twentyeight19.org » Lee

In a Nutshell

Lee — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 23:36:42 +0000

THE NEWS of LATE

Lots to say about the ‘goings-on’ here in Peru…seriously, things have been going 100 miles a minute and we love it. To keep from being long-winded, here’s the info in a to-the-point format:

~ The church body continues to grow numerically and, much more important, spiritually. Regular weekly Bible-studies are nurturing a number of faith journeys.

~ We’ve loved having 4 interns from Texas A&M University over the past 6 months! They have been a good shot-in-the-arm for the faith community, especially for our active, servant-minded college-aged group. We’ll also have 4 new interns set to arrive in August (2 from ACU & 2 from A&M). They’ll be with us for 9 months.

~ We’ve rented a new facility that we’ll use in a number of ways…all with a goal of maximizing our involvement in the Peruvians’ lives. Some of these ways are:

*Administrative offices for our non-governmental organization called Aliento de Vida which focuses on nurturing healthy families, marriages and combating the situations in Peru that have led to its high rate of domestic violence.

* Site for regular marriage seminars, church services, Bible studies, and youth nights.

* Local ‘hang-out’ where people are welcome to check their email, study for classes, enjoy a cup of coffee and a great conversation, relax, be encouraged & simply connect with other people.

* A place to mobilize La Mano de Dios which is our church’s efforts to conduct service projects throughout the community. The needs of Peru are tremendous and, as a church, we feel like we should try to do something about it.

THINGS to be PRAYING ABOUT

~ Our team is conducting a fund raising campaign with fine-artist Rolando Diaz (www.rodiaz.com) in an effort to raise awareness and funding for the work in Peru. If you live in the Dallas area (or are willing to drive in), please consider supporting us by attending this event or helping financially. Click here for the info.

~ Travel: many on the team are traveling or will be traveling in the coming months for either furlough or vacation. Prayers for safe travels and refreshing times would be great.

~ Our families: can I be ‘extra’ honest here? We are doing well but its not always easy. Lima’s big and pulluted. Winter is cold and dreary. We miss our families and our friends. We miss BBQ and Panera Bread bagels (referring to the ladies on the team here). We miss easy conversations in English. We miss carpeted floors and houses without bars and electric fences. But again, and I mean this, we are doing well…somedays, though, are much better than others. As for our 10 precious children, they are growing up so fast: we’ve got 1 first-grader, 2 that will start kindergarten in the coming months, 4 in an early preschool program and 3 more that are now learning to walk and talk. You guessed it…ts crazy around here sometimes.

~ Those new and old in their faith. May the Lord’s spirit in our lives remain fresh and active as we follow Him in Peru.

~ Team health: Winter is here and the sniffles (and flu and sinus issues and cough and…) are all back in full force.

PERU NOTE of INTEREST

~ Peruvians recently elected their next president. Its been an interesting time in the sense that he is considered to be a socialist and closely connected to Venezuela’s President Chavez. Only the Lord knows what will happen but this has proven to be a huge event in Peru. Click here for an interesting news article.

YOU

You mean a lot to us and the times you send us a note or leave comments on our blog, facebook, website, etc. make our day. Thank you for taking the time to follow the story down here. Thank you for caring about us and our dear Peruvian brothers and sisters. Check out the links to our blogs to both contact us and to know more about the great things going on down here. . Also, click here to see a collection of team videos.

Celebration Sunday!

Lee — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:27:15 +0000

It simply doesn’t get any better than this….

Another wonderful time celebrating our shared faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Food. Singing. The word of the Lord. Two wonderful friends baptized. Praise be to God for a simply wonderful day.

For those of you that may be checking our website for the first time, our Celebration Sundays happen once every two months and are times in which we join together the small groups that are meeting in different parts of the city for a shared time of worship and fellowship. We sing, we pray, we read the word of the Lord, we teach and we encourage one another. Essentially, we share life and remind each other of our hope in the Lord. This celebration time brought a number of people for the first time. Some of these we have known from our work in different areas of town but had yet to participate in our weekly times of worship. So, this Sunday a number of newcomers came and witnessed God at work. Following is a video and some pictures of this really, really good day!

La Celebracion Agosto 2010 from JM Davidson on Vimeo.

Lee — Sun, 23 May 2010 17:38:00 +0000

“You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” – Anonymous

Calling ALL friends and family back in the USA! We are desperately in need of your help for a blanket drive! Peru is creeping into winter and it is getting chilly. Our friends in Villa Maria who live on the side of a mountain in homes that are not adequate to keep warm, are in great need of some blankets fast. Team Lima is launching it’s first annual Frazalatera (blanket drive) in order to help the families and especially those kids keep warm during the next few months.

The deadline to raise $1000 is June 15th! We know this is fast but these people are cold, enough said :) If you would like to know where to send your tax-deductible checks, please email us at:

stephanie.a.fletcher@gmail.com
alison.thompson.peru@gmail.com

It’s hard to express in writing or, for that matter, on a blog how crucial this is; but, hopefully we will be able to show you in pictures after we deliver the blankets and you are able to see their faces. We will have a short video of Villa Maria going up in the next couple of days to help you picture the conditions in which these people live in but we wanted to go ahead and start our drive today to get your minds, hearts and hopefully your wallets spinning :)

Many blessings

News of Late

Lee — Thu, 13 May 2010 16:36:26 +0000

Well, some great things continue to happen here in Peru! God should be praised for that as we are constantly reminded of our inability to “make things happen” on our own. Seriously…never has it been more obvious. We work hard. Stay busy. Love on people. Serve. But, its just the truth that this work depends on the Lord. What a great place to be.

So, in a nutshell, here’s the goings-on of late:

- Continuing to establish a presence in Villa Maria del Triumfo, a section of town where we’ll have our first medical campaign. We weekly teach English there and are meeting new people all the time as we walk the neighborhoods. We’ve also been able to have a few Bible studies with a contact we have there.

- Regular, weekly Bible studies continue to go well.

- Monday Night Soccer is a great success. Right now, in fact, we’re in the middle of a multiple-week tournament that everyone seems to love. Many of these guys have either become involved in regular Bible studies or are attending our Sunday gatherings.

- Next week we’ll be doing a service project in Villa Maria, our first of a more significant nature. Essentially, we’re adding on to the house of a young lady that attends church in our home.

- We recently celebrated our second celebration gathering! It was wonderful. Click here for pics.

There is so much more to list, such as a group exercise class, individual service projects, regular lunch fellowship times, volleyball, sidewalk chats, more soccer, etc. that are going on, but I’ll stop there. Essentially, things here are good as God continues to lead us on this journey. We are so thankful for that as well as the fact that you too are walking this road with us. What a blessing you are to us!

Don’t forget to visit our individual blogs for additional updates.

Yoakums
Davidsons
Clancy
Fletchers
Thompsons

What do Peruvians think?

Lee — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:49:03 +0000

The longer we’re here the more apparent it becomes that we don’t have the perfect answer to this question. In fact, I suspect it will be years before we have any real chance of speaking intelligently on this subject. However, we do have a start. We know more (much, much more) than we did before moving here and, with our team’s staggered arrival, we’ve got all different kinds of perspectives and experiences to pull from. Its been pretty cool to hear each other’s stories and learn from our daily interactions.

In an effort to be proactive in our learning, Wes and I recently decided to christen a new ministry effort, one we’ve lovingly called the “Cooler Ministry.” Essentially, once a week we buy about $30 worth of drinks, or two coolers worth, and then sit on a busy sidewalk somewhere in town handing them out. Pretty complex project we’ve developed, huh?

In all seriousness, we’ve just wanted to talk; to ask questions’; to know what Peruvians think and handing out drinks has certainly served us well. As we passed out drinks, we’d tell our story and ask 4 simple questions in an effort to learn more about Peruvians. While certainly not scientific, we have collected some great data that is both reliable and telling and has proven useful as we approach the ministry here. Here’s what we found out:

When asked if they believe there is a God, 100% responded yes. Most all of them responded with a shrug of the shoulders and a slight roll of their eyes as if to say, “of course, who doesn’t.”

When asked if they had ever participated in service projects or social works to help the less fortunate, 66% responded that they had in some way or another.

When asked if they believed it was important to study the Bible, 94% answered “yes, it is important.”

Our last question pertained to when they have free time. The most common response was Sunday. After that, Saturday. Evenings, after 8:00, was mentioned as well. That probably tells you a little about this culture: late nights are certainly the norm as things are barely getting started by 8 pm.

You can likely see how this info would be useful to us. For instance, if you’re going to hold Bible studies or worship services, its quite useful to know when might be a good time to do so. Its also pretty interesting that with so many people calling themselves “believers” and that its considered important to study the Bible, why is church attendance in Peru statistically rather low.

So, that being said, we are at a great place to start. We’ll see where these conversations go from here. Good things, I’m certain, are yet to come as we follow God on this adventure here in Peru.

The Lord’s Prayer: In its purest sense

Lee — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:12:44 +0000

Here it is straight from “the mouths of babes.” Can’t help but wonder what Christ himself thinks each time he hears this precious child mouth the prayer he taught us all to pray.



A Picture-Book Story of Peru
Lee — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:55:47 +0000
Often times a picture is worth a thousand words.  In this case, maybe they’re worth even more as we attempt through our website to introduce you to a whole new country, culture and people.  I thought I’d show you a few “views” of Lima and the rest of Peru in an effort to better acquaint you with our soon-to-be new home.  Before you check them all out, maybe I could point out a thing or two.
1.  They play little league in this soccer-dominated country!  Warms my heart…

2.  You’ll notice the interesting native dress.  Many of us plan to dress this way on a daily basis.  As I understand, JM and Tara have been dressing like this since arriving in January. ;-)

3.  Lima is a mixture of history and newness.  Of ancient culture and modernity.  Of rich and poor.

4.  Peru is home to Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca (the world’s highest navigable lake).  Since this lake forms part of the border between Bolivia and Peru a common saying exists regarding this body of water.  Word on the street, at least those in Peru, has it that when this border was determined Peru was granted the “Titi” side whereas Bolivia received the “caca” side.  If you don’t know what “caca” means, feel free to google it.

5.  Cuy, or guinea pig, is widely eaten throughout the country.
Hope you enjoying seeing a little more of our new home!




















Peruvian Dance
Lee — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:11:26 +0000
To better introduce you to the finer points of Peruvian culture, below you’ll find a video of one of the numerous native dances of Peru.  The title of the video is “Tijeras” or ’scissors.’  I’m certain you’ll know why when you see it.  Hope you enjoy…
By the way….Mark is already considered an expert in this style of interpretive dance.  You’re going to have to come to Peru to see!




Blessings
Lee — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:09:52 +0000
Probably, very few would call a heart surgery a blessing.  Relief?  Yes.  Life-changing?  Yes.  Grateful its over?  No doubt.  But, again, blessing doesn’t immediately come to mind when you think of handing your 3 year old over to somebody ready to take her back to a surgical suite.  
I remember well the events of that morning.  We got up really early after going to bed really late.  The last thing I remember the evening before was a prayer we offered for Sofia and then a deep sleep, albeit for only a few hours.  
But, anyway, back to this thing about “blessing.”  
So many of you have followed Sofia’s story…the hole that just didn’t close (that kinda sounds like a twisted nursery rhyme to me…you know, “The Little Engine that Could”).  Anyhow…Sofia had a hole between the two upper chambers of her heart since birth that caused oxygenated and deoxygenated blood to mix (something that is neither normal nor good).  To give you a reference for the size of the hole, it was about the size of a grapefruit.  Well, maybe I’m exaggerating (lying in fact), but that does add some humor to an otherwise “downer” topic.  For another morsel of humor, one of our teammates (one that will remain nameless…so, don’t worry, WES, I don’t plan on mentioning your name) once told me,



“You know, bro, this hole-in-the-heart thing could really be a great pitch you could make during fund raising.  Imagine this, you’re on stage at a church, you invite Sofia to join you and have her say with a beautiful smile and delicate voice, ‘You see, I have this hole in my heart and we really need money to fix it and to go to Peru.’”  
Needless to say, my unnamed teammate and I had a hearty laugh at the prospect….a laugh I really needed at the time in the thick of things with Sofia’s heart, moving from the Friendship House in route to Costa Rica, fund raising, etc.
But back to the matter at hand…
About two months ago, after learning that the hole had almost doubled in size during our time in Costa Rica (no exaggerating this time), Sofia had a procedure-one they consider minor (apparently they forgot that this is my little girl and that there was nothing minor about it)-to fix the hole in her heart.  Thankfully, everything went very well that day and has since gone well. In fact, just days ago, Sofia and I made a trip to Lubbock for one of her various follow up appointments.  Her doctor mentioned that the enlargement of her heart that was present for quite some time (due to over exertion) was now gone and that, in his words, “it looks like a normal heart.” I’ll remember those words for years if not for my lifetime.  
Something that had been hanging over our heads for quite some time was gone in a matter of months.  My little girl’s heart was normal looking (minus the shiny metallic implant visual on an ultrasound).  Even today, I write these words with a knot in my throat thinking about the gravity of his words.  The knot reminds me of the uncertainty of the previous years, the uncertainty of that morning when I “handed my little girl over” for surgery.  
So we are blessed that our little girl is doing very, very well these days.  You might be interested to see a short video on our blog of her dancing and showing off just how well she’s doing.  Dancing is by far one of her favorite past times and her new energy level (which is quite notable) prompts her to do so much more of it these days.  
For us, “blessing” lies in the fact that this is now a thing of the past for our family.  We no longer worry what the hole might look like….has it grown, has it shrunk, or has it closed like we had always hoped?  There’s no need for these thoughts to cross our minds anymore.  In fact, the only reminders we have these days are the faint memory of life before the mushroom (that’s what we called the implant to help Sofia understand what was going to take place) and the daily aspirin that Sofia always helps us remember she needs to take.  “Blessing” also lies in the fact that we’ll tackle Peru with Sofia running on all cylinders.  She is a healthy little girl that remains spunky and full of life.  She remembers her surgery well but we can laugh about it now. 
That, my friend, is a real blessing. 
Many of you have certainly walked this road….health concerns for your kiddos.  You know what I’m talking about….you know the blessing in having your child’s surgery as a memory rather than a daunting reality…you know the blessing in starting life afresh with a healed child.  That’s what I mean by blessing.  One more thing…for you guys that are interested to know exactly what they performed on Sofia, click here.  This is a newer minimally invasive procedure via the cath lab that closes the hole without the need for open heart surgery.  Again, a blessing.  
One last memory if you’ll permit me.  On our survey trip to Peru, I spoke with a Peruvian pediatrician about Sofia’s condition which, at that time, we had only recently discovered.  Everything he mentioned was right on par with what our pediatric cardiologist in Lubbock said…the only difference (and what a difference it is) is that the surgery to fix the hole would have to be open heart in Peru.  How thankful we are to have fixed it here, to have fixed it now.
Praise God for the blessings in life!



Happy New Year!
Lee — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 21:51:17 +0000
One of us has celebrated 31 of these.  Others of us have celebrated a few less.  Put that in perspective for a moment…
Through these ‘new years’ we’ve seen:
A cold war

Economic highs and lows

A presidential assassination attempt

3 Middle Eastern wars

A dividing-wall come down
We’ve been shaped by a few social revolutions (fads if you will):
Tight-rolled jeans

Stone-washed jeans

Parachute pants

‘Jams’

Wind suits

Shoes you can pump-up full of air
Then there’s the music we’ve grown up to:
New Kids on the Block (makes me sick to admit this)

Accappella

Guns N’ Roses (Heaven help us)

Tiffany (I’m blushing as a type this)

Micheal W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman and the christian-music revolution (yeah!)

AVB

Take 6
A few words we learned to say….and to say a lot:
Cool

Dude

Dudette

Awesome

Nasty

‘Like’

Sweet
So, this seems to be where we’ve come from.  This, good or bad, is part of our slant.  It will be amazing to watch God use these influences, and give us new ones, in the coming year.  2009 will undoubtedly be a big year.  A year of change.  We are moving to a new country, for a long time.  We are tackling a new culture and a new language.  While Costa Rica has been great….Peru stands to be amazing.  May God bless you, and us, in the new year…and the ‘new years’ to come.