Tour of Three States in April

We start a tour of three states on April 4. We fly to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to visit with some dear friends of mine (Sandy) from Hillsdale College and TCA. From there we head to Tucson to meet with some homegroups and speak at a Spanish/English RCA church in Phoenix. Our last stop is Colorado Springs, which was my home for five years before moving to Peru.

Of course the main purpose is partnership development. It’s a necessary part of our life now. As I’ve mentioned before, we get excited the more we share; it’s fun to share our vision and see others catch that dream. We couldn’t do our work at La Casa del Maestro without the prayer and financial support that so many give. It’s one of the many ways that God brings together Christ’s body. We truly believe that and rejoice in that. It’s also humbling and character building. God works in the midst of something that is definitely difficult for us. The fundraising is a necessary component, but I am so excited to just see so many friends included in this trip. Who can beat seeing Texas with friends, reminiscing with friends from Peru (in AZ), and going “home” to Colorado. And, along the way we get to make new friends while meeting pastors and missions team members at the different churches. I like the new terminology for fundraising, partnership development. It’s true that ministry is done in partnership, how much better when those partners are first and foremost, friends

Albino’s US Citizenship

We have submitted Albino’s application for naturalization to become a US citizen.  We just received notice that it has been “received by our office and is in process.”  The next step is for him to get his fingerprints taken.  Then, we’ll await an interview date which includes the civics and English proficiency test.  They say the process can take 6-9 months.  Please pray for favor with the immigration officers who will review Albino’s case.  So far we have avoided costly lawyer fees, and all has gone smoothly from applying to a fiancé visa to his green card.  We pray that it will continue.

Once Albino naturalizes he has 45 days to leave the country and go to Peru.  (Confusing?  We know. It has to do with my status as a missionary and the reason we can apply early.)  Ideally we will have 100% of our support pledged, and we will all move to Peru together.  If not, we will visit Peru to comply with the law and come back to finish fundraising.  

Apu Yaya Jesucristo

While reading Turn Right at Machu Picchu I, of course, learned much more about the history of Peru and the Incan rulers. I read names and places that were familiar which brought back fun memories. Most interesting, however, it sparked a language and cultural conversation that also taught Albino more about his language (Quechua). The author mentioned a song commonly sung in churches around the Cusco area, Apu Yaya Jesucristo. I, like the author, understood apu to refer to the mountain gods (a simplified definition for this blog entry), and, thus, the translation of the song title makes Jesus an apu. “This doesn’t sound right,” I thought. But, I chalked it up to the synchronistic tendencies seen in the churches. Albino recognized the song and didn’t seem to take issue with the lyrics. Confused, I asked him to explain how Christians could sing songs that apparently made Jesus just one of many gods. Upon closer examination of the word, apu, it means, the highest—a title, not a thing. Jesus holds the title of being “the highest” He is the highest, the best. He is Lord of creation, Lord of the mountains, Lord of our lives.

Christian Quechuas struggle with their traditional worldview and the new biblical worldview. For Quechuas, spirits cause illness, etc. Rather than saying that those spirits don’t exist (which is our tendency to believe in North America) we all must recognize that Jesus is greater than those spirits. He truly is the apu. My disclaimer: I write now that Jesus is the apu in order to share my cultural and language insight, but I will probably be cautious to use the terminology in the future. Too many common misunderstandings of traditional Quechua culture and language can get in the way. I’m not an expert and even native Quechua speakers have difficulty explaining.

Speaking

In the last month we have had two formal speaking engagements to share about our ministry.  The first one was at College Baptist Church in Hillsdale, MI; Sandy called this church, home for her college years.  It was incredibly fun to see old friends and meet some new ones.  The second was during a Sunday School class at our home church here in Holland. The more we talk about our plans, the more excited we are. The passion we have seems to spill out, and we see others interest rise, and they, too, begin to dream about how they may get involved.  As many people that have expressed interest in visiting us, we’ll have a stream of visitors in no time at all.  Will you be one?  J
It’s been a few dream-filled years.  Now it feels like we are really moving forward.  The few meetings that we had with youth in Cusco, before we came to the US, have continued thanks to our faithful Board of Directors.  Our financial support is slowly but surely coming in.  Dreams are being put on paper and spoken aloud for others to hear.  We’re forming partnerships and talking about others.  We’re even more anxious to get back.

Machupicchu - the 7th Wonder of the World!

Come visit La Casa del Maestro and take a side trip to the

7^th Wonder of the World! In the Cusco area there are a myriad of different tourist sites to visit.

Machu Picchu in the foreground. Huaynu Picchu in the background 

Besides visits to Cusco City with Incan and colonial architecture, a typical trip for volunteers includes a two day visit to the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. The first day is a hike at the Pisac ruins in the Sacred Valley followed by a ride on the Hiram Bingham train that winds through the Andes Mountains. Then the night is spent on the banks of the Urubamba River before heading up the jungle mountain pass the following morning for a tour of the Machu Picchu ruins.