Hey everybody! Greetings from Lima! Yup we are back in the big town! We are actually back in Guesthouse room number 6 - our first home here in Peru! We've been going flat out this past week- working with the vision conference our team held. We attended a day of training for the churches and then hit the road to show the representatives from the churches some areas that we are hoping they will adopt. It was a good trip and we are joining these churches in prayer as they seek God's will for their church. They all left tonight to go back home and we are anticipating a "free" day tomorrow- and maybe even a date:) Saturday and Sunday we are looking forward to seeing Christi and Blake Weaver who are in town and showing them some of Peru! We'll drop them back off in Lima and then hopefully head up to Usibamba and San Jose de Quero for a check up on how the small groups there are doing. Then we will rush back to Lima in time to go out with another vision trip.

I am extremely excited that my folks are coming out to visit the 2nd week of November! Thats very special and I can't wait to show them around!

We met some really great people this week out in the villages, some that I will be asking you to pray specifically for very soon. However one of the men that we got to know is especially on my heart. He is an Assembly of God pastor in a town named Banos. He has a very passionate heart for the Lord and has been amazingly welcoming and helpful to us. We attended a Sunday night service at his church and it was one of my favorite nights in Peru so far. Please be praying for him to be strengthened and encouraged in the Lord. Pray also that a church will adopt this area soon and help him teach and raise up leaders for other churches. Please also pray for his wife who had a csection about 6 months ago and is still suffering a complication from that.

I am not sure how to spell his name right now- I will post that later, but if you will just pray for the pastor in Banos- God will know who you mean!

Please continue to pray for strength for us and we go go go. Pray for this upcoming vision trip and for wisdom for us as we still learn our job.

Thanks to you all! I hope you are doing great! We'd love to hear from you!

Buenas Dias todos! I hope everyone is doing well with the new school year, and upcoming fall! What happened to September???? It has slipped right out from under us here! Tomorrow will mark our 4th Sunday in Huanuco and I think it officially feels like home away from home for us now. Our apartment is all set up minus pictures for the walls that we are hoping to buy in the Inca Market in Lima. We hung the kitchen curtains yesterday and I had a tablecloth made for a whopping total of about $3. I am loving shopping in the market- its an adventure every time we go, but I love the options in fruits and vegetables and the aisles of potatoes! I like the vendors, some of whom are recognizing me. They call the women "mamita" a term of endearment I think...

David, I and our teammate Christine just completed another research trip earlier this week. We traveled out close to an area we've looked at before and then to a cluster of towns in the department of Pasco. We were able to find 2 more potential fields for ministry for strategy coordinator churches. Which is good news because we are about to get crazy busy here next week. I'm posting our schedule here for you- so you can pray for us as we go!

October 1-9: Vision Conference--> We will be taking 2 churches out to our department for vision trips. This conference includes 8 churches- please pray for this! Its a new idea- and David and I are really excited for it- but its a lot of work for our whole team.

October 10-11: Time with Blake Weaver- Christi "Holloway's" husband who will be in Lima for a conference! We are excited to see him and show him around a little!

October 12-14: Possible trip up to San Jose de Quero and Usibamba to encourage the believers there.

October 14-20: Vision trip with a church from VIRGINIA! woohooo!

October 23-30: Pastors Conference Trip with Crossroads Baptist Church in Panao.

November 7-14: Grace Community Baptist Church trip in San Jose and Usibamba

November 18-25: My parents are coming for a visit!!! I'm very excited about this!!!!

So as you can see there is very little spare time in the coming months. We are excited though- we've been doing a lot to prepare for this time and we covet your prayers for us.

Please also pray that our spanish will continue to improve, we will develop relationships with locals, and that we will be moldable in the Father's hands.

We love you all- let us know how you are!

cameronanddave905@yahoo.com

Blog update:

Hello all and welcome to our first blog from Huanuco! We have officially moved here- and are in the process of setting up our new apartment. It is quite a process. So far we've bought a bed and mattress and our appliances. Our next goal is a kitchen table and hutch. So far I have no cabinets- so we need something to put the dishes in! Something to sit on would be nice to- since right now our only options are the bed or the floor. No spaghetti in bed. Anyway- we are getting a little more used to the heat here- its a big change from Lima- its sunny and hot right now. We've been struggling through conversations in the stores to buy what we need, though we've made mistakes and I'm sure have been taken advantage of. But hey, not much we can do about that.
The drive out here was good- I actually braved the roads for about 5 hours of the trip! It wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. But it was a relief when David took over.
Please be praying for us during this transitional time of setting up house, making new friends, and learning a new city.
Also praise God with us as we celebrate our 4^th anniversary on the 10th!

Thanks you all- miss and love you.

Hey everyone!

David and I have made it back to Lima after a week long research trip in the department of Huanuco.  We left last Sunday and made the drive from Lima out to the city of Huanuco in a record of 8 hours.  Traffic was very light and I think the police only stopped us to check our documents once.  We spent the night in our destination city and hit the road for the "country" in the morning.  We traveled around all week in the west section of the department.  We were traveling with team member Christine Jackson- REAP North's best researcher and learning the ropes from her and leaning on her Spanish- which is better than ours:) 

Basically we traveled from tiny pueblo to tiny pueblo asking people if there were evangelical churches in the town, how many people attended and how many people live in the town.  We talked to pastors when we could, but many times the pastors were out in the fields working or didn't live in the towns they ministered in.  It seems like a simple task but its really not.  We are searching for places that have little to no evangelical presence in the area.  We didn't find any Baptist churches but found a lot of Assembly of God and Alianza (a sort of pentecostal church- but pretty close to Baptist).  Our days were long- and we went on some roads that really weren't roads.  At one point we were driving up a stream and it was still the "road".  Yikes.  David has done an amazing job driving- I am so grateful for that- however, there are still times when I shriek and close my eyes.  I'm working on it ok?  I'm not quite Peruvian yet. 

We were out in the middle of nowhere most of the week, though every night we made it to a larger town (2000 people) and stayed in hostals.  We saw some amazing places- that I doubt few gringos have ever seen.  We ran into a lot of road work- they are paving a section of road (gracias a Dios) and we found an alternate route to Lima.  Its quite a bit longer from Huanuco - about 12 hours- but from a possible adoption site- only about 6-7 which would cut a teams travel down considerably.  Plus its a nice road!  David actually got to drive in 5th gear.  He was excited about that.

We also moonlighted this week as a taxi!  When you are out in the boonies- people flag you down for rides constantly- so we packed the backseat with all kinds of people, teachers trying to get back to the city for the weekend, a Quechua lady with a baby (who needed a diaper change) and a young teenager taking some produce into the city from his grandparents farm.  Don't be alarmed- we aren't picking up strange men- we are being careful-but its a good opportunity to help someone and talk to them a little.  I was able to explain what David and I are doing here to three ladies at one point.  It really stretched my spanish- but was good to try the best I could.   Peruvians for the most part are good about looking out for us- especially if you've helped them or bought something in their store:)  But we met an especially nice man who owns a gas station in a town we spent the night in.  We got some gas one morning and asked for some directions.  We came back through several days later and stopped there to use the bathroom.  He was kind in helping us with more directions, telling us where and why some places were not safe to go, offering some very good advice, letting us park our truck there while we went to a store and use the bathroom for free.  David tried to give him a little money for helping us- but he wouldn't take it.  Might not sound like much- but you don't get anything for free around here- its hard to get information, a bathroom and a parking place for nothing- not even buying anymore gas from him... We got ripped off at the hotel in that town and it really just made my day seeing the kindness of this man. 

We have a signed lease for our apartment in Huanuco now!  Horray!  I expect we will be moving out there in about a week.  We've got to get our Peruvian ID's this week and get some paperwork completed and then we are off.  I'm very excited- every trip to Huanuco has resulted in a higher level of excitement about living there.  Its a great city- and we are getting more and more familiar with it.  

Please pray for us!  We are so blessed that you go to the Father on our behalf!

Prayer Requests:

• The ever-present homesickness for me
  
• Language!!!!!  Can't stress this enough
  
• A good relationship with our new landlords and neighbors
  
• An upcoming vision conference next month we are preparing for
  
• An abounding love for Peruvians
  
• Praise for our new home, safe travel and new friends
  

Love you all- please let us know if we can pray for you!!!

Sorry its been so long- but we've been on the go go go here. About 3 weeks ago or so, we left on a vet clinic trip with Crossroads church from KY. David, I and 2 translators: Mijail and Reuben headed out from Lima to Huanuco on Saturday morning. This was David's first driving adventure over the mountains. He did a great job and I think he might be part Peruvian. I made new rule that if I have to shut my eyes for more than 20 seconds he shouldn't be doing that. We saw a lot of snow on Ticlio and when we passed through Pasco (a very high section) we all fell deep asleep (except David of course) curtesy of the altitude.  We arrived in Huanuco after about 8 1/2 hours on the road.  We stayed in our familiar hostel and did some apartment hunting.  The next morning we attended the Baptist church and then picked up the team from the airport.  We headed straight out to Panoa, about 2 hours on dirt roads, yet another driving challenge for David.  We made it into Panoa- but the town was so busy that it took us a while to make it to the hotel.  The streets are only big enough for one vehicle and they are two - way streets.  They are also full of people.  But we finally made it and checked into the Hotel.  That evening we met up with Edmin and Maura for dinner and got ready for the next day.  Some of the team was having some trouble with altitude and we turned in early.  

The next day we headed out to a smaller village and set up shop.  The team did a lot of house calls and stayed pretty busy de-worming sheep, cows, pigs, horses, donkeys, and probably a few others that I am forgetting.  We did this for 3 more days in different villages.  It was a neat way to minister to the people there and most of their animals were in surprisingly good condition.  David jumped right in like he'd been doing it his whole life.  I liked doing the sheep especially.  

The last day we saw more chickens, dogs and guinea pigs than we had earlier and I spent most of the day explaining in my rotten spanish how to administer the medicine to their animals that they couldn't bring to where we were working.  That proved challenging.  I also held a few pigs, so I could say that I did.  But I don't really like pigs.

After we finished that day, we headed back into Huanuco for the night.  We had Italian food, but it still tasted Peruvian...

The next morning David and I and the translators headed back down the road to Lima.  Traffic was a little slow coming down some of the mountains and we hit Lima right at Friday night rushour.  It took us about 9 1/2 hours to get home.  We dropped Reuben off and we and Mijail made it to the hotel to give the team their luggage and supplies for their trip home the next day.  

We checked into the Martinika and got as much sleep as we could.  The next morning we woke up and greeted the team from our home church who arrived late the night before.  David's brother Daniel was part of the team and it was a huge blessing to see some family.  That morning we packed up the trucks and vans and got back on the road, heading this time to Huancayo- about a 6 hour drive if you don't stop.  We stopped.  So it took about 9 hours to get there.  The first part of the trip is the same for going to Huanuco, but the road forks at one point and if you go north you get to our city, if you go south you get to Huancayo.  We spent the evening in Huancayo and attended church the next morning.  We then headed out to San Jose de Quero and got settled into Maruja's hostel.  That night we prepared for the "True Love Waits" presentation the following day.  The next day we went to the high school and presented to the older kids.  I'm still not sure how I feel that this went and how well it was received.  I think overall we all agreed that the gospel presentation needed to be more clear and central.  

That night we had Bible study in SJQ and a small group held one in Usibamba as well.  The group was using storying and I felt that the study went well in SJQ.  It was good to see familiar faces and have some people remember us.  It was also really great to be able to talk to Maruja this time.  The next day we presented again in Usibamba and held Bible study again.  The last day we spent prayer walking in Usibamba, exploring a new area, visiting people in SJQ and having the last Bible study.  

We had unusual weather, including rain and 2 hail storms.  We woke up one morning to white peaks- beautiful.  That morning David and I got up very early to drive into Huancayo (we left our computer charger in the hotel) and it was a pretty drive.  I had my first driving lesson on the way back so I can now say that I've driven in Peru.  We picked up a man and gave him a ride- so that was a little intimidating, but I made it through! 

We headed back to Lima the next day- and we went the "back way".  Last year we took this same shortcut that more than doubled the driving time.  However this year we were assured that the road was more than half paved and was a lot faster.  So we decided to try it out.  It is one of the most beautiful drives with awe-inspiring views and a lot of llama herds.  But we got to the exact same spot that we had our first flat tire last year, and they were in the process of paving the road and we had to wait for over 2 hours for it be drivable.  There goes the "faster" description.  We enjoyed the layover though and David went swimming in the river there- freezing cold, but you know David, he said it felt wonderful:)  Some of the other guys got involuntarily wet, but thats another story for another day.

We made it into Lima and enjoyed a shower and dinner out with the team.  The next day was spent typically in the Inca Market, eating Papa John's Pizza, and all that jazz.  The following day we got some errands done and then took an overnight bus (our truck was in the shop) to Huanuco with Daniel and a translator friend of ours, JP.  We were planning on apt hunting.  We arrived early the next morning and after a few mishaps (like falling in a hole in the sidewalk) we made it to the hostel and started the search.  Long story short, we've found an apartment and have a deposit on it.  We are waiting for the office to work out the contract and hope to move in Sept. 1 or near to it.  We spent the rest of the time walking around, price checking appliances and furniture and scoping out new places to eat.  We found one restaurant we will not be returning to.  If I told you about it- you would swear I was making it all up.  Daniel and David ate cuy- which is guinea pig, and JP bought us emoliants- some sort of tea with alfalfa in it. Not too bad...

We took another overnight bus back and arrived in Lima yesterday.  Since then we have been doing some errands and remarkeably... resting!  AHHH!!!!!  wonderful.  We are supposed to be heading out on a research trip Saturday for a week or so in the Pasco area.  After that- hopefully we will be moving to Huanuco.

Please pray for us :

for continued language learning

for relationships with nationals

for the paperwork on the apt to go through

praise God that we were able to get plane tickets home for Christmas

We love and miss you all, please keep sending us updates on whats going on with you and how we can be praying for you.

We've just made it back to Lima after our first foray into the Huanuco area! It was an adventurous trip! We met with the team of 3 ladies from Crossroads Baptist Church, and 2 translators: Tula and Salomon Sunday morning to work out the plan and details. That night, the translators and us took the overnight bus to Huanuco- about an 8 hour trip. It was a rough trip for me, the altitude got me pretty good- so I spent most of the night being sick. We arrived in the city around 6:30 AM and rested for a while in a Hostal. We picked up the ladies from the airport, packed ourselves and about 400lbs of luggage into 2 taxis and bumped our way up to the town of Panoa- about 2 hours from Huanuco. We arrived late afternoon, settled into our hotel, ate supper at one of the many pollo restaurants (chicken and fries) and turned in early. The next day, we met Edmin and his wife Maura- who are the on the ground people for Crossroads and they were a huge help to us for the next few days. We discovered that they live both in Panoa and in Huanuco- so we will be seeing more of them in the future, hopefully. We took a few taxis about 10 minutes down the road (sometimes down the road means literally DOWN) to a small area called Molinas. We broke into two groups- Ramona, Salomon and me with the ladies and Debbie, Marci, Tula, and David with the kids. Ramona did a great job teaching the ladies, and they especially seemed to enjoy the crafts she brought for them to do. The kids had a great time listening to some Bible stories, coloring and eating candy- sounds good to me! We paused for lunch which was prepared behind the church by the pastor and few other men: fried trout and potatoes and rice, which was good! After lunch they held a second session for those who couldn't come in the morning. David and I played with the kids who didn't want to go home- but had already participated in the morning. We had an english lesson, played volleyball and took pictures. Kids here are so sweet and welcoming- all you have to do is smile at them and immediately you are friends. We left in the early evening to go pack to Panoa (pronounced Paw-Now). We ate supper and headed to the church that we were to work in the next day. We had a time of worship with them and David shared his testimony. It is fun to watch people respond to him, his love and friendliness come through so clearly. The next day we arrived at the church and held the morning session. I had the opportunity to do some translating- though not in the way you might think! Salomon is an excellent translator, and Ramona is a great teacher, but sometimes that Kentucky is hard to decifer! So I translated a few things from Kentucky to Spanish. 

We had trout and potatoes again for lunch- and talked to the Pastor of the church for a while. We rested up in the afternoon and visited the church for the next day that evening. Thursday we had a session in the morning and then headed back to Huanuco. We got the ladies set up in a hotel, checked into a hostal ourselves. Tula and Salomon were taking the overnight bus back to Lima that night- so we enjoyed the afternoon talking to them and getting some help with our Spanish. They are great! They headed out that night. The next day we took the ladies to the airport- made sure they got off alright- and then spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Huanuco. We tried to get to know the city a little bit, and we found some of the areas that felt good and safe, and some we weren't so comfortable with. We met some missionaries who have lived in the city for about 12 years and were grateful for their advice. The task of finding housing is overwhelming as there are no real estate offices there- its all word of mouth. Please pray for us as we continue to try and figure out where to live and how to live in this city. It will take a lot of adjusting- though it is a nice city with a wonderful climate- very warm in the days and cool at night. There is no grocery store- only an open air market. I'm fine buying the fruit and vegetables that way- but the meat....I'm not so sure. Especially since we saw a whole pig hanging on a hook as soon as we walked in. How do you order bacon from that??? Just kidding- I don't eat bacon. Anyway- it was a challenge being on our own because of our spanish- that still needs a lot of work. Oh boy. But we are confident that God will provide ALL that we need.
Please pray as we struggle with not having a place to call home. Living out of a suitcase is getting a little old-it will be nice to be settled somewhere and have a base. I am having a really hard time with this, and feeling overwhelmed with figuring it all out. We are missing home and Guatemala and look forward to the day that Peru feels as comfortable as those did. Please also pray for my grandfather who is still having health problems and is in the hospital. Please send us an update on whats going on with you soon. We love hearing news from home, it helps with those hard days when we miss it so much. We'd love to be praying for you in anyway we can. We appreciate your prayers so much- they are a sweet aroma that is pleasing to the Father and vital to our ministry here.   

Hola from Peru!  What happened to the sunshine?????  Somebody stole it from Lima!  

**Left is our last day at school in Guatemala!**

We arrived to our destination country on July 4th.  We started our day by leaving San Juan at 2:30 AM.  Our host parents insisted on getting up and seeing us off- Domi looked like I felt- about to keel over into a coma, while Oralia chatted away like it was 2:30 PM.  Our trip to the airport and from then on out was super easy- no hiccups at all in the trip and all our bags made it.  Once we arrived, our supervisor met us at the airport and hauled us and the million pounds of luggage (actually only about 250lbs) to a hotel.  We rested up and then headed to a Independence Day party at Jeff and Liesa's home (our supervisors).  There we met several of our teammates, tried valiantly to make conversation- which wasn't easy after 4 hours of sleep the night before!  The next day we were moved to the IMB guest house here in Lima- where we are currently.  The guest house is very comfortable and we are living in a small apartment on the top floor.  I've finally got a kitchen again!  We've been here for about a week now, and we've spent the week asking questions about what we are supposed to be doing now...

We spent a few days on paperwork for visas, having orientations with our Language and Cultural acquisition coordinator and business manager, and going to Interpol (international police).  There we got our mug shots taken, fingerprinted, and had our teeth looked at.  All very serious business!  Don't worry, no crimes have been committed, everyone has to do this to get a visa:)  Since then we've been studying for our drivers license test (a whole new vocabulary in spanish for us) and getting to know our team here and Lima itself.  I have to say that we are definitely not cut out for big city living!  Thankfully we are heading out tomorrow for a trip with a sc church to Huanuco!  So we will get to see our city that we will eventually live in!  We'll come back for about 10 days and then head out again on 3 consecutive trips, have a few days off and then one more trip for August~!  Whew- we will be busy then!  But we are looking forward to it!  

We are enjoying some things about being here in Lima.  For instance, we have internet in our apartment- so thats really nice, and I washed clothes in a washing machine yesterday!  Our jeans fit again!  

Please pray for us as we adjust to a new culture, and a new rhythm of speech, and try to obtain all our necessary papers for life here.

Please pray as well for the trips we will be going on that they will be fruitful and the teams will have a servants heart.

Please pray for my (Cameron)'s grandfather as he recovers from a recent fall.

Rejoice with us in the arrival of our 5th niece!  Sadie Lu Estes

Pray that we will ever fall deeper in love with the Saviour.

Thanks so much- love you all!