The previous week has been spent with the addition of David’s parents, David and Cathy, exploring and rekindling our love for the city of Cusco! Don’t get us wrong, we thoroughly enjoyed our sweet time at home in SC, but we were also ready to get back to Peru. We saw so much of the Lord’s favor on us through the trip back! Not only did we have a lot of peace about us; all of our crazy luggage made it back with us. (That’s 3 giant rollies, a large green duffel, carry-ons for 4, and 1 guitar and a banjo for those that really want to know). The Delta guy at the counter even waved a bag for us that was 7 lbs. over (after we agreed to take out 2 pairs of shoes). Glorious.

We celebrated July 4th in Cusco after mild symptoms of the altitude adjustment. It was about 50* down here for the fourth. The Cusqueñas do not joke, June/July are the coldest months here! Although we felt very silly with all of our winter gear in the Atlanta airport, we are so blessed to have it now. Thanks to our friends, Eric, Jen and their new intern–Jess, we combined forces and grilled out pimento cheese burgers, cole slaw, sweet tea and baked beans…all in SC fashion for the 4th.

Dave’s parents graciously offered us a rental car for 2 days so we took advantage of a mini road trip with them to the nearby town of Pisac and to the sanctuary of Señor de Huanca. David enjoyed driving and navigating around very much. The last night we had the car, we drove up the mountain to Cristo Blanco to “look for UFOs” (in the words of my father in law). I went for the hot tea and locating stars with Google Sky View (shout out to the Barrier Island astronomy class). Orien’s Belt is not visible in the Southern Hemisphere, but we did spot Sagittarius and Saturn. Pluto couldn’t be made out with our eyes, but Google Sky View could pin-point it.

As far as an update with our bilingual DTS this fall, we have accepted our first student this week! Please continue to pray for the students that are applying (Jordan gets phone calls every day from Peruvians asking for more info.) And please be praying for 2 more Latino staff (1 guy and 1 girl). We have some leads, but want them to respond to what God is telling them to do, not what we want them to do 🙂 Still a lot of behind the scenes work to do, but praise God for all that he is doing already!! We have 2 confirmed teachers (1 American and 1 Colombian) ready to lecture at our school in the fall!
So many things to be thankful for, folks! Thank you for your continued prayers, support and encouragement. We would not be as motivated to press on without you guys!

Stay tuned for another family update from Machu Picchu over the weekend!…