The Race (photos posted)

So the race was amazing. Nice, sweaty hot day . . .minimal dust . . .perfect for racing. Christian turned his attention to the competition during this race last weekend. The last race was spent organizing MxC this time he raced for MxC. This was Christian’s first time racing motocross and he did very well for the little practice that he had. He placed 3rd in his class (there were only 4 in his class, but still, he showed himself to be competitive.) Gabriel raced for the first time since 2005. We are so proud of him. He raced smoothly and impressed his dad so much Dad thinks he is ready for a bigger bike.

It was exciting to participate in MxC in a new way. The evangelism tent was set up like the last two times but church members took care of all the details on there own. We just had to help haul stuff to the track. Same with the medical team and the mechanics – they knew what to do and organized themselves. What a blessing – we’ve already worked ourselves out of half a job! Perfect.

Christians new “status” as a racer puts him in a new level with the other riders. There is a new respect that exists and people that we have known for months now talk to him in a new way and are more open. We are praying for fruit from new contacts and relationships. Even the guy I bought our kitchen tile from came to the race at our invitation and seems very interested the church. I don’t need any more tile but we hope to keep a friendship going with the people at San Lorenzo tile.

Summer Time – Not enough time

We don’t have internet right now so I will post this as soon as I can – hopefully it won’t be too late.
It has been a very busy summer. We have moved (we have been living without a kitchen in our house for a month – hopefully it will be finished today!) We have moved almost everything to our new house except for kitchen stuff and a few pieces of furniture. All of the Drochner’s things are back where they belong in their house. They arrive in early August and we want to help them have an easy adjustment back into life in Peru (they will have been away for 14 months).
The team from PA has come and gone. We had a wonderful time getting to know new brothers and sisters in Christ. We had a great time with them and they all worked so hard helping us with our work here – cleaning and organizing the school book room, construction, wiring our house, medical work, etc. The concrete portion of the church addition is done and a new team from MD arrives today. They will be helping Mil Palmeras with local social projects as well and be putting the roof on the new addition at the church . . . that sounds so fancy. The addition is a concrete slab with a counter built in next to the concrete slab basketball court where the church meets. I will post pictures when it is done.
In the past few months we have had two baptisms at the church. One new believer who has been coming to our Alpha group was baptized. It is so amazing to see God change lives. You can all praise God for our friend, William, and all that God is doing in his life and marriage. Which also reminds me . . . . . our Alpha Course just finished this week. It has been happening once a week since the national race here in Pucallpa back in May. It went well and we had a great group of people coming. We are praying about whether or not to start a new course this fall.
There is a local motocross race tomorrow (Sunday) in memory of Tommy Head, a Living Water missionary who died in a motocross accident last year. He had an amazing impact on Pucallpa and we look forward to seeing what God will do at the race tomorrow. Christian and Gabriel, both, will be racing tomorrow for the first time. Things have been very busy around here and they have not had much time to practice. Pray they race well and do not get hurt. Also pray for the contacts they will make in the pits with the other racers.
A new missionary family arrived last month, the Andersons. They have done a great job of assimilating to life in Pucallpa and jumping right in to helping out at the school. Susan will be a full time teacher for 1st and 2nd grade. I will be teaching full time at the school this year – Middle school and HS history and HS French. Time is short for planning and we are still waiting for many of the school books to arrive with the summer team. School begins at SAM Academy August 18th. I am a member of the school board and also in charge of the book room and with Christian in charge of the base . . . let’s just say there is more work than we can handle and we are trying to get organized so we can delegate more responsibility to others but there are not enough hours in the day.
Pray for the school – we just found out the HS math and science teacher will not be coming this year – this is a surprise and creates problems for the HS. Any one comfortable teaching chemistry and Algebra 2 and want to come live in Pucallpa for a year??? We are also lacking a MS science teacher. It will be interesting to see how the Lord provides.
From a personal and family perspective stress has been at an all time high . . . not going to go into many details but things have been very hard. We knew things would be very busy over the summer but not like this. We planned a vacation back in May and leave for Cusco next Friday. Other than the fact that we are going to freeze to death in the mountains we are hoping for a time of refreshment and relaxation. We need make some changes in our family and reprioritize the essentials of life. I am looking forward to a time with no phone and no expectation that we can be still and quiet and wait on the Lord – not to mention have some fun with our kids.
We were up till 3 a.m. the other night painting and wiring the kitchen and still have not caught up on sleep. It is very hard to find time to work on our house when things at the base aren’t working properly (the internet, the front gate , the mission truck, our combi just broke last night, worker want to get paid yet they don’t always do their job . . .) We are a little burnt out, but God is amazing and we can do all things in his strength.

El Frio

So has it been a month yet? Maybe more, I am not sure. We have no internet tonight but I am determined to write so I can post the next time we have service. We are in the middle of another frio (cold streak) here in Pucallpa. You can laugh if you want but it has been in the low 50’s at night and rainy during the day. It feels like a cold wet November day and there is no way to get away from it. There are no windows to close – it is just a cold inside as it is outside. I have on 2 sweaters and I am in the cool room – which is now the warm room because it is the only room with windows that close – and I am freezing. I have actually forgotten what it feels like to sweat and be warm . . . . I like the heat.
A lot has gone on in the past 6 weeks. My in-law’s came and went, a summer team from PA has now come and gone, and we are still trying to get our house finished and get the other one we were in all set for the arrival of the Drochner family. The carpenter didn’t come back to our house for two weeks and when he finally did the other day they finished in 3 days. There is still a bit more to do, but I hope to have a working kitchen by the end of the week. Construction has been going on at the church – a small café area is being added to the basket ball court/church. Several building projects have gone on in the community to help several people fix dilapidated homes.
We have been working very hard to get the bookroom and school building ready for the school year. We begin in a month and still have much to do. Today we had a workday to move furniture around in the school. Apart from the cold and rain it went well. School begins August 18th and I will be teaching a full schedule of MS and HS history and HS French. I can’t believe we have another year of school beginning so soon!

Alpha has been continuing and our last class is Tuesday night, It has gone very well. There have been a few very discouraging things about our life here -  keep praying for us.
I am off to bed – it is late and under the covers is truly the only warm place in the house.