We are thankful for many things this year: our family of 3, our new house, turkey cooked in an oven bag for 4 hours, our DTS staff and students, living in beautiful Cusco, the Andes mountains, our family and friends around the world, our supporting family, seeing answered prayers, new revelations from God, resting, dreaming with the Lord and so much more! We hope you and your family had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are some of our friends over for Thanksgiving dinner. We ate way too much food (it was Nico’s (pictured in the front) first experience with turkey—he loved it, along with the other American traditions–mac and cheese, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato & green bean casserole, cheddar biscuits, sweet tea, salad, deviled eggs, lemon pound cake and apple pie) and sat on our fat couches and watched “Elf” in Spanish of course (since all of the Americans can monologue the whole movie). Imagine trying to explain what exactly a “casserole” is and why Americans love them so much (while Bailey gags because she hates the word “casserole” almost as much as Maddie hates the word “membrane”) and trying to explain the different versions of what happened at the First Thanksgiving from what you were taught when you were in kindergarten verses what really happened (thanks to watching The History Channel)…but all in all the Peruvians loved their first American Thanksgiving, because we are all thankful to God for so many things and everyone comes together around food.

Que rico!

What’s going on with Little Bear:

How far along? 18 weeks–Little Bear is the size of a bell pepper. Gender? We find out in a few weeks! Movement? Yes! Felt by both David and I. LB favors a left-jab, especially at night. Food cravings? turkey and sweet potato casserole (satisfied), homemade onion rings (satisfied), animal crackers, fried shrimp, Hawaiian pizza and a bucket-sized Coke and roasted asparagus, Are you showing?  Yes, loving the jeggings, Belly Button in or out? in, Total weight gain? I have no idea, This week? David feeling LB move was big. We joke that “I was just making it up at first, but David can confirm it’s all true now”. More people grabbing my stomach this week. I can eat “astonishing” amounts of food for my size–according to David, he can’t believe that I can say that I’m still hungry after 6 pancakes with honey and half a casserole dish of lasagna (in a a day). What can I say, I’m hungry! Looking forward to? Being a family of 3 next year for Thanksgiving.

Jen at 18 weeks

Well, we are 9 weeks down in our DTS! The students are preparing for their outreach with dramas, preaching, kid’s programs and excited to minister in other parts of Peru and Chile. Their outreach starts December 16th and David’s going with them for a week to translate in one of the communities in the Sacred Valley. This week Pastor Farfan (from Cusco) lectured 2 days on “Cultivating a Christian Character” and the rest of the week we talked about some of YWAM’s early foundations.

We brought “treasure-hunting” back this week for local outreach. Here’s what happened when God told us to go to the Plaza de Armas:

1. (Jen and Logan) “Find an old man sitting on a bench in Plaza San Francisco near a kid who is rolling around in the grass on the hill.” (When I got to that plaza, a girl was yelling “Jennifer”, but to her friend across the way. I joked with Logan that “too many people in Peru have my name,” but then realized the Lord was making it obvious to not leave the plaza yet (He called me by name after all). I sat down and realized that there was one older man in the plaza who didn’t move from a bench. I went over and starting talking, got to pray for him and he was really surprised that I was a “normal person” doing this and we got to talk about the fundamentals of Christianity (he was Catholic and interested in what makes us similar as Christians).

2. (Bailey and Maddie) “Orange and pink”,”a woman on the steps of the cathedral”,”an alleyway near Plaza San Blas”. (They went to the steps of the cathedral in San Blas and found two women selling various trinkets. One had an orange manta (the traditional brightly-colored cloth Peruvian women wear on their backs to use as a huge purse/baby carrier) and the other lady had a pink one. The girls tried speaking Spanish to them, but they weren’t understanding and when Bailey was trying to say “Can I pray for you?” another woman walks up and she was fluent in Spanish and English. The Lord provided a translator at the exact moment when needed and the women were very excited.  One of the ladies was so encouraged that she kissed their hands and wanted them to come back the next afternoon to pray again.

3. (David and Nico): “Plaza de Armas and sitting on the benches”. David got to spend some quality time with Nicolas (our Peruvian student). They had a lady approach them and the guys prayed for her and for her family. She went away encouraged.

We have been really encouraged to see how the Lord is shaping our students in boldness. They were all really encouraged by this week’s treasure hunt and talking about their expectations for outreach. We plan on sharing a Thanksgiving meal with them at our house (after explaining what Thanksgiving is to the Peruvians) and they find it odd that we are so set on getting a turkey (because turkey is expensive here).

We had our second check-up at Clinica San Jose for Little Bear and everything is great! Baby looks completely normal on the ultrasound (has doubled in size) and all my test results came back normal. I don’t seem to have any “high altitude symptoms”. I finally caved and bought some jeggings because my skinny jeans are well, too skinny. Yes, I did just buy some jeggings, that’s jean-leggings if you are still confused—and yes, I rock them well because at least they are comfy and fit over baby. Doctor’s visits are quite funny in another language. I can’t calculate my weight in kilos (in my head) and when I swore the question addressed to me was “Do you have tall men in your family?” David comes to my rescue before I formulate an answer to translate the question as “Does your family have a history of high blood pressure?”. Hilarious. We will find out in a month if we have a daughter or a son, but either way, Little Bear is an athlete. Lots of movement happening down there (and I can actually feel it, though not quite strong enough yet for Daddy to feel). The three of us went to a bakery and had some delicious looking red-velvet cake that turned out to really be dry and crusty. Oh well, points for trying. 🙂

Some things to pray for:

1. For continued health and growth for baby

2. For our DTS (staff and students) in their last 3 weeks of lecture phase before outreach phase

This past weekend/week we have seen so much breakthrough in so many areas…it’s been simply put–victorious!

1. We have seen the generosity of friends and finances this week and God is using both to show us over and over that He loves to take care of our little family! We are growing a stockpile of friends’ baby hand-me-downs and starting our diaper/wipes collection. I have made a Mommy-friend to go shopping with (thanks Julia Henley).
2. Frustrations had been building within our staff team about a few things over the past month, but God ordained many loving confrontations this week. Conversations happened that needed to happen and there is forgiveness and healing. It makes for a better staff team with love and listening. so good.
3. David and I have started going to a new church and we received blessings from our former pastor to go where we feel like God is calling us! We would still recommend our former church to anybody–it’s great and was wonderful to us for a year, but God likes to remind us that for David and I, our ministry is with relationships. “Go where you have relationship.” Since Amauta and Jesus Presa are that relationship that we have been building for a year, we felt released to continue that friendship and go to church with them. This weekend, God gave us more confirmation that it is where we need to be!
4. Learning and experiencing the truth that “when the Holy Spirit is working inside of you, you don’t have to defend or promote yourself. The Holy Spirit in you already speaks volumes about you and your character. You don’t need to strive to prove or defend who you are”. (David)
5. Based on the testimony of the events this week we have what David is referring to as “a slow confidence in the Lord” (meaning trust and confidence in the Lord for “the long haul” of doing missions) that He will provide our every need both now and in the future.
6. The speaker this week is Pastor Bernardo (from Cusco who did YWAM here in 1988) and he is talking about stewarding what God has given you. Nothing is mine. It’s all a gift. We are so thankful for our wonderful house that we have been given! We are thankful for the gifts of furniture and baby items and everything! We are thankful that we can have friends over for dinner or afternoon tea. Woah, the Lord is good!

All About Little Bear:
How far along? 16 weeks this week–Little Bear is the size of an avocado. LB’s eyes are moving to the front of the head, which is more up-right at this point. The ears are where they should be and there is a scalp pattern forming. Little Bear can pump 25 quarts of blood with that awesome heartbeat now! (Give or take a few quarts at high altitude). Grow Little Bear, grow!
Little Bear? David is “Bear”. I am “Boo-Boo”. So logically, baby is “Little Bear”. It’s just who we are in the land of nicknames.
Gender? It could be a boy….or perhaps a girl. We think we know.
Names? It’s a surprise. God gave us a beautiful name but we want to wait to reveal it.
Movement? Not yet.
Food cravings? Olive Garden breadsticks, chili hotdogs, (someone at church had a birthday and there was a spice cake so that was also craved and eaten this week), Zaxby’s chicken fingers drenched in Zax sauce and French fries (perhaps the Bojangles variety)
Have you started to show? Yes, I feel “more pregnant” 🙂 My first pair of skinny jeans that I may have to say ‘ciao’ to for awhile….
Belly Button in or out? My belly button is the size of a pencil eraser and I’m afraid will always be an innie.
Total weight gain? I don’t keep a scale in my house but I’m going to say I’m healthy for my baby.
This week? Last week was picking up more yoga–the prenatal moves feel so great! This week more resting because I’ve been having some tummy-issues (poor LB is acquiring a taste for Powerade and Ritz). David sings to LB and I’ve been reading aloud “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson. We both find it hilarious.
Looking forward to? David: “Baby’s arrival. I just want to hold Little Bear already and be a Daddy.”
Jen: “Baby’s personality to find out which quirks have been adopted from each of us and what is unique to Little Bear.”

(Photo by: themetisgroup.com)

Clark Barnard, the national director of JUCUM (YWAM) Peru, came this past week to teach on healthy relationships and communication. In this photo, Corbin is clearly communicating that he doesn’t want to be in the picture…

Then on Sunday, we joined Amauta and Jesus Presa for church at La Uncion and then (because Baby wanted McDonalds), we went to McDonalds. Here are new friends, Carlos and Anthony.

Baby update: Jen and baby are doing great! Jen passed all of her blood tests a few weekends ago. Baby is at 14 weeks this week and is roughly the size of a lemon. S/he has all of h/is/er organs and can hear this week. We are starting to play worship music really loud at our house and talking/singing to Baby. This is Jen’s profile at 14 weeks.

This afternoon David and I were pruning our rose bushes in front of our house. We had the door ajar, but didn’t think of the inevitable situation that would arise…A gust of wind, brought on by the approaching storm clouds and rain that was hanging over our neighborhood (Larapa) slammed our door shut. We, did not have our keys, our phones, or the ability to “break in”. There are metal bars welded to the front windows and our front door lock is a deadbolt. They are not coming open. (Please keep in mind that as a pregnant woman now, I must use the bathroom more frequently.)

David continues cutting the rose bushes (after failed attempts to move metal bars) and I asked God, “who is going to help us? which house do I go to?” He said the yellow one across the courtyard. I banged on the metal gate and a petite Peruvian woman answers. Trying to not sound panicked, but also getting my point across using Spanish and charades, I explain our situation. She grabs her keys and offers them to use on our door (not working). Then after brief introductions, Elisa, helps me knock on the other 10 doors in our complex and ask if anyone has the number to our landlord. Out of the 3 people that are home/come to their doors no one does. Great. I even beg our neighbors for a small child or a toddler that could potentially squeeze through the metal bars. No such luck stealing babies.

Now it’s drizzling. A man in the lime green house next to Elisa, whose name is Julio, suggests getting his ladder to climb in through our top window. David explains that he just fixed the top window (which wasn’t closing properly and 15-minutes before rose pruning, he latched it). David heroically scales the ladder anyway and after concluding with Julio that our window is only 10 soles to fix if he punches through it, we can manage that. Luckily, as Dave is about to continue hitting our window out with a set of pliers, the window trim pops off and he can push the window open. GRACIAS A DIOS!! Dave climbs through the window and unlocks our house.

Crisis adverted…this time. Thanks to some of our new neighbors (who will probably never forget our first impressions of being the stranded gringos who lock themselves out of their new house). We were and are so grateful to Elisa and Julio for their willingness to help us when we needed it. It got me thinking, would I be this helpful to our neighbors in the past? I think in the past that I would have panicked even more.   God was teaching us today through some divine encounters with neighbors are priceless.  God also gave us the humor to deal with present circumstances and to open up relationships that otherwise may not have started. He also taught us that before Baby Carter gets here, don’t leave the house (even if your just doing yard work) without your keys. Do you have your house keys with you? Are you on good terms with your neighbors? Good. Lesson learned. Because one day, you will need each other in situations “como esto.”

Now off to finish baking the pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies for our neighbors. Gracias Elisa y Julio.

A recap of what WE (YOU, included) have seen God do over the past year of partnering with us in Cusco, Peru:

1. Our first day in Cusco (Oct. 3rd, 2012) we started off like this:

NOW, (since Oct. 9, 2013): we feel so blessed to have moved into a furnished ready-to-move-in house! The Lord is so good at providing our new family a house to rent (2 blocks up and 1 block over from the YWAM apartments). Stay tuned for a house tour…

2. Then, from October 2012 – January 2013 we were blessed to be paired up with these guys to learn Spanish:

Amauta and Jimmy

NOW: Thanks to their long hours of practicing with us, having grace for our mistakes in language learning, and taking us on some crazy adventures around the city, we have a pretty good understanding of Spanish. Both Amauta and Jimmy continue to be amazing friends of ours and have blessed us with their friendship as well as being our Spanish tutors. We can now interpret Spanish for outreach teams/our DTS school.

3. Last year, before coming to Peru, we prayed for a lot of things. One of those requests was for an honest landlord. We got this guy: Roque Milton Vasquez Medrano (who has been a God-send and an answer to prayer!)

(and we also met Dave Snyder who was equally cool to meet).

4. We also prayed for community. God also let us rekindle friendships with old friends. Pictured here is the beautiful, Laurinda Rapp. We worked with her at Camp St. Christopher in 2010-2011. Then she went off and did her DTS in Australia while we went off to do ours in Thailand. Then she emails us to say that she’s staffing another DTS outreach and we get to host her—crazy. Never thought we’d see her again, but we got to live in the same building again for 2 months! God’s humor is funny that way.

5. Our purpose for coming to Peru a year ago was to “learn how to pioneer something from the ground, up”. God partnered us to work with the Allens–Jordan and Joy. Our original plan was to be here 1 year, but we are so thankful that in December 2012 that God gave us discernment that we would be here longer. Jordan and Joy are great leaders to learn from!

NOW: We prayed for more YWAM Cusco staff to join us, and Saulo and Edgar came too! Now, we are a team of 6.

6. We had no idea 1 year ago, that God would pioneer a DTS in September 2013 in Cusco (after almost 20 years without a YWAM presence in the city)…

NOW: But God is faithful to his promises and He delivers what He has ordered. Now we are discipling Maddie, Nicolas, Bailey and Logan in our first bilingual DTS and it is going so well! God is growing their faith in so many ways. We honored to staff such an awesome group of people!

7. We were able to make a trip home and see family and friends:

(photo credits: The Haldeman’s and Jen’s parents)

AND THEN, some family and friends came to visit us in Cusco:

(David’s parents and the Strauss’)

8. We have been praying for a baby and God heard our prayers and blessed us with one!

NOW: We can’t wait to see what God has in store for our amazing, little family of three! No matter where we go in the world, we are going together.

We love each and every one of you! Thank you so much for your prayers, encouragement, financial gifts and commitment to partner with us over this past year! We really could not be here without the support of an amazing team behind us. Look what WE did, together, with the Lord!! Here’s to year #2–ready to keep dreaming BIG with God and see him do even many more awesome things in Cusco!

“To Give Light” is the phrase used in Peru to describe having a baby. David and I thought, what a perfect and beautiful analogy to speak over OUR BABY (who will be brought to light in this world sometime in late April, 2014.). We are so thrilled and excited that Daddy God has chosen us to be parents for such a time as this! He could have chosen any of the 7 billion people out there, but he chose us. Wow! Praise God, the author of life, for creating life, THIS LIFE, for us!!

Baby and Jen are doing great and everything is normal and healthy. We had our first appointment this morning and had our first ultrasound. Baby is 5.5 centimeters long, has a great heartbeat and we got to see Baby’s head, hands and feet. Praise God, all is well! 

Here’s to the good news! Just wanted to share it with you!

Love, 

David, Jen and Baby Bear

 

The first 2 weeks of our discipleship training school, DTS, have been very busy, but an exciting transition of learning and excitement. One of our students from Lima had some unresolved family issues at home and felt she was unable to continue with the school because she was needed at home. After praying with her and respecting her decision where she felt called to go, our school is continuing with 4 students: 3 American and 1 Peruvian. Because our school is small and intimate, it’s exciting to watch how we have become a close-knit family already. We are already seeing the benefits of having a bilingual school because our Peruvian student is picking up so much English and the Americans are all having to use Spanish. David is mentoring one of the guys and I am mentoring both girls, and we are both leading the guys/girls small groups.  All of our students are already growing in their faith in the first 2 weeks and it’s amazing to see! They are hungry to know God in a deeper way and we are seeing them all step out of their comfort zones and try new experiences.  For example, last week when our base director taught “Hearing the Voice of God”, we led the students on a “treasure hunt” (prayer outreach) in the city. They may have started out nervous, but they were able to pray for one man, encourage and talk to some women who were selling trinkets (one of which was our friend Vilma, who we have prayed with before on a treasure hunt. She is probably used to strangers asking her if she wants prayer by now!).

This week, David and I have the honor of tag-team teaching on “Worship, Intercession and Fasting”. We are passionate about all of these topics and we plan on incorporating some lessons about dream interpretation (God communicating with us at night) and some inner-healing prayer. God is leading us to give the students new ways to worship him (ex. through worship art) and new experiences through prayer (ex. prayer-walking around our neighborhood, or prayer-walking over a huge map of Peru–to intercede for the country and other YWAM bases). Some students came to our school barely feeling comfortable to pray their prayers out-loud. Two-weeks later, we are seeing students volunteering to pray over us (as their teachers this week) and their peers.  They are interceding for nations and people that they have never met.  Other students have never been given the opportunity to be creative (exploring art, drawing or music).   Now, they eagerly pick up watercolors and a paintbrush when we have worship music without intimidation. A spark has ignited underneath them that there is more to learn and see of God’s character and they are craving more. Give them MORE Lord!

Jen teaching on “laying a foundation of prayer”