We can't believe its already the last day of November! How can it be winter when we are wearing short sleeves and flip flops? Just doesn't seem right!

We are in Huanuco now- and will be until the 16th of Dec. when we head to Lima and fly out on the 18th for home! We are excited about seeing everyone and ordering in a restaurant in English. I hope I remember how.

David had a good trip to Jauja while I was in Lima- he got to meet some great folks out there. My parents came in November 18th- we had a great time together. We walked around Lima, to the beach, the Inca Market, Harry's, Wongs, all the best spots in Mira Flores! The next day we made the trip out to Huanuco. Saturday we braved the busiest market day and Mama was awed by the produce! That was the most fruit I've bought at the market yet! Then we headed up to Panao for lunch- fried trout at Lao's restaurant with Edmin and Maura. The next day we went to church and walked around town a while. Monday we headed back to Lima- the back way through Ambo- a beautiful drive- but almost all of it is on gravel/mud roads- I think we made Daddy a little nervous. But they got to see more of the countryside and a lot of llamas. The next day in Lima we visited the Inka Market again- Ma's new favorite place! Then we made thanksgiving supper- my first! And it turned out great! They left late that night- we were all grateful for the time together and that Christmas is close!

David and I rested a day in Lima and then drove back to Huanuco. We are preparing for a research trip this Thursday - Sunday. Teammate Amber Smith will be joining us- this will be her first trek out of Lima- pray for her as she deals with the altitude for the first time. Also accompanying us is a couple from Huanuco- Lindor and Zoila- they speak quechua and spanish and are from the general direction of where we are heading- though they have never been to our destination. This will challenge our spanish considerably- as they don't speak english. Please pray for this trip!

For safety on the roads- the cops have gotten more aggressive seeking bribes in time for christmas and have been giving us a hard time.

For clarity in language.

For thoroughness in research.

For health for all of us.

Please also pray that David's permanent license will come in soon- the police have been giving him grief about that too.

Thank you for all of your prayers!! I will try to update once more before we leave for the states! Love to all

Blog Update :

I finally have a little time to update again. I am in Lima for a few days while David is out with another team.
Ironically enough, being a missionary has a slow season! Not really, but church trips from the states do start to taper off this time of year. Because of this, we were blessed to participate in a trip with our home church Grace Community Baptist Church this past week. For about 2 years now our church has committed themselves to church planting in the towns of San Jose de Quero and Usibamba about an hour outside of Huancayo. One of the great things about trips like this is that its like going home, without going home! It was so fun to see familiar faces and enjoy the camaraderie of folks from home. David's great aunt came on the trip and showed us all how to do it!!! 85 years did not slow her down and she was a joy to minister with and an inspiration to watch. Those Jones girls sure are impressive aren't they?
This trip was a dental clinic and over 85 teeth were pulled. On a happier note- over 25 people prayed to receive God's gift of salvation. This was part of the clinic- everyone was shared with while they waited for dental work. I will admit that I had a hard time with this form of evangelization, I always do. I cringe at the lack of relationship and I worry that they will say anything if they think they are getting free dental work. BUT- God really gave me a good reminder. I was able to share with four women and all of them prayed to receive Christ. Even after witnessing that, I was cynical in my heart. But God just reminded me that that is not part of my job. I just need to share His truth. He does the rest. He knows their hearts, He knows their sincerity or lack of and that is not my job to determine. I am still praying for these 4 ladies, that they meant what they prayed and that their lives will be forever changed. But I am resting in His sufficiency and thankfully that none of this rests on my ability or lack thereof. God is so good to teach us isn't He?

We had a great Bible study with the believers in San Jose one night and I had a great time sitting on a gas can with Norma and Maruja and seeing their joy in the Word and teaching. So refreshing to see their hunger. David had a neat opportunity to share with a construction worker there and after conversation with Guy and Mijail, he prayed to receive Christ as well. Please be praying for him, his name is Isaac.
We really enjoyed this trip- it was great to see God work and enjoy the fellowship of brothers and sisters. It was fortuitous timing for me. My grandfather went to be with the Lord the night before we went to the village. While it was hard for me to be around so many people right after I found out, I was encouraged by their gentle sensitivity to me and was encouraged by the ability to stay busy with good things- while having some time alone to grieve. The balance was good and healing for me. Please keep my family and I in your prayers as we continue to miss him tremendously.
David is on a trip now in Jauja, Junin, not too far from where we were last week on a semi-vision trip. Pray for him, he's such an amazing guy and can go go go without a dimming in that smile of his, but it is a lot of driving and it ain't over yet! So please pray that his heart will be encouraged by this trip- that the Lord will keep him healthy and strong to continue. He really is a great guy isn't he?

2 very exciting things that I have to share is that my parents will be here in about 2 days now and I'm so excited I'm not sure what to do with myself! I can't wait to see them and show them everything! Pray for safe travel for them and health while they are here! I am also excited that we will be cooking a Thanksgiving supper while they are here on Sunday- And I'm excited about stuffing and chocolate meringue pie. The other exciting bit of news is that my sister just found out today that her pregnancy is going very well and healthy and that she is having a boy this go round! I am excited after 5 sweet beautiful nieces that we'll now have a nephew to shake things up!
Please keep us lifted up before the Father as we seek His will and share His love with the people of Peru! Love you all!

Hey! I know its been awhile and I will try to briefly summarize the past several weeks!

After our first vision conference we drove up to an area in Pasco called Santa Ana de Tusi to do a little research. We found the large town deserted for the day and just about the only person we found was a 7 year old boy who was running the local hostal. He reminded me of Short Round in Indiana Jones' "Hey lady, you call him Dr. Jones!" Anyway- he gave us the lowdown on the accommodations in town. We searched for several more towns and found most deserted as well. We think there may have been a festival in a neighboring town that we didn't know about.

We decided that it would be just as easy to spend the night in Huanuco so we bounced our way home for the night. The next day we drove down to Huancayo to visit with the baby churches that our home church is working with. We were about 10 minutes away when road construction stopped us and we were informed that all of the construction workers were staying in the hostal where we were hoping to. So we turned around and spent the night in the city and headed out the next morning. We spent a great day visiting with friends in the two towns, chatting and trying to encourage and pray with them. This day stretched our spanish considerably but it was really fun.

The next day we headed back to Lima and picked up the incoming vision team up from the airport that night. The next day was spent in orientation with the 3 men from Salem, VA. Through some unforseen circumstances I ended up staying in Lima while David took the team out to Santa Ana de Tusi.

It was a very challenging trip for the guys. Because of a political rally the hostal in Santa Ana was full so they ended up having to stay in another town that was considerably higher elevation. They all suffered effects of the altitude which was very an extreme change after the sea level of Lima. As a precaution they ended up going to Huanuco for the night. David-trooper that he is- drove basically 20 out of 24 hours. Whew. After a day of rest- they tried looking into another village to minister in, however they found one of the biggest healthiest churches we've seen! They worshipped with them, and then headed back to Huanuco for the night. Their last day they returned to Santa Ana de Tusi and had a great day talking to people and praying in the town. After a potentially very frustrating trip, it ended up very well and they are going to make a recommendation to the church to minister there! Please keep praying for this church as they make this decision.

After that - we returned to Huanuco for a few days rest. Then the team from Crossroads church flew in and we went with them up to Panoa for a day or so. Then we came home and promptly got sick. David escaped with only 1 day - I was more ambitious and was sick for about a week.

So here we are - in town until the end of the week and then back to Lima for a trip with our home church next week! Thanks so much for your prayers! We miss you all!

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!!!