one of the parents is a resident. So we will all fly to Lima later where Kevin will pick up his residency info and the rest of the family will begin their residency. Then we will have to return to Lima one more time to pick up their residencies...fun, fun, fun!!!

Our 40/40's
Our time with the 40/40's has been good. We continue to meet with both the Iquitos and Pucalpa groups each Wednesday for a time of Bible study, encouragement, and prayer. We have celebrated several birthdays over the few past weeks where Heather and Sarah (the Pucalpa Cluster Support) made the favorite desserts for the people who have had birthdays. We just met for the first time separately with just our Iquitos group for a time of team-building, worship, prayer, and encouragement. Kevin purchased a guitar in Arequipa to use over the next 2 years as a ministry tool for the group. We had a great time worshipping together with the guitar. It has been a little more difficult to do team-building since we are all spread out, have different churches, school times, and schedules. Please pray that our teams can grow deeper and more unified. Please pray for Kevin and Heather for the first 6 months in Iquitos. We will have responsibility over all 24 40/40's for 3 months. We will be attending the mission training classes, overseeing all the needs of the 40/40's, paying all the bills, arranging for cooking and cleaning of the 40/40 dorm, caring for our children, and cultivating our own walk with Jesus.

One Year!

Speaking of birthdays, Sophia turned 1 year old on October 29th. It's hard to believe that it's already been a whole year since we were blessed with beautiful Sophia. She took her first solo walk a few weeks ago, and she is really beginning to walk more. Check out our blog to see some video of her walking http://simpsonsweperu.blogspot.com. She is a blessing to us and very stubborn! We'll celebrated here birthday at our 40/40 meeting and with our host family, and Kevin and Heather will watch some of the video we have of her!

Church

Last Saturday, our church and another church joined together for the whole day in a celebration of Baptism. We rented a combi (a small bus) and rode it for about an hour away from Arequipa in the mountain desert area. We turned off the main highway onto a curvy, fast descending road into a valley where vegetables are grown. There was a natural volcanic spring that collects into a small pond about 2 foot deep where people go for the day to swim in the naturally warm water. First, we had a service with a time of worship, prayer, and preparation for baptism. Then after the service we went to the water where there were 9 people baptized. Following that we ate lunch, had time for conversation, and played games or swam. It was a great day of celebrating new life in Christ and Christian community. It was an all day event, so

needless to say when we got back home, we ate dinner and went to bed. Sunday was a special day for the churches in Peru. The DNA of the church in Peru is to plant new churches, which is so amazing. We had a smaller service at 9:30, and then after there was a celebration for one of the other churches that became an official church.

Encouraged by God
Kevin and Heather continue to receive God's strength and grace. We have been learning how to trust God at a much deeper level. We both continue to find much encouragement from the Psalms and Luke, from prayer together in the afternoon, listening to music, reading, and other disciplines. Our times of Bible study with 40/40's have been good, and Kevin felt led to have a weekly challenge as a group. The first week's challenge was that the only words that come out of our mouths are encouraging, positive, and building up of others rather than discouraging, negative, or complaining words. It has been a challenge, but God is helping transform our hearts and minds through these practices. Each week another person will come up with the challenge.

One blessing which was a little hard for us was to put our kids in school for the remaining few weeks in Arequipa from 8:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. One reason is because the kids need to learn Spanish and interaction with other kids is the best place for them to learn it. Another reason is that they were getting bored being at home all day. It has also helped Kevin in the mornings to have more time to do some other things we need to get done.

Thank You!
Thank you again for your partnership with us in prayer, financially, and in encouragement. We are so encouraged to know that we have so many people praying for us and to know that what we need is amply supplied by the generosity of God's people. We love receiving email from you, and we continue to pray for you.

May God bless you as we partner together for the mission of God for Peru.